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Book review of Will the Theologians Please Sit Down, by David Bercot.

Carelessly drifting, the church drifts along,

For pleasure and folly, a gay, giddy throng;
Led on by the glitter, the pride, and the show,
So careless and thoughtless as years come and go;
Unheeding the voice of the watchman on high,
“O turn ye, O turn ye, for why will ye die?”
Carelessly drifting away from their God ,
Away from his people, away from His Word;
Bewitched and enchanted with sin’s siren song,
They plunge in the whirlpool of folly and wrong;
Forgetting the holy, the pure, and the true,
Still onward the byways of sin they pursue.
Carelessly drifting, the wise and the great,
The rich and the poor alike drift to their fate;
For gold and for silver, for honor and fame,
So blind and deluded their glory’s their shame,
Forsaking true wisdom and knowledge for dross;
They seek for mere bubbles—in hell they’ll be lost.
Carelessly drifting from Jesus and right,
Still farther and farther into the dark night;
The prayers and the tears of loved ones they crush,
Like filth in the streets as onward they rush,
Hard’ning their heart as an adamant stone,
Rejecting the blood for their sins to atone.
Carelessly drifting from heaven and home,
From bright fields Elysian forever to roam;
Far, far, from God’s mercy, His smiles, and His love,
To suffer forever ‘neath his wrath from above;
The blackness of darkness they choose for their fate,
They awake to their doom when alas ‘tis too late!
(Note that this poem originally started with the words, “Carelessly drifting the world rushes on,” but it fits the church so well, I changed it. The author is unknown.)

1. Think about yourself.
2. Talk about yourself.
3. Use “I” as often as possible.
4. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others.
5. Listen greedily to what people have to say about you.
6. Expect to be appreciated.
7. Be suspicious.
8. Be jealous and envious.
9. Be sensitive to slights.
10. Never forgive a criticism.
11. Trust no one but yourself.
12. Insist on consideration and respect.
13. Demand agreement with your own views on everything.
14. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them.
15. Never forget a service you may have rendered.
16. Be on the lookout for a good time for yourself.
17. Shirk your duties if you can.
18. Do as little as possible for others.
19. Love yourself supremely.
20. Be selfish.
This recipe is guaranteed to be infallible.
—Author unknown

The Church and the World walked far apart
On the changing shore of time;
The World was singing a silly song,
And the Church a hymn sublime.

“Come, give your hand,” said the smiling World,
“And together we shall go!”
But the good Church hid her snowy hand
And solemnly answered, “No!!

I will not give you my hand at all,
And I will not walk with you.
Your way is the way of eternal death,
And your words are all untrue.”

“No, walk with me a little ways,”
Said the World with a kindly air.
“The road I walk is a pleasant road,
And the sun shines always there.

Your path is thorny and rough and rude,
But mine is broad and plain;
My way is paved with flowers and dews,
And yours with tears and pain.

The sky to me is always blue,
No lack, no toil I know;
The sky above you is always dark;
Your lot is a lot of woe.

My way, you can see, is a soft easy one,
And my gate is high and wide;
There is room enough for you and me;
So let’s travel side by side.”

Half shyly the Church approached the World
And gave him her hand of snow;
And the false World grasped it, and walked along
And whispered in accents low,

“Your dress is too simple to please my taste;
I have pinks and oranges to wear,
Sensuous hues for your graceful form
And sprays to fluff your hair.”

Then added he, with a shake of his head,
Shielding his eyes in the glare,
“It makes much sense in this fierce sunshine
Your comely calves to bare.”

The Church looked down at her plain, modest clothes
And then at the dazzling World,
And blushed as she saw his handsome lip,
With a smile contemptuous curled.

“I will change my dress for a prettier one,”
Said the Church with a smile of grace;
So her simple garments were stashed away,
And the World gave, in their place,

Beautiful satins and flowery sheens,
With roses and lace and swirls;
While over her forehead her bright hair fell
In two bouncy, enticing curls.

“Your house is too plain” said the proud old World,
“Let us build you one like mine,
With kitchen for feasting and rec room for play
And cabinets never so fine.”

So he built her a costly and beautiful house;
Awesome it was to behold!
Her sons and her daughters met frequently there,
Shining in purple and gold.

