To Parents and Children

By Pastor Nick Bibile

Today’s Sins are Tomorrows Sorrows

History

In 1547 King Edward VI came to the throne after his father’s death, he was only nine years of age.  He was the first Protestant king in England but he died at the age of 15. Then Queen Mary succeeded her half brother. Queen Mary was a Roman Catholic, she saw the spread of Christianity in England and she hated the Protestant Reformers.

In January, 1755 John Rogers, a minister in London England who had assisted John Tyndale and Coverdale in translating the English Bible was led to the stake to be burned.  The executioner asked Mr. Rogers to deny his faith but he said, "That which I have preached I will seal with my blood." He was soon met by his wife and eleven children and one was an infant. He calmly and cheerfully walked to the stake in front of a great crowd, repeating the 51st Psalm. He walked as if he was walking to his wedding, as death was not a loss but a profit. He was burnt to ashes. Rogers was the first of some 288 Protestants executed during the reign of Mary 1, so-called “Bloody Mary. They were not rebels against the Queen's authority, caught red-handed in arms. They were not thieves, or murderers, or drunkards, or unbelievers, or men and women of immoral lives. On the contrary, they were, with barely an exception, some of the holiest, purest, and best Christians in England, and several of them the most learned men of their day. 

Then 1603 King James 1 became the king of England and the Church of England was very corrupt. There were political struggles and man made doctrines.  There were some Christians who separated themselves from the Church of England, as they believed to live according to the Bible. They chose to live a godly holy life in the fear of the Lord and they were called Puritans.  Then King James 1, forced the Puritans to conform to the Anglican Church. Puritans were persecuted and many Puritans fled England.

Puritans Arrive in Cape Cod, Massachusetts

On Wednesday, September 6, 1620, 102 brave people — including 34 children — crowded onto the Mayflower to build a colony in a new land. After more than two months, the Puritan Pilgrims arrived at what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  Ten years later, John Winthrop led another group of Puritans to the same general area, only this time with the plan of setting an example for the church back in England.

Puritans Vision

In 1630, while still aboard the ship that brought them across the ocean, John Winthrop—though a layman—preached a sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity." Just as one would avoid shipwreck at sea, said Winthrop, so they must avoid similar calamity on land. The only way to do that was to follow "the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together in this work as one man." If they would so conduct themselves, "the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us." They were "entered into covenant with God for this work."

Winthrop saw the Puritan venture as a way of demonstrating how nations could prosper and be blessed. God, Winthrop said, would "make us a praise and glory," so much so that "men will say of succeeding plantations: 'the Lord make it like that of New England."' In short, "we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."

Puritans Influence

Our Puritan Founding Fathers they established the law of God as a foundation in this new land, America. Their goal was to advance the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though many dark times in our nation’s history the guiding Light has been the Lord God and his law. Puritans began to build schools. It was the Puritan’s build Harvard University. Harvard College's first presidents and tutors insisted that there could be no true knowledge or wisdom without Jesus Christ, and but for their passionate Christian convictions, there would have been no Harvard.

Harvard's "Rules and Precepts adopted in 1646 included the following essentials: "Every one shall consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, every one shall seriously by prayer in secret seek wisdom of Him. Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that they be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of languages and logic, and in practical and spiritual truths...." 52 percent of the 17th century Harvard graduates became ministers!

By the turn of the century in 1701, Christians in the Connecticut region launched Yale as an alternative to Harvard as Harvard was too far for them.

The Great Awakening

Between (1741-1744) there was the Great Awakening in which began in 1741 as God poured out his spirit upon this nation during the time of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield’s preaching as a result towns, cities and states were converted to Christ. In 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached one of the greatest sermons called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He had to pause his sermon, as he had to pause while the people wept and cried out in terror upon hearing about God. People were awakened by the spirit of God as they realized how they have offended God and sinned against their Creator, there was true repentance. It was like a great wave of the spirit that awakened sinners masses were converted to Christ. The university Princeton was born from the impact of the First Great Awakening. That was the golden era of America.

