December 7, 2021
“The Greatest Generation” is all but gone, victim of time and age. The world they fought to save has all but disappeared, and what they left behind to us would be in many ways unrecognizable to them. Freedom is not really free, and the sacrifices of one generation pave the way for the ease of their children, which in turn paves the way for the re-enslavement of their grandchildren. It is a tale told in large letters throughout history.
My grandfather (father to one of the Greatest Generation and not a committed Christian) once commented on something he saw on television. As he turned the set off, he said that the content was “smutty,” a word I haven’t heard in years. I would hate to hear what he would say about today’s programming. Bit by bit, the ways of this world have insidiously encroached upon us, so subtly that we can’t pinpoint where it was that we began to accept what would have been unthinkable a generation ago.
It would be discouraging had not the prophets and Jesus himself warned us of what it would be like as the end approached. Phrases like “lovers of self rather than lovers of God,” “disobedient, deceitful, not only participating in evil, but encouraging others to do so,” were presentient then, and present today. But in the midst of it all are words of encouragement, offers of salvation and healing of the nations.
Pearl Harbor Day commemorates our entry into World War II, the greatest conflict yet to be seen. Millions died, including hundreds of thousands of Americans. At every Memorial Day service I’ve ever attended, we pray that it not be necessary for us to send young men and women off to war again, all the while Jesus’ words echo in our minds—“There will be wars and rumors of war, but the end is not yet.” Our prayers end with the cry for the day when ploughshares will be beaten into pruning hooks, and we will learn war no more. That day will come, and until then, we live by Jesus’ words to “watch, that the Enemy not enter in while we are asleep.”
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