The news is painful to observe. We see human tragedy on a massive scale in Africa, with little attention given to the loss of an entire generation to AIDS, genocide and religio-political warfare. In the Middle East, unveiled threats from all sides keep Israel in a state of high alert, while a dormant West criticizes the Israeli government for their refusal to accept gradual self-annihilation. Economies around the world are struggling to sort out the consequences of massive global speculation. Our Campaigner-in-Chief is doing what he does best: using our money to agitate and cover up his utter lack of leadership and skill. The Republican campaign is down to a dull roar as conservatives express concerns, evangelicals struggle with a Mormon candidate and the other leaders stay on the sidelines and position themselves for a 2016 run. Underneath the surface, there are ominous signs of our American experiment in liberty-rooted-in-virtue eroding even further. The Obama Administration’s defiance of Congress and the Supreme Court – in direct violation of their “post-partisan” 2008 ideals – does not bode well for our democratic future. If populist Executive Orders can trump judicial and legislative balances, what is left but a descent into the totalitarian abyss? Meanwhile, Republicans offer little vision to galvanize alienated constituencies that share most of their values. Our fiscal house remains a disaster. The Ryan plan may not be the answer, but it is a starting point for a painful discussion we must stop avoiding. We need a new direction. Our current trajectory posits survival (for a few years) at best, subversion and anarchy at worst. What can we do to reverse course and restore susbtantive hope? I want to offer four keys to unlocking a better future. They will not be popular with elites in both parties, so they may be rooted in reality! First, we must promote a moral and spiritual awakening that restores reverence for the Almighty and personal responsibility for individuals and families. Yes, there are structural issues of class and culture, religion and race, economic and educational opportunities that must be addressed. But change in all of these arenas begins with transformation of the heart. Schools will only be as strong as the families that send their kids off in the morning with a full stomach, clean clothes and an affirming hug. Bill Cosby’s exhortations for parental responsibility need to be magnified in all communities, regardless of economics or race. Unless a critical mass of people embrace the call to love sacrificially, turn off the toys and pay attention to their children, no amount of government spending or private charity will resverse our self-destruction. Second, we must stop spending money that does not exist. An immediate 15% cut across the board in federal spending and serious budgetary recalibration will kick-start our economy and transform local and state governments as well. This means cuts everywhere, including defense. No, we are not showing weakness when we scrutinize the fat in defense contracts or reduce our presence in some sectors of the globe. We also need to reverse the trend of incresaing food stamp usage and eliminate ads that promote them! It is time to privitize public pensions (with government oversight of investment ethics) and stop creating six-figure jobs for government employees while working-class folks struggle. Third, we must overhaul the tax code, creating a two- or three-tier system that caps at a rate low enough to stimulate investment while being as fair as possible to different income levels. Ending most deductions and special-interest breaks (like the ones that enable rock stars to call their estates “farms”) and rewarding domestic investment will keep us the leader of the free world, not by force of arms but by creativity and innovation. Fourth, we need an immigration policy that is hospitable, just and submissive to the rule of law. Voting is only for citizens and ID checks are not a violation of civil rights. Every citizen’s vote must count and corruption reduced. Why are the Democrats so afraid of confirming the identity of voters at local precincts? Why was a white man able to pose as Attorney General Eric Holder and given a ballot, even when he offered three times to show ID? If we do not confront these core issues, our disintigration will accelerate and our nation will be one more collapsed civilization on the ash heap of history. Our demise is not inevitable if we reverse course today.

In the midst of global crises, domestic politics and information overload, there are some wonderful signs of hope. Right now there are unspeakable tragedies occurring; there are also amazing triumphs of the Spirit. While we wrestle with who will be the next President of the USA, millions of people around the world are finding common ground is the battles against AIDS, hunger and slavery. Internet blogs abound with accusations and ad hominem attacks; however, people of diverse backgrounds are finding hope for their communities as they work for justice.

This week in Nashville, Tennessee I joined with scores of Christian leaders from across the nation and from around the world for a time of worship, reflection, discussion and partnership in mission. Leaders from almost every tradition and all continents were represented at this Messenger Fellowship Summit. We diverged on some areas of theology and politics and engaged in intense conversations about moral and theological integrity. All of us expressed respect for the authority of Scripture and how to walk in unity even while we disagree on issues. Leaders from Columbia, England, France and the Ivory Coast helped us see our faith with new eyes, instead of an American-centric lens. There was profound agreement on the core of the faith, the call for holiness and the need to empower all church members for living in a world of change. My faith grew, my hope increased and my love for God and others was revitalized.

A few days earlier I met with seminary professors from diverse Evangelical traditions concerning integrating faith and economics, worship and work. We were from different denominations and geographies, but we discovered profound points of unity as we shared about preparing our students to serve their churches. This Kern Family Foundation moment provided another boost to my innate hopefulness. When thoughtful people gather with humility and a common mission, great things can happen.

