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Writer's pictureArmstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams: God is not dead | STAFF COMMENTARY

PUBLISHED: March 31, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com

My infinitely warm and invaluable relationships with family and friends stand on rock-solid religious convictions.  They were instilled from my earliest days by my loving parents, James and Thelma Williams.  They have guided my voyage to business success beyond my wildest dreams.


Faith and work ethic has consistently reminded me that a fool can burn down a building, but brains and industry are required to create one. It’s easy to be a critic. Imperfections are inescapable even for geniuses. John Milton’s acclaimed “Paradise Lost” has blunders. But critics leave nothing constructive to inspire.


You can’t acquire this wisdom by books or reflection alone. You must attempt to create something original yourself through trial and error. There is no substitute.Too many wish to be doted upon or crave paternalism to escape responsibility. They live stunted lives, ignoring that the tortoise only makes progress by sticking its neck out.


My faith has been as constant as the North Star every step of my journey. I have never questioned. I have never wavered. I have never doubted.


Volumes have been written answering common questions: how to build companies, set up systems and processes or improve leadership.  But at the end of the day, the best book for success has been available to all for millennia: The Bible.


This soaring guide to salvation is timeless like God. The Bible’s messages are for all time and for all places. The purpose of life is changeless. The Bible does not pause to fit today’s fashions.


This understanding gave birth to America. No religion. No Plymouth Rock. No Pilgrims. No City on a Hill.


Mankind is made of crooked timber. The Bible is like training wheels. It enables us to resist multiple occasions to sin. President George Washington’s time-honored Farewell Address celebrated religion as the wellspring of morality, “a necessary spring of popular government.” John Adams, Washington’s successor, advised that statesmen “may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.”


The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are many. They test your resolve and faith like Jonah and the Whale.  Living without adversity is a luxury. Faith is made of sterner stuff, as Jesus proved.


Many cannot confront and grapple with reality. It is too grim. Suicide rates have skyrocketed, especially among youths who have not begun to live. Depression is an epidemic in the next generation. They squander time on social media in lieu of introspection culminating in comforting and enduring faith.


The key to success lies with the faith within us. It inspires kindness, industry and every benevolent instinct of the human heart. An investment in faith yields far richer dividends than an investment in Apple or Amazon.

Seasons change. Presidents and celebrities come and go with the regularity of the rising and setting of the sun. The choreography of our lives is in constant flux. But our lives following the Bible are as unchanging as the Rock of Gibraltar.



Faith is like an anchor that can right your ship when the waters of life turn turbulent, and a shipwreck nears. Faith is that silent force that gives hope to patients afflicted with cancer or other life-threatening diseases.


Critics and naysayers mock, ignore or dismiss faith. They are losing out on an unsurpassed source of resolve and strength.  According to their suboptimal way of thinking, something you cannot see, touch or prove does not exist. They do not acknowledge that our knowledge confronts limits.


Can love be quantified or proven? Can it be seen? Of course not.  Love is more a mood, a way of life, than a provable fact like the force of gravity. So, too, with faith.


Acts motivated by faith are the key to civilization. Without faith, the future is dark. But faith is the secret of productive, meaningful and enjoyable lives.


Some may close their eyes to its blaze. But opening them at any time is always an option that promises deliverance. I can testify to the invaluable benefits in store.


Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun. This column is part of a weekly series written from “The Owner’s Box.”

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