Consider how much the world changed between 1946 when George Orwell wrote 1984 and today. Written when the date itself was a far-off projection into a science-fiction future, 1984 is no longer science or fiction. The year 1984 is history.

If you have been alive since 1984, you have lived during an accelerated period of history. Depending on how you might view it, more changes worldwide have occurred since 1984 than perhaps all of recorded history before that date.

World population has more than doubled since 1974, despite declining birth rates unmatched by death rates.

Between the years 1946 and 1984, in America, the 1960’s and 1970’s formed a watershed of cultural change. (see previous post: Let’s Make Language an Obstacle to Understanding)

George Orwell’s prescient novel warned people of future threats to freedom and involuntary changes.

You might remember the changing millennium when anxiety about calendars and computers that had not been programed to turn the page to the 21st century caused worldwide panic.

The method of tracking dates with 2 digits for the month, 2 digits for the day of the month, and 2 digits for the year, when the date changed to 2000, the last 2 digits could not be distinguished from previous millennia. Because year dates remained numerically sequenced since 1900, and because no one could have foreseen the technological changes that occurred during the last decades of the twentieth century, many people believed disruptions would occur in the year 2,000, leading to commerce meltdown.

In light of worldwide dependence on computer technology and the Internet, no one could guess how long or what to do if suddenly the way of doing business-––communication, banking, and a worldwide web of connection––were to collapse.

Hear we go again.

We find ourselves living in another worldwide panic.

Today, I heard Bob Goff interview John Acuff who said, there are only 2 types of change. Voluntary and involuntary. [1]

That means, change that you and I initiate or change imposed upon us.

The year 2020 brought about unprecedented involuntary changes, which contributed to the anxiety of everyday life.

For perspective, I thought about the New Year’s Eve party I hosted in 1999. Waiting with my guests for the countdown to the much anticipated year 2000,Y2K, short for Year 2,000, we held our collective breath.

The months leading up to New Year’s Day, people hoarded supplies. And money. Much like the run on toilet paper in 2020, or the run on banks in 1929, fear itself led to a tipping point. Anticipation turned to anxiety. Is this The End?

One reason I didn’t worry about the end of the world coming at midnight December 31, 1999, my mother had worried enough for me and for half the country––almost her entire life. She read Ayn Rand. And the Bible. Not only had Atlas Shrugged, so did my mom.

I know it’s weird, but the 2 books juxtaposed––an atheist philosophy set against biblical theology––made for interesting and sometimes fierce conversation. The Bible gave me assurance which side would win. Near the end of her life, Mom confessed her own faith in God’s word.

In part, because of what Jesus said in the gospels about his return (End Times) contrasted with how preachers have used his message to scare people, I could see that Jesus wanted to calm fears, not incite them.

Jesus told the people alive at the time he walked the dusty roads of Palestine that even he didn’t know when the end would come. He didn’t know, and yet he avoided conveying a sense of fear, even as he told his disciples to be aware and be on guard.

Be alert and be on guard. Mainly against false teaching. [2]

The signs Jesus pointed to would serve as signals, meaning the countdown to The End would begin. Be alert and be on guard indicate that there exists an actual timetable for God to pull the plug on the world he created.

Believe it or don’t.

Politics, Contemporary Culture and Bible Prophecies

While I haven’t lived in fear of Bible prophecies being fulfilled in my lifetime or paid undue attention to messages that sound alarm from within biblical faith communities, what’s happening around me causes alarm.

Lawlessness. Breakdown of family. Falling away from faith. Wickedness in high places. Morals and ethics discarded.

Bible history shows and tells that as the leaders go, so goes the nation.

From what I read of history, secular as well as biblical, the rate of accelerated decline points toward a cliff.

The election of 2020 was a cliff-hanger, and since then, it feels as if our nation finds itself flying in midair like a skier that just launched over an untried ski run. Falling. Scary. Hold your breath.

You and I are not James Bond, or his stunt-double. We are not living in a movie script with special effects and a director calling CUT at the end of the day. There is no parachute.

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is an act of revolution.”

George Orwell

Go back to the history books. Read about leaders in the past who did not serve their country’s interests, but instead served themselves. There have been plenty, and never more than now.

Career politicians with decades in Congress need to leave office. Career politicians have created the swamp. Big business and big government are not friends of personal freedoms.

People who want America to inhabit a future built on its past do not fear history. There is no do over in history, only forward from here.

The chief mistake to avoid in this media driven circus is listening to voices that speak hatred, violence, and lies.

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can; 

and wisdom to know the difference.

Serenity Prayer

[1] https://dreambigframework.com/podcast, episode 327

[2] Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:4–8