Are you, if you obey God, cheated of a fun-filled life? Are the other kids down the street, the live-it-up generation, having all the fun? Don't be fooled! This is the sick, sick sex age of the Soaring 60's and 70's. This article makes plain the future, an opportunity of a lifetime, so colossal, as to defy the imagination. What the future holds for you, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, will be all the riches of Tomorrow's World! Do you have what it takes to meet the challenge?
TODAY'S teen-agers have the greatest challenge of all times! Only twice in all history has it been so bad, and it's due to get worse! Perhaps we should label today, "the sick, sick sex age." You teen-agers are fed a steady diet of sex! It seems to be on everyone's mind from the lowest laborer to the highest-ranking officials of the land. You see sex on the billboards, in the funnies, news, TV and in the flesh. You have sex poked at you from morning till evening. Even the commercials on TV are loaded! The man of today, if you believe the ads or the movies, would rather fight than switch, drink martinis for breakfast, have 18 brassiere-bursting girl friends draped over his straight-eight, double barreled, TV-equipped convertible, with another half dozen slinky sex pots lounging around his bachelor apartment for decor. The guy is barely getting by on two grand a week obtained by all-night gambling in a dimly lit, smoke-filled, back-alley bar on the north side of town. You live in a jungle of swill, pornography, rape, lying, cheating, killing, hating, butchery — demented, perverted, drunken, black- and white-power, race-rioting, opium-smoking, wretched, evil times. You live in the Sodom and Gomorrah predicted by Jesus Christ when He said, "as it was in the days of Lot" (Luke 17:28). It's crazy, weird, sonic, luring, degenerating, captivating, mixed-up living! You're in it up to your ears! It takes a special breed of wise, determined, cream-of-the-crop teen-agers to bear up under the rot and swill of this evil, darkened, gloom-infested kingdom of Satan. You gotta have real willpower, real character — only the very, very wise will make it! Every teen-ager has asked himself, at one time or another, is it worth the effort? Should I continue and resist the pulls of this world and society? Why not join the mob, take the easy route? Why not live it up, "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die!" That's the philosophy of the vast majority of today's teen-agers! Is there anything really wrong with such a philosophy? Let's take a candid look, let's look to tomorrow and see! What are the end results of sin? What are the end results of obedience?
Sin's Bad — Not Good
Sin is like the first step down an open elevator shaft. It's a real thrill on the way down! A short thrill that ends in a heap of rubble. In I John 3:4 God says sin is the breaking of His Law — that's bad! In the end sin brings sickness, degenerate minds, unhappiness and miserable lives. In the beginning God made man — "it was very good" (Gen. 1:27, 31). He gave man every good thing — a beautiful, wonderful world just like the one soon to come. He gave man a perfect environment. The hunting, fishing and camping were out of this world! The air was crisp and clean, the skies blue with wisps of white cotton-like clouds. He polished it all off by giving the first man a female that had more sex appeal, more beauty, looks and personality than fifty of today's beauty queens all rolled into one. He said, "That's good." He said, "She's all yours, Adam. Take her and care for her. She's your wife; you are one flesh." (Gen. 2:18-25) Along came Satan. He said, "That's bad. Sin's good!" (Gen. 3) So man "took him wives of other men." He perverted every good thing of God. He was duped by Satan into believing black was white — that everything bad was good. He traded all his wealth for a few cheap trinkets and a yard or two of bright red cloth. Murder, sodomy, hatred and wretched living replaced the good. Evil became rampant on the earth. The earth was filled with violence. It was a time of race riots everywhere. The world was corrupt. All flesh had corrupted God's way upon the earth. Then God sent the flood to teach man that sin was bad! All flesh that moved upon the earth died. Only one family was saved alive! (Gen. 7:21-22) When God says, "This is right and that's evil," that's right, that's good. When He says illicit sex, teen-age love is bad, He knows what He's talking about. He made us male and female from the dust of the earth. He said, "No adultery. No fornication. That's bad! That's sin!" King David for a time forgot sin was bad. He committed adultery with another man's wife. He was drawn by the flesh to believe that bad was good. A few moments of stolen love cost the life of a man and a child. It cost David his kingdom and almost his life by the hands of his own son Absalom. David lived to see his wives abducted. They were seduced and raped out in the open for all to see. He lived to see the sickening, heartbreaking rape of his beautiful daughter, Tamar, accosted by his very own son in an unparalleled rape — a smashing blow to happiness and joy that could have been so different — if he just hadn't forgotten that bad wasn't good. David repented. He said, "God's right. Good is good; bad is bad. God surely knows what He's talking about. I give my life, this example, my unhappy story as evidence that sin is bad." (II Sam. 12, 13; Psalm 51)
