What happens when people no longer trust their leaders?

I had planned to write today’s Daily Article about the continuing lack of information from the government regarding the mysterious drones in the night skies. I was not alone in my concern.

Podcaster Joe Rogan said he is “genuinely concerned” about them. One New Jersey lawmaker demanded that the federal government get to the bottom of this “very threatening situation,” stating that we should presume the drones are “not friendly.” Sen. Chuck Schumer called for the DHS to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify the objects and their operators.

Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, told ABC’s This Week, “You can see why people are concerned, and it’s a lack of communication from the government at the federal and state level that’s at fault here.” He added, “We’re used to having [information] so rapidly. If you don’t fill the vacuum, then all the conspiracy theories get filled in there.” As a result, he stated, “The Biden administration and state authorities have to be more vocal and let people know exactly what they are doing.”

“We have not identified anything anomalous”

Then I heard an interview last night with John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, in which he stated that the mysterious drones are “legal” and “lawful.” He said officials have examined roughly five thousand sightings to date and determined that “lawful, legal, commercial hobbyist and even law enforcement aircraft activity” is responsible for them.

He added, “We’ve seen nothing . . . that indicates a foreign adversary, actor involved or any kind of pernicious national security threat.” He told CNN the same: “To date, [there is] no sense and no indication that there’s a national security or public safety risk posed by any of this activity.”

Kirby’s assurance mirrored a “joint statement” released last night by DHS, the FBI, the FAA, and the Department of Defense:

Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.

“People have a lot of anxiety right now”

If the drone controversy was unique, the story would be different. But it comes at a time when less than one in four Americans trust the federal government and only 15 percent believe it to be transparent.

Sen. Andy Kim (D–NJ) spoke for many: “I think this situation in some ways reflects this moment in our country. People have a lot of anxiety right now about the economy, health, security, etc. And too often we find that those charged with working on these issues don’t engage the public with the respect and depth needed.”

This issue goes to the heart of our democracy, since such a system of governance depends on the credibility of its leaders. When the people no longer trust their elected officials to do what they are elected to do, democracy itself is threatened, as the Wall Street Journal editorial board recently warned.

In a freedom-based society, such trust cannot be demanded but must be earned. Autocrats can try to enforce their edicts through force; kings can attempt to rule by “divine right” and hereditary power. But our system of governance stands and falls on the trust we invest in those who lead it.

“You first loved us so that we might love you”

Today’s discussion points to an even larger issue: the health and destiny of our eternal souls.

Like elected leaders in a democracy, our Father honors the freedom he has given us. Then, more than any human possibly can, he earns our trust through his sacrificial love. In response, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

The medieval theologian William of St-Thierry (1085–1148) responded to this text by praying:

“You first loved us so that we might love you—not because you needed our love, but because we could not be what you created us to be, except by loving you.”

William was right: You and I are created in the image of the God who is love (Genesis 1:27; 1 John 4:8). This means we must love to be who we are made to be.

However, as fallen people, we need God’s help to love as we are intended. This is one reason Christmas is so vital to our souls and our society: when we see the length and depth to which our Savior would go in coming to our world to pay for our sins, we are prompted to respond to his love with our love.

And when we see the length and depth to which he would go in dying for those sins, we are even more moved to respond to his love in kind, as William noted:

Everything he did and everything he said on earth, even enduring the insults, the spitting, the buffeting—the cross and the grave—all of this was actually you speaking to us in your Son, appealing to us by your love and stirring up our love for you.

You know that this disposition could not be forced on men’s hearts, my God, since you created them; it must rather be elicited.

What does such love elicit in your heart today?

NOTE: In addition to the Daily Article, I often respond to the news of the day with website articles. Yesterday, when news broke of the tragedy in Wisconsin, I wrote, “3 dead, 6 injured at Wisconsin Christian school shooting.” Earlier in the day I published, “Dick Van Dyke nearly died in Malibu fires,” “What Travis Hunter’s Heisman win says about our culture,” and “Kids correct Jill Biden’s ‘Happy Holidays.’” You can find these and other resources at our website, www.denisonforum.org. I hope you’ll visit it regularly.

Tuesday news to know:

• 15-year-old girl identified as shooter in a Wisconsin school
• Ukraine assassinates Russian chemical weapons chief in Moscow bombing
• US congressional negotiators aim to fund government through March 14, source says
• German government collapses at a perilous time for Europe
• On this day in 1777: France formally recognizes the United States

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.” —William Barclay

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Drone activity forced a New York runway to temporarily shut down Friday night. Former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland says he personally witnessed “dozens of large drones” flying above his home last Thursday evening. He wrote on X: “We are being told that neither the White House, the military, the FBI, or Homeland Security have any idea what they are, where they come from, or who has launched or is controlling them—and that they pose no threat. That response is entirely unacceptable.”

