Our young people are living in a world where toddlers on TV are dressed up like hookers for the titillation and entertainment of grown-ups, where children are given unfettered access to the bestial world of adolescent social networking, where the majority of elementary students have encountered online porn, and where “hook-ups” are not just conversation fodder but reality at ever younger ages. STD’s are rampant, homosexuality is now considered normal, and pop celebrities with their warped values reign supreme.
Standing at a checkout and noting Cosmo magazine’s latest Sodomesque headlines, just at a child’s eye level, it is amply evident that America is a nation living by its glands. Having stamped out any conscience from the law of God imprinted on hearts, parents stand wearily in line to pay for milk while their 8-year-olds read about sex moves. Just another day in Pompei.
But what about God’s people? How are our own children faring in the midst of America’s slide into the abyss? Are our sons and daughters living counter to the culture or have they embraced it? With the abandonment of the biblical Gospel in many evangelical churches, youth groups are too often a microcosm of the larger culture. Rather than run armories for the training of young soldiers of Christ, many evangelical churches run expensive day care centers for youth and adults. Christ’s command to deny self, take up our crosses and follow him has been discarded. The reason? That unsavory message will thin out the numbers, and in the minds of modern pastors, that is the ultimate sin.
But we need to do a regular internal critique within our own homes. If we as parents are not living consecrated lives and instead are caught up in the American quest for personal prosperity and happiness, we are modeling Laodicea for our children. Additionally, if we as confessing Christians are so involved in serving God outside of the home that we neglect our own hearts and the spiritual discipleship of our own offspring, we are likewise courting disaster.
In Matthew 7:14, our Savior told us that He has a remnant of followers and that few will find the path to eternal life. So let the corrupted evangelical church seek to draw the crowds under the Big Top. We must drown out the life enhancement messages from the megaphones of carnival barkers like Joel Osteen. We need to hear one Voice only as we live and raise families in this perverse generation—the voice of Jesus found in His unchanging Word. If we give our children that infallible teaching, we have loved their souls and fulfilled our calling.
Copyright 2012, Ingrid Schlueter
Posted on BigWorldWatch.com
April 27, 2012
Ingrid Schlueter was producer and co-host of the nationally-syndicated Crosstalk Radio Talk Show for 23 years, covering the compelling political, spiritual and educational issues of our time. She also published the popular Slice of Laodicea blog for several years, one of the early news and commentary blogs online dealing with wayward spiritual teachings within evangelicalism. She is wife to Tom and mother of six children, and currently blogs on faith and family at her personal site, The Hope Blog.