Complimentary Story
I’m speaking today to young people especially, because YOU really ARE our future. The older generations are passing away. My generation will soon follow. And so before you know it, YOU are going to be responsible for the direction our country and our world takes. Life on this earth is short, like a vapor -- just long enough to test us and train us for eternity. I pray that each of us learn our lessons in this life well.Right now it would appear that MY generation MAY be the last one that truly knew God, and I am AFRAID we have failed you; we have failed to properly teach, disciple and pass on the the torch of our Christian faith to you. How sad for you.... but how utterly DEVASTATING for YOUR CHILDREN who may never grow up in a Christian home -- unless YOU make that happen.
What’s more, as political correctness, pastoral cowardice and the fear of men has crept into the Church over the past 50-some years, many false “christs” have been presented by many false teachers in many apostate churches. And for our young people, the awesome, solemn truths of Scripture have been reduced to fairy tales, cartoons and silly songs. As one young man said, “When I think of Noah’s Ark in the Bible, all I can picture in my mind is Veggie Tales. I went to Sunday School every week, where we never even opened our little Bibles or read anything from God’s Word. Instead, ‘Church’ for us was Veggie Tales, so now when I think of Noah’s Ark or the Exodus or the historical account of Jonah, all I see in my mind is a big, goofy, talking tomato.”
So is it any wonder that the time has now come when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but instead, to suit their own desires, gather around them a great number of teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear? As the Bible says, “They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to FABLES.”
And so as we begin today, let me reiterate what I said in a previous message. Satan is contending for YOUR SOUL and whether you realize it or not, YOU are in a spiritual battle, and you have a choice to make: just laugh it off and let him come take what he wants, or be a person of courage and integrity; walk through the narrow gate and follow the narrow road paved with wisdom and truth. Your friends most likely won’t join you on this path. They will prefer the easy road, the broad road known as the “Highway to Hell.” As a Christian, you can expect hardship, testing from God, shunning from the world, ridicule from former friends -- and you will find it hard to fit in with the Christian life at first. Because while you may be considered young adults now, you are really BABY Christians, even though you may have attended a church all your life. I dare say most of you probably know little to nothing at all about the REAL Jesus or the REAL Gospel. But now it’s time to get serious.
Just because you are young is no excuse for neglecting the things of God, or not living a God-honoring life. On the contrary, YOU can be an inspiration and example for others, even those older than you. Because you see, most ADULTS out there -- even most adults who are regular church-goers -- are just “playing church” too. There are FEW who really live the Christian life on the narrow road. But if we are going to see real, true CHANGE come to our country and our world -- a change BACK to the things of God and AWAY from the culture of death, perversion and evil, it really is going to take God’s TRUE remnant of believers -- young AND old -- rising up, courageously SPEAKING OUT for Him and LEADING others by example. As for your age, 1 Timothy tells us, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” That’s a tall order, but that’s what it’s going to take to make significant changes. YOU are going to need to be the ones to set an example to others -- especially professing Christians. An example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. And all these things are going to take tremendous COURAGE on your part. Are you up to it?
Because the Christian life is not for weak-willed women or effeminate ‘men.’ It takes REAL MEN and REAL WOMEN of honor, character and courage. Is that you? Or are you following the pack?
Let’s begin with some basics. Romans 12 tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Did you catch all that? Basically, it says the world we live in is literally hell on earth. So you need to RENEW your mind, you need to be TRANSFORMED. But there’s more. THEN, the Bible says, you will be TESTED so that you will LEARN to DISCERN what is Godly and what is not.... your WORLDVIEW will be transformed as your mind is transformed from a worldly mindset to a spiritual one. You’ll know a lie when you see or hear one, a mile away.
In Psalm 119:37 the writer begs God, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and give me life in Your ways.” Later on, Peter writes to his students, “...You have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” Speaking of your former friends, he says, “They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.” Yeah, sorry, but when you choose to live for Christ, you won’t be very popular. But you WILL be taking the right path. So many young people SAY they just want the TRUTH. They HATE hypocrisy. Well, if that is true of you, I can guarantee you, you will not find anything more TRUE than God’s Word and the wisdom it contains. So begin by studying, learning and meditating daily on the TRUTHS of Scripture. It will literally OPEN YOUR EYES and change your life...when you seek it seriously.
I would like, now, to share just a bit of one Chapter of God’s Word with you here. This is Proverbs, Chapter 4. Proverbs was written by Solomon; whom the Bible calls the wisest man the world had ever seen. Please, pay attention:
“Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. Then he taught me, and he said to me, ‘Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you...Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.’
“Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep ‘til they make someone stumble. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
“The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter ‘til the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
In these words of Scripture from the world’s wisest man, we find the basis of all else: and the bottom line is, PAY ATTENTION, DON’T FOLLOW THE PACK, SEEK WISDOM, GET KNOWLEDGE, CHERISH UNDERSTANDING, WALK THE RIGHTEOUS, NARROW PATH THAT LEADS TO LIFE, AND SHUN ALL FORMS OF EVIL.
A very tall order and an increasingly tough challenge in today’s day and age, especially for today’s youth, having grown up in a time and place where Satan’s charms are literally at your fingertips, free for the taking. Having been mislead and disillusioned by the Modern American Church, and never having the advantage of Godly instruction, today’s young people are, more than ever, drawn to what Paul describes in Galatians as “the acts of the flesh.” “Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies.” Paul provided a somber warning here. “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
How true. But what is most evident, at least to me, is, the longer the world CHOOSES this path, living according to their fleshly desires, rather than following the Spirit of God, the more and more wicked, evil and chaotic our world becomes. This should be obvious to you too. Just look around.
Remember this: Satan, the enemy of your soul, has an AGENDA, and he controls all aspects of power in this world: government, education, the media, entertainment, to name a few. As we have already seen, he has even wormed his way in to the churches, to deceive, if possible, even the elect -- even those who SHOULD know better.
He also wants to destroy families. Look at the inner cities for just one example. Look at how simple it is to get divorced; or how many today simply ‘live together’ outside of Holy Matrimony -- never getting legitimately married as husband and wife. Look at the REDEFINITION of marriage to include homosexuals for yet another. Yes, the destruction of the family is DEFINITELY part of the Satanic agenda. Then, the indoctrination and warping of young minds to accept what is Satanic and perverse as “normal” is next. And so we have mandatory government indoctrination centers which we call Public Schools. But to REALLY destroy souls, the devil must deceive as many as possible about the things of God.... and so just as he whispered to Eve in the Garden, “Did God REALLY SAY....?” he has infiltrated our churches now as well, and so now instead of studying the Old Testament as History, we view it as cartoons, fairy tales and entertainment -- “Silly Songs with Larry,” and “Veggie Tales.” How perverse.
To help things along, he has got most of us hooked on mind-altering drugs of one sort or another -- many legal, which the big pharmaceutical companies make billions on. Many ILLEGAL, which I dare say the powers that be make even more money on. Incidentally, you may realize that the Bible condemns witchcraft and sorcery.... but did you know that the Greek word for “sorcery” is “Pharmakea?” Yes, in these last days, Satan has enticed MOST of us into his demonic sorcery -- and has portrayed it as a good thing -- as MEDICINE. But just look at the legal disclaimers in all the drug ads, and you will see the demon behind the mask -- all the horiffic side effects these mind altering drugs cause. They are not medicines at all... You see... the Bible is true once more, even on this: these drugs are the devil’s sorcery. And he’s got most all of us hooked.
So as we close this message, my advice to you is to open your Bible, and start reading. Start studying. Most homes have three, four, five Bibles or more, yet few are ever opened. You NEED this information. Make it a habit to read one chapter of Proverbs each day, every day for a month; then do it again. At the same time, start reading from Page One in Genesis, and start reading the New Testament too. Don’t take anyone else’s word for what the Bible says. Read it for YOURSELF. See what it REALLY says. You may find that what you’ve always been taught, what you’ve always thought, just MIGHT be wrong... and if what you always thought about the Bible was wrong, WHEN would you want to know?
While you’re doing this, start studying history. It may have held no interest for you in school.... that is true for a lot of people. But I wonder if perhaps that was by design.... just MAYBE the history classes were designed to be so boring so as to cause students to WANT to remain ignorant of the lessons of the past.... When I was a kid in the 1970s, I actually learned more about World War II by watching Hogans Heroes than I ever did in school... and when I began to learn about history, I found it fascinating.
How about you? It’s my guess that when you begin to uncover the TRUTH of history, when you begin reading the Old Testament in the Bible as a History book, rather than as fables and fairy tales, when you begin to read to words of Scripture as the very WORDS OF GOD, your eyes will begin to open. When you learn the agenda of our enemy, Satan, and the powers of this world who work for him, it is my prayer that YOU will want to be on the side of God, that YOU will want to stand up, be courageous, upright, and be strong, KNOWING THE TRUTH, rather than living happily deceived and ignorant. The first step -- and the challenge to YOU now -- is to study and learn all those things the devil has tried so hard to keep you from knowing. So wake up, open your eyes and get busy. There’s no time to lose!
