In Matthew 24, we read about the signs at the end of the age, and in verse 12 is a most interesting observation from Jesus Himself: “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”
This describes the spiritual and emotional decay of society as God’s Way is laughed to scorn, derided and dismissed as unnecessary by society in general. As evil and hostility increase, people become self-centred, callous, and unloving toward God and others. And even, more importantly, this warning is directly aimed at the people of God as it says in the following verse: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved,” which is about true Christians, not the world.
Recently, I experienced a very unpleasant side of the society we live in which seems to be full of anger, and one of those areas we have to steer clear of unless it is righteous anger (see Ephesians 4:26, first part: “Be angry, and do not sin….” But back to the story. I was parked in a small local car park and heard a commotion behind me. It appears, for a reason I couldn’t ascertain, that a small old lady with a walking stick was using loud, foul, and abusive language of the worst variety at someone in the car parked next to her. I reversed the car and drove out of that car park thinking how angry she was and what an example she made of herself. She was very, very angry.
In May 2024, there was an article in the Huffington Post, headlined “It’s Not Just You – This Is Why Everyone Is So Much Angrier These Days.” A paragraph in this article was: “Why we’re all angrier than before,” and it quoted a Gallup Global Emotions Report that “anger around the world has been rising since 2016, with 23% of respondents now feeling angry on any given day.” And, as we live in the world, this can rub off on us as Church members when we know that anger is a very powerful human emotion that is not inherently sinful, but can easily lead to destructive and damaging behaviour.
In May of 2026, in the UK, a report said that “Drunk and abusive air passengers would be banned from flying under proposals being drawn up by ministers, it can be revealed. Officials are war-gaming the creation of a national ‘blacklist’ amid soaring ‘air rage’ attacks on plane crews and fellow holidaymakers.”
The British Association of Anger Management wrote that 80% of people believe that Britain is becoming angrier and this anger is spilling out into our professional lives, our daily commute and even our most intimate relationships. 45% of staff regularly lose their temper at work. This could be because of a demanding workload and increasing stress levels or it could be due to the fact that 53% of people have been the victims of bullying at work. Both bullying and increased stress levels have a detrimental effect on anger and the (usually unhealthy) way it is expressed. Not surprisingly, Britain is the top road rage country within the European Union with 80.4% of drivers claiming to have been involved in road rage incidents; another 1 in 4 drivers admit to committing an act of road rage.
Social media also comes in for criticism for encouraging anger. I recently read that Twitter has often been called the angriest place on the internet! And most people don’t seem to be happy with their governance, the cost of living and life in general. That many are unhappy with their government is understandable, but if we are not careful, it can grow into uncontrolled anger. And when anger is allowed to fester, it can lead to rage and murder!
It is a trait that will be seen increasing as we draw near the time of Jesus Christ’s return to this earth. In fact, in Revelation 11:18, we read: “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” Plus, Satan and his demons are at work because they know their time is short as we read in Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
In James 1:19-20, we read an instructive piece which we had better implement for our own good: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
How many of us can truly put our hand up and say that we have never become aggressive and angry? My hand is certainly not raised and I suspect strongly that any Church member reading this will find themselves in the same position. However, in what is an increasingly angry society, we read in Proverbs 29:11 that “A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.”
In Ecclesiastes 7:9, we find further wisdom: “Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.”
We should do everything we can to follow biblical advice so that we don’t become like the world. Rather, we must ensure that we will be in that soon-coming Kingdom of God.