Today is the Provincial Anniversary Day, and this has nothing to do with the passage, but gives me a chance to discuss a little history. Dunedin was colonized by the Scots from the Free Presbyterian Church. They negotiated to buy some land, and in the deep south the colonization process was fairly painless. The Maori intermarried early: they liked the treaty, because it had stopped a series of wars that had destroyed the local population. Much of the land was empty.

By 1860 there was a gold rush, and in 1861 the University of Otago was founded, the following year Otago Boys’ High School was founded… and by around 1870, when the provinces were abolished, Dunedin was around the same size as it is today — 120k- 130k.

So I am off to work, because the University does not celebrate this day but takes the holiday at Easter, one son has lectures, and the other son has a day off, for his High School takes the anniversary on the gazetted day.

_____________

Now this day’s passage: we are continuing in Corinthians, and I think it is relevant not merely because of his advice for the single among us. It is because he is writing knowing persecution is coming.

For Dunedin, which was founded by a bunch of believers, has disavowed their theology. instead it is now a hotbed of the politically correct: the academics consider all churches should fall in line behind their liberal projects, and the more progressive churches hold in contempt those crude fundies and reformed who still preach the gospel and not the socialism of the elite. And the beautiful churches that the first generations built with the money from Gold are now dying, while the pressure is being put on — Anglicans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Protestants (I think the Methodists and Liberal Presbyterians have succumbed) to tolerate living together and queer culture — in fact not tolerate but celebrate, as if heterosexuality itself is a sin.

Persecution is coming as the West dies. Or revival.

1 Corinthians 7:25-31

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. ²⁶I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. ²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that. ²⁹I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, ³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, ³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

I am beginning to wonder if the Babylon we have to walk out of is the progressive West. I look at the current flashpoints — which are either ancient (Islam will fight. It has always fought. It will always fight. It will always have to be fought — from the shores of Tripoli to the separtists in Bradford) — or very new, such as Russia turning away from the progressive establishment in a hope that it will not perish, but survive. And in that need to restore their nation before it dies, there has been a revival of faith and fervour.

Not so the demographics of Russia: the prevailing view among Western analysts (and especially hawkish ones) holds that Russia is a doomed nation. In December 2011, Professor Eberstadt published an essay entitled “The Dying Bear: Russia’s Demographic Disaster” in Foreign Affairs. Last year I reviewed on this site Ilan Berman’s book Implosion, which stated this widely held view as follows:

Russia is dying. Russia is undergoing a catastrophic post-Soviet societal decline due to abysmal health standards, runaway drug addiction, and an AIDS crisis that officials have termed an “epidemic.” The population of the Russian Federation is declining by close to half a million souls every year due to death and emigration. At this rate, the once-mighty Russian state could lose a quarter of its population by the middle of this century. And according to some projections, if Russia’s demographic trajectory does not change, its population could plummet to as little as fifty-two million people by 2080. It’s a phenomenon demographers have described as “the emptying of Russia” – a wholesale implosion of Russia’s human capital and a collapse of its prospects as a viable modern state. (See see Reports of Russia?s death are exaggerated , Asia Times Online, October 15, 2013)

A specter is haunting Russia: the specter of depopulation. The cohort of Russian women of child-bearing age is so depleted that even a recovery of Russia’s birth rate will not forestall severe problems. Nonetheless I thought Berman’s thesis one-sided and overstated. Russia’s total fertility rate has recovered from around 1.2 a decade ago to 1.7 last year, and Russia’s population increased slightly in 2013 for the first time in almost two decades.

We do not know quite why this has occurred, but it seems that Putin’s aggressive efforts to promote fertility have had some effect – unlike in Iran. Like Jonah’s prophecy to Nineveh, the threat of extinction may have motivated Russia to change course. And like Jonah, our modern prophets rankle at the prospect that the ban of doom may have been lifted.

I suspect that Russia’s revived nationalism has a great deal to do with rising fertility. That includes the revival of the Orthodox Church, which is consubstantial with the Russian state. Countries that lose their faith and their identity also lose their motivation to bring new generations into the world; that is how civilizations die, the title of my 2011 book on demographics and geopolitics. Putin’s nationalism is also a rational response to an existential threat. The Germans might go gentle into that good night, but Russia will fight for its identity and its future existence.

Well, the Russians may be morose, xenophobic and imperial, but stupid they are not. We, however, are. Because Ann is correct here.

A fascinating point is made therein that China, of all people, should be distancing itself from “referendums” such as what was seen in Crimea because, you know, TIBET and TAIWAN. What this indicates is that China sees this financial move as far more important than anything that might go on in Tibet or Taiwan, because let’s be frank, with no U.S. presence in geopolitics and zero threat of any U.S. military intervention (I don’t care whether you’re a total isolationist or not – I’m just stating objective situational reality here), The People’s Liberation Army could quash any freedom movements in Tibet or Taiwan without breaking a sweat. They would just be “protecting the ethnic Chinese in those areas”. The only former backstop was the threat of U.S. involvement, either in the financial arena or militarily. Kids, that threat is now GONE. All bets are off, and yes, the days of the petroDOLLAR are most assuredly NUMBERED. When that happens, there will be, overnight, the almost total evaporation of demand for U.S. Treasury paper and a resulting sell-off of U.S. paper by outsiders, at which point two things will happen: 1.) the Fed will mash the throttle on printing, because it will be the only significant “buyer”, if you can even call it that, of U.S. paper, and 2.) the move to inject collateral into the system by seizing in whole or in part (as was done in Poland last year) the $20 TRILLION held in U.S. 401ks, IRAs and annuities by “converting” them to U.S. Treasury paper and establishing a mandatory “retirement account” withholding. Because, you know, THAT’S never been done before. (Call it something different and no one will know it’s Social Security Ponzi 2.0 ’cause they dum!)

So what should we do?

1. Pray for revival. Fervently. Starting with ourselves. We need the spirit of God to come upon us and deal with our sins and lead us to live as salt and light. Revival has preserved the English speaking world on at least two occasions — the Methodist revival stopped the Jacobean infection cold, and the Welsh revival did the same with the socialists.
2. Disassociate ourselves. We need to see our political processes as fallen and corrupt. Those who work within them — which will be half of any congregation, for the state produces around half the GDP of New Zealand — need to refuse to bow to the pagan. They may lose promotions, or jobs. They may be counselled. And the church needs to pray for and support these people through the inevitable disciplinary hearings.  But we need to deal with the world as if we are not part of it.
3. Get rid of ties. We may need to run. We may need to, as the first monastics did, literally flee the cities. We may have to deal with a ravening mob. We need to protect and defend the vulnerable — and in very difficult times being single may be simpler, safer and less stressful. One of the points of attack in our fallen societies is children: every parent fears and mistrust the child protection services for they may remove your children because Christian hierarchy is abusive. Or homeschooling. Or having a man as head of the household. The irony is that the number of child murders is going up as the baby mammas bring into their children’s lives a series of men, often “hot”, and often dangerous.
4. Remain moral. The rest of the world may have abandoned marriage-for-life and wives respecting and obeying their husbands, but we should not. In fact, we should preach this. We should remind women that, yes, your husband is accountable, but you need to obey him and pray for him. And husbands, that yes, your wife is fallen, but you need to love her and pray for her and lead her.  And, for those young people who “just can’t wait” — discernment about if the engagement should continue, a standard prenup that nullifies the family court, and a rapid marriage. For women should kill the bridezilla within them, and men the playa, and then work on building a life, not paying off a wedding.