The Second Great Awakening

Then there was the second Great Awakening, which began in 1791.  Asahel Nettleton was a key figure in the Second Great Awakening. His methods in evangelism followed closely those used by Jonathan Edwards. He opposed the "New Measures" introduced by Charles Finney and rightly warned of the consequences of adopting them. People traveled as far as 100 miles to hear the Presbyterian minister James McGready, the power of God fell from heaven and there hundreds and thousands were saved.    Do you know why our general elections are held on the first Tuesday of November? Much of U.S. history, America was a predominantly agrarian society. Many lived far from polls, Lawmakers selected Tuesday rather than Monday because majority attended Church on Sunday. They can leave after Sunday service or Monday so they will reach the polls on Tuesday. The Lawmakers of that day considered the attendance of church. How about the lawmakers today?

Liberal Theology and False Religions

In 1800s, liberal theology came into the pulpits. Finney’s doctrine gave birth to counterfeit Christianity and errors in Christian theology. Dispensational theology began during this time with John Darby and Scofield. We see the birth of Mormonism (Began with Joseph Smith 1830) Seventh Day Adventism (Began with Ellen White 1844) and Christian Science (Began with Mary Baker Eddy in 1879) and Jehovah’s Witness (Began with Charles Taze Russell in 1884).

As a result, there came the floodgates of false doctrines. There was Atheism, Agnosticism, Evolution, Freemasonry, Humanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, New Age and a new religion is born almost everyday. Today the dreams of the Pilgrim Founding Forefathers have become a nightmare. 

The New Generation

Judges 2:10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Yes, we have a new generation and many of them do not know the Lord and what our godly forefathers have done. Since 1960 crime is increased 560%; 3 million are committed near public schools, kids take an estimated 270,000 guns to school daily.

The new generation, who is compromising with the word of God, twisting and playing gymnastics with the word of God. Then others want to become wiser than God as humanism has replaced God.   Remember how Satan deceived Eve? When God’s word said, “But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for the day you eat of it, shall surely die.  (Gen 2:16-17) Then Satan came and told the woman, “You shall not surely die.” Satan made God a liar. Also Satan said, “Your eyes will be opened and you will become like God.” (Gen 3:1-7)

Public Schools and Universities Teach Moral Relativism and Humanism

Today we have abandoned the absolute truth of the Bible. When you abandon God and the truth of the Bible, then man makes the rules. Every man decides what is right and what is wrong in his own perspective. This is called moral relativism.  Moral relativism says, “You decide what is right for you and I will decide what is right for me.” The Bible is not the final authority.

Mao Tse-Tung, the prominent Chinese Communist leader, he killed 30, million people as there were no absolutes, he did what was right in his own eyes.  Joseph Stalin the communist party leader of Russia killed 30 to 60 million people, as he did not believe in absolutes, the word of God; he did what was right in his own eyes. Hitler killed 15 million, as he too did not believe in absolutes.

Today in our nation, humanism has crept into churches, politics and homes. They have taken the absolutes out; the word of God is the rule of faith. They have taken God out from homes, schools and what can you expect? A moral society? No a corrupt evil society.

When your child is young, you may teach the word of God and what is right and wrong from a biblical perspective but if your child ends up in a liberal university he or she will be brainwashed by the liberal professors. Studies indicate 75% of American college professors teach there is no such this as right and wrong. This is a direct attack on the absolute final authority of God’s word. College professors teach good and evil is relative to individual values depending on different cultures.

William McGuffey, author of the McGuffey's Readers, which were the mainstay of America's public school system from 1836 till 1920 wrote, “The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our prevalent notions of the character of God, the great moral governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions.” He also said, “Erase all thought and the fear of God from a community, and sensuality would absorb the whole of man.”

