Posted on by Abe Austin

The Offensively Faithful- Popular Morality

The State of the End)

In the last post we identified the likely moral landscape in the last days, based on the prophecies of Jesus and the prophets. We identified that there would be a minority of the good and faithful, and at least enough of the utterly depraved and murderous that they could have power over the good. I then theorized that the majority might be morally compromised, people who still think that they are morally good, but who justify their sin with twisted principles, and who provide justification for the ultimately depraved to murder the good.

I suppose that either this will be the makeup of humanity at the end of the world, or it will be a state along the way to a more depraved makeup. Perhaps at the end things will have progressed further, to where most of the self-justifying sinful have also reached the deepest levels of depravity, sharing that same murderous intent towards the righteous.

Personally, I consider the first social makeup to be more likely, where the majority of people are compromised but think themselves righteous in their own eyes. Otherwise, at the time of the second coming there would be a sharp line where almost everyone was killed, leaving only a very few righteous alive. I think it more likely that only the murderously wicked will be destroyed, and there will remain many morally compromised who will have to be ministered to by the righteous to finally convert them back to the Lord. At this time, the majority sinful will no longer have the power of government and moral certitude. They will know without any doubt that they are in transgression of their Creator, and that they cannot remake the world in their image, and that they must repent or they will be sinning against the light. This belief is in part due to the account of the partially evil Nephites who were spared at the coming of Jesus, and in part due to the account of Zechariah 13, which states that Jesus will appear at the second coming to Jews who do not yet believe on him.

Folly of the Masses)

Whatever the general state of depravity in the world in the last days, it at least seems certain that the majority of the people will believe things that are false and sinful. To some extent they will be deceived and led astray. They will justify evil. Many will eschew good and be antagonistic towards the righteous. To what degree is up for debate, but this much is certain.

Thus, if one lives in the last days and they hold the majority views, then even without examining what those views are, we already know that they are faulty and that that person has been misled. And, by extension, most people will be morally in the wrong. Only those that are willing to be unpopular, to be ridiculed, to be called “outdated” and “bigoted” will have any possibility of being in the right. Not necessarily all those with controversial beliefs will be correct, but all those that are correct will have controversial beliefs, and all those with the mainstream beliefs will not.

Now, does this apply to us in our situation today? Well, to answer that we must first answer this question: do we live in the last days or do we not? If the last days are far removed from us, then all that we have said is true of a time long distant and may or may not apply to us today. But if we truly do live in the end times, then modern popularity is a barometer for folly. Tomorrow I will examine the question of whether we live in the end times or not, and why I believe that we do. Then we can be more specific about what trends in the world seem most likely then to be misleading.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Offensively Faithful- The Good Minority, the Indulgent Majority

The first point that we must make is that all signs and prophecies seem to suggest that there will be a minority of good and faithful people in the last days. There is not much need for convincing on this point, our cultural depictions of the end times have already set us with that expectation. Still, it is worth noting that that vision is justified by the words of scripture.

Virtually every scriptural description we have of the end times is one of evil and suffering. It is as though each prophet took a glimpse into the future, and the prevailing themes of what they saw was wickedness and tragedy. If the love of Christ was ubiquitous in the last days, you think they would have said something about that. Instead, we hear the following:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts (2 Peter 3:3).

One of the clearest visions of the end days comes from Jesus, himself. When asked by his disciples “what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” he replied:

Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
-Matthew 24:5-14

Language such as “ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” does not suggest that the believers are in the majority. How are they able to be delivered up to be afflicted and killed, unless they are but a small faction at the mercy of the masses?

The straight up murder of Christians is quite extreme. Anyone that would do such a thing is at the very limit of darkness and violence. But surely there are other degrees of wickedness along the way. There are those that the prophets described as lovers of own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, etc. These are people who have given in to immorality, but could arguably still view themselves as basically good, having a generous view of humanity, and trying to make the world what they think is a better place. It seems credible that such a people would be largest of the majorities. They would not be willing to kill the righteous, but to mock and scorn them, which would then justify the radical minority to commit the murders.

Not only does this demographic seem credible it sounds very familiar! It sounds like the state of the world today. Let us take a closer look at this hypothesized majority tomorrow. Those that are morally compromised, but who still have enough conscience to not shock society against them. The popular indulgent who seduce the common citizen, accumulating numbers day by day, until they are able to assume what is “right” for the entire culture.