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.

I don’t know if you followed one of the links in my article, but this church-led initiative in my old home county is illustrative of what the body of Christ can do when it takes hold of the power God has bestowed upon us. If every congregation in America committed itself to tackling the problems in their local communities, without waiting for the government’s permission, and without fear of government sanctions, we could change the culture overnight. We would shame those who hate the church by our abundant compassion and care of our neighbors, and we would make government irrelevant other than for its intended purpose, to protect the people, enforce the law and administer justice.

I will continue to fight, but on a different battlefield. I’ve been active in retail politics for a significant part of my adult life, and I feel God calling me to another way to use my gifts of communication and leadership. I want to encourage and convict the church to roll up its sleeves and be about the business of saving the world first by meeting the needs of the people right where they live. I want to fight for the restoration of civil society that was once the hallmark of American communities before the Great Depression. 

When government seeks to intrude, as is its nature, I will be a loud voice for religious liberty, freedom of conscience, free enterprise and local solutions. I’m not intending to leave the battlefield, but I’m planning to fight on another front. And yes, I’m still encouraging people to “build an ark,” but at the same time, I want them to fill it up with as many people as they can carry with them. No matter how active the church becomes in engaging needs at the community level, there will always be those who are hard of heart and dark in spirit, and to the extent the “ark” is a place of safety from those who refuse our help, and seek to deny it to others, I believe it is needed.

I have a great deal of respect for those culture warriors who wade into the political battles with gusto, and who are energized by the fight. I’ve been right there alongside them, and to an extent, I always will be. My passion for influencing the culture for Christ will never go away. The body of Christ is comprised of different parts, however, and not everyone has to fight in the political arena. I found over the years that the fight was taking more out of me than it was adding, and I reached a point where I had to call a “timeout” – or, more accurately, God put me in a timeout – to figure out what God wanted me to do. 

I don’t know that I’ve found the answer yet but, like a game of hot-warm-cold, as I move toward the concept that God intended for His church to be the hope of the world, in tangible and intangible ways, community by community, I feel my spirit getting warmer. I’ve had conversations with other fellow Christians who feel as I do, and we sense a movement toward local engagement in our communities as the order around us continues to deteriorate. There are people all around us enduring hard times, and with my trials of the past six years, I’ve endured them, too. I feel it’s been a time of preparation for me to be a source of comfort to others, just as my family and I have been comforted through our pain. I think we’re going to need to be a source of comfort to others more and more as time passes. You are absolutely correct that we need a time of revival, and the church needs to be the church. To my thinking, this is one way to get it started.

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.

It was a fruitful discussion, and I’ve had many of those, and also done a lot of reading and reflection in the past few months, as I struggle to understand why my conscience has been so troubled as of late. As I’ve stated before, I believe it’s the Holy Spirit convicting me to be true to my faith. If you will indulge me, let me walk you through what has been weighing on my mind and heart these days. My conversations with friends and associates from various walks of life suggest that many of you may be in the same place, so you may find yourself in the words I am about to share.

I’ve been pretty transparent with you over the past few months about the fact I’ve been troubled by the tone of public discourse in our culture today, so much so that I’ve been in what I’ve called a divine “timeout” during which I’ve curtailed my writing, and withheld a lot of information I would have shared in the past.

I now ask myself first what I hope to accomplish by writing an article or posting a news item, and if I conclude it will just stir emotions without purpose, I’ve generally refrained from doing it. The couple of times I didn’t apply that thought process, I’ve regretted it, and so I’m committed to it now.

I’ve been disturbed by the verbal bullying and intimidation directed toward people who express a point of view contrary to whatever the cultural elites declare to be acceptable. Aristotle once said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” That is an exact description of tolerance.

These days, however, it’s not enough to agree to disagree, or to be tolerant of someone else’s point of view without accepting it. In fact, we’ve distorted the English language to the point where even tolerance doesn’t mean what the dictionary, or Aristotle, says it means. No, if you don’t agree with a particular position, society seeks to either silence you or browbeat you into submission, and as far as I’m concerned, that is thought control.

Freedom of conscience, the foundation of our rights to free expression, the cornerstone of the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, and a bedrock principle of liberty, is threatened by a mob mentality, which bears a chilling resemblance to past cultures that allowed suppression of thought by the general public to evolve into authoritarian rule and institutionalized suppression.

I’ve also lost my zest for electoral politics, and while I will follow the elections with interest, and will fulfill my duty as a citizen and vote, I’m no longer commenting on the races publicly or advocating a political party. I’ve always said I am a Christian, conservative and Republican in that order, and the latter two are derivative of their predecessors. These days, the gap between them is greater than ever before, and I’m fully persuaded of my own argument that the prime directive of all political parties is to win elections and hold power, and all else is secondary. I am no longer looking to the political process for solutions.

Finally, as a Christian, I am grieved by the wall of separation between Christians of various denominations, races and ethnicities, particularly here in America. Frankly, it’s always been there, but the Trayvon Martin case has exposed the worst of the divide between black and white Christians, and the language of conflict is broadcast in all its ugliness for the world to see. Jesus says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35, English Standard Version). By that standard, how many of us can honestly claim to be His? Can we love one another while we speak of each other in accusatory tones, using words intended to wound?

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,  but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so (James 3:7-10, English Standard Version)

This isn’t just a problem between Christians, either, but also in Christians’ interaction with the world. The prevalence of rancor and vitriol in discourse by self-proclaimed Christians is profound, and it reflects the dominion of fear, worry, anger and other negative emotions in the hearts of people who, if Christ is in them and they in Christ, should be free of all these cares. Do we doubt that God is in control? Do we not believe His promises when He proclaims, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)? We say we believe Him, but our words and actions betray us. We do not have peace, and that is reflected in the fruit we bear.

So what does this all mean? And what does this have to do with an ark?

For me personally, it means I’m searching for a new model for civic activism. Given that my ultimate objective is to emulate Christ and glorify Him in word and deed, I am persuaded that the old model isn’t working. I’m always critical of liberals for tackling problems with programs that have already been tried and failed, but the fact is that we Christians have been doing the same thing. Politics has done practically nothing for us, and the culture around us and the government that has authority over us should be stark evidence of that.

Before I am misunderstood, please know that I am not saying that Christians should not be engaged in the culture to effect change. I will never stop speaking out on public policy as it affects issues like self-governance, freedom of conscience, religious liberty, family and community, compassion and care, and racial harmony, just to name a few issues that burn within my heart.

The difference, and this is an important one, is that I consider government as an institution, especially at the federal level, to be intrinsically hostile to all of those ideas, and I will not look to government to solve the problems inherent in any of them. Just as the prime directive in politics is to win elections and keep power, the prime directive of government is to amass power and apply force to assert it, using the authority granted to it by God Himself (Romans 13). If I seek anything at all from government, it is to remove itself from our lives except to protect us and enforce the law.

Going forward, I will be a champion for self-governance and solving problems from the bottom up, with families, communities, local houses of worship, local charities and all the “voluntary associations,” to use Alexis de Tocqueville’s phrase from Democracy in America, that comprise civil society. That is the legacy of the United States of America, and it is our destiny, because our state and federal governments are on a pathway to disaster. And that is where the ark comes in.

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. (Genesis 7:1)

In case you hadn’t noticed, Greece and France held elections last weekend that reflected the people’s frustrations with austerity measures, put in place because they have, as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously stated, “run out of other people’s money.” Someone asked me for my opinion, and I said:

Time to build an ark! I think the public backlash will result in economic calamity for the EU, because the tensions between austerity and entitlement will be too powerful to contain. Unless we see a significant cultural shift here in America, we will see the same scenario play itself out here. Sorry to be a pessimist, but I don’t see any statesmen on the horizon with the boldness, vision and persuasive power to compel us to reverse course.

