John Fischer The Catch

Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. Ezekiel 33:7

Many of us are pioneers in the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early ‘70s when the radical and transformative reality of Jesus Christ broke out of cold cathedrals and came alive on the streets, changing millions of lives worldwide. The historical Jesus — the Son of God — exposed the lies of all systems and rose again, not to make us correct, but to give us Life.

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It was a time like no other.

When my generation was in grammar school, America was great, Abraham Lincoln was perfect, George Washington lied only once and that’s so he could teach us all a lesson about telling the truth. We got our first television when I was five and my favorite car, a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 when I was ten. It was a time of peace and prosperity — the time to ask questions based on this new media that open up a world beyond our own back yard. As a result, when we came of age we were full of questions, but there was time to ask them and time to look for answers. We were a generation with the luxury of experimenting with drugs, sex and rock and roll. We hitchhiked around the country, some from evangelical families traveled to Switzerland to learn about existential philosophy and to put their faith to intellectual scrutiny. We bought Eurail passes and traveled all over Europe with nothing but a backpack and a few dollars. It’s as if we took four or five years off and said, “What the heck, let’s explore, and learn, and experience new things, and see what we can figure out about life.”

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For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Matthew 24:27

I’ve seen my light come shining from the west unto the east

Any day now, any day now, I shall be released. Bob Dylan

It’s no secret that the return of Christ was a central, driving force in the Jesus Movement. That was, as much as anything, foreshadowed by pre-Jesus Movement apocalyptic popular songs like, “The Very Last Day” by Peter, Paul and Mary, “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater, “When the Ship Comes in” by Bob Dylan, and, of course, “Eve of Destruction” which we’ve already looked at. All these songs were popular in the mid-sixties. In other words, there was already a sense of unease about the end of the world that was a part of the prevailing culture in America. So when Larry Norman came along with “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” in 1969, followed by Hal Lindsey’s blockbuster book, “Late Great Planet Earth,” in 1970, the soon return of Christ was imbedded in the gospel message for at least a decade. The bottom line was, there’s not much time, better get yourself right with God while you still can. That was the warning part of the message. Of course, the good news was that Christ’s arms were open wide to receive all who came to Him seeking forgiveness, acceptance and love. Those messages went hand in hand.

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Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

There is perhaps no concept in Christianity more misunderstood than faith. For a long time I thought faith was my part of the bargain. God had His promises but I needed to exercise the faith to believe them. I mean, after all, we’ve got to do something, don’t we? Faith seemed to be a reasonable requirement. Until I started looking at Hebrews 11:1 more deeply where faith is “proof of things unseen.” Suddenly I realized that the faith I was thinking about wasn’t proof of anything other than my own efforts at having it. How can faith prove anything if it’s up to me all the time? When faith starts and ends with me, that’s as far as it goes.

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Eve of Destruction

by P.F. Sloan

sung by Barry McGuire

The Eastern world, it is explodin’

Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’

You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’

You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?

And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’

But you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

How you don’t believe

We’re on the eve of destruction

Don’t you understand what I’m trying to say

Can’t you feel the fears I’m feeling today?

If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away

There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave

Take a look around you boy, it’s bound to scare you, boy

And you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

How you don’t believe

We’re on the eve of destruction

Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’

I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’

I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation

Handful of senators don’t pass legislation

And marches alone can’t bring integration

When human respect is disintegratin’

This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

And you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

How you don’t believe

We’re on the eve of destruction

And think of all the hate there is in Red China

Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama

Ah, you may leave here for four days in space

But when you return, it’s the same old place

The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace

You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace

Hate your next door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace

And you tell me

Over and over and over and over again, my friend

You don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction

No no, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction

On July 14, 1965, Barry McGuire was asked to sing a trial vocal on a new song by P.F. Sloan called “Eve of Destruction.” Someone suggested he had the right voice for the song. With the lyrics in his hand scribbled on a crumpled piece of paper, and a small rhythm section backing him up, he laid down a vocal in one take, sure that they would do a more polished version of the song in the near future, if in fact he would get to be the singer on the final version. But that proved to be unnecessary, because that night, someone leaked the song to an L.A. radio station and the very next day, Barry heard himself, and his rough vocal, on the radio. And the rest is history. 

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