In late June, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal debt will equal 122% of the United States’ annual economic output by 2034, far surpassing the high set in the aftermath of World War II. The deficit will swell to $1.9 trillion this fiscal year and keep growing until the overall national debt hits $50.7 trillion a decade from now. The CBO revised its forecast from four months ago, when it projected that the debt would reach $48.3 trillion in 2034, and 116 percent of economic output. The new figures add to the urgency facing policymakers in 2025. Next year, vast portions of the tax code are set to expire, potentially forcing a steep tax hike on individuals and families. Congress suspended the debt limit in 2023, but that, too, will expire next year, setting up a showdown between the two parties over federal spending.

In April of 2024, Iran launched a series of unprecedented drone and missile strikes against Israel, raising the specter of a war that could incinerate large parts of the Middle East, collapse the global economy and eventually involve the United States and other major powers. For now both Israel and Iran have avoided further escalation but no one really believes that this will last. Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, speculates that “As long as Iran is ruled by an Islamist government that puts its revolutionary ideology before the national interest, the two countries will never know peace, and the Middle East will never know meaningful stability.”

Because God is the Creator, He owns everything (see Psalm 50:10-12). And, as the Sovereign Creator and Owner, He gives us all things that are a part of life, trusts us with them and expects us to manage all things well. He is the owner; we are His stewards. A biblical view of stewardship, therefore, centers on utilizing and managing all the resources God provides for His glory and the betterment of His creation; it is managing everything He brings into our lives in a manner that honors Him.

We live in troubling times. The Western world is under severe pressure, facing challenges from Russia, Iran and China. And the leader of the Western world is faltering in its leadership. The confusion, disorder and unsettledness currently dominating American politics are causing other western allies to doubt the reliability of the US in its obligations as an ally. The two current candidates for president do not yield any degree of confidence or certainty about this reliability: One candidate is an America-first isolationist and the other lacks the decisive courage to lead the Western world. Our enemies know this and relish the continued decline, as they perceive it, of the West. For them the future belongs to the axis of evil centered in Russia, Iran and China, not the West.

In April 1976 Christianity Today declared, “Christians in particular ought to be concerned about the ethical and religious convictions of those who aspire to the presidency. The basis upon which a leader makes his decisions is more important than what side he takes in current transient controversies.” Furthermore, in the midst of the late-1990s Clinton scandal, a group of evangelical Christian scholars issued a “Declaration Concerning Religion, Ethics and the Crisis in the Clinton Presidency

Brad East, associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University, makes this astute observation: “Something has happened in the last 25 years in American evangelicalism—what I believe to be a massive generational shift . . . I have in mind low-church Protestant traditions in the United States: churches centered on the Bible, evangelism, and personal faith in Jesus; often but not necessarily nondenominational, with moderate to minimal emphasis on sacraments, liturgy, and ecclesiastical authority; and marked by a revivalist style as well as conservative beliefs about sex, marriage, and other social issues.

In early May 2024, President Biden’s Justice Department began reviewing marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug, moving to reclassify it as a less dangerous Schedule III drug—on par with anabolic steroids and Tylenol with codeine—which would provide tax benefits and a financial boon to the pot industry. This action merely reflects the national trend of accommodating American culture to the legalization of marijuana. In 2014, for example, an editorial on the front page of the New York Times argued intensely for the legalization of marijuana and the removal of all penalties against the manufacturing and distribution of marijuana, let alone the possession of marijuana in its many forms.

One of the key elements of the new world order emerging in the 21st century is Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Putin is a delusional tyrant who is building a fascist state that loathes democracy, freedom and individualism. He is not a friend; he is not to be emulated; he is not a defender of Christian values. He is a ruthless dictator, who regards Stalin as a Russian hero who needs to be restored to his rightful place as the savior of Russia. The war in Ukraine is the beginning of his delusional vision of a new world order. These delusional ambitions of Putin, the fascist tyrant, cannot be ignored.

For those of us who lived through the anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s, or the Vietnam War demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s, the current tumult—and the way it has collided with broader social and political upheaval—echoes some especially tense times in our country’s history. But, these demonstrations also raise a profoundly important question: Why has the war in Gaza so galvanized American college students in the first place, compared with other crises or conflicts where pressure on American leaders may have had more potential for effect?

A new medical phrase has entered our vocabulary—“transgender medicine.” It refers to medical treatments for children who identify as transgender. The treatments at issue include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery, although this is relatively rare. The Economist summarizes these treatments: “Puberty blockers are drugs that delay the onset of puberty. Cross-sex hormones stimulate the development of opposite-sex characteristics: estrogen causes males to grow larger breasts, testosterone gives females bigger muscles and deeper voices, among other things.”