The Youth: On the Path of Good, Or on the Path to Evil!

The Youth: On the Path of Good, Or on the Path to Evil!                     By Kelly Durant 3-15-15

1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

2. They say you got to be young and dumb before you get old and wise; I think we should be careful with this mentality because wisdom is there for the young or old! Some youth are wiser than old fools! Some young people are very capable of being strong leaders and God throughout history has often chose young people to lead. I think more young ones could rise to be leaders but sometimes the ones stopping them from a great mission in life are the old ones who doubt their abilities and familiarity is an enemy!

Consider a few young leaders called by God in the Bible. Samuel was called by God as a child answering to God’s voice in the night. David was possibly 14 when he killed Goliath and then became the King’s assistant. Daniel was taken as a slave when young and was honored as a leader not long afterwards standing firm in his convictions in Babylon. Some records indicate Mary, the mother of Jesus was not any older than 16. And today in scripture we observe that Paul is letting everyone know that Timothy should not be disrespected as a leader just for being young man. Was he even 18, we do not know? But recall most people such as the Romans in Paul’s day usually died by age 35! Age 18 would be comparable to age 40 today! 

A young person, if living honoring God in holiness, will gain a powerful anointing for a special calling, and it is up to all of us to recognize this calling and support them! The factor with people, as when you or I were young, is there exists an inherent desire to want to adventure out and conquer the world! Channeled energy can be good, right? But independence can turn out very wrong if not guided by God! I observe that most all of us get energized from the activities of the youth who can for the most part be very optimistic, willing to take risks, and have a positive confidence believing that they have the ability to bring about a good “change” to this messed up sad unjust world.

3.  Speaking of the messed up world, the perceptions the youth have of the world are ones that have been shaped by us, the parents, as well as by past teachers in schools or extended family (and include church family too). Do you recall there was some advice, which was a reality check, that circulated not long ago?  I want us to revisit these important concepts as they reveal a lot about the condition of our youth in the world today.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

4. Here is an obvious conclusion, and tell me if I am wrong young people: A young person decides what they will do in life when usually about age 18 based on the good or bad influences or experiences they have had growing up? There is a contrast of radical convictions reported in the news as we hear of sacrificial young people going to serve in danger zones and even getting martyred helping the poor on missions. And at the same time we are informed about other young people raised pampered with the freedoms of the West, even girls, that chose to travel abroad in order to be trained to kill non-Islamic men, women, and children for jihadists? Not only young jihadists kill, but Hitler, Stalin, all the dictators had a young teenage army who were trained killers? So what causes young people to be so extreme, either extremely sacrificial, or extremely cruel? We as Christians know Jesus makes all the difference!

The biological clock ticks loudly in young brains and there is an acute awareness that whatever path one chooses between age 18 and 25 will greatly influence the rest of their lives and they desire significance in this world where they are often disrespected. Love or bitterness usually motives one’s actions. The past weeks I have been in awe hearing of our young people’s plans who are graduating from High School this year. Some want to be military, others will go to study to improve their artistic talents, and there are some undecided still, but in general most of them are dedicating their selves to something they consider worth their whole life investment. What a heavy decision! What reaping will occur the rest of their lives from their investment while young?

It is a pity that we do not have more young people choosing to be Salvation Army Officers!  Well, there still is time for that decision and many decide this even after college or the military, or even after having started a family. I didn’t know about the Salvation Army calling until I was 40 and at age 48 the leaders at the Evangeline Booth College For Officer Training took me and my wife in to get equipped and trained, God bless them! I find we have been challenged and blessed ever since! 20 years of non-stop action, and that is keeping her and I young! (But we feel old sometimes keeping up with it all!)

5. Like it or not it is a process of nature that young people mature and leave behind the parents, the games and toys, and they pick up the college books, trade tools, or instruments that will enable them to flourish and express their inner selves. The problem in fulfilment and expression is, is it a God inspired expression, or is it some worthless vanity? Sometimes in college it is easy to see others get tricked to swallow a twisted vision by some deceived person of the world promoting a godless agenda seeking ego inflation by giving a so called purpose to low information followers.  

Young people have impressionable minds and what the old college professors share with them does influence them heavily. The sad part is there are countless kids that grow up in the church and in general they mostly choose right things being in a positive environment influenced by the teachings of Jesus in the church, but then about age 18 they fall and get corrupted away from that in just a couple of years! Here is a warning: Colossians 2: 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

All of us must stand firm in Jesus or we will fall for anyone! Even here in our Corps there is a young person that told me that they have a professor in college that tells everyone he is into porno and is liberated and feels no shame about it. This is criminal and a horrible influence, and a professor like this is unfit bring shame on academia and the universities. However, this is the so called normal that the youth live with today! This professor of course would obviously mock anything moral or Christian and these highly paid worthless godless agenda propagandists are proliferating to no end setting young people down dangerous amoral paths in life! People are getting hurt and devastated from abusive narcissists! I personally have a big problem that many young people are  being brainwashed into the communist liberal mentality accepting every kind of sin as normal preparing them to unabashedly mock all moral hard working people who are conservative or Christian!