Watching my colleagues and students at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary learn and serve inspires me every day. The creativity, faith and insights of women and men from their 20s to their 80s helps spur me forward. There is a good blend of idealism and realism as the challenges of missional living are explored.

The stories from my facebook friends offer hope as well. Even as we wrestle with the loss of loved ones, financial and physical challenges, it is encouraging to see the prayer, support and mutual respect that connects thousands of people around the world. Friends in all spheres of life are bringing so much good to the world for the glory of God.

Today is a Sunday. It is a good moment to be thankful. I will continue to comment incisively on events. I will be unsparing in exposing evil and uncompromising on some crucial issues. But it is right to unveil the greatness found in the acts of service carried out by so many humble friends. It is healthy to pause and remember the faithfulness of so many moms and dads even as we redeem the victims of divorce. it is honoring to God to remember that we are part of a global family as well as citizens of the USA. Let’s look for signs of hope – and perhaps place one in the soil of our community as we serve others.

One of the wonderful things about my faith is that the future inspires the present. The Christian message is is uniquely hopeful, with the resurrection of Jesus as the preview of our future, a promise that death does not have the last word. Whether all who read this share my particular faith or not, I think it is time that we evaluate our political candidates on their future visions as well as past statements and votes. Yes, history matters and can be an indicator of patterns and principles for the future. But people can change their minds. When someone adopts our position on an issue and we like her or him, we say she or he is wise and has seen the light. Conversely, if a candidate we do not like very much changes a position, we call her or him a “flip-flopper.” It is time to dispense with such immature thinking and ask our candidates, “What is your vision of the future and what are the concrete actions you will undertake to lead us toward the vision?”

The current Republican candidates for President have all done and said things that open them to attack. Each opponent selects certain statements – in or out of context – and goes on the warpath toward the others. This is politics. Politics becomes statesmanship and visionary leadership, however, when the future can be articulated and new pathways presented. The future is more than vague hopes or talking points. How we see ahead sets the trajectories we choose today. I want our candidates to not only talk a balanced budget, but declare the disciplined decisions needed to get there. It is great to say that job creation matters, but reversing a generation of government interference while maintaining ethics will he a historic challenge. Confronting radical Islamicists while engendering real respect and toleration requires masterful sensitivity and wisdom.

I am going to vote the future. Any of the less-than-perfect Republicans (other than Ron Paul) are superior to our current regime; however, victory in the general election will require cultural, intellectual, moral and political courage. Please inspire and instruct us, Mr. Candidate. Please rekindle our dreams even while we restrict momentary pleasures for the common future. Please expose current follies while unveiling insights that will engender positive action. Please rise above the name-calling and call on the Name for help from above. Please be a person humble enough to change your mind, courageous enough to stand your ground when needed and wise enough to know the difference. Our future depends on it.

Oxford medical ethicists announced today that newborn babies do not have a right to life and should not be considered persons in the normal sense of the word. These inhuman elitists declare that parents should have a right to an “after-birth abortion” if their newborn is not to their liking! Such notions have been hinted at by a few fringe thinkers, but today’s pronouncements unveil the anti-life, dehumanizing agenda of the elites that want their version of scientism to overrule millennia-old ethical principles. As the left caricatures Santorum and other Republicans as anti-contraception and the oppressors of women (ignoring freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the Constitution), this dystopian vision is obscured by shrill demands for freedom, choice and government subsidies for any and all medical procedures.

What kind of world are we in when Catholic health care providers are forced to violate their faith, while governments pay for sex-change operations for prisoners? What perverted notions of family lead us to abortion-on-demand without parental approval? Roe v. Wade has deprived our nation of 54,000,000 people. What happened to welcoming children as our beloved hope of the future?

There are no “good old days” and our compassion and knowledge of the complexities of human identity are important. We must not prosecute adults for consensual, private behavior. At the same time, we must not force people of deep convictions to celebrate activity they disagree with. We must live with our deepest differences and continue to understand all that makes us fully human.

Today’s pronouncement by these “ethicists” crosses a line and must be universally condemned. If we allow any form of infanticide we are opening the door to a nightmare of inhuman and totalitarian behaviors. Why should we pay for the care of an imperfect child at all if they are not really “persons”? Who decides which babies live or die? Mom? Dad? Both? What about a “woman’s right to choose” once the baby in completely out of the birth canal? If the government is paying for care, what is to prevent budgetary considerations from compelling many “after-birth abortions”? At the other end of the spectrum, why not actively rid our world of “unproductive” aged or infirm adults?

