Rabbi Kirt Schneider looked at the modern world recently and basically asked the question a lot of people avoid because they are too busy doom-scrolling, binge-watching and arguing online: Does anybody notice how unstable everything has become?
Not unstable in some abstract philosophical sense. I mean visibly unstable.
China circling Taiwan like a shark. Iran refusing to back down. North Korea openly threatening nuclear retaliation. Artificial intelligence evolving faster than governments, schools and even its own inventors can comprehend.
And meanwhile, most people are still debating celebrities on TikTok.
Schneider did not come across like a man trying to create panic. He sounded more like somebody standing in the middle of a city square watching people casually sip coffee while smoke rises in the distance.
“We are living in the most dangerous climate imaginable,” Schneider said.
The strongest section of his message centered on artificial intelligence. Not because Schneider invented the warnings, but because he pointed to the growing chorus of concern coming directly from the people building the technology.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged that AI could ultimately become catastrophic for humanity.
Elon Musk has repeatedly compared advanced artificial intelligence to summoning something dangerous that humanity may not be able to control.
Physicist Stephen Hawking warned before his death that fully developed AI could end the human race.
Former Google AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton has spent recent years warning that society still does not grasp the scale of what is approaching.
Think about that for a moment. The people building the technology are talking like characters at the beginning of a disaster movie, and society’s response is basically, “Cool, can it help me write emails faster?”
Schneider warned AI could usher in:
- Loss of human control.
- Deepfake deception.
- Cyberattacks.
- Autonomous weapons systems.
- Mass surveillance.
- Massive job displacement.
- Concentrated power among a handful of tech elites.
“The necessity of humans is becoming obsolete,” Schneider said.
That line lands differently when you look around at a culture already struggling to remember what humans are for in the first place.
Schneider also pointed to the spiritual condition of modern culture, contrasting the innocence of his childhood with today’s nonstop stream of violence, corruption, lust and division flooding phones and screens every hour of the day.
“When we close our eyes now, we’re not seeing innocent cartoons,” Schneider said. “We’re seeing the filth of our culture.”
And underneath all of it was his central message: repentance.
Not theatrical panic. Not hiding in bunkers. Not paranoia.
Repentance.
Quoting Psalm 119, Schneider said, “I stand in fear of your judgments.”
“Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand,” he added, repeating the words of both John the Baptist and Jesus.
Schneider’s point was not that Christians should collapse into fear every time another headline flashes across a screen. His point was that civilization keeps confusing comfort with security while the entire structure underneath it groans louder by the day.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
