I’m a child of the sixties, turning 12 in 1970. I’m told it was a tumultuous era, the 60s and 70s. From what I recall, it was.
Playing on the floor in our living room as a 5 year old, I heard “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important announcement. President John F. Kennedy has been shot.” I looked at my mom, doing some ironing near the stereo, and saw the startled, fearful look on her face.
I’ve no idea what the kerfuffle was all about, but for some reason the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang was angry. We were living in Wellington, Ohio, at the time—a small, mostly farming community in the north-central part of the state. My dad, pastor of the Baptist church in town, had received warning from somewhere that the gang was headed to our little town and intended to attack the homes of ministers. We left town for the night. As I write that, it all sounds a bit far-fetched, but it was the tumultuous 60s, after all.
War
In that same time frame, the Vietnam War escalated and boys began to be drafted. I wasn’t even 10 yet, so I couldn’t process the significance of it all.
Until late 1967 or early ’68.
By then our family had moved a couple of hours east to Niles, Ohio. One Sunday on our way home from church, dad had the radio on in the car getting a news update. I vividly remember sitting in the back of our burgundy Buick LeSabre as we pulled in the driveway as the war casualty report came on.
And there it was.
This war in a far-off land—waged by powers that be in the nation’s capital, who had demanded boys from my hometown become soldiers—came to the backseat of our sedan. Two of the names listed I recognized—boys, killed by the Viet Cong thousands of miles away, grew up in Wellington. Hadn’t been that long since they graduated from the high school that met in the same building where I attended grades 1-3.
Riots
About three weeks before my twelfth birthday, May 4, 1970, traumatic news broke again. Ohio National Guardsmen, hoping to quell now-common student protests on college campuses, killed four students and injured nine others. None of the students was armed. The riots mushroomed after that tragedy.
These are but a few personal recollections from a childhood chock full of social, cultural, political mayhem. And it all impacted church, too.
Prophecy
Interest in Bible prophecy—within the church, anyway—was at a fever pitch! I couldn’t find the exact time he said it, but Karl Barth (who died in 1968) wrote,
“Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”
And so, a host of well-meaning preachers did. Again, we were living in tumultuous times. Every day the newspaper was packed with troubling stories of war, death, rebellion, chaos, mayhem. So, in a quest for answers, for understanding how to interpret the times, preachers turned to their Bibles.
Now, lest I be misunderstood, that’s not a bad thing in itself. But it can be.
I heard plenty of sensational predictions during that era.
- The Soviet Union’s military ambitions would usher Armageddon
- A giant computer in Brussels, named “The Beast,” had enough memory capacity to assign a number (the “mark of the beast”) to every human on the planet
- In preparation for the Battle of Armageddon, the buzzard population in the Middle East had multiplied exponentially
- There is no mention of the USA in Bible prophecy; therefore, Americans can expect to be swallowed up soon by the Soviet Union
- Credit cards would bring about a cashless society and enable the one-world government to establish a global, unified, well-controlled economy
- Jesus would return by 1980 to rapture all true Christians out of the world
Well, we’re still here. More than five decades since the Kent State Massacre, we find ourselves in another era of social, cultural, physical (i.e. COVID), and political upheaval. It’s impossible to process all that has transpired over the last 11 months, isn’t it? No need to rehearse it. You know.
And once again, a host of well-meaning individuals are attempting to read the times through the Bible. No one’s reading the newspaper anymore, though—more likely, their Twitter or Facebook news feed, or cable news, or their favorite blogs. Nevertheless, I’ve read enough interpretations. Some are far-fetched; some plausible; some maybe likely.
One thing I’ve noticed in nearly all of these “I’ve interpreted my Twitter feeds through the Bible” interpretations.
They incite fear.
But the Bible incites faith!
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
– Romans 10:17
If we believe all the “interpretations,” we’re in for a very hard ride, tons of suffering to endure. And yet,
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
— Romans 8:15–18 (ESV)
And,
…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
— 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)
Again lest I be misunderstood, I’m not advocating a head-in-the-sand approach to our tumultuous times. Nor am I suggesting we shouldn’t be alert to danger and be as prepared as prudently possible.
Focus
But I am saying that to the extent that my mind is overwhelmed with fear and anxiety and dread over the possible future, it’s focused on the wrong things. And these days, it’s so easy to default to that focus. Been there, done that, lost the sleep.
Better to heed the Apostle’s counsel:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
— Philippians 4:8–9 (ESV)
In his comments on Zacharias’s praise after the birth of John the Baptist (can read it here), J.C. Ryle offers this timely advice:
Let us learn to rest on promises and embrace them as Zacharias did. Let us not doubt that every word of God about his people concerning future things shall be as surely fulfilled as every word about them has been fulfilled concerning things past. Their safety is secured by promise. The world, the flesh, and the devil shall never prevail against any believer. Their acquittal is secured by promise, as is their final glory. Let us be persuaded of these promises. Let us embrace them and not let them go. They will never fail us. God’s Word is never broken. He is not a man that he should lie. We have a seal on every promise Zacharias never saw. We have the seal of Christ’s blood to assure us that what God has promised God will perform.
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke, vol. 1, pp. 35-36
In 2070 (should the Lord tarry His return), when today’s twelve-year-olds reflect back on these times, what will they remember hearing from us?
Words of fear…or words of faith?
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