For weeks, objects that appear to be drones have been seen in the night skies, primarily in New Jersey but also in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio. Mysterious drones are being reported over American air bases in the UK and Germany as well. Some are blaming Russia, China, Iran, hobbyists, and even aliens for the strange sightings.

Last Thursday, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security released a joint statement declaring, “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” However, the agencies still do not know the identity of the UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena), admitting that the reported sightings “highlight the insufficiency of current authorities,” though they believe many are manned aircraft rather than drones.

Yesterday, federal authorities repeated assurances that the drones are not a security threat, but they still do not know where they came from or who is responsible. However, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed to a rule change by the FAA in 2023 that allows drones to fly at night, stating, “That may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk.”

“We’re in a very, very dangerous world right now”

It is certainly perplexing that, in this scientific day and age, our government is so perplexed about these sightings. But this is just one example of the frailty and finitude of humans in our chaotic world.

As warfare shifts to robots, drones, and satellites, our oceans will no longer protect us against invasion. As scientists continue to make unprecedented advances, “extinction-level” threats to humanity posed by artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering are unprecedented as well.

The level of conflicts around the world has doubled over the last five years. According to Mitch McConnell, “We’re in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before World War Two.” In fact, a weekend essay in the Wall Street Journal asked, “Has World War III Already Begun?”

On the spiritual front, secularism continues to rise as religious affiliation wanes. Large majorities of Americans support abortion on demand and same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ideology. Entire denominations are declining as thousands of churches are closing.

When America has faced such threats in the past, great spiritual awakenings have resulted as millions turned to God for the strength and hope he alone can provide. For the same to happen today, however, we need to change how we see the One we need so desperately.

“Mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning”

In 1 Chronicles 17, we find a remarkable description of King David’s favor with God. The Lord promised, “I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth” (v. 8). Accordingly, he promised to “subdue all your enemies” (v. 10) and to “raise up offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom” (v. 11).

In light of David’s exalted status before God, I found this statement surprising: “Your servant has found courage to pray before you” (v. 25). We might think that a person so beloved and blessed by God would not need “courage” to pray to him.

But David was right: It should take courage for us to pray to the omnipotent, holy God of the universe. He could alter every circumstance of our lives and even end our lives this very second if he chose. His every blessing and provision is a result of his grace, not our merit.

The fact that we so often pray so nonchalantly to God reveals our failure to understand his majesty and authority. If we would need courage to speak to the president or governor, how much more to the King of kings?

Annie Dillard wrote:

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?

The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.

“The day of the Lord will come like a thief”

When we think of the Christ of Christmas, we picture a nondescript baby in a manger. However, those who first met him “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20). When we think of him as a child, we picture a powerless toddler. When the Magi met him, “they fell down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11).

Don’t confuse God’s forbearance with apathy or his grace with impotence. He is delaying his judgment against our sinful world only because he is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

But make no mistake: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (v. 10). In the meantime, we are to live with “holiness and godliness” (v. 11) as we wait for “the coming of the day of God” (v. 12).

To find the God we need so desperately in these chaotic days, we must turn to him in humble desperation. To experience his omnipotence, we must admit our frailty. To follow his omniscience, we must acknowledge our finitude. To be made holy, we must repent of our sinfulness.

All of God there is, is in this moment.

Monday news to know:

• ABC News to pay $15 million to settle defamation suit with Donald Trump
• South Korea’s president is impeached after martial law crisis
• Syrian Christians attend services, schools reopen a week after Assad’s overthrow
• Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter wins Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player
• On this day in 1773: the Boston Tea Party

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The fact that Jesus will sit upon the throne of judgment will be the consternation of his enemies and the consolation of his people.” —John Murray (1989–1975)

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Beware “the things you don’t know you don’t know”

I am taking a risk today by beginning this Daily Article with a story many of you won’t care about and hoping you’ll stay with me anyway. I never imagined I would write about this topic with the Dallas Cowboys, either. In fact, that’s my point, as I’ll explain shortly.

