As Christians our first and last priority is to pray for kings and those in authority. But we must also stay informed, get involved and engage respectfully and intelligently. And above all we must realise that without Christians we cannot have a Christian civilisation. Our calling is to proclaim the Gospel—not the next political saviour/devil.

I have a confession to make. I actually like listening to political speeches—at least the good ones.

But in recent years the quality of political speeches has rapidly declined; I can remember speeches by Tony Benn, Alex Salmond, Michael Gove, Margaret Thatcher, Michael Foot, Ronald Regan, George Galloway, Dennis Skinner and Charles Kennedy. But it’s been a long time since I have heard a speech that I would regard as culture-changing—or perhaps emblematic of a culture change. Until just recently. For there is no doubt that JD Vance’s speech to the Munich conference was a game-changer.

Vance is an excellent speaker. He is clear, intelligent, measured, respectful and stimulating. He speaks as well as he writes—his book Hillbilly Elegy is a wonderful and inspiring read. This is not to say that I would agree with everything he says—but he is certainly someone to be taken seriously.

His speech in Paris on the EU and AI was followed by an extraordinary speech at the Munich Security Conference, where, instead of playing the usual nice diplomatic games, he brought out a few home truths—and in such a devastating manner, that it threatens to reset the whole US/UK/EU transatlantic alliance.

So what is the Christian perspective on this? Is there one single Christian perspective? I doubt it. But let me offer mine. I would suggest that in terms of being like the men of Issachar who understood the times (1 Chronicles 12:32), there are lessons we can all learn—whatever side of the political spectrum we are on.

1) The reaction to the speech tells us almost as much as the speech itself.

According to the BBC, reporting with their usual balance and impartiality, ‘Vance’s speech went down very badly—unequivocally badly. It was extraordinarily poorly judged.’ The BBC’s reporting is itself indicative of a form of news reporting, which rather than reporting just what has happened, tends to offer a prejudiced perspective based on the politics/ideology of the reporter or reporting organisation. Which is why, without being totally cynical, Christians need to be much more discerning and balanced in how we deal with the news that is passed on to us. And why we need some more principled Christian journalists!

Some Christians bought into the line that Vance was lying about the restrictions on prayer within the so called ‘safe access’ areas to abortion zones in Scotland. I have been involved with this particular issue for many years, and I knew that he had not lied. Indeed, it was the Scottish government who misinformed….Endlessly on X and in the secular media.

2) The real danger is from within.

Vance shocked his audience when he pointed out that the real danger to European liberal democracy comes not from outside (Russia and China), but from within. In passing, I was disappointed to see that some Christian commentators bought into the meme that Vance was saying that Russia was not a danger. He wasn’t. He was talking about what he thought was the greater danger. And surely he is not wrong? It is not just the Kingdom of God that is within, it is also the Kingdom of Satan. Western Europe in particular is in full retreat from its Christian past—and as a result, a cancer is eating away from within.

3) Vance was right to point out the threat to free speech.

There are numerous examples of this—ironically evidenced when CBS published a 60-minute documentary showing the German police delighting in punishing people for so-called ‘hate speech’. You don’t fight fascism with fascist measures.

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