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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 1, NUMBER 40, NOVEMBER 4, 2001 A SAD THING * NOTE: With Halloween taking place last Wednesday evening, I was reminded of
an article I wrote several years ago. I went looking for it, found it, and am
using it in this bulletin. Nothing has changed, it has only gotten worse. On Tuesday night, Halloween, I saw something that I can't get out of my mind. I guess you could say that I saw something that is really "haunting" me. A group of youngsters came to our door to "trick or treat" and included in their number was a young girl who looked to be about 13 or 14 years of age. She was dressed up in a costume, with painted-on freckles all over her face, giggling and laughing with what appeared to be her sisters, a big bag of candy in her hands, and she was pregnant. The pregnancy was not part of her costume - all too tragically, it was real. What do you say about something like that? Young enough to be "trick or treating", old enough to be pregnant. We all know "how" something like this happens, but what about the
"why"? That little baby is the result of sin. Hebrews 13:4, clearly
states, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
7:2, "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife,
and let every woman have her own husband." That child on my porch was not
married, that was apparent. Is society to blame? That young girl is bombarded continually by sexual messages. The songs that she listens to (country or rock), the television shows, movies, magazines, even commercials, all use sex to sell. It is as Paul wrote in Romans 1:32, "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." If she attends public school she is being taught to be tolerant of just about every sinful, perverse lifestyle that can be dreamed up by people. So many of her peers are pregnant that high schools now offer daycare centers for the students. Pregnancy out of wedlock used to be something to be ashamed of; now we bend over backwards to make those who put themselves in that position feel as if they have done nothing wrong. Help them, yes; but don't make them think that they haven't done anything wrong! Is the girl to blame? Of course she is! I realize that the sex drive is a difficult thing to harness once it is allowed to get out of control, but I also realize that responsibility to control oneself resides with each of us. Ezekiel wrote, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." She was old enough to get pregnant; she is old enough to know right from wrong. Unless there is a general return to the standard of God's Word, a standard that used to characterize this country's morals, there will just be more pregnant "trick or treaters" in the future. Society is to blame to a certain extent. The ridiculous doctrine of humanism that now characterizes the curriculum of the schools is a classic example of "changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." What we are seeing now in America is the same thing Paul wrote of in Romans 1:28, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient…" My heart goes out to the girl. I look at her and see the young girls of our congregation. I look at her and see my daughter. WE HAVE GOT TO TEACH THEM RIGHT FROM WRONG!!! They may ultimately make the choice to commit this sin anyway, but I pray to God that they won't. My heart goes out to that baby. Its tough enough in this world, without being forced to enter it on public assistance and to face a life of poverty. In truth, my heart just breaks…. THE BEST SERMON I'VE EVER HEARD A mother was purchasing a suit for each of her two sons in the store. One of
the boys said to the other, "Won't I look nice in Bible School
Sunday?" A friendly sales lady overheard what the young boy said and asked,
"Do you go to Bible School?" The small, younger five year old brother
said, "Where else would we go on Sunday morning?" The lady, with a red
face, said, That's the best sermon I ever heard." WHAT IS GOING ON? Airplanes are flying into buildings. Anthrax is in the mail. There is a dirty, vicious war taking place in Afghanistan and the entire western world is on the alert to see what the terrorists are going to do in retaliation. I can't say that I am scared, but I don't feel quite the same as I used to either. It does us good, every day, to be reminded of who is really in control. In Isaiah 40:12 - 14, we read, "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counseller hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?" Isaiah's point to a people who would be carried away into Babylonian Captivity was that God would still be in control. In understandable imagery, Isaiah sought to convey the awesomeness of God. The great oceans and seas, with the immense power they contain, are as if God could simply hold them in the palm of His hand. The Rockies, the Alps, and all other mountain ranges God could weigh as we would weigh a bale of hay, and the foothills as little things to be weighed on balance scales. No one taught God, no one instructed Him. He is the absolute - none before, none equal to, none to come after and supplant. "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing." (Isa. 40:15) Should we fear the terrorists or the nations that support them? They are as a
single drop of water in a five gallon bucket, or a speck of dust on the rim of
that bucket to God. No, as Christians we have nothing and no one to fear.
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