The Hour Is More Urgent Than We Realize By MICHAEL BROWN for Stream
Speaking to a group of Catholic priests around the year 2010, Cardinal Francis George (1937–2015) said, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” What profound words!
Cardinal George subsequently explained that he was responding to a question when he gave this spontaneous answer, which was “entirely outside of the current political debate.” And he noted that he “was trying to express in overly dramatic fashion what the complete secularization of our society could bring.” He certainly hit the nail on the head.
A Spiritual Renewal
In my view, speaking as soberly as I can, the picture that Cardinal George painted is entirely plausible, barring one thing and only one thing: a sweeping revival that produces a radical reformation to our society, a spiritual renewal so deep it births a societal awakening. Otherwise, the crash is inevitable. (Of course, if Jesus returns in the next few years, this point will be moot.)
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Some may protest that we’ve been here many times before in our history, with doomsayers repeatedly claiming that the end of the world was near. “It’s all over,” they shouted in years past. “America is doomed!” And yet here we are today, decades (or centuries) later, still economically strong, still powerful, still one nation. Perhaps I’m overstating things.
I’ve written extensively on this very subject, giving examples of times past when it appeared that it was all over for America (or at least for the church of America).
Yet the tide turned, God poured out His Spirit, and America marched on. Obviously, the doomsday prophets were wrong. Perhaps my concerns will prove empty too.
