To My Sons in Today’s World

SON: Do you notice how many senseless crimes are happening every day?

MOM: The world today does feel more chaotic and intense, reflecting a growing madness in humanity. Don’t be fooled into thinking things are getting better. Lawlessness is already at work, and before the Lord’s return, things will get worse. But remember, He is coming, and nothing can stop that. Even if many of us pass away before that day, His promise remains: He will be victorious, defeating darkness, and raising us up with Him.

Right now, the world is set for the ultimate apostasy, where many will turn to worship the man of lawlessness once God removes the restraining power of the Holy Spirit. Those who have rejected the truth will be led astray, believing falsehoods.

If we look at history, we are closer to the end times than to the beginning of the church. The Bible warns us that in the final days, “evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). People will become lovers of themselves and money, proud, disobedient, ungrateful, unforgiving, and slanderous. They will lack self-control, despise what is good, betray friends, and love pleasure over God. Though they may claim to serve Him, they will lack His true power. We are advised to stay away from such people (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

SON: Many of my friends engage in meaningless chatter. It’s so hard to have a meaningful conversation. People seem to love evil and hate what is good.

MOM: What shocks us today will become commonplace during the Day of the Lord. This is part of God’s sovereign plan, and we cannot change it. So, how should we live? Jesus calls His disciples the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world," meaning we are meant to preserve goodness and shine in the darkness around us.

SON: Living in today’s world feels so depressing. There are hardly any good role models—people often fall from grace or struggle with mental health issues. It seems like the world just wants to fix these problems and move on. What is the relevance of the church today?

MOM: If we lose our saltiness or if the light within us becomes dim, lawlessness will unleash. Francis Schaeffer argued that the only answer to the despair and futility of modern life is the truth found in Christianity. We know the truth only because the God who is there is not silent. God speaks. He reveals Himself in nature and clearly through the Holy Scriptures. Ultimately, He reveals Himself through Jesus, the Word made flesh.

Schaeffer understood that young people often wrestle with big questions, and he showed them that Christ and the gospel are the answers. He saw the modern spiritual crisis as an intellectual crisis and recognized that the intellectual crisis is also a spiritual one. Despite the challenges of the 1960s and 1970s, Schaeffer has the foundation to distinguish between what he thinks and what is objectively real. The modern generation lacks this clarity, which is why many are confused. But Christians shouldn’t be.

 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 

Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 

For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.