From time to time, I try to remind myself and my readers that we are in a tribulation period. I use the term “tribulation” to refer to general suffering that most of us can feel directly, and which is clearly connected to God’s hand of moral justice bringing wrath on sin. This seems to match the biblical image of tribulation.
The problem we run into is that most folks grasp on some level that tribulation is a call for purity, but they have a big problem understanding purity. Replacing the false image of purity built into our Western society is a major element of this blog. Most people tend to think of Spartan discipline and living in fear and readiness for fight-or-flight. That’s not what the Apostle John counseled. When you read between the lines, what he said was that we should simplify our lives.
That is, instead of digging into “prepper” mode, we step back and reassess to make sure we are on the right path at the fundamental level of existence. Are we focused on glorifying the Father? Do we understand the power of moral consciousness and how that is the primary expression of His glory in our lives? Can we remember that nothing in Creation is more precious than His revelation of moral character? Yes, we batten the hatches, but when the ship starts to pitch and sway, we should learn to dance on the heaving deck, not strap ourselves in a cage to hide from imaginary shifting cargo. It’s a call to be more competent morally.
Show the world some grace; don’t be lazy. Tribulation is the time to be ready for a little extra sacrifice and patience with panicky sheep or children. Both children and sheep have a tendency to be distracted until the last moment when it’s probably too late to take action against threats. Don’t spook them and make it worse, but calmly begin moving in the right direction and hope they follow. You can still be calm and playful the whole way, because we live in celebration of Our Lord’s goodness. Our celebration has a purpose other than getting stoned.
Don’t ignore what’s really going on, but don’t listen to lies about it. For example, I consider Paul Roberts closer to the facts than most other commentators you might encounter. No, I’m not a fan of his; I don’t care for him at all, but this time he has a fair grasp of the facts that matter. As long as he doesn’t yak it up about political remedies, his assessments aren’t too bad. (Okay, I’ll tell you that the webmaster on his site is a flaming asshole, proving that Roberts doesn’t understand everything.) But my point is that the modern world has painted itself into a corner and the corner is on fire. This is tribulation.
I’ll also tell you that the Internet isn’t going anywhere. It will change, assuredly, but it tends to be like fire in effect, at least as far as TPTB are concerned. The oligarchs cannot operate without it. Unfortunately for them, it’s also not fully in their control, nor will it ever be. The people who make the Internet possible will not be ruled completely. No matter what the oligarchs demand, no one can stop the hackers from putting in their own back doors to retain access on their own terms. Hackers are rather like fire in this respect: You gotta have it but you can’t just make it do what you want. You have to take what it gives and keep your arrogance in check. They can’t be bought off because they serve the gods of computation.
So there will be outages of service in areas at various times, but I seriously doubt the network will ever simply go away. The same can be said for a lot of other life-support issues. The pragmatic answer to tribulation is reduce your footprint and be ready to travel light. You should already have a weak grip the things of this world. Be conscious how the things God has provided can be useful to His glory, but always be ready to find another way to do the same job. Don’t get locked into thinking everything you now have is utterly essential.
Otherwise, know that much of what you’ve been taught to believe about tribulation is wrong. A surprising number of folks around you will adapt out of self-preservation when things change suddenly. Most of the current infrastructure will still be there and humans have a reflex to keep doing what they were doing all along. The difference is that some of it won’t work because whatever they depended on stops coming. But it won’t be everything all at once. We don’t suddenly cease to be civilized.
Keep your eye on the mission of God’s glory. He always enables those who serve His glory.
Interesting link there Ed. I’d seen the Russian gas story but not in the MSM and I wondered what was going on. It’s a chess game and watching from the sidelines (next to a wood fire) is almost entertaining.