Dateline: 26 April 2016
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| The fictional Almonzo & Laura Wilder. |
"When Farmer Boy, Almonzo Wilder, was being raised in Upstate New York, on the farm, or prairie girl, Laura Ingalls, was raised out in The Little House on the Prairie, there were no gay and lesbian networks in the one-room school houses in New York State. They didn't know about transgendered kids and I'll bet they didn't own iPads. They didn't have teen idols. They worked side by side with their parents every day throughout the year. 80% of the teenage boys were not addicted to pornography. There was no Internet. No television. No movie theaters. No sex education classes in the high school, abstinence or otherwise. There were no Plan-B pills for the sexually active 15-year-old girls. Abortifacients were only known in the dens of the prostitutes in the large cities. Almonzo Wilder and Little-House-on-the-Prairie-Laura had never met a teenage girl with anorexia. Not a single child in their neighborhood was placed on prescription psychotrophic drugs. Illegitimacy existed in some of the larger cities— 1% but it was almost unheard of in the small towns. Popular songs would not make even a single mention of the F-word in the 1880s. Katy Perry wasn't encouraging 14-year-old girls to lesbianism and EM&EM wasn't referring to his mother as a female dog. The most popular song in the 1880s was My Grandfather's Clock...
So that's the way things were 120 years ago. Now, I have simply one question for you all. Do we live in an insane asylum, or what? Has this entire society gone more or less insane? That's my question. Yes or no?"
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"At one time there were social restraints to keep things from getting as bad as they possibly could. We're there now...we're as bad as we possibly could be as a society. Friends, we're looking at the entire destruction of sexuality—the entire destruction of entire civilization."
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The above quotes are from Kevin Swanson on today's broadcast of Generations Radio. You can listen to the whole 1/2 hour show at this link: Disney Turns Snow White into a Lesbian.
Kevin makes the point that cultures are not changed by politics, they are changed by media and educational inputs. An hour of Sunday School once a week doesn't have the moral persuasion over children like many hours of media and government-school indoctrination.
I'd say that we are all being scientifically manipulated by the media. But of course, children are the most vulnerable targets. The power of media to change culture is discussed in Kevin Swanson's provocatively-titled book, The Tattooed 'Jesus.'
The nice thing about Kevin Swanson is that he doesn't just point out how bad things are. He also offers solutions. Biblical solutions. These solutions begin with individuals and families. I encourage you to listen to today's show.
Moral relativism always leads to destruction—personally and nationally. Barring a true revival in America (a nationwide re-embracing of God's transcendent standards of morality), this country is destined to fall, as have so many proud civilizations before us. I'm inclined to think our time is short.
But God always preserves a remnant of his people. I'll have more to say about this subject someday soon.
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| The real Laura and Almonzo Wilder in 1942 |
Yup. Sounds true. Guard your kids, your wife, your family. Keep watch and your powder dry. God help us all. And just because others think you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. Your blogs are spot on...a finger on the pulse of our nation. Let us all pray for God's mercy and Kingdom to come.
ReplyDeleteThough I know according to scriptures things are headed to the tribulation on a particular trajectory (a pre-trib viewpoint). However, because we have limited description of antediluvian life, I think we often underestimate just how bad life on Earth was up to the point that God had enough and destroyed it all with a flood. I know we're headed to the destruction of heaven and earth by fire, but I wonder just how different we are from that homosexual, idol-worshiping decadent society that watched Noah build an ark. Thoughts to ponder, but not despair because I have a hope in Jesus Christ that is assured.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1880s, people traveled for miles around to lynch a negro, and were occasionally quite proud to take home a body part as a souvenir.
ReplyDeleteUnknown—
ReplyDeleteWhat's the point of writing that?
It's important to be realistic about our times and theirs. 21st century America has become frighteningly sexualized, and that's bad.
DeleteBut it's just not the case that things used to be good and now they're bad.
Some people had wonderful lives in the 1880s, close to Good and close to the land.
Other people got lynched. Or died of diarrhea. Or lost a limb in a factory and then starved when they couldn't work.
Likewise today, some people look at hundreds of naked women before they get out of bed in the morning, and other people do their duty to their family, their community, and the Lord. They have peace and they spread peace.
Simplifying the situation down to, "things used to be good; now they're bad", that's so simple that it's wrong. It erodes your credibility. It might serve to motivate some readers, but others are going see it as intellectual dishonesty and quit listening.
I appreciate your writing, and I hope this comes across as helpful like I intend it to!
In the 1880s, people traveled for miles around to lynch a negro, and were occasionally quite proud to take home a body part as a souvenir.
ReplyDeleteWarning, graphic:
http://danielsilliman.blogspot.com/2014/07/sam-hoses-christian-america.html
Thanks for the clarification. But you missed my point. It isn't that things used to be good and that they are now bad. I've never believed that. My point is that things used to be better and now they're worse. Much worse.
ReplyDeleteThings are worse because our civilization no longer seems to understand (or care about, or respect) the difference between right and wrong, or good and evil. That which was once understood to be wrong is now celebrated and promoted as right. This is relatively new in America at large.
Your link is a sad story but the author appears to be using it to condemn Christians and Christianity. One could just as easily write a blog post about how it was Christians motivated by their Christian beliefs who brought an end to the evils of human slavery in the Western world. Or that Christians motivated by their faith have established orphanages and hospitals down through history. It is intellectually dishonest at best to take extreme examples of Christian hypocrisy and use them to disparage Christianity.
I've said here in the past that if anyone judges Christianity by anything other than the life and words of Jesus Christ, they are making a serious mistake.
