It used to be with us that you really only read Bible explanations 'from your own circle'. The first book I read that didn't fall into that category - around 1970 - was 'The God who lives' from Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). It was the first book in a Schaeffer series that I still have on my shelf[1].
The reason for this blog is that I read last week that Schaeffer in his book “How would we then live?” (1970) has made statements about the demise of Western culture, which are shockingly similar to the world we live in today. When I read the book fifty years ago, I think there was little recognition. But now, when I read it back, it is unbelievable that he foresaw that even then by understanding the significance of biblical Christianity for society.
Biblical Christianity = Freedom
Schaeffer describes the history of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages and the Reformation up to the 20th century. He concludes that because biblical Christianity found its way into the Western world during the Reformation, a tremendous freedom has arisen without this leading to social chaos.
“The Reformation did not bring social or political perfection, but it gradually brought a great and unique improvement. What the Reformation's return to biblical teaching gave society was the opportunity for tremendous freedom, but without chaos. Man has freedom because there was a consensus, based on the absolute standards of the Bible, and therefore real values within which one can have freedoms, without these freedoms leading to chaos. The world had never experienced anything like it.” ('How would we then live?' at 93).
This has had a positive effect on all fronts in society, for example in the development of science.
But with the abandonment of biblical Christianity and its associated absolutes, things have gone downhill. And that, according to Schaeffer, means that wherever the absolute biblical norms are abandoned, chaos ensues. This in turn has the consequence that – in order to curb the threatening chaos – human freedoms are again curtailed.
Freedom destroying order and order destroying freedom
At the end of the 12th chapter (p. 231) he writes the following, underlining mine.
“The central message of biblical Christianity is the possibility for men and women to come to God through the work of Christ. But the message also has secondary results, including the unusually great freedoms that biblical Christianity to the countries where it strongly influenced the consensus. When these liberties are detached from the Christian base, however, they become a destructive force that leads to chaos. When this happens, as can be seen today, what Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) said could happen: 'When freedom destroys order, the desire for order will destroy freedom'. At that point, the words left or right won't make any difference. They are only two roads leading to the same goal. There is no difference between an authoritarian government from the right or the left: the results are the same. An elite, an authoritarian government, will gradually impose a form on society so that chaos does not ensue. And most people will accept it – out of desire for personal peace and prosperity, out of apathy, and out of desire for order to allow the functioning of a political system, the economy and the affairs of everyday life. That's exactly what Rome did to Caesar Augustus.”
From 'How would we then live?', page 231
In the previous chapters of the book, Schaeffer has shown the influence of what he calls 'biblical christianity': unusually large liberties. But when those freedoms are detached from the Christian foundation – which has been going on for a long time but accelerated in the last century – it unleashes a 'destructive force that leads to chaos'.
That is what we see happening in our days. Freedom without biblical Christianity as a foundation gives room to destructive forces such as, for example, BLM and racism, Antifa and woke[2] which in the end produce only chaos. In response, a new order arises that aims to curb chaos, but meanwhile takes away people's freedom.
When we think about the restrictions on freedoms in the past two years, you can say that most people have accepted that. But some have protested, in our country and around the world, calling for the restoration of personal freedoms to which people were accustomed.
'When liberty destroys order,
the desire for order will destroy freedom'
Schaeffer has foreseen that it would not be about left-wing or right-wing politics, but about an elite that would take control in an authoritarian and technocratic way, to prevent chaos from arising.
Other consequences
In the 13th chapter, the book continues to describe the consequences of this and it is incredibly striking how his description fits with what we see now and with what we read in the Bible book of Revelation.
Economic collapse
“People who have no absolute values, but only the impoverished values of personal peace and prosperity, come under overwhelming pressure. This pressure makes the modern people ripe for it step by step accepting a manipulative, authoritarian government. Unfortunately, we already see this pressure happening everywhere.
From 'How then would we live?', page 232
It is special that Schaeffer wrote this down fifty years ago. Now, in our time, anyone who has their eyes open can see it, both in the past two years and again in the Ukraine crisis.
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE. The inability of modern society to solve the problem of inflation without triggering an economic recession opens wide the door for economic collapse. Every spiral of inflation, attempted containment, the threat of an economic recession and finally a decrease in containment has increased inflation, but politically speaking, because most people governed by the concept of ever-increasing prosperity, difficult if not impossible to face the danger of an economic recession. Therefore, any threat of an economic recession opens the door to the next, higher state of inflation. At some point, an economic collapse seems all too possible. I cannot get out of my mind the uneasy parallel with the loss of the Germans' confidence in the Weimar Republic just before Hitler, which was caused by an unacceptable inflation. History shows that the people at some point of economic collapse are no longer so concerned about their individual freedoms and are willing to accept an authoritarian government. The danger is apparently even greater when the two values most important to so many people are personal peace and prosperity.”
