Just the other day, January 20, 2023, to be exact, I turned 75, i.e., the day that marked ¾ of a century of existence on Planet Earth. If you’ve done your math, you’ve figured out that I was born approximately four weeks into the new year of 1948, just 2 ½ years after the end of World War II. And, yes, this absolutely means that I am one of the earlier Baby Boomers, the generation that, having been spoiled by the ‘greatest generation’ (there were exceptions, of course) has the notoriety of bombarding society with overtly narcissistic and sensuous behavior, acted out to a large degree under the influence of the ever more brazen lyrics put to increasingly suggestive rhythms of rock music, reaching its crescendo in the volatile year of 1968, as domestic unrest kept pace with the fighting in Vietnam that had escalated to its highest level. If there is one factor that outweighs anything else that could be given for a reason for the shocking behavior of the teenagers of my generation that was basically a war on our culture, I would attribute it to rock music (of which I would readily agree there was the good, the bad, and the ugly.)

However, there’s another factor to take into account: the ‘free love’ generation was really seeking love and acceptance because it was not being found at home. I am not laying the blame at the feet of our parents for those egregious actions and gross misconduct. We ourselves must ultimately own up to our part in the abandonment of Christianity and the secularization of our society. Indeed, I am sure that no one of the Greatest Generation – a moniker foisted on our parents’ generation decades later – whether waging war on the battlefield, growing fields of grain on America’s farms, building the necessary weapons of war in America’s plants and factories, or managing daily life in the midst of a rationing regime, ever thought of themselves as exceptional. But it was a very special generation that God raised up for just such a time.

The problem was that over time America had been losing its moral underpinnings that were based on the generally accepted standard that America was a Christian nation. Although not pertaining to my immediate family situation, it is my view that ‘church’ attendance had become a perfunctory activity, a social expectation on the part of the community in which one lived, but with no anticipation of true worship in spirit and in truth based on the Bible as the accepted Word of God and the only guide for faith and practice. For a great percentage of our parents’ generation, the growing secularization of the culture had insinuated a disconnect in the relationship between private and public life, the latter including the hypocrisy of unregenerated persons attempting to appear otherwise through attending ‘church’ on Sunday. As many denominations began preaching an empty social gospel, the hypocrites no longer felt obliged to keep up a Christian front and ceased the charade. This was not lost on our generation.

We set out to ‘be real’ and ‘to show it like it is,’ not understanding that hypocrisy is ultimately a heart issue between an individual and God and that ‘being real,’ by repudiating the hypocritical lifestyle of our parents, we engaged in behavior that our parents tried to hide. But the conscience, still at least subconsciously at work in the Greatest Generation, thanks in large part to the preaching of Billy Graham, whose popularity increased exponentially, becoming a household name with the televising of his crusades, together with the societal expectation of attending ‘church’ on Sunday, had become largely absent in the Baby-Boomer generation as the secular university replaced the community, and the latter’s basically Christian norms were replaced by secular humanism. In other words, theology was replaced by sociology and the God of faith by the god of socially acceptable good works.

But as the Apostle John tells us, “the Light shown in the darkness and the darkness could not quench it,” so there have been those of every generation, including not only the Greatest Generation but also that of the Baby Boomers, which experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the ‘Jesus People’ movement in the early 1970s, who have had the “Light of the world” shine in their hearts.  It is understandable that there were skeptics as well as critics of this movement because of its radical nature since to a certain extent it was an outgrowth of the hippie generation, which could be said to have been a subculture within the Baby-Boomer generation. With that caveat, it is clear that it bore fruit, proven by the observed fact that the visible Body of the Messiah has continued to grow as a result, whether they understand it or not, of a multitude of Baby Boomers having experienced the irresistible call of God that leads to a changed heart ruled by the Holy Spirit. And this will continue to be the case throughout succeeding generations until the Holy Spirit is taken out of the world in preparation for the end of time.

