America must choose between faith, order and a culture of lawlessness

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There are two very different messages that are battling for the soul of our nation right now. One message lifts us up. The other message drags us down. The question of which message succeeds depends on whether we have the strength to repair the torn fabric of our society or whether we have weakened to the point where we are content to watch it unravel even further.

The first message came from NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the mission specialist on Artemis II. When this accomplished American hero returned home, still in his flight suit, he was greeted by his entire neighborhood. He stood before them and spoke words straight from Scripture: "Let’s be this more. Let’s be neighbors. God told us to love Him with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves."

That is the message America desperately needs. It is humble. It is biblical. It is unifying. It calls every one of us, regardless of race, background, or neighborhood, to the kind of neighborly love that builds strong families, safe streets, and thriving communities.

Victor Glover represents what is possible when faith, discipline, excellence, and personal responsibility come together. He is living proof that the ladders of opportunity are still there for anyone willing to climb them.

ARTEMIS II PILOT VICTOR GLOVER PRAISES GOD AFTER RETURN, SAYS MISSION WAS 'TOO BIG TO BE IN ONE BODY'

Yet sometimes the simplest and truest of all messages is the hardest to follow. Why is that?

The second message is the one playing out far too often on the streets of Chicago. Just weeks ago, 25-year-old Alexander Kazanowski, a young father expecting his second child, already raising a little girl named Thea, was brutally beaten to death outside a bar in the Avondale neighborhood. He was an entrepreneur who started his first company at 19, a wrestler, a model, a man full of vigor and promise. Now his unborn son will grow up without a father, and his family is left to grieve a life stolen in a moment of senseless violence.

Real justice is biblical justice. It protects the innocent. It punishes the guilty without apology. It demands accountability from every citizen, no matter their background.

Police are still searching for the suspects, four people of interest, including three men and one woman. Another innocent life gone. Another family shattered. Another reminder that evil does not care about skin color, political slogans, or excuses.

I'VE SEEN THE BODIES ON MY BLOCK — AND I KNOW WHAT REALLY STOPS THE KILLING

This is the deadly result when we choose dysfunction over discipline. When we protect violence instead of confronting it. When we make excuses for those who violate the most basic social contract: that we do not harm the innocent, that we do not destroy what others have built, that we do not turn our neighborhoods into war zones.

As a pastor who has buried too many young men on Chicago’s South Side, I say this plainly: we cannot keep tolerating or excusing the culture of lawlessness and then act shocked when it claims more victims, whether they are teens in Englewood or a young father in Avondale. Real justice is biblical justice. It protects the innocent. It punishes the guilty without apology. It demands accountability from every citizen, no matter their background.

CHICAGO'S DEADLY SANCTUARY MADNESS IS COSTING INNOCENT AMERICANS THEIR LIVES

We need a sanctuary for all, we need safe communities where fathers can walk home at night, where children can play without fear, where families can build futures instead of burying them. That sanctuary will never come from more government programs, more victimhood narratives, or more soft bigotry of low expectations. It comes only when Victor Glover’s message wins out: Love God. Love your neighbor. Speak truth. Enforce consequences. Reject excuses.

My Walk Across America showed me that most of this country still believes in Glover’s vision of faith, family, hard work, and genuine neighborly love. But in too many of our cities, a different current flows: one of instant retaliation, fatherlessness, glorification of the streets, and a refusal to call evil by its name.

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We must reverse that current. The choice is that simple and it is a hard one.

Victor Glover's son will grow up knowing his father. Alexander Kazanowski's son will not. That is the difference between these two messages. That is what is actually at stake.

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Glover said it plainly: Love God. Love your neighbor. That is not a slogan. It is the only foundation on which real sanctuary — for every race, every family, every child — has ever been built.

Choose that. Fight for that. God bless you, and God bless America.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM COREY BROOKS

Pastor Corey Brooks, known as the "Rooftop Pastor," is the founder and Senior Pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and the CEO of Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny), the church's local mission. He gained national attention for his 94-day and 343-day rooftop vigils to transform the notorious "O-Block," once known as Chicago's most dangerous block, into #OpportunityBlock. Learn more at ProjectHOOD.org.