Yes things are very bleak and disturbing right now, but all the more reason to work even harder, pray even harder, and seek to faithfully serve our Lord in the time he has allotted to us. Regardless of our fav eschatological view (be it a type of pessimistic premillennialism or an optimistic postmillennialism), we all need to redouble our efforts to be salt and light.

Just after WWI Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote “The Second Coming”. I am certainly no poetry expert, so I can only say a few rather limited things about it. One, at just 22 lines in length, it is a memorable and oft-quoted poem. Two, although the poem has various bits of biblical imagery in it, Yeats was not a Christian. Three, the first half of the poem (lines 1-8) is clearer in intent than the second half. It speaks to the fact that we live in dark, troubling times with the unravelling of all things. Here is that first part:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Some of the most well-known lines are these:

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;”

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

Good descriptions indeed of life a hundred years ago – and even more so now. Everything seems to be in turmoil, chaos and disintegration. And so much of this is being brought about by evil men, while good men stand by and do nothing.

That pretty much sounds like what I have been saying for decades about the culture wars in particular, and the decline of the West in general. And from a merely human point of view, it seems that this IS what we are left with. It will likely just get worse, and not much can be done to turn things around.

Of course like many of my readers, I happen to be a Christian. So my point of view is quite different. Yes, in the short-term things in the West may well further deteriorate and the various diabolical assaults on all that we hold near and dear will only intensify.

But this is only quite temporary in the light of eternity. There is indeed a second coming that all believers anticipate and greatly look forward to. It is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). In the meantime, we have work to do. We are to ‘occupy till he comes’ (Luke 9:13).

Yes things are very bleak and disturbing right now, but all the more reason to work even harder, pray even harder, and seek to faithfully serve our Lord in the time he has allotted to us. Regardless of our fav eschatological view (be it a type of pessimistic premillennialism or an optimistic postmillennialism), we all need to redouble our efforts to be salt and light.

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