Regardless of who is elected as president in November, I don’t sense there is the will in Washington to do the hard things that must be done to make us solvent, so nothing will be done until government teeters on the verge of collapsing under its own weight, unable to satisfy the demands of hundreds of millions of Americans who fail to see the handwriting on the wall.

Just as the people of Greece and France angrily demand government services for which their treasuries can no longer pay, Americans are demanding “free stuff” without any knowledge of or concern about where the money will come from. The state pension crisis threatens to drag most states under, but that hasn’t stopped people from excoriating anyone who suggests cuts in pension benefits to preserve the system and keep states out of bankruptcy. Standing still is the default posture of those who attack others seeking to reform federal welfare and entitlement programs. In short, we won’t accept that a flood is coming until we see the waters racing toward us and, by then, it will be too late.

It’s not just the likelihood of economic unrest which looms over the horizon. We have a long, hot summer ahead of us, with the expected trial of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the Supreme Court rulings on Obamacare and the Arizona immigration law, and whatever fallout arises from the results of the presidential election. With irresponsible actors like the New Black Panther Party threatening violence if the Zimmerman trial or President Obama’s re-election campaign don’t result in what they perceive as a favorable outcome, and with the president segmenting us by race, class, age, gender, and sexual orientation in order to stir up enough resentment for a victory, we will be a fragmented, troubled nation regardless of what happens in November.

In my opinion, the restoration of civil society in America isn’t just a matter of cultural integrity or American exceptionalism. In the end, I believe it will be a means of survival in the midst of economic and social upheaval. Does that cause me worry or fear, or make me angry at those who can’t see the coming storm?

Honestly, no. I’ve read the book on how all of this is supposed to go down, and I know how it ends.

The hard times my family and I have endured over the past six years have taught us that things can get bad, but we can still make it, especially if we stay together as a family, and lean on our church and our community for strength and encouragement. I also know there are millions of Americans out there who will come together in cities, towns and villages all over the nation, and take their destinies into their own hands, not because government compelled them to do so, but because the times call for it, and they will relearn how to care for themselves, their families and their neighbors. They will build the ark that will rescue us.

Most importantly, they will remember the grace that God once shed on America, and they will reach out to those people who aren’t doing well in these tough times, and offer them the hand of compassion to lift them up into the ark with us. It’s already happening in some communities, and they are “all in” with rolling up their sleeves and bringing back hope from the ground up, rather than waiting on wisdom from the top down.

Maybe then, we will be reminded of what once made America a beacon of hope to the world, and we will rebuild on those values that bring us together, rather than continue to quarrel over what separates us, and wreck this ship of state on the rocks.

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

A few months ago, as a series of accidents and ailments afflicted me and knocked me out of the arena of political commentary for a time, I started to feel uneasy about the tone of the discourse in our culture, and more specifically the conversation I was facilitating online through my articles and my social media presence. I persuaded myself that I was keeping things respectful, gracious and high-minded, but the responses were not always so, and that observation, applicable to people on both sides of the political divide, bothered me to the point I had to pull away:

“Folks, I think I’ve hit a wall. I don’t know if it’s my post-operative state or an increase in the intensity of the debate, but my sense is that the respect, comity and grace that I’ve always tried to promote in this community seems to have flown out the window.

“While I have a definitive worldview, I post items to stimulate discussion, learning and networking in the arena of politics, culture and society. I try to show kindness and speak respectfully to anyone who dissents, and in all discourse, I try to follow Romans 12:18, ‘If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.’

“It’s not working, and I’m as frustrated as I’ve ever been. I apologize for my weakness, but I’m not handling Thomas Jefferson’s ‘boisterous sea of liberty’ very well at the moment. I’m tired, and there’s still so much left to do.

“I don’t know if anyone else out there feels this way, but as for me, I’m going to pray. I need some quiet time with my Lord and Savior to get my mind and heart right, and I worship Him, not these mini-potentates in politics that we all seem to put on pedestals, as if they were our betters. They are our equals, not our idols.

“Rant over – sorry to burden you with my personal thoughts.”

I wrote those words before I landed in the hospital a few weeks later with internal bleeding and pneumonia, and that episode left me even more drained and discouraged. The love and encouragement of family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances has been a blessing to me, and I’ve gradually found my voice again, but my passion is different than before. It’s difficult for me to explain, but I will try.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19, English Standard Version)

Before this “timeout,” I gave no real consideration to how others would respond to many of the news and opinion articles I posted. If I was interested in it, I posted it.

I now find myself thinking, “What do you hope to accomplish by sharing this with others?” The difference is subtle, but I have refrained from posting a lot of articles because I’ve concluded they will only inflame passions without purpose.

Proverbs 15:18 says, “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.” I want to encourage spirited discussion and debate, but I don’t want it to descend into mean-spiritedness, and God has convicted me that I have a primary role in either encouraging or quelling strife.

Don’t read into my statement, however, that we are to refrain from speaking Biblical truth. We are still called to obedience, not to score points to get into heaven, but rather out of gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice for us while we were still sinners. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

There are certain issues for which I fully intend to expose those with whom I disagree, because their words or actions come into direct conflict with a Christian worldview. I will try to do so with a gentle spirit, but there are eternal and divine principles that are irreconcilable with the ways of the world. My first obligation is to revere and follow the commandments of God and honor the way in which He designed the world and all who live in it. If that causes someone to respond in anger despite my best attempts to speak quietly and respectfully, then the burden of responsibility does not rest with me.

There are other circumstances, however, where sharing more information would just be pouring gasoline on a fire.

The Trayvon Martin murder case is the catalyst for perhaps one of the most racially charged periods in our nation’s recent history.  It grieves me because everything that has happened in our country in the decades since the modern civil rights movement began, culminating with the election of a black man to the presidency, should be leading us to the abatement, rather than the escalation, of racial hostilities.

Only the most bitter or most manipulative of hearts could look at where we were in the 1950s regarding race relations compared to where we are today, and conclude that little has changed.

Yet to hear the dialogue today, you would think we were still in the midst of the reign of terror experienced by blacks, especially black men, in the days leading up the civil rights movement. That was when, according to progressive writer Hamden Rice, white people “occasionally went berserk, and grabbed random black people, usually men, and lynched them” and “also randomly beat black people, and the black people could not fight back, for fear of even worse punishment.”

Today, the hands that are most likely to take my life suddenly and violently are black, not white. While white-on-black crime makes national news headlines, the rivers of blood flowing in black communities are fed by self-inflicted wounds.

The irrational position that we are no better off today when it comes to race than we were a few generations ago provokes a powerful backlash from those who perceive themselves as the accused in this drama. To counter the cries for justice from one side, the other side produces crime stories and other evidence to disprove the notion of continued racial animus, and we find ourselves engaging in a tit-for-tat war of words that leads to  – what?

I see nothing constructive to be gained from posting articles about black-on-white crimes, however horrific they may be, or playing judge, jury or executioner in the court of public opinion. If asked, I will give my most measured and informed opinion, but it’s bound to be overcome by events the very next day as new or previously unreleased evidence surfaces.

The role of a Christian in this situation is clearly spelled out by the apostle James – “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Christian author and speaker Joyce Meyer once said that “angry Christian” is an oxymoron, and I would add “offended Christian” and “fearful Christian” to that list. To twist an old saying a bit, I think we’re so wrapped up in our earthly selves that we aren’t of any heavenly good.

