A dark ride doesn’t always look like a journey through the night. Sometimes — many times — a society’s progression can experience an “age of darkness” when the noonday sun is shining brightest. How can this be? Because true darkness comes in the ether of satanic propaganda and rebellious ideologies that clouds the eyes of people’s hearts even in the light of day, and soon brings God’s stormy judgment.
Right now we are traveling through such a dismal age, and even with all the dazzling new lights in the world’s great carnival, America is a dark ride.
Our gloomy predicament, of course, is no different than the one set forth by the apostle Paul when he warned of the presence of wicked spiritual forces and cosmic powers that rule over “this present darkness” despite the light of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:12). And certainly Adam and Eve had a similar experience with the dimming of bright Eden when a serpent hissed forth his subversive rhetoric and darkened their minds with thoughts of rebellion (Genesis 3:1).
And so it has been throughout history as God in His benevolence permits nations of people to usher in periods of rapid advancements in science and technology. It is in these accelerated times of temporal enlightenment, however, when man is not able to easily adapt to these fast-moving changes without abandoning the steady social order and moral wisdom that were meticulously established during times of slow, graceful progress.
During these speedy evolutions in technology, societies race to keep up with these quick changes with little forethought to how it might affect the tried-and-true foundations previously built to align with God’s will. Sadly, a patient and methodical approach to integrating this sudden progress into the fabric of a godly disposition is nowhere to be found. Instead, radical and impetuous transformations take place as societies rush to play with their new toys.
Before long in this scenario, civil chaos ensues and the tyranny of sin rises up. Men and women become puffed-up in their new capabilities and begin to see themselves as gods — just as the first man and woman did in the pride of the garden’s delights. Thus we find that each time a society forgets God during these heady times of heavenly blessing, a spiritual darkness will inevitably descend upon them as a consequence of their rash attempt to engage in the trappings of their worldly attainments.
It is then that we realize too late that great nations such as these have been allowed by God to rise and fall as an instrument of His earthly judgment, not only against the ungodly, but against His own straying people as a clarion call to return to Him (Habakkuk 1:5).
Have the Scriptures not warned us of this oft-repeated folly of men and their principalities? “The nation and kingdom that will not serve God shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste (Isaiah 60:12).
“Rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed” (Isaiah 1:28). “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). “Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” (Jeremiah 5:29).
How many empires of the world have thereby fallen as a result of this self-inflicted blindness to the higher purpose of God’s gracious light? How many golden societies have seen each successive generation stumble in the increasing gloom of their spoiled, degenerate behavior? Babylon, Egypt, and the Roman and British Empires — among others — gradually fell to ruin and lost their worldly prominence by forsaking God and progressing deeper into the darkness towards a judgment of social and cultural mayhem, disease and destruction.
Even now in these latter days we see the tragedy of an enriched people who, having been blessed with the good news of Jesus Christ, still refuse to hear the voice of the Lord — or worse, attempt to silence Him and His people. “God’s curse shall be upon them,” says the Pulpit Commentary. “They shall wither and decay for lack of the Divine favour and of the graces which God dispenses to mankind through his Church.”
Thus, Albert Barnes was moved to give this early warning to America in the 1800s: “As a nation, we have nothing else to depend on but our public virtue, our intelligence, our respect for the laws of heaven… (Any nation) that tramples on the rights of unoffending men and women; that disregards the most solemn compacts; and that voluntarily opens upon itself the floodgates of infidelity and vice, must expect to meet with the displeasure of the Almighty.”
THE DARK RIDE OF TODAY’S AMERICA
Indeed America, fortified by the Gospel, was once seen as a shining city on a hill — but no more. Just look at how we have squandered the great light we have been given. Since the advent of the internet in the 1980s we have seen unprecedented quantum-leap advancements in medicine, science and technology that have given us the opportunity to bring glory to God by aligning ourselves with His will and enjoying an existence filled with His greatest blessings.
