Our societal memory suggests that the safest path is to follow the crowd. In the past, you could do well by doing what everyone around you did. In fact, you could argue that a stable society required it.
Can you enumerate cases where following the crowd today would result in severe negative consequences? There are many!
Our societal memory suggests that the safest path is to follow the "experts." In the past, you could do well in life relying on the “experts.” In fact, you could argue that a stable society required it.
Can you enumerate cases where following the "experts" today would result in severe negative consequences? There are many!
What is going on?
God has been abundantly gracious in tolerating all kinds of nonsense. For various reasons, the time for tolerance has come to an end.
Part of the great and marvelous work he is undertaking in bringing this creation to a close is to allow the consequences of human choice to flow. For a long time, he has held them back. But in the end times, justice must come to be fulfilled.
All around you are examples of what seem like outsized consequences for what seemed like good decisions, or at least nominal ones. You will soon learn, if you haven't already, that ideas and behavior carry stiff consequences.
There are so many situations in modern society that follow this pattern, and the consequences are raining down, and will continue to do so in even greater frequency and intensity. Crypto crashes, baby formula shortages, food shortages, and vaccine injuries are the tiniest fraction of what is coming.
One benefit of these consequences is that they make much more evident the value of differing beliefs and different people through whom God provides them.
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:13)
The honest among us will respond to these shocks by admitting that some people are much better than others at seeing consequences afar off. They will seek out wisdom, and they will heed it. Everyone else (unfortunately, the majority) will double down in delusion, going down ever-more harmful paths as they seal their fate.
Through the end times, justice will be restored. Live so that as that happens, it results in your benefit. The number of Americans for whom that is the case today is probably few enough to number on one set of hands. That is why the sword hangs over us. Many more people will repent, but the end number will still be a very small percentage of the present population.