Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night—or Should We Say Dark Night?

The title of perhaps his most famous poem, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Dark Night," is Dylan's raging plea to his dying father to fight, fight, fight against death. To not give up. It is a fitting mantra for the time in which we live. As we as a people—both as Christians and patriots—see the tentacles of darkness looming, reaching all around us, we see a night that is not at all good but devastating, destructive, a night that seeks to tear down morals and Christian values. The moving words in Dylan's poem reverberate in our spirit and stir us to fight the good fight of faith, to pray.

A week ago Seattle hosted an LGBT parade with men walking in the nude, little children looking on. Why? Other than the question, what parent would take their child to see this, we see that to those who do not hold with traditional Christian values it is not enough that we who do live and let live. Nontraditional sexual values are being actively forced down our throats. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Socialists and Muslims are being voted in right and left. Socialists, as you know, are a euphemism for communists and atheists. Look at the history of countries that have been taken over by socialists. No socialist country has had a good track record. While Hitler's party had "socialist" in its name, in practice he became a ruthless authoritarian. He is considered bad news, but Stalin isn't far behind. Labeled a socialist though his authoritarian regime was more state-controlled than a socialist democracy, he is credited with 20-25 million deaths, some estimating numbers as high as 60 million—no death camps like Hitler, but plenty of other stuff to ensure getting rid of any opposition, real or imagined. Forced labor camps (Gulags), deportations, policies that resulted in famines ... even little children were reported to have been tortured. More recently, Nicolas Maduro, dictator of Venezuela for many years, aligned himself with guess what—socialism. Between 2018 and 2019 his Special Actions Forces is credited with over 7,000 to 9,000 extrajudicial killings.

And Muslims? While as a people we hold to freedom of religion, the Muslim religion, for all intents and purposes, seeks to change our laws to those of Sharia. If you don't know what that is, look it up. Under Sharia law, say goodbye to freedom of religion, freedom of dress, and get ready to embrace corporal punishment (amputations, floggings, stonings, lashings). If you do not watch CBN news, I highly recommend it. (And no, they are not paying me to give them a plug.) There you will hear unadulterated truth, news not filtered by the woke and liberal communities. It was there I realized why the powers that be in Iran will not easily fold their hands in surrender. What are the motivating factors for most crimes? Power, money, sex. Did you know that the ruling imams in Iran are not millionaires but billionaires? Of course they don't want to give up their power. Power, money, and sex—under Muslim laws men enjoy the ability to engage in legalized pedophilia, marrying little girls eight and nine years old. Google will tell you that women have rights under Sharia law, but in actuality women are treated like property, good for child baring, housekeeping, and little else. For perceived infractions, women are beaten or killed. In 2014, in the village of Solagh, Sinjar region in northern Iraq, at least 80 if not more women between the ages of 40 to 80 were killed by ISIS because they were considered too old for sexual slavery. Welcome to the brave new world of Islam.

Darkness isn't just coming. Darkness is here.

What are we going to do? A song from the 70s said, "When you've tried everything and everything has failed, try Jesus. He'll be your faithful Friend, He'll be with you till the end. When you've tried everything and everything has failed, try Jesus." What will we do? We will not quake in our boots and throw up our hands in defeat. No! We will pray. A quote from Corrie Ten Boom says, "There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans." This evil is no surprise to God. He knew it was coming and He is not afraid. He has a plan. We just need to get on board.

What is His plan? He has said, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14). No matter the lateness of the hour, no matter the darkness of the night, we, His people, are called to pray. Not to fold our hands in defeat. Not to quake in our boots. We are called to pray with all that is in us.

In his poem, Dylan references meteors. Grave men, he says, even those who have lost their sight, have eyes that "blaze like meteors"—even in their darkness, they can perceive light, the joys of life. In the darkness around us, we too see flashes of light—brave baseball players who take a stand for their beliefs and refuse to kowtow to the LGBT agenda, a brave little boy who does not bow in a visit to a mosque like his peers, valiant judges who dare to speak out against injustice against those who hold traditional values. Brave missionaries who map out where hotbeds of insurrection and antipathy to Christianity are—and head there. Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos in our day. In the darkness, they are light. And to this end, to see more beautiful, brilliant meteors, I fight. I pray.

I pray that I might make a difference through prayer and the power of voting. I pray for peace in Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). I pray for our country's leaders, that whether they know God or not, they will be led by Him (see Proverbs 21:10). I pray for a move of the Spirit to draw all men unto Him. And I pray Dennis's favorite prayer, that I might be counted worthy to escape the evil that is to come and stand before the Son of Man in white (Luke 21:36; Revelation 3:4).

Dylan had it right. The night might be looming, but ours is to fight against it to the very end with all our might. Yes, we must all die. It is Scripture (Hebrews 9:27). It is the cycle of life. But while we live, we will fight with all that is in us against death—and all the symbols of death: apostasy and every "ism" that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God. The Kingdom of God is to be taken by force, by fervent intensity (Matthew 11:12). While there is life in our body, we are called to stand against the enemy of God, death and evil, to pray, to claim His promises.

Yes, there is darkness, but while we are here on earth, we are to be the light of the world. Let us hold on to God's promises and, having done all, to stand.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Ephesians 6:13).

"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:5).

"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).