I've been blogging for a while about my conviction that the "Sorathic" demons-of-destruction are now displacing the "Ahrimanic" demons-of-totalitarianism - and this has become pretty obviously correct over the past couple of weeks.
Our civilization is actually-collapsing, now - and deliberately.
The powers that-should-not-be are still using a rhetoric of being engaged in creating a New World Order, with their idea of order being omni-surveillance and micro-control - but what is actually happening is been a massive injection of top-down destruction of order, and a calculated increase of chaos.
Of course, the masses (and indeed the intelligentsia) are by now so stupid-stupid-stupid that none of this is visible - they/we will apparently accept event the most tissue-thin excuses of 'good' motivations and supposed long-term consequentialism.
So that taking a sledgehammer to the world economy, trade and finance here-and-now; is blandly or enthusiastically accepted/ cheered as 'peaceful sanctions' that will Oh-Yes-For-Sure lead to collapse/ surrender/ retreat of The Enemy at some point down-the line.
But for Christians there is a very real question about whether this collapse of the most-evil-civilization in the history of the world is A Good Thing, overall?
After all, from our perspective the civilization is already - and becoming ever-faster and ever more so - a machine for mass damnation.
Isn't it good (from an eternal resurrected point of view) that it should end, before it gets even worse?
There certainly is something in that; to the point that it is hard to see how any Christian can defend our civilization or do anything (assuming he could!) to sustain it.
Of course, we all want very much to avoid deadly disease, starvation and violence for ourselves and those we love - but that is not really an option with the collapse of global civilization. Delaying for a few extra days, weeks or months is not avoidance - and successful postponement of imminent disaster may well lead to worse horrors, when they inexorably arrive.
On the other hand, we cannot realistically expect the state of accelerating chaos that follows the collapse of even such an evil civilization to be a spiritual improvement. After all, the collapse is motivated by evil, and two evils do not cancel-out - but synergize; unless there are Men of courageous Good to take advantage of a temporarily beneficial situation.
Our main job, then, is to prepare spiritually for what seems inevitable; including to hone our discernment of Good - just in case it becomes an available option for ourselves or somebody else.
The difficulty will probably be that chaotic collapse will tend to make people worldly-survival-orientated - whereas Good will necessarily be rooted-in and orientated-towards eternal life in the world to come.
It's likely that sooner-or-later we will each be faced (perhaps more than once) by the stark choice between a 'chance' of ameliorating or extending our mortal lives - or instead doing what is right in the context of the fate of our immortal souls, and those whom we love.
The way things are going; this choice will likely be simple, clear and obvious to anyone genuinely Christian and motivated by Faith, Hope and Love - and what will be very difficult is not so much knowing the right choice; but actually making the right choice.
