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"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death." (Matthew 10:21)
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." (2Tim 3:1-5)
The climate in the tribulation will be of suspicion, brutality, and guiltiness before innocence. The two verses above indicate that without a doubt, no relationship will be immune to betrayal of the grossest kind. Not only will strangers not care for each other, not only friends will lack compassion for each other, but even the closest familial bonds of parent and child will break down, with finger pointing that will result in death.
Ever since satan approached Eve and not Adam, he has attacked and tried to split the family. His special evils of abortion (Moloch-worship in the Old Testament days) and of homosexuality were attacks against the family unit and of God's special commandment to be fruitful and multiply. Once the nuclear family unit is broken then society’s most important bond, the glue in its foundation, is fractured beyond repair.
The verses above tell us that such a fracture beyond repair is coming.
Since the Patriot Act’s passage in America after the terrorist event of September 11, 2001, the inexorable slide from the default standard innocent until proven guilty has shifted to a default position of suspicion reigns and you are probably guilty. Even the legitimate act of profiling has fallen by the wayside as a method of identifying likely criminals. (Profiling: "the extrapolation of information about something, based on known qualities.") The outcome of suspending profiling changes our mentality into thinking of everyone as a possible criminal. After all, if only some are not suspicious, then we all must be suspicious.
One example of the eventual outcome of this is the recent anger toward the Transportation Safety Administration's (TSA) practice of subjecting all Americans to a naked body scan and/or and enhanced pat down (read: physical molestation). Every American that passes through the airport is now under suspicion, even children, though to my knowledge no child in America has ever been used as a suicide bomber.
Another extension of the new suspicion mentality is the Department of Homeland Security's new 'spy on your neighbor' program. That is not its real name, of course, its real name is "If you see something, say something." Its aim is to partner with Wal-Mart "to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities." We are not allowed to profile but we are allowed to be suspicious of anyone and everyone who may indicate that are possibly doing something suspicious. Right.
The civic results of the Patriot Act, the Big Brother Government, Google Street View, The Information Age, and the Surveillance Nation mentality are well-documented. The law enforcement results are also well-documented (tasers). But the mental results of a heightened climate of increased suspicion, pitting neighbor against neighbor and expecting terror at any moment are not well-documented. But today's climate of suspicion, over-reliance on government and terror before justice are coming home to roost, and the public that is left behind will live those results. Silence used to mean security. Now it means you become a target. We have come a long way from "Loose lips sink ships" to "If you see something, say something."
This inexorable slide away from civic restraint and individual responsibility leads to mutual and complete suspicion. It is what the Tribulation is all about, the pendulum swinging its full course. The Tribulation a time when the Lord is giving unbelievers their desire: a godless society, free from any restraint. It will be a total moral breakdown, a total societal breakdown and a total familial breakdown. Can you imagine a society where the norm will be what Jesus described in Matthew 10, with son, father, parents betraying each other unto death? Unfortunately, those who do not believe will not have long left to imagine. They will soon live it.
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"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." (2Tim 3:1-5)
The climate in the tribulation will be of suspicion, brutality, and guiltiness before innocence. The two verses above indicate that without a doubt, no relationship will be immune to betrayal of the grossest kind. Not only will strangers not care for each other, not only friends will lack compassion for each other, but even the closest familial bonds of parent and child will break down, with finger pointing that will result in death.
Ever since satan approached Eve and not Adam, he has attacked and tried to split the family. His special evils of abortion (Moloch-worship in the Old Testament days) and of homosexuality were attacks against the family unit and of God's special commandment to be fruitful and multiply. Once the nuclear family unit is broken then society’s most important bond, the glue in its foundation, is fractured beyond repair.
The verses above tell us that such a fracture beyond repair is coming.
Since the Patriot Act’s passage in America after the terrorist event of September 11, 2001, the inexorable slide from the default standard innocent until proven guilty has shifted to a default position of suspicion reigns and you are probably guilty. Even the legitimate act of profiling has fallen by the wayside as a method of identifying likely criminals. (Profiling: "the extrapolation of information about something, based on known qualities.") The outcome of suspending profiling changes our mentality into thinking of everyone as a possible criminal. After all, if only some are not suspicious, then we all must be suspicious.
One example of the eventual outcome of this is the recent anger toward the Transportation Safety Administration's (TSA) practice of subjecting all Americans to a naked body scan and/or and enhanced pat down (read: physical molestation). Every American that passes through the airport is now under suspicion, even children, though to my knowledge no child in America has ever been used as a suicide bomber.
The civic results of the Patriot Act, the Big Brother Government, Google Street View, The Information Age, and the Surveillance Nation mentality are well-documented. The law enforcement results are also well-documented (tasers). But the mental results of a heightened climate of increased suspicion, pitting neighbor against neighbor and expecting terror at any moment are not well-documented. But today's climate of suspicion, over-reliance on government and terror before justice are coming home to roost, and the public that is left behind will live those results. Silence used to mean security. Now it means you become a target. We have come a long way from "Loose lips sink ships" to "If you see something, say something."
This inexorable slide away from civic restraint and individual responsibility leads to mutual and complete suspicion. It is what the Tribulation is all about, the pendulum swinging its full course. The Tribulation a time when the Lord is giving unbelievers their desire: a godless society, free from any restraint. It will be a total moral breakdown, a total societal breakdown and a total familial breakdown. Can you imagine a society where the norm will be what Jesus described in Matthew 10, with son, father, parents betraying each other unto death? Unfortunately, those who do not believe will not have long left to imagine. They will soon live it.
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