Correction Pretty Important
On December 14, 1962, the U. S. spacecraft Mariner II completed a voyage to Venus that began August 27 of that same year. The spacecraft traveled 180.2 million miles in 109 days. That's 19 miles per second! In September it was determined the spacecraft was slightly off course. On September 5 a trajectory maneuver was made. The velocity of the spacecraft was changed by as little as.7 foot per second. Without this minute correction the spacecraft would have strayed 233,000 miles off course! God's correction is pretty important, too! Without it you would miss your purpose, the reason you are on earth. Without God's correction you'd stray by a far greater distance than Mariner II. David learned a painful lesson. He was sternly corrected by God. It would have been so much easier if the correction had come earlier when he was just a little off course — when his mind first entertained the thought of sin. If he would only have remembered the instruction of his Father in heaven. God says correction gives understanding (Prov. 15:32). Another place He instructs the "wise son" as one hearing his father's correction (Prov. 13:1). It keeps him on course. Therefore, children, don't be weary of correction (Prov. 3:11). It's for your good! Find your course, the right course, the good course. Stick to the right way — hit the right goal dead center. Listen to God! Listen to Dad and Mom! Unfortunately, some of you teen-agers are products of a broken home. Your parents may be divorced and involved in all sorts of iniquity. After all, we are living in the Last Days of a 6,000-year period just prior to Christ's return. He said it would be the way it is — men and women would be "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage," really living it up just like they did in the days of Noah when God had to destroy all but eight adults (Matt. 24:36-39, Gen. 7:23). Some of you may have to stand alone and obey God, like Noah did just over 4000 years ago. During Noah's time it was so bad that when God looked down on the earth He was only able to find one righteous man obeying and keeping His Word. Everyone else was corrupt, the earth was filled with violence (Gen. 6:9-13). If Mom and Dad aren't the right examples, then you may have to look to God alone as your example and obey His commandments. However, you should remember that obeying God includes honoring your parents even if they are disobedient to God (Ex. 20:12).
It's Not Easy
Most teen-agers at one time or another experience the desire to do good. You really do want to obey your parents, the government of God — it's just that it's so difficult. I agree it is difficult and so does God's Word. He says "strive," work hard. Many weak and of poor character will make half-hearted attempts and will not "enter in." They won't have what it takes; they won't "be able" (Luke 13:24). Any treasure, anything worthwhile comes at "great price." The good things, the really big things are "worth! It's worth the extra striving for even the blessings in today's world, not counting what's beyond — just a few years away! What is waiting for you physically is priceless! Few teen-agers have heard or realized what God has in store for the obedient, God-fearing teen-ager of this generation. All it takes to receive this fabulous, physical, a-few-years-away future is real "he-man" character, determination and real guts! No sissy will ever find it! It takes boys that have a great deal of masculinity and girls with depth, wisdom and fortitude. The next few years are going to be tough. It will take stamina, determination and wisdom to come through! The Apostle Paul speaks of "this way" — the necessary work, strife, and effort to obtain — as being a "fight." The calling that you teen-agers have been given is so great that it is not without price. The greater the value, the bigger the price. Your opportunity through obedience is stupendous, colossal! Never again will teen-agers in all of life on earth have the opportunity that you could have — right now; the opportunity that's within your immediate grasp! — not the distant future. I'm not necessarily thinking of the Kingdom of God now! That comes later. A few of you teen-agers have read, heard about, or in some way come across the scripture back in Ephesians 6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right." If you believe in God, if you are obeying God now, then you know this passage is right; it's true!
