“The time’s comin’ that’s gonna separate the men from the boys.”
My father-in-law reminded me of that bromide almost every time we were able to spend time together. At the time, I chalked it up to his advancing years causing forgetfulness, so I did my best to ignore what I believed to be repitition. Little did I know.
I’ve never held my in-laws to be anything but family. My father was always ‘Daddy’, and Dad was, well, ‘Dad’. And so on, and like that. My brothers and sisters in law? It was just simpler for me, especially as a boy growing up, to receive them all as my elder siblings.
Hence, upon his ‘retirement’, Dad and I spent many a wonderful, lazy hour on Oregon’s Detroit Lake, tricking some of those leery lake trout into joining us for dinner that evening. That’s usually where I heard it again.
“The time’s comin’ that’s gonna separate the men from the boys.”
After awhile, even I begin to pick up on the obvious. We who are educated beyond good sense tend to aim with our noses those of lesser smarts. Dad graduated high school, then began farming. That’s what you did in central Indiana. Farmed.
Dad farmed. He farmed so well Taylor University tapped him to operate their farm, which he did well during the war years. I know that because when he tried to enlist, the government informed him he was too vital in producing food to be wasted behind a rifle. He stayed in charge of Taylor’s farm operations until he felt a call from God to preach and teach Christ.
Years passed as he was faithful to that call. Local pastor, district superintendent, confidante of general superintendents–and a disarmingly casual philosopher.
And, as it turns out, a modern-day prophet.
Dad wasn’t being forgetful as he reminded me how our Times would one day require we males of the species to step up and man up. He was imprinting that fateful truth in my mind.
Why’d he choose me? Dad had three sons of his own, each talented and able. Though I’d never asked them, I wondered while listening to the relaxing, rhythmic lapping of the lake’s inviting waters against the boat’s hull why Dad Meeks spent so much time engraving that statement on my mind and spirit.
It’s almost like he knew I’d one day be tapped by God to begin writing this blog, sending out Facebook memes, and working as a pastor and hospital chaplain. I preached, taught, and counseled it too, without any idea as to the when, where, or how of it. Looking back, I’m thinking I bored to tears anyone willing to listen with that same prescience.
“The time’s comin’ that’s gonna separate the men from the boys.”
Well, my 2nd Cup friends, we’re there. You’re now staring down the days and nights that will indeed separate the men from the little boys, the spoiled, impudent, undisciplined, morally-vacuous, lazy miscreants whom the world’s Marxist adults have spent decades indoctrinating.
To those of you, especially my own children, who have heard me say the same thing as Dad spent long decades saying to me, here’s the deal.
You may have heard it as a dire caveat, a troubled warning. It is both of those things. Yet for the men thus indicated, it is a beckoning to serve. It is a positive, powerful call to man up, and an invitation to join God’s men across our city, state, nation, and world as we each individually, and all together, recognize the true scope of the spiritual threat now being openly forced upon us and those we love.
Brothers, I don’t know what this means to you. Sisters, I’ve no clue how this all plays out for the men in your lives. I do know this: the godlessness and lawlessness, even in the halls of our own government, requires us men to accept the Holy Spirit’s inspection. This time that’s going to separate the men from the boys? It has nothing to do with physical prowess or the ability to take up weapons and wage actual war – though those things may at some point be required.
No. This coming time calls for us to first be God’s men: spiritual warriors who both know and practice intercession – yeah, real praying – for everyone and everything precious to us. It’s the kind of Ephesians 6 praying that bludgeons Hell, and won’t let up. The Adversary doesn’t like that. Hell can’t stand it, or, to quote my great-grandson, “I DON’ WIKE IT!” In other words, it’s the kind of spiritual gut-check that will instantly reveal the true nature of your inner spiritual life.
Get this. Witches Came out of the Woodwork
11-12 God did powerful things through Paul, things quite out of the ordinary. The word got around and people started taking pieces of clothing—handkerchiefs and scarves and the like—that had touched Paul’s skin and then touching the sick with them. The touch did it—they were healed and whole.
13-16 Some itinerant Jewish exorcists who happened to be in town at the time tried their hand at what they assumed to be Paul’s “game.” They pronounced the name of the Master Jesus over victims of evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus preached by Paul!” The seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were trying to do this on a man when the evil spirit talked back: “I know Jesus and I’ve heard of Paul, but who are you?” Then the possessed man went berserk—jumped the exorcists, beat them up, and tore off their clothes. Naked and bloody, they got away as best they could.
17-20 It was soon news all over Ephesus among both Jews and Greeks. The realization spread that God was in and behind this. Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus. Many of those who thus believed came out of the closet and made a clean break with their secret sorceries. All kinds of witches and warlocks came out of the woodwork with their books of spells and incantations and made a huge bonfire of them. Someone estimated their worth at fifty thousand silver coins. In such ways it became evident that the Word of the Master was now sovereign and prevailed in Ephesus. (Acts 19:11-20, The Message)
You’re getting this, right? Hell’s always known the most damaging way to mess up God’s good work on Earth is to counterfeit it. And Satan’s most effective when he can co-opt Christians – yeah, even priest’s and pastor’s kids – to cause the most embarrassment and hurt.
Friends, look at this morning’s news broadcasts, if your stomach can take any more. Can you not see how the thugs and lawless elements have inserted themselves, taking the place of thus-far-peaceful protesters, and even dressing like them? Have you noticed there are now Islamist ‘police’ patrols in American cities, some dressed just like NYPD police, and driving cars looking very much like radio cars of New York’s finest?
Do you think this is by mistake? You have to know better. Take a good look at how every enemy of all that’s good, right, and decent in America, including the ultra-Leftists who now control the U.S. House and part of the Senate, spends so much time looking, sounding, and acting as close like their opponents – even in their talking points and claims about what they’ve accomplished.
Why? To confuse you and me, befuddle our minds, and make us question whether those actually trying to do what’s right really are.
One more time: “The time’s comin’ that’s gonna separate the men from the boys.”
My 2nd Cup friends, you are staring right down the barrel of a bunch of liars, cheats, thieves, amoral and totally corrupt politicians, and their Antifa and supposed-BLM criminals whose uber-wealthy overlords continue to think they’re controlling.
Names of international types with very deep pockets may come to mind, along with social media and tech tyrants. Guess what? They are mere mortals, and when in the shower they look pathetic and even ridiculous.
They’re not ultimately in control even of themselves. The Adversary, Satan, is. There’s only one kind of force that will always beat him back, and will always win.
So. Dad? You were right. You couldn’t know how or when it would happen, but your insistence made me start telling the next generation the same thing.
That time is here. It is now. Yes, there are physical enemies now trying to usurp real estate and entities that are in no way theirs. Yes, we may need to physically stand them up and force them to admit they’ve stepped in the middle of our American freedoms once too often.
But beyond all that bluster and criminal activity, there’s a much more vital, powerful battle being waged that calls for men and women of real spiritual muscle and training to take up solid positions on the front lines.
Either you’re ready and already in that fight, or you’re nowhere near ready to meet Hell’s minions in spiritual warfare, and need to get back into your personal quiet time and reestablish Whose you are.
Whichever it is, be honest, and get the lead out. You’re either ready or you’re not, and those already on the front lines could use your help. Your city, state, and nation needs all God’s veterans on the wire, because this offensive isn’t child’s play, and the Enemy won’t leave quietly.
Yep. One last time . . .
“The time has come that’s gonna separate the men from the boys.”
© D. Dean Boone, June 2020