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Concerning the current state of our youth, there is only so much that we can do. Our job is to give them God's Word, and to be a Christian example to them. But beyond that, as we learned earlier in this series, they are in God's hands. We simply cannot override their free will and personal choice. They alone must decide what they will do with the truth we have given them, just as we had to do at some point in our lives. To reiterate a point from part one, God is the only one who can touch their hearts, and convict them of sin. It is He alone who can draw them to Himself by His Spirit. Yet, there is a big caveat here; and that is that they must be willing. They must have seeing eyes, hearing ears, and also receptive hearts.

Tragically, right now, as we all know, many of them do not see, and they do not hear. They have hardened their hearts and are in a state of outright rebellion against the Lord; so much so that they openly flaunt their sins before His face. Yes, they hear something alright, but sadly, it's the wrong voices. They are communing with the evil spirits of the world. They have in fact been seduced. I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy almost two millennia ago:

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, GIVING HEED TO SEDUCING SPIRITS, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;"


Many of you will no doubt recall a verse that was written by King Solomon about a thousand years before the time of the Apostle Paul. In the Book of Proverbs, Solomon writes the following words of wisdom:

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."


As you may know if you are a Bible history buff, there is a certain irony to the previous verse. As I point out in the seven-part series entitled "The Fruits of Disobedience", and elsewhere, Solomon -- who was King David's son -- backslid terribly from the faith of his father. Not only did Solomon engage in relationships with many pagan women, but he also introduced a lot of pagan worship into Jerusalem in his old age, which greatly angered the Lord, as becomes evident by the following group of verses:

"But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded."


As a result of Solomon's sins of idolatry and sliding into such deep apostasy, the Scriptures inform us that the Lord lifted up enemies round about him. However, it wasn't until his son Rehoboam sat on the throne, that ten of the tribes of Israel were taken from him by the Lord, and given to Jeroboam, who had fled years earlier to Egypt, in order to escape Solomon's wrath. The only tribes which were left to the house of David were Judah and Benjamin. This all came about due to Rehoboam's foolish refusal to listen to the wise counsel of the old men who had likewise served as the advisers to his father, Solomon.

Imagine that. Young David so loved the Lord, and wrote many beautiful Psalms to Him. He grew up to become one of Israel's greatest kings and warriors. Not only that, but David was one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ. Then, due to covetousness, lust and pride, he greatly sinned against the Lord, when he engaged in adultery and murder. But David repented, and God not only forgave him, but also blessed him and Bathsheba with a son who would become the next king of Israel, and who would build the House of the Lord.

Tragically, as we have already seen, despite the fact that he had been so blessed by the Lord, Solomon too fell in his old age. I have wondered if perhaps it was God's mercy that King David did not live long enough to see the terrible backslidden state of his son. According to tradition, David died in 961 BCE. This would have been about four years after Solomon became the new king of Israel.

Sadly, we today are in a very different situation. We -- that is, the older generation -- have watched as the United States has become trapped in a spiritual decline, the speed of which boggles our minds. Like myself, many of you no doubt remember what life was like just fifty years ago. Granted, it was far from being perfect back then as well. But in some ways, life was a whole lot better than it is now. People were a lot more decent and respectful. On the whole, the nation was likewise a lot more God-fearing. There was no cussing, nudity or other carnality in movies and television shows. One could flip the dial on the television set without worries of inappropriate material appearing before our children's eyes. Music was also clean for the most part, and contained zero vulgarities.

Yes, as I mentioned earlier, sin existed back then too, as it has always existed. However, it was not nearly as blatant and in-your-face as it is today. Today, one cannot escape it. As we have already discussed, the very laws of our land flaunt sin and rebellion against the Lord and His holy Laws. Our TV shows, movies and music blare defiance against God. We kill millions of unborn babies, while at the same time we dare to hypocritically shout "Save the seal! Save the whale!" We are sexually confused, while our children are continuously abused by people in whom we have placed our trust. We are a nation totally consumed by carnality and excessive materialism. We love TV and movie violence, and we wage war on weaker nations when something is to be gained. We are slaves to the bottle, or else constantly in a chemically-induced stupor. And all the while, we have the audacity to sing "God bless America!".

Yes, my friends, by her own foolish choice, the U.S.A. has selected her current path, and it is by no means a good one. The current tide of liberalism and rebellion against the Laws of God will surely be America's doom, unless there is a great national repentance. However, despite calls for the same by many of God's people for a number of years now, I simply do not see this happening. If I may be honest, it seems to me as if the United States has already gone over the edge, and is now in a state of free fall, just waiting to hit rock bottom. Many of you will be familiar with the following verse which is found in the Second Book of Chronicles:

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."


