Seeking Truth in Today's Troubled World

Having been born and raised in Roseville, Minnesota, I watch the events unfold in my former home with keen interest of late. I have watched with dismay and a strong sense of wonder on how the land I have loved has fallen into such ill repute and chaos. Minnesotans do not need to be told that something has shifted. We feel it in ordinary places, in the sourness of public speech, in the way civic trust frays, and in the uneasy sense that even worship can become a battleground. Levi Secord’s recent essay at WORLD uses the January disruption of Cities Church in St. Paul as a parable for Minnesota’s broader decline, and on the basic fact, he is not imagining things. Cities Church’s own public statement confirms that their January 18 worship service was disrupted, and that congregants, including children, experienced a “jarring” intrusion.

A church gathering is not a city council meeting. Protest has a place in a free society, but commandeering a worship service is not persuasion, it is intimidation. Scripture’s ethic is plain: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). When a crowd forces itself into a sanctuary to harass worshipers, that is not peace, and it should be condemned without hesitation.

Still, if Minnesota is going to learn anything from moments like this, we need a cleaner diagnosis than partisan temperature. Secord’s central warning is that Christians cannot simply opt out of public life and expect to be left alone. That is true in principle. Every culture catechizes. Every public order enforces some vision of the good. Christians who pretend we can keep faith private and enjoy civic neutrality misunderstand the nature of politics and the nature of man.

But there is a temptation for believers, especially after a violation like this, to turn analysis into demonology. Secord calls “leftism” a totalizing, rival religion, and there is a legitimate point buried inside that language: any ideology that claims authority over conscience, speech, and worship is indeed functioning as a counterfeit religion. Yet Christians must be careful not to bear false witness through sweeping caricature. The Ninth Commandment applies in culture war season too (Exodus 20:16). If we speak as if every neighbor who votes differently is a would-be tyrant, we will train ourselves to despise people Christ commands us to love, and we will lose the moral authority needed to correct real injustice.

Minnesota does have real, verifiable reasons for public alarm that have nothing to do with internet rhetoric. Fraud is not theoretical. Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have described the Feeding Our Future case as a roughly $250 million scheme exploiting a federally funded child nutrition program, with dozens of defendants charged, and ongoing indictments continuing into late 2025. That is not a talking point, it is a matter of courtrooms, evidence, and public record. Christians should call it what Scripture calls it: theft and false dealing (Leviticus 19:11; Proverbs 11:1). Fraud does not only steal money, it steals trust, and when trust dies, the poor and the honest are punished first.

Even Minnesota’s budget story, often shouted about more than understood, deserves sober handling. The state’s own budget and economic forecast in December 2025 projected a surplus in the current biennium while warning of structural challenges ahead. That is neither “everything is fine” nor “collapse is inevitable.” It is exactly what responsible adults should want from public reporting: clarity, numbers, and a warning label for the road ahead. Whether all those numbers are accurate and the warnings legitimate is another matter entirely.

This is where Secord’s essay is strongest, and where Minnesota’s pastors and citizens should insist on first principles. Romans 13 teaches that civil authority is meant to restrain evil and uphold justice (Romans 13:1–4). When leaders fail to punish wrongdoing or allow chaos to become normal, Scripture does not applaud their sensitivity, it calls rulers to their duty. That is not “Christian nationalism.” It is basic Christian moral reasoning applied to public life.

Yet Romans 13 also sits beside Acts 5:29, and Minnesota needs both texts, not one used as a weapon against the other. The state has genuine authority, but it is not ultimate. When government overreaches into conscience and worship, Christians do not panic or comply out of fear; we obey God rather than men. When activists overreach into intimidation and harassment, Christians do not retreat into bitterness; we seek justice without surrendering love.

So what should Minnesota Christians do, right now, besides argue?

First, pray for those in authority, not as a sentimental ritual, but as obedience to Scripture (1 Timothy 2:1–2). Prayer is not a substitute for action, but it is the antidote to political idolatry. It keeps us from imagining that salvation comes by election, or that despair is the only honest posture.

Second, tell the truth with precision. If you claim fraud, cite the indictments and convictions. If you claim budget trouble, cite the forecast. If you claim harassment, cite the church’s own account. Loose talk is how societies rot. The Lord loves truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6).

Third, demand accountability without granting yourself permission to hate. Scripture commands us to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Love does not mean softness about wrongdoing. Love means we correct evil for the sake of the innocent and even for the sake of the wrongdoer’s repentance.

Finally, do not waste a crisis. If Minneapolis and St. Paul feel darker than they once did, that is not a cue for Christians to flee, it is a cue to shine. Jesus did not send His church into safe neighborhoods only. He sent us into a world that resists light, and then promised that the light would win (John 1:5).

Minnesota, here is the plain conclusion: if we want a less chaotic state, we must recover the simple virtues our grandparents assumed, truthfulness, lawful order, honest weights, and the courage to protect ordinary people from predation, whether that predation wears a suit or a slogan. Condemn the disruption of worship. Prosecute fraud relentlessly. Reform oversight without excuses. And let the church be what she is called to be, not a political club, not a fearful remnant, but a faithful witness. If we cannot defend the quiet dignity of worship, the integrity of public funds, and the basic rule of law, then “Minnesota Nice” will remain a nostalgic joke. But if we recover truth, and if Christians keep their heads and keep their love, this state can still become something better than an embarrassment. It can become a place where righteousness again exalts a people (Proverbs 14:34).

In Christ’s Service,

~Jonathan F. Hillmer