This question was posed by David Renard, an enigmatic character in Perfect Souls – End of Days. He was referring to the sense so many have that the apocalypse is knocking on our door. Judging from the books and movies that have been coming out lately, it’s a feeling shared by millions. But… why? Why now? There have been plenty of times in history when the return of Jesus was expected at any moment. What strikes me as different about today’s end time anxiety is that the atheists are just as afflicted as Christians. This seems to be something “in the air,” and not coming only from people spouting Bible prophecy, although there are plenty of those, as well.
Western culture is clearly in the middle of some sort of existential crisis, as evidenced by the soaring rates of mental illness, suicide, family disintegration, drug addiction, and crime. Sociologists say this could all be explained by the radical changes that have taken place in our society in the last fifty years. But weren’t those changes—in work, in relationships, in technology—all portrayed as beneficial and wonderful? Shouldn’t we all be happy and optimistic now that we can work from home, free from constricting forms of relationships like marriage, no longer obligated to raise children? We can even pick our own gender. Or create a new one. There has never been a better time in history to be, and to do, whatever we want. What’s not to like?
Yet something… something… is bothering us and doing so badly enough to create a sense of approaching doom. Even the advent of AI, which supposedly will cure the common cold, solve global warming, and end war forever, has been greeted with fear and dismay instead of excitement for the future. What is going on?
The problem with the sociologist’s view is that there is one crucial area of study they ignore by default: the world within us. Within us lies our heart, our immortal soul, and our God. In the modern secular world those are nonsense words. The heart is an organ that pumps blood; the soul and God are archaic myths. But I stand to disagree. If one accepts that God does exist, and that Spirit takes an active role in our lives, then we must consider the possibility that the shared inner nerve being triggered within us may actually be the spiritual cord that connects us to Him. The reason there is so much turmoil in the world has more to do with our relationship with God—or our lack of it—than with the outer circumstances that worry us.
This is the premise of Perfect Souls – End of Days: that today’s end time obsession is not merely due to the changes impacting us. Rather, it is the anguished cry of our soul in response to them. We are going through a climactic shift in our personal and racial (as in human race) experience of life itself. And the further we move away from our inner spiritual Source, the more fear is triggered within us, and the greater the need to escape from the loss we feel.
The solution? To once again quote David Renard: “… if you will turn to God as ‘the hour cometh,’ the changes coming, though difficult, will be a positive for you, and not a destructive force. For some, the peace of God comes as if it is pain. If you resist it, pain it will be. But if you accept it, peace can be yours.”