LCG

Josh Mcdowell wrote a book titled "The Last Christian Generation," and was about what it is titled the last Christian generation, he wrote about the trends within the youth and how if nothing changes the next generation would be ther last one. Thing is, this was written in the 90's! So that means is that us, the ones who are around 14-24 are in fact the generation he was referring to; looking at a majority of statistics over the past several years shows exactly the moral decline that was forewarned by many theologians and honest social observers. Next week is the election and each one promises change for this country, but the real "change" we need does not come from men, the real change we need is for many of my fellow peers to go back to the ideals of our fathers and repent of our sins and embrace the rightful King of Heaven, Jesus Christ. Teenagers, now more than ever, are more lost than ever; 2nd Timothy 3:1-5 says:

"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!" What I never knew of this passage of Scripture is that this actually refers to the church! Many of these things I can see within my culture that this permeates within the youth, and I can even see it within myself, I find myself relating to what Paul said, "The things I want to do are the things I do not do, and the things I do not want to do are the things I do do." This scripture gives me comfort that even Paul could relate to our feelings, granted it is no excuse to live in sin, but it helps me to feel not so alone. Better yet, Jesus can relate to our temptations, he never sinned but he knows our pain. Still, many within the youth refuse to follow him, they refuse to leave their sins and would rather trust in booze, sex, drugs, music, entertainment, celebreties, politicians, false religion and themselves. It never ceases to amaze me at the confidence these people have that they are good!

What is worst of all though is Christian teens, the youth groups' in this country are more of a liability than a benefit, many professing teens know less of their Bibles than even those within the secular culture. When the Bible, the Holy Word of God, is reduced and replaced by trivial means of entertainment or "relative," topical teaching is disheartening. The churches in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and even Europe are so hungry for their Bibles and real teaching; they are killed or persecuted and denied the right to read a Bible, yet within this country we (by we I am still reffering to teens) somehow think the Bible is now irrelevant and should be replaced with fancy videos and/or flashy magazines, it is absurd! I am so angry that people DIE over in India for proclaiming the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, but here we are too afraid to rise up and defend the Bible or even live it. Paul claimed to be the chief sinner, but I am right behind him if not there, I am no more guilty before God than anyone else is, I see the evil within my own heart; still, Christ saved my and cleansed my heart and gave me a new nature, does not mean the old one tries to return, but everday is a travel to get farther and farther away from that old nature and closer and closer to serving Christ. I posted a video a while back from an evangelist/missionary named Paul Washer, he was invited to speak at a conference for Christian youth, what he said was not some thing easy and not something that would be popular, instead told the truth that many teens were not willing to look at. He said that many within our youth groups are going to Hell, and are no more closer to God than the world; he said he knew that what he said meant he would never be invited back, but wanted to warn these kids to come out from the world, be different and stand up for the true teaching of Christ. I think we are all guilty of this, I am trying to change this, it comes in strides but the time is coming when we will all have to give it up I just pray more teens will realize this. What we really need is theology, most seeker-sensative, emergent pastors will say that theology doesn't matter all you need to know is Jesus loves you and wants to bless you; the propitiation of Christ doesn't matter, salvation by grace doesn't matter, repentance doesn't matter, understanding Jesus humanity and divinty doesn't matter, Jesus being the only way doesn't matter, etc... Trust me, this stuff has been said, but we are always told that teens could not possibly understand this nor would it impact them. Oh please! Like all the movies, all the skits, all the music, all the books, ALL of this wishy-washy, entertainment rubbish has done anymore to further the kingdom than solid theology and the Word of God has! And don't TELL ME teens are incapable of learning this, because I happen to be a teen who does care about theology, and know some others. But in the vast picture of things we are an increasing minority, but still, we do not need more entertainment we need more of the Bible. No more fancy wrapped cotton candy, give us the Bread.

Tiny note, I apologize for my grammar over the past year, I know it is bad and I need to learn edit. I am just lazy when it comes to typing. :D

Skits and salvation

Okay, I know people are going to hate me for this, but I am going to show you a video and give you my take on it. Ok so here is the video.



Ok, so the message of the skit was obviously about a girl following Jesus, she walks away from Him, enticed by the world, gets trashed and Jesus comes and saves her. Pretty straight forward, but before I go on does anyone see a problem? The issue with the skit is not entirely the message, because Christ came and died for all mankind TO save us because we are wretched and he is willing that no man should perish, that is not the issue. The issue is the fact we need a skit and an attitude in Christendom. I do not know whether this was at a church or a theater, these days they are about the same; but what is troubling to me is the attitude that the Bible no longer has a sufficient relevancy to this world. Even though 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that:

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

When I have gone through all the tribulations in my or my families life, never once did I find comfort out of the vacuous entertainment of people trying to portray a scriptural proof through a play, though at the moment it may strike an emotional chord of circumstantial similarity with the audience. Yet, it does not have a lasting impact that when the hard times come one says, "Ah! I know what to do! I remember the play I once viewed awhile back, the expression on the actors face and the interpretation of the scriptural truth gives me comfort." No, when we face our trials we lean on Scripture as the daily supplier of our needs and comfort; anything trying to represent a truth, only receives that truth from Scripture itself. More of these things, though, are meant for the world; like somehow a 10 minute skit can bring one to the knowledge of repentance and faith without ever supplying a Scripture is just insane! When did media become somehow more effective than the Bible? Last I recall, the Bible has been influential to all of society for the past 2000 years and has been in the hands of many countless changing generations, yet somehow NOW it is irrelevant and we need to make it more "hip" or "cool."

Plus I take issue with the fact that during this skit they played Lifehouse, yes they are professing Christians and yes I even happen to like their music. But they are not Christian artists and are still a secular band, just like I do not think we should be playing secular music in our churches I do not agree with this the same. That, however; is a pettier issue.

The main issue is the mentality of Christians that we NEED hip, catchy music in order to get the world to come to us; we NEED skits and plays in order to feed people with truth; we NEED television programs and books, ipod styled display screens and more "relevant" messages to attract the mass. It is called seeker sensitive, and what it fails to do is supply the church with the spiritual food we need, and it is focusing the church to much on the world and not enough of Christ. There is a part in which we are called to be ye separate ( 2nd Cor 6:17,) what all that entails is still a mystery to me, but when we can go into a church and see no difference between the personal lives of the members that attend than that of the unsaved, we have a problem. When the youth groups are so focused on the music, entertainment and the mediocrity of life, (not giving place to the things of God) that the statistics of Christian teen sex is essentially the same as the world; we as a church as a whole better heed the warnings to the churches in Revelation. Christians will struggle and fail as long as they are on this planet, but falling into a pool and fighting to get out, and falling in and swimming around are two separate things; let us all work out our salvation (Phillipans 2:12) for the time is coming when we will give an account for our talons and we do not want to run the risk of finding out that we invested far little than we could have.