We who have been redeemed and given not only the promise of eternal life, but also the promise that God will prevail, have nothing to fear, and when we are angry, quick to take offense, or fretful about the world around us, it calls into question the legitimacy of our faith. As Christian author Andrée Seu Peterson puts it, “…[W]orrying is nothing but faith in the devil.”

Therefore, I am attempting to be more deliberate and purposeful in my communications on the culture, while continuing to converse with a generous spirit, and remain faithful to a God’s-eye view of the world. Even so, the ruling class still needs to look over their shoulders, because I’m not giving them a pass!

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” (Psalm 146:3-4)

Some of us longtime policy wonks like to refer to election time as “the silly season,” which sounds cute but does not convey the extent of the stupidity that occurs in and around political campaigns.

I haven’t commented at all on the current election in recent months, nor am I wringing my hands over the outcome. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a preference, or that I’m not concerned about the implications of a victory by one candidate or the other. It just means that I’m putting these human beings in their proper positional relationship with me, and with God.

At some point, the deification or demonization of political figures simply became too for me much to bear. Some of our affection for our favorite politicians borders on worship, which is inconsistent with the fact that they are no better or no worse than us. “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one’” (Romans 3:10). We are all equal in the eyes of God, meaning we are all sinners and all of us should be humbled in His presence.

It’s wrong to put any man or woman so high on a pedestal that they block our view of heaven. These men and women in the ruling class are not our betters, nor are they our messiahs.

That said, those in authority over us are appointed by God, and we are commanded to show them respect. Romans 13:1 says, “Let every personbe subject to the governing authorities. Forthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

Respect, however, is not blind obedience because, as Peter and the apostles said to the governing authorities in Jerusalem, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Moreover, leaders are held to a higher standard.

In Ezekiel 34:4, the Lord criticizes “the shepherds of Israel,” declaring, “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed,the injured you have not bound up,the strayed you have not brought back,the lost you have not sought, and with force andharshness you have ruled them.” James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

Therefore, even as we show respect for the elites of this world, the ones upon whom God has bestowed power, influence or authority, we must also hold them accountable, with the commands of God as our standard of measure.

We must also pray for them, because the considerable power they have been given also brings with it great temptation, and they are ultimately no better than any of us when it comes to the scourge of sin.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

One of the great stories in early Christian history involved the response of the Christian community during the plagues that afflicted the Roman Empire. While the Romans abandoned their sick and dying out of fear for their own lives, Christians not only cared for themselves but took in those the Romans had rejected, even if it meant certain death. Their compassion was a source of irritation for Emperor Julian, who carped, “The impious Galileans support not only their own poor, but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.” Their unconditional love for others, even their enemies, resulted in many converts to the fledgling faith.

I have two observations of the early Christians that don’t hold true for American Christians today, particularly Christians on both sides of the racial divide.

The early Christians were comprised of people from various nations, and of different socioeconomic backgrounds, races, customs and more. They were a heterogeneous group, but they were so bound together by their devotion to Christ that all else was irrelevant.

Slaves and women, among the lowest classes of people in the Roman Empire, found dignity and worth in the Christian community. Christians cared for one another and met each other’s needs, and the Roman writer Tertullian, a convert to Christianity, wrote that the non-believers were so astonished by their generosity they proclaimed aloud, “See how they love one another!”

The other noteworthy observation is that the early Christians showed compassion and care even for those who despised and persecuted them, even if it meant contracting illnesses and losing their own lives. Bishop John Chrysostom, an early church father, wrote:

Every day the Church here feeds 3,000 people. Besides this, the church daily helps provide food and clothes for prisoners, the hospitalized, pilgrims, cripples, churchmen and others. When epidemics broke out in Carthage and Alexandria, Christians rushed to aid all in need. . .

Jesus declared, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The early church understood and lived His words, not only to love the Lord and each other, but also to love their neighbor as themselves. If these simple people of ancient times could grasp how following these two commands set them apart from the world in which they lived, helped them transcend the strife of their time, and drew people to the faith by the thousands, surely we who are more erudite can do the same.

So what has happened to us? Black and white Christians are on opposite sides, each accusing the other of apostasy and declaring themselves to be more “Christian” than the other. At a time when America resembles Rome in decline, and people are desperately seeking hope that isn’t packaged in a superficial and ultimately meaningless political campaign slogan, we Christians are neither set apart, transcendent, nor attractive to others. The hard truth is that Christ is not truly first in our lives, because He doesn’t bring forth such rotten fruit.

Racial or ethnic identity, class, gender, ideology, political preferences and other worldly labels are counterfeit gods, and if any of these are preventing Christians from coming together as one, then we are guilty of idolatry. The Lord commands, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), but that is just another of His commands which seems to have fallen on deaf ears and hardened hearts.

And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).

These are the things which trouble me, and leave me questioning what I am to do. I don’t want to get ahead of God, nor do I want to lag behind Him. I want to go when He says to go, and speak when He says to speak, and I want my actions and my words to be His, not mine. Even when I am speaking truth to power, or calling out liars and their lies, I want to speak not with my authority, but His.

Why dothe nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against hisAnointed, saying, “Let usburst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He whosits in the heavenslaughs; the Lord holds them in derision. (Psalm 2:1-4)

In these days of rage, it is up to us, who are called according to His purpose, to bear good fruit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus said in Matthew 7:16, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”

If we who call ourselves Christians engage in serious self-evaluation, it won’t be hard for us to figure out whether our fruit is sweet and fragrant, or putrid and rotting on the vine.

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.

For example, I am weary of the presidential election and have essentially stopped commenting on it. My opinion is that we put these men and women on pedestals to be deified or vilified, as if they are gods that will either save or destroy us. The fact is that they are no better than you or me, and their victory or defeat will not matter in the larger scheme of things. Be honest with yourself; has the presence of your favorite politician in the courthouse, state house, U.S. House, or White House really made your daily life any better or worse for you? Will your problems go away if your favorite politician wins in November?

It is principles and ideas, not personalities, that matter, and I would rather spend my time defending those than worshipping at the feet of a politician, or barking at the feet of one, as the case may be.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be critical of their words and actions if they are deceitful, or if they challenge ideas, like religious liberty and freedom of conscience, that I believe are fundamental to the character and well-being of our nation.

What it does mean is that my focus will be on encouraging people to take charge of their own destinies, and to help their neighbors without regard for what the government does or doesn’t do. We were designed to be a nation of self-rule, beginning with our families, neighborhoods, civic organizations, charities and houses of worship – “civil society,” to describe a concept that Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the early days of this nation, and chronicled in his famous work, Democracy in America.

While he called such aggregations “voluntary associations,” the form and purpose are the same, and Americans coming together within their communities for the common good was what protected the American experiment from the selfishness of pure individualism and the tyranny of the majority on one end of the spectrum, and the despotism of oligarchy on the other. Civil society is what makes self-governance possible, and while some will continue to characterize the political debate in America aas a battle between left and right, I now see the central argument as whether we prefer governance from the ground up, or from the top down.

Think about it. Whether it’s a conservative town in Texas or an inner city housing project in any major U.S. city, what possible argument could there be against the notion that you’re in charge? “No, it’s bad for me to be responsible for what happens in my neighborhood”?

Within the constraints of the law, can you handle it if you and your neighbors are responsible for fixing what ails your community?

Does that prospect energize or terrify you? Does it make you uncomfortable that you might not be able to blame someone else when things aren’t the way you think they ought to be?

