My heart is so heavy when I see the divide in our country over the elections, especially with the Super Tuesday primary just happening. It reminds me so much of the 60s with the Hippie movement coming against the establishment of government and religion because of disillusionment. I remember a little bit about the 60's as I was born in 1960, the deeper issues of that movement were kind of hazy as I was so young. I read about it later when I got older and understood what was going on.
When I was kid I remember the songs like, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"and "Born Free". I remember singing Born Free, in 5th grade with some other girls in class. One girl played the piano and the rest of us sang. We would practice during our lunch hour and we performed it for the class. I remember feeling so hip and cool as the words rolled off my tongue:
"Born free, as free as the wind blows, As free as the grass grows, Born free to follow your heart, Live free and beauty surrounds you, The world still astounds you, Each time you look at a star. Stay free where no walls divide you, You're free as the roaring tide, So there's no need to hide, Born free and life is worth living, But only worth living, 'Cause you're born free, Stay free, where no walls divide you, You're free as the roaring tide, So there's no need to hide, Born free and life is worth living, But only worth living, 'Cause you're born free. Here is the link to the tune on You Tube: https://youtu.be/d6c70hPa8iU
Born Free was a song composed for a movie and ended up winning an Oscar for best song that year, in 1966. It was written for a story of a lion being raised by humans and then let go free, back to the wild where she belonged. It became really popular during the era of the 60's and early 70's as it resonated the feelings of the young people then.
Another song that I remember quite well was the Coca Cola song. I can remember singing that, many times. It went like this: "I'd like to build the world a home, And furnish it with love, Grow apple trees and honey bees, And snow white turtle doves, I'd like to teach the world to sing, In perfect harmony, I'd like to hold it in my arms, And keep it company, I'd like to see the world for once, All standing hand in hand, And hear them echo through the hills, For peace throughout the land, That's the song I hear, Let the world sing today, A song of peace, That echoes on, And never goes away, I'd like to teach the world to sing, In perfect harmony. Here is the you tube link to the song: https://youtu.be/7ytm856qh64
I found this interesting story about the coke song: The song first aired in July 1971 and featured a multicultural group of young people lip syncing the song on a hill outside Rome, Italy. The global unity of the singers is emphasized by showing that the bottles of Coke they are holding are labeled in a variety of languages. It became so popular that it was recorded by a number of recording artists and it became a big hit.
Thinking of these songs made me think of the idealism of that era. The desire for world peace and everybody loving each other and getting along, all different cultures being compatible and happy together. It was an idealism that longed for a Utopia but it was ignoring the curse upon the Earth because of sin and separation from God. That type of Utopia could only be possible when Jesus returns and sets all things right. Being a follower of Christ in this broken world that we live in, we desire the world to be set right when Christ comes, but until then we have to accept that there is evil. Men are not innately good and we need to protect ourselves through government, military, police and laws. Countries have to have borders and leaders to help protect the people physically and economically. Christ taught his followers to pay their taxes, work hard, be a good citizen and pray for the leaders of their country. He said the soldiers (which were the policemen of Rome) are the servants of God. They keep back chaos and protect the innocent people from the criminals.
The people in our country, that were not true followers of Christ, felt that they could promote all these ideals of globalism and all cultures getting along by legislation and government practices. It was like over time, the Hippies and their ideals to a certain extent, rose to power in our country. During the Hippie movement they were rebelling against the straight laced, religious people that were highly patriotic and were in control and yet dysfunctional in many ways. They didn't like the strong authoritarian figures. This too became accepted in our culture over time. So Christianity and patriotism came under attack by those in political power. No more saying the pledge to the Flag in School, no more prayer in public school and no more displaying of the Ten Commandments or other Christian symbols. The Christian and the patriot were portrayed as over bearing and not applicable to the culture of today.
Now I see this scenario has flipped. The liberal, permissive, everybody get along and get a handout came into control but they were weak in protection of the people physically and economically. They were great for all the social programs and accepting of all the races but they were ignoring the great big giant debt they were accruing from their "big hearts" and "benevolent acts" to others in our country and outside our country. The social ills of delinquent youth because of the crumbling of the traditional families, high divorce rates, low social accountability, bringing acceptance of sexual immorality and selfishness fueling abortion and raising children in dysfunction, has cost our country a lot of money. Prisons began to fill, and social programs began to multiply for troubled kids and mother's without a husband and father for the kids. This meant the government stepped in financially to help them out. Also the idea of trying to feed the world and the pressure it has put on production of food has damaged our farm land and made them fail ecologically. The honey bees are disappearing in our land because of these practices. The pressure on the animals and all the hormones and cheaper animal husbandry going on has hurt us physically bringing a whole host of diseases upon us. All the taxes on big companies to fund the government and its programs, and the restrictions on businesses for the environment, have driven them overseas and this taking away our jobs. Now the people are suffering economically as well as physically. We began to realize that we can't keep going like this. Something had to change.
