This Changing World We Live In

By: Terri Collins

Growing up in the 60's and 70's was so much easier than living in this day and time. As an older woman, who is a mother and a grandmother, I often feel overwhelmed and concerned for my grandchildren's future. Life seemed so simple in my childhood, not easy, but simple.  Today, everything is so advanced. Technology, educational expectations and standards, cost of living, politics, and the progression of freedom of speech has vastly changed the world we live in today. Maybe I am a bit pessimistic, but it is quite scary for me to think about what the world will be like in the years to come.

To go ahead and set the record straight, I will say that I do believe in God and His son, Jesus Christ. I do believe in the Holy Bible and it's teachings.  Although I do like the show, 'The Big Bang Theory', I do not believe in evolution in the sense that there was just a big bang and voila, life was created. I believe that if there was a big bang, then it was God who was behind that big bang. 

With all of that being said, I will tell you that I often think about how everything has evolved over

time.  In my earliest memories of life, I remember only having black & white TV,  I remember the rotary dial phone and then the push button princess phones.  There were no computers until I was in high school, and there were no cell phones until I was in my thirties. The computers we first had, when I was in high school, were no comparison to the computers we have today.  In high school, I remember my computer class was called, "data entry".  The computers were HUGE, big tall machines where you used punch cards to record the data that you entered on the key board. I am sure that I'm not alone with these memories, and so I will not get carried away in writing about all of the technical changes our world has experienced. Instead I will focus, more like vent, about the changes that have evolved in society and people's behaviors.  These issues always weigh heavy on my heart.

In my heart and soul, I believe that most people are good and that in the end good will conquer evil. My fear is of what I know that God's people will have to endure before that end comes. Not only do I fear what my children, who are in their thirties, will have to endure but I am particularly concerned about what my grandchildren will experience in their futures. 

My husband watches national news everyday, for hours on end. Because watching national news causes an eruption of various emotions in me, I watch a little here and a little there. Between social media and national news I am learning more than I want to learn about current politics and current social behaviors.

I vaguely remember the "flower child" movement in the 60's, or at most the rumors of the movement. Never in my life of fifty-something years have I ever witnessed movements and behaviors such as those taking place today.

Backing up to about a year before Donald Trump was elected president, there were some students on our local college campus who decided to protest based on their ideas of the black race being oppressed in America. To make their point, they along with their leader who I will not name in this post, decided to demonstrate their hate for America and all whites by walking on the American flag. Not only did they desecrate the American flag, but they also burned a Bible. There was an explosion of anger among all races throughout the nation. The administration and staff of the college campus caught the wrath, over these events from angry Americans and veterans, not because they had anything to do with it, but because they were not allowed to stop the protest because of the First Amendment.   Because the students who participated in this deplorable act were protected by their rights to their Freedom of Speech, they did not receive any consequences for their actions. The entire college campus; administration, staff, faculty, law enforcement, and other students are the ones who paid for the hate group's actions through thousands of volatile phone calls and emails.   The leader of the group was recorded and broadcasted in many sessions expressing hate speech stating that it was time for all whites to die. He was dredging up the past slavery days that our ancestors were involved in and stating that all whites deserved to die right then and there. Again, he was protected by the First Amendment.  This person stirred up other hate groups and it just seemed from there that it escalated  and has continued all over the country.  The leader of this hate group was eventually arrested for bringing a gun on the school campus.  This particular story is a very long story that carried out for weeks causing this community to be fearful of what was going to happen, causing law enforcement presence to be increased and school campuses to have to shut down for a day or two at a time. This entire story would take an independent post to cover all of the incidents that occurred. So, I may write about that another time.

Moving on, even before the election we were hearing more and more about heightened acts of violence, riots, protests and hate crimes being committed.  Not only do we have ISIS to be concerned about, some of our own citizens present threats to us of certain races and Christianity as well.

From what I know, past movements such as the "Peace, love...flower child" movements were not as threatening as the movements we are witnessing today. In the past, we did not see children involved in expressing so much hate and such utter disrespect for authority. This is frightening to me, especially for my grandchildren.  Because children today are being taught that it is okay to be aggressive and to express their learned behaviors of hate, I am concerned that this is not going to change for the better. I fear that we will see this escalate in the years to come. It seems to me that some Americans are gradually destroying America.

Today's society, particularly the young, seems to be plagued with the strongest sense of entitlement that I have ever seen or heard of in my life. It seems that there are large groups of people who will not have it any other way than to demand and receive 'instant gratification" and "having it their own way".  I feel for teachers, I feel for the well behaved children who are stuck in the middle of the good verses evil in most magnified ways that I have ever seen.

This changing world we live in is, to say the least, becoming a disheartening and frightening place to live, and I am afraid it is only going to get worse. It is my belief, and my testimony that everyone of us needs to get on our knees and pray daily. We need to pray for our own salvation and the salvation of others as well as our country.   For any doubters or non-believers reading this post, I pray for you now and I recommend that you read the Book of Revelations. Once you read Revelations, if you read it with an open mind, you won't be able to deny that this world is changing and heading to doom just as the Bible professes that it will.

I intend to blog more about this topic in the weeks to come....so, please visit again.