Category Archives: globalism

Navigating the Rapids: Questions for Intercession and Conversation

February 13th, 2026 |

As I compose this essay, polarizing cultural and political leaders continue their venomous attacks against their opponents. Labels of “Nazi” have become a comma in discourse and vulgarity is now a sign of transparency. Invading church services is now heralded as civil rights agitation and any critique of radical Islam is suppressed as a phobia. 

Antisemitism continues metastasizing, with deceptive voices claiming only opposition to Zionism while not hating Jews. European nations are divided between nationalists with closed borders and globalists in a freefall capitulation to external powers or Islamicists. Crowds are chanting against the USA and ignoring the real injustices in Iran as thousands rise up against a truly evil regime. 

I have paused my commentaries for several months so that when I write, it is not one more reactive piece only exacerbating the divisions. In addition to all these external issues, we find people of faith divided over their responses to events, with some MAGA activists wrapping the Cross in a flag and those infused with hatred toward President Trump refusing support for any administration policies. 

As a Christian devoted to Christ’s kingdom and wise participation in society, I offer the following thoughts as a stimulus for reflection and civil conversation. Even in my most passionate moments, I will not:

  • Label or libel individuals and deny the humanity of any person.
  • Categorize all who disagree with me as “the enemy.” 
  • Stop believing that there is hope when people of conscience work together. 

As a public intellectual, I will:

  • Affirm that truth can be discovered and narratives can change.
  • Affirm that there are first principles of ethics and morality essential for a free and virtuous society. 
  • Seek principled consensus and live peaceably with people who see the universe differently. 

In the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth and Socrates, Here are some questions for conversation and prayer.

Question One: What does a secure border and reasonable immigration reform look like, so America is hospitable and wise?

Most Americans want border security, deportation of serious criminals, and pathways for citizenship and legal work status for people ready to contribute to our country. They are happy with some current policies and prefer surgical arrests to sweeping actions. The problem is that the paid-for-protestors and radicals on the Left want open borders and less rule of law. The Mayor of Boston recently said that everyone has a right to come to the US and have a job. On the Right, finding moderation is hard when any adjustments are seen as compromise. Some want a fortress with no hospitality. The key here? Congress finding courage and working for real immigration reform. 

Question Two: How can detractors and supporters of President Trump find a way to discuss issues rather than react to a personality?  

President Trump’s arrogance and self-promotion undermine what might be prudent domestic and foreign policies. If he will stop insulting and litigating against opponents and focus on cultivating consensual action, more peaceful progress is possible. At the same time the haters of Trump do not understand his deal-making proclivities. Greenland was never going to be an American state or territory. Several truces around the world are positive steps away from violence; however, there is much more work needed securing enduring peace. 

Question Three: Is there a real pathway to peace in the Middle East?

Israel is not a Western “settler-colony” imposing her will on a peaceful Palestine. The Jihadists opposing Israel want her absolute destruction and the end of all Jewish presence in the world. Some historical facts:

  • The international community has affirmed the need for a Jewish national home in her ancient land from the end of WWI. The convulsions following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to the rise of Arab nationalist and jihadist movements, all of whom opposed any Jewish presence. 
  • The Holocaust killed over six million Jews. In response, leaders and nations rallied around a modest homeland for the Jews in the Holy Land. The UN partitioned Palestinian territory in 1947, designation areas for Jewish settlement and the Palestinian state of Trans Jordan. No Arab nation would affirm the right of these survivors to a state in their ancient home. War ensued in 1948, with the armies of six nations arrayed against a small force. JORDAN invaded the West Bank and secured all of Jerusalem, in violation of UN mandates. A truce (NOT a treaty) came in 1949. Israel’s quick victory in 1967 secured her existence and began decades of peace talks. The Camp David Accords of 1978 saw Egypt secure the Sinai and make peace. Jordan stopped her overt hostility and a framework for the future was established.
  • From the 1970s to the mid-2010s, Israel has offered a joint capital in Jerusalem and over 90% of her reclaimed territory in the Judea and Samaria for peace. She left Gaza in 2005, only to see Hamas take a beautiful region and turn into a terrorist state. Finally, Israel is the only working (and contentious) democracy in the region, with over two million Arab citizens and equal rights for all minorities and religious communities. 