6. For the older crowd. I will warn about the degenerate climate in which our young people are forced to live in. Girls and guys are extremely proud, vain, and unashamed of their liberal behavior fomenting debauchery and sickness. There are several “apps” for the iphone so people can meet and hook up with any stranger nearby not just to chat but to have sex! This app (I will leave it un-named) gets multimillions of hits daily! And due to these types of activities in our increasingly degenerate society recent reports state that 1 in every 3 people in the U.S. have an STD! “More Than 110 Million Americans Have an STD: Report.” 15 million new cases per year! (see link)  http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/02/14/more-than-110-million-americans-have-an-std-report    Sadly these habits and lifestyles that lead to the highway to hell begin in college!   

So have a little mercy on the youth considering the world’s sin laden condition! Ask, what can you and I do for our young people who remain in the good path in holy living, who reject living in lawlessness like so many wolves, goats, and prodigal sons? We must honor those who stay firm on the path of Christ like Timothy. 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.   There are few here who truly are worthy of our respect and unfeigned support as they are staying close to God.

When I was about 14 there was much talk about the “Generation Gap”. The youth in my day grew up with a very different more comfortable educated life than our parents who worked hard on farms. We were the first ones to grow up with television (black and white), with wild loud music, marijuana and drugs, and hear of new oriental philosophies mixed with messages of love and peace. We lived through the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, and a man landing on the moon, and suddenly our parents seemed hillbilly and lost in the midst of the changes rapidly going on! Now us today, who used to be “hip” can feel lost around our own children observing them race through computers with their tech savviness. 

7. I wanted to share with you some of the characteristics of the youth of today to encourage you and them that there are many things positive about them. And you have seen my example, I almost always give everyone (the youth in particular) a chance to lead with the desire to want to see them go far in life.  The information below is from this article concerning young people born at the end of 90’s being those coming into the 2,000s.   http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2013/12/8-millennials-traits-you-should-know-about-before-you-hire-them

Millennials are…Multitaskers and can juggle many responsibilities at once but they may get easily distracted and find social media and texting hard to resist.

Millennials are Connected…and know all about social media because we are living it. They are constantly perusing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  - it’s how we share and get information.

Millennials are Tech-Savvy…and know more than other generations, although Generation Z may soon surpass them!?

Millennials want…Instant Gratification & Recognition to feel like what they are doing is important and that they are on the right track.  Yes, it sounds a little needy…and it is. But, many Millennials grew up with constant praise from their Baby Boomer parents. It’s what they know.

Millennials: Work-Life Balance & Flexibility…Millennials aren’t as willing as former generations to sacrifice their personal life in order to advance their careers. They like to “work hard – play hard” and want to be at a company that appreciates this desire for balance.

Millennials desire Collaboration… They are team-oriented and enjoy collaborating and building friendships with colleagues.

Millennials want Transparency…and want to feel like they have an open and honest relationship with their manager and co-workers and that there won’t be any nasty surprises when they join a company or become a part of a group.

Millennials desire Career Advancement…and want to know that they will have the opportunity to advance and develop their careers within the company they choose to join.

8. In the world of today where a person could choose from dozens of thousands of tech games and play all day and all night it seems difficult to face the challenge of how to make the gospel attractive so they will pay attention to it. The reality is each young person (and you as well) has to develop their own love for the Word of God, and if they have seen us, their parents, read, love, and obey the Word then they have a better chance of wanting to getting into it. Kids imitate what we do, not what we say.

Many young kids now arrive home or at church with an ear bud in their ear with music on and they may look at you kind of bored when they see you are trying to talk to them and they have to take the earpiece out, but just ignore the initial looks. They actually want human interaction as they themselves even get bored of being alone in their heads interacting with known or unknown people in cyberspace.

And cyberspace, which often is fun can become a serious threat! Your own kid might put on a twitter or instagram that they “down today” and some demon thug out there who doesn’t know anything about one’s life will write back, “End it all, go get a knife from the kitchen and cut your wrists open!” Cyber bullying is horrific and several dozen young people have committed suicide over getting humiliated to the point they believe their future was gone. I am amazed how many thousands of anti-God vulgar troublemakers are out there, who seem to spend their entire day commenting randomly, who target posts to mock that are wholesome or Christian. We all do have freedom of speech but I believe it was never intended to be protected when typed from the shadows from a person with a fake name attacking everything that is good mixing in vulgarities with ugly impressive graphic insults! Pray and check what people are going through in their cyber-world! Matthew 18:5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

9.  Youth…you will be on your own but be on your own with Jesus help! In most societies, as in the Jewish custom, all of you would have been declared men and women at age 12! You have grown up being taught the way of holiness and it is up to you to maintain it! Philippians 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Some great advice on how to live is in the beginning of Proverbs… 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

It is up to all of us to obey as in 2 Timothy 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And when as you youth you obey you gain respect getting honored by the honorable as Paul wrote to Timothy in I Tim 4:12. Today we all know we answer to God, and no matter past influences, no matter how advanced the technology, no matter how liberal the perverted professors or students are, no matter how corrupted the system, the challenge is to remain true to God, faithful until the end! If you need this supernatural strength, ask it of God now. Come, let’s pray for each other!