I have seen young people as young as 6 and 7 preach behind pulpits, and on the street corners. Using God's word, without even understanding it. Talking about sin, as if they know anything about it! Arrogant prideful parents who think their children are anointed for service because of some baby dedication service! Your kid is special to you but he is not special enough to be ministering to adults and hardened sinners, he is a kid like my kids.
You say "he can handle it", he has been in the ministry! You tell a young christian in the pew to abstain from such events, then you take your kids there to behold all the rioting? I thought we are supposed to abstain from all appearance of evil. Oh, that only applies to the compromiser who buys bread at the corner store that sells liquor. It somehow all of the sudden doesn’t apply to you, the street preachers and public out reach operators who mingles yearly, monthly, and weekly with the sodomites, drunkards, and revelers at their gatherings. Because someone has to tell them right? Your going to preach to them,... I know.
I thought it was wicked to be mingling of the lost? Unspeakable things are done at these events in some cases. Things that you stand there and let your very children witness. You boast of not having a TV and not allowing your children to see such filth. But this rule doesn’t apply in your public out reach ministry? Young minds, who don’t know what experience is.
You justify this the same deceitful way. “They need to “know the difference between the holy and profane”. “This will show my children right from wrong." You go on ahead and keep SHOWING them! (I would rather teach my children right from wrong than necessarily show them the unholy and profane.)
You draw the attention to yourself and the things you preach against when you protest in front of theaters that play theatrical films you may dislike, but allow your daughters and sons to witness “mimic” sex acts, and hear all sorts of profanities directed at their fathers as sinners mock your preaching at festivals and worldly events. “They need to see that?” They need to see that to tell the difference!?! Maybe I just haven't reached that spiritual plateau!
You publicly rant on the things like the dangers of TV instead of Jesus Christ to a world who literally sees nothing wrong with the dangers of Television because they aren’t of HIM, showing every one how spiritual you are, but you let your kids see these acts of mock orgies on the streets. “Why would you put that in front of your children?”. Assuming, and accusing everyone who may have a TV is less spiritual than you. How is it different for your kids? It is because you DO think they are special, the same way you think YOU are special!
They bring it back to the calling like any professional tradesman. “This is my calling! So God has given MY children grace and discernment to deal with what they witness. This is elitism, and then surely the child grows up the same way thinking because of his exposure to such things, he has knowledge beyond his years. This is pride.
“They are my children.” “They will witness these things to learn the “difference”. Separating themselves spiritually from anyone who doesn't have the call or the same standards. This same tactic is employed by the Roman Catholic Priests and Jesuits. Organized religion at it’s finest pontificating level, yet it remains childish and immature in its traits and it’s nature.
Ministerial problems today are also many. We see Father’s passing down their pulpits to their children with zero God behind it, as well as missionaries sending all their children to their favorite seminary schools and colleges. We expect this submission at an early age for them to be surrendered, not to God, but to the work of God. We want them to be submitted to all the structure before God even saves their souls in many cases. This creates a religionist heart and boxed up view on reality and life.
I believe in structure and discipline, but sometimes, children need to be little sinners! I realize some get saved at 5, but I don’t put much stock in that either. They don’t even realize truly what sin is in themselves. They may know sin is wrong, and they shouldn’t do things. And they may repent of this and accept Jesus with the best intentions like our weak minded man following teachers tell them to do. But they never understand they are sinners.
So then they grow up with what most PK’s and MK’s (Preachers kid’s or Missionary Kids) grow up with, a warped sense of reality, and a condescending view towards others not like themselves. Remember, they accepted the structure at a young age. They were given the structure, the training and all the traditions, and then they are showed how the Bible seemingly validates and advocates all these positions they already accepted blindly.
Soon, they get older and start realizing what sin is, but they already have been playing the religious game for so long, so they learn how to hide and handle every situation of carnality they indulge in. Dangerous grounds as parents and pastors. And a lot of these cases are ending up behind our pulpits. They hide it so well, they are experts at it.
God raised Israel, nourished them, (Isa 1), and they still rebelled. We have been pushing for salvation in young minds, persuading them to it, formulating it in their life, laws and regulations, just like Israel. We train children more to be like OT Israelites then Christians. The law is no more! It is there to serve as our school master, and instructor. We are to take heed to it’s teaching and doctrine, but we are not to replicate it.
We make our 6 year olds read out of the “book of the law”, because that is what Israel did, and Deuteronomy suggest this. We make them street preach at age 9 because “bless God”, my children will be used of God. We fully indoctrinate our kids before they are 12 with so much Bible they could go toe to toe with any average joe. I know kids who can debate end-times better then most preachers! We plant our images of what we want their future to be in their minds and insert subtil hints to lead them down the path of righteousness? Are we using our parental authority to guide or to manipulate?
What if they were not meant to go to Seminary, or Institute? Yeah, your sweet "preacher boy" son! What if God's plan for him was altogether different from yours. And even then, all the while, you claim that you know what God wants for him! What if they were not meant to preach? Not every one is called! What if they were not meant be “in the ministry”. What if they were not meant to leave their own nation for the rest of their lives, forsaking their friends and family, for the Great Commissions sake?
Or let’s try it this way. What if God, never intended your son or daughter to do “God’s service” that you pushed them into for years. Children can be pleasing to God without being active in our ministries! But our minds think this way. We can’t imagine our blessed children not in the ministry like their Dad and Mom! “I have no greater joy then to hear that my children walk in truth!” Yeah, except it is "walk in truth" not the ministry! When this verse is used, thats how they mean it, the ministry.
What if God wanted your daughter to marry the local carpenter who would go on to support and take care of her every need. But she ended up marrying a zealot, went off to the some glorious 10/40 window, and spent the rest of her days under a man who has his authority wound so tight, it would shock her parents to hear how he talks to their precious jewel.
But “bless God, they are working for God.” They have a appearance of living for Him and thats all we care about isn’t it? “We are getting their prayer letters”, “It seems a great work is being done”, “Look what my children are doing!” When the man is actually fudging on everything, excessively exaggerating the prayer cards, defrauding churches, smacking his kids around, doing and saying unspeakable things to his wife, and ultimately ruining any Christian influence he would have had among those we call the heathen.
“Thats just one case brother!” Is it? How do we know? Among our ways, with deputation, accepting men at face value, not dealing with hard questions, not having any real unity, just allowing unorthodoxy for the sake of the greater good and pragmatic thought? What if the man was devoid of any call of God, and it was all invented in his own mind since he was a child? We are so naive and assuming. We need to remember we are in the last days, and ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing are everywhere, even in our little sheltered Baptist societies.
What if God wanted your son to go to a, “God forbid”, secular school for some unseen reason God has planned for him many years down the road, but instead, he “felt God called Him to preach the gospel”. Imagine a child of the preacher or evangelist working in the world! So he is advised and prodded to give up his job, his income, and he refuses to work for a secular institute ever again because his calling is so much more important then the well being of his wife and family.
These are accurate depictions of today’s portrait of many young people coming out of seminary. And we systematically push the will of God with talk of a call of God, whatever we make it be, on our kids, they may begin to believe it, and pursue a wrong path their entire lives.
It will be interesting to see how everything plays out in Glory! All our decisions, agendas, and real reasons may be beholden of all!
With the incessant need that we have created to show evidences or urgencies, we often invent them where they do not exist. Which is why we must have students being called off to seminary, we must have reports of souls being saved by the missionaries who are called. We must associate ourselves and fellowship with schools, societies, boards and camps!
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