Category: Youth

King Ahaz was described as one encouraging moral decline in Judah. We need to make sure we are not guilty of the same. This article offers some things which encourage moral decline, which we need to steer clear of as children of God.

In recent decades, cultural trends toward secularization have served to marginalize believers and their faith. Church membership and attendance has decreased dramatically. How have most denominations sought to reverse this negative trend? By becoming relevant. Oh, the siren song of relevancy! In effect, there is a need to appeal to the carnal man, because a spiritual approach will not get them in the door! Has the Lord’s church been trending in the same direction? If so, how? And what is the proper response to a world that shows no interest in God?

There is a mix of pride and melancholy when a middle-aged man is shown a picture of himself in his high school yearbook. He stands…

I fear that some brethren’s reticence to hear good, strong doctrinal lessons on topics such as the nature of God and Christ, why the Bible was written, apologetics, etc., will pay terrible dividends in the form of our children leaving the faith for these false, Eastern “notions.”

We do not want to send our young people to a college run by brethren if we can’t trust that they will be taught the truth while there. We don’t want to send our children to summer camps run by brethren if an appeal to emotionalism is the rule. We don’t want to have our children attend youth retreats and lectureships if they get the idea that fun and frolic is the work of the church. While we want our children to know how very precious their souls are, we do not want them to think that the work of the church is to cater to their whims.

It is the responsibility of parents to “put the yoke” upon their children (Ephesians 6:4). Parents must insist upon conformity to good rules in the home. They must see that they bear the “yoke” of attending Bible study, being in worship, and attending gospel meetings. Children who do not learn to bear the yoke in their youth bring sorrow and shame to their lives in their maturing years. Yes, “It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.”

Young people need our older brethren to take them by the hand and teach them all the counsel of God (Acts 20:20). We do not need back-slappers, and men who compromise “the faith once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3) to keep the young people interested. This is a detriment to spreading the borders of the kingdom, it is not an asset.