‘We have a whole bunch of folks who have been looking for hope in all the wrong places,’ Fmr. WH Faith Dir. on the State of Politics.

WASHINGTON- CBN News sat down with pro-life Democrat, author and faith leader Michael Wear to discuss his successes and painful moments within the Obama administration, his challenge to pro-Trump Christians, and above all, his hope in Christ. 

‘The State of Our Souls’

AS- There is a quote in your book, 'the state of politics represents the state of our souls.' What do our souls look like from a spiritual perspective? I mean left, right and in between.

Wear-I think what we are seeing right now, I wrote the book because we saw it in the Obama administration (too), we have a whole bunch of folks, who have been looking for hope in all the wrong places. And that’s always going to come up short.

People who go to politics looking for hope are always going to be disappointed. The way our politics will work best is that if people who have real hope, have located their hope in the place where it is sure and true, in the gospel. As a Christian, that’s what I believe.

When people, can carry that hope with them into politics that’s a beautiful thing. All kinds of possibilities open up. We’ve invested so much of ourselves and so much of our future in a political system that isn’t designed to deliver those things. That’s why we are in the place we are in now. 

AS- I read an article by coincidence on Faithwire.com talking about your book, Reclaiming Hope. The author spoke about how she became so entrenched in politics but her heart and spirit was broken about what she saw going on around her and the book helped her to push back and see this is not our world, this is not where our hope should be. For those who are so entrenched, who wake up and check Twitter. Or those of us who wake up and immediately flip on Fox or CNN. What’s step one to reclaiming our hope in where it needs to be?

Wear- There are a lot of disappointing things happening. A lot of things that challenge what we know to be true,  I think with the beating of that drum, with the force of that our response can sometimes to be to focus on the darkness, to focus on what’s going wrong.

We need to remember, we know it’s wrong because we know the One who is right. We know what is not just because we know the God who is just. We know what is not loving, because we know the God that is love.

We can be fully in the fray of these things. I’m not talking about ignoring what’s happening in the world…I’m talking about is that we can’t spend so much time talking about what’s wrong in the world without reminding people that it is God who moves in history to advance his agenda of justice and it is God who motivates us to pursue what is right.

Yes, we need to call out evil but if we are not offering an alternative. If we are not offering confidence in a gospel that is true, that gives joy that could mislead people. I just remind people, even with everything that is going on, they can hold fast to the truth of the gospel.

The Obama Years

AS- Were there any moments during that time where you said ‘That’s my voice. I hear myself in this policy or this initiative?‘

Wear- Oh yeah, in terms of policy, the president’s action to make the adoption tax credit permanent was something I was really proud of. His actions to increase the United State's profile on fighting human trafficking. 

AS- You talk about this extensively in your book (Reclaiming Hope.) Do you look back and see moments of regret? Or maybe regret isn’t the right word?

Wear- There are things I wish turned out differently. Politics is complicated. There are a lot of moving pieces. There are factors that play into the decisions that are very complicated. There are moments that are maybe painful, moments where I feel like I could’ve done something differently, but overall I am proud of what we accomplished.

The Duty of the Christian Voter 

Wear- I’ll speak directly about Christians, I don’t think voting for Trump was a sin. Politics is about imperfect decisions.  If people went to the voting booth with a clear conscience and voted for Trump. Who am I?

But what is clear is that for some reason, it’s a larger discussion, for now I’ll say, some folk’s priorities going into the voting booth were very different from Christians in different positions. Christians of other races, Christians who were at the receiving end for some of Trump’s rhetoric. There has to be some soul searching there.

For those who voted and are now seeing this play out, who are now seeing what people were saying about candidate Trump wasn’t hyperbole, wasn’t just sort of exaggerations, some of it was based in the clear reality and record of what he was saying.

The democratic candidate wasn’t perfect by any means. But now you’re not talking about republican vs. democrat. You’re talking about, will we as Christians have the courage to affirm him when he does things that are good and reject him when he does things that are bad that are evil?