At 86 years of age Alton Billingsley runs one of the smallest splinter cults of Armstrongism out there. He has never been able to draw in members mostly because of his crazy ideas. It is 2013 and Billingsley still wants to live in the 1950's. That was the era in the church that so many look back on with nostalgia. The church was still "pure" in form and the hippies had not started taking over the great work of God. Liberalism had not yet started creeping in. GTA could not keep his pants zipped but all the brethren lived together in harmony and in "world tomorrow" perfection. All was rosy and sweet. Potlucks, Bible Studies, and three service Holy days were God's greatest gift. Love permeated the air.
Billingsley writes the following in his new
10 Commandments book. Yes, its another book about the law. Nothing about
Jesus Christ, but a shit load of stuff about the law and a pissed off god who is incredibly angry.
Billingsley's god, as so many in Armstrongism view their god, is an angry parent just waiting to punish the wayward child. He looks back with nostalgia on corporal punishment.
I, the author of this booklet, was once paddled with a long measuring ruler by the principal of the school for fighting another small lad. Another time I talked too much in class and got one swing of a thick paddle. I learned! The paddle was sometimes referred to as “the board of education.”
Knowingly, or unknowingly, during those years there was a general belief by parents in what King Solomon was led by God to write and was practiced: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when his is old[er] he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). And parents saw the positive benefits from this practice and also supported their school teachers. Often when a parent learned his child had received a paddling at school he or she would also paddle the child at home for their mischief and disrespect of the teachers. As the result authorities were respected and there were few prisons.
Children grew up taking their lawful place in society. Men teachers wore suits and ties and women teachers dressed appropriately setting an example of respect and authority before the student body. From limited personal observation teachers today wear very informal clothing. The Radical Change in Society The scene began changing after World War II with the baby boomers, hippies, beatniks, and others, began making their presence known in a state of rebellion against the status quo. This was brought about due to the change in their home life and desire for change. And with it, paddling in the home and in the school system was for the most part eliminated and so was respect for their elders.
Still living in the past, he starts ragging on "hippies". How can we forget our own idiotic booklet - "Hippies, Hypocrisy and Happiness." That stupid little booklet set the stage for Billingsley to write this:
“. . . Hippie trends and values have had major effects on culture by influencing film, literature, music and the arts. The values of diverse cultural and religious adoption, propagated by hippies have travelled wide and far as an accepted norm. Their attitudes have posed many challenges to a conformist society.
“A trademark characteristic of a hippie was their attitude to relieve themselves of societal regulations, free to choose their own way and thereby find the actual meaning of life. An expression of this attitude was observed in their body language, dress code and grooming style. These parameters helped to serve as universal visual reminders of their fight for individual rights.
“The 1960s was a period of intense revolutionary campaigns, starting with the anti-war movement, the black power movement, civil rights movement, sexual revolution, student rights movement etc. In a way, many of these revolutions have set the code for current day campaigns to take on their particular course of action. Hippies shot to popularity due to their adoption of a controversial lifestyle, like communes which are essentially group living. Their advocated a simpler way of life, promoting the concept of non-consumerism and little or no personal responsibility to the society. . . .”
But there was an even more insidious event that lead to the moral decline of this nation. Elvis Presley!
Music also played a major role in the declining society that went hand in hand with the hippie generation. Music is a powerful mood-swinger; it can move people toward God or toward the devil!
And with what began taking place in the 1950s, and afterwards, in retrospect, it can be seen that music began moving the younger generation toward the devil! And like the Piped Piper, Satan would through the power of wrong music use it to impact all society and began its move after him and lead them into the forest to massacre and dismember them; the forest soon to come will be the Great Tribulation.
Elvis Presley was the forerunner of what has come to pass and set the stage paving the way for the Beetles. Then it became worse with hard rock bands following with very loud speakers in automobiles blasting out blatant sexuality, and then the rappers – “. . . these songs reflect a generalized rage, particularly rage against social authority”
Slouching Toward Gomorrah, pages 125-126, Judge Robert Bork. Many of their songs were very explicit regarding illicit sex and with words of outright rebellion against all authority and lack of respect for anyone. And the younger generation followed them like sheep going to the slaughter with their boom boxes with no respect for the older generation.
It's 2013, there are more pressing issue sin this world to worry about than Elvis and some hippies. When will these dumb-asses get their heads out of the past and present a relevant message for today?
