Hippiecrit
Most of us “Children of the ’60s” came
from middle-class American families with middle-class American
roots and middle-class American values ingrained in us since
childhood. When the time was ripe, we threw off our parents’
values and society’s norms in an attempt to be free
from all the chains of hypocrisy and greed that were consuming
America. But there was one thing that kept all the LSD trips,
all the intellectual enlightenment, all the swelling emotions
charged by the meaningful songs of our prophets from breaking
those chains. The one thing we lacked was the power to break
free from the rotten, selfish seed that was passed on to
us from our middle-class fathers. Though we could not see
this at the time (we were too caught up in the excitement
of the moment), we would soon enough.
As we young hippies got older, our desire for middle-class
comforts began to outweigh all the “enlightenment”
we had received. “Don’t trust anyone over 30”
was a forewarning of what we’d be like by forty. It
proved to be true. By the time middle age arrived, we were
no longer out to change the world. Our voice had been silenced.
What our parents had wanted for us all along - security,
success, becoming a valuable asset to the prized heritage
of middle-class America cą was now ours. We’d become
a part of the American Dream we had protested against in
our youth. Our greatest challenges now came from trying
to justify our “yuppie” success or explaining
away the compromise of getting our own thirty-acre kingdoms.
Yes, the hippie exterior eventually wore off, exposing the
roots that were still there. Like it or not, we’ve
become a generation of “hippie-crits.” Being
a hippie-crit is like wearing a mask that you think is really
you, but when you pull it off, you see that underneath the
mask, you’re really no different than your daddy.
You act like someone who detests the establishment, pretending
you want nothing to do with it, while all along living in
what you condemn.
A hippie-crit is a person who presents himself as someone
from the ’60s Movement, who prides himself in nostalgic
memories and cynical comments about the future, but all
the while compromising his integrity for the comfort of
the middle class. A hippie-crit is worse than a hypocrite
in many ways, because as a ’60s hippie he proclaimed
the ideal of a better way, an alternative to the 9 to 5
job, and as a ’90s hippie-crit he is firmly entrenched
in what he once scorned. Despite the words he speaks, he
has compromised the goals he once sought.
Our parents’ view of life was one of hard work, faithfulness
to wife and family, and living by the golden rule. They
were actually a lot closer to the Garden than us because
they lived more closely to the covenant of conscience that
all mankind has within to lead them back to their Creator.
At least they made no bones about working hard to support
their families (that’s us!) ?and for the most part,
they gave us a standard of loyalty and faithfulness that
we could at least remember in the height of all our rebellion.
After all is said and done, the love of self-life has proven
to be the failure of the Movement. No student is greater
than his teacher, but when he is fully trained, he will
be just like his teacher. You are what you are. You can’t
escape the seed in you that’s been passed on to you
from your father. That nature is passed on from one generation
to the next. It’s inherent. The birth of the Movement
came from a stirring of the heart, but nothing in the ’60s
had the power to deliver us from the death grip human nature
had on us.
Remember walking down the street stoned out of our minds,
thinking we’re different from the Establishment around
us? Remember the pride we had when we ridiculed the guy
in the three-piece suit and laughed to ourselves, thinking
we were free? In the midst of a scene like this, did it
ever dawn on us that we were just like him or realize that
what was in us was no different from what was in our parents?
To see this is to take the first step toward the open door
of freedom.
There can be no true Movement unless we find a way to escape
from those corrupt, selfish spiritual roots. As mature,
middle-aged ex-hippies, we ought to be able to know this
by now. But what can we do about it? Our only escape from
these roots is to experience a true renaissance, a rebirth,
a regeneration of our human spirit. Where can we find someone
with the authority to bring about this renaissance? Where
is the man who is free from the curse of self-life? By definition,
love is giving yourself up or laying down your life for
someone else. So, someone with the authority to lead such
a Movement would also have to be someone who loved. The
life he lived would be full of love, not merely in words,
but in actions, right?
When this profound truth is understood, then the fascination
of the ages can begin. What fascination? Our fascination
with the life of a man not born under the curse of self-life,
the One whose spirit was free to love like no one else had
ever loved. He willingly became a sacrifice, like a lamb,
or like a seed that fell into the ground. That seed died
so a whole new creation could spring forth on the earth.
This new seed has roots that go down deep into the soil
of love and shoots that spring up with a life that never
ends, one that is starting to fill the earth and ultimately
the universe, forever and ever. This seed was the man Yahshua.*
He is gathering his people from every nation, every tongue,
every race, every background, every orientation under the
sun to become seeds also, just like him.
This gathering is the beginning of a Movement that will
one day produce the Twelve Tribes, a nation of communities
whose Sovereign king and ruler is the Messiah Yahshua. He
is the object of our fascination; it is he who gave us the
glory to live as one. In the same way as he is one with
his Father in heaven, He gave his disciples that same glory
to make them one. This twelve tribe nation exists as a new
social order that once had its beginning in Jerusalem in
34 ad.
It was the true Renaissance, becoming a new creation, that
Yahshua’s followers experienced. This Renaissance
was into a life together where people shared all things
in common. This life of sharing is the perfect environment
to show the world a demonstration of love being perfected
in unity, the convincing proof that all barriers between
people have been torn down, including that between parents
and children.
This life is the life we longed for in our hearts when we
tried to abandon the path of a society sick with disease
in the ’60s! The worst disease was in a religion called
Christianity, which tainted and defiled the real life of
Yahshua and robbed us of our rightful fascination of Him.
But now this Movement has begun by the actual Spirit of
Yahshua in a people, completely outside the ranks of Christianity
or any other religion on earth. This shared life, this witness,
is the only proof that will convince the world that Yahshua’s
blood actually has the power to forgive and to cleanse a
person from his sins, to tear down all the barriers that
divide.
Seeing this demonstration is what will convince all the
people in the world that God did truly send His Son and
that He really does love all of mankind. It will, at last,
vindicate the true God, the Creator of all! The completion
of the life that was begun in Jerusalem is what will bring
about the end of this age. We are living in and experiencing
the time when the Renaissance of the ages is beginning.
Come join us and let Yahshua set your soul free!
Back
