This my latest blog is my attempt at reflecting on the state of the world as it is right now, where it appears to be heading and my hopes on where it should be heading. In particular, I consider how Christians are responding and ought to respond, noting we are in a culture and spiritual war of monumental intensity.

According to Wikipedia:: “In political science, a culture war is a type of cultural conflict between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (beliefs, virtues, practices) upon their society. In political usage, the term culture war is a metaphor for “hot-button” politics about values and ideologies, realized with intentionally adversarial social narratives meant to provoke political polarization among the mainstream of society over economic matters of public policy and of consumption. As practical politics, a culture war is about social policy wedge issues that are based on abstract arguments about values, morality, and lifestyle meant to provoke political cleavage in a multicultural society.” A simpler definition and one I have used in the past is: “a culture war is a struggle between two or more sets of conflicting cultural values: so-called traditionalist or conservative values and so-called progressive or liberal“.

I hark back to my university days in the early 1970’s when I first became aware of the concept of “culture wars” and related to that: spiritual war. While between then and up to the time I became a community activist around the turn of the millennium it was something that I understood but it did not interest me much, although it should have as I might have dealt more wisely with those I had dealings with, including other Christians, if I had. Recent events, such as the recent UK election and the worldwide right leaning, populist movement, e.g. the French elections, often citing traditional Christian values in opposition to the left, socialist ones, often less sympathetic toward traditional Christianity, that seems to be favoured by many among the ruling elites that we are now seeing.

One of the things I faced going to university and living on campus was exposure to a wide range of ideas and this came as a shock. I joined the Evangelical leaning Christian Union and while most of its members did not share my own church background, they did share many of my Christian beliefs, which was in stark contrast to those joining the college chaplaincy. I remember the shock on hearing the young chaplain speak about sex when he declared that anything goes as long as it was in a loving relationship. I learned later he was a prime mover in the Church of England regarding the recognition of gay rights and yet also he did much to help those affected by HIV/AIDS and serving the homeless. I also got to read books that challenged my world view and axioms, which informed my Christian response. One author that touched me was Francis Schaeffer, and in his book “Escape from Reason” he traced trends in twentieth-century thought and these went further away from the Judaeo-Christian consensus that had earlier been accepted, unpacking how key ideas have shaped our society, doing so in all sorts of ways. 

Fast forward 30 years, after careers as a teacher and as a computer specialist, I came to my third career as a community worker. Here I rubbed shoulders with a whole cross section of society and while doing so was exposed to a wide range of ideologies. While this sometimes gave rise to conflict when deciding what was needed, often we found ways to work together for the common good. Toward the end of that time as I moved into retirement and up to the present time, I tried to figure out what to make out what was going on in the world and decide how best to respond, including telling others how they might do so in appropriate ways when I could. I found myself coming in conflict with those who saw things differently, including those I thought were in my own Evangelical Christianity tribe. Even so, I tried to follow the golden rule and maintain my interest in social action, e.g. helping the homeless, recognising those who sought to help the poor and disadvantaged often held widely different views, including Christian ones.

While I was aware of “the narrative” we were expected to go along with I was increasingly exposed to those who challenged the beliefs that were more widely accepted. Many would play a heavy price for putting their head over the parapet, starting with being accused as conspiracy theorists, with many who had their doubts concerning what they were told deciding that to rock the boat would exact to high a cost. I could cite many instrumental in my own awakening but, back to books that had an impact. One was titled “Righteous Indignation – Excuse Me While I Save the World!” by Andrew Breitbart, who was to lead the way in forming alternative media, where the author explains how the mainstream media manipulates the public, and argues that those holding to traditional beliefs, often referred to as conservative and even extreme right (wrongly imo), needed to create their own media to fight back.

Despite my attempts to save the world by raising the alarm and “doing my bit”, I see the world on an increasing downward spiral that has fallen into the hands of the baddies and acquiesced to its own slavery. We find ourselves today with those calling the shots on the wrong side of the culture wars, which increasingly I have come to see as a spiritual war with a fight between good and evil, truth and error, God and Satan, when sometimes, often even, I hold my hands up and declare I don’t have the answers other than the one I am soon to get to. There are a number of issues in recent years where I found my beliefs and understanding differed to the majority and sometimes, regrettably, it resulted in falling out with other Christians and treading a lonely path in my pursuit of truth.

