During the Summer of the first year of my newly painted ORANGE ROOM, I was 14 years old. Do you remember being 14 years old? A 14 year old's brain is an undeveloped mass of gray tissue..... a blank canvas for anyone or everyone to paint upon. An empty jar waiting to be filled with sweet chocolate chips and chewy cookie dough. Or in my case, an in depth lecture on the coming apocalypse and the eminent end of the world as we know it.....and I feel fine.
My Aunts and Uncles were staying at a campground that Summer and I was very close with my Cousins Allen and his sisters, Penny and Crystal. We had played all afternoon racing empty soda cans down a running stream into a larger pond and it was soon time for dinner. I remember sitting next to the fire while the food was being prepared while our Uncle Lloyd began to tell Allen and myself of a book he had recently read called the THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH. For those that don't know or we're too young to remember, THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH was a best-selling 1970 book by Hal Lindsey and it was to be the bestselling nonfiction book of the 1970s. The book was first featured on a primetime television special featuring Hal Lindsey in 1974 and 1975 with an audience of 17,000,000 and was later adapted into a 1978 film narrated by Orson Wells.
My Uncle continued to tell my Cousin and I of the book and how it recounted Bible prophesies and current events and how they all led up to the Second Coming Of Christ and the end of the world....The apocalypse and the Rapture. The rebirth of Israel. The threat of war in the Middle East. An increase in natural catastrophes. The revival of Satanism and witchcraft. These and other signs, foreseen by prophets from Moses to Jesus, the coming of an antichrist...of a war which will bring humanity to the brink of destruction...and of incredible deliverance for a desperate, dying planet. Allen and I sat on our log as the sky grew dark and the fire burned bright. We were transfixed...totally engaged and frankly...scared out of our wits!!!! it all sounded so real and made so much sense. Our own Uncle warning us of our impending doom made it even more terrifying.
Although Lindsey did not claim to know the dates of future events with any certainty, he suggested that the book of Mathew indicated that Jesus' return might be within "one generation" of the rebirth of the state of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, and Lindsey asserted that "in the Bible" one generation is forty years. Some readers accepted this as an indication that the Tribulation or the Rapture would occur no later than 1988. In his 1980 work The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, Lindsey predicted that "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it". Now throw in George Orwell's book, 1984....and you can see why this 14 year old was greatly influenced by this fireside chat.
Two things transformed me that Summer evening:
First, I became a believer in Jesus Christ and began praying every night before I went to sleep.
Second, I completely believed that the world as we knew it was doomed and would end sometime in the late 1980's. I was convinced beyond a doubt. I began reading Mathew and Revelations in the Bible and along with my Uncle's testimony, I began to live my life as though there was no tomorrow.
My parents tried to convince me that this kind of talk had been around since they were teenagers and that my Uncle had been an Atheist at one time some so I needed to take everything with a grain of salt.
Looking back on my life, I'm certain that the "newly found evidence" of impending doom led me to take a more "live for today" attitude. If it felt good, then I was going to do it!!!! That included Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll!!!! No longer was I worried about choosing a career, saving for the future or even planning for the future. I just wanted to be HAPPY NOW.
I think that's how a lot of kids feel as a teenagers but for me..... I was serious about it!!!!!
In 1979, I had decided that going to ICC was a waste of time and I was ready to move out of my parents home and live my own life. I quit school, got a job at Bergner's downtown and moved into a house with two of my friends. I was barely 20 years old!!!! Looking back on my life....that was the crossroads where I went off the rails for a bit. It was my first real misstep, a mistake. However, I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.
I was still living with the feeling that time was short when I bought Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars with my birthday money that June. The first song on side one was called FIVE YEARS and it told a story of how life as we knew it was destined to end in just five years.
Pushing through the market square
So many mothers sighing (sighing)
News had just come over
We had five years left to cry in (cry in)
News guy wept and told us
Earth was really dying (dying)
Cried so much his face was wet
Then I knew he was not lying (lying)
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes Five years, what a surprise We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise Five years, stuck on my eyes We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes Five years, what a surprise We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise We've got five years, stuck on my eyes We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got
Five years Five years Five years Five years
OMG!!!! it was 1979 and what exactly was going to happen in five years? Well, for one...1984 will be in FIVE YEARS!!!! OH NO!!!! It was like a sign to me!!!! A prophesy!! The count down was on!!!! I had FIVE YEARS. So, I quit school, and moved out of my cushy ORANGE ROOM to play in a ROCK N ROLL BAND for my last FIVE YEARS!!!! I found myself indulging in every excess that came with this new found freedom..... at least for a while.
I eventually lost my job because I was playing so late on Friday nights that in was difficult to come into work on Saturday mornings. Especially since I never would go right to bed when we would get home. Often times we were out of state. So I became a working musician....which meant one thing....I was poor. Several months of living like this made me realize that I was going down a dead street so with the help of my parents, they took me back and paid for my second attempt at ICC where I did manage get my Associates Degree. I don't know if I thanked them enough. But.... I was still haunted by the fact that time was short and days would cease to exist soon.
The HBO program about Nostrodumast and his end of the world predictions didn't help my outlook on the Earths longevity. In fact, it only caused me further anxiety. Then came the album, The FINAL CUT by PINK FLOYD in 1983!!!! Holy SHIT!!! This record would cause me to pray every night to GOD to keep me safe for the impending Nuclear Holocaust. Paranoid Eyes and Two Suns In The Sunset would unnerve me even though I loved the songs. I waited for the end for years......yet..... it never came. Finally, in my late 20's, I finally let the fear of THE END OF TIMES go!!!! Until this week.
I am now 63 and retired but I can't help notice the world around me becoming more evil than ever. Our politicians and news organizations don't even hide it any more. I'm certain that Satan is making his last play and the end of times is closer now than ever. Those familiar fears fill my heart but I know that my faith in Jesus Christ will save me. I pray for the world.
Yesterday, The Russian leader told the world that they were abandoning the last Nuclear Treaty they had with the US. Russia invaded Ukraine one year ago and our bumbling corrupt President is pounding his chest and shouting in speeches.
I fear WW III again. It seems we are on a one way street with no off ramp to Armageddon. I'm worried....but not so much for me.... but more for my children and grandson.
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