Watch This

The following is a little piece i put together for my brother, Franklin Akwaah in his Magazine for Success Mission. I hope you enjoy it.

"Today, the temptations that the ordinary Christian youth goes through are far more sophisticated than it was for youths even in the last century."
The following is a quote from Franklin Akwaah on page 20 of the maiden edition of this publication. The paragraph from which this quote was taken from continues as follows ". . . the more perplexing phenomenon is not the social or moral decay, but the compromise on spiritual growth among Christian youth. . . ."
When I was approached to put a piece in this publication, I was wondering what I was going to write, this is because even though I am not new to the art, this platform is something I consider a privilege and not a right. I therefore am grateful for the opportunity to pour out my passion here.
The quote above gave me the momentum and inspiration I needed to tow the line I am about to. With the kind of passion I have for the youth, I have chosen to get into an area that very few people will. For your information, what you are about to read is highly flammable. It has the potential of putting fire in your bones. In case it does, don’t hesitate to reach the publisher. He will be good help.
I intend to irritate you on being alert and on the lookout for a "thief".
In Acts 19:24 – 28, we see Apostle Paul confronting Demetrius on the worship of Princess Diana.
"Today, the temptations that the ordinary Christian youth goes through are far more sophisticated than it was for youths even in the last century... the more perplexing phenomenon is not the social or moral decay, but the compromise of spiritual growth among Christian youths. . . ."
My aim is to incite you to begin to get interested in that which is engulfing the youth of this century. Until we begin to get into this track, we will be like an adult on a balcony of a story building watching a little boy running into a pit and refuses to shout to the boy's rescue. Our inaction in the world makes us as guilty as this adult. Our inaction to "thieves" of the Gospel puts us in the same category as these thieves. There are several reasons why we are not seeing much from Christendom in this regard. My aim is not to provide a "one stop shop" answer but to awaken in you that anger towards the spreading of another Gospel and the preaching of another Jesus. Gal 1:8
Exactly what am I talking about? Simply put, there are too many cults out there stealing souls into hell and it’s such a slow occurrence that it is almost unnoticeable. The waves of the sea are so obvious, but that of River Volta is such a deceptive sight to behold. This is how cults work. The scriptures are their reference point. Jesus is at the center of their message and a prosperous life is their promise.
It sounds so biblical that it is as the waves of river Volta, until you are helplessly in it, you won’t notice that its current can carry you away. I watch in awe why our pulpits are so silent on these issues, our Christian statesmen won’t even mention it, yet every day, hour and minute that passes by, one of these "spiritual thieves" is at the doorsteps of vulnerable believers and many of them are becoming victims.
Spiritual growth should certainly include this area of spiritual warfare.
Let’s get into the reasons why there is so much silence on this issue.
Six generations of Christendom have passed (I stand to be corrected) after the early church era. I have actually excluded the early church era in the six. We had the Orthodox era which I call the first generation. They basically preached salvation by faith, and then came Protestantism; this came out with some more "heat". They stressed on the "born again" effect and experience. Thirdly, we had the Pentecostalism who focused everything on Jesus. Jesus Christ, our savior, baptizer, healer and our soon and coming king. We were always reminded of and were being prepared for heaven. The soon and coming King seems to be too long in coming, so the fourth generation came up the fact that we have to prosper here while waiting. This was the Charismatic movement that swept across the globe. The movement stressed on the fact that you can succeed here on earth. They preached systematically with points and principles. With time, we saw quotes which were from unbiblical and unchristian sources. The fifth generation stormed the world with the New Charismatic movement which introduced Deliverance, "Pigs in the Palour", and books by Dr Rebecca Brown became "manuals" those days. Remember?? They stressed on the fact that, "we have to get to the roots" we must find out why you are not …….." "Is there any curse in your family?"
This era has given birth to the Prophetic which says that, beyond Deliverance, which brings you out of your past, we must also get into the future to see what lies ahead of you. And this is where we are. Very soon, when Christendom believes that this era has reached a plateau, we might move on. Don’t ask me where we would go because I honestly don’t have an idea where and what that would be.
Now, my aim of boring you with all this is to draw your attention to the bitter truth that, none of these have confronted these "Princesses and Princes" like the Apostle did. They preach and win souls. These souls are to be established and grounded so stand and partake in getting into hell to draw men out. Not even the gates of hell are to be able to stop us from achieving that aim!!
But we are somehow limited to the extent that sometimes we run away from "battle"; we also sit unconcerned and watch others spread false gospels.
The six generations have all contributed to Christendom, but have failed in the area of preparing their generation to confront preachers of false gospel and another Christ…….
The second reason is why we see little of this confrontation is that Our Bible Colleges equip our Pastors-in-training with all this knowledge but you wonder what for. Members are not exposed either because they (the members) are not prepared to learn or the Pastors think it is not for their ears. Everything else will be preached at the pulpit but very little is taught even at the ministries level on how to do close combat. All of the warfare that is done is more of snipping at the devil. My point is simple; our Pastors should begin to spend time with the young ones, engage them in spiritual, intellectual teachings on how to do close combat with these thieves. Dr Walter Martin put it this way, "a man who will not stand for something is quite likely to fall for almost anything.¹ Also, "What we need is a religion that is not only right where we are right, but where we are wrong. Only the Word of God provides that corrective"2 G.K Chestern
We have a generation of young boys and girls who are able to comprehend "hard meat" and sometimes "bone", why not gradually expose them to the "thieves of the Gospel".
If your Pastors study all the Apologetics and keep them in their libraries when they are ordained to start full time ministry, we are only gambling with the souls of men. What more? We stand the risk of losing the very elect not because Jesus is not able to hold on to them firmly, but because we failed to equip them enough to do intellectual battle against false teachings.
Anything that appeals to a man’s intellect and is logically true has the ability to knock him off the very foundation of his belief system and thought pattern. The third reason is that, There are no blacksmiths in the camp: I Sam 13:19 The strategy of the Philistines was a simple one, kill all the blacksmiths make sure they don’t have people who manufacture weapons. In this way they would not have any weapon with which to fight. To do close combat means you are well equipped not only with your weapon but also with skills.
We find ourselves in an era where we do not have people who manufacture weapons. Weapons that arm one with scriptural accuracy that can logically dislodge all false teaches are absent. Men with passion to protect and defend the Christianity the Apostles left us are scarce.
Let blacksmiths arise, manufacture weapons and equip the young ones with skills on how to use these weapons. We then shall be ready not only to snip at the enemy, but do close combat. We shall not only be on the offensive but also defend that which we belief.
To end, let me tell you of a story of the return on Jesus back into heaven. The story says, when the Lord got to heaven, one little angel asked him. "Master, now that you have returned, who will continue the work you started over there on planet earth".
Jesus replied, "Those who believed in me will continue with the work".
The little angel after seconds of silence asked again, "What if they don’t?"
The Lord said "Well, if they don’t then my work would be in vain"
Question: Do you see yourself as a sniper or as an equipped close combat soldier?
Are YOU a defender of what has been passed on to us?
sgatorwu@yahoo.com
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