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Writing on President Bush's faith has almost become a new beat at many news services. Several new articles run every week. Most of these stories focus on how his Christian beliefs affect his policies and leadership. Last week, Newsweek devoted its cover story to "Bush and God."

But how has the president's faith changed the man? James Robison, a Texas preacher and spiritual adviser to Bush, says the change has been great. In fact, he says he has never seen conversion change a person's life more than it did for George W. Bush.

Robison, president of Life Outreach International and host of the TV show Life Today, is the author of The Absolutes: Freedom's Only Hope (Tyndale). In the book, Robison looks at why America's leadership needs to embrace biblical ideals if the country is to remain strong.

You say in The Absolutes that we're at a moment of truth as a nation. What do you mean?

I realized that this nation was headed for some difficult days due to the fact that we were making choices void of judgment, void of wisdom. I could see greed on the prowl. I could see relativism becoming the order of the day. If we don't move away from relativism and back to the absolute principles upon which the nation was solidly founded and established, we would have a very instable, insecure, and indefinite future.

I began writing the book four years ago. I was well into the writing of it prior to September the 11th. I had written the chapter "Greed Destroys" before Enron. I knew we were in trouble and actually began sharing these principles with a man that I had once not even cared for, and that's George W. Bush.

I visited with him one day and realized that this man had an encounter with God that was so profound. He said a year or two ago that had he not had this encounter with God, he'd be sitting in a bar in Texas. But as a result of an encounter with God, he's in the White House.

How did this encounter with God change him?

The man was changed totally, miraculously, and supernaturally. He has never tried to market "his faith," he has never been ashamed of it, and never denied it. But it has transformed every area of his life, causing people who've been around him forever to notice not only what happened but what continues to happen.

The Texas governor, Rick Perry, heard me once at a prayer meeting say that the greatest change I have ever seen in an individual came in the life of George W. Bush. The next day he told me, "I've known this man a long time and I was his lieutenant governor. And I've known his family. I'm going to tell you this: It took a big, big God to change a man like God changed George W. Bush."

He said that it was also the greatest life change he'd ever seen. I'll tell you, the man had an encounter. Is he going to be flawless? Is he going to be a man who never makes a mistake? No. He will. But he's willing to admit it. He walks in humility. The man is teachable.

My wife and I met with him in the Oval Office late last fall, and we marveled at how broken he is before the Lord and how he's seeking God. That's the reason it is important for us to pray for him, because he really is seeking to hear the Lord and know and do his will.

What do Christians need to understand about how these absolutes integrate into national leadership?

The thing we've got to understand is that when you really consider the true absolutes, they're not only the standard of measure, but they're the standard by which we build our life, our relationship, and our future. We cannot force these principles on others. We have to adopt them into our life. We have to so adopt them that they transform our life and that the radiant glow of that transformed life and light transforms others who behold it.

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March (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47