From 'How then would we live?', page 232
Inflation has been kept artificially low over the past period, partly due to the unusually low interest rates. This too was manipulation, which is now coming to an end. Wasn't inflation already 7% at this point? Revelation 6:6 describes the situation where the common people can no longer afford the daily food, let alone other things.
Wars and Rumors of Wars
“WAR OR THE SERIOUS THREAT OF WAR – between the expansionist, imperialist communist countries and the West. Alistair Cooke (1908-2004) said it clearly in America (1973): 'What matters between the communist and non-communist nations is the quality of American civilization'. I would just like to add that it's not just about America, it's about the whole West. Will the West be able to stand its ground against the totalitarian countries, now that the Christian basis of Western liberties is largely gone?? Of course, this also has to do with point one – the possibility of economic breakdown in the West. The pressure from the communist countries can come in various forms or in combinations of these: military through a strong East that takes action against a militarily less strong West in response to a crisis somewhere in the world; economically in the event of a collapse in the West; or politically through the takeover of the southern European countries by the communist parties in those countries. The latter could happen suddenly with overt military support from Russia, or it could come subtly and slowly with apparent reasonableness, until a crisis arises. There is a revival of the communist parties in southern Europe, and it is important to note that these are the countries that never had the biblical foundation that the northern countries had after the Reformation. The freedoms in these countries are imported, not homegrown. The threat of war, especially nuclear war, could lead those who have only the value of personal peace and prosperity to consider acceptable almost any kind of authoritarian government capable of removing the threat of war, especially if that government would apparently leave the outward forms of constitutionality intact (as Augustus did in ancient Rome). The atomic bomb is a special threat to a generation that has so widely turned away from the existence of an objective God and therefore believes that only man exists to see the sun go down with intelligence and the birds fly.
From 'How Would We Live Then?', page 233
This is also a special part. On the one hand, a few time-bound suggestions, but on the other: who would have thought that in February 2022 there would be a war between Russia and NATO, the united west, even preparing nuclear weapons.
But it is a battle between Russia and the New World Order, or the antichrist's empire under construction. Exactly as Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik put it this week.
One thing is clear: under the pressure of the current conflict, totalitarianism in the west will increase, people's freedoms will be taken away. According to Schaeffer, the masses of people accept it because they have no other values than personal peace and prosperity.
Other consequences
Political violence and terror
“THE CHAOS OF VIOLENCE – especially indiscriminate or political violence and terror, in a country or in the world. Both in individual countries and around the world, the widespread use of political terror has become one of the hallmarks of our times. Arbitrary terror, victimizing innocent people, is even more terrifying. It is alarming that there is evidence that terrorist organizations around the world are coordinating their activities in some way. We have already seen examples of people give up their freedoms when faced with the threat of terror“.
From 'How would we live then?', p. 234
Redistribution of wealth and property
“RADICAL REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE WORLD. Redistribution of the world's wealth would involve at least two things. First, there would be a decline in wealth and prosperity among those people and countries that have come to take an ever-higher level of wealth for granted. Recent history has shown us how quickly nations and people change their principles towards other nations and other persons when their prosperity is threatened. Second, there would be a redistribution of power in the world. In a declining state of prosperity and world power a manipulative authoritarian government would be welcomed, in the hope that such a government could somehow mitigate the unpleasant results caused by a decline in wealth and world power.”
From 'How would we live then?', p. 234
Food shortages
THE GROWING SHORTAGE OF FOOD AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE WORLD. This last point may become increasingly important. If the Christian consensus dies in the countries where it once existed, we should expect it to bring about a change not only in those countries themselves, but also in their compassion for others. What remains would be no compassion but only utilitarianism. Not that that compassion has ever been complete, but we can expect open pragmatism to increasingly take the place of the partial compassion that has existed. The growing shortage of food will exert increasing pressures, driving people towards an authoritarian authority that promises solutions. As uncertainty grows, so does greed – seeking personal peace and prosperity at any cost.
From 'How would we live then?', p. 235
Ukraine is rich in raw materials and the breadbasket of Europe. Together with Russia, it provides 25% of world food production. In any case, the conflict there will have enormous consequences for food and raw material shortages, as well as driving up inflation further.
Schaeffer then makes it clear that all these developments are caused by the abandonment of the absolute values of biblical Christianity and that this is the end of democracy and freedom.
