what I perceive to be a repetition. Or maybe we are condemned to repeat history because human nature never changes.
We are so condemned because it never does change, short of heaven. Often here on FR I read conservatives bemoaning the hell America and the world are becoming and vowing to turn it around. They can't and won't. They'll win skirmishes and battles, but eventual defeat is, in my view, inescapable. So, if that's where they put their ultimate hope, they are foolish.
A careful reading of Revelation, with the rest of Scripture, reveals that (a) the end times are, at most, a handful of decades away, and (b) man's inhumanity to man, especially toward God's people, will accelerate during them. In that context, then, I suggest we may rightly view the atrocities of WW2 and those since as the prelude, as Act 1 if you will.
But that is not cause for gloom; rather, we may rejoice that the time for such holocausts is soon to end, finally. They must happen before the new millennium of peace nears, after which the final battles will lead directly to eternal peace for those who trust not conservatism but Redeemer.
I agree, it was a very informative essay. Henkster’s observation of the different experiences of Germany and Japan was insightful.
Regarding whether the End is Near, one has to note that Christians have always believed it is, regardless of the calendar year. Regarding whether the American experiment is near its end - Conclusion: It was the best thing going for quite a while. - all states to date have ultimately given way to entropy.
“Build the America you want on your street, and keep looking up,” as Sarah Palin said. For now, things are good one my street ... even if they go downhill as soon as you get to the Walmart, where the $2.97 wine is now $3.17.