The media, and the average public school textbook today present atheistic (perhaps subtly rather than overtly) evolution as fact. Students are taught that the universe and all life arose by strictly material causes. God is not given any place in the ‘origin of anything.’ Over the years, the teaching of evolution has intensified in our school systems and through the media. So much so that the average person believes that scientists have proved the earth is billions of years old and that the different forms of life arose through an evolutionary process of death and struggle. (Ken Ham – Creation Evangelism)

In 1821, Daniel Webster defined the rules of longevity with "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."

America is sinking gradually to the pit of hell. (Read Romans 1:18-32) Verse 18) Why is it that wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness? Because they have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.  What is suppress means? It means to over power, to crush, to destroy, and to press down the truth so it will not come up.    Majority of the schoolteachers, university professors and the liberal media has launched war against the families of America.  Their goal is to over power to crush and to destroy the word of God.

Influence of the Liberal Media

In 1981, S. Robert Lichter, then with George Washington University, and Stanley Rothman of Smith College, released a groundbreaking survey of 240 journalists at top media outlets — including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS — on their political attitudes and voting patterns. The data showed journalists hold liberal positions on a wide range of social and political issues. Lichter and Rothman’s book, The Media Elite, became the most widely quoted media study of the 1980-1995Following are some of the beliefs of the media.

Nearly all of the media elite (97 percent) agreed, “It is a woman’s right to decide whether. Or not to have an abortion,” and five out of six (84 percent) agreed strongly. Three out of four journalists (73 percent) agreed that “homosexuality is as acceptable a lifestyle as heterosexuality,” and 40 percent agreed strongly. Two-thirds (67 percent) of journalists opposed prayer in public schools; three-fourths of the general public (74 percent) supported prayer in public schools.

Today media is becoming the final authority. People are looking for the media to tell what is truth and wrong. Our society is being influenced by TV rather than the church. TELEVISION, the most devastating brainwashing device ever unleashed upon humanity.  The TV is the instrument for the destruction of the soul. Television controls 90% of the average person's thinking and behavior.

What God calls sin, is not called sin today but a ‘weakness’. What God calls homosexuality is called ‘gay rights’ or ‘an alternative lifestyle’ What God calls perversion is called ‘adult entertainment or pornography, what God calls immorality is called ‘new morality’ what God called cheating is called ‘abnormal social development’

Family Violence

• Family violence costs the nation from $5 to $10 billion annually in medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism, and non-productivity. (Medical News, American Medical Association, January, 1992)

On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 1999, 1,642 murders were attributed to intimates; 74 percent of the murder victims (1,218 total) were women. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-99, October 2001

A woman dies as the result of spousal abuse every 6 hours in the U.S.  The problem is not education or civilization but sin where no one wants to talk about, even most churches today are shy of talking sin.

Premarital sex

We see Children in public schools and universities have no fear of God, they have abandoned God and the Bible. There is immorality in schools. They experience sex before marriage. In a Time Magazine article, Out of 250 human societies he had studied, 70% permit "sexual experimentation" before marriage, Professor Murdock told the 37th annual meeting of the American Social Hygiene Association, in Manhattan. The teenage sexual activity and pregnancy have increased 400%. 70% of unwed teen mothers will go on welfare. Of teens that marry because of pregnancy, 60% will be divorced in five years.

Premarital sex is a crime and a violation against God’s command.  It is repeatedly condemned in Scripture (Acts 15:20; Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:13,18; 7:2; 10:8; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Jude 7). The Bible promotes abstinence before marriage. Sex between a husband and his wife is the only form of sexual relations that God approves of (Hebrews 13:4). Abstinence honors God.

Abortion

The heartbeat begins between the eighteenth and twenty fifth day and killing the breathing infant is murder. According to a recent study, 43 percent of women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. There are approximately 126,000 abortions conducted each day and approximately 46 million abortions conducted each year worldwide and approximately 1,370,000 abortions occur annually in the U.S.

