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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

How Satan is Using Baptist Churches to Destroy Our Youth-Youth Groups

Much of the material that would be true concerning SS's would be true here. But in most youth groups, the problems become magnified.
1. Peers becoming a strong and sometimes, the primary influence on the young person.
How true this is and we have seen it numerous times. Little by little the parents become less influential and they are replaced by the peers of the child. And usually, and due partially to the error of the churches to "bring everybody in" the influences of those peers is not good. Most youth groups are made up of young people that are either not saved or carnal. Though there are exceptions to that, they are just that-exceptions! Kids will learn of the world, that you as a Christian parent should control their knowledge of, and you will be unable to do so if you allow them to be in a youth group. A good friend of mine, when approached by his pastor about starting a youth group, stated to the the pastor that a youth group was fine, but only if he was always present with his children-that killed the idea of the youth group. Listen, MANY young people in our churches are worldly, carnal, unsaved etc. and any parent would be a FOOL to habitually let them under those influences. We have seen results of this over and over-the heart of the young person changes, they become more worldly and less spiritual etc. And if you are thinking that your child will influence the others for Christ and NOT be influenced by them, then perhaps you think to highly of your son or daughter. Surely there are some that will not allow themselves to be influenced but that is not the norm. And this idea of bringing in the youth to get them the gospel is unscriptural and as already stated, damaging to the Christian young people whose parents attend the church (of course many in that category are unsaved, worldly etc.) The church is supposed to be God's people meeting together, not a soul-winning booth. And not understanding this has done great harm to the purity and scripturalness of churches today. Biblically we should witness to the lost in their homes etc. and IF they come to Christ, THEN they should be invited to assemble with the believers. This is evident by the word itself, which means a "called out assembly" and historically you only see this "invite the lost to church" philosophy for about the last 100 years, if that. In the scriptures you see that an unbeliever meeting with God's people was the exception, not the norm (See 1 Cor. 14:23). So what has happened in the last few years is that LOST and WORLDLY people, including young people within the youth groups, have PERMEATED our churches, INFLUENCED the saved to their own hurt, and WEAKENED the purity of the local assembly. Now some might say, "What if our youth group is made up of ONLY church kids?" Again, this changes NOTHING. Are all those children SPIRITUAL? Is there a spirit of Godliness and Holiness in the group? Are there enough GODLY leaders to know EVERYTHING that is going on? Listen, I have seen the youth that make up the youth groups in many churches. Overall they are WORLDLY! The "cool" guys, the "unchaste" girls etc. the talk is more of the world, the recent movies, the rock music etc. than spiritual matters. Again, there may be exceptions, but these things are nothing but natural results of children being left to themselves! I KNOW that perhaps your child is different and spiritual and has a right heart-but then WHY put him/her in an environment habitually that can hinder that! We quote the prayer, "...lead us not into temptation..." but then we as parents put our children in a place where they will be tempted by their peers to love the world, develop ungodly attitudes etc. WRONG! WHY NOT KEEP THEM WITH YOU DAD AND MOM AND MAKE THAT BOND STRONGER BETWEEN YOU!
2. The opposite sex
This is a big one brethren. Flirting, indecency, "giving the eyes", sensual moves, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. YOUR CHILDREN NEED NONE OF THIS! This worlds mentality has become the norm for our churches. They WILL be approached by these things in a youth group! Your children NEVER need a girlfriend or boyfriend! Your daughter should not be in a position where she has to deal with a flirtatious punk, neither does your son need to be tempted by a teenage girl who is not chaste and pure. I have seen some in the youth groups that are closer to the strange woman of Proverbs than to that of a godly young lady! While there again may be exceptions to this, WHY TAKE A CHANCE WITH YOUR CHILDREN, who you are SUPPOSED TO BE DISCIPLING for Christ! Dad and mom should be the ones to teach their children about the opposite sex, temptation and how to deal with it etc. and during this very important time in their life it is very unwise to habitually put them in a position where they will face these issues and not have you with them! AMEN!
3. What is the Purpose of the Youth Group? I was asked years ago to be a youth pastor. When they inquired about what I would teach them, what I would do etc. I explained that, though we would have some fun, my main purpose would be to teach them Bible Christianity and this would include scriptural roles for the boys and girls. Since this included the teachings of the "woman at home" etc. they went ballistic! I would scare them away from coming! You see, the purpose of tis church was to BUILD the youth group, the bring in more NUMBERS, NOT TO TEACH THE BIBLE! Certainly it is good and healthy for young people to have fun, but that should NOT be our goal. However if our motive is to BRING IN MORE PEOPLE, then FUN becomes the focus, and that my friend is ERROR! Recently at a camp meeting we went to in upstate NY, there were many families present from different parts of the country. Though there may have been some mild variations, all believed in modest apparel, homeschooling etc. The youth did play games but did so in a modest way. For example if they playing volleyball, there was no mixing of the sexes on the same team. The goal in the meeting was for youth and adults alike to be TAUGHT the scriptures, challenged in their Christian life etc. Families sat TOGETHER, it was not children from two, three or four families sitting together apart from their parents! This meeting lasted about a week and I personally noticed NO flirtation, NO immodesty etc. that would be a temptation or a stumbling block to my children-AMEN! Brethren, If you have the right motive for a meeting, the parents will be welcome and the purpose will be to train the youth biblically. But todays youth groups are overall very carnal and FUN is the motive and supposedly a TOOL to bring in the lost, which I have covered already. Interesting thing is brethren that almost ALWAYS, when the fun is gone, the treat, the reward etc. then so are they! This is true also for churches that "bring 'em in with a race car driver, worldly speaker" etc. When the FUN leaves and serious Bible comes in-off goes the one who was only there for the candy or treat!
I realize that this post is long and again, I hope that it will be a blessing to many.
Brother James
1 Cor. 15:58

2 comments:

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becca said...
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