That verse clearly describes a people who are in a desperate state of repentance, perhaps similar to the Jewish refugees who returned from Babylon after seventy years of captivity. If you are familiar with the Book of Nehemiah, then you may know that the Jews were so determined to regain God's favor, that they were even willing to forsake their foreign wives. Clearly, America is nowhere near that level of repentance. I see no national repentance on the horizon. Do you? America has many foreign lovers in the form of false religions which have slowly crept into the country. She has not kept herself pure and undefiled. She has been soiled by a thing called multiculturalism. Like Israel of old, she has abandoned her spiritual husband, who is the Lord. So how can she possibly continue to expect or demand God's favor?

As I mention in another recent article, we older Americans have had our chance to shape the future, just as King David raised Solomon to love the Lord. Some of us did our best to raise our own children in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. We gave them God's Word. And for some of us, that is the most heartbreaking part of all; because it is some of our very own children who are now leading this wave of rebellion against the Lord, just as Solomon later backslid from the Lord. They have indeed departed from the way in which they should go, in direct opposition to what King Solomon wrote in Proverbs; and they have embraced things which we find utterly shocking, revolting, disgusting, ungodly, and totally unnatural.

But sadly, the tragedy does not end there. Due to their state of delusion, our own offspring have the audacity to accuse us of being the bigots, the haters, and the homophobes, when we try to remind them of the serious warnings which are found in God's Word, and the bad fruit which will result if they don't repent of their wickedness. As some of you will know, there are certain situations where Christian parents are now hated and despised by their own children, and treated as outcasts, because said parents refuse to go against the Lord or abandon His holy Laws. In short, they refuse to embrace the misguided liberalism of their wayward children.

This reminds me of a dear, elderly friend of many years -- now deceased, I believe -- whose adult daughter was involved in a lesbian relationship, and who eventually even "married" her partner. This tore apart the mother's relationship with her daughter. Some of my longtime friends may recall how I too have mentioned before that about ten years ago, my own teenaged daughter also went the same route and was involved with a lesbian for a period of time. It came as a total shock to me, considering that I had raised her in a very Christian environment. This likewise drove a wedge between us. While my daughter still holds some very liberal views, thankfully, she is now in a very healthy, heterosexual marriage relationship.

I have seen similar comments being made on Facebook where my friends lament how this same blight has caused divisions in their families as well, and caused them grief and heartache. While I believe that the Lord is referring to events which occurred during the latter half of the First Century in the following verses, nevertheless, they describe things which we are seeing in our own day to some degree as well:

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."


"Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."


"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law."


As I mentioned earlier, there are some very powerful, wicked, deceptive spiritual forces at work which have taken control of the hearts and minds of some of our own children. They've been seduced and bewitched by these vile lying spirits. The Apostle Paul mentions these wicked forces in verses such as the following:

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."


"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"


"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."


There is another sad truth which we must recognize. That is that we cannot fight our children's battles for them. We can certainly pray for them, as we all should, but we cannot win victories for them. That is something they must learn to do on their own, if they are willing. As we have seen, that is precisely part of the problem. Some of them don't even know that they are going down the wrong road. They are convinced that it is we who are in error. Such is the level of their deception. I really don't know what it is going to take to wake them up, other than harsh judgment from the Lord one of these days.

My friends, in conclusion, our time is almost past. I have considered that our generation may quite possibly be the last voice of opposition, before total wickedness takes over this world. Once we are dead and gone, who will there be to rise up against the current tide of evil? Will there even be enough strong Christians left to continue waging the battle? Let's face it. Even now, our voices are slowly being drowned out by the younger generation, and the wave of liberalism which has swept the world. It is a very sobering thought, isn't it?

Like it or not, the future is in the hands of our offspring. They are going to make whatever decisions they will make; and honestly speaking, there is very little that you and I can do about it. As alarming as it may be, given what we see happening now across the country, I would not be the least surprised if in another twenty years -- or possibly sooner -- America will become a nation which you and I will hardly recognize, and one in which you and I will probably not want to live. It is already on its way there, and that is a very troubling thought indeed. God help us all!

On a final note, allow me to share one more observation. If we consider the ungodly state of the world today, it gives us a clearer understanding concerning why Early Christians were so willing to be sacrificed in the coliseums of Rome, and leave behind the wicked world of the First Century. It was obviously far better to be in the presence of the Lord. I am not necessarily suggesting that this is going to be our fate -- because I obviously do not know -- but if it were, would you be prepared to make such a sacrifice?

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Abortion: The Slaughter of the Innocent
Are You a Burning Ember for the Lord?
Are You Crucified With Christ?
Are You Redeeming the Time?
Churchianity or Christianity: Which Do You Practice?
Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: A Warning to Modern Society
Do You Want Love and Light, or Rod and Wrath?
Don't Ever Underestimate Our Spiritual Enemy
Free Will and Personal Choice
Musical Ministries and Wordy Preachers
Parable of the Sower: Salvation and Service
Queen James Bible: Blasphemous Abomination Exposed!
Study, Work and Don't Be Ashamed
The Fruits of Disobedience
The Gay and Lesbian Agenda: To the Point
The Internet: Our Final Frontier; Your Last Chance?
The Public School System and School Prayer
What is Wrong With Modern America?
When Sin is No Longer a Sin

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