We live in a society where social media, 24/7 television news, talk radio, and online websites compete for clicks and audiences with increasingly hysterical headlines designed to focus our attention on the next crisis—real or imagined—in their news cycle. Eric Swalwell, the Donald Trump “Jesus meme,” gas prices, the upcoming midterms, Erika Kirk death threats, and on and on and on. One day, Nancy Guthrie disappears, and that dominates cable news coverage for weeks; she’s never been found, but that’s now old news. Crazy.
Sometimes it is good to pull back from the screaming newscasters and consider that Earth continues to spin on its axis, regardless of whether we fixate on the Calamity du Jour. For example, back in 1961, our dear family friend Dr. Donald J. Grout—chairman of the Music Department at Cornell University—retreated to a remote, quiet area of Germany’s Black Forest to edit and revise his foundational work, "A Short History of Opera," first published in 1947. While secluded in the Black Forest, elsewhere in Germany, communist leaders erected the Berlin Wall, dividing East and West Germany for decades and causing an international incident that almost triggered World War III.
When Dr. Grout finally emerged from his cottage in the forest and drove to the German border, he was detained but eventually allowed to return to the United States… having been blissfully unaware of the “crisis” that occurred while he was ensconced in his scholarly research.
Since the halcyon days of the 1960s, American society has, in my humble opinion, gone precipitously downhill. A long series of compromises—both societal and political—got us into the mess we are in today. Up is down. Right is wrong. The only thing that appears to matter is “living your truth” and since everyone is allowed to create their own truth, the United States is now home to more than 333 million competing and conflicting “truths.”
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How can those of us who embrace the reality of absolute truth as revealed by God in scripture help point our nation back in the right direction?
Enter Tim Goeglein with his just-published book "What Really Matters: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom and Family." Co-written with Craig Osten, Goeglein lays out a common-sense roadmap for America’s moral and spiritual revival as we approach our 250th birthday as a nation.
I’ve personally known Tim for more than 30 years, since his days serving in the office of then-U.S. Senator Dan Coates (R-IN) and later working in the White House under President George W. Bush. He’s currently the Vice President of External and Government Affairs for Focus On The Family, the Colorado Springs-based ministry founded 50 years ago by Dr. James Dobson. He is an accomplished author, lecturer, and leader whose credentials make him uniquely suited to help chart getting America back on course.
With chapters including Restoring Marriage, Restoring Family, and Restoring the American Male among others, "What Really Matters" offers refreshingly candid appraisals of the challenges facing American society in 2026 and how we can—with prayer and hard work—return the United States to a well-ordered society. Acknowledging this mission won’t be a cakewalk, Goeglein nevertheless proclaims that “instead of focusing on ourselves, we need to be focusing on others—to be Christ to our friends, family and neighbors—while boldly and unapologetically speaking truth in love to a culture in need of both.”
Like the late Charlie Kirk, Goeglein urges college students to get married and have children…since marriage and family—not money and career—determine long-term happiness. And he counsels, “Once married, stay together.” He cites Dr. Peter Schuck, professor emeritus at Yale University, who warned that “the steady decline of two-parent households is probably the single most consequential social trend of the past half century.”
In another chapter, Tim Goeglein yearns for the good old days because, let’s face it, they were the good old days: “An America where Democrats worshipped with Republicans, where friends and neighbors stopped in the aisle of the local grocery store to catch up and talk about family instead of politics, and where school children were taught about the greatness of their country and about their responsibility to make their country the best it could be.”
Unfortunately, he adds, because of the current teaching of American history and civics (or lack of it) in our educational system, we have become a society focused more on our grievances against each other rather than what unifies us as a people.
President Ronald Reagan was fond of proclaiming that America’s best days were yet to come and—in his words—“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” In "What Really Matters," Tim Goeglein is clearly channeling President Reagan’s optimism when he notes we must all work and pray for a return to the traditional American values that made our nation the envy of the world… so it can once again become a shining light in the darkness as we celebrate our 250th birthday this coming July 4.
I’m praying that millions of our fellow citizens heed Tim Goeglein’s clarion call.
Tom Tradup is Vice President/News & Talk Programming at Dallas-based Salem Radio Network. He can be reached at ttradup@srnradio.com.
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