A Debate About Whether Times Really Are Dark
A very high percentage of people with whom I speak agree with deep decline of the United States. I ask many people the question, “Do you think the country is in decline?” Very few say “no.” Two different men touched on this subject in recent days, and I want to comment on their conclusions.
First, Kevin Schaal, president of the FBFI, wrote, “Wars and Rumors of Wars,” beginning the post with “we live in dark days.” Second, Aaron Blumer, owner of fundamentalist website SharperIron, wrote in criticism of Schaal’s introduction with “Do We Live In Dark Times?” First, Kevin Schaal, second, Aaron Blumer, and now I will write my thoughts addressing the question, “Are these really uniquely dark times?”
Maybe Not Any Darker?
From what I read, the older people in succeeding generations in the past complained about decline from a previous generation to theirs. The new generation changes. The former generation interprets this as decline. Some would say this happens again and again. Some would say what’s happening right now is just more of the same. Is this true? Blumer says it’s not much different and maybe better based on certain data. At least in his introduction, Schaal says, No, these are uniquely bad times, enough to call them “dark.”
Blumer contends there have always been bad times. He says this trend goes back to the beginning. Job, Jesus, Paul, and Peter talk about dark days then and into the future, Blumer writes. He also bemoans how leaders feed the anxieties already inundating the news media.
Preliminary to Christ’s Return?
I don’t think Kevin Schaal was feeding anxiety. He was saying recent world events seemed tell-tale as something preliminary to the coming of Jesus Christ. For a Christian, that doesn’t cause anxiety, but joy or happiness.
Mainly Schaal pointed to wars: Ukraine, Israel, rumors of possible war in Taiwan, and maybe something bigger in the Middle East with Iran. These are the dark times to which he referred, pointing to them as a warm-up for the seven year tribulation on earth. Maybe Blumer totally missed Schaal’s point. I believe Schaal thinks the catching up of the saints with Christ in the clouds, the rapture, precedes the second coming of Christ by seven years.
Yes, Darker Than Ever
When I talk to people out in the world, I too talk about uniquely dark times. Based on the way true Christians judge the world, this world is darker than ever. The United States, the greatest light for the Lord in recent world history, is as spiritually and morally bankrupt as ever. It is the worst by far based on every way you can judge.
In the 1980s William Bennett published his Index of Leading Cultural Indicators. Using accurate data, he reported the measurement of the downgrade in every cultural area. At that time, there was little to no positive presentation of homosexuality in the media. Now it is rampant and normalized. It’s worse than that. Conservative homosexuals now stand as leading spokesman against woke transgenderism. There is a steep decline in this country and nothing indicating that we’re coming back.
Apatheism and the Start of a Turnaround
I’ve never seen greater ignorance of the gospel in places once considered the Bible belt. Atheism has grown, but it’s not just that. It’s what someone rightfully calls “apatheism.” Apatheism might be worse than atheism. It’s at least atheism from the neck down but in greater numbers by far than actual atheism.
When I preach and serve, I don’t act like we can’t come out of the present cold or lukewarm spiritual condition today. I behave like we can see this all turn around. Do I think it will turn around? No. But if it is, it will start with me, then my church, then my community and my county. I’m not thinking of something as big as a nation changing. Let’s start with our church and then our neighborhood.
Pastor Jackson,
You left three caustic comments, full of derogatory name calling, so I wanted to see if you were real and emailed your given email address and, surprise, it came back return to sender.
When you don’t see your three comments, understand it’s because of that.
These are dark days indeed. I never thought I would see the day when leaders of Christianity would openly support leaders such as Donald Trump. But yet, after everything that has happened including him trying to steal the last election, over 50% of professing Christians (including you) will again vote for him in 2024.
There was a time when Christians stood for quaint notions such as honesty and character. Those days are gone for the time being. This apostasy (your apostasy) is far more significant than what culture thinks about homosexuality.
You are right. The change needs to start with you. You need to repent for jettisoning what is good for evil.
Hello Julia,
I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to deal with your comment, because you showed you were legitimate, unlike someone else who commented with derogatory comments. I’m going to deal with your comment one statement at a time.
1. I voted for Donald Trump and encouraged others to vote for him. Why? The same reason someone would support Samson, Solomon, David, Cyrus, and even Nebuchadnezzar, the latter supported by Daniel, a righteous man. Joseph, a godly man, supported Pharoah in Egypt. Trump fought for religious liberty. Trump picked pro-life Supreme Court justices, Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and illegal immigration and fentanyl across the border decreased. I said nothing about Trump in this post, so your comment trolled my post, because it barely dealt with what I wrote.
2. How did Trump try to steal the election? I’m interested in that. I don’t know of anything that he did. However, I see the Democrat Party across the country doing what would more likely be called stealing the election. They at least rigged the election and circumvented the Democratic process. I could write a lot about this, but whole books have been written about it.
