“Generation Z (also iGen or Post-Millennials) are the cohort of people born after the Millennials. There is some disagreement on the name and exact range of birth dates. Some sources start this generation at the mid or late 1990s with various ending dates, and others start it in the mid 2000s with birth dates ending around 2025.”
In this blog I am speaking of both teenagers and those in their twenties.
My son works as a supervisor of the night stocking crew at a local grocery store. They go through a lot of people because the job demands they get the trucks unloaded and the stock on the shelves before morning. Since so many of the people they hire do not want to work, most do not make it through the probation period. The last one they hired that my son told me about I found particularly interesting. He belongs to generation Z if we include those in their twenties in that “generation.”
My son told me he is a 27-yr.-old male who does not know if he wants to be a boy or a girl. He does not know if he wants to be a child or an adult (as his favorite pasttime is reading comic books). He does not know if he wants to be an atheist or believe in parts of all religions (except Christianity). He has no values or responsibility. After the first time the manager got on him about his lack of performance, he had some kind of panic attack and called his father. His father came to talk to the manager at 3:00 AM and pleaded for his son’s job since he had not made it through the probation period on the last four jobs. Because of that my son tried to work with him more than normal but could only get him to do about a fifth of the work that was required. Of course, nothing was his fault. According to himself, he was doing just fine. What was wrong with everyone else for even suggesting he was not doing good? When my son would point out specific things he failed to do that he was told to do, he would totally deny reality. He didn’t make it through the probation period. I told my son he is a product by design.
It seems the name “iGeneration” is particularly appropriate because the current generation is so self-absorbed with their self as well as gadgets, which even the media has acknowledged. Comedy shows such as SNL and others that try to appeal to the younger generation have done skits mocking how self-centered and entitled the current generation is acting.
Much of the behavior of the last couple of generations is not an accident but has been created by design. The architects of the New World Order have been working on making the very kind of zombie I describe above. I call them the HZ15 model. The “H” standing for humanoid, the “Z” for Gen. Z (or zombie if you prefer), the 15 for 2015. This is the prototype of the social engineers. The designers should be very proud of themselves since they have been working on this model for decades through schools, now from kindergarten through post-graduate universities; though large corporations; through the media; though Hollywood and TV; through all governmental structures; and now even through some churches.
The iGen is very “self-absorbed” they politely say. That is just another way to say they are extremely selfish and not concerned for others. One word that keeps coming up to describe this group is “narcissistic.” My son told me the young man (or woman) he tried to work with constantly talked about himself the entire night. He was living with his parents, and they wanted him to work; but he didn’t want to. He could not see a reason for it when he could live at home, all expenses paid. According to design, most have no morals, no responsibility, no social skills, and no respect for authority. They feel they are entitled to anything they want and are offended at the least thing that goes against their thoughts or wishes. If the U.S. adopts the U.N. laws for children, eventually parents could go to jail for suggesting their child do something they don’t want to. The United States has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), but is the only United Nations member state that has not implemented it (yet). Paul seem to sum up this generation,
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
I have often heard this verse quoted as speaking about the world. Paul was speaking about the church here or he would not have said, “having a form of godliness.” Most of the young people in the church are little different from the people in the world today. This is why I continually pulled my son out of church youth groups and left churches—I was afraid he would turn out like the kids in those groups. He is now 24 yrs. old, and I am glad I stop taking him to church youth groups. He turned out to be a good Christian young man, who actually knows a lot of the Bible. That is because I discipled him myself instead of allowing him to get his Christianity from youth groups. It seems most Christian parents were not interested in raising their children to be good Christians. If the churches are not producing good Christians out of their own children, we certainly cannot expect the world to do so.
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way” (Matt. 13:24-25).
In fact, that is why the current generation is the terminal generation. Since they are so self-absorbed and entitled, it is easy to see they will end up without any real friends and make enemies very easily. This is a generation that will be very easy for an outside nation to conquer. When the bombs begin to fall and the missiles stream by, they will be taking selfies and trying to get pictures of them and partying with reckless abandon. People have actually begun to die taking selfies next to cliffs and such. When the enemy comes to destroy us, Gen. Z will party till the end like the people in Isaiah’s day,
And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (22:12-13).
On the other hand some of Generation Z are the greatest hope for the church, and they have some very positive traits—although that may not be saying much. They are entrepreneurial, good at multi-tasking, technology-aware (no surprise here), confident, and achieving just to name a few positive traits. However, positive traits without a moral compass still leads to disaster.
So, the big question: is there hope for America’s future? To answer that we must look to the Scriptures. Was there hope for Israel’s future after they turned away from God? It depends on the time of the future. If you were talking about the short-term future of Israel while they were turning from God, there was never much hope without repentance. Israel split in two; and eventually both sections were exiled into the nations, just as God had warned them through Moses in Deuteronomy. However, the Scriptures were always hopeful about Israel’s distant future in the Old Testament. The short-term future looks bleak for America, but I believe America will survive into the future as a nation even though we will go through much tribulation and devastation first.
The generation of the HZ15 model is the most advanced technological people ever. That is good in many ways. However, I go to a Bible study breakfast every week with an old employer of mine who retired as a general in the Army. He told me that thirty years ago they were concerned about countries like North Korea developing a EMP bomb. An EMP, for those who might not know stands for Electric Magnetic Pulse. Some say if one of these were set off high in the air above say Chicago, it could wipe out every electronic device in the country. In a moment, even without any nuclear destruction, America could instantly be turned back to the stone age. That is one thing our enemies were working on thirty years ago! It does not matter how much technology you have if you can’t use any of it. In a moment one of the greatest advantages of this country could turned into its greatest weakness. The HZ15 models would not be able to function at all.
Since it took decades to create the HZ15 model, it will take decades to reverse the trend; and that is assuming it can be reversed at all at this point because not many are even trying to disciple this new generation including their own parents.
My hope for this generation is that since man has a propensity for rebellion and the designers of the New World Order are pushing to get rid of Christianity, that some will rebel against this pressure and investigate the Bible for themselves. Often when a generation is pushed in one direction, the next will begin to swing in the opposite direction. In my opinion the hope of Generation Z for the church lies in the Elijah ministry. We need a host of Elijahs to begin to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children back to godly fathers.
The best hope for the future resides in the home-schooled children of Gen. Z. These are the ones the parents cared enough about to personally invest into them even if it meant sacrificing an income to do it like I did with my son. My wife had a good-paying job that she quit as soon as she had him. Finances have been tight for us most of the time since; but God has provided, and our son is a disciple of Christ. Built into Gen. Z is God’s secret weapon for our times—homeschoolers. God still has a remnant.