You Should Know the Time Is Short
If you have your eyes open, if you're observing the time, the "around," if you know anything at all about God's plan of salvation, the Millennium, or the purpose of life, then there should be no doubt in your mind that we are living in the "end times." You probably know that somewhere there is one true Church of God. You have, if you are observant, convinced yourself that the varying denominations, all preaching different doctrines, can't all be right. If you have been studying the booklets printed by the editor of this magazine, if you have been studying them in conjunction with your Bible (booklets such as Why Were You Born? and the Wonderful World Tomorrow — What It Will Be Like), then no one has to convince you that you're not going to sprout wings and fly off to heaven to float around on cloud nine, strumming on the old banjo at the end of your life on earth. If you've looked into life's purpose or been exposed to the right way to live at all, then you should understand and know God's way really pays off. That it is the happy way for teen-agers to live! Unfortunately, not all teen-agers who are exposed to the right way to live want to or intend to follow and obey the way they KNOW to be right! Some of you aren't quite convinced it's WORTH IT! You feel gypped, left out, oppressed by "this way of life" as the Bible phrases it, the right way to live. A few of you, who have parents who know right from wrong, may even resent the unfortunate circumstances of having parents who respect God's Word and your unhappy predicament of being forced to live and obey the way God would have you live.
Is God Unfair to You?
Many of you feel robbed, cheated and oppressed. You think God hasn't been fair with you. The "other kids," the worldly teen-agers, who know nothing of the right way are the "lucky ones"! They get to "sex it up," kiss, hug and even go the limit! You look, you see, you desire. Your mind begins playing tricks on you! It tries to convince you that evil is good — that good is bad! You say, "Oh, if I could only have lived a while before finding out the truth, the right way to live." You may never have had the chance to sow your wild oats, to make illicit, secret love, smoke, curse or get drunk. Time is running out. Jesus Christ is returning and you "haven't lived"! The worldly kids are really having the fun — or are they?
Don't Bug Me With the Facts
Right about now some few of you are saying, "Come off it! I know what you're getting at! You're not going to trick me with the truth! My mind's closed — I mean made up. I'm going to break loose the first chance I get, and all hell is not going to convince me otherwise. Don't bug me with the truth, Dad I'm gonna live, man — live a little!" To you I'd say, go to it — live it up — have fun. No one can help you — YET! Give it a few more years, a few broken skulls, throw in a tribulation and a thousand years or so; and maybe, just maybe, you'll be lucky enough to come up with your life in the Great White Throne Judgment Day! That's a 100-year period of time at the end of the Millennium for those who are too rebellious to obey now and have not known about God's true way to live. To the rest of you, you who are a little wiser, keep reading. Maybe, just maybe, I can convince you the right way of life PAYS BIG DIVIDENDS FOR teen-agers as well as adults. The right way really is beyond your fondest, wildest dream! The false, perverted way is a greased toboggan slide to oblivion — to sick, degenerate minds. The one-way trip to oblivion starts with feeling gypped with the truth and believing the other kids are having all the fun! If you don't know about the right way of life, you ought to write in and ask for literature that would explain and show you where to find it in your own Bible. For openers try "What is a Real Christian?" "What is Real Repentance?" and "This is the Life — Real Abundant Living"!
