Published December 30, 2025
"Christianity is not a culture but it is the Way, the Truth and the Light. Our victory has been won. The kingdom is ours forever."
Since the dawn of the Common Era more than two thousand years ago, various sovereignties, principalities and societies have risen and fallen. The Roman Empire was overrun by the barbarians. Byzantium was decimated by the hordes of Islam. The Third Rome, as represented by the Romanoff empire, was trampled by communism. In our day we witness the final collapse of western culture. It is interesting to analyze the ponderings of Oswald Spengler who wrote his seminal text, The Decline of the West, more than a century ago, back in 1918. Spengler opined that every civilization is inherently cyclical, experiencing ascendance, preponderance and an inevitable decline. He examined all the historic epochs from ancient Egypt to his contemporary western civilization. I am not convinced that Spengler’s theory is ironclad. However, I must agree that he correctly diagnosed the twilight of the West, as we knew it.
Western civilization was deeply influenced by Christianity. But its decline does not presage any retreat of Christianity. Rome, Byzantium and the Romanoff Empire, which styled itself the Third Rome, all faded from the historical stage. Yet the relevance and unassailable strength of Christian doctrine remain inviolate. While these great cultural phenomena were influenced by Christ’s teaching, they were not embodiments of Christianity and all fell well short of the ideals which Jesus revealed to humankind. Had these Christian influenced cultures more closely aligned themselves with the unerring dictates of Scripture, would they have withstood the test of time? This is a question which is not for us to contemplate. We know from Divine revelation that human existence is destined to undergo tribulation and that only the Second Coming of our Lord will usher in eternal peace.
It is our duty to spread the Gospel and to pursue good works in our own lives as a categorical imperative. Our predecessor believers did their part in the past. We must espouse Christ’s work in the present and the future, whatever the name or characteristics of the next predominant culture may be. Even if the years ahead bring repression of Christians, we know that our sufferings on account of our fidelity to our Lord will result in our glorification with Him. Romans 8:17. Christianity is not a culture but it is the Way, the Truth and the Light. Our victory has been won. The kingdom is ours forever.