I shared a children’s church message on Sabbath with the aid of a yellow hand puppet. It was a message about being thankful. And overall, the feedback we’ve received both verbally and via the internet has been affirming and encouraging. The children loved it, parents applauded the storytelling, and the elderly were equally delighted.
However, not everyone it seems appreciates this kind of creativity, with the lament that children used to just sit and listen to the word preached to them – without any kind of visual aid.
What do you feel about utilising such creativity to help the gospel message stand out above the current noise? Have we gone soft? Or, do we even more-so need to step up to the task, utilising all the resources available to lead our young to Christ?
Today our children and youth are flooded with a wicked, insidious and deceptive narrative in education and in our media. The cacophony of the deceitful “there is no God” resonates at every level of society.
The power of successful storytelling was Jesus’ alone, with simple parables, visual miracles, words written in the sand, and the power of physical touch. It takes all of Jesus’ power and creativity to rise up against the relentless multimedia of today. Not all people are skilled in storytelling; in this case, my Dad was a puppeteer from childhood, and in the spirit of being a “fisher of men” was able to later in life draw the attention of otherwise disinterested souls. We all have our calling and gifting in Christ. The message of Thanksgiving last Sabbath spoke not only to our little ones, but their angels in heaven also celebrated this simple modern-day parable.
Our children need us and Jesus holds us responsible.
By John Classic
PS Would you like to contribute to our local church ministry? Do you have a children’s church lesson, or an item of special worship music, a sermonette, testimony or scripture reading? We’d love to hear from you. Would you consider getting a friend to help film it? Send the video to us by Dropbox or FTP, and we’ll include it in an upcoming livestream https://www.cog7aus.com/live/
Surely someone will speak up on behalf of our children! Acquiescing to a popularist, media-driven agenda is nothing less than dangerous if not fatal.
The definition of marriage and family life is one father, one mother, married for life, providing both emotional and spiritual nurture for their children. Anything else, like homosexuality, paedophilia, adultery, fornication, incest, bestiality and the like are an aberration. In other words, these deviations are plainly sinful and wrong.
Who says so? Why, Jesus, of course! And so do His followers or at least they should by their example.
When entire countries, supported by their judiciaries and driven by the media, begin “voting in” and incrementing what become sweeping immoral changes, then perhaps we ought to spare a thought, first, for our grandparents who would shudder to think that such immoral antics are undermining the very society they pioneered, and secondly, for our children whose minds and hearts become irreparably damaged because theyve never known the true love and identity that only a loving father and mother in marriage can provide.
The greatest of civilisations rapidly declined when their morals also waned. Babylon, Persia, Greece and then Rome were once thought invincible. The writing is again on the wall.
Violence today is generally accepted to be on the rise, whether highlighted in other countries or in our own suburbs. Mental illness is a growing scourge, with suicide dramatically increasing. And when our children become the pawns because of our immorality (deprived of a father and mother combination), when we kill the unborn with abandoned wanton (and call it “pro-choice”), when our sophisticated, immersive entertainment becomes more violent and pornographic then it isnt long before the law of natural consequences catch up.
Political correctness is dangerous as it is deceitful. We label a baby in his or her mothers womb as an “embryo” or “foetus” as the underlying notion is that they are not human. They are. Theyre our children. And yet we so easily succumb to a politically correct violence that dissects their little bodies before they gain their first breath of air. And we proudly call it “pro-choice”.
Weve thrown “God” out of our society. “Hooray”, you say! We no longer introduce children to the Bible. “Ditto”. We no longer believe in absolutes, that right is right, and wrong is wrong. And so, if this God has anything to say about this, its in the law of natural consequences that He designed.
Jesus said, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their sins.” (Isaiah 58:1)
He said the defiantly rebellious would be “pursued with the sword, with famine, with pestilence; theyll be delivered into trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, a reproach among all the nations… because they have not heeded My words…” (Jeremiah 29:18)
“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head and you shall be the tail. All these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God…” (Deuteronomy 28:43-45)
And so, accordingly, history is beset to repeat itself. Nations of strange language and customs seem to assert their power as never before. The Islamic State, for example, defined by their throat-cutting brutality and an ominous black flag seem uncannily unstoppable perhaps because our will-power and weakened response has become one of containment. Their goal is to raise the black flag of Sharia law on the entire world, and they begin by enticing our gullible youth.
Another example is the increasing Chinese influence through trade and expansionism. It isnt all that it seems, as this economic juggernaut sponsor the construction of military bases well beyond their recognised international borders. Our policies of acquiescence, appeasement and containment will not work. No need to reiterate the details of the Ukraine crisis at the moment.
The days of western dominance and economic might are over.
Hope for a return to basic morality might seem distant. Revival and right relationships, according to history, do however return, but only it seems after a time of suffering a time of suffering when our enemies are victors, when perhaps Sharia law displaces democracy, and when the entire world is at war. That is, in effect, what Jesus says. Thats what the Christian Bible echoes in both old and new testaments. And thats what we need to understand.
War is coming. We have the nuclear missiles, the warships, tanks and planes, as well as the protagonists. And in this war, be it outright conflict or through years of attrition, because of our immorality, it will quickly become apparent who is the weaker side.
Now the “politically correct” might describe our embrace of Jesus teachings as “homophobic”. They also commonly tout the term of “marriage equality”. Such trendy buzzwords are subtle inventions designed to linguistically sound appealing to the voting public. And yet marriage historically and culturally has always been defined as the covenant lifetime relationship between one man and one woman to the exclusion of any others. Homosexuality isnt marriage.
Followers of Jesus cannot remain silent; were called to shine the light in both our life example and in the things we speak out for. And as our words find momentum and authorship in the Holy Spirit, then we would have committed the greater sin by remaining silent.
So, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and allow Jesus words to again echo across this country. Someone has to speak up!
Written by John Klassek
John and Rebecca have been married for 26 years and have six children.He serves in ministry in the Church of God (Seventh Day) in Australia, and works as a film producer for MessageWeek Ministries.
y John Klassek