“Take a look around you boy, It’s bound to scare you boy.“
July 1965
July 1965 was a cool 75.5 degrees Fahrenheit U.S. wide, much milder than we see today in July. A month earlier on Gemini IV, astronaut Ed White became the first American to “walk in space.” The U.S. Civil Rights Movement continued to gain steam in America thanks to leaders such as Dr Martin Luther King and the Reverend Ralph Abernathy. A sympathetic President Lyndon Johnson had pushed the Voting Rights Act through Congress and it was passed–and applauded by liberals and moderates–in July. But in places like Selma and Montgomery, black folks continued to be mistreated. Just business as usual.
A routine traffic stop, in Watts, Los Angeles would occur only several weeks later. On a hot summer evening a white police officer would detain two black motorists. A scuffle would break out. The officer would call for back up as the crowd of bystanders would start to grow. It will take a week to calm things down, but by then, much of Watts will have been burned to the ground. The riot would claim 34 deaths with more than a thousand people injured and another 4,000 arrested.
Meanwhile, the Anti-War Movement was growing as more and more American teenage boys received their draft cards for their eighteenth birthday and more and more American teenage boys were being shipped to Vietnam (and much too often killed.) I was eighteen when I received my “1A” classification and twenty when my plane landed in Vietnam, but I survived. I wondered why? To lead this country to greatness? Big nope! To warn people of a demagogue seeking to run our nation into the ground? Perhaps.
On Thursday, July 15, 1965 a twenty-nine-year-old singer entered the Dunhill Records Studio Recording Studio in downtown Los Angeles. The singer was Barry McGuire and he was about to become a superstar in American music. He had just left the New Christy Minstrels looking for answers in life. This was the last day budgeted for his first solo album and members of the famous “Wrecking Crew” were waiting to back him up. Producer Lou Adler had just signed McGuire to do an album. The Crew had just enough time for one take of a song McGuire had been given on a crumpled-up piece of paper in his pocket. He pulled it out and the engineer began rolling the tape. McGuire kept losing his place as he sang the scribbled words to the song in his trademark graveled voice, and whenever this happened, he would say “Ah.” You can hear it to this day in the song. They just did not have the budget to rerecord it. Week later, “Eve of Destruction” would be the number one song on the charts!
Most Americans who grew up in the Fifties and Sixties know this song. However, many American born since 1965 know the song as well. It has been featured in various movies and is one of the anthems that define the Sixties. And one reason that the song is both relevant and popular today is because we’ve made so little progress on the central themes of the song. After all, the “eastern world” is still “exploding.” A sample of the words in just one stanza go:
“And think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it’s the same old place
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace.”
Sixteen years or so later, in Wichita Fall, TX, I studied the man I was having lunch with in a small cafe. Barry looked somewhat older, a little more rugged, but he seemed to glow with an inner light. In the time since he first recorded that song, he performed in the original Broadway cast of the musical “Hair,” and he had become a born-again Christian. But Wichita Falls is a long way from Broadway. [Caesura.] The waitress approaches to take our order. He orders a coffee with cream. To be polite, I order the same.
We start talking about music again, and I try to think of questions that he hasn’t been asked a thousand times. I’m not actually interviewing him; we’re just killing time until some other people he’s billed with arrive in town for the evening performance. The waitress brings us our coffee. He picks up the little plastic container on the coffee saucer and studies it for a moment before commenting to the waitress “Hi. Ah.” He squints at the fine print on the little container. “This package has Dipotassium phosphate, Sodium aluminosilicate, Salt, Sucralose, water and Sodium stearoyl lactylate. All I really wanted was a little cream.” She excuses herself and I’m not sure we saw her again.
Later in life, Barry toured and worked with other Christian musicians as well as members of The Byrds, another famous sixties rock group. He and his wife, Marie divide their time between his home in the U.S. and New Zealand. Barry is 89 years old.
>>2025
What has happened in the sixty years since 1965? One hundred thousand more American killed in Vietnam, and many more later Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, the riots across the country when Dr. King was murdered and then again, the Rodney King riots. Then the Ferguson, MO riots of 2015, and the George Floyd riots of 2020. There was the Stonewall riot which affected the LGBTQ community. Also, the deadly 9/11 attacks and the deadly attack on the U.S. Capital on January 6, 2021 by rioting insurrectionists recently rebranded as patriots and heroes and pardoned by President Trump.
Today, the Ku Klux Klan is stirring again. Klan flyers under the name “Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” are showing up across Indianna and Tennessee at this moment demanding immigrants leave before they are deported, and soliciting information on people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Rallies and marches are also being planned. Meanwhile the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are celebrating the release of their members from jail. These are the groups that “stand down and stand by” waiting for orders from their Commander-in-Chief.
FASCISM IN THE USA
We are witnessing the rise of fascism in America. And it’s just one small step from banning holidays to banning books. At some point there will be a Reichstag moment. A Reichstag moment is a reference to the burning of the German parliament building on February 27, 1933 which was blamed on Jews and Communists, but more than likely set by loyalists to Adolph Hitler under the auspices of Hermann Goering. This fire was the pretense Hitler needed to declare a state of emergency in Germany and seize dictatorial powers. Will our leader’s minions do anything less? They will find a pretense for President Trump to use to declare a national emergency and flood our cities with armed soldiers. Martial law will be declared. Your rights under the Constitution including and especially habeas corpus will be suspended (perhaps permanently.) Still think it can’t happen here?