Question Four: Is there a way forward for a liberated Iran?

The great Persian people deserve a democratic society. With freedom of conscience/religion, equal rights for all, and opportunities for economic and social flourishing. The current totalitarian regime is violently suppressing dissent. The US is supportive of regime change from within and offering strong military presence that can be targeted toward regime leaders and military targets. This is an opportunity for people of conscience in both American parties to unite. The barrier is that some of the people and parties that oppose President Trump are stuck in their red-green alliance and refuse to support change because it is neither Islamist nor Marxist. Some are silent because they cannot support any administrative initiative. On the right, Fortress America opponents of any intervention rail against engagement. The way forward is steady support for dissidents, further sanctions, and a refusal to accept the apocalyptic regime as it is. 

The above are just a few of the contentious issues. The world is complicated. Friends, let’s reflect before we react, pray for those that oppose us the most, and offer workable solutions creating pathways for all to flourish. In my next essay, I will offer questions/thoughts on human identity, public ethics, and economic wisdom. We can build a better future once we stop shouting and start listening. 

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Certainties for 2023, Part 2

January 24th, 2023 |

As we look ahead to a new year, there are often feelings of hope and trepidation, a sense of a fresh start battling with nascent fatalism that wonders if life can change. The good news is that while we cannot control all the decisions of others or the events around us, we can prayerfully make wise decisions. Here are four more certainties for the coming year.

Fourthly, apocalyptic climate change propaganda will continue, along with reasoned pushbacks that call for environmental sanity that does not impoverish the working classes around the world. Global prosperity will always include a carbon footprint, and only elites sheltered from economic realities are promoting draconian policies. Thoughtful women and men will call for both/and approaches that sustain economies while developing amazing new technologies.

A fifth certitude is that many women and men will question traditional religious values and “deconstruct” their faith, while millions more find the freedom of the gospel. This paradox is reflected in the New Testament as the writers expect global evangelization and great apostasy, with awakenings matched by persecution. Serious Christians and healthy local churches will be places of intellectual, spiritual, and social refuge for women and men searching for meaning and truth. God hears the prayers and records the tears of millions crying out for an awakening.

Sixth, the gender chaos of the LGBTQIA+ movements will continue, but thoughtful men and women will offer nuanced responses to this anarchy, and its deliberate recruitment of vulnerable children and adolescents. Underneath the social trends is the deconstructionism of post-modern and Marxist ideologues that desire the end of the biological family and the remaking of human persons as transhuman group members, rather than male and female individuals with freedom. The good news is that reasonable people are seeing through the nonsense and offering ways forward that allow adults liberty while shielding children from nefarious agendas.

Finally, the new year offers an invitation from God to all: will we find our identity, peace, and rest through faith in Christ, or will we pursue our own idols and finish another year in frustration? Five questions that can help us as we aim for a flourishing life: 1) Will we live in humble reverence before God or make self-fulfillment our chief aim? 2) Will we allow the Lord to heal and bring hope, or will we wallow in fatalism? 3) Will we relate to others with love and wisdom, or see people only as a means to an end? 4) Will we discover and articulate a life mission that honors God and serves others, or live for momentary pleasures? And 5) Will we offer each day of work as an act of worship, or merely trudge along and live for Friday night? For more on these dimensions of life, go to www.discipleshipdynamics.com and discover the abundant life Christ has designed for each of us.

Please join me in welcoming the challenges and opportunities ahead. We are not alone. Our Lord is with us, and there are millions of faithful and thoughtful sisters and brothers praying for and with us.

