Extremism

I am an extremist. As, most probably, are you or anyone who retains faith in a higher power and sees man's destiny as beyond this physical world. We are not really extremists in the sense that our position is bizarre, outlandish, unnatural or one-sided but we have been forced into apparent extremism because of the actually extreme nature of modern civilisation. It is the modern world that has adopted an extremist position of God-denying materialism. It is this world that has evicted itself from reality and propagates lies and illusions. Anyone who holds fast to God and spiritual truth necessarily becomes, by the standards of the extremist ideology of the present day, an extremist. 

Jesus was regarded by the religious and secular authorities of his time as an extremist. His disciples when they spread the word after his death were extremists. All the saints have been extremists even in the context of the religious societies in which they lived, and now when spiritual goodness and truth have been chased from the world and fakes and imitations are put up in their place anyone who affirms the inner reality of God will be condemned as a fanatic, an upstart, mad, even dangerous to societal stability and public order. Such a person is obliged to reject the fashionable ideas of the world. He must go against many perceived public values. In consequence, he will be branded a hater and perhaps, in some not too far off time, a criminal.

This situation has not happened by accident. It may appear that society has evolved in a certain direction over the last few hundred years because of science, education, secular progress etc, but actually we have been like sheep herded in a certain direction and we are now enclosed in the pen that was always waiting for us. Unfortunately, it was not the Good Shepherd who was doing the herding. The only way to understand our present predicament is to see it as the result of evil powers seeking to corrupt humanity and capture our souls. We have been fed half-truths and lies in order that our minds may conform to a certain shape for the demons who are behind the whole process (and no one can deny their skill) know that we cannot be forced into rejecting God against our will. We can be lured into that sorry state but, when all is said and done, it must be our decision. They have set the trap and sweetened the bait but we have voluntarily walked into it with our eyes open. No one has to do this. Even if the path is opened up invitingly before us we still have to set foot on that path and there is always a voice within to warn us against this if we will pay attention to it. If we don't listen to that voice that is because of a spiritual deficiency within us, hard as that may be to hear for anyone raised in the modern world. Don't blame the world. It inclines but does not compel.

As the world descends further into spiritual darkness it becomes more important for us to reject the whole of materialistic atheism and not retain any aspect of it within our minds. There are today many people who protest against this or that aspect of modernity in its most up to date guise, transgenderism being the latest inevitable phase, but who still accept the basic background premise of the materialistic ethos. This position is becoming increasing untenable as the initial harmless-looking seed has grown into the mighty choking weed it has now become. This does not mean a return to the past for the reasons given here but once you accept the reality of God and the spiritual path that puts everything else in a different perspective. We have built up a philosophy of life over the last 300 years based on a false view of man. Throw out that view and everything must be reassessed. You may be able to keep some aspects of the recent past but even they will have to be seen in a completely different light.

One bad apple in a basket soon rots the whole lot. We cannot retain anything of materialism and that is hard because we are soaked in the wretched thing. I don't suppose there is anyone alive, certainly not in the Western world, who is not intellectually affected by materialistic atheism in some form or another. But we do have to try to liberate ourselves from it because it will restrict our spiritual freedom and pollute our minds. That is why we have to be extremists, albeit extremists that walk humbly with God.