I try to be an optimist. Genuinely so. But with all that is going on in the world it’s harder these days. Like many of you, I want to live in peace with my family and I hope so much for a world of peace for my grandchildren. I have no desire to see them grow in a world of violence and turmoil, but it appears to me that we live in such times.
A war is raging in Ukraine, prompted by a xenophobic Russian dictator driven by revanchist motives. He is wicked. And he has nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile bloodthirsty Hamas barbarians in the Gaza Strip have brutally murdered Israeli men, women, and children, and a war is aflame there. It has every possibly of expanding to a regional conflict in the Middle East that could ignite a world war.
In Asia, there is every evidence that growing Chinese aggression will result in conflict. And of course, there are those in the Communist Chinese Party who inspire this violence. They very much want to dethrone America as the world’s most powerful nation and by outstripping our economic and military position in the world.
North Korea has a nuclear arsenal. That is as close to a child holding an armed hand grenade as you can get.
Iran is inspired by religious zealotry and hatred of America. They call us “the Great Satan” and Israel “the Little Satan.” Every Friday, their mullahs preside over religious assemblies where they chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” It would take a rather dull mind to miss their point. They too aspire to be a nuclear armed nation.
And in our own homeland, our leaders seem quite cavalier about the vulnerabilities we face with an open border with Mexico, across which thousands of illegal aliens flow unimpeded into America. The drug cartels bring many illegal aliens here transporting poisonous narcotics causing Americans, both the addicted and the unaware, to die from deadly fentanyl. Others from countries like Iran, China, and other unfriendly nations pose the real threat of nursing terrorist plans. Some of our leaders shrug this off insisting that our borders are “secure.” Had they been on the Titanic when it was sinking on a cold night in the North Atlantic in 1912, they likely would have encouraged people to take up a game of shuffleboard.
This list of troubles invites a sardonic question. “Well, Mrs. Lincoln, aside from that, did you enjoy the play?” But what it should prompt is a more serious one. What shall we do in these troubled times?
As a Christian, I know we are called to pray for the salvation of the world. A revival is what we need more than ever. We do live in a fallen world after all. But there’s this. God has given us a mind, an intellect, and indeed an example to press for a better way of living than we find about us these days. And essential to that is to raise up leaders who will work to bring order, peace, and justice to our world. We are not called, I believe, to simply stand by while evil prospers. As has been attributed to Edmund Burke “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” John Stuart Mill put it this way. “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” Both sentiments speak to me. I pray they will speak to all of us and our progeny.
Our troubled times need men and women of conscience who eschew power but will take it upon themselves if necessary to right wrong, rectify turmoil, seek peace, and strive for justice. We do not come to these principles through what we eat and drink, but rather by what good people teach and reinforce in us by the virtue they exemplify. Virtue is sadly in short supply in America and the world today. We have grown exceedingly hedonistic and unconcerned about the ever-rising tide of war, aggression, terrorism, lawlessness, and the very things that destroy nations, communities, families, and individuals.
As a civilized world we are wandering in a desert of desolation. And the wars we are witnessing are stirred up by the worst of our angels. To be sure we need a revival and, in my mind, a Christian one. But we also need societies—religious or otherwise—who will raise up the kind of people who will seek peace, do justice, and have mercy on those who require it.
In the days ahead, my tendency is to be hopeful that people will come to their senses and see that the violence swirling about us threatens the most innocent among us, our children, and grandchildren. Pray mightily.
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