What does it look like to take charge and tackle the problems in your community, and not wait for someone to come and rescue you? What does it look like when you are the change you’re looking for, and you don’t outsource your responsibility to Washington?

I can give one example which with I’m very familiar. Robert Hahn, the pastor of Chesapeake Church in Huntingtown, Maryland, decided that he wanted to tackle the problem of hunger in Calvert County. It bothered him that Calvert County consistently appeared on a variety of lists as one of the richest counties in America, yet thousands of people in working families were going to bed every night hungry, and nearly 50 percent of them were children.

While his church operated a large food pantry, he knew he could do more. He didn’t wait for anyone’s approval, nor did he petition the government for a new law or regulation to help him. He simply went to work, and created an alliance of local churches, businesses, civic organizations, and even farmers, dedicated to one overriding mission – End Hunger in Calvert County.

I captured the efforts of this alliance, as well as other community outreach activities in which this church is engaged, in a previous article which I encourage you to read in the hope it will inspire you. The point is that he saw a need and acted on it without seeking government intervention or waiting for their blessing, creating a voluntary association that is putting food on the tables of struggling families in Calvert County, and even creating job opportunities for them through a culinary school run in conjunction with the local community college.

That is civil society and self-governance in action in the 21st century, it is quintessentially American in form and spirit and, as an old needlepoint sign my wife made for me says, “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it..”

For decades now, we’ve been slowly talked out of the notion that we can do something about the problems in our communities, and we have become either too timid or too somnolent to just roll up our sleeves and do it. Who’s going to stop us from doing good for our neighbors? What are we afraid of?

Pollster Scott Rasmussen wrote in his book, In Search of Self-Governance, “We don’t want to be governed from the left, the right, or the center. We want to govern ourselves.” I recommend you read the book – it’s only 71 pages, so you can knock it out in a couple of hours – and start getting your courage back so you can band together with others to take charge in your communities. Neither Republicans nor Democrats, or any other political party, for that matter, has the answers we’re looking for. To paraphrase the cartoon character Pogo, we have met the answer, and the answer is us.

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.

Many of my friends, acquaintances and colleagues will chide me for being disappointed, saying, “That’s just the way he is,” or “What did you expect?” I am a hopeful person, however, even in the midst of trying times for our nation and world, and for me personally, and I was truly hoping you’d knock this issue out of the park. I was hoping you would be a man.

It wouldn’t have cost you anything politically, either. If anything, the independents who’ve been running away from you in droves might have been persuaded to give you another chance if you had chosen to be a leader and a statesman rather than a panderer to your base.

Kirsten Powers showed leadership this week. The liberal columnist for the Daily Beast risked taking it on the chin from her ideological teammates by decrying misogyny regardless of its origins, and correctly pointing out how liberals look the other way when it’s one of their own making crude or vile statements about women. Any fair-minded person knows it shouldn’t matter if the person being insulted is conservative or liberal, but in our superheated, hyper-partisan political environment, the side on which you stand along the ideological fault line seems to be all that matters. Ms. Powers showed courage and integrity with her words, the qualities of a true leader.

Instead of taking on this issue like a man, you offered up an excuse that you didn’t have the time to take on every insult made over the public airwaves, and that it’s the press that should be holding commentators accountable, not you. That, sir, is a flimsy excuse. You clearly took the time to call your supporter after the Rush Limbaugh flap, and you’ve had no qualms in the past about jumping right into the middle of a current story – if your friends are involved. You disrespect us with your light regard for our discernment.

In the  end, you continue to demonstrate your inability to show even the most rudimentary qualities of leadership over a diverse nation much in need of a sign of unity from you. Everything in your calculus is political, and there is no room for considering how your tactics are segmenting the nation to the point where the damage could be irreparable. I have daughters, too, Mr. President, and a son, and the example I try to set for them is that right and wrong are not ideological concepts, but matters of truth. That is why I can write in defense of your wife when she is attacked unfairly, even if I don’t agree with her politics.

I am disappointed that you couldn’t, even this once, meet that standard, and I fear that because you took the wide and well-traveled road, the chances your daughters will be “attacked or called horrible names” as they exercise their citizenship are increased, not lessened. You were given a chance to put out the flames, and you chose to walk away while the nation burns.

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.”

You see, as long as we continue to discuss this issue, as important as I believe it is to educate all Americans on the implications of allowing government to dictate to churches how they are to practice their faith, the Left will continue to divert attention, as they are so skilled at doing, to the straw man of reduced or restricted access to contraception for women.

They do not want to confront the larger issue of government attempting to impose its will on the church, in clear violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, because they have no principle in our constitutional republic on which to stand.

In fact, they don’t want to confront us on constitutional grounds. As Rep. Kathy Hochul so helpfully pointed out, they didn’t consult the Constitution of the United States, the supreme law of the land which they all swear to uphold when they take office, in the drafting of this mandate.

We must remember that, to the Left, the American constitution is an anachronism, inappropriate for our more enlightened times, and authored by privileged white males who were content to leave the suppression of the rights of minorities and women unaddressed.

It also left out all the rights they have to the fruits of the labor of others so they may live the lifestyles of their choosing, and therefore, it is unworthy of recommendation to a foreign nation by even one of our Supreme Court justices, inferior to South Africa’s constitution, or even Canadian and European statements of entitlements – I mean rights.

It made individual ownership of property a fundamental right, thereby taking from them the ability to use the coercive power of the state to carry out the noble objective of stripping those they deem unworthy of what they own. This would be done in the name of “redistributive justice,” to use the words of then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama in 2001.

Incidentally, as a wordsmith, I would caution the reader that “redistribution” implies that there was some “distribution” of ownership that preceded it. The word leaves no room for the probability that most Americans acquired what they own by exercising the virtues of hard work, delayed gratification, risk taking, and good citizenship. It presumes ownership to be an arbitrary exercise that results in unfair allocations of wealth. That is a lie, and we must not be party to their Orwellian wordplay, because it gives the lie undeserved credibility. I would also add that anytime an adjective is used before the word “justice,” lovers of liberty and natural law ought to be wary. With that digression out of the way, let’s continue.

Since they will not fight us on constitutional grounds, they need to make the issue about something else and, in this instance, it’s denying women their God-given right to contraceptives. That sounds silly, of course, so they don’t phrase it that way, using euphemisms like “women’s health” and “reproductive justice” – ah, another adjective polluting the word “justice.”

Alas, the facts betray the Left, because no one is proposing a ban on contraceptives, nor is anyone proposing to price them out of the reach of most American women. As this writer and others have pointed out. the availability of affordable contraception is the greatest it has been in the history of the planet, and the variety has greatly expanded beyond the chastity belt of ancient times.

Much of the recent debate has centered around Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who, within a week, transmogrified from a 23-year old co-ed whose classmates were going broke over the Jesuit school’s refusal to provide contraception in their health plans, to a 30-year old leftist feminist who deliberately enrolled at the law school despite her awareness of their policy so she could devote herself to overturning it.

In many respects, she is the personification of the Left’s upper hand in this debate. She echoes the leftist lie that the central issue is contraception and the rights of women to do as they wish with their bodies at taxpayer expense, and she agitates, even enrages us to the point where we are knocked off our game, as Rush Limbaugh was this week in his response and subsequent apology for the intemperate language he used to describe Ms. Fluke. The Left is crowing with glee at the sight of Mr. Limbaugh eating humble pie.

In the process, Ms. Fluke, heretofore another obscure leftist feminist, has become famous and is chewing up significantly more than her allotted fifteen minutes of fame to promote herself and her causes, not all of which are ignoble, but many of which are morally objectionable, such as the murder of unborn innocent humans through abortion.

