Sovereign Divine Election and an Eschatology of Optimism

"In view of the rampant secular atheism which prevails in Western culture, the ascendancy of a virulent form of Islam on a global scale, and the emergence of a form of Christianity that is either shot through with naturalistic, unbelieving assumptions or is frantically caught up in an effort to package Christianity in the transitory wrappings of the ever shifting sands of pop culture, is it reasonable or even Biblical for the Church to maintain a vibrant optimism about the future global conquest of the gospel and the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ? While most Reformed and Presbyterians, subsequent to World War II, have jettisoned the historic Reformed position of hope in a future age of great gospel advance, this message seeks to challenge the spiritual heirs of Calvin and the Reformation to consider the connection between sovereign divine election and an eschatology of optimism as a basis for hope in a period of sweeping gospel conquest which is yet ahead on the temporal horizon."