There were cushioned seats for the lazy and rich,
To sit in their glutton and pride;
But the poor who were clad in humble array,
Were scorned ‘til they went outside.

Powerpoints and films in the halls were shown,
And the World and his children were there.
Laughter and music and ping-pong were heard
In the place that was meant for prayer.

The angel in mercy rebuked the Church,
And whispered, “I know thy sin.”
Then the Church looked sad, and anxiously longed
To gather the children in.

But some were away at the midnight bowl,
And others online did play,
And some were hangin’ at Pizza Hut:
So the angel went away.

Then said the World in soothing tones,
“Your children mean no harm—
Merely indulging in innocent sports,”
So she leaned on his proffered arm,

And smiled, and chatted, and downloaded photos,
And walked along with the World,
While countless millions of precious souls.
Over the fearful brink were hurled.

“Your preachers are too old-fashioned and plain,”
Said the smart World with a sneer.
“They frighten my children with dreadful tales
Which I do not like to hear.

They talk of judgments and fire and pain,
And the doom of darkest night.
They warn of a place that should not be
Mentioned to ears polite!

I will send you some of a better stamp,
More brilliant, educated, fast;
Who will show how men their flesh may please
And go to heaven at last.

The Father is merciful, great and good;
Loving and tender and kind.
Do you think He’d take one child to heaven
And leave another behind?”

So she called for pleasing and smart divines,
Deemed gifted and great and learned;
And the plain-spoken men who had preached the cross
Were out of her pulpits turned.

Then Mammon came in and supported the Church
And sat in a well-padded pew;
And preaching and chorals and floral display
Soon proclaimed a gospel new.

“You give too much to the poor,” said the World,
“Far more than you ought to do;
Though the poor need shelter, food, and clothes,
Why thus need it deprive you?

And afar to the heathen in foreign lands
Your thoughts need seldom roam.
The Father of mercies will care for them:
Let charity start at home.

Go take your money and buy nice shoes
And cars and pickups fine;
And phones and ipods and cameras,
The latest and costliest kind.

My children, they dote on all such things,
And if you their love would win,
You must do as they do, and walk in the way—
The up-to-date way they’re in.”

The Church her purse snaps tightly shut
And shamefully lowered her head.
She whimpered, “I’ve given too much away.
I will do, sir, as you have said.”

So the poor were pushed out her mind;
She heard not the orphan’s cry;
And she silently covered her Mastercard
As the widows went weeping by.

Thus they of the Church and they of the World
Journeyed closely, hand and heart.
And none but the Master, who knows all things,
Understood they had once walked apart.

Then the Church sat down at ease and said,
“I am rich and in goods increased.
I have need of nothing, and naught to do,
But to play, to sing, and to eat.”

The sly World heard her and laughed in his sleeve,
And mockingly said aside,
“The Church has fallen, the beautiful Church;
Her shame is her boast and pride.”

Thus her witnessing power, alas, was lost,
And perilous times came in;
The times of the end, so often foretold,
Of form and pleasure and sin.

Then the angel drew near the mercy seat
And whispered in sighs her name,
And the saints their anthems of rapture hushed
And covered their heads with shame.

A voice came down from the hush of heaven,
From Him who sat on the throne;
“I know your works and what you have said—
But alas! You have not known,

That you are poor and naked and blind,
With pride and ruin ensnarled;
The expectant bride of a heavenly Groom
Is the harlot of the World!

You have ceased to watch for that blessed hope,
Have fallen from zeal and grace;
So now, alas! I must cast you out
And blot your name from its place.”