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We Know Better, Part 3: A Sustainable Energy Future

June 1st, 2022 |

Humankind is wildly and wonderfully inventive. From harnessing fire to cook our proteins to replacing foraging with farming, we historically keep developing ways to enhance our lives. From indoor plumbing to access to transportation, from electricity to the internet, we continually elevate our access to goods and services. In the last seven decades, abject poverty in our world has declined from 40% to 15% of the global population.

In the area of energy, the last three centuries have been amazing. From steam to coal to oil and gas, from geothermal and natural gas to nuclear and solar power, we keep inventing new ways to give more people access to affordable energy.

Development has its price, and we have had to work hard to clean up the ecosystems we damage with our progress. We all know about environmental disasters, from Three Mile Island to Love Canal, Chernobyl to Great Lakes pollution. For many sensitive to environmental concerns, these and other moments are a call for drastic action and the immediate end to fossil fuels. Add to this the apocalyptic language of climate change advocates and the stage is set for increased coercive national and international power to regulate energy and compel change.

What this history is lacking is the positive contributions of free markets and scientific progress to a cleaner future without massive transfers of wealth impoverishing the working and middle classes. All the policies of the UN, Davos, and a variety of non-binding agreements call for massive bureaucracies and wealth transfers that have no guarantee of any improvements in global temperatures. The price tag and Leviathan controls keep increasing. Several UN officials have admitted that even if all nations signed on to the Paris Accords and take drastic action, that the impact would be negligible. All officials affirm the real goal – wealth concentration and transfer that impoverished the middle class in the West as well as developing economies globally.

The current Administration has deliberately moved the USA from energy independence to skyrocketing prices and programs costing trillions in inefficient green technologies. What is never highlighted in most media are the tremendous quantum leaps in lowering emissions, increasing efficiency, and the research into true alternatives to fossil fuels. European nations have refired coal plants to power electric cars. Nuclear energy sustains much of Western Europe. The rare minerals and slave labor employed for batteries is not part of the narrative. We CAN recycle plastics better, make current fuels cleaner, AND develop new technologies.

The same people telling us to drive expensive electric vehicles buy their organic produce in local markets, with their arugula transported from family farms in diesel trucks. Line-caught salmon and tuna come to our shores in boats using regular fuel. Celebrities take private jets to lecture the masses about conforming to global governance. We can do better.

The way forward is not the “Good old days” of gas guzzlers and no environmental standards. We have come too far for that. We must refine current energy sources while we develop cost-effective new ones. Free markets must lead the way, not inefficient federal agencies. We need new oil and gas leases properly administrated. We need to commend Israel’s ability to supply energy to Europe without hindrance and favoritism to an aggressive Russian empire. Reasonable incentives for cleanliness and efficiency are helpful, but current draconian laws in California and elsewhere will only continue shrinking the working and middle classes.

This both/and prudential approach is what most people favor, except for the political and technological elites that believe they are the smart ones and should tell “the people” what they really need. We must shrink federal and global bureaucracies, and have more local and regional governance. We can improve our ecosystems while expanding economic opportunity, if we have courage and wisdom empowering creativity and innovation through free markets.

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Real Questions, Thoughtful Answers, Part 3: Our Immigration Mess: A Hospitable and Secure Way Forward

December 3rd, 2021 |

I was in an airport restaurant recently and my server told me her family’s story of emigrating to the USA from Albania. After a decade of paperwork and hearings, and lots of hard work, most of the family members are now legal residents, and some are citizens. She asked me, “Why does the government tolerate the mess at the border with Mexico or let any Afghan into the country? We worked so hard to come legally, and they are giving more benefits to the people coming in illegally. Why?”

Here was a single mom, working 60 hours a week and grateful for her hard-earned citizenship upset about the chaos with “asylum seekers” and the “undocumented.” She also commented that she and her family had never taken a dime in welfare. How do we answer her honest query?

