Is pessimism the new rule of the day?

The Eclectic Web – special edition

Don Johnson

Some are exclaiming about the dark days in which we live. Are we surprised that the days are dark?

Last week, it was Kevin Bauder, making this dour prediction:

In short, we are standing on the edge of a precipice. We have been living in the daylight—that is, in a civilization that has been shaped largely by biblical perspectives and norms. We are about to plunge into the night. We are at the door of a Dark Age.

This week it is Al Mohler, who writes:

Does the normalization of homosexuality require that all members of the military, including chaplains, join the moral revolution, even if doing so requires them to abandon their biblical convictions?

The answer, at least from the advocates of the moral revolution, is that evangelical Christian chaplains must go

Mohler’s article is in response to an ABP article suggesting that the only honorable course for Baptist chaplains is to resign. Tom Carpenter, the author of the article blames the SBC for putting its chaplains in an untenable position. It should be noted that the ABP writes from a more left-wing if not liberal Baptist point of view.

In other news, the Navy News Service issued this bulletin:

Same-Sex Spouses of Military Retirees Now Eligible for Survivor Benefits Program

No one is surprised that these days are dark days.

However, the apostle Paul, laboring in the moral cesspool of the Roman Empire had this to say:

But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Cor 16.8-9)

One of my college professors1 had an outline on this passage:

    1. Great Opportunity
    2. Great Opposition
    3. Great Optimism

In spite of appearances (and they are bleak), the Lord isn’t finished with us yet.


Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

Publication of links in The Eclectic Web feature does not imply endorsement of the viewpoint or contents of any of the websites linked. The links are provided as a matter of interest to Christians.

  1. Jesse Boyd []