David uttered the words of the title in the midst of fear and reproach on every hand, and with Israel’s armies fleeing in defeat. None-the-less, God’s chosen and prepared servant went forth fearlessly to the conflict in full confidence of victory, relying for his strength and power upon the Lord alone. Saul, backslidden and forsaken of God, had lost all his courage and power. But he still wanted to put his own armor on David.
Thus a cold form of godliness today insists upon putting its carnal armor upon the faithful servants of the Lord, raised up by God. Thus, he who would prevail in this holy warfare against the overwhelming forces of darkness and evil that come in upon us in these days as a flood, must not put on the fleshly armor of a powerless and apostate Christianity from which God has withdrawn Himself.
“And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.” He not only had to see that these things were going to be hindrance to him, but he had to actually take them off. Weighed down thus, he would never had been able to conquer his powerful foe. He said, “I have not proved them.” What proof have we made of all this man-made armor of these days, when a form of godliness denies the power thereof, that we should put it on to better equip us in our efforts to lift up the standard of God’s Word against the power of the enemy?
What revival of God’s power and working has all this man-made machinery brought to us since we have departed from the simplicity of the Gospel. The committees and the organizations; the programs and the entertainments; the vain display and seeking and receiving honor to the flesh, and the giving of it to others as an inducement to greater effort and zeal; the musical attractions; the emphasis on educational attainments; and the recreational projects that are to serve as a bait to lure the young into the gospel net: what proof of its virtue has all this humanly devised armor given us that we should put it on as we seek to go forth against the coldness and deadness all about us unto victory in the name of Jesus our Lord, until the revival fires of the Holy Spirit and His burning love are kindled again in the hearts and lives of His people?
Has not simplicity and humility and separation from what is worldly and fleshly been always characteristic of the time of true revival and manifestation of God’s power? And has not the astonishing growth and multiplication of these carnal means and methods within evangelical religion been marked by so great and unprecedented a withdrawal of the glory and presence and working of the Holy Spirit, that all can see that professed Christianity is being left to its own coldness and deadness, while sin rages on every hand unrebuked, and the world rushes to the swift destruction that awaits it?
May God help us to reject all this carnal armor, which not only has not been proven and tried and found true in the holy warfare, but which has been fully proven to be the powerless weapons and defense of an apostate church.
Where God works, He will be glorified, and He will manifest Himself according to His will. But all this human machinery and display give the Holy Spirit no place nor room to manifest Himself. When we let the Lord clean out the temple, He will fill it with His glory. As we read the records of revival in many different times and places, we cannot help but notice how God worked outside of the ordinary and expected channels, where the human systems would have choked out the workings of God’s Spirit. Often times envy, as with the Pharisees, would raise up a storm of persecution, but God worked through men who were willing to follow His plan at the cost of all things. Through faithful men, a great victory was gained for God. And over and over again we have seen these times of refreshing followed so soon by a spiritual decline and backsliding. As the newly imparted spiritual life began to mold itself into another human system, and the revival fires began to die out and the spirit of worldly apostasy began to work.
No, we cannot go forward and gain victories for God that He sets before us until we put off all this unproved and untried armor of the flesh, and go only in the strength and power of the Lord God. The early church had none of the present-day accompaniments to religion. They served God in the simplicity of the gospel and relied upon Him: and He wrought wonders!
In a generation, the message was proclaimed far and wide over the known world, in the power of the Spirit. The didn’t have to advertise and lure the people in by worldly expedients. The power of the Spirit was manifested, they relied upon Him, and He did the work.
We read in the account of the Welsh revival of its simplicity. The works of men were notably absent, but the Lord was exalted; no choir, but everybody sang; no collections. People got out of the way and gave the Lord a chance to work.
We know that the Christian life is a supernatural life. We know that this is so in the individual soul or life: That it is not our own works, but “Christ in us the hope of glory” who is manifested by faith through a life wholly yielded and separated unto Him alone. Then why must we believe that the church—which is composed of souls and lives yielded to God and led and moved by His Spirit—must be organized, led, and controlled by the hand of man, and filled with men’s works and plans of a godless age in order to function at all? It seems that there can scarcely be found one group that is not swallowed up in the spirit of social activity and entertainment and in the multiplied works and programs of man’s own making. It seems that a people can scarcely be found where pride and the flesh are not on display, drawing attention to itself. There are suppers and parties and youth activities of various kinds that keep the young people active in the church, but which never lead them into the living fountains of waters that Christ has for those who seek His face.
Christ said, “Let the dead bury the dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” When will the church be ready to let the world carry on the material things of this world, and devote themselves to the one task of proclaiming the everlasting gospel in the power of the Spirit to a lost and perishing world? There is an attraction and a power in the simple preaching of the word of God—when the Holy Spirit anoints—which draws and satisfies the hungry soul, and which does not require as a prelude a musical entertainment.
If we trust the Spirit of God to lead us in His way in our own personal life, why not trust Him to lead us in our public worship, into the pure worship in spirit and truth that God seeks from His creatures, and which He will accept? If we cannot come before God individually in our own dead and empty works, why should we offer to Him the works of our own hands in our public assemblies? If we live thus in our personal lives, in our own way and works, they will be empty and void of His presence and power; and this is not less in the church?
Where is the people who will have the courage to put off all these heavy weights that the enemy has loaded upon us, to follow from henceforth the simplicity of the gospel, the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints?” Who will forsake completely the worldliness and the empty forms of these days of apostasy , and learn from God’s word and from the example of the primitive church the pure worship that God will own and bless, and through which He will manifest Himself in working a mighty work of salvation in the hearts and lives of men?
As we pray for revival, and that God may make us strong soldiers for Him, able to defeat a powerful and wily foe, and to rescue precious souls from the clutches of Satan, let us pray for God to give us grace and courage to put off the armor like David did; the carnal armor of an apostate generation from which God has departed. And let us pray that we may be clothed with the armor of God, that we may be able to stand in the evil day, and to stand against all the wiles of the devil. Like David, we cannot go forth and prevail with unproven armor; we cannot go forth to victory carrying these things.
May we through the name of Jesus put on the whole armor of righteousness, “on the right hand and on the left,” and may we take unto ourselves “the weapons of our warfare, which are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds”; the armor which has been tried all down through the ages, and which has stood the test of every battle.
~Author unknown

