Brother Jeff,
i guess ranting is something we both might be accused of, but reasoning can't be had in a sound bite ...
In regards to what you wrote about our youth ... amen ... there is a major sea change in the youth of my day (born 1950) to the youth of today ... For one thing my generation, raised by Depression era/WWII parents, most being believers in God, was indoctrinated by them with Christian values, love of family, love of country, respect of community, respect of our fellow man, a better appreciation of the fairer sex, ethics against such evil devices as greed, cheating and stealing, etc ... I didn't do a lot of the bad things i could have done as a child/teen simply because i believed as my Dad always warned, "God see all that you do" ... i was pretty much governed by this up until i got to be about 17, and then i began to secumb to the call of the world, sex, drugs and music ...
i remember some communist back then making the statement that if just one youth generation in America could be collectively and drastically seduced away from the values values and mores of their parents, then America would fall from within ... It's pretty ironic to think that it actually takes the Godless to see the power of God excercised in the Godly, but that's exactly what satan was able to do in the 60's and 70's ... My generation once thought our parents old fogeys, sticks in the mud, unhip. and so we ignorant of the consequences hedonistically over indulged in the pleasures of sin, only to find out much later past the stupidity of our youth the rot that satan not only had in store for my generation, put the escalating perversion he had in store for those future ... And so here we are today ... in perilous time ...
My generation, the boomers (1946 - 1964), are the ones that turned the society our parents presented to us upside down, and while there were some things that needed to be fixed, there were others that needed to be left as was, such as their closer walk with the Christian faith that defined their ethics, values and morality ... Drugs should have never been let out of the box, as it anesthetized us to our consciences ... Free love, became our chant for rabid immorality ... Make love not war in the 60's, turned right around and became make war, not love in the 90's ... Relatively harmless reefer 50 years later metamorphed into crack cocaine ... Athiest legislated God out of our lives ... Anarchist ate away at any respect left for our public institutions ... Then came Radical Feminism ... Abortion ... Radical homosexuality ... Music went from what seemed like relatively ok Doo-wop, to R&B, Folk, Country, Rock, Hard Rock, Acid Rock, Punk Rock, Punk Funk, Hip-Hop then on to the insidious Gangsta Rap, that has become satans Pied Piper to burn up in lust, materialism, drugs and expensive intoxicating beverages any 30 years old and younger ...
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... And many may ask, "Where was the Church"? ... i'd say the church of my parents generation were in shock, felt under siege, and perhaps that was the beginning of the church becoming a fortress ... Get behind the walls and hide from their own wicked and misguided children who like those foolish Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai threw God to the wind in pagan bacchanalia, worshipping the Golden Calf in degredating sexual promiscuity ... i remember how my parents treated me in my sinfulness, they totally rejected me ... And the church of my generation? ... Well we were out in the world, and though many of us professed Christ no one would ever be able to tell it by our fornications, adulteries, divorces, and unforgivable abandonment of our children ... As i say to anyone in my generation, if you want to know why our world, America, has slipped into perilous times ... just take a good long look into the mirror ... Our children, grandchildren, and if we don't repent to becoming activist for God with the same fervor as we were once activist for satan, our great grandchildren will bring on the Tribulation, just as sure as the wickedness of the folk in Noah's day finally brought on the Flood ...
Well there are lots of burned out, tired, world weary, prodigal boomers whove drug ourselves back to the Father in church today, but of what effect on our children, grand children and the outside dying world? ... Absolutely none! ... We're still the same bunch of spoiled brats we were when we were younger, instead now we've changed our carnal-carnal pursuits in for spiritual-carnal pursuits, seeking first the kingdom of God not for His righteousness, but for all the other things added ... We've traded in the Beatles and the Rolling Stones for the False Prophets of Health and Wealth, while in the meantime our children are seeking thier idols of amusement and entertainment ... The horror of it all is that so many of us still don't see ourselves, i can tell because i still hear so many in my generation sigh, "What's wrong with our children"? ... Like we wouldn't be any different had our parents not trained us up in the way of the LOrd, so that when we finally got old enough to come to our senses in the pigs sty we would come back and not depart from it ...
Our kids are spiritually rudderless, and so it is that satan can grow them up to be ...
- lovers of their own selves,
- covetous,
- boasters,
- proud,
- blasphemers,
- disobedient to parents,
- unthankful,
- unholy,
- Without natural affection,
- trucebreakers,
- false accusers,
- incontinent,
- fierce,
- despisers of those that are good,
- Traitors,
- heady,
- highminded,
- lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
God please forgive we lousy Christian parents and grandparents, and may you rile and stir up all generations, but my generation especially, from our continued self indulgent complacency to true heartfelt repentance of our being instrumental in bringing to America these perilous times ... May you well up inside of us via your Holy Ghost and use us to tackle so great a problem as our misguided youth ... Revive us dear Lord to every avenue that You wish to address in these perilous times, till You are satisfied to catch Your Bride away to our our marriage ... In Your precious name Lord Jesus i pray ... Save our children, in spite of us ... Amen
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