For President Trump to accomplish his personal agenda, he must suspend democracy and the U.S. Constitution, and as a political science major, I expect this to occur sometime this year or next, especially if it looks like the Republicans will lose control of one or both houses of Congress in 2026. Plato would tell us that once we cross the threshold from democracy to tyranny, we can never go back. And Plato was certain it was inevitable.
In the meantime, expect a reduction in rank and perhaps a court martial of retired USA General Mark Milley. Our leader hates him and is driven by jealously over the popularity and respect given to this distinguished officer who put country first in his heart. Our leader will make an example out of him even as he brags about how he has restored greatness to America.
THE COLLAPSE OF THE WEST
The spirit of fascism is also spreading to Hungary, France, Germany and Italy. Loyal friends and allies who once loved and admired America (like the tiny country of Denmark) now are starting to hate and fear us as the enemy. They wonder why we would treat them this way. Why we would threaten to steal their land? Canada likely as well. Europe is sending military forces to defend Greenland from any threat (including from the U.S.) Putin no doubt enjoys this theater and is planning his next conquest, using President Trump’s playbook. If our leader opens the door to invading another country, Putin would be foolish to pass on an opportunity like that. Plus, it’s just common sense; President Trump is making America great again and President Putin is making Russia great again. One hand washes the other. So, our foreign relations are a mess, and I doubt Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be permitted to fix it. Leaving the Senate was a really bad career move for him.
Probably our nation will be bankrupt before we see any war. Trump needs hundreds of billions of dollars to cover continued tax breaks for his mega-wealthy friends (many of whom were seated behind him in the Capital for his inauguration.) Then, he needs hundreds of billions of dollars more to rid our country of undocumented immigrants, enlarge Guantanomo by a factor of ten, purge our culture of any nonsense about diversity, equity or inclusion and dismantle or slash entitlement programs. And did I mention his Iron Dome? He wants tens of trillions of dollars to build an anti-missle system to protect the U.S. from hypersonic missiles. Like Israel has. Except their system cannot intercept hypersonic missiles in a country the size of New Jersey. From where will this money come?
REIMAGINING ARMAGEDDON
Are we close to Armageddon and the Second Coming? There are several replies I can offer. “Yes!” “No!” and “I don’t know.” And neither does anyone else, by the way. I do know that we’re headed in the direction of Armageddon, in terms of warfare, the falling away of Christians from the True Faith as they place their trust in he who sees himself as God’s chosen one, to wit:
“Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.” (Applause.)
For the record, Deena and I were not applauding when we heard that gratuitous remark. Nor were any of the former Presidents on the stage applauding.
WHAT MIGHT COME NEXT?
One of the things I find troubling about the Biblical prophecies concerning the end days is that the U.S. is absent. A thunderous silence as Shakespeare would call it. We are neither among the good guys nor the bad guys. Europe is there at Armageddon. Asia is there, but North America? Nope! A no-show. Maybe we will have been defanged long before then. Or, we foolishly adopted an isolationist policy and decided to let Israel go it alone?
Don’t believe people today who claim to have a personal revelation about when the Tribulation will happen. Over the centuries many have made predictions based on dreams they had, or secret codes they claimed to have discovered. If Jesus, Himself said He didn’t know when he’d return, then how would I or anyone else know?! But Jesus did tell us to watch for the signs for the end and more importantly, to prepare for it. Luther said that if you died tonight, you’d meet Jesus just as sure as you would when he appears back on earth, so don’t put this off. I’ve written in other posts about the Second Coming, the Rapture, and Armageddon.
That nuclear weapons will be involved is certainly a possibility based on a prophecy in Zechariah, Chapter 14:12-13
“And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”
If that doesn’t sound like the people living in Hiroshima experienced, then I don’t know what else it could be. However, as Russia build more and more nukes to shoot at Europe and America, that does not necessarily mean that end is near. There could be five thousand more years before Armageddon occurs and half a dozen nuclear wars before then. But again as Luther reminds us, we need to prepare now.
One of the hot commodities at this moment are bug out bags (sometimes called go-bags.) They are selling like hotcakes. Yesterday, in upstate NY, the FBI concluded a large exercise to prepare for a nuclear attack (“incident,” if you wish”) on an American city. As the FBI press release noted:
“The exercise is an opportunity for participating entities to practice and enhance operational readiness to respond in the event of a nuclear incident in the United States or overseas.
Due to the sensitive nature of the capabilities being implemented, the training activities are not open to the public or media.”
You can read about it here.
Everyone buys insurance. We buy hurricane insurance months before hurricane season begins. I’ve purchased floor insurance even when I didn’t live in a flood zone. As a teacher, I would scope out a new classroom before my class arrived. Where could my students hide and not be seen from the door? Does the door open in or open out? What is the emergency escape route and so on. I’ve never need to apply this knowledge, but it is only prudent to take precautions.
So, if you could know that Jesus won’t return until 2050, what would you do? Let out a deep breath, a sigh of relief and think to yourself “I have twenty-five more years to prepare?” I would than little voice in your head whisper “But what if . . .?” Indeed, what if?
In Genesis, God says His Spirit will not always strive with man. If you want God to keep you from stuffing Skoal into your mouth, He’ll likely help you fight that (disgusting) temptation. But if you fight and resist the Holy Spirit’s leading, eventually you won’t sense His presence anymore. Everyone I’ve met will admit to feeling guilty about the first time they ever lied to someone. But do people who lie dozens of times a day over the years still feel guilty? Probably not.
The Bible says that today is the day you can find God. This very moment. Don’t put it off.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: P. F. SloanEve Of Destruction lyrics © Universal Music Corp.