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, by the name of Common Sense. Common Sense lived a long life but died in the United States from heart failure at the beginning of the new millennium.

No one really knows how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, factories, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness. For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense.

He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life simply isn’t always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge), and it’s okay to come in second.

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression , and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including whole language, and “new math”.

But his health declined when he became infected with the “If-it-only-helps-one-person-it-is-worth-it” virus.

In recent decades, his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of well-intentioned, but over-bearing regulations.

He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers.

His health rapidly deteriorate when schools endlessly implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for using a swish of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student, but could not inform the parents when a female student was pregnant and wanted an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than their victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the Boy Scouts to professional sports.

Finally, when a woman failed to recognized that a steaming cup of coffee was hot and was awarded a huge settlement, Common Sense gave up the ghost.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility, and his son, Reason.

He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

–Author unknown

You see two men, armed to the teeth, warring for righteousness.
One is looking left, the other right (on purpose, for the composite I made).
They are real historical figures, etched as a relief in stone.
On the left is John, on the right is Peter.  No, they are not John and Peter the apostles.
They are men you likely never heard of- John Zizca and Peter Chelcicky.
John and Peter hailed from medieval times, in the early days of the 1400s.  Both of these Bohemians-now called the Czech Republic-had a zeal for God, and a desire that the church of Jesus recover from the Roman Catholic apostasy.
John picked up his sword to defend against the Catholic crusaders.  Peter picked up his pen.
See the above picture.
One-eyed John Zizca was a formidable man to war against.  Five times he and his peasant warriors repelled Catholic crusaders who had come to squelch the “heresy” that Read the rest of this entry »

We talked a bit in Driftology 102 about the difference between drifting and falling overboard.  While falling overboard seems more serious—and it is in the sense that if the person is not rescued promptly the current will take him downstream in a hurry, if not drown him—the drifter is not in much better shape.  He is all the while drifting along with the current, but feels good about himself because he is at least “still in the boat”.

How do we tell if we are drifting?

I like the analogy given by a preacher once of a bunch of boats on a bay.  As long as the boats keep looking at each and monitoring their position by each other, no one will give heed to the fact that every last one of them is being carried along with an unseen undercurrent.  They are still the same distance from each other as 12 hours ago…  Never mind that they all have drifted 2 and a half miles along the coast. Read the rest of this entry »

As a continuation of Driftology 101, I would like to comment on a few points of that article.

1. The example I gave was “real-time”, real life example.  It was not given to “get back” at anyone in particular, but just a documentation of a real, present-day drift.

2. Some may say, “But what is wrong with shortening the skirt from mid-calf to knees?”  The problem with drift is that it will not stop at the knees.  Yes, it might stop at the knees for the first generation of drifters, but the second generation of drifters will always take it x-degrees further.

