Perilous Times
Dear Friends
When I was leaving for the US a couple of weeks ago, I was carrying a heavy burden on my heart. I had just read about the youngest parents in England, being two 12 year olds. In fact, I think she got pregnant when she was 11 years old. I decided to do a search online to find out whether there was a precedence, and to my utter shock and dismay, I found that the youngest mother was 5 years old some years ago, and there was a plethora of similar stories. However, the difference between the precedents and what was weighing on my heart is that the former were mostly due to the sexual abuse of young children by those who were supposedly family friends or relatives. In the latter case, we’re looking at two young kids becoming parents.
As if that was not bad enough, whilst I was in my hotel room in Boston a few days ago, I stumbled unto the news of a 16-year old girl who got to school at 7.15am and was dead by 7.43am. Why? It was the day for their school prom and a 16 years old school mate had asked to be her date at the ball, but she told him that she already had a date. This led to the boy strangling and stabbing her to death. God have mercy!!!
Now I got back to the UK with the ‘welcoming’ news about a 15-year old boy that stabbed his teacher to death. Why? Only God knows. Now like King David I cannot but cry out (Psalm 12:1) ‘help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men’.
Dear friends, we are living in those ‘perilious times’ that Paul wrote to Timothy about in which ‘there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…’ As the Body of Christ we have to rise up to the challenge that these ‘times’ call for. It was the consciousness of the damage that society was causing our children and grandchildren that prompted me to offer myself to help out at Sunday School in church and also established Kids’ Club in my local community. I recall one of the lads at Kids’ Club saying that his teacher told him never to use ‘that word’ because he exclaimed ‘thank God’ when his computer at school came back on, after failing to function for a while. One of the mothers mentioned how her daughter’s class teacher had asked to see her because her daughter would always share Bible stories whenever they were asked to share something they had read. (I wonder what we would have said to this teacher if we received such an invitation).
We live in an age that the devil is out to destroy the coming generation. If we don’t rescue them now from the clutches of the enemy, I fear for what would become of them in the next few years. The school system is feeding them with all sorts of garbage. The church must offer a counter ‘attack’ (provide alternatives) by feeding them with the right spiritual and moral values. Gone are the days when Sunday School was about just keeping the children quiet, whilst the parents are having ‘church’. Revival needs to start with each of us, and more so, with our children. God loves these children, and the Bible says that the kingdom of heaven is ‘for such’.
I was in discussion recently with a Head Teacher at one of the colleges in Newcastle, and he mentioned the good work that the ‘School Pastors’ were doing at the college. I was very delighted to receive such a good report. I think more of such initiatives are needed around the country. Anything that needs to be done to save the children of this generation from the clutches of the enemy is most welcome. But the status quo, or having church as usual is not an option. We need to take the message of hope and love out there to the streets, schools and colleges where they are needed. This is why the Lord has anointed us with His Spirit (Isaiah 61: 1-4).
Gone are the days when ‘church’ was about just gathering on Sundays to clap our hands and dance (there’s nothing wrong with that!), or entertaining ourselves. The Lord has called us to do much more. This burden I’m carrying on my heart is so strong. It’s God’s heart crying out for a ‘lost generation’, for whom His Only Begotten Son paid a great price.
As Steve Green’s lyrics says “we are called to take His light to a world where wrong seems right”.
Today, it is the prayer of my heart that we would feel what the Lord is feeling right now, and ‘take the bull by the horn’. The Lord will help us in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
Your co-labourer in the Vineyard
Elewechi Ngozi M. Okike
(02-o5-2014)