Not only has the Left diverted our attention from the central constitutional issue of this mandate, not only have some of us given the Left ammunition to embarrass us, not only have we made a hero of an obscurity, we aren’t discussing the president’s record of the past three years.

We aren’t discussing the more than $15 trillion national debt, or the annual $1 trillion plus in deficit spending, both of which are unprecedented in our nation’s history.

We aren’t talking about the real unemployment rate, which counts those who’ve dropped out of the labor force, and which hasn’t budged significantly since September 2009.

We aren’t talking about how the Democrats in Congress haven’t put forth a federal budget, in accordance with their constitutional duties, since September 2009.

We’re not pointing out the almost weekly bad news about the true costs of Obamacare and how the individual mandate is yet another infringement on individual liberty.

We aren’t discussing the hypocrisy of a president who cavalierly engages in class warfare, ripping the nation apart into warring factions, while stuffing his campaign coffers with more Wall Street cash than all other candidates combined.

In other words, we’ve taken our eyes off the ball, which is precisely what the Left intended. Why would they want the American people to be reminded of what poor stewards they’ve been of our tax dollars, how ineffective their faux jobs programs have been, what a boondoggle Obamacare has become, or how they are as guilty of corporatism as any politician?

Moreover, they want us to keep talking about religion and morality because, whether out of a lack of time or interest, most voters are going to get their take on the political environment from the mainstream media, which is the Left’s public relations firm. As a result, they’re going to be persuaded that all those conservatives care about is intruding in people’s bedrooms.

Most conservatives I know, however, want to be as far away from people’s bedrooms as possible, nor do they want anybody in theirs.

They may be concerned about the distinct human being that results from someone’s bedroom trysts, or being forced to pay for someone else’s sexual choices, but those are a far cry from intruding on private sexual relations between consenting adults. It’s another lie, and one which is easily taken apart by fact, but it evokes powerful emotions, and could turn off enough of the electorate to pull out a squeaker for their man in November.

So what are we to do?

It’s simple, really. We get back to pointing out the failures of this president and his leftist allies, we remind people that real morality and dignity are found in them being free to govern themselves and engage their neighbors at the community level, and we affirm that it is we the people, not the federal government, that reign sovereign over these United States of America.

As for the contraception mandate, or any other unconstitutional directive that emanates from Washington, the answer and the action are also simple.

“We will not comply.”

Civil disobedience, which in the past meant non-violent, respectful resistance before people came along and slapped the label on protesters engaging in public defecation, vandalism and harassment of private citizens, is a time honored response to unjust laws and overreach by the federal government. People of faith, and even people of no faith who respect liberty, should simply refuse to obey, and willingly bear the consequences of that decision. This government and its supporters are at war with liberty. We should not be afraid to fight.

For the church especially, this is the time to transcend the world and be what God intended for His church. Peter and the disciples said in Acts 5:29 said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

God says to feed the hungry, so go out and do it, and don’t wait for government approval, and certainly don’t allow them to push you out of the way. God says that all life is precious to Him, that he knit us together and knew us before we were formed in the womb, so fight to defend the sanctity of human life, and let no threats deter you from your task. God says the family is His sanctuary for children, so fight for the family and don’t allow the government to raise your children for you. God says the world will know Christians by their love for one another, so reach out to Christians over the artificial demographic walls our government and culture have raised to divide us, and work in unity to rebuild communities and lives.

Most Americans proclaim themselves to be Christians, but have outsourced their ministry to government. Take it back. The might of millions of American Christians, obeying God and ministering to the people at their level of need, would dwarf the power of Washington, and do what Washington cannot do, which is change lives and hearts for good. What is more moral, to keep the poor in a perpetual state of poverty by just giving them aid without hope for a better future, or to raise up the poor through education, character development, and high expectations so they can experience the pride of providing for themselves and their families?

Let’s reset the debate and, whatever the outcome in November, let us commit ourselves to a single, unified response to a government more dedicated to itself than to the people who rule over it. The Declaration of Independence gives us the conditions under which our resistance is justified:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Let our response be loud and clear. “We will not comply.”

“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.

My particular timeout has manifested itself in a few ways. My new position as an associate dean and assistant professor at Liberty University is one of the greatest blessings of my lifetime, and I believe I can do great things for God in this place, but my family and I continue to struggle with the financial burdens that have plagued us for nearly six years. I know the light is just over the horizon, but I’ve been in the darkness for so long that my soul is weary, especially since I carry the burden of being my family’s provider and protector, and I have failed them for far too long now.

Moreover, in the past few months, I’ve found myself increasingly frustrated with the tone of conversation in the online community I’ve developed on Facebook. My desire has always been to create a place where people could learn and interact on the issues of the day without rancor or incivility. When people who disagree with me or others in our community occasionally post their disagreements, I try to treat them with the grace and respect due to them as fellow Americans and children of God. I have no problem with spirited conversation, and I certainly don’t spare the elites when I believe their words or actions are inconsonant with the laws of God, but I try, in the words of Romans 12:18, to “be at peace with everyone.”

People were still denigrating others and behaving in a bullying fashion despite my pleas for civility, however, and I became fed up with their personal assaults on people simply for evaluating information, processing it through the filter of their personal worldview, and reaching different conclusions than they did. It wasn’t enough for them to disagree; it was almost as if they forbade us to hold an opinion different from their own, and they were going to see to it that we were cowed into silence or submission.

Freedom of conscience is a bedrock principle of human dignity and worth, and those who use insults and intemperate language to browbeat others are, in my opinion, launching a direct attack on individual conscience and freedom of expression. Because of them, my reservoir of goodwill was depleted to the point I couldn’t engage in the political dialogue anymore without becoming drained, and I eventually hit a wall and had to back away.

Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of my timeout, however, is the run of misfortune I’ve had over the past two months with my physical health. I ruptured my left triceps tendon on December 16^th, had arthroscopic knee surgery on December 20^th, had surgery to repair my ruptured triceps tendon on January 19^th, and spent the past week in the hospital due to internal bleeding, which caused me to lose two-thirds of my blood volume, and the incidental discovery of pneumonia while they were searching for the cause of the blood loss.

I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life, and when you add to it the other issues I previously mentioned, the result is a much needed timeout, if for no other reason than to restore my equilibrium. I feel strongly, however, that it needs to be about more than getting back to where I was. I need to go higher, because I sense that God expects it of me.

So what is He teaching me during my timeout?

He’s teaching me to be obedient, even when it doesn’t seem rational to the rest of the world. I’ve been reading my Bible with great deliberation, trying to learn what He wants me to learn, and one thing that leapt out at me immediately was how the great men and women of the Old Testament obeyed the Lord without question. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Issac, was the ultimate expression of obedience to God, and he didn’t do it blindly, but with the belief that God is always good and perfect, utterly incapable of evil or error, and therefore had a good reason for commanding him to do so. He had no foreknowledge of God’s intervention to prevent Issac’s sacrifice, or that God would provide a substitute instead.

Such extraordinary faith is in short supply today, as we succumb to the pressures to go with what the rest of the world, with its pride and reason, thinks is a better way. We don’t want to be vilified or negatively labeled, so we bend or break altogether, and we render ourselves useless to Him.

He’s also showing me that there is nothing on the earth that isn’t His or resides outside His reach or influence. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

This is a warning to those who want to relegate God to Sundays inside the four walls of the church, or in the homes of believers, and it’s not just for secularists, either. Most who call themselves Christians hide behind the sanctuary of church or home, telling themselves that God doesn’t want us to engage the culture or participate in worldly endeavors like politics because they aren’t “ministry.”

