If I asked you about Eddie Haskell, what would you say? I know I’m kind of dating myself with the question but with such things as ME-TV and Antenna-TV, many of you have been exposed to all of the wonderful 50’s, 60’s and 70’s shows. After all, we all know that Archie Bunker would be arrested today for his bigotry. Who knew that Leave it to Beaver would be a fantasy world today.
Unlike the complex world of the 21st century, life 50 years ago was easy and uncomplicated. In 1957, it was a Leave it to Beaver world and a time of modest pleasure.
There were no computers, no internet, no video games, no gangs, no dealers, no hidden evils, lurking, waiting to entice children into their web of intrigue, murder, drugs, and pornography. The evil that existed wasn’t pushed in your face like it is today.
In contrast, we didn’t need a license or approval to build a lemonade stand. A neighborhood parade wasn’t halted by a police car. It was a normal day to spend an entire afternoon riding the bus into Robbinsdale and having a soda at the Rexall Drug. The excursion cost a nickel each way for the bus and the decadent ice cream soda a meager fifteen cents. Mama didn’t bat an eye or worry about us being attacked or kidnapped. The world was a safe place in the 1950’s.
Often today I wish I could make a pot of potato soup or a bowl of rice pudding that tasted as good as Mama’s. When I was a kid, dinner was the thing I dreaded the most. There were times when one wiener had to suffice for flavoring for a pot of soup for the six of us. Mama baked bread as often as she had flour, yet we were thrilled when the Bambi Man began stopping by the house with store-bought bread. It made us feel normal then, but today we’d kill for a slice of homemade bread. We dutifully massaged the margarine package until the yellow color was fully distributed, pretending it was butter but knowing the taste would betray our fantasy. I still abhor margarine to this very day and regret my ignorance about Mama’s old-fashioned cooking.
Today is a world filled with all the things that are an abomination to God. The shedding of innocent blood, the sowing of discord, the sins of fornication and idolatry pitted with the selfish indulgence of greed and obsessive need for material things. We say that “black lives matter”. Indeed they do matter but doesn’t “all life matter”? The murder of innocent babies alone has killed more African Americans than any crime, disease or injustice perpetrated by man. It’s time for us all to take a good look at our lives and our priorities. As Ben Carson said during the first Republican debate, “when I take someone into the operating room, I’m actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn’t make them who they are.”
As I watch the political debate going on each day as the candidates struggle to make themselves known to the American people, I cringe at what could happen to this nation if the wrong person were to be elected to the highest office in the land again. One man has truly changed America and their place in the world over the last seven years and it hasn’t been a change for the better. With the exception of Donald Trump, the media is virtually ignoring anyone who is not a politician or whose allegiance does not cater to the elite lobbyists in Washington. Do we really want the same Washington we have now? I think not.
The saddest of all is our nation’s ignorance of its own love of money and things that we have placed on a pedestal in our lives. We have disregarded the needs of others around us and take no pleasure in doing a job to the best of our ability. We watch as the world is plagued with murder, pestilence, earthquakes, storms and diverse phenomenon; all news which we stare at on our phones or our television aghast at the events. Now we have a President who chooses to make a treaty with those that would destroy the nation of Israel whose people and land are blessed by God. What does all this mean for America? Will God soon turn his back away from our nation?
Many people thought that 911 was the spiritual awakening that our nation needed yet here we are 15 years later even more complacent and self-absorbed than ever before. As for me, there is only one man I can honestly say I truly admire and believe his life has mattered for America and the world. That man is evangelist, Billy Graham. When Billy speaks people listen; when Billy speaks God listens. Billy is God’s chosen messenger. No one else has been able to take his place; not even his own son.
If you ever have a chance to watch Billy Graham preach on the CBN sometime, take the opportunity. It may change your life. Billy Graham is 96 years old and still preaching God’s word. I am a firm believer that when Billy dies, God’s plan for our world is over. So I ask the question: are we coming to the end of the age? God tells us in his word that we will not know the hour or time of his return, but he will send us signs and we should pay attention. Just look around and you will have your answer.
Is there still a chance for revival in America? I choose to believe that hope always exists. In fact, I’d love to hear Eddie Haskell say, “Gee, Mrs. Cleaver, I’d be happy to shovel your walk for free”. Then I’d grin in amusement as he’d talk “the Beaver” into asking for a dollar for his work.
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