That we are in an age of “a Great Awakening” seems plausible when we consider how widespread is the disenchantment with age-old institutions, their corruption and hypocrisy, religious, government, academic, scientific, etc.
Whereas this is a healthy awakening, Jesus’ provides a startling warning in the following allegory:
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11: 24-26)
Consider the current debacles: a sympathy for marginalized groups such as those suffering from gender dysphoria has led to the horrible mutilating of children, increasing their susceptibility to suicide; or those suffering from racism has led to the violent destruction of the very communities that need help. These are two of numerous examples of good intentions going awry when God, Love, is left out.
Jesus was stating with absolute certainty that a human effort to “clean up one’s act” without an acknowledgement of our utter dependency upon the one Intelligence, God, is liable to leave us in a much worse state. This is the operation of God’s law of progress which is the outcome of the First Commandment: “ Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
Following is a good, practical guidance to keep us on the straight and narrow:
“Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power. These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy)