About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

Exchanging Freedom For Prosperity

Much of the western-world has benefited from the freedoms that have provided the ability to pursue and maintain a good measure of personal peace and prosperity, something I believe has become a cultural addiction to the good life.  Francis Schaeffer, a Christian philosopher/historian wrote about this in his 1976 book "How Should We Then Live."  On page 227 of the hard-cover edition he questioned our addictive values.          

"With such values, will men stand for their liberties?  Will they not give up their liberties, step by step, inch by inch, as long as their own personal peace and prosperity is sustained and not challenged, and as long as goods are delivered?"       

What Schaeffer wrote in 1976 is more relevant today than ever.  The world-wide spread of Covid 19 has plunged the world's economies into a global catastrophe.  Governments are spending trillions of dollars to prop up faltering economies, all in an attempt to maintain our cultural values of personal peace and prosperity.  In light of these government financial stimulus packages, and they are appreciated, there is something that is not getting any press. 

From the historical evidence, Schaeffer documented that when a population expects and depends on government to provide for its well-being, personal peace, and prosperity, government will sooner or later dictate and demand strict adherence from the population.  In other words, the one who provides for you is the one to whom you submit.  Might, then, the population of the West freely exchange its freedoms for the continuation of its personal peace and prosperity, as Schaeffer suggests?

Students of the Futurist's view of Biblical prophecy see Schaeffer's scenario being fully realized when the world's population exchanges its freedoms for personal peace and prosperity offered by a newly formed global government.  I have no clue when that will take place, and I'm not about to speculate.  One thing seems clear to me, and that is, step by step, inch by inch, we are now becoming willing to exchange our freedoms for the preservation of our personal peace and prosperity.