3. God is not so much concerned as to exactly where we are at, but where are we headed.  More like the world, or less like the world?  More inclinations to the flesh, or less?

Now, as the main point for this post, I would like to tlak about the difference between drifting and falling overboard.  My analogy may not be the best, but take it for what it is meant to be: the distinction between a fall and backsliding.

Suppose John Doe is in the river of life.  He has set his boat against the current of human tendency and is rowing towards godliness, charity, and holiness.  In a turbulent section of the river, John makes the stupid mistake of standing up and looking back over his shoulder.  The boat hits a turbulent wave of water at that moment and John falls overboard.

A fellow-boater rescues him, and soon John, shaken but grateful, is back in his place, oars in hand.

John was not guilty of drifting.

A person that happens to fall into a sin while in this pilgrimage is not necessarily a drifter.  The drifter may well console himself by looking at John Doe and thinking, “At least I am still in my boat!”  He is hanging on for all his might so that he does not fall overboard, but he is not rowing, and the stream is carrying him along on a downward course.

To speak without allegory, John Doe may fall into something dreadful, like willfully lusting at the magazine covers at the Wal-mart checkout.  It is not a habit, but he happens to be off-guard one day, and “Splash!”, there he falls.

He has not drifted.  When he recovers, he is still dead-set against pornography as he ever was, and none of his other personal convictions have slipped an inch.  He confesses before the brethren with tears, pleading for the prayers of the saints.  Meanwhile, Joe Drifter kind of pats himself on the back.  He has just slipped downstream in his convictions a few yards, and feels a bit put out that John Doe had just moved past him, going in the other direction.  So when he sees John Doe fall overboard, he shakes his head with a smirk- “Yeh, look at those folks upstream…”

Next, Lord willing: How can we discern if we are drifting?

Various recent happenings have prompted my mind to the subject of church drift. First, I received an article called, “Sitting in the Gates of Sodom”. This piece, while dealing with the subject of the church drifting over into politics, made me think of another similar article which I read many years ago called “Pitching towards Sodom”.

I cannot find this article now, but it spoke of how Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom, only to end up living downtown in the end. Scripture does not indicate whether he intended to end up there or not. One thing is sure; he had no intentions of losing his wife and other family members in its destruction, on that first day when he pitched his tent just a little closer than where it had been the day before. Just a little closer…to losing everything he had, even his moral integrity.

During the last 20 years, I have read and studied church history and revival history with great interest. Motivating this pursuit have been a couple of nagging questions:

1. What causes revival?

2. What causes revivals to die?

For the moment I will skip over question 1, and presume that we have found ourselves in the middle of a God-given revival of real Christianity. Death has given away to life, and sin to holiness. Divine charity has driven away Self, and hope has kindled a flame of fire in our soul.

Will it die? If so, when?

One of the next provocations to ponder more on drift was that of visiting a congregation which I knew of from some dozen years ago. Sitting in the meeting, I could not help but ponder on the changes from a decade ago, with great sadness. Thinking of people I knew, both still in the congregation and some no longer there, I wondered if I would have believed it a dozen years ago, had someone told me where those folks would end up.

And yet, I foresaw it somewhat. About 10 years ago I had been asked to preach on a Wednesday evening meeting, and spoke on the subject of “enduring to the end”. In that message, I mentioned how that historically it has been a general statistic that only about one out of ten people in a revival will still be hotly burning after 20 years have passed by.

Well, the minister of the congregation told me later that he had gotten some ‘feedback’ on that comment. There were those who thought that was just a little bit “hard”.

Ten years have passed. It was a conservative Anabaptist-type church, and stood for non-resistance, separation from the world, modest and plain apparel (with average dress-length being probably 6” from the floor and mostly low-key, solid colors), head-veils that covered on average probably 80% of the hairline, debt-free living, simple housing, small businesses, brotherhood care (no insurance unless required by law), street-preaching/tract-distribution of some sort going on basically every week, etc.

Shall I share a few ’statistics’?

A now has televisions in his house. His daughters wear slits in their skirts and coverings that basically cover their bun.

B Now wears lace on her dresses, and has her children watching stupid little children’s DVDs—and I call comic-type DVDs ’stupid’ even if they are a Bible-based theme.