I am pro-life, from conception to coronation and every point in between. A Judeo-Christian ethos places equal, eternal value on every human being because s/he is created in God’s image as a unique being. People can disagree about the technicalities of when life begins, but from conception we have the reality of a human. Even if one wants to allow for abortion in special cases or argue about personhood during gestation, no reasonable person can say that a newborn is not a human being! We are reverting to the horrific practices of ancient Greece and Rome as unwanted (mostly female) babies were left exposed to die. How can one be pro-choice while condemning gender-specific abortions? Radical activists face a moral conundrum. If the individual has absolute sovereignty over the death or life of her child, then she cannot be condemned for keeping one gender while aborting another. Yet activists in many countries, after winning abortion rights, are now bemoaning “femicide” as little girls are aborted in larger number than little boys.

The response to today’s declarations must be absolute, universal condemnation, regardless of political or religious affiliations. If we open the door to killing the unfit and/or the unwanted, no one is safe.

I have the honor of addressing spiritual and political leaders in a variety of settings. Here is a summary of some of my thoughts as we prepare for voting in November. The importance of this election cannot be overstated. I am not simply advocating an “ABO” (anyone but Obama) strategy – this is the same shortsightedness that led to trouble in 1976 with Carter and 2008 with Obama. it is important that our voting locally and nationally is proactive and not reactive, and a response to vision and values.

We need clear discernment of the key issues and proper dispositions for lasting change to occur. We must not allow propaganda and deflection to sidetrack clear thinking. Big lies will be sold as truth. Caricatures will be presented as accurate pictures of reality. Statistics will be twisted to validate either progress (the Dow Jones is up this week) or the need for austerity ($5 gas prices prove we need a “green” economy). Religion will be used to promote more or less federal government action. When presented with uncomfortable facts, candidates will fall back on slamming their predecessors or rivals.

Our founders limited the role of government, especially at the federal level and left sovereignty with the people and the states. The last century has seen this fundamental principle reversed, with many people thinking that government bestows liberties and rights! Our founders and all thoughtful people know that liberty requires virtue and self-regulation. America’s birth defect of slavery (thank you, Peter Friedman, for this insight) is healing slowly, but the combination of latent racism and institutionalized victimhood keeps us from more progress. It is possible to affirm the lasting principles of our Constitution and enjoy 21st century innovation and insight. Justice Ginsburg is flat-out wrong to suggest that nations should not look first at the US Constitution as a model. She is obsessed with the imperfections (that Amendments have and can address) and fails to see the underlying brilliance of the authors. We are in a new battle between the totalitarian vision of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan that controls all facets of life and meters out a few benefits and John Locke’s works on civil society and the role of government that protect life, liberty and property.

Discernment means that we must recognize ideology as the enemy of theology (for those of faith) and sound critical thinking (for those of all faiths or none). When we are captive to any word that ends in ISM, we place ourselves in a straight jacket. For example, though I am considered “conservative” on many subjects, I refuse to allow the lens of conservatism to be the first refractor of truth. My carefully-considered positions on issues may place me in or out of particular ideological ‘camps.” For example, I am pro-life and also against the death penalty for civil crimes. I think we have a moral obligation to offer health care to all, but not deliver it as a single-payer program of an inefficient federal government.

Discernment affirms that policy compromises can work, such as the Clinton-Gingrich deal on welfare, work and the budget in the 1990s. Public-private partnerships are salutary for large infrastructure projects. Budget restraint has to include military and social welfare spending. There are “deals” that can happen that maintain the integrity of all parties.

Discernment means that we strive to find a healthy balance between individual rights and community well-being, especially concerning property use. There is a way forward that transcends the petty despots that push extreme environmental agendas or their counterparts that are on the take allowing rapacious development with no thought to ecological concerns.

A Culture of Life means that the vulnerable are cared for, from conception to coronation and that private and public groups work together to ensure that children are welcome, the aged are respected and the hurting are treated with dignity.

Discernment means that people of faith see God’s common grace in others. Partnerships across cultural and religious boundaries are possible as we celebrate shared values and visions for the future.

Dispositions of humility and hopefulness, reverence for God and respect for all people and prayerfulness and personal kindness will build a better future. Our new dispositions can forge new alliances as conservative groups work with more liberal groups to combat sex and work slavery and ameliorate poverty.

When we love our enemies and return curses with blessings and refuse to get in the gutter of deceit, sterling character is forged and specific competencies will shine. When we live within our means and work to create wealth for ourselves and others, we will find more moments of joy and peace.

We have the opportunity to create – one conversation and one relationship at a time -a better future for our nation and the world. Yes, we must vote. Yes, we must debate. No, we cannot compromise crucial beliefs. But we can be known for our love and integrity, our humility and respect for all and our willingness to listen deeply, think well and find ways to work together.