This is a fascinating book. It recounts Ronald Reagan's life long struggle against communism that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Eastern Europe. It shows the determination, courage, and moral conviction of a man who almost single-handedly brought about the collapse of the "evil empire." This book is about much more than politics. And there are lessons here that Christians could do well to take to heart. 

Ronald Reagan was not an intellectual. He was probably not the smartest President, nor the most able. What he brought to the table of the struggle between the West and the Soviet Empire was two rare traits. Courage to do what is right regardless of its popularity or the political or personal cost. And secondly an unwavering moral perspective on issues, that trumped merely secular considerations. Reagan thought that being a neutral, secular, pragmatist was reprehensible. You had to tell the truth and the truth was simply that communism was evil. While America's allies frequently deserted him in his anti-communist crusade, and while domestic opposition mounted, and even his closest advisors and  Republican ex-Presidents cautioned him to compromise and be more realistic, he persevered in what he saw as a moral struggle against evil. 

Reagan didn't believe that you could put on moral blinders and pretend that the Soviet Union was just another country and agree to peacefully coexist with a totalitarian and oppressive system that enslaved millions of human beings and denied the existence of God and of God given human rights. To him it was a moral imperative to confront the system ,expose its evil nature, and seek to deliver those made captive by it. To him it was utter folly to be nice to them, support them with financial credits and profitable trade deals, and provide them with diplomatic respectability and ignore their crimes against humanity. 

Reagan had a simple plan, brilliant in its simplicity, for bringing down the Soviet Union without firing a shot. And he pursued this plan uncompromisingly, without hesitation, and in spite of persistent hurdles from all quarters, and in eight short years he prevailed and shortly after he left office (a matter of days!) the Soviet Union started to disintegrate. For over 60 years American Presidents and Western leaders had coddled and cajoled the Soviet Union and had accepted detente and peaceful coexistence. Reagan shamed them all. He stood up to what he saw as evil, stared it in the face, challenged it, and brought it down. 

Now let us compare this with some other issues. For almost a century there has been a theological divide in western Christianity, as radical as the divide between East and West in the cold war. Churches maintaining historic Christianity were on one side and theological liberals on the other. Originally there were conflicts and confrontations, particularly by those set for the defense of the faith against those intent on subverting it. This conflict kept the forces of unbelief and apostasy on the defensive and led to regular secessions of believers from church organizations that had radically departed from historic Christianity.  And then along came the New Evangelicals with their programs of theological detente and peaceful coexistence with those who, while masquerading as ministers of Jesus Christ, were denying the faith. Led by such men as Harold Ockenga and Billy Graham, accommodation with unbelief became the new strategy. Ecumenical evangelism with the forces of unbelief became the norm. Liberals gained respectability, separations ceased, truth and error were blurred, and the churches were neutralized as a moral force for Christian truth. If these men had been like Reagan instead of Nixon how different the theological landscape might have been. If in the spirit of Elijah they had confronted the priests of Baal how different the results could have been. America is now a post Christian nation and it is not too hard to guess why. The salt had lost its savour and was utterly worthless. 

Secondly, there are important lessons here for individual Christians as well. Previous Presidents had thought that if you appeased the Soviets, if you were nice to them, if you accepted them at face value, they might eventually change and slowly evolve into a better and more humane system. Reagan knew better. You had to confront them, expose their sin , and call them to change. The entire system had to be changed from the bottom up. It had to be pushed to the point of collapse so that a new order could be built on the ruins. Similarly, the appeasers of the New Evangelicals thought that if you were nice to theological liberals, if you included them in your evangelistic crusades, if you accepted them at face value as good Christians, they would eventually change and become real evangelicals. It never happened. Elijah knew better. So in our personal witness to unbelieving co-workers, friends, and relatives, it doesn't work to simply be nice. Christianity is about truth not about just being nice. Martin Luther wasn't nice. He was confrontational. So were Knox and Calvin and many other stalwarts for the faith. Nobody ever became a Christian by meeting other Christians and determining that they were nice. People become Christians because they become convicted about Biblical truth. "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Faith comes by hearing (hearing the truth) and hearing by the word of God." That doesn't give Christians a license to be nasty. It just means that truth trumps niceness and political correctness. It transcends good manners and decorum. It is a faithful witness that the Lord requires of us. And a faithful witness will be seasoned with enough salt that it will frequently cause some offense. Christ said that it would be so. Let us not shrink from the task.

Finally, we are currently engaged in a new struggle between the secularized remnants of Christendom and the Islamic world (See the review of Sword of the Prophet.). If we are to prevail in that struggle, by the grace of God, we will again need courage and moral perspective. Currently the prognosis is not good. The spiritually bankrupt West has no moral perspective and no stomach for a moral crusade. President Bush is busy visiting mosques and assuring everyone of the moral equivalence of Christianity and Islam. This is a disaster. Islam needs to be exposed and challenged the same way Reagan exposed communism. Islam is an evil, depraved, and immoral religion and we need leaders who have the courage to say so. Only then can we have any hope of prevailing over it and being delivered from its onslaught.