But what hath the Western man wrought instead? We have created a society that is no longer focused on the teachings of God, but on a flawed ideology which is anti-Christ at its foundation. Just like our Edenic parents, we have listened to the devil’s vile rhetoric and blocked out the light from shining into our hearts lest we conform to His will. We have questioned what God has asked of us, pursued our own godhood, and abused God’s loving-kindness by perverting the sanctity of His creation to conform to our own twisted desires.
Sadly, the brilliant insights we’ve been given by God to better understand the human condition have only led to greater peril for many lost souls who have “loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). Light-bearing breakthroughs that should have brought greater health and vitality have only brought more pain and suffering as we, as a collective wayward people, have used them for evil instead of good (Isaiah 5:20).
These speed-of-light revelations have given us the opportunity to gain a godly understanding to cure disease, build social rectitude and cultivate an environment that brings all glory and honor to God. But what have we done with this latest knowledge? We’ve developed new medicines that sanitize sexual promiscuity, gluttony and other sins. We’ve designed surgical clinics and deadly chemicals to commit prenatal murder and trans-mutilation. We’ve constructed bioweapons that have no purpose other than bringing needless suffering and death. And we’ve tinkered with our precious DNA, our pure foods and the natural weather with little regard to the consequences of altering any part of God’s intelligent handiwork.
To be sure, our arrogance in this age of so-called “enlightenment” has brought about a complete collapse of common sense, morality and civilized society. Our once-thriving cities have become crime-ridden ghost towns with empty storefronts, wandering “fentanyl zombies” and homeless encampments. Our failing educational system has provided sexually-explicit picture books in school libraries while ignoring our historically-low literacy rates.
Our people have been biomedically contaminated on a massive scale by pharmaceutical malfeasance and corporate greed. Our garish economy is buried under a still-growing $35 trillion dollar debt that is smothering our livelihoods. And our paganized, post-Christian culture is legitimizing every soul-crushing philosophy and godless practice as the only way to self-fulfilling joy.
Just in the last decade alone, numerous open displays of evil, deceit, lying, corruption, theft, anarchy and perversion have been normalized or applauded, while the godly pursuits of “righteousness, faith, love, and peace” are scorned or criminalized, along with “those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). No wonder our society now finds itself on the darkest of paths descending into a spiritual madhouse that offers no comforting exit.
The sobering fact is, all these rapidly-changing technical advancements enjoyed by the West today can never bring glory to God unless the beneficiaries of this goodness honor God as the Creator of all those blessings in their lives. Otherwise, we are simply flailing in the darkness and making it harder to see the path back to spiritual reconciliation, peace and prosperity found only through Jesus Christ.
So why do the nations continue to rage, and the peoples plot in vain against God? (Psalm 2:1). Do they not know that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”? (Proverbs 14:34).
Alas, instead of our society taking the time to carefully assess these sudden newfound gifts and utilizing them with God-fearing thoughtfulness and uprightness, we have become like an impulsive toddler who is given a shiny penny to put in a piggy bank, but would rather stick it in the nearest electrical outlet to see what happens.
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
Of course, none of this has come as a surprise to a sovereign God. In His omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, He has “declared the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:10). Even now, He sits enthroned in heaven and looks down to observe all the deeds of the children of man, having fashioned their hearts according to the counsel of His will (Psalm 33:13-15; Job 28:24; Proverbs 15:3; Daniel 4:35).
Nor should the Christians of today be shocked or caught off-guard when rebels keep rebelling, scoffers keep scoffing, and sinners keep sinning. We may not anticipate every wild new manifestation of sinful behavior nor have a knowledge of the “secret things that belong to the God,” but we have been given the revelations of holy Scripture, which “belong to us and to our children forever” (Deut. 29:29).
The Bible, being “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), has clearly outlined our dire situation in this dark fallen world. We know, therefore, about the intrinsic hardness of the human heart and that the only sure remedy for this fatal condition is a new heart and spirit transplanted into us by God (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Indeed God’s word has laid down the track that can bring us to the light at the end of the tunnel — namely, the brightness of the Lamb of God shining into eternity.
This sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ, has already experienced the dark ride of this fallen world. As both God and man, He came into a world which “lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19) to show us the way of true righteousness and to preach repentance and the coming of the Kingdom of God. In humility and obedience to the Father, He lovingly submitted Himself to an earthly ministry that would bring suffering, heartache and an ignominious death. And yet in a display of ultimate divine power, He triumphed in the end to bring a bright enduring victory over this dark world through the power of His resurrection.
His dark ride, then, had a sacred purpose. He didn’t just buy a ticket out of morbid curiosity. This Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God to be crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). And for the sake of His people, He was made sin who knew no sin “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” and fulfill His mission to redeem our souls as a sacrifice for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In recognition of this spiritual truth, the believer finds rest in Christ despite the burden of this oppressive darkness. Indeed, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4), so that this Gospel of the Kingdom would be “proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
“YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO RIDE”
So now we find ourselves on the latest dark ride constructed by an unrighteous people under God’s judgment. So what? Do we fret and scream and flail in the blackness? Or do we “lift up our hands to God in heaven” (Lam. 3:41) and ride tall in our seats as faithful disciples who gladly board this roller coaster for His glory? Has He not promised that we will travel safely to the other side “hard-pressed, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”? (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
Sadly, some nervous passengers are struggling to maintain that faithful vision. In today’s American society (both inside and outside the visible Church), we are seeing the persistent darkness take its toll on professors and unbelievers alike. The various works of the flesh are now more evident and widely accepted. As such, we are experiencing a time of greater difficulty as more and more people “walk in the way of Cain” as lovers of self and earthly pleasure rather than lovers of God. They promote and revel in displays of “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Galatians 5:19-21; Jude 1:11).
The assured Christian rider, however, should never be troubled nor anxious as he or she buckles up and proceeds past the threatening spooks and the haunting vignettes of this dark conveyance. During this time of twists and turns, our calling as believers in Jesus Christ is really quite simple. We get our orders from the Captain of our salvation and our talking points from the God-breathed Bible. We have been given the “rules of the ride” by the power of His Word and instructed to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12).
All along the way, suffering will surely come when we fervently defy the darkness for the cause of Christ. “Yet even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake,” wrote the apostle Peter, “you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:14-17).
Indeed Scripture teaches us time and time again to rejoice and be glad in the midst of our heartache and woe, for our great reward will be “the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (Matthew 5:10-12; James 1:12). We are, after all, “children of light and of the day, and not of night nor of the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5; Matthew 5:14). In every situation, then, we should praise and uphold God’s righteousness, acknowledge we don’t have any righteousness of our own, and advocate repentance as the first step in finding reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness which is imputed to believers (Acts 3:19; Philippians 3:9).
Even more so, as sinners saved by grace, we must strive to show that same grace to the lost in the hopes that they would turn from their wicked ways and seek after our merciful God. And since we know that judgment begins in the household of God, we should endeavor to avoid the shame of failing to be a godly example and beacon of hope to those languishing outside the Body of Christ. “For if the righteous are scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:17-19).
The haters of good won’t make this easy. On this dark track, we will be riding along with scoffers who, holding tightly to their sins, will say to us, “Where is this light at the end?” and “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:3-4). Regardless of their withering ridicule, however, our powerful answer will be proclaimed for all who have ears to hear: “Behold He is coming with the clouds!” (Revelation 1:7).
We patiently wait, therefore, for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life (Jude 1:21). And we rejoice insofar as we share in Christ’s sufferings until His glory is revealed and He takes us home to be with Him (1 Peter 4:13; John 14:2-3). “For I have been crucified with Christ,” wrote the apostle Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Yes, this ride is dark, not only in America, but in post-Christian nations all over this fallen world. Yet we trust that God will lovingly escort us past this sinner’s joyride and equip us to proclaim and praise His righteousness all along the way. And even though the world’s carnival has posted a sign that reads, “This is a dark ride”, what is that to us? The disciple of Christ has a much better message from His Lord and Savior inscribed on his or her heart, saying:
“And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:20
