The End of An Era - The Beginning of A New Era

Any society's foundation is only as strong as it's weakest link. That goes for Egypt, Rome, Greece, Caliphates, British and even American world powers.

But today, western culture, specifically America, has a unique situation. It has no foundation. It has long since abandoned its original and really hasn't replaced it with anything except a buffet-style steam table of different cultural ideas, religions, philosophies and ethical systems. As a result, our society is now sort of like a balsam wood stack resting atop a foundation of brittle Styrofoam. We aren't necessarily rudderless....we're guided in directionless, chaotic and spastic movements by thousands of tiny rudders, heading off in different directions...leaving us tugged to and fro from within.

We have merits we fall back on to help encourage us. We abolished slavery, universalized the vote and shattered systemic racism in our society, even though it may still exist in pockets. But those achievements were prior to our aimlessness....a bygone era, based on a foundation we no longer embrace. Within a couple of generations, we have only lived off the capital of these accomplishments and created no more ourselves. We have decided, for example, beginning with the universities and ending with the churches, that Biblical Christianity is intellectually naive and obsolete, to be accredited with horrors. By ignoring the horrors realized today, and those planted and nurtured for a future generation, we are blind guides, leading ourselves and our progeny into trenches and shackles.

Ironically, we replaced this with refuse. Blind guides with willfully deteriorated Swiss-cheese intellects, passionately arguing, with all moral pathos, against objective morality....standing flat footed in absolute resolution against the existence of absolute truth. Our origins have become well crafted mythology, supported with all rigor, believing as fact that bats and sponges share a common ancestor, while denying a human nature. We are troubled with evidence of a beginning, so we begin postulating multi-verses to ease that tension. Our destiny as ambiguous and ever-changing as fashion sense. Our interests have degenerated into voyeurism, living vicariously through the lives of people we never met or never will meet, in order to stimy the pain of boredom and emptiness in our own lives, in which only the only antidote is scandal, profligation, gossip and promiscuity. Any society in our shape would have vanished into dust. Ours has been living off of the capital from the past. But our capital has run dry.

Our wealth, arguably built upon a rich foundational view of reality, used up, recycled and used up again. For the past 100 years, our wealth has been generated through debt creation, our currency devalued completely, as it is backed by nothing more than more currency and that currency representing debt. As I write this, our last recession has resulted in record breaking declines in economic activity. Twenty four months into this recession, sales and jobs continue to decline, which hasn't ever been witnessed before. Rumors abound that the only reason we have a stock market is attributable to the Federal Reserve and US Treasury being the primary buyer of marketable securities, in the absence of demand. Our strength abroad has deteriorated, aspiring new tyrants to test the waters of our resolve. Those more brave are giddy with the ability to disrupt everyday life through the act of terrorism. Less is taught, less is known, generations reveal an indirect correlation of declining desire for knowledge and increasing desire for more entertainment. Of course, the entertainment is a much needed diversion. The less we know, the better off we are, so we think. A well presented speech trumps actual leadership for us, any day.

We are about to head into another election year and although it seems as if incumbents have much to worry about, even a completely different congress in 2011 will be dwarfed by a monolithic and extraordinarily entrenched governmental machine, put in place, gradually, over the past 100 years. Now, democracy is totally eclipsed by bureaucracy. Our economy is no longer based on production, but buying and selling financial paper promises. Our industries artificially managed by federal agencies, with little or no success, comparable to gamers playing interactive Sim-Nation scenarios over XBOX. And our leaders are clueless, dishonest and make decisions purely on the short term gain, despite the long term impact. And we accept that, encourage it, by sending them back or replacing them with the same old, dry, corrupt, pooled reserve of political insiders who have made a killing at being 'servants'.

In essence, the United States of America is terminally comatose. The signs of life that remain are like twitches or raised fingers in a comatose patient. Maybe we'll snap out of it. But, diagnostically, we probably won't.

For those that solely defined themselves as Americans, this is horrible news. In fact, its the end of the world for you. It's still horrible news for me, but it's not the end of the world. In fact, it could be that we are on the verge of a new era, in which opportunities present themselves in ways they never could have before.

For those that don't buy into Biblical Christianity, you're waiting for a brave new world to come rescue us before the dark sets in. In fact, many of us in that category are still in denial that the sun has set, let alone face the coming darkness. Notwithstanding, that new world will come for you and replace this one. Although it will be akin to a high tech serfdom, its perks will scratch the itch. You will not only be satisfied with it, you will probably hold in contempt anyone who would want to replace it or change it. A world currency is in the works, along with a world economy. Countries that have a cost advantage over others will be the producers and the rest will be the consumers, fueled purely by debt...borrowing the new currency controlled and backed by a world bank, loosely held together by several nations. And with the currency, comes hegemony. Our governments will be subservient to this new system, even though it will appear with the same old fashioned constitutional, parliamentary trappings.

It could be that none of this transpires, we encounter a national revival and continue on another 200 years or so. It could happen and I'm open to it. However, it seems like all that has transpired, represented by alot of what has already been described here, appears as if a pattern has formed...one that is set. Several want a return to Constitutional purity, as do I. But even re-establishing Constitutional purity isn't sufficient for a foundation. Constitutional purity must rest on a foundation. Without that, it's like trying to build a second floor without a first floor. That foundation has been utterly rejected by so many, that those that are not hostile towards it, have replaced Biblical Christianity, as a foundation, with Constitutional purity. And that's fatal. Even if I were an atheist, it seems logically conclusive that if God has spoken, there is no foundation sufficient aside what He has revealed. Any other way to look at it would be to treat God as an encouraged Saturday morning cartoon for adults.

For those who have placed confidence in Christ but are saddened by this reality, consider the fact that although we have been blessed to have participated in a civic experiment never before witnessed in world history, we are now, united in Christ, without borders. We belong to the King and our future is secure. As this new system sets in place, quite distinct from any other way of life, we love those in this new system...serve them in the name of Christ even though they want nothing of Him or us. We will be considered weak, easy targets, yet impossible to extinguish, which will fuel the anger and hostility, leading to even more violence and persecution. Instead of lashing back in violence, we accept it, and rejoice that we had the opportunity to share in His sufferings. All this, with, contrary to popular fiction novels, a very technologically advanced and wealthy world system. For His own, it won't be too comfortable. We'll be the football to be kicked around. But our strength is beyond us, and our resolve will baffle and fuel even more contempt. But out of that, more will come out of that system to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, just like we did. Right now, places like China, Africa, Indonesia are on fire with the Gospel of Christ...churches planted and growing in the midst of horrible persecution. Meanwhile, the church in the west is flattening out and declining. The coming hostilities will ironically fuel the flames of our passion for the Gospel and our resolve in reaching as many as we can, being servants, rather than masters, the punching bag, rather than the fist.

It may seem depressing to consider, but only because the familiar is going away. Uncertainty and the prospects of such treatment doesn't bode well and we shudder in considering our children and grandchildren in this reality. But remember, Jesus has conquered the powers of this world, even death itself. He will replace the fears with excitement, upset the odds, supplant concern with encouragement. Take what He's done in your own life and consider it to pale in what He will do. Once more, His Kingdom continues to grow throughout, like yeast in dough....like a conspiracy. Despite the end of this era, I want to assure that the next will end with far more than we ever anticipated in this one. No more heart-ache, war, tears, death or sickness. In the meantime, He still reigns and if you listen for Him carefully, tuning out the noise, you will see Him on the move like never before.