Parenting

Proverbs 22:5-6 “Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

I was fielding a job to replace a closure that had been hit by a car, on the side street of a local High School. School had just ended and the classrooms let out the students, who walked by me on their way home as I took my measurements. To my shock, these young ladies were carrying on a conversation with each other using the filthiest language and subject matter imaginable without thinking that they were doing anything wrong ... and this was a Catholic High School. Not only are the children being taught that “wrong” (in the eyes of God) is “right’ (in the eyes of society), but also taught that there are no moral laws of God that they are accountable to. Ignorance of Biblical Truth, Authority of God, Lordship of Jesus Christ and eternal destiny has produced irresponsibility in our youth is epidemic in our culture and America is reaping the consequences of godlessness. Grace rejected is grace removed. This can be, and must be turned around today. Proverbs gives the formula for remedy and righteousness - parenting. God is on the throne, sovereign in control, and involved in His creation and the events of the days that He, alone, ordains.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” As darkness is the absence of light, spiritual darkness is the absence of the Light of God revealed in Jesus Christ. If a foreign nation came into the United States and taught our children atheistic immorality and godless existentialism, it would be proclaimed “an act of war”. But we are corrupting this nation from the inside by not properly parenting and not teaching the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the foundation of life and living. I read this lately: “Corrupt the young. Get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial; destroy their ruggedness.” – Quote from the first plank of the communist strategy for revolution - confiscated in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1919. Are we there now? Nation, Family & God are being replaced by tribal-like, social peer groups that have lost the sight of what sin truly is. The definition of Sin is: Any lack of conformity to, or transgression of the Law of God. By pretending that there is no God (Creator of Heaven & Earth, Author of Life, supreme and resolute Lawgiver, our ultimate Father), then is no law and no sin, except measuring up to “man”, to be obligated and responsible to. But fantasy is not reality; God exists, rules His creation and we are obligated and responsible. To sin, literally, means to “miss the mark” or “falling short” of the perfect righteousness of God. The Law of God is a mirror that reflects, reveals and displays His character and nature, designed to allow us to see our own true moral character and nature – our sins of omission (not doing what we should do for God) and sins of commission stepping over the line of His standards, for any reason). Not to drive us, by conviction of not measuring up God’s perfect standards to the sinful and perverted standards other men and women, but to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for forgiveness, redemption, restoration and salvation. There we find, love, joy, peace and contentment in life. Our youth are receiving the “wrong” message. Who will give them the “right” one?

I watched a politician on TV the other day, talking about biblical morals and godly values that affect our society, wrongly say, “There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes.” The Word of God in the holy scriptures of the Bible is the standards and authority for every individual and society, always and forever, because it was given by the Author of Life and Creator of All. We, the Children of God, are not in a Christian Cocoon and must get out into our society to affect our culture for Christ and the growing of the Kingdom of Heaven. Train up a child in the way he should go ... with God.

1 John 6-7: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His son cleanses us from all sin”

In Christ, Brian