Oklahomily -

It isn't really necessary to know that the time is short, but then again, Christ at many times exhorted His followers to "stay awake."

"Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." (Matthew 24: 42-44)

The fascinating part of Steyn's predictions is that the reasons he cites could just as easily have been declared by an Old Testament prophet. For instance, he points to the demographic collapse of the traditional European peoples through contraception and abortion, both of which are abhorrent to God. The population vacuum is being filled by the children of immigrants, a vast number who are Muslim. This is a fact. It is also a fact that the culture clash between the unassimulated new Europeans and the old order has already begun. (Witness the recent riots in France.)

For the person of faith, is it so hard to comprehend that this situation has come about because people have ignored God's laws and, in consequence, have called down upon themselves a necessary time of suffering and purgation? In Deuteronomy, God declares:

"I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known."

Some would argue that this Word was meant only for the Israelites of the time. We would counter that as the prophet Malachi wrote, "Surely I, the Lord God, do not change ...", the unchanging, timeless God of the Universe, who created time for the convenience of man, is as dismayed with the breaking of His law in 2007 as He was in several hundred years B.C. It is, after all, the same moment for Him, the Eternal Presence.

That Europe has fallen away from its faith, except for small percentage, is an open invitation for other beliefs to fill the void. Man is a spiritual creature. He may try to deny the existence of a state of being outside of this place we call physical reality, but it is a vanity doomed to failure. We are hard-wired to seek God, and if we do not find Him, or if we turn away from His call, we will find others waiting in the spirit realm who do not have our best interests at heart. This is why the rise of paganism and so-called New Age beliefs have exploded where Christianity is weak. These practices and belief systems are ill-equipped to deal with the realities of the radical Islamic jihadist movement which is coming to a froth in the world. They are ill-equipped because they do not operate with the power and blessing of the Almighty.

The war between the nominal Christian West and Islam is not really a clash of civilizations. It is a spiritual battle and, insofar as it has waxed and waned over the centuries, represents only a shadow of the great spiritual battle which is being waged on a plane that we cannot see. St. Paul explains this:

"For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6: 12-17)

While Steyn describes Europe's plight from a secular view, a thoughtful reader should immediately understand that other parts of the West, especially the United States, should take no comfort in their own security and safety. Abortion is still the law of the land (though there is some small progress in limiting its horrific effects). Pornography is rampant. Much of what appears on TV and in movies is morally repugnant and surely not in keeping with God's desires for us. There are social ills of many types. Paganism, witchcraft, the black arts, New Age and occult practices are on the rise. The fractured denominations and ongoing splits in the Body of Christ must only further sadden God, and the number of churches that are abandoning the traditional teachings of Jesus for more "progressive" positions on gays, cloning, embryonic stem cell harvesting, and so forth is an offense that cries out for a divine rectification. Prayer may have stayed God's hand of justice, but it is a momentary reprieve, an opportunity for us to repent and sin no more.

Will we discern the signs of the times and act accordingly? Will we seek the Lord while He may be found?

We will have more to say on this shortly.