As I read, however, about the lives of great Christians like William Wilberforce, a politician who devoted his life to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery itself in Great Britain, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who opposed the evil of Nazi Germany and was martyred for it, or recount the actions of Christians in the early Roman Empire who stood against the Roman practice of female infanticide, elevated women to equal status, and cared for the poor and sick even of their oppressors, it’s clear that God has always reigned in all the affairs of men without exception. The conduct of our very lives, wherever we happen to be, is ministry, pure and simple.

Colossians 1:16 says, “For all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.” How complete is His dominion over everything and everyone!

Is this were not true, then what are we to make of Joseph and Daniel, great men of God who rose to positions of authority in pagan governments, yet were fearless in declaring before pharaohs and kings their allegiance to the Lord? They were the living illustrations of what Jesus prayed for His disciples:

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ~ John 17:13-16

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” It was never clearer to me than in these words that Christians are not to disengage from the world, but to stay close to Christ and guard against evil while we are fully involved in our ministry to the world, wherever our calling takes us.

As He reaffirms His sovereignty over all things, encourages me to minister where I am, and convicts me to stand firm and not yield to the ways of the world, He reminds me in 1 Peter 3:15 to be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks…for a reason” for my faith, “yet do it with gentleness and respect.” One of my favorite verses, Romans 12:18, says “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Taken together, these verses underscore His desire for us to be affable and engaging in our Christian witness to others, never denigrating or vilifying.

As Christians, we are supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). If we are Christians, it should be apparent even to those who do not believe, and Jesus, in warning us against false prophets, declared, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”

In other words, a fruit tree can only produce one kind of fruit and we who are surrendered to Christ are made to produce the fruit of the Spirit.

God is teaching me that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1). That means even the most evil rulers of history, like Caesar in the days of Christ, Hitler in the 20^th century, or Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in the 21^st century, were granted their power by the Lord Himself.

As I struggle with that fact, He reminds me of His words in Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” In Romans 8:28, we are told, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

While I don’t understand His ways in allowing evil to prevail, I must believe He will make it work, just as Joseph learned after thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment, leading him to proclaim to the brothers who betrayed him, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20). Perhaps it is the crucible of evil in authority that will bring forth the Josephs of today and tomorrow.

Regardless of the nature of authority, He commands me to “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” (1 Peter 2:13-14). He even tells me to pray for our leaders, declaring, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Looking again to Joseph and Daniel as examples, they submitted to the authority of the rulers for whom they governed.

What they did not do, however, was place the authority of earthly rulers over the authority of God. Daniel refused to follow King Nebuchadnezzar’s dietary guidelines because they violated God’s law, and King Darius had him thrown into the den of lions when he refused to worship any god other than the one true God. It’s clear that God is supreme, and whatever respect is due to the rulers of the earth, he is due even more. The Lord declares in 1 Samuel 2:30, “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” As Peter and the disciples declared before the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

Finally, He is showing me that morality has no foundation without Him. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

As evidence, He led me to some excellent comparative historical scholarship by Regis Nicoll and Ray Blunt on two great statesmen, Thomas Jefferson and William Wilberforce, and how they confronted the seminal issue of their day, slavery.

Both the United States and Great Britain depended economically on slavery, and both nations rationalized this horrendous wrong despite their supposedly civilized and enlightened cultures.

One man’s words, which resonate throughout history – “all men are created equal” – ultimately clashed like clanging cymbals with his actions, in which he kept slaves and defended the 1820 Missouri Compromise, codifying slavery in certain states and territories, and giving it a legitimate foothold in America.  In his later years, he tried to defend his lack of action to abolish slavery by citing the inferiority of black people and their inability to make it on their own, and he opined that future, more enlightened generations would inevitably be better equipped to handle the problem. His equivocation, and that of those who followed him, left slavery in America unresolved, and a hundred years of opposition to slavery on the American continent, beginning with the Quakers in the 1750s, led eventually to a brutal war that left over 1,100,000 dead or wounded, and tore apart the American fabric so thoroughly that some would say it has yet to be fully mended.

Another man’s words – “Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions” – were the rallying cry of his life, and he doggedly pursued the abolition of the slave trade and, eventually, the outlawing of slavery altogether. He never wavered from his task despite the enmity of his peers and the public, the nearly fifty years of struggle, and his failing health. He died three days after the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, thirty one years before the American Emancipation Proclamation, and he prevailed without bloodshed or national strife.

What was the difference in these two outcomes? Thomas Jefferson, whose words so eloquently proclaimed the equality of man, couldn’t overcome his own economic self-interest, his belief that blacks were inferior beings and thus not truly equal, his loyalty to his fellow southern planters, or his desire to be admired and respected by the elites of his day, to take a principled and consistent stand against slavery. For all his faith in the enlightenment of man, his virtue, unmoored from the transcendent nature of God, could not hold against human nature and the adversity of earthly existence.

William Wilberforce, on the other hand, leaned on God and his circle of evangelical Christian friends, known as the Clapham Saints, who constantly immersed him and themselves in prayer, Bible study, and reflection. Wilberforce’s conviction that they were doing the work of the Lord was the only way he, as the public face of abolition and the restoration of morality in Great Britain, was able to persevere against the hostility of his nation, the pressures of economic interests, and threats to his own life.

He not only sought to end slavery, but also the abhorrent practices of child labor, the abuse of poor people and women, and even animal cruelty. He fought to bring virtue back to the Great Britain of his day, and his was an existence which no person would willingly endure unless he believed he was pursuing something greater than the acceptance of man or his own well-being.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” and Paul triumphantly declares, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

The Lord is teaching me, through His Word and through history, the frailty of human morality when it is motivated by anything less than His power and our awe of Him. We have seen “good” people stand by and do nothing while 11 million souls, including six million Jews, were murdered, yet men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer surrendered their safety and security, and eventually their lives, because they knew it was more important to do God’s will than to remain mute or still against evil. Bonhoeffer was safe in the United States, and had a life of full-time ministry and theological scholarship ahead of him had he stayed but, against the advice of his friends, he returned to Germany and certain death.

As you can see, God is really working in my heart, and He is calling me to something significant. I don’t know what it is just yet, but as He reveals more to me, I promise to share it with you. Meanwhile, the timeout – and the lessons I must learn from it – continues.

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?

I said earlier that Dr. King was a peaceful warrior and, like a skilled and seasoned commander, he knew which strategies, tactics and weapons worked, and which ones didn’t, and he evolved his battle plan to meet changing conditions. One always walks on shaky ground when attempting to predict what the great leaders of the past would do if they were alive today, but I think Dr. King would have seen the opportunity in some of the statistics I cited previously, and would have encouraged us to pursue those opportunities with the same vigor and purpose that we pursued our legal rights those many decades ago.

From my vantage point, it appears to me that many of our leaders are fighting a battle that has already been won, and that is the battle for legal recognition of our rights as American citizens. We should remain vigilant, to be sure, since freedom is not something that, once won, maintains itself. I submit to you, however, that when it comes to the civil rights movement, we won, and America won as well because, as it has always done throughout its history, it has continued to measure itself against its own creed as articulated in the Declaration of Independence, and has corrected itself while still maintaining its integrity as a nation. It is why I love America, and why I was proud to serve in the armed forces to defend her, not because she is great, but because she strives to be good.