That list is a long one: Brexit, Trump, the LBGT agenda, abortion, climate change, Covid-19, 5G, the penalising of free speech, uncontrolled immigration, China and Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel, who really runs planet earth, the conflict between globalism and nationalism are all subjects that spring to mind, all of which I have blogged about or posted on social media about, and that have often brought me into conflict with the “good and the great” and put me into Facebook jail. But where do we go from now and, pertinently, what can we do about it? The move to the so called right, nationalism and populism continues despite set backs.

While the recent UK and France elections have provided some check on this, with its move to the left and globalism and state control, it is clear many are dissatisfied with and opposed to what they have ended up with and fear the worst, helped by manufactured crises such as pandemics and a climate emergency and a divide and rule strategy. If the above memes are true, the situation is anything but good right now as we play into the hands of bad players like the WEF. Then there is Trump and him leading in the polls by a big margin in the US despite the efforts of his detractors to discredit him and worse, leaving one wondering what false flag, black swan event, all out war, orchestrated crisis or another election steal will prevent him being returned as president in November.

I am glad that there are many are waking up to what is really going on in the world. I suspect though many prefer not to speak out for fear of the repercussions. One of my disappointments at the recent church led election hustings that many of the important questions relating to my concerns above were not asked, although other valid concerns were raised and addressed by the candidates, and I hope they will be reminded of what they said when the time comes. I am thankful that there are many, including those we might put in the unlikely category, asking the important questions and are receiving flak for doing so. Those I have checked on in the recent days include Tucker Carlson, Russell Brand, Tommy Robinson, Laura Aboli, Candace Owens and Mel K, who I regard as true, unsung, heroes.

Top of the list is recently excommunicated Roman Catholic Archbishop Vigano, who recently wrote an open letter: “With every passing day, thousands of people are dying or are being affected in their health by the illusion that the so-called vaccines guarantee a solution to the pandemic emergency. The Catholic Church has the duty before God and all of humanity to denounce this tremendous and horrible crime with the utmost firmness, giving clear directions and taking a stand against those who, in the name of a pseudo-science subservient to the interests of the pharmaceutical companies and the globalist elite, have only intentions of death. How Joe Biden, who also defines himself as “Catholic,” could impose vaccination on 28 million children aged 5 to 11, is absolutely inconceivable, if only for the fact that there is practically zero risk of them developing the SARS-CoV-2 disease.”

There are many other concerns we both share that Archbishop Vigano has spoken out about, in defiance of church teaching, including corruption in the church at the highest level. His take on the direction where we who live on planet earth are heading is a salutary one and is not so dissimilar to what some my mentors in my youth thought, who believed there would be a Beast system overseen by the AntiChrist, including a belief that the Roman Catholic Church would be the harlot spoken of in Revelation 17,18, in cahoots with the Beast (AntiChrist), although they saw little of what we now see.

In the last couple of years, I have been torn between notions such as we are heading for a “Great Reset”, spoken about and lauded by the WEF and many world leaders, which could well usher in the reign of the AntiChrist, a “Great Awakening” when many will realise and stand up against what is really going on behind the scenes, led by an evil, elite cabal with an agenda to depopulate the planet and enslave those who remain, and according to some political prophets include a great spiritual revival based on authentic Christianity and a “Great Deception” that much of humanity and elements of the church have succumbed to, which Jesus warned would be the case in these end times with his “elect shall be deceived” prediction (Matthew 24:24).

I am inclined to the view that what we await will be a mixture of all three and the important consideration for us is how we respond. While the phrase “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” doesn’t adequately cover what is before us and how we ought to prepare, given no-one knows the details of what is ahead, yet this could form some sort of basis to how we should respond to the way the world is right now and those who appear to be running it. We do well to recognise that behind the culture war there is a spiritual war with God, His angels and the those who are on the Lord’s side in stark opposition to Satan (often in the guise of an Angel of Light rather than that of the Prince of Darkness), his angels and earthly minions who do his bidding, and we will have to choose sides.

Besides the need to “test and weigh”, “watch and pray” etc., my counsel is to put one’s faith wholly in God, recognising He has everything under His control, knowing however bad things get He will do wondrous things. Meanwhile, we must prepare, endure and overcome, recognising me may have to suffer before we enjoy the fruits of victory, and live as He intended. Whether true believers can help usher in the kingdom or become a despised and persecuted remnant, I cannot say and is why I look forward to Jesus’ return. Besides doing our “bit” serving humanity with its many needs, being good citizens, neighbours etc. and beholden to truth, justice and righteousness, we need to be sharing the good news of the gospel.