01/27/24 THIS WAS DISTURBING

01/27/24 THIS WAS DISTURBING

This was disturbing.

BACKGROUND...
I often warn people about the danger of parents responding negatively to the message of total surrender.
Many times I have had children and young people (preteen and teenage) come to our church services.
Most of the time they responded positively to the message of victorious living and salvation from sin.
Sometimes they came after I had met with them and their parents in their homes. I was always upfront with who I am and what I preach.
Sometimes I would visit with the family after a child or young person attended a service.
In other words, there was nothing hidden about our ministry.

Though the child or young person was actually responding in a positive way (whether they had come with, or without their parents), the parents (usually coming from a sinning religion background) would either stop bringing their family to our services or they would forbid their child or young person to continue to come.

This is bad enough. They robbed their children of the joy of salvation, the power of godliness. This does not mean that none of them would have ever fallen away, but at least they would have had the advantage of knowing about victorious salvation.

HERE IS WHAT I REFERRED TO AS "DISTURBING"
Yesterday I was doing some personal research on former ministry locations. I was not looking for names of people, but I came across a report about one former neighbor (from many years ago). The person knew our people and I had personally been in their home, sharing God's message of salvation with him, his wife and his children. We actually got along as neighbors and friends. His children did come, voluntarily and eagerly, to some services, and would even walk a distance just to visit with us at our home. However, the parents did not like the message of victorious Christian living and they stopped their teenage children from coming to our services. This was bad enough, but yesterday I came across news reports about the father.

Apparently the neighbor and his wife were still together many years after I moved from the area. They were in their home one night, along with a very young child. I did not know the child and I know nothing about their relationship with the child. In the middle of the night the adult man apparently went into the room of the little girl and fondled her. In fact the man was charged with rape. The man admitted the filthy crime.

This was disturbing to read. A life ruined, though it could have become a model of godliness. A child abused, because a person refused to accept the light of salvation from sin. A family shattered because folks loved darkness rather than light.

Yes, I have story after story that underlines the same truth, but this was a report out-of-the-blue. Going to a good church with a sound message does not guarantee spiritual victory, but it does give a person and a family a better possibility. Going to a good church with a sound message does not guarantee that a person will not fall into egregious sin, but it does make it less likely.

The bottom-line here is this: you can play games with God; you can play games with your soul; you can play games with your family; but you will lose. If you don't seem to lose it all in this life, it is because all truth and judgment does not become evident in this life, but it will.