3. Who says Christians are not for honesty and character? Voting for a candidate is not like choosing your pastor, Julia. A lot of factors come in to who we vote for.
4. You call me an apostate. This would indicate you don’t understand apostasy. What do you think apostasy is? Do you know anything about what the Bible says about the biblical role of a woman? How does that relate to character?
5. You say it doesn’t matter what a culture thinks about homosexuality and that is a strong indicator about everything that you say or think about Christianity.
6. How have I jettisoned good for evil? You put all this on someone voting for Trump and giving arguments for doing so? Wow.
How did Trump try to steal the election? You might take a look at what is happening in Georgia where three of his coconspirators have pled guilty so far to that, including good “Christian” Jenna Ellis. If that is not enough to convince you (along with dozens of other things), I am not going to waste my time on you.
You are apostate. You don’t get to make up your own definitions for the term and it fits you to a T. Look up what it means.
Um, I did not say that it does not matter what a culture says about homosexuality. Try representing me correctly. What I said was it was not as important as the apostasy that you are engaged in.
“Biblical role of a woman”? Haha. I get what you are doing there. You are subtly telling me as a woman, I need to shut up and listen to men like you. I won’t. You have the right to print or not print what I write. I will speak to you as I please regardless.
Hi Julia,
You are speaking aggressively in this forum, and you are also condemnatory. You got personal with both your comments, including the last statement of this first paragraph, you aren’t going to waste your time with me. That’s just a derogatory personal attack that I’m a waste of time, and yet, here you are, making your comments. Read 1 Timothy 2:11-15 about God’s design for a woman. It’s not a lesser role than the man, but it’s different, and you don’t fulfill it here. You violate it. Scripturally, none of us “get to” speak as we please. I understand your not answering whether I’m an apostate, because you can’t give me any scripture on apostasy. You don’t know what the Bible says about it. You tell me to look it up. I don’t need to look it up. I know who an apostate is, because I know the apostasy passages of the Bible. I also am confident it doesn’t at all fit me to a “T.”
Your comments are absent of scripture. You did not answer my comment where it was inconvenient for you, that is, an argument for voting for Trump. I would rather not publish what you’ve written, but I have, because it is within the policy here to do that. Maybe I’ll change that policy in the future because of people like yourself. Right now, everyone reading here. When anyone like Julia comments like she has, I reserve the right not to publish her comments.
You don’t know why Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty, and that doesn’t make her a “good Christian.” I would tend toward compassion toward Jenna Ellis. I feel sorry for her situation. She was involved in the Trump campaign as a lawyer and tremendous advocate of Trump. To be consistent, shouldn’t that make her an apostate? I believe she pleaded guilty because of the wicked “lawfare” of the Democrat Party in the extremely leftist, Marxist Fulton County. You think they’re right, those leftists, who also support abortion, same sex marriage, etc. Based on your type of judgmentalism, you are with them. They are your people.
The Trump lawyers are people challenging an election legally. The Trump campaign believed there were illegalities in the election process of Fulton County and all over the country. I agree with their assessment, as well as that of organizations like the Federalist, etc. That says that the Democrat Party actually stole the election in a way of rigging the election by courts changing election laws, corrupt ballot harvesting, and censoring negative information about the Hunter Biden laptop, etc.
I believe these lawyers should not be prosecuted, and even if they are prosecuted in Fulton County, it surely will be appealed and overturned. This is the opinion of many conservative constitutionalists. I mean those who take a strict constructionist view of the Constitution, not a leftist loose construction of the Constitution. People should be able to defend themselves or to prosecute in a court without fear of prosecution, like these lawyers. They are not rich people, that includes Sydney Powell, etc. They can’t afford the time and the money that this will cause. This is a corrupt, evil strategy of the left, to bring these cases to destroy political opponents and to tangle them up in court. Therefore, these lawyers themselves under counsel decided to make a deal with Fulton County. It was a better and easier outcome to them than the alternative. They didn’t wish to bankrupt themselves. It’s a sad day in America that you here support with your comment.
Got it… So, I am supposed to shut up and be quiet as a woman and listen to an apostate spew nonsense. Not going to happen, but it’s predictable that you would try that.
An apostate is a person who abandons a belief or principle. Nothing more or less. And that is you. You have abandoned core Christian beliefs for political pragmatism. I doubt you were writing back when Clinton was molesting an intern in the WH but I have no doubt character mattered to you back then even if it doesn’t now.
Of course, Jenna is an apostate. I said “Christian” in quotes for a reason. She is a disgrace. And you might want to get your head out of the sand. These people pleading guilty are not doing it because they followed the law. They illegally accessed voting systems and such. You are so delusional that you think these guys are going to appeal their own guilty pleas where they admit in open court they were wrong and broke the law?
How can you not see this? And why should anyone listen to you when you preach when you are so easily fooled by politicians? Why should you be taken seriously?
Julia,
I’ll just let your comment stand as is. I’ll let the readers judge.