The title words are but the latest “buzz” words that are running around the Christian Community. Fueled by television, movies and books many preachers are capitalizing on the excitement
these words seem to cause.
A quick Internet search will reveal that “The Last Generation” is the title of a movie that was made in 1971 and then was remade this year. It was also part of the title of a television science fiction show, “Star Trek; The Last Generation”. In addition it is the title of quite a few books that include a story about the survivors of Hiroshima, a book by a lesbian activist, a book about young men from Virginia during the Revolutionary War and a book about a WWII pilot, among others. It is also the name of a Christian rock band.
No wonder it’s popular in the Church … the world has been using it to capture people’s imaginations for a long time. It would appear that preachers and prophets are just now getting on what has been a fairly successful bandwagon.
IS IT FOR REAL?
Are we really living in the time of the “last generation”? The question is sincere since, if it really is the “last generation”, there will be no more after it.
The implications are tremendous, for if this really is the "last"
generation, a great burden rests on those who know to inform those who don't.
It also carries great social and political implications. This is the stuff
that revolutions are made of, if you will but think it through.
There is a problem though. The concept that this group of people
is actually the “last generation” may be going down the toilet, since many of the “last generation” are now beginning to have children of their own!
If they are the “last generation” they should not be doing that, since there are no generations after the “last” one. Maybe they should have been called “the next-to-the-last generation”? Or “the 4th from the last generation”? Or “the 43rd …” ….. Well, you see where this goes I hope.
HISTORY
The Church is as undiscerning as the rest of humanity in that it never seems to look to its history and learn from it. The idea that “we are the last generation” is not a new one in the Church. It has been around for several thousand years and various prophets, preachers or priests have from time to time proclaimed it to be THE END. It wasn’t – obviously. But it has not deterred other True Believers who felt they had The Word on when God was going wrap things up.
There were more than a few in the first thousand years of the Church who proclaimed that the End Had Come. New Year’s Eve 999 saw St. Peter’s Basilica crowded with people who, at the end of the first thousand years of the Church expected THE END. The year 1000 dawned and life went on.
Over the years groups such as the Anabaptists proclaimed various dates for the
End of the World. Some really were “last generation” believers in that they gave up their lives fighting to convert a generation that didn’t believe them. In a sense, they were the “last generation” in that their lives came to an end. But life
on earth continued, howbeit, without them. And truthfully, not too many
people noticed.
Right on up to our present day various groups continued to call for the end of the world. What is amazing is that even when it didn’t happen on the dates that were prophesied, the religious groups continued on. The 7th Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are just two of many who come to mind.
That should give some indication of exactly how dedicated the True Believers are. By
the way, "date setters" are not limited to fringe groups of
Christianity.
TODAY
The arrogance of some today is astounding. They act as if we have never been here before, that somehow faith is smaller, the Light is dimmer, the world more sinful and that this HAS to be “the last days”.
They forget a thousand years of Dark Ages. There surely was not much Light then!
FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!! If God was looking for time on the earth when there was hardly any faith, He missed it.
They forget the horrors of the concentration camps of World War II. Sin surely was ruling
at least for a time during that period of world history. It seems that the atrocities of
Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and many other
anti-christ types who killed whole populations, decimated Churches, and generally acted out satanic
fantasies are forgotten. Why? Because it did not impact directly
those who believe that THIS generation is "IT". If they didn't
live it or experience it then it does not have much meaning to them. They are
the religious embodiment of the "me" generation.
That’s the problem of interpreting Scripture by today’s headlines. We forget where we have been, what our Fathers have done and where we came from. It’s almost a pride thing, that somehow WE are more important that those who have gone before. Those who suffered, bled, died, sacrificed, so that we could have the freedom and liberty that we have
today are forgotten or dismissed far too casually. The past is too much taken for granted and our own importance in the Grand Scheme of Things is too much inflated.
TIME
Time is the Great Discerner. For a doctrine to stand the test of time, much time has to pass. The
latest incarnation of the teaching that this is “the last generation” is just now beginning to hit the “time test”. Time will tell. From the way these kids are having babies, it don’t look good for it.
The sad part of the story is that those who push “the last generation” stuff rarely are called to account for their
errors, insuring that it will be repeated within a few years.