The next battlefield for the young people of today is not legal, but economic in nature. That is where the $1.1 trillion in buying power comes in. The report I cited has several statistics about what black Americans buy, what they watch and what services they use, all geared toward guiding the marketplace to sell to the black community. That’s all well and good, because we all like having more “stuff.” What are we doing, however, to grow that $1.1 trillion and use it to benefit our communities and, in so doing, benefit our nation as a whole? As black financial expert Shay Olivarria says, “The only color that matters today is green.” It’s good to have it, but it’s even better to grow it, and it can grow because it is limited only by the ingenuity and sweat equity we’re willing to invest in it.

Before I go into what I like to call my “Three E’s,” which I tout as the keys to ascendancy in an opportunity society, keys which will work for all Americans, let me caution you that the founders of this nation never imagined free enterprise without virtue at its core. Pursuing wealth is a virtuous endeavor because of the positive characteristics it engenders in us – creativity, discipline, industry, perseverance and self-sufficiency, to name a few. The heart of free enterprise is to do something for someone else – to provide a good or service that someone else wants or needs, and to do so better than anyone else.
It is virtue that also leads us to be generous with our wealth, and Americans, even in these tough times, are still the most charitable people on the planet. You are entitled to the fruits of your honest labor, but it is virtue that compels you to care for those who cannot care for themselves. You can’t outsource compassion to anyone else or any other institution, either. Giving is a personal and voluntary act, and I encourage it as strongly as I encourage you to build up generational wealth for yourselves and your families.

So what are the Three E’s? They are education, economic literacy, and entrepreneurship. It’s always wise to learn from the success of others, and the successes of immigrant groups that come to America can generally be attributed to their educational attainment, their understanding of personal financial management, and their willingness to engage in the risks and rewards of a capitalistic society.

Most of us would agree that we need to expand educational opportunities for our children, and that is more critical in the 21st century than at any time in the past. We are an information-driven culture, and that requires a different skill set than the manufacturing society of our past, which accommodated low-skill, high-wage work. That requires schools to step up to meet the challenges of this new world, and parents to demand more on behalf of their children. The dropout rate from high school of young black males in particular exceeds 50 percent, and we cannot afford to lose another generation to the despair and hopelessness of being unemployable because they didn’t finish school. We need solutions, and we need them today.

Some of you may know that this is National School Choice Week and, if you visit their website at www.schoolchoiceweek.com, you will find a wealth of information on how parents can be given greater control over their children’s education. Even President Obama has embraced education options to give parents and children more say in their educational destinies. I encourage the next generation of leaders to continue the momentum in this area, and not only will charter schools, private schools, online schools, home schools and other programs offer increased options for parents and children, the lessons learned from these initiatives will make public schools better, too.

It’s one thing to learn the skills and accumulate the knowledge to be successful, but what do we do once we start drawing a paycheck? One of the reasons our $1.1 trillion of consumer buying power hasn’t resulted in expanded wealth in the black community is that we spend it and never set enough aside for a rainy day, or to accrue interest. This isn’t unique to the black community; Americans as a whole are economically illiterate when it comes to their personal finances, and we have one of the lowest savings rates in the world. Our wealth, if we have any, is often tied up in our homes if we own them, and that is why when the housing bubble burst, it had a devastating impact on middle-class wealth in general, and black wealth in particular. Once again, being armed with the right knowledge is key.

One of the expanding trends I’ve witnessed, and in which I’ve personally participated, is the offering of personal finance classes through our local churches. These classes are part of a wave of life skills training being offered by churches across the country so that people may have their practical needs met, with biblical wisdom as the foundation. Topics like emergency savings, paying down debt, budgeting, investing, and retirement are addressed, and these classes are always popular, and always full.

Our next generation of leaders need to encourage our churches to latch on to this trend and offer this kind of training in all our communities. If you’re not comfortable with a church sponsoring such training, then start something at a community center or through any one of a number of civic organizations. The better people are at managing their money, the more money we will have available in our communities with which to do great things. We have $1.1 trillion in seed capital, and through economic literacy, we can make more, and do more for ourselves and others.

No discussion on wealth creation is complete without entrepreneurship, the willingness to become part of the ownership society. It’s good to have a quality education, the knowledge of sound personal financial management and, hopefully, a good job to put all of it into practice. But what if jobs are hard to come by, or you lose your job?

It can happen to anyone. I know because it happened to me. Right up until five years ago, I was on a steadily upward professional trajectory. I was a senior executive with experience in the public sector, private sector, non-profit sector and the military, and I had a track record of professional success and salary increases with every job I took. Then the bottom fell out.

I was laid off three times in three years, and during one stretch was unemployed for more than a year. At one point, I stopped showing up in the government unemployment figures because, like hundreds of thousands of others, I gave up on looking for work, and even while I was looking, unemployment insurance wasn’t making ends meet. But I didn’t give up on working.

I started my own consulting firm and began hiring myself out to other businesses. I decided to create my own job. While I never reached the level of my previous professional income, I did enough to keep my family afloat, and the contacts I made through my firm eventually led me to the work I do today as an associate dean and assistant professor of government with Liberty University.

While we are stimulating the economy with our purchases, we are building up a lot of businesses that we don’t own. At some level, that’s OK – economies of scale lead us to big-box stores and large businesses where we can get the most for our money. But how many of you realize that the most net new jobs, the most private sector jobs, and the most exports to other countries, are generated by small businesses, the ones you see in your community as you go about your daily activities? That is the level at which entrepreneurship is thriving, and that is the next great battlefield for us in an opportunity society. Ownership is wealth, and it’s yours to pass on to your children and grandchildren and, in the black community, it’s not a new thing.

Have you ever heard the story of Bridget “Biddy” Mason? Biddy Mason was one of the slaves of a convert to the faith of Mormonism, but this slaveowner rejected the church’s suggestion that he free his slaves. He settled in California, which became a free state in the Compromise of 1850, and he soon realized that he needed to leave if he intended to keep his slaves. His slaves also realized they could gain their freedom, and they attempted to escape. The slaveowner caught up with them, but local law enforcement caught up with him before he could leave the state, and the end result was that Biddy Mason secured her freedom. But what was an illiterate black woman in her late 30s going to do to survive?

She went to work as a nurse and a midwife, saved her money carefully, purchased some land, and ran a small business. Before long, she had amassed a small fortune of $300,000, a princely sum for that day, and she used her money not only to grow her business and her land holdings, but also to care for the poor and downtrodden in her city, a small town called Los Angeles. She was so loved for her charity work that she became known as Auntie Mason or Grandma Mason. She founded an elementary school for black children, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, and a traveler’s aid center, and she fed and sheltered the poor and visited prisoners as well. She was a pillar of the community, and even spoke fluent Spanish, endearing her to the locals even more. Hers is a story that should uplift us, and give us hope, because our advantages in the 21st century are so much greater than hers.

My grandfather had only a sixth grade education, but he learned everything there is to learn about building and maintaining a house, and while working full time at a petrochemical plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, he purchased and restored homes, and rented them out to others. People could always identify a Melvin Lubin home by the teal colored paint he used for all of them! He worked hard, but he lived well. He was always impeccably dressed for church on Sunday, and he always had a nice car – he loved his Cadillacs! Because he worked with his hands, he never quite believed that you could make a good life for yourself with just “book learnin’,” as he called it. He always encouraged me in my educational pursuits, however, and near the end of his life, he had a chance to see that his eldest grandson could make a living and build a life for his family.

It is in his spirit that I offer to you the Three E’s, built on a foundation of virtue, as the path forward in the quest for the American dream. And let us not wait for or depend upon the benevolence of others to move forward. This room is filled with intelligent, energetic leaders of tomorrow who I hope and pray are too impatient to wait.