I think that America being a Christian nation was more about the widespread recognition and codification of a moral code of behavior than it was about the actions of it's citizens. The foundation for American law and order was based on Christian morality. This foundation is being jettisoned.
In a nutshell, the example you provide of a brutal lynching is an aberration. In no way does it illustrate that things were just as bad in the old days as they are today.
By the way, years ago I watched a movie showing a group of blacks in South Africa stone another black man senseless, then "necklace" him with a tire filled with gasoline and light it. That is similar to what happened to the man in the link you provide. No true Christian would delight in seeing or taking part in such a thing.
First I want to thank you for pointing out Generations With Vision and Kevin Swanson. You mentioned him at least a year ago, and I have been listening ever since. In fact, his website is one of the home pages on my internet browser. I usually download and save the podcast before I leave for work in the morning and listen to it before I go to bed at night.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 24:33-38 and Luke 17:25-26 is what comes to my mind. I have no idea what it was like in Noah's time, but I guess we are going to find out. I have no idea when the Prophecies in Revelations will happen. All I am certain is that they will come true and probably within my lifetime. I just can't believe how fast this is all unfolding. It doesn't take much imagination at all to be able to understand the book of Revelations anymore.
RonC
Read this the other day. I'm not big on conspiracy theories, however with more and more evidence pointing to the deliberate destruction of our culture I have come to doubt the idea that we arrived where we are by accident or ignorance. The article I'm linking is a horrifying read and rings true in my experience. My mother embraced radical feminism in the early 70's and promptly divorced my father, it took decades for our family to recover and we still bear the scars..http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/240037/marxist-feminisms-ruined-lives-mallory-millett
ReplyDeleteI know it's bad, but maybe you're forgetting the times in the middle, or "dark" ages. We are not yet as bad as the times were then.
ReplyDeleteThe "remnant" in Noah's time was only eight people of millions (many say "millions," anyway). When I look around in the church gathering on Sunday morning and try to imagine only eight people from that group, it's still too few. Eight. The thing is, be the one Noah or the one Gibeon or the one (he felt like it anyway) - Elijah. Even when family turn away from God, or close friends do, don't let it happen to *you* -- whoever is reading. Thank you for this post, Herrick. It's a real eye-opener.
In one of her books, there was a story of violence, when a jealous wife who went crazy living in the harsh west tried to kill Laura, and one frightful time for Laura when a good friend wanted to buy her baby. Times weren't perfect, but so so much better.
To respond to unkown above - The lynchings you speak of were horrible. But today we have our own "lynchings" how about the Rancher killed in the standoff in Oregon? Manipulation has replaced lynchings i think. Its like a chess game now, you have to be really really smart these days to survive the evil and raise your family. TPTB know not to outright "lynch" people now, that would cause an uprising. The boiling frog concept and Cloward Pliven Strategy works much better than lynching.
ReplyDeleteIt's so very difficult to look at the past with our 21st century eyes and brains.
ReplyDeleteI worked for an organization that manages the care of developmentally disabled children and adults in the community (both helping parents as well as community members who "foster" these vulnerable adults). That in itself is a huge leap forward, in my opinion, then how that population was treated 120 years ago. But that is not my point.
This organization would gather us yearly and celebrate their staff and congratulate themselves on their good works but also ridicule how people were treated by "professionals" 100 or even 30 years ago, when they closed all the state institutions. They called those caregivers "barbarians" and I so desperately wanted to point out that at the time, that was cutting edge care of that difficult population. And someday, very likely, another group of "professionals" will ridicule how we cared for these people today. But I never said anything....I would have been wasting my breath.
Don't misunderstand me, I believe our society is close to rock bottom and in dire need of some "fixing" but in some areas we have made great gains. In others we have lost it all.
I don't have the answers but I do know that anyone seeking political office, seeking power... should NEVER be given that power.
I believe that everything that "goes on" today that we find reprehensible went on 120 years ago...they just hid it better back then and didn't celebrate it like they do now. And likely, as you said, was not as prevelant.
Also, sex wasn't a big deal because every one either lived on a farm or had livestock. Procreation was an everyday fact. AND people were MARRIED at age 16...no prolonged adolescence. The business of life was shelter, food and warmth, not video games porn and recreational drugs.
Just my two cents. Hope it makes sense, if not at least a salient point.
Pam
Though I'm sure most will consider it a stretch, I'd chalk much of the woes of the last century up to our discovery of oil and the industrialization of our society. A few supporting points for thought...
ReplyDelete1) Before oil, people weren't typically able to travel long distances; even within cities, people stayed in their neighborhood and interacted with relatively small number of people they knew personally, rather than the anonymity we have today (where neighbors often don't even know eachother). Oil, and the nonchalant attitudes towards travel, is exactly what enabled this.
2) In a small community, you're thinking of your grandmother, or your friend's grandmother, or what everyone you know will think of you if you use profanity or otherwise offend people. That's what kept the world civil. Commenting as an anonymous user on an internet blog on the otherhand... 8^)
3) Mass media and the associated societal manipulation, massive wealth concentration, and a number of other ills are simply not possible in a low-energy world where transportation and communication are orders of magnitudes more expensive. Once again, return to live within our solar energy budget (like all but the last 10 generations or so) is a return to a society and community in which humans function far better than we do currently.
Now it's fair. Recall how often as a child you (or any other child) spouted, "That's not fair," to which the only and constant response was, "Life's not fair." In order to make everything "fair" for every person, natural balance is omitted.
ReplyDelete