We start solving the current mess four ways: 1) learning from our history; 2) cultivating hope that solutions are possible; 3) finding courage to enforce current laws and reform broken systems; and 4) expose the nefarious motives of those who prefer anarchy over substantive solutions.

First, reckoning with our history helps us avoid arrogance as we see a rather challenging set of narratives. All nations and empires are founded with primary “tribes” and then learn to integrate others. In this essay, I am not focusing on the African slaves or treatment of Native American populations – those narratives are exceptional and warrant separate essays (coming soon in 2022!).

In the mid-19th century, the Irish potato famine sent many to our shores and they were often met with hostility by the WASP majorities. They, along with other Roman Catholic populations, were subject to marginalization and persecution. Over time, they found ways to assimilate and maintain their cultures, but as late as 1960 millions of American feared a Roman Catholic President for fear that JFK would be more loyal to the Pope that the USA.

The famous Ellis Island surge of the late 19th and early 20th century was a commendable moment in our history, yet there was extensive screening involved and not everyone was admitted. Many of these immigrants faced tremendous hardships, but America was the promised land for people fleeing poverty and persecution.

While Ellis Island welcomed millions, on the West Coast, The Chinese and Japanese immigrants were treated abysmally, especially the Chinese. The very people who labored on the transcontinental railway were subject to internment, severe economic restrictions and significant harassment. The scandal of the Japanese internment camps of World War II is well-documented, with justice too late in coming for many. A century later, both populations have flourished and consider themselves fully American while celebrating their cultures.

From the 1920s to the end of WWII, the USA closed her doors to most immigration and xenophobia was the order of the day. Even full knowledge of the Holocaust could not sway the State Department. When I share about the Middle East, this narrative will be prominent. We utterly failed as the land of liberty.

Since the 1960s, immigration policies have varied greatly and many more have found homes in our land. It is important to note that many Democrats, who today want unfettered immigration, opposed welcoming the Vietnamese refugees fleeing communism after the 1976 takeover of Saigon. It is stunning reading the words of apparently inclusive politicians. Of course, having thousands of hardworking immigrants that are living witnesses to the terrors of Marxism is quite uncomfortable for some. We do welcome legitimate groups fleeing violence, though the selectivity has varied with the administration in power. For example, it is currently much harder for Christians to flee persecution in Muslim nations than for Muslims emigrating from many nations.

Our border with Mexico has its own complex history, with alternating moments of hospitality and xenophobia. People of all political persuasions have avoided comprehensive reform out of economic (cheap labor) and political (assuming voter loyalty to one party) motivations. Those who desire more selective immigration policies are branded racist and those wanting easy pathways to entry are also offering more help to the undocumented than some of their own citizens.

Concerning points 2 and 3: We must cultivate hopeful realism that solutions are possible while being honest about the mess created since the 1960s. Enforcing current laws and screening immigrants for criminal backgrounds and COVID are reasonable steps.  Walls define borders – they can still have many hospitable gates. The massive amount of drug and sex trafficking, potential terrorist infiltrations, and disrespect for the rule of law and nature of a nation must be confronted.

Finally, comprehensive change will require courage to confront the cartels on the border, and the corrupt regimes allowing massive groups to march toward the USA. Courage is also needed to reaffirm the goodness of borders, national identity, and the privileges of citizenship, while offering reasonable pathways for millions of undocumented neighbors. There is no place for racism and xenophobia; likewise, voting must be only for citizens. The undocumented, while treated with compassion, should not receive more government help than US citizens. Illegal felons in prisons should be deported and enforcement increased. Dreamers should be placed on an expedited pathway to citizenship.

Avoiding globalism and xenophobia, securing borders, welcoming those who will contribute – all are possible if we have courage, humility, and wisdom. I welcome the faith and family-oriented friends that want the USA to be home…and I think we can screen out many threats to our civil life. May we find the way forward that is inclusive and wise.

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