The Tyranny of the Majority
“We can expect the tyranny of the majority. Let us hasten to say that the freedom of the individual is not something magical even in countries with a Reformation background. As the memory of the Christian base grows weaker, freedom will disintegrate in these countries too. The system will not simply continue if it is cut off from its roots. And the shift will be about the same no matter which political party is in power. When the principles are gone, all that remains is opportunism.
From 'How would we live then?', p. 236
Most of the leaders of countries that have had a Christian base are now "modern" people. Fortunately, there are obvious exceptions, but those are exceptions. Efforts to be autonomous – independent of God and what He has taught in the Bible and through the revelation in Christ – has an effect on political leaders as well as university professors and the common man. Most of these leaders think in terms of synthesis rather than fixed absolutes, and this is evident in their political actions.
From 'How would we live then?', p. 236
The synthesis has won on both sides of the iron curtain: people see no fixed, ultimate good or evil, but only a mixture in public life as well as in personal morality, in foreign affairs as well as in domestic politics. This is so special the intellectuals who have brought the abolition of the Christian base to its logical conclusion. But it also applies to those who are influenced by these thoughts without analyzing them. Pragmatism, doing what seems to work without regard for principles of good or evil, is everywhere. In both international and internal affairs, expediency – the maintenance of personal peace and prosperity at any cost – is an accepted procedure. Absolute principles have little or no meaning for Western thought.
From 'How would we live then?', p. 236,237
(…) When there is a further economic recession, when fears of the loss of personal peace and prosperity increase, when wars and the threat of war intensify, when violence and terror spreads, when food supplies and other natural resources resources in the world become scarcer – and all these things are more than possible – that will only speed up the process. When these things come upon the people who have only the values of personal peace and prosperity, they will crush them (…).
From 'How would we live then?', p. 238
What now?
Soon there will probably be a one-off door-to-door newspaper with the title “What now?”, an initiative of people who no longer want to live under a 'covid regime'. They are about the freedom we had two years ago and which has disappeared during the covid period. It seems that the initiators think that the current 'easing' will only be temporary. If we look at what is still being prepared by the EU and the Dutch government, they may well be right.
“Will we still have real freedom in the future? The Netherlands is at a crossroads. Do we want our children to grow up in a conditional control society dictated by a world government or do we take back our national and local democratic control?”
It's a sympathetic call, but I'm afraid it won't work. The world continues to race toward the judgments of God as described from Revelation 6. The world will not and cannot return to the biblical Christianity that has left it.
The only way out of this dark future is for the individual who believes in God's revealed truth and in salvation through the atoning work of Christ Jesus.
It may encourage us to tell people about the Lord Jesus. Only repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can save us from a dystopian future on this earth and assure us of a heavenly future with Christ.
Will it never be okay again?
At the end of the realm of the antichrist, Christ Himself comes to execute the final judgment.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He that sat upon it was called faithful and true. And He judges and makes war in righteousness. And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems. He had a Name written down, which no one knows but Himself. And He was clothed with an outer garment dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.”
Revelation 19:11-13
The Psalms are also full of it, such as Psalm 21.
“ 9 Your hand will find all Your enemies,
Psalm 21:9-14
Your right hand will find those who hate You.
10 You shall make them like a fiery furnace,
when You show Your face.
The LORD will devour them in his wrath,
the fire will consume them.
11 You shall remove their fruit from the earth,
their progeny among the children of men.
12 For they have devised evil against You;
they have devised a cunning plan,
but are capable of nothing.
13 For Thou shalt make them a target,
with your bow you will aim at their faces.
14 Be lifted up, O LORD, in Your might;
then we will sing and praise Your might with psalms.”
Then comes the time when Christ Himself 1000 years will reign on earth (see Revelation 20:3-6).
Satan and his minions have been eliminated for those thousand years. The earth will not be a paradise, but it will be based on the absolute divine values; a society of peace, justice and freedom. A society ruled by our Lord, Jesus Christ!
“2 LORD, the king rejoices in thy might.
Psalm 21:2-8
How much he rejoices at Thy salvation!
3 The desire of his heart You gave him;
the request of his lips you did not withhold from him. Selah
4 For You meet him with rich blessings;
You put on his head a crown of pure gold.
5 Life he desired from you and you gave it to him,
length of days, forever and ever.
6 Great is his glory in Thy salvation,
with majesty and glory you have clothed him.
7 For You make him a great blessing forever,
You make him glad with Your countenance.
8 For the king trusts in the LORD;
by the kindness of the Most High he does not waver.”
Footnotes
[1] Halfway through this page are downloads of Schaeffer's books: http://www.verhoevenmarc.be/studiemateriaal.htm
[2] A speech by Kinneging about woke see here https://youtu.be/4eHmOGvL1O4?t=1374 .
English 
Nederlands 
Deutsch