by Stuart DiNenno
For Christians, pessimism about the future is cowardly and faithless. A view that the world is going to become worse and worse, and that Christianity will not ultimately prevail among the nations, is a heathen view. It is to believe that the gates of hell shall prevail against the church and the wicked shall inherit the earth. And it is to fall prey to the flood of propaganda that is manufactured by the ungodly to convince us that downward into degeneracy is the way the world must inevitably go.
What flood, you ask? Go to Wikipedia and search for “list of dystopian films.” You will find a list of over 200 such films and all of them, possibly without exception, are futuristic. They all present a nightmarish future of one kind or another, whether it comes by way of nuclear war, overpopulation, famine, disease, totalitarian oppression, government mind control, genocide, pollution of the environment, enslavement by an alien race, biological warfare — everything that the devilish minds of those who create Hollywood’s soul-destroying filth can dream up to give us a grim view of the future, has been committed to film for public consumption.
And while you are on Wikipedia, also do a search for “list of utopian films.” You will not find such a list. Why? Because the synagogue of Satan does not want you to look to the future with hope. They want you to look to the future with trepidation and despair. They are trying to condition your mind for defeat. They will have you to expect nothing good, because they know that a people who have no vision for a better future cannot possibly work toward it, and such are weakened and made easier to conquer. Demoralization is one of the primary means by which our enemies work toward our enslavement.
But there is no place in the Christian mind for despondency or apprehension. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7) We are the children of the Most High who has absolute dominion over all things, and who not only determines all events to come to pass according to His will (Ephesians 1:11) but also works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28), and whose providence is to such an extent that even the very hairs of our head are numbered and as a consequence we are commanded to “fear not” (Luke 12:7). Hope, victory, and conquest are consistently repeated themes interwoven throughout the biblical narrative and applied by God to His people. Christ has overcome the world for us (John 16:33) and is working through us to bring all things in subjection to Him. “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). Christians need to understand that it is not possible for anyone to stand against us: “if God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) As Matthew Henry wrote, “While God is for us, and we keep in his love, we may with a holy boldness defy all the powers of darkness. Let Satan do his worst, he is chained; let the world do its worst, it is conquered: principalities and powers are spoiled and disarmed, and triumphed over, in the cross of Christ. Who then dares fight against us, while God himself is fighting for us?” We are the mercenaries of God who have been “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) to be “more than conquerors.” (Romans 8:37). Therefore, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
If you understand all these things, then you will understand that we cannot allow ourselves to become victims of Anti-Christ propaganda and be deceived into a pessimistic, defeatist mindset that is foreboding of what is to come, rather than to see ourselves as what God has made us to be: conquering warriors who boldly “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) and are expectant of a victorious and glorious future.