Extremism

Unless you are what the modern world would now call an extremist, you are an accomplice of this world with its programme of spiritual evil. Either actively so, meaning you are fully on board with the programme, or passively, and you just go along with it or don't regard it as something that one should stand against. This is how things have become.

No one wants to be thought an extremist unless they are driven by pride. It implies a mental imbalance and the predisposition to hate, and we must be careful that we do not, in reaction to the insanities of today's world, fall into real extremism as defined by those characteristics. That we do not just oppose false ideologies but hate the people who maintain and support them. This is the great temptation to sin for those who would uphold and fight for truth. It's the trap the devil lays for them, or us, as I should say. On the other hand, if we are forced into a perceived extremism that is only because of the extremist nature of modernity. For in reality, it is the modern world that is extreme in its rejection of God and spiritual truth. When the spirit of the times has turned to extremism, those who hold the centre ground, which is to say, the point of reason and balance, are perceived as extreme.

I have used the words 'spiritual evil'. To describe today's world in those terms is clearly the act of a madman - by the criteria of what is perceived as good now. But what other words can you use about a culture that not only denies its Maker and its purpose, as human souls, but also itself in that its acts will lead to its own destruction? How else can you represent a world in which the creature usurps the prerogatives of the Creator, and pursues fulfilment in the material world with no thought for the soul or spirit? Evil is the denial of God, either his reality or his true nature. It is the exaltation of the temporal self at the expense of the divine. This is precisely what our world does now.

I must repeat my warning, though. Great evil can push those who oppose it into evil themselves. I know this because I can sense it in myself. When truth is trampled on and rejected and one must fight to preserve it, there is a tendency to hate the enemy and that hatred will, of course, corrupt the heart. The devil is quite happy for us to oppose his works if we succumb to this tendency in so doing. It's a win-win situation for him. This is why Jesus told us to love our enemies. Principally, it's for our own benefit.

Jesus also said, "Blessed are you when men hate you and say all manner of evil against you for my name's sake". He was speaking in general terms but I believe he was also pointing towards our own time. Soon, if it hasn't already happened, those who maintain the reality of Christ, and not some watered-down, secularised version of it, will be regarded as extremists and thought criminals. It is important not to react to this with anger or pride but also not to waver in any way. You may well find that you cannot even explain yourself properly because you will be required to do so in the language of your opponents and in terms of false metaphysical assumptions. In that case the best thing to do is simply to affirm the truth and not be drawn into argument. Arguing for truth is reducing it to the level of opinion. 

Extremism merely means taking a strong position against the conventions of the day, and if they are rotten that it just what any sane person should do. Jesus was an extremist. He even died because of that. But he died forgiving his enemies and if ever we find ourselves facing opprobrium because of our stance against the lies of the world we must remember his example. The world can't hurt us. We can only hurt ourselves if we react in the wrong way to the world.