The feeling of a need to change and go back to more traditional values of protecting our country, getting away from all the globalism expense, and becoming more conservative on how we view the family and moral behavior was brewing deeply in the people's heart. They just needed a leader to rally them. The leader did not make them feel the way they did, he would just be a voice for them. They were tired of all the rhetoric of the people in control, they wanted to make a statement of how they felt. Just like the Hippies did with all the growing of their hair long, going bare foot, free love, not getting a job and dabbling in all kinds of drugs and religions of the East to make a statement of the their stand against materialism, the governmental establishment, social caste systems and the organized Christian religions of our country. The Hippies' practices were not what Christ taught, they were not doing the "right thing" in the eyes of the Lord, but their hearts were crying out. The movement they were in was sparked by the senseless dying in the Vietnam War. They wanted to see genuine love and acceptance, stop all the social pressure and control to perform and for there to be peace.
The movement today that we are seeing was sparked by the fear of senseless dying at the hands of radical Islamic terrorists because of lack of protection on the government's part. The agenda of the government in the 60's to fight the Vietnam War was killing Americans needlessly. They were involved in a civil war they couldn't win. The agenda of the government today fighting in Iraq, involving themselves in a civil war that they could not win and awakening the nemesis of ISIS has sparked this movement in America today. No these people are not growing their hair long, going bare foot and not getting a job. Many of these people can not find a job and they are tired of all the fancy, nice talk and they want action. They find it refreshing if someone is brutally honest, even if it is not nice. They have a high mistrust of the organizations of politicians and donors. So they are drawn to an outsider. There is a lot of mistrust of the religious sounding politicians of the past who said a bunch of stuff and delivered very little. So if there is some swear words and not nice things said in the leader's speeches and comments, it bolsters the feeling they have, of mistrust of someone saying all the right things but not producing much. Is swearing and saying not nice things, the "right thing" to do in the eyes of the Lord. Well, of course not. But it is an indication of hearts who are crying out.
What are these hearts crying out for? They want to see genuine concern and love by doing and not just saying. Show some personal sacrifice, not just a token one. Doing something where you won't get a big financial gain out of it. They are crying out for someone to do things that could ruin their own reputation for the sake of the cause. They want someone to care about the common man and care about how they are protected and provided for.
How were the Hippies treated and looked at by the establishment of the 60's and the organized churches of the day? They were despised, called names, looked down on. They said they were going to destroy society. So they told people not to associate with them. They also told them to cut their hair and get a job. They basically were looked at like they were scum. How are these people, the Trumpies, treated and talked about by the establishment today. They call them backward, uneducated, radicals, racists, Nazi's, rude, liars and unChristian. They tell people that Trumpies are going to destroy our society and nothing good is going to come from them.
The Jesus Movement of the late 60's and early 70's started because people began to truly love the Hippies, that seemingly were unloveable. They began to understand what their hearts were crying out for and they changed the face of organized church practices. In the Jesus Movement, they were accepted just as they were. You could come to church dressed any ole' way you wanted to. Thus the song, "Little country church on the edge of town...long hair, short hair, some coasts and ties. People finally comin' around (meaning not just coming to church, but actually changing and seeing the truth)." The hallmarks of the Jesus Movement was the love of Jesus being no respector of person, letting go of material things and sharing things in common. Going back to basics of sharing and writing songs and reading straight through the Bible. This movement spread through out the whole country and changed how Christianity was practiced to this day.
Now what about this new movement? What is their heart cry? They are tired of all the talk about the right things to do and desire to see action. They want to see that people would tell them the truth, love them and be involved with them without financial gain ever. They are tired of all the programs and token sacrifices. They want to see things happen. We have already seen the young in our nation, the Millennials, begin to vacate the organized religions. In our part of the country about 33% say they believe there is a God but have no religious affiliation and do not go to "church". The established churches, run in the traditional way, of paid staff and buildings, programs, and evangelical outreachs and benevolent outreaches like food pantries and free meals, say that the next great revival will start with them. But in order to change to answer the heart cry of this movement and have no financial need and ties, they would have to change their whole world. To speak the whole truth of Jesus's words (being truthful in all things even the difficult truths) would mean they would suffer rejection and financial ruin. This means a grass roots spiritual movement will need to happen.
When people humble themselves and follow Christ Words they will have the oil in their lamps, they will have power without financial gain of any sort.
We are excited to see this movement of Trumpies, these are hearts ripe for revival, not to be scooped up into the status quo, but start a fresh work of the Lord. They may suffer rejection and persecution from the religious community who want to stick to the old pattern, the way things have been done for centuries. There is always persecution when there is a reformation.
"Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts." Zechariah 4:6