So, what was the overarching purpose of the ‘greatest generation’? The answer can only be discovered in theological terms. It was indeed a gritty generation that not only produced men who could withstand the frigid winter of the Battle of the Bulge and the heat of the mosquito-infested islands of the South Pacific; the millions of ‘Rosie the Riveter’ workers whose ears would be ringing after a shift amid the din of a war production plant or dockyard; the farming families who toiled from before sunup to after sundown to grow the foodstuffs that provided the sustenance to pursue the war effort for four long years; and, those others at home who did with less or without in order to support the war. This was the generation that God had raised up, yes, to serve as the bulwark of soldiers, sailors, and airmen that together with our allies foiled Hitler’s machinations. But I think it is accurate to suggest that we Americans alone were repulsed by the holocaust and were the one nation that brought this tragedy to light for all the world to see.

It took just such a gruesome event to bring about the reestablishment of the Jewish state of Israel, the Biblical homeland of the ancient descendants of Abraham, so named based on the new name given to Abraham’s son Jacob, who had wrestled with God – Israel. And although Harry Truman was not a member of the ‘greatest generation,’ his conviction that the new Jewish homeland needed immediate recognition propelled him to declare the United States of America as the first world government to do so, and certainly it was this initiative that gave the necessary impetus for the United Nations to follow suit.

Just over 40 years later, it was a true son of the ‘greatest generation,’ President Ronald Reagan, who convinced his Soviet counterpart, Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev, that the latter’s Communist state was doomed to the ashbin of history; it would thus behoove him to drive his empire forward to become a genuine, useful member of the world’s democracies. During this process, Reagan continued to insist on a freedom of immigration policy that would allow Jewish emigration from within the Soviet Union; many of whom would eventually emigrate to Israel. Once again, God used a man of the Greatest Generation to make possible the further return of His people to the Land He had promised them.

Of course, there is always overlap between generations, but speaking in general terms, our parents passed the baton to their progeny, the Baby-Boomer generation, to continue to hold the torch of democracy high in the face of the tidal wave of onslaughts of the Soviet behemoth to bring the world under its totalitarian control. Thus began a 45-year period of struggle between the superpowers of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics aka the USSR/Soviet Union. Despite there being hot conflicts, such as the Vietnam War, the result of which was the loss of tremendous treasure in terms of both human sacrifice and materiel for the US, while the Soviet Union treated it as a proxy war by using the North Vietnamese Vietcong to wage its battle with the U.S.; and both sides engaging via third parties in other proxy wars, this period of rivalry and conflict became known as “The Cold War” and those who fought in it, in whatever capacity, earned the moniker of “Cold War Warrior.”

At this point, however, I must also mention Gen Xers and Millennials, the progeny of the Baby Boomer generation, who rallied to the defense of the Homeland after the attacks of 9/11. Their unselfish, patriotic response is worthy of every bit as much acclaim, laud, and admiration as at any other period in our nation’s history when primarily the young men have been expected to fulfill the privilege of citizenship by possibly giving “the last full measure.” Spiritually, however, these two generations are all but bankrupt, due in large part to the failure of our generation to lead our families in matters of Biblical faith and practice. This has produced a lack of interest, concern, and even knowledge or awareness of a Righteous Triune God Who demands a righteousness that can only be achieved through faith in the Son, Yeshua the Messiah.

So, from my perspective, the legacy of “the greatest generation” is two-fold: their example of sheer determination in the face of adversity and tenacity to endure and overcome that came from an attitude of self-assurance is to be emulated. These same qualities were also demonstrated by others of that generation, such as Billy Graham, whom God called to wage war against the powers of darkness for the sake of Kingdom of God. On the other hand, I would suggest, this was also the generation with which began the intentional turning away from the Truth they knew and to inculcate the succeeding generation(s) in secular humanism through the university.

Let us be among those who emulate determination and tenacity as we are called by God to wage war with the powers of evil to confirm our upward call in Christ.