The Dallas Cowboys are having a terrible year. Their fans like me can’t wait for it to be over. One play from last Monday night’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals seemed to sum up their season: A Cowboys player deflected a Bengals punt late in the game. Per the rules, once the blocked ball crossed the line of scrimmage, if the Cowboys left it alone it would be theirs. They could then drive for a game-winning score. However, if one of their players touched the ball and fumbled it, the Bengals could recover it.

So, of course, one of their players touched and fumbled the ball. The Bengals recovered it, then scored a touchdown to win the game.

Cowboys fans were furious. How could the player be so dumb? How could the coaches fail to teach him such a basic football rule? The Dallas media and football social media have been scathing and unrelenting.

Then I read an article in which a Dallas Cowboys coach explained that the player, who was executing his assigned block with his back to the play, had no way of knowing that the punt had been blocked. He could not tell if it was a fumble or just a bad punt. When he saw the ball, he reacted as he had been trained to do, a fact the player later confirmed. While his fumble was an obvious miscue, his attempt to field the ball was not.

I was wrong about him, but I didn’t know that I was wrong.

“There are also unknown unknowns”

In Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld writes:

There are known knowns: the things you know you know. There are known unknowns: the things you know you don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the things you don’t know you don’t know.

The last category can be the most dangerous, in war and in life.

Israel didn’t know that it didn’t know Hamas was preparing for the October 2023 invasion that massacred more than a thousand Israelis and changed the course of the Middle East. Hezbollah didn’t know that it didn’t know Israel was weaponizing pagers to kill many of its leaders. The US didn’t know that it didn’t know Japan was preparing for Pearl Harbor or al Qaeda for 9/11.

It’s bad enough when we don’t know what we need to know, such as whether bird flu will become a pandemic or AI will threaten humanity. It’s worse when what we think we know turns out to be wrong, such as Israel’s certainty that Hamas did not have the capability to stage the October 7 invasion.

And it’s even worse when we know parts of the truth and are therefore erroneously but emphatically convinced that we know the whole truth (a misconception known as the “Baconian fallacy”).

Watching the Cowboys game from the overhead vantage point of the TV cameras, I knew they had blocked the Bengals’ punt and therefore assumed the Cowboys player who touched and fumbled the ball knew what I knew. I was convinced I was right. But confusing an opinion for a fact doesn’t make the opinion factual.

The man who denies the sunrise doesn’t harm the sun—he just exposes his ignorance.

Inoculated against the “real thing”

I was talking last Sunday with a friend who spent many years in the foreign mission field. He told me that he found evangelism much easier there than here. The people he met overseas had never heard the gospel and thus had no misperceptions about it. The people he meets here think they know what Christianity is all about and have already decided they don’t need what it offers. They are also much less open to hearing a message that contradicts their assumptions.

To illustrate: Before I went to East Malaysia as a college missionary, I was vaccinated against malaria. The vaccine used in those days gave me a mild form of the disease which my body then reacted against with antibodies that protected me from the “real thing.”

Satan loves to do the same, “inoculating” us with just enough of the truth that we become immune to the One who is the Truth (John 14:6).

We see this at Christmas. As I noted yesterday, many people think the beautiful secular traditions of the season are all that Christmas is about. Growing up, I thought the same. If there had been no such thing as “Christmas,” I would have been more interested in the biblical story of Jesus’ birth. As it was, I already “knew” the Christmas story, so I had no desire to learn more.

This “Baconian fallacy” goes a long way toward explaining why the miracle of Christmas does not change our world as it changed those who first experienced it. People in the first century were shocked and thrilled to learn that this child was truly Immanuel, meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). By contrast, we see him as a figure in a Nativity scene to be displayed during the holidays and stored in the attic the rest of the year.

“They fell down and worshiped him”

Now comes my point: If we are not seeking a daily, transforming encounter with the living Lord Jesus, we are committing the Baconian fallacy ourselves. We are settling for parts of the truth rather than the Truth, assuming that what we have experienced of Jesus is all we can experience of him.

When the Magi met him in Bethlehem, “they fell down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11). When John met him on Patmos, he “fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17).

When last were you awed by Jesus?

Why not today?

NOTE: Time magazine has named Caitlin Clark its Athlete of the Year. For my response, “What Caitlin Clark and Jesus Christ have in common,” go here.

Thursday news to know:

• Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency
• FBI Director Chris Wray to resign before Trump takes office
• North Carolina announces 5-year deal with Bill Belichick to take over as coach of the Tar Hells
• Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, an AP–NORC poll finds
• In 1980: da Vinci notebook sells for over $5M

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.” —Phillips Brooks

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