Rick Joyner: Obama ‘Wants to Know the Real Jesus’

In a ministry blog
Monday, Joyner responded to a recent Pew Research Center poll that found 18
percent of Americans think President Obama is a Muslim—up from 11 percent in
March 2009—and 43 percent don’t know what religion he practices.

Joyner said after
reading Obama’s books during the 2008 presidential election he was “95 percent”
sure the president was a Christian, even if a “superficial” one. But now he’s
not so certain.

He said he is “about 55 percent persuaded that Obama is a Christian” and 45 percent
convinced that he is possibly a Muslim. “And at times I have been more
persuaded that he is a Muslim,” he said.

Joyner pointed to moves
the president has made in recent months to reach out to Muslims while
distancing himself from some evangelical Christians. Most notably, President
Obama observed the National Day of Prayer privately in 2009 while publicly
commemorating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“In judging Obama’s
faith, many are simply using the basic reasoning that ‘if it looks like a duck,
walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck—it’s a duck!'” Joyner said.

“No doubt President
Obama is acting more like a Muslim, and doing far more to promote Islam, while
at the same time demonstrating disdain or hostility toward Christians and
Christianity,” he continued. “The fruit of his actions bears strong evidence
that Obama is indeed a Muslim, or at the very least has far more affinity for
Islam than Christianity.”

Joyner said many of his
Christian friends have long believed the president is a Muslim who is intent on harming the U.S. Joyner himself has been an outspoken critic of
President Obama’s health care overhaul, and he formed The Oak Initiative last
year to influence politics with conservative Christian values.

Still, Joyner—known for
his prophetic-themed books The Final Quest and The Call—said he
is unwilling to label the president a Muslim.

“I would believe [the
president is a Muslim] except for one thing—I inquired of the Lord about this
and feel that I have been shown something else—that deep in his heart he wants
to know the real Jesus, just as many Muslims do,” Joyner said.

“He has had a hard time
finding Jesus in His people,” he added. “He has had bad influences to shape his
life and bad counselors now. I’m praying for the Lord to raise up a Joseph or
Daniel to help him.”

Joyner believes the
nation’s strength is being “devastated” under the Obama administration and says
Christians should pray for the president. “The greatest victory of all could be
Obama’s illumination and conversion, which could lead to him becoming one of
our great presidents,” he said. 

President Obama has
repeatedly described himself as a Christian, and a group of more than 70
Christian ministers came to his defense last week, blasting media and political
leaders who continue to question the president’s faith.

The ministers—including
Bishop T.D. Jakes, World Vision President Rich Stearns and Pentecostal pastor
Sammy Rodgriguez—said the president has been “unwavering” in
confessing Christ as his savior.

A White House spokesman
also said the president is “obviously” a committed Christian.
“His faith is very important to him, but it’s not something that is a
topic of conversation every single day,” said White House spokesman Bill
Burton.

In an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams Sunday,
President Obama attributed the confusion over his faith to “a network of
misinformation that in a new-media era can get churned out there
constantly.”