Talk About Living
Let me tell you about the guy I met in Karachi, India. These were the "good ole days." I was doing a bit of living myself. One morning I woke up in the base hospital, felled by a mosquito. They called it Gandhi fever. All night long I wondered why I didn't die. It was the one time in my life that I really wanted to! At age 22 I had come to India, then China, to be a hero. Two Jap "zeros" — the second to prove the first wasn't an accident — captain's bars and the Distinguished Flying Cross were all that I wanted. The fellow beside me, with his.45 pistol slung over the foot of his hospital bed, had already successfully achieved this goal of mine. In fact, he had surpassed it. He was the first of the AVG (American Volunteer Group, Flying Tigers in China), a very handsome young man, clean-cut, a good tan, broad shoulders, a warm smile, white teeth — the works. You teen-age girls would have swooned. He filled me in on the details of combat in China. As I remember, he had five or six "zeros" to his credit. I listened and planned. how I'd get my two, the medals, fame, and at the same time help win the peace. Only one thing was wrong. My friend hadn't told me why he was in the hospital. However, I found that out later — one morning after he shot himself! I was sleeping next to the wall that separated our room and the shower. A shot rang out — just one! The duty nurse ran through the room into the shower and screamed! There sat my friend in the shower with the top of his head blown off. The.45, his own, lay in a pool of blood between his knees. He'd been very neat about it, wrapping a towel around his head and carefully placing the.45 in his mouth before pulling the trigger! The problem? He'd lived too much! Being a handsome man, a pilot, a hero, it wasn't too difficult to find a girl friend. The fact that she was Chinese didn't make much difference. My friend had contracted a disease similar to syphilis; only this was the Chinese kind called "the Chinese rot"! His genital organs had rotted right off his body. His orders read: "transferred to the States for medical treatment." Back home he had a girl friend. This one he wanted to marry — they were engaged. He showed me her picture. She was tall, tanned and brunette. They would have made a handsome couple. Her dad was quite wealthy, well known — a man of position and responsibility. My friend had it made — until he started "living"!
A Low Blow?
Now that was a low blow! A little more of what it's really like "to live" and some of you "not so wise" will be "trapped" into believing that it really does pay to obey God! That this world's ways really are rotten, sick, degenerate and the way of pain. If you're not careful, you'll be so "unfortunate" as to miss out on some of these "good times" your friends are having — like, "Mom, I'm in trouble — what do I do now?" Of course, it's not too bad out there! You've heard the statistics. Only 45,000 teen-agers in the U.S.A. have been stricken with syphilis since you read last month's sports news! Another 45,000 contracted gonorrhea — at least that number got reported. Syphilis is only up 230 percent over 1956. It's possible that you could "live" a little and be one of the "lucky ones"! Perhaps with a little luck you could escape what constitutes the U.S.A.'s most urgent "communicable disease." That's forgetting suicide (90,000 college students threatened to kill themselves last year; 1 in 10 tried it). Suicide is skyrocketing for all ages. A major factor for suicide today is a broken law written in Exodus 20:14. Some of you should be able to quote it from memory! It covers fornication, too, you know!
Most Shouldn't Need Convincing
But then, I shouldn't have to convince most of you that it's dangerous out there. Down deep you really should know the kids next door aren't really "having fun"! You know that they are waking up with headaches; that quite a number of this world's present teen-age generation is on "the smoke pot" and many are raving maniacs. Most of you have seen the hard looks, the grim faces. They're all around! You've read about Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, the hippies, hell's angels, the mods and the rockers. No, they're not really having fun, are they? Their sense of values is perverted. Anyone who would settle for the darkened, demented, sick way of this world in preference to God's way is kind of like the African native who traded his diamonds and ivory for a few yards of cheap, bright red cloth and a few five-and-dime store trinkets. The eye-catching trinkets glittered for a while before turning black. Something else can be wrong in the teen-ager's mind who knows or has proven God exists and that His way is the right way to live. If your mind has been in gear at all, then you know the "live-it-up" method is only a short, short five-and-dime store glitter type of life before cancer, heart trouble, suicide, shotgun weddings and the reality of a sick, sick mind and body. What's wrong is that you teen-agers (7-, 8- and 12-year-olds, too) haven't begun to comprehend your future right here in this PHYSICAL LIFE! You really are sitting on a real gold mine, a treasure chest full of diamonds, rubies and ivory — yet some who know God's way are waiting for "the chance" to trade it all for a little bright red cloth — a little "living now"! That's up to you. You're the one that has to live with the decision. Before any of you make the wrong decision, read on — what you're offered is far greater than most of you have imagined. No teen-ager in his right mind could afford to turn it down.
The Cream of the Crop
The golden opportunity offered you reminds me of 28 years ago and an opportunity that I had. But it was for "peanuts" compared to yours! As flying cadets we were told that we were the "cream of the crop" from the U.S.A.'s manhood. They let us know that our training cost the government several hundred thousands of dollars. Such a large amount of money impressed me. I worked hard to obtain the choicest plum, the glamour of a fighter pilot. It wasn't easy! After the band quit playing, after the few brief moments of preinduction glamour, it was time to go to work. The cadet had to prove he was "the cream of the crop," that he was worth the large expenditure of capital. Each cadet spent hours, day after day, week after week, of grueling training, drilling, studying, marching, bracing and yes, even flying. The prewar cadet spent hours bracing until every bone in his body ached. How would you like to spend 20 minutes sitting on a chair that didn't exist? Try that for size, some of you tough guys! Life as a cadet included marching in the heat, runway temperature 125 degrees or above. The weaker passed out, which meant "washed out" of the cadets. To obtain this physical goal I've sat hours on end pivoting on a point in the BT 13 trainer (a maneuver that would make many a sea captain sick), swallowing vomit that if not contained meant "washed out." We fought, worked, sweated and dreamed flying, all for the glorious privilege of risking our "necks" in slaughter alley, trading 50-caliber machine gun fire with a Jap "zero" or a German ME 109. We did it for the glory of some ribbons to pin on our chest, to impress the girls, the kids and family back home. We toiled and trained like Olympic athletes to obtain an "earthly goal" — a "corruptible crown." All that we amassed — the ribbons, the kills, the prestige — has long since passed along with its fleeting moments of glory. The ribbons, the medals, the memories (some not so good) are all neatly tucked away — almost forgotten! What you are called to share so far surpasses my goal of the past that there is no way to really compare! I was offered a 5-cent candy bar — you, the Queen Mary by comparison. To get it you're going to be required to work, to give, to have more guts and determination to receive your plum than I did as a flying cadet. That makes sense, doesn't it?
Your Magnificent Future
Someone has to be the earthly, physical rulers over the nations, provinces and kingdoms of this world. Who else can be trained to rule the physical world tomorrow if it isn't the teen-agers, the children who grasp the real meaning of life and are willing to sacrifice now in order to really live tomorrow! True, in the soon coming world tomorrow, there are going to be spirit beings ruling in many of these positions of authority, but physical people — you, the educated cream-of-the-crop adults of tomorrow — are going to be the physical leaders serving under these spirit beings. That's what you should be qualifying for now! Teen-agers — do you know how many there are of you living in this present wicked world who are exposed to the right way — the way of rulership tomorrow? Desperately few! There are about 130 sovereign nations and states on earth today. If you count the colonies, trust territories and mandates that contain ethnic groups that could become nations, the number is almost inexhaustible. That's not counting the other positions such as mayor, judge, governor, councilman and the thousands of other physical offices of administration needed to support the Government of God when it comes. Is that enough of a challenge for you? When God sets about punishing this world for its evil, the wicked for their vice, men will become "more rare than finest gold, men scarcer than gold ore from Ophir" (Isa. 13:11-12, Moffat). The nations will continue to exist. People will be left living on this earth!
The Fabulous 80's Only Moments Away
In the office of a king, governor, mayor or administrator, you will co-rule with spirit beings (those of us changed at Christ's coming). You will take orders, but you who learn to obey now will also give orders — the right kind, to many other physical humans in the wonderful World Tomorrow. You will live in palaces that are palaces, eating steaks that are steaks, served grapes the size of golf balls (Num. 13:23-24), living the full, abundant life as it was intended to be lived! Your personal home, regardless of the stature of your office, is going to be "out of this world." In today's world only the very rich can afford a home on the beach, the lake or stream. Tomorrow, if you like the fun-filled out-of-doors, you will be able to afford a home equipped, not only with hot and cold running water, but with a natural trout stream meandering through the living room. You may decorate your 90'x100' living room with natural plantings, banana trees, ferns and all manner of tropical plants bearing luscious fruit. As a matter of fact, a real 50-foot waterfall can also be a part of the decor rather than today's four-foot man-made innovation. Instead of house cats or stuffed "teddy bears" your children can have their own personal lion (Isa. 11:6). They will have a ball! If you prefer the city, that, too, will