Sometimes it looks like the world is spinning out of control, but I guess that is a feeling born of living through a period in the United States where life has been relatively stable for a long time. I have always had work, food, shelter, and have been married to the same woman for 43 years. While during that time the political sphere has had its moments, those did not translate into things that affected my day to day life. Most of what happened “out there” did not directly affect my life. That has changed.
Underneath everything else going on right now, their is a cancel culture that has made significant inroads into our daily existence. It seems it only takes one or two disgruntled people to get rid of something. The offended rule the day. Everything we formerly knew is now under assault: basic sexuality, gender, your racial background, historical political views that founded this country, you name it. But special vehemence is held for Christianity in any of its traditional and biblical forms; go with the rapidly changing norms or be cancelled. The offense could be something as simple as a sign, a plaque, or the name of something. From there it goes all the way to destroying someone’s life, including getting them fired and much, much more. Some advocate complete removal and erasure. You never existed.
Now let me carefully say that the original canceller is God. Go against his rules, his laws and he will cancel you. Permanently. But what makes God unique in this cancel framework is his holiness and consistency. What he demands from us is right and true. We can also rely on him pronouncements since he is the same: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. What is wrong has always been wrong and always will be wrong. You could say his playing field is always level and the rules never change. We always know what our choices portend. But most importantly, he is also forgiving, as well as being long-suffering. His character is always to have mercy and he desires the best for us so all of his actions are driven by his love for us.
None of that is true the cancel culture permeating our social milieu. Their rules constantly change, or as some would say, they evolve and you can be cancelled today for something that was perfectly acceptable when you did it and that goes back as far as is necessary so they can find something with which to cancel you. That is because they are driven by hate. They hate whoever will not submit to the way they see things, the way they want things to be, whether that is true and rational or not. They want it to be just so and that is enough. There is no forgiveness and total submission does not guarantee cessation. If this is left unchecked, we are facing a moral and spiritual apocalypse.
To me this appears unique. Not that aspects of this type of behavior haven’t always existed, they have. All cultures throughout various times in history have gone through periods like this. But this incarnation, thanks to our technology and the pervasive reach of social media, is spreading worldwide. Are we approaching some culminating set of events that God cannot ignore? Jesus did say that the time of the end would be like the time of Noah. In his day, evil had spread pervasively throughout the whole earth and was so bad God had to act. Are we approaching the time that Jesus warned us about? I don’t know, but it is something to ponder and to decide which side we are on. There is almost no fence left to sit on.
