Here’s how the argument usually goes:
We are in the End Days.
Puleeze! There have been worse times.
So, okay, let’s admit that there haven’t been any eras where humans haven’t treated other humans in inhumane ways as long as they can get away with it. It’s part of the human archetype–the fallen state. Therefore, universally similar deplorable human circumstances exist, regardless of the era. What is the litmus test, then, for determining better or worse? Is it material things? Is it fame, fortune, comfort, security, happiness?
No doubt the answer will be as individual as there are individuals. For me it lies not in what I think we have gained but rather in what I see we have lost. Those who tout modern convenience, commonly perceived elevated life-style, sexual liberty and extended life as the argument for this being the best era ever, do not see what I see.
What I see is mounting fear–fear of nearly everything. Fear of rising violent crime, ever overreaching intrusion of government into the minutia of our daily lives. I see fear of speaking even the most mundane opinions or words lest one might offend another, fear of allowing children to play outside in their own neighborhoods or walk or ride their bikes to school. Fear of doing anything without mandated protective gear, straps, padding, helments. Fear of being molested and humiliated for simply trying to board an airplane. Fear of our every move being watched and videoed, recorded and monitored. Fear of breaking rules or laws that we don’t even know exist. Fear of trusting anyone, especially our neighbors. Fear of being “de-friended”.
I’ve lived long enough to remember that, while life ten, twenty, thirty years ago was not in any way perfect, and provided many things for the average human to worry about, there was once less general fear. Hope and dreams and the freedom to pursue personal interests took precedence. Being “safe” was less important than being free to take risks because risk was something entirely different from simply walking to your car in the dark.
For all the ongoing problems of living day to day, there was a better, healthier balance between things to worry about and things to be optimistic over. There was an unspoken baseline of acceptable social behavior that allowed for a common trust between humans in all manner of interactions. When the state of being fearful and worried becomes the normal condition of the general population to the point of living in constant angst, second guessing every move or hindering the spirit of standing on a principal, something is very wrong and leads one to conclude that, indeed, something wicked does this way come–and maybe is already here.
And then there is the decline of general intelligence. For all our high tech innovations, speed of communication and instant access to information, humankind seems to be losing ground in terms of general knowledge, common sense, logic, problem-solving, self-sufficiency and overall ability to think critically. The advantage of modern living is modern convenience, but it is a very bad trade-off for the downside which is capitulation of real intelligence to digitized artificial intelligence, all the while believing that this is smart.
My conclusion: I can say that, if only attributing it strictly to the creature comforts of this modern age, I am better off materially speaking, at least for the moment, until someone decides that what I have ought to be given to someone else. Where I am not better off is in my spirit as I grieve for the substantive things lost and/or replaced with the hollow, intelligence-reversing, soul-killing, shallow decadent flesh pleasing substitutions that hold hostage the focus of this contemporary world and that have contributed to giving us longer, comfortable lives even as they simultaneously have generated a new fear-based culture striped of its ability to reason outside of the boundaries of Group Feel.
For the record I do believe this is the last era and I have good reason from very personal experience. I do not believe the Body is slated to be removed before hell is unleashed on earth and so we face a great unknown about what that might mean. How we die seems to be of less importance to our Almighty Father than where we are in His grace when we draw our last breath.
The upside is knowing that when you belong to Christ, you are in this world but not of this world. It’s in this hiding place where there is no fear and I can reside here confident that no matter how bad it might get, no matter what suffering is just ahead, better is coming.
This was today’s Vance Havner devotional. Coincidence?
No Place to Hide?
Thou art my hiding place.
Psalm 32:7.
Your life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3.
A little girl, distressed over world conditions, wrote to a magazine editor for advice. He replied, “Let the reader grit her wisdom teeth. There is no hiding place.”
It is a sad commentary on our vaunted civilization that, for all our education, science, invention, and boasted progress, we are looking for a hole in the ground in which to hide from our own devices. The theme of books and articles by, of all people, scientists is, “No Place To Hide.”
But there is a hiding place. Not in a “refuge of lies” (Isa. 28:15, 17) such as we devise rather than face God. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” (Jer. 23:24). Not in rocks and mountains (Rev. 6:15-17). God is our refuge. The only way to hide from His Presence is in His Presence.
In the secret of His Presence
How my soul delights to hide.
He is the Haven of Rest, the Shelter in Time of Storm.
Jesus Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee
We need a refuge from the pride of man and the strife of tongues, and we may find both in the secret of His Presence (Ps. 31:20). There is a Hiding Place!
