Last night Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis debated California governor Gavin Newsom in what was billed as “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate.”

But while the given purpose was to provide both governors a platform to contrast the approaches they’ve taken to leading their respective states, the amount of bad blood that has built up between the two men over the last few years seemed to elevate the stakes beyond their respective approaches to governance.

Both governors came into office in 2018, and both were reelected in 2022 by decisive margins. More importantly, though, both were also in charge of leading their states through the Covid crisis, and much of their mutual resentment stems from that time. Their resulting rise in the national profile served to heighten their exposure on other subjects as well, and neither has been shy about pointing to the other as essentially everything that is wrong with the opposing party.

Consequently, when they met last night on Fox News for the debate, it quickly moved beyond the rivalry between their states to focus more on competing visions for the country. And, given the size and national significance of both California and Florida—the first- and third-most populous states in the nation respectively—framing the conversation in those terms made some sense.

Ultimately, the debate between Newsom and DeSantis was a chaotic and intense event that covered some important ground but also devolved into name-calling and contrasting claims that likely led to a restless night for those with the unenviable task of fact-checking the myriad statements made by both men.

However, my most enduring takeaway from the debate had less to do with their approach to any particular subject than with the general feel of the event. And, as we’ll discuss shortly, there’s an important lesson in there for us today regardless of where you fall along the political spectrum.

Revealing the wide gap in American politics

While President Biden is technically not running unopposed, his team has acted as though he is. It is unlikely he will appear on a debate stage until next September. As such, the only presidential debates that have taken place so far have been on the Republican side. Moreover, none of those have included former President Trump, who still has a large lead in the polls.

Consequently, while there have been some contentious moments, for the most part the candidates have been largely debating the best method to accomplish the same goals. With a few exceptions, their general approach to governance and their beliefs on the more significant issues are fairly aligned.

That was not the case last night.

What stood out most in the debate between DeSantis and Newsom was the vastly different ways in which each approached not only leading the country but also their vision for what the country should be in general. There was little to no agreement on any major policy throughout the evening, and seeing their views expressed in such stark contrast was a good reminder of just how wide the gap has become in politics—at least when expressed by politicians.

In contrast, the differences between candidates within either party seem—while not insignificant—relatively minor by comparison. And therein lies the lesson for us today.

Division vs. unity

When the majority of our conversations take place in contexts where everyone involved agrees on the big issues, then the little stuff starts to seem more important and divisive than it really is. And while that’s true in most areas of life, it’s especially relevant when it comes to our faith.

As Christians, it’s important to remember that what divides us is typically of far less importance than what unites us. Yet it can be easy to lose sight of that fact when most of our conversations take place with other Christians. That’s why, historically, the greatest periods of fighting amongst believers often occur in situations where most people at least claim to be Christian.

In the fourth and fifth centuries, for example, most of the debates and fights among believers occurred in the Eastern Roman Empire, where the church experienced relative peace and prosperity. However, in the western half of the Empire, where barbarians invaded and Roman society largely collapsed, a sense of community developed there even among factions of the faith that, less than a hundred years prior, thought the other side was going to hell.

And the same basic pattern plays out throughout much of Christian history.

The gravity of the issues that we allow to divide us is often directly linked to the degree to which we understand our need for other people. If Christians are in short supply and persecution seems imminent, the circle of whom we’re willing to work with gets much bigger. By contrast, if we have the option of going to church each Sunday with people who think and act like us, then that circle tends to shrink.

Are Christians “one”?

My purpose in bringing this up today is not to condemn the impulse to prefer the company of people with whom you have much in common. That’s natural, and such friendships can be greatly beneficial. Rather, my purpose is to challenge all of us—myself included—to be more intentional about stepping outside those smaller circles to engage with people who don’t share our beliefs.

That could include a lost coworker or neighbor, someone from a different denomination, or even just a person with whom you’ve never really had more than surface-level conversations.

One of Christ’s final prayers before the crucifixion was that his followers “may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11). When we are intentional about making room in our lives for people who think differently than we do, it can help us become the answer to that prayer by reminding us of all that we have in common with our fellow Christians.

So whom can you reach out to today? Is there a person God has already brought into your life who would fit that description?

If not, will you pray right now that he would?

Denison Forum

Israel confirmed early this morning that a temporary pause in the Israel–Hamas war would extend for at least one more day, with eight more Israeli hostages reportedly set to be released. Tragically, the tenuous nature of this truce was demonstrated when two Palestinian brothers affiliated with Hamas opened fire at the main entrance to Jerusalem, killing three Israelis and wounding six other people.

