by Bill Nugent
Article #60
The Bible contains many prophecies that are coming to pass in our days. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:1). “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thess. 2:3).
The above verses and many others I could quote predict the collapse of Western civilization and the rise of the antichrist. Revelation chapter 13 is much more specific regarding the rise to power and reign of the “son of perdition” who is the antichrist.
In this article we will examine the downward philosophical progression which is causing the breakdown of Western civilization.
Ancient and Medieval philosophy concerned itself primarily withmetaphysics which includes the nature of being, the immaterial aspects of man and the immortal soul. Centuries later a sharp turn took place during the “Enlightenment” of the mid 1700s in which the emphasis shifted to epistemology which is the philosophy of the nature and origin of knowledge. A false epistemology gave rise to modernism in which revelation (the Bible) was set aside and man’s reason was employed to attempt to discover a new moral absolute. Man, not God, was regarded as the source of wisdom and knowledge.
Another sharp downward turn came in the mid 1800s with the rise of Darwinism and the philosophical emphasis becameanthropology which is the study of the nature of physical man. The tragic result of this was that the dominant minds of Western civilization embraced the notion that people are nothing more than hairless apes that emerged out of random chaos. Human life was no longer regarded as sacred.
Thus was the groundwork laid for the genocides of the 20th century. More than 100 million people, mostly professing Christians and Jews, were butchered by atheistic German/Japanese fascism and Soviet/Chinese/Cambodian/Cuban communism.
The great tragedies of the 20th century, including two world wars and several genocides caused great pessimism on the part of humanistic thinkers. Post World War II saw the rise of the secular atheistic existentialists Albert Camus (1913-1959) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). Sartre, in his book “Nausea” describes humanity as a useless passion. Camus’ novel “L’Etranger” was about “an absurd man in an absurd world.” This is nihilism and hopelessness.
This is the bitter fruit of Darwinism and it’s implicit atheism. In the Darwinian view man is said to have come about by accident, have no intrinsic value or purpose and in time is headed for extinction. In this arid soil an antichrist figure can rise to power.
The Christian view is that man was created in God’s image. Human life is therefore sacred. People have purpose in relating to God and serving Him and enjoying His fellowship forever. Redemption and eternal life is for those who turn to God through Christ to receive forgiveness of sins.
The whole edifice of Western civilization was built on the premise that God has spoken to humanity and this revelation is recorded in the Bible. God has given the moral absolute. Christian Europe was the first continent to abolish slavery. The biblical commands give the foundation for the dignity of man, the value of the individual and human rights.
In having rejected divine revelation (the Bible) Western civilization now crumbles under the weight of socialism (denial of individual rights) and abortion/euthanasia (genocide against the weak and inconvenient). This is in accord with what the Bible predicted centuries ago. We are indeed living in the last days.