Inspirational: When You See These Things Begin to Happen

By: Linda Kirby/WGON 7.20.26

There was a time — and some of us remember it as clearly as yesterday — when the world felt safe in ways that are almost unimaginable now. We could sit outside at night, even alone, and feel nothing but peace. Midnight walks were a joy, not a risk. We stepped outside to look at the stars, breathe the cool air, and enjoy the quiet of the evening without a second thought.

We slept with our windows open. We left our doors unlocked. We left our cars unlocked.

Not because evil didn’t exist — it did. We’ve always lived in a fallen world. But back then, evil stayed in pockets. It wasn’t bold. It wasn’t celebrated. It wasn’t roaming the streets looking for opportunity.

The culture still had a moral backbone. People still had a sense of decency. There was a shared understanding of right and wrong that acted like a spiritual fence around society.

But today… that’s a different story.

Now people hesitate to go to concerts, parades, parks, or any place where a mass shooter might choose a crowd. Parents worry about sending their children to school. Older people — especially those in their vulnerable years — often feel safer staying home, not out of fear, but out of discernment. They can feel the spiritual climate has changed.

And it has.

Scripture tells us plainly:

“In the last days perilous times shall come.” 2 Timothy 3:1

Not just difficult times — perilous ones. Times when evil is not only present, but aggressive. Times when darkness is not only real, but bold.

And there is something else we must face honestly.

When authorities — whether government, cultural leaders, or institutions — begin pressuring people to accept what God calls sin, it opens a door. Not a small door, not a crack, but a huge door. A spiritual doorway wide enough for demonic influence to rush through and spread without resistance.

Scripture shows this pattern repeatedly: when a nation normalizes what God warns against, the spiritual guardrails collapse.

It’s not that demons suddenly increase in number. It’s that people remove the barriers that once restrained them.

When a society celebrates what God calls destructive, evil becomes bold. It becomes public. It becomes aggressive. And people begin to feel the effects — not just in headlines, but in their neighborhoods, their schools, their streets, and their own sense of safety.

This is why the world feels different now.

It isn’t just crime statistics. It isn’t just politics. It isn’t just culture shifts.

It’s spiritual.

The door has been opened — wide — and darkness never misses an invitation.

Those who lived in the earlier decades can feel the difference most clearly. They remember the world before the door was opened. They remember when moral restraint still existed. They remember when evil stayed in the shadows instead of marching into the spotlight with legal sanction and cultural applause.

And they can tell the difference.

But even in all this, Jesus’ words steady the heart:

“When you see these things begin to happen, lift up your heads; your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28

We are not abandoned. We are not helpless. We are not swallowed by the times.

We are simply living in the season Jesus told us to watch for — the season when darkness grows bold, and the people of God grow discerning.

And when we see these things begin to happen, we don’t bow our heads in fear.

We lift them in hope.