Sing the Providence of God

God is still in charge, and the Gospel is still the truth.

Douglas Farrow reprises Augustine’s view of providence and history in his excellent article, “The Secret of the Saeculum” (First Things, May 2020).

History, he explains, is not going nowhere. God created and rules the course of history for the purpose of bringing His happiness to as many as will come to Him through Jesus Christ. History had a beginning, and it will have an end. Its course is a curriculum in which God teaches and tests men to know whether they will submit to Him or choose the lie of autonomy.

The Church’s calling is to sing the music of divine providence by announcing that a new order has come with the Person and work of Christ, that a gift of life is available to all who will choose it, and that judgment and eternal destruction await those who prefer their own ideas and values to those proffered by God.

This article features many strong quotes and offers a concise analysis of how the Enlightenment project has gone wrong. It is a call to Christians to stop going along to get along, and to get busy with the work of living and proclaiming the providence and salvation of God.

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