Fascism is an ideology that believes that the world and humankind can be perfected with the sovereignty of a nation or race. The modern origin of this came from Mussolini who believed that he could, for the greater good, restore the ancient Roman Empire. Of course, we know where Hitler and the Nazi party took this form of government and the destructive path they followed.
Why did this ideology fail? The answer is simpler than you might think. It failed for the same reason all ideologies and governments will fail: this world is fallen. This world is not stumbling or tripped up or looking for its footing. It is fallen and all its inhabitants are depraved. It’s a done deal, this place is forsaken, and evil permeates every crevice. Girls get abducted in open day-lit parking lots; students get murdered on campus and genocide shares equal news coverage with basketball games. None of this is new to us, it is obvious and saddening.
When I viewed local and world missions, it was my perspective that we could improve this state we're in and become, on the whole, a more prosperous place with less oppression and poverty if we could only spread the gospel, in truth, to the ends of the earth. We could achieve a better world with the truth of Christ, and the reason that this hasn’t worked perfectly thus far is because various denominations and Christian cults alike distort (to varying degrees) the truth of the freedom that is found in Christ. I value truth and freedom above all things and I was certain this was the answer. To some degree, I still believe that this works and I think history has plenty of evidence to support this.
However, I grossly missed what God is wanting and expecting from me, and in my arrogance I exalted my own potential. God is not wanting me to feebly attempt to repair the sinking ship. What He wants is simply for me to let people know that their ship is sinking and there is only one way off- His Son.
I’m still not sure how I had been so oblivious to this. I had been going about doing the right things with the wrong aim. I've been immersed in World War II history lately, and I began to realize that when you boiled down my ideology it frighteningly had a lot in common with fascism. I was seeking to make this world better by attempting to institute a Christian nation (with more of a grass roots and peaceful approach).
The only hope for anyone is to be woken up and rescued and only God will do it, but he has asked me to be a part of it (that itself is amazing). A better world is a great thought, but it is only a temporary solution. It’s like using planks to try to patch up the Titanic when we should be building a life boat.
2 comments:
Very thoughtful. I have had fleeting thoughts like what you have written here often, but I have never taken the time to put those thoughts together in such a way as you have here. Thank you. Now I'll be thinking about this for days.
I am guilty of such a thing. My philosophy is if we only get the Gospel out then marriages will be better, the inner city would be better, and ultimately the world would be better. How foolish of me to ignore the prophecies of our Lord Jesus. He promised that it will get worse until he tosses sin into the lake and his Kingdom restored. I await that they with eagerness, but in the mean time I am screaming at people to get on this Life Boat.
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