Meanwhile, what we know so far from the hostages who have been released is vital to winning another conflict: the propaganda war that seeks to validate Hamas while delegitimizing Israel.

Emily Hand is an example of the Israeli children hostages. After the nine-year-old was freed by Hamas, her father described her condition: “She was just whispering, you couldn’t hear her. I had to put my ear on her lips. She’d been conditioned not to make any noise. . . . You could just see glassy-eyed terror.” He added: “Last night, she cried until her face was red and blotchy, she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want any comfort, I guess she’s forgotten how to be comforted. She went under the covers of the bed, the quilt, covered herself up, and quietly cried.”

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NOTE: Henry Kissinger, an American diplomat and Nobel winner, died yesterday at the age of one hundred. I will publish a Daily Article Special Edition this morning reflecting on his life and significant legacy.

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“The danger many Jewish people fear the most”

Anti-Israel propagandists have claimed for years that Israel “stole” and “colonized” its land from the rightful Palestinian owners. (For more, I invite you to download my free digital book, The War in Israel: What You Need to Know about This Crisis of Global Significance.) Ironically, as commentator David Rubin notes, “Billions of people around the globe are about to celebrate the birthday of a Jewish man, born in Bethlehem 2000+ years ago, but don’t think Jews lived there before 1948.”

Now apologists for Hamas are claiming that the terrorists didn’t commit atrocities on October 7 while demanding a permanent ceasefire that would empower Hamas to slaughter more Israelis in the future. But the more children kidnapped by Hamas tell their stories, the more difficult it becomes to defend such atrocities.

This ideological war is consequential far beyond the Middle East. As Jewish American and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer writes in the New York Times, “Too many Americans are exploiting arguments against Israel and leaping toward a virulent antisemitism. The normalization and intensifying of this rise in hate is the danger many Jewish people fear the most.”

Sen. Schumer documents the shocking rise in antisemitic violence in America after Hamas’s October 7 invasion and asks, “Are we still a nation that can defy the course of human history, where the Jewish people have been ostracized, expelled, and massacred over and over again?” His question is obviously crucial for the future of Jews in America.

But it is also vital for the future of America herself.

The lowest point in our nation’s history?

“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” is a law of propaganda often attributed to Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist for the Nazi Party. Similarly, the first stage in changing culture is to normalize the new “truth” or behavior, then to legalize it, stigmatize those who oppose it, and criminalize their opposition.

LGBTQ advocates, for example, have followed this playbook very effectively in recent years. To illustrate: Disney’s new “family” Christmas movie portrays a family with two fathers and features a boy calling another boy a “hottie.” Evangelicals like me who disagree with such sexualization of children are stigmatized as “homophobic” and dangerous to society and may face legal and criminal penalties in the future.

However, while God loves us and wants to bless us (cf. Ephesians 2:4–5), he cannot love us and bless that which harms us.

When we abandon biblical truth and reject biblical morality, the prophet’s description becomes true of us: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2). Since God is the only source of spiritual life (John 15:5), “to set the mind on the flesh is death” (Romans 8:6).

We should therefore be grieved but not surprised that US suicides reached a record high last year, or that overdose fatalities have risen fivefold in the last two decades, or that 68 percent of us say this is the lowest point in our nation’s history they can remember.

“There is only one relationship that matters”

In a sermon attributed to St. Macarius (AD 300–391) we read:

Woe to the path that is not walked on, or along which the voices of men are not heard, for then it becomes the haunt of wild animals. Woe to the soul if the Lord does not walk within it to banish with his voice the spiritual beasts of sin. Woe to the house where no master dwells, to the field where no farmer works, to the pilotless ship, storm-tossed and sinking. Woe to the soul without Christ as its true pilot; drifting in the darkness, buffeted by the waves of passion, storm-tossed at the mercy of evil spirits, its end is destruction.

Woe to the soul that does not have Christ to cultivate it with care to produce the good fruit of the Holy Spirit. Left to itself, it is choked with thorns and thistles; instead of fruit it produces only what is fit for burning. Woe to the soul that does not have Christ dwelling in it; deserted and foul with the filth of its passions, it becomes a haven for all the vices.

Does his warning describe and explain the spiritual and moral condition of our culture?

Conversely, we are promised: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Jesus assures us, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5).

To this end, I will close by sharing my favorite paragraph in my favorite daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. I read it every year on this date and am encouraged and challenged each time by Oswald Chambers’ wisdom:

There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill his purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purpose, and yours may be that life.

Will God “fulfill his purpose through your life” today?

Denison Forum