It is that time again, the beginning of a new year. Some will mark it with a list of resolutions. Others will treat the occasion as a premature end to the Christmas season, merely the first annual holiday on the calendar. I want you to do something different. Make the beginning of 2026 a moment in which you execute an active pivot from lamenting the downfall of our nation to reforming it.
To everything there is a season. As we are told in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is "a time to be born and a time to die… a time to weep and a time to laugh… a time to tear and a time to mend… a time for war and a time for peace."
If our time is to be marked by a theme—as experienced by those of us who seek to “live not by lies,” the era of my existence is marked by a fatalistic dirge of mourning. We observe evil on the march in every direction and put the greatest reactionary energy into hand-wringing and “woe is us” moaning. This should not be. How did Americans become cowards when our ancestors crossed seas under wind power and stared down the most formidable military force in history at the time to establish a nation in a distant, overseas frontier land?
Today, in that place, law-abiding Americans like Daniel Penny are charged with crimes for protecting others from violent criminals. Public servants who work for conservative administrations are indicted by Soros-linked district attorneys. Those who murder children in the womb are protected by law enforcement, while those who interpose for the unborn are arrested. Government school systems bleed communities dry financially and produce graduates who are ignorant of history, hostile to the truth, and contemptuous of the values upon which the nation was built.
Years ago, former North Carolina senator and Democrat vice presidential candidate John Edwards often spoke of two Americas. It turns out he was right. Americans were hunted down with prejudice for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Yet the FBI can’t track down Antifa and American Hamas despite their frequent, ongoing acts of violence out in the open. Progressive activists break laws freely, while conservatives are made to live in fear of losing their jobs, being de-banked or de-platformed, and perhaps even being criminally prosecuted for expressing beliefs that were the default for most American generations.
In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) felt compelled to make clear that Americans in his state are allowed to drive themselves out of violent mobs, rather than sit and helplessly wait for martyrdom, because there are people who think the most basic of self-defenses are controversial. The list goes on for volumes. We have chosen to be the frog in the pot of water, and it’s boiling.
This is a nation with laws on the books, but we sit idly by pretending that modern-day Bolsheviks and foreign invaders are exempt. Somalis financially pillage the nation, while the conquest goals of radical Islamists are enabled by those who believe that evil is protected by the 1st Amendment. In no previous century would Americans have so easily rolled over en masse. Complaining about the state of affairs does nothing to slow the cancerous spread of pagan-fueled progressivism devouring our homeland. The do-nothing lament tactic is lazy, and too many among us are guilty of it. Professional mourners are useful for funerals, but do nothing to stop advancing armies, change policy, or preserve worthy civilizations.
So I propose that as the calendar turns, so does your attitude and decision-making. If you are reading this within the United States of America, you are the fortunate beneficiary of sacrifices made by those who came before. When did we abandon our heritage and hand our institutions and civic power to transgressives who think gender is fluid, obesity is authentic, ordered liberty is bad, and math is racist? Who thought that people who celebrate the sexual mutilation of children are sane enough to wield influence responsibly?
Clearly, the ball is dropped. Whining won’t recover it. We must get back on the field and play like a team. That begins with a moment of introspection. Pause for a moment and ask yourself this question:
Will I remain content to let the candle go out on my watch, and leave freedom a mere tale that my descendants hear about as an extinct way of life?
How you answer that question reveals whether you are worthy of the stewardship you have been entrusted by God and our forefathers.
Our foes did not take control by mourning and hiding. They are united, and we can learn from their techniques. In 2026, adopt a new playbook.
-Has your church departed from scriptural truth? Work to reform it, or depart for one where Christ reigns.
-Are your schools unaccountable? Opt your family out. Pressure pastors to speak out against Christians enrolling their children in them, and build the political capital to make school boards fear God and parents more than teacher unions and pervert activists.
-Is your workplace hostile to truth? Hold firm to truth, sue if persecuted, and endeavor to inspire boycotts.
-Do your district attorneys and police chiefs refuse to enforce the law? Lead efforts to impeach and remove them from office. Call on lesser or greater magistrates to restore order where activist magistrates deliberately enabled, or directly sowed, chaos.
-Is your local government trending toward totalitarian impulse? Resist within the bounds of law. Rod Dreher offers a wise roadmap in his book titled Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents. In it, he writes:
Our cause appears lost… but we are still here! Now our mission is to build the underground resistance to the occupation to keep alive the memory of who we were and who we are, and to stoke the fires of desire for the true God. Where there is memory and desire, there is hope. (p. 214).
Making use of the civic talents granted to us in this place and time is not theonomy. It’s common sense. To the overly-pietistic critic who counters that scripture foretells that things will get worse before they get better, I grant the point and add that Biblical text nowhere commands or gives assent for Godly people to deliberately attempt hastening the fulfillment of end times prophecy. That is merely another way of trying to immanentize the eschaton.
To ensure that people from all walks of life understand my thesis, it is very simply this:
The time for feckless hand-wringing must end now. The way ahead is not to complain but to campaign; not to lament, but to repent; not to hope for reform, but to advance it.
Societies that recognize, respect, and function according to basic moral fundamentals have a higher quality of life, better educational outcomes, and offer more stability for the populace. Working to restore such a civic politic is quite literally loving your neighbor. Even the renowned atheist Richard Dawkins—who has devoted substantial energy toward undermining faith in society—now acknowledges the benefits of a Christian-informed polis.
"If you love darkness, and are satisfied to dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith; but if you love the sunshine, and would sing songs of rejoicing, covert earnestly this best gift, ‘great faith,’" wrote the late, great 19th-century Baptist minister Charles Spurgeon. The victory belongs to the Lord, but the responsibility to labor for righteous ends rests on our shoulders, as part of the ongoing stewardship mandate given in Genesis.
In 2026, close Lamentations. Open Nehemiah. We have a civilization to defend, rebuild, steward responsibly, and bequeath to future generations.
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