be as different and as rewarding. No more smog, industrial dirt, slums, crime, heat waves, jangling, nerve-defying noises, death-dealing snowstorms, or hate! The asphalt jungles, the cities of today, are to be demolished. In their place will be well-planned, well-designed and wonderfully organized park-like cities, cities of peace and quiet, planted with all manner of beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs, all naturally watered by God. The city, state or nation you co-rule will have problems — ALL SOLVABLE! Traffic congestion, gas-spewing automobiles, weird queers, delinquents, all will become a memory of the wretched bygone days known in history as the terrible 60's and 70's! The city you choose to rear your children in will be full of faithful, God-fearing wives and husbands, obedient to God's laws. Happiness will be supreme. Peace will be everywhere. Streets will be safe. Children and old men will be playing and walking in them (Zech. 8:4-5). Every government will be God's government. Its citizens will know love to the fullest — no enemies. Your children will be safe. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). You and every inhabitant on earth will be following God's commands. Those who won't will be few and under continual surveillance (Isa. 30:21). All parents will teach their children God's truth. You will teach your children about God's wonderful way (Deut. 6:7). When your children ask you about the "terrible 60's and 70's" (Deut. 6:20), you will tell them how the whole world was freed from sin, how God delivered this world from Egypt (verse 21). The life you lived, the old world, its crime, perversion, divorce, murder, rape, weather problems, starvation — all will seem strange to your children when you tell them of yesteryear. When you tell them how the world destroyed itself and about the devastating and catastrophic series of earthquakes which struck this earth until it wobbled and reeled on its axis, their hair will stand on end! You will be able to recount how God saved your life when the earth broke open and great, vast chasms swallowed up block after block of pre-millennial homes and apartments — people and all! You will have to grit your teeth and tell them about some of your friends who took the easy, shallow, foolish way of this world and how their children were dashed to pieces before their eyes and their wives ravished, raped and spoiled in the siege (Isa. 13:16). You will, for your children's sake, tell them about those who chose "to live" this world's life and in distress, anguish and horror ate the flesh of their own sons and daughters. You will recount the story of the delicate daughters of sinful Israel who in the siege were so famished that they secretly ate their own afterbirth amid the strait of the siege (Deut. 28:53, 56-57)! As far as your eye can see, it will be a world of peace and security. Everyone you meet will be your friend, your brother. Race riots will only be an ugly memory!
That's Not All — There's More
Then at the end of your physical life, AFTER YOU have overcome the flesh, you will be changed into a spirit being in an instant, in. the twinkling of an eye. Your change will come when you are older and have lived a full physical life in the flesh. You will then be able to appreciate the spiritual gift of being a spirit being — a God! You will be given eternal life, a life that transcends and supersedes all joys and happiness's here on earth by a billion fold! Spiritual life is so vast, so magnificent that it cannot even be compared with the earthly, physical moments of joy (Rom. 8:18). YOU WILL THEN AT THIS TIME BECOME THE ONLY GENERATION IN ALL TIME THAT HAS LIVED IN THREE WORLDS — THE WORLD TODAY, THE WORLD TOMORROW AND FINALLY THE SPIRIT WORLD OF GOD! What a gigantic, glorious future you have ahead of you! There is only one sad part. Some of your friends, those who are weak, lack real guts and courage, stamina, true masculinity or femininity and the qualities so necessary to receive this magnificent future — they will be dead — either for eternity after a short third resurrection or until the Great White Throne Judgment Day of a thousand years from now. You, if you read, heed and obey, can become the special cream-of-the-crop students of the kingdom, just as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They, in a physical government, were the skillful, the knowledgeable, teachable, highly favored children appointed to learn the Chaldean tongue. You, too, as you read this article are called to be approved of God to far GREATER POWER to be the rulers of this earth in just a few more short years. You can FLUNK OUT at an unbelievably high cost, or you can succeed and inherit the unlimited, undreamed-of, astonishing, amazing World Tomorrow! You can help usher in the new world! Succeed and you will rule over hundreds of thousands of adults, teen-agers — some your very own "I want to live now" friends. Do you have what it takes? You can have the glitter of this sick, dying, wretched world for a couple of short, short years — or, if you have guts, stamina, courage and character — you can rule in the wonderful World Tomorrow! Which will it be for You?
Copyright © 2024 Herbert W Armstrong Library