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What is the future of Western Civilization? Why I am Hopeful

Phil Mitchell • Jul 08, 2023

Seven Reasons I am Optimistic

Recently in the Spectator Patrick Deneen wrote: “No sensible reader of the news could look at America and think it is flourishing…the breakdown of family formation has eroded the very foundations of society….Once-beautiful cities and towns around the nation have succumbed to an ugly blight. Cratering rates of childbirth, rising numbers of deaths of despair, widespread addictions to pharmaceuticals and electronic distractions testify to the prevalence of a…psychic despair.”

This writer is wringing his hands about what is wrong about America and Western culture in general and he has a point. The Marxist cult known as the Progressive Left is ideologically committed to destroying Christian culture. It wants to replace it with a not yet decided upon utopia, a utopia that is never achieved. All the Left has ever accomplished is the decline and destruction of civilization. Is that where we are headed?

I do not share Patrick Deneen’s despair. I am hopeful and positive about America and the future of the West. Let me give you seven reasons for my optimism:

1. What the Bible teaches about the world and its future. Scripture predicts and describes all that Deneen writes about. Yes, mankind is a train wreck but God is still on his throne. Three thousand years ago David wrote Psalm 2. He begins with the question, “Why are the enemies of God so angry and why do they believe so many stupid things?” He then says that they convene gatherings to plot the overthrow of God and His people. What is God’s response to all this? He laughs in derision at man’s foolishness. Then comes a solemn warning: Kiss the Son lest He be angry. Jesus Christ is going to break you with a rod of iron. He will shatter you like a clay pot. And then the Psalmist says that the Son has been given the nations. Jesus Christ is in charge of the future. I am hopeful because of what the Bible says.

2. I am hopeful because of the history of Christianity. We have faced many dark moments. But we emerge victorious more powerful than ever. Just one example: The 1730s was probably the darkest spiritual time in American history, much darker than today. Harvard College, founded to train pastors, had long since become an enemy of the Gospel. Then God sent the First Great Awakening. As one historian put it, it swept away the old world and replaced it with a vibrant, powerful Christianity which went on to form the United States of America. Historians are agreed, without this Awakening there would be no United States as we know it. God does this over and over. Check out my video on the Jesus Revolution. It is God doing the same kind of work in the 1960s, bringing hundreds of thousands of flower children to Christ. The Holy Spirit continues to be by far history’s most powerful force.

3. I am hopeful because of the tremendous explosion of Christianity in the Third World. For example, in 1900 Africa had 7 million Christians; today it’s over 700 million. I had a Nigerian couple visit my church. They talked about how much they loved attending a small church. I asked, how many attend your church in Lagos? They thought for a moment then said, “about 50,000.” Then they showed me a picture of their church. It met in what looked like a giant basketball arena. It had four services on Sunday morning. They boasted about the superior Christianity of Africans. We have a much greater commitment to evangelism, they said. We are much more aggressive than Christians in the West. One out of three Evangelical Christians in the world today lives in Africa. You ask, what does that have to do with us? Everything. Here’s a question for you: What is the most religious city in the United Kingdom? London. Why? Because tens of thousands of these Nigerian and other African Christians are flooding the city, taking with them that aggressive Christianity. And Africa has by far the fastest growing population in the world. Raising up millions of young Christians who go throughout the world preaching the gospel.

4. I am hopeful because America still has tens of millions of serious Christians. Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal noted the enormous setback for the Progressive left in the recent Supreme Court cases. My last video argued that the court decisions were a victory for Christian doctrine and culture. The six members of the court who decided the cases are all conservative Christians. They form the heart of what Baker calls a counter-revolution against the Progressive Left. Sociologist Ryan Burge has observed that there has been a rise of people who claim to have no religion, and the old mainline liberal denominations are in free fall, but Evangelical, bible-believing Christians have suffered very little attrition. We are just as strong today as we were 50 years ago. In my ministry to pastors I go from church to church and I can assure you that millions of Christian parents are taking their responsibilities very seriously and raising up a generation of Christians who will shock the world.

5. I am hopeful because of demographic trends. There’s that word again. Demography is the study of population trends, looking especially at birth rates. In America conservatives have far more children than liberals, conservative Christians more than anyone else. That’s one reason the Left has to control education. They aren’t having their own children so they need to indoctrinate ours. Internationally the outlook for the Progressives is worse. The fastest growing continent in the world, by far, is Africa. And guess who is having children? Christians. In a generation you are going to see these demographic trends make a huge difference in electoral politics for one thing, to say nothing of the rest of the culture.

6. I am hopeful for America because of the education revolution. Public schools are one of the most important strongholds for the enemies of the Christian faith and their grip is weakening. Homeschooling, charter schools, and private schools are all growing rapidly. Already eight states have passed voucher laws that allow parents to take money designated for education and use it any way they like. This is the most important development in the history of American education and it bodes well for the followers of Christ. In many states the poorest citizen is able to send his children to an excellent Christian school that shares his values and will train his children in godliness. Nothing is a greater threat to the left than this.

7. I am hopeful because as Christians we continue to have the only answers that work; answers that meet the deepest needs of the human heart. If someone is on a pilgrimage looking for truth that journey ends when they find Jesus Christ. If you know a struggling teen which would you rather tell them—that they need to change their gender or that they need to know Jesus Christ? Aren’t you glad you have the most powerful and positive message in history? Recently a Substack column noted an important trend: polling data tell us young men are becoming more conservative. The Progressive Left does not have the answers for life’s deepest questions and youth are looking for someone who does. We do. We offer more hope than any faith that has ever existed.

Ultimately, all that I have said above matters a whole lot less than God’s eternal plan. Christianity has been the most powerful force for cultural good that has ever existed. But it is not even God’s primary aim. Scripture is clear that God’s purpose on earth is to carve out for Himself a people who will worship Him for eternity. The cultural blessing is a secondary consequence.

So be of good cheer. Our God is on the throne working out everything after the counsel of His own will. And may He bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: The Jesus Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9WSJJvAks

Are young men becoming more conservative? https://storylines.substack.com/p/are-young-men-becoming-conservative

A negative view from a British publication: https://thespectator.com/topic/america-needs-regime-change-liberalism-progressivism/?utm_source=Spectator%20World%20Signup&utm_campaign=b94addc1f9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_03_03_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-b94addc1f9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

The conservative advantage in fertility: https://www.aei.org/articles/the-conservative-fertility-advantage/

Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal, on the rollback of the power of the Progressive Left: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-supreme-court-declares-independence-303-student-loan-racial-preferences-roberts-71859d37?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

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