Today when we look around the world and the way things have moved from a saner time until now, those who care to consider these matters see an increasingly wicked world. Such observers see, for example, Russia and Vladimir Putin, China and Xi Jinping and North Korea and Kim-Jong-un. These are leaders who hold their populations under absolute control, sometimes doing so with the greatest cruelty imaginable.
Sadly, there are few observers who care to gauge the evil and wickedness we face in the world. As a result America, under the greatest human-government experiment in history, now faces insanity and tyranny that equals some of the most terrible regimes ever to reign on the planet. However, this is in keeping with God’s prophetic Word for Last Days history. Many 'born again' believers in times past knew that a One World system of control would be established once the Rapture occurred: the call of Christians into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air would be what set in motion the seven-year Tribulation tyranny that would affect all those remaining. Some warned of the slow changes through Satan's incursion into the human condition, but few foresaw the rapidly-accelerating dive into the reprobate sea of debauchery into which many have plunged during these past few years. Freedom found in God’s Word has been abandoned to the upside-down madness that entices humankind further and further from our Creator Jesus Christ and His Truth.
The Apostle Paul forewarned that the end-times generation would face exactly what we are experiencing today: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13). And it's not just the Vladimir Putins, the Xi Jinpings and Kim Jong Uns who are the evil men and seducers. Citizens in the US now face some of the most evil and seductive forces on earth; people determined to bring not only America down but are even more determined to destroy all vestiges of Christianity. They are making inroads in this regard not by banning Christianity, but by changing what Christianity means in many instances.
In a recent Front Page column, Dennis Prager criticises the idea that people are basically good. “The idea that humans are inherently good is both foolish and dangerous, and leads to much suffering” he writes. He offers several sobering examples from recent history of what happens to people who put their trust in human nature, being prompted to write his rebuttal when a respected Jewish publication featured an article by an Orthodox rabbi claiming that Judaism posits (puts forward as fact or as a basis for argument) that people are basically good. The idea has long been prevalent among non-Orthodox rabbis, but Prager was surprised that an Orthodox Jew would subscribe to an idea that is clearly rejected in the Torah. The notion that human nature is basically good is also rejected in the rest of the Bible, just as strongly in the New Testament as in the Old. Over the past six decades belief in human goodness has become an article of faith for many Christians as well as for Jews. This is particularly true of many mainstream Protestants and Roman Catholics. For the Catholic Church, the belief has served as a wrecking ball. Numerous polls have shown a massive decline in church attendance among Catholics and other Christians, and a corresponding drop in the number who identify as Christians.
Different people give different reasons for the decline of Christian belief, but one obvious reason is that Christians have replaced the idea of human sinfulness with the idea of human goodness. When you do that, you undercut the whole rationale for Christianity – namely, that we are sinners in need of salvation. If human beings are good the way they are, then there is no need for a Saviour to free them from their sins. The founding fathers of the US recognised the Biblical Truth of the depravity of man, and that the idea that man is good flies in the face of God's Truth. In Psalm 14:1 we read: “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.” And in Romans 3:23 it states: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Unless individuals are willing to admit they are not good, and need a Saviour to save them from their sinfulness, there is no hope for them. Satan refutes this, and has done so since tempting Eve in the garden. His lies are now working more effectively than ever. People have turned their back on the God of Heaven and have now been given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). Good is called evil and evil good. They do what is right in their own eyes, in preparation for the time of God’s Judgement at the very end of the age. Thankfully, God still calls individuals to salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. He asks them to choose the narrow path, not the broad way that leads to destruction.