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Jeremiah 25:32 "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth."

 

I have a friendly ongoing disagreement with someone about the evil of our times. I'm of the opinion that, while there is certainly a cyclical nature to the rise and fall of evil in this world, we are living in a unique time, a time in which evil is affecting everyone and has spread from nation to nation so that the fight against it will be truly world-consuming and epic. She believes that this time is just one more cycle, one more point in the historical wave pattern of ups and downs, and, while there certainly is tremendous evil in the world right now, it is not something necessarily unique nor different.

 

As I'm writing this, I'm thinking that she and I are really not so far apart, or rather that our difference of opinion makes not much difference. I would not disagree that there have been prior times of wickedness necessitating chastisements so great that they seem to affect the entire world. What the Lord is telling Jeremiah here is one of those times is coming - He is going to "roar from on high" and enter into judgment with all flesh (Jeremiah 25:30-31). "[T]hose slain by the Lord ... shall extend from one end of the earth to the other" (Jeremiah 25:33) So yes, I believe what we are facing is another iteration of the battle between good and evil that has been going on since the beginning of time and that sometimes has been quite difficult indeed. However, each iteration leads humanity further along the path of God's plan. We are not just endlessly rising out of and falling back into the muck and chaos of this world. Each time we rise, we rise a bit higher, closer to God, closer to His Kingdom on earth. Our fall from such great heights is greater, as well.

 

I think we are poised for a fall from a height we had not achieved before. I think, having achieved that height by walking in His ways, we grew proud and have tried to stay there while substituting earthly, corrupt, "virtues" and methods of spreading and enforcing them. I think these "anti-virtues" (which mimic the language of actual virtue, so are more pernicious) have taken too much of a hold and are being used to construct a counter-reality that has become akin to religion to many, and is being forced on humanity at large. Further, the means of spreading this "anti-Gospel" are massive. The education system is a huge one, and also technology, which allows opportunities for unprecedented control and propaganda. I think that all of this has become an existential threat to humanity that is unique in its influence and scope.

 

However, whether my friend is right or I am, the evil exists and must be confronted. God sees the evil in the world, whether it is the same old evil or some unique instance of it. He will never abandon us. If it is an existential threat, He will act when the time is right. When He acts, it will be epic, because the evil is epic. "[T]he clamor will resound to the ends of the earth" (Jeremiah 25:31). It will be like Jeremiah's time, but also unlike anything we've ever seen before, and it will lead us closer to the Kingdom of God manifested fully on earth. I am cautiously hopeful that it might be the last, or close to the last, iteration before we get there.

 

"They will see us waving from such great heights, "Come down now," ... but we'll stay."