Unborn baby tissues are being used to make up, skin creams, shampoos etc., Abortion is a huge business. With income well over 1 billion dollars--it is a big money maker for the doctors who perform abortions. Dr. Olga Fairfax said, "When I saw the first ad advertising collagen-enriched cosmetics, I was speechless. Collagen is the gelatinous substance found in connective tissues, bones, and cartilage. A glance through a local drug store revealed that the shampoos and hand creams contained collagen. Unless your beauty product specifies animal collagen, it could be human--obtained from aborted babies. There is a triple profit to be had. The first is from the abortion, the second comes from the sale of the aborted babies' bodies. And the third profit is from the unsuspecting customer buying cosmetics that contain collagen from babies." It is easy to make love and sex then when you get pregnant dump the baby. This is murder in the sight of God.

Homosexuality

Read Romans 1:24-27. Here we see God giving them up. God withdrawing his face from them, leaving them to their own sinful nature.  Three times, it says, “God gave them up” We see homosexuality here.  Men and women left their natural nature but men having sex with men and women with women, lusting after another with wicked passions.

Le 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Le 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

1Cor 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 1:32. Not only they practice these things but also they approve them who practice. They applause them who practice. Today there are homosexual ministers who are preaching from the pulpits of the churches. Homosexuality is in the high places, some states are already legalized homosexual marriages, evil liberal judges have been appointed who have taken God out and substituted with humanism.

Divorce

The Barna Group, a research organization in the U.S released 78% have been married at least once. Marriage is in trouble in the United States. You can see it in the declining number of people who get married. It is evident in the fact that the U.S. has the highest divorce rate among developed nations.

Other Alarming Statistics

According to Barna Group, 79% of Americans reject the existence of Satan, they believe the devil or Satan is merely a symbol of evil.   44% contends that, "the Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths.

We need to go back to the Bible.

Puritans brought the word of God to this nation.  Our early government was influenced by puritan doctrine. In the Supreme Court Building, it displays the 10 Commandments. Presidential Inauguration Swearing in Pledge ends with, “so help me God.” When you enter the United Stated Library of Congress, you will see the words, “in God we trust.”

You will see the scripture, “preserve me O God, in thee do I put my trust. (Ps 16:1) in United States Congressional Capital Building.

September 11, 1777, [note the date] Congress (Continental Congress) then approved 20,000 Holy Bibles to be imported as there were shortage of Bibles, the Bibles were imported from Scotland and elsewhere into different parts of the States of the Union. (1)

On September 11, 2001, exactly 224 years later, America was attacked by the Islamic terrorists and thousands perished instantly. The twin towers were brought to ashes in minutes.

911 is a warning for America to go back to the Bible.  The root of the problem is sin. What is sin? Sin is breaking God’s law. (1 John 3:4) Apostle Paul said, if not for the law I have not known sin. (Rom 7:7)

Yes, we as a nation are violating the laws of God. Parents and Children I pray that you would go back to the very foundational truths, the Bible, Lord Jesus Christ.

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Today the parents are so busy making money and spending money, busy on other things and forgetting their children, most parents have no intimacy with their children. Parents, sacrifice your time with your children; teach them the ways of the Lord at an early age. (Deuteronomy 11:19; Prov 22:6)

Princeton theologian and scholar Benjamin Warfield (1851-1921) did a wonderful job in comparing two families who lived at the same period at the same state and their outcome is truly amazing. One was an ungodly man and the other was a godly man.

Ungodly man named Max Jukes lived in colonial New England. Since he lived, he had a total of 1,026 descendants. Some 300 of them spent time in prison; 190 were prostitutes; 680 were alcoholics They cost the state $1/4 million, and made no contributions to society at all significant.

Living at the same time and nearby was a man named Jonathan Edwards. He was not only the greatest Christian thinker and theologian of his period and also preached in the First Great Awakening, he genuinely loved Christ Jesus. He married a godly woman named Sarah. He had 11 children, he woke up daily at 4:30 AM to study and pray. Look at his generation of descendents.

He had 929 descendants around 100 were pastors and missionaries, 65 college professors, 13 college presidents, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 60 authors, 80 public servants and one vice president of U.S. They did not cost a penny to the state but contributed to the society.