A Baby Boomer’s Birthday

Reflections of a baby boomer on how drastically the world has changed, with predictions about how it will change—for the better!

As I write this blog, it is May 26, 2011, my 57th birthday. Time is marching on. The world is changing faster than I can. I’m still not comfortable with the word blog, let alone familiar with iPods, iPads and 4G networks. I thought I could keep up when I learned to use a computer and relied on email, but alas, my 7-year-old granddaughter had to show me what a “Kindle” was.

Growing up in the ’60s

While my world is changing electronically faster than I can cope, it is also changing in lifestyle and culture in ways I do not want to accept. I grew up in the decade of the 1960s when we had the innocence of Mayberry and Gilligan’s Island. Much of America still held to her traditional values of “Mom and apple pie,” and you might actually feel safe even if you left your door unlocked.

That’s not to say we didn’t have tragedy. The decade of the ’60s was also marked by three major assassinations in the United States: President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unrest on college campuses over the Vietnam War culminated in the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State.

Something is different today

But those of my generation still know that something is different today. Biblical morality and Judeo-Christian values are now dismissed as old-fashioned ideas from which we need to be enlightened. Instead the focus is on a new postmodern way of looking at the world, a philosophy that is tolerant of all deviant lifestyles as long as you submit to the censorship of political correctness. It’s okay to call something “good” that used to be called “evil.” But don’t you dare call it “evil.”

Those who have eyes to see know that something is happening in our world that is plunging us headlong into a conflict of cultures. Nations, ethnic groups, religions and ideologies are in conflict, and the various systems cannot coexist despite the bumper stickers that call for it. Underlying all this is a continuing struggle for world domination—and survival.

Our only hope

There is a Book that predicted the world would come to a time like this. It’s been a best seller for hundreds of years. That Book is the Holy Bible. It predicts global conflict that threatens the existence of human life. It also predicts human depravity that will reach unprecedented levels before it is all brought to a sudden stop by an unexpected intervention. That intervention will be the triumphant return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Revelation 19:15 proclaims that in order to prevent humanity from self-destruction, Christ will “strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 adds that the result will be peace: “The government will be upon His shoulder. … Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.”

This intervention is the only hope for the rebirth of this dying world. Almighty God has an incredible plan for this earth and all of its inhabitants. He is not dead. He is not even asleep. He is orchestrating it all, and we need to be aware of His master plan.

A new birth

Yes, today may be my physical birthday, but I am looking forward to taking part in what the Bible describes as a future “new birth.” This time it will be a spiritual birth as part of God’s spiritual family.

One of the Fundamental Beliefs of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, speaks to the sure and certain hope of our incredible future:

“God’s purpose for human beings is to add them as children to His eternal family. While it is clear that eternal life is a gift from God, He expects His children to respond to His calling, develop righteous character by overcoming sin, and grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. When Christ returns to this earth, these faithful humans will be born as spirit beings into the family of God and will reign on earth as kings and priests with Christ.”

That promise of a new birth into eternal life helps make the celebration of my 57 years on earth in this life a little easier to enjoy. Life really hasn’t even begun yet!

Ron Kelley and his wife, Nancy, live in Mocksville, North Carolina, where he serves as the pastor for three congregations of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.