Note: This is the main text of a letter I wrote in response to a brother in Christ who disagreed with the statement in my last article, “Time to Build an Ark,” that “I am no longer looking to the political process for solutions.”

Thank you for taking the time to write. I appreciate the thought you gave to my article.

I wouldn’t expect Christians to disengage from the culture; in fact, I encourage it. I simply believe that we’ve put too much faith in the political process and not enough in the power of God to do amazing things through His church stepping out boldly in every community across the land.

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God: Noah!

Noah: Who is that?

God: It’s the Lord, Noah

Noah: Right!

Noah: Where are ja?

Noah: What you want? I’ve been good.

God: I want you to build an Ark.

Noah: Right!

Noah: What’s an Ark?

Note: Does remembering this skit above make me older than dirt? Post a comment below or on Facebook, or send me a tweet if you know who did this!

It’s pouring buckets outside as I write this, so I hope the title isn’t prophetic! This phrase, and the thoughts behind them, have been in my head since Monday when, in a conversation with Dr. Steve Samson, one of my colleagues here at Liberty University, we discussed the current state of world affairs and where we seem to be headed.

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As a Christian, I believe the Holy Spirit lives in my heart to provide comfort, correction and conviction. It’s the divine process that changes us as we live out our days so we are more Christ-like as we mature. Sometimes that process is disrupting, as it should be because we still battle our flesh, which is firmly ensconced in the world and finds its satisfaction and comfort in worldly things. The more serious we are about giving up our desires and asking God to replace them with His, the more disruptive the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts.

What I just described won’t make sense to non-believers, but it is definitely what I’ve been experiencing over the past few months as I’ve found myself troubled and unable to do many of the things I used to do with ease.

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A few months ago, I shared with you that God was taking me through a period of reflection, a “timeout” from what I had been doing before a rash of health issues, and my frustration with the rancor and hostility in the public discourse I was attempting to moderate online, essentially shut me down for a while.

I haven’t silenced myself completely, since I’ve had bursts of commentary here and there about current events, and I’ve written a couple of longer thought pieces since that time on religious liberty and the failure of the president to show leadership and rebuke harsh rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle.

For the most part, however, I’m unable to sit down and write about a topic on demand, and I’ve found myself responding differently to the things that moved me in the past.

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Dear Mr. President:

You and I agree on practically nothing in the area of public policy, so I don’t expect my words to have any weight with you. Despite our policy disagreements, I have always tried to show you the proper respect as our president. As a veteran and the child of a veteran, I was raised “old school” – I respect the commander-in-chief, even if his politics are not my own.

I also respect you as a husband and a father. Your words and deeds leave me no doubt that you are a loving and devoted husband, and a doting father, and in that regard you are a much needed role model for the young men in our country, especially young black men. Most of them have never seen a positive male figure in their lives, so I do not diminish the example you set for them.

It is because I am an “old school” officer and gentleman, and because I admire your family ties, that I was extremely disappointed that you missed an opportunity during your press conference today to show leadership that transcends politics and the divisiveness of our day. You had an opportunity today to allow your better angels to take hold, and you let it pass.

You recently called a supporter and ideological ally to offer your support after conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh used intemperate language to describe her after her public statements defending your contraception mandate. You said you thought about your daughters and how you hoped they, too, would someday become actively engaged in issues they care about, and you didn’t “want them attacked or called horrible names because they’re being good citizens.”

Twice in today’s press conference, you were given an opportunity to show your fair-mindedness and burnish your credentials as the president of all Americans, not just those with whom you agree. You once indignantly declared, “I am not an ideologue,” and you were given a perfect opportunity to prove it. You were given a chance to show that your concern for women is more than about just politics, but that you defend the dignity and worth of all women.

And you failed miserably.

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The title of this article, of course, is a lie.

This will not be the last word on the Obama administration’s mandate that religious organizations provide contraception products and services, including abortifacients and sterilization, as part of the health insurance plans they offer their employees. The Left will do everything they can to keep this issue going, hopefully all the way to the election.

Friends, while our reaction to this mandate has been appropriate to the threat it poses to religious liberty and freedom of conscience, I fear that we are being played like a snare drum, and we need to cease being the percussion to their insidious tune.

Indeed, the first words on the subject, issued by Catholic bishops around the nation when the mandate was first made public, should be the last words from us, and those words should stand, resolute and unyielding, in the face of an illegitimate exercise of power by a coercive government.

“We will not comply.”