C used to hunger and thirst after holy living. Dedicated to mission work, dressed modest and plain with skirts almost to ankles. Now wears make-up, jewelry, and no veil at all.

D built the biggest, nicest house in the neighborhood, with many thousands of dollars just in cabinet tops. The unsaved in the community mocked in derision at “those plain folks”.

E also built a new house and is badly in debt.

F did not build a new house that I am aware of, but is bad enough in debt that he has to work like crazy to keep up with things. His daughters wear form-fitting skirts, and son sports some classy side-burns—things he would have not allowed in the past.

G has kept his personal standards, but his children and wife have not. Again we see the bright, flowery dresses, and skirts to just barely below the knees. Veils have shrunken about 50% from a decade ago.

H has pretty well kept himself as well, and his wife, but has lost the majority of his children. He no longer speaks out against things, although he personally would hold pretty much the same personal standard.

I is in the same boat as H, not willing to say much even though he does not like what he sees. He has called one person “divisive” who still stands for the original positions of the church.

J married K — Bright splashy clothes and bluejeans are the go, with a collection of “toys” [meaning: "unneeded, expensive tools used for toys"]. Very little evangelism like it used to be.

L came from a conservative Anabaptist background. I saw his picture with a necktie just recently. His wife had the reputation a few years back of “running into town every two weeks to come up with a new outfit for church”.

M built a new house with all the “American necessities”, called “luxuries” in most of the world. Not a big house, but enough $$ to send several missionary families to South America for a couple of decades. The old house really was still in good shape.

N has threatened to “hurt someone” [meaning shoot them], and his daughters now wear clothes he once would have called worldly.

Is it all bad news? (In the cases above, these happenings would not have been practiced 10 years ago.)

No…

Z came from the local community, a pot-smoking, beer-drinking, good-ol’-boy American. He is now where the main church used to be in his values, wondering why almost everyone else is headed where he came from.

Y was a young fellow in the church who dedicated himself to God, live or die. Has held his values firm the last I knew, and has reputation for godliness, stability, and holiness.

X has held pretty firm in convictions, making a minor ‘liberalizing’ change in an area or two, but making others in a more ‘conservative’ way. Has a reputation from all sides as a servant.

I could go on. My point is that my statistic is proving itself to be fairly accurate: 20 years down the road after a revival, only one or two out of ten still have the fire burning in them. In this case, only 10 years have passed. What will the next ten bring?

To be honest, I do not even like to think about it. It is too sad.

Now we come to the final provocation that caused this article. I just finished listening to a taped sermon about “2nd-generation” Christianity. It was given at a youth conference, and as such it was directed towards that side of the “generation-gap” problem. In spite of how well I liked the sermon overall, I had to think of what needs to be said to the parents of those drifting youth. They are at fault as well.

I think of one of the families listed above that has a generation gap. The father had, and still has, a strong personal convictions in many areas. Yet when his teenage sons wanted to indulge in things the father used to speak out against as fleshly entertainments that were detrimental to spirituality, he did not seem to have the guts to ‘just say no’. No, they were not asking to smoke pot or have some rock-n-roll in the tape-player. They just wanted to pitch the tent just a little closer to Sodom’s green grasses.

“I mean, what is wrong with green grass, after all? Did not God make the grass pretty green?”

In my early Christian life, there was a song I used to listen to. The words come floating through my mind now, even though it has been years since I have heard it (Put good stuff in your mind when your young, boys!!)

…Farther away, drifting farther away.

Please, precious LORD, send conviction today.

Disgraceful living, in pleasures of sin,

LORD it’s all they will know without you….

Fathers and mothers, you have the God-given injunction to help instill in your children a hatred for the flesh and its outworkings; a healthy fear of God.

No, this will not save your children or bypass them from the need to be born again by the Holy Ghost. But it will provide a base for them, an anchor to help keep them from drifting along with a sin-sick world that has little or no ethical or moral anchoring place—let alone an anchor into holy living. Building strong personal convictions in children is an anchor for them. Later, when the child becomes an adult, the anchor will be pulled up and the young adult has to find his own way in life. What will happen, or what has happened, when your child’s anchor is/was pulled? Do they drift downstream with the rest of society? Or do they have “an unction within” that moves them against the current, going deeper and further in holiness unto the Lord and charity unto men?

To be continued…