When God kindly, sovereignly, and graciously discredited Soviet communism, I saw no signs of gratitude from those embittered die-hard failures, the futurists. Instead, they frantically began searching heaven and earth to find other boogeymen to cower/grovel before.
This ingratitude, this contempt for God's mercies, has pretty well discredited the fortune-tellers.
At this point in history, the Gospel has several major-league opponents. The ones we have to deal with are secular humanism, and Islam. The vast majority of Christians are already compromised, and "in bed with" secular humanism. Which might explain why there's more of a market for excuses than there is for solutions. After all, if God Himself has already ordained that the future belongs to antichrist, why not send our kids to antichristian schools, in order to prepare them for antichrist's world? The people of faith and hope, however, do not support public education. They undermine secular humanism by starving it of the one resource it craves above all others, the hearts, minds, souls, and bodies of our children.
Question: Suppose God dealt with Islam as swiftly and decisively as He dealt with Soviet communism. Would we be ready for that opportunity? In 1945, Douglas MacArthur begged America to send 10,000 missionaries to Japan. What he got was engineers. The opportunity was squandered, and today Japan is one of the most secular nations on earth. We did a little better when the Soviet bloc fell. Our missionaries hit the streets of Kiev at about the same time as the pornographers.
Let me make a prediction. Unlike our friends the doomsayers, cowardly spies, and fortune tellers, I am NOT willing to write off a billion of our fellow creatures. I AM praying for the fall of Islam. And taking steps to organize my life, studies, and actions in term of those hopes.
....When Islam falls, many Christians of faith and courage (i.e. -- post-millenial) will be ready, with a grasp on the Christian world view, and on the language and culture of a Muslim society. The doomsayers will miss the door of opportunity, and start trying to cobble together another boogeyman to cower/grovel before. Fortunately for the gospel, the cause of Christ, the glory of God, and the blessings of humanity, there will probably be a lot fewer of these disgraceful ingrates.
Amen, RJR_fan!