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“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”~ Psalms 46:10, English Standard Version

If one believes, as I do, in God as a heavenly Father, then I suppose that as a parent who knows what is best for us, it is His prerogative to put us in a timeout when He thinks it’s important for us to get our heads and hearts right. Whether that timeout is one He imposes directly, or one where He allows Satan to “sift us like wheat,” His purposes are always good, even if it doesn’t feel like it, and I’ve had to remind myself of that often in the past few months.

I want to share my experiences and lessons learned during my timeout because so many who follow my work have affirmed me and expressed their support for me to continue, especially in these turbulent times in which we find ourselves.

I haven’t been able to write anything, however, other than the occasional social media post since the remarks I prepared for the Clarion Community Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration in Clarion, Pennsylvania on January 26^th.  It’s almost as if my gift of written expression has been suppressed.

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Note: These are my prepared remarks from my presentation to the 16th annual Clarion Community Martin Luther King Day Celebration, hosted at Clarion University on January 26, 2012.

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One of the more compelling human interest stories of 1975 is the tale of Japanese second lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, an intelligence officer in the Japanese Imperial Army who surrendered to his commanding officer after he was persuaded that the war was over. The only problem is that the war he was fighting, World War II, had ended nearly 30 years earlier. Lt. Onoda had been hiding out in the jungles of the Philippines, destroying crops, engaging in shootouts with the local police and actually killing 30 Filipinos, fighting a war that had ended long ago.

We are now in the second decade of the 21st century and we are commemorating the birth of a man of peace, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Let there be no doubt, however, that he was also a warrior, battling the foes of liberty and equality with weapons of non-violence, grace and dignity. Each time we come together to acknowledge this man’s greatness, however, I think it is instructive to ask ourselves where we are in the ongoing quest to be equal heirs with all Americans in enjoying the blessings of liberty.

As a former intelligence officer myself, I survey the American landscape, past and present, and questions arise in my mind. Are we fighting yesterday’s battles? Is there another front we’re neglecting? Are we fighting with modern weapons and tactics or, to use a popular phrase, are we bringing knives to a gun fight?

These questions came to mind as I read a recent report, The State of the African American Consumer, commissioned by the Nielsen Research Group and the National Newspaper Publishers Association, representing over 200 black community newspaper across the country. According to this report, the black community in the United States will have a cumulative buying power of $1.1 trillion – that’s trillion with a “T” – by 2015, just three years from now. If black Americans were an independent nation, we would be the 16th wealthiest nation in the world, ahead of nations like Switzerland and Saudi Arabia, which we normally think of as wealthy. By way of comparison, the combined buying power of the entire African continent is estimated at $1.7 trillion.

The same report states that the number of black households earning $75,000 or more increased by 64 percent between 2000 and 2009, a rate 12 percent higher than the overall population in that same time frame. Educational attainment at all levels is up, and black women are outpacing black men in obtaining college degrees, so we men have to step it up a bit!

I have a copy of the report for anyone who wants to peruse it, and it’s available online as a free download. I encourage you to read it because it will alter your thinking about the state of black America today. I don’t want to diminish the problems we still face with fatherless homes, unacceptably high dropout rates from high school among young black men, and all the pathologies that result from single-parent households and a lack of education.

What this report did for me, however, is focus my attention on a key question: What are we doing with this considerable buying power, and what should we be doing with it?

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The Old Testament Book of Esther describes a turning point in the story of the Jewish people held in captivity, where Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, challenges Esther, who by this time was chosen as the pagan king’s new queen. If she so chose, she could live a life of indulgence while her people suffered. Mordecai warned her of the gravity of the moment in which she found herself:

Mordecai sent back this reply to Esther:  “Don’t think for a moment that you will escape there in the palace when all other Jews are killed.  If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.  What’s more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?”

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:  “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.  My maids and I will do the same.  And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king.  If I must die, I am willing to die.”  ~ Esther 4:13-16

The question I find I’m asking myself as I watch the GOP candidates for president slog their way across Iowa, New Hampshire and now South Carolina, which holds its primary next Saturday, is “Are either of them elevated for just such a time as this?”

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I was planning to spend the Christmas holidays recuperating from a triceps injury and knee surgery, and enjoying time with family and friends. I wrote what was supposed to be my last column of 2011, and figured I’d re-engage just after New Year’s Day.

Then something so maddening came along that I couldn’t stay silent about it. What it says about liberal condescension toward blacks ought to make us angry, but because we’re fixated on labels rather than truth, not enough will react to make a difference.

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