I have a saying which I didn’t think was mine, but I’ve not been able to attribute it to anyone else, so I may have come up with it – who knows? It goes like this: “If I put my plate on the table and wait for others to fill it, it may never happen. I’m going to use everything I know to fix my own meal. After all, no one but God cares more about me than me.”

Let me conclude with some wisdom I have shared in the past from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who, in the struggle for civil rights, took charge and moved our society forward, not waiting for it to give us what we felt we deserved. He said:

Nobody else can do this for us. No document can do this for us. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation can do this for us, no Kennesonian or Johnsonian civil rights bill can do this for us. If the Negro is to be free, he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign with the pen and ink of self-assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation. Don’t let anybody take your manhood.

“Don’t let anybody take your manhood.” Those are empowering words, but we must follow them with care. We’re not talking about the false bravado of the street that compels us to lash out at the slightest provocation so as not to be disrespected. Our manhood, or our personhood, to use a more expansive term, is what lifts us beyond instinct, beyond emotions, and beyond our circumstances to a place where we have been given control. You can’t control your circumstances or the feelings, words or actions of others toward you, but you CAN control your response to them.

Few people in recent history have demonstrated this more than Dr. King. When confronted with fire hoses, police dogs and angry mobs, he responded with non-violence. He responded to crude death threats with words of inestimable beauty and eloquence. He responded to blackmail with perseverance, convinced that his cause was just and would prevail over even his personal failings. He was a man – flawed to be sure, but in pursuing the great work of his life, his ability to discipline himself to respond as he should, rather than as the world and his sinful nature of instinct and emotion tempted him, made him a man.

We each have a great work to do – in our homes, in our communities, in our nation, in our world. That great work, however, must start within ourselves. No one else will do it for us. No one else is responsible for our responses to the world around us but us.

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?”

Speaking for myself, I wonder if these men are big enough, yet humble enough, for the moment.

I believe this is the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime. The world is in the midst of a grave economic crisis, the threats of transnational terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are real for all nations and, more specifically, our nation is facing crushing debt which now exceeds our gross domestic product, and a generation of decline where our children and grandchildren will not have better lives than our own.

When we examine our history, we have had men and women who rose to the occasion, and did extraordinary things in extraordinary times. In my opinion, the convergence of so many people of exceptional vision, courage and wisdom on the American continent in the 18th century was providential, and their act of rebellion against the greatest empire of its day changed the world.

Of note, these were not “old” men, as we tend to think of them. The average age of America’s founding fathers in 1776 was 43.8 years. Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, was 33. James Madison, who would go on to become the “father of the Constitution” eleven years later, was 26.

The average age of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 was 42, and four of the most influential – Alexander Hamilton, Edmund Randolph, Gouvernor Morris and Madison – were in their thirties. Granted, they had experienced greater sacrifices in service to the nation than many of today’s 30 and 40 year olds, were well educated, and had significant political experience as well, but their combination of youthful vibrancy and gravitas set America on a path to greatness.

Contrast that with the current field of presidential contenders, whose average age is 61, the youngest being former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman at 51, and the oldest being Congressman and medical doctor Ron Paul, who is 76.

I don’t want to disparage them for their age, because they all seem to be healthy and energetic. I wonder, however, if their perspective allows them to empathize with the challenges this generation faces, and the need for dramatic change, or if they are wedded to safe, incremental and ultimately small ideas that won’t work. I wonder if they have the vision to grasp the fundamental decisions we have to make on what we expect from our government and ourselves, decisions without which we cannot move forward to find solutions.

I also don’t want to denigrate their personal achievements, because all of them are accomplished men in their own right. Yet, when measured against the profile of our founders and the great American presidents who proved to be big enough for the moment, something is missing. They have plenty of ambition to be president, but what else is there?

Esther declared, “If I must die, I am willing to die,” and the men who signed the Declaration of Independence essentially signaled they were willing to die for the cause of liberty, because their names were sure to be known to the crown, and their heads would be highly prized trophies for the empire. They were also humble men who saw public service as a calling and a sacrifice and did not desire the power over their fellow citizens, nor the trappings that come with such power. They subordinated their own desires to the significance of the moment, and that made all the difference.

As this campaign progresses, I am looking for those qualities in our next president. I am looking for leadership that understands the extent of the global crisis in which we find ourselves, has the vision to know we have big decisions around which we must all coalesce, is willing to sacrifice their political career, if necessary, to make the tough choices we need, is humble enough to seek the consent of the people, and is persuasive enough to achieve consensus and general unity among us.

Our founders were up to the challenge of their times, and their character was revealed in the crucible of war and the struggle for liberty. We have to settle for the rigors of a national presidential campaign to reveal the true character of the contenders for president, but is it no less critical that someone be “elevated…for just such a time as this?”

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.

A little more than two years ago, the Department of Justice denied the city of Kinston, North Carolina the right to hold non-partisan elections. They have jurisdiction over the city thanks to the Voting Rights Act, which requires specific localities to gain federal approval of changes to the electoral process because of their past history of voter disenfranchisement targeting black voters.

It’s the decision, however, rather than the jurisdiction, which is the issue here. The residents of the city voted by a 2-to-1 margin to make their municipal elections non-partisan, and the measure seemed to have the support of black and white residents. In fact, the measure won majority support in seven of the nine predominantly black wards.

The DOJ, however, struck down the voters’ decision, with Loretta King, then the acting director of the civil rights division, declaring that removing party labels would somehow discriminate against black candidates. Ms. King is the same DOJ official who dismissed the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party, so this decision is probably consistent with the selective justice being practiced at the DOJ these days:

“Removing the partisan cue in municipal elections will, in all likelihood, eliminate the single factor that allows black candidates to be elected to office.”

At the time, I ridiculed this explanation, suggesting that a black voter might have more “cues” than just party affiliation to determine whether or not a candidate is black:

What does the party label have to do with electing black candidates to office? Do black voters need party labels to distinguish black candidates from the others? Wouldn’t it be pretty obvious which candidates were black and which ones weren’t? Aren’t the only factors necessary to “allow” black candidates to be elected are a willing candidate and people willing to vote for them? What’s going on here?

Let me translate for you. The DOJ is saying, in effect, without the party labels, blacks might 1) vote for a white person, or 2) the “wrong” kind of black person. After all, those racist conservatives might try to trick black voters by putting one of their black stooges on the ballot. We can’t trust the voters to study the candidates and make an informed choice.

When this ruling was issued, I expressed the hope that the city would file suit against the DOJ but I doubted the city officials, all Democrats, would rock the boat. I was right. The city declined to sue, but a North Carolina Republican state legislator and several residents of Kinston chose to move forward with a lawsuit, which was rejected by a U.S. District Court late last week. The suit was filed on constitutional grounds, and it was broader than the specific DOJ ruling which triggered it, so I’m not certain of the merits of the case as it goes forward on appeal.

I do know this, however. It is an insult to those who fought and died so that black people could exercise their right to vote to suggest that removing party labels from candidates on a ballot constitutes an act of racism.

If anything, the argument that blacks won’t know for whom to vote if “the partisan cue” is missing is disparaging on a number of levels. It suggests black voters are not capable of researching the candidates and their records in order to make their choices, and that they are conditioned like lab animals to vote without question for the candidate with a “D” after their name.

Only in the bizzaro world of liberal politics can a black DOJ official, working in a department headed by a black attorney general, declare black people not bright enough to vote using their own minds and judgment, and in need of a “cue” to make the politically correct choice, and get away with it.