Where We Stand 02: It Can Happen Here

Artwork: "Last Standing" Artist: Vincent Ying

To fail to believe that professionally financed, social-engineering campaign(s) using addictive technologies targeted at the young and the naïve will not have unavoidable, drastic consequences to both faith and morals constitutes a perilous abandonment of the prophetic character of the Church.

Argentina, circa 2001: A large population of a first-world civilization starved to death over several months due to a fiat currency drop to zero after the experts artificially pegged it to a value it could not sustain. Anarchy and violence reigned in suburbia for a full month. Plastic no longer held credit. Real cash was rare as gold, and not even the preppers were were ready for the kind of dog-eat-dog fallout that ensued.

The capital city never fell. Not entirely. Order, when it was restored, began there. Gradually, cities came back online. Over time, those who survived began to piece some semblance of life back together. But not until after many had died and many more had their lives radically altered for the worse. Today, the country is still in perpetual crisis.

It can happen here.

The Babel Principle: Manmade societies build themselves of complex systems that, driven by greed and malice, inevitably calcify and fail. Nations rise, and nations fall.

The issue for the Christian of conscience is not "if" this can happen, nor even "when." The issue is, "Is your soul prepared?"

What happens when all your dreams don't come true? What does it mean when your best life doesn't get to be now? What will you do when violence erupts, when food is scarce, when all you have to work for is today? Where will your God be then?

Where we stand matters because we are not here to build towers, to fill barns or to enact master plans. When the foundations are shaking, when the earth is giving way, having a solid footing isn't about living to fight another day. It's about seeing the need around you. It's about having a strong hand free in order to help. It's about not being afraid to die because you know that you are truly alive.

Wallowing in the muck with those who have no hope is the worst place to be, even when times are good. If bad times are on their way, that is all the more reason to gird up your heart to stand amidst the ruins and remember: when there are no other good men to follow, then you must become one. Jesus didn't die in order for you to be afraid of tomorrow.