Both young men and maidens; old men and children; let them praise the name of the LORD: for His name is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven.

Psalm 148:12-13, KJV

One of the most insidious things that men will ever do is to withhold God from the next generation. This self imposed ignorance starts on an individual basis and then spreads like a cancer throughout society. It begins with us when we get too busy (lazy) to read our Bibles, pray and attend worship. This inactivity weakens the family, then the church, then our communities and eventually the nation.

We don't have to wonder if this is true because the evidence is right before our eyes. We can observe the lack of respect and love all around us. Families, if you can even call them that any longer, are devolving to single parent units in which the mother has to work so hard that there is little time left over for the proper religious training that used to be universally recognized as vital. Children then grow up without the governing presence of God in their lives, so they have to choose their own standards.

Our public schools are devolving. Not because our teachers and administrators are not trying, but because the children they are entrusted with no longer have a fear of God instilled in them by their parents. The schools have not been allowed to help in that area because they have been told that the Constitution (You might remember that document from ancient history) forbids it. Though this is a lie, nobody wants the hassle of bucking the system so they try as best they can without God and Christ. But trying to teach children who do not have God in their lives does not work. Test scores are proving it, as America is now near the bottom of the industrialized nations in many academic areas. This was not the case prior to God being removed from the public square.

Then there is society at large. Stray from the safe paths of any large city and you will see unbridled crime, filth, and a moral degradation that would have made the people of Sodom and Gomorrah feel at home. Many will deny this, but as one whose early years were spent in Denver, Seattle and Houston, I know it to be a fact. There has always been a block or two in every large city reserved for skid row denizens, but now the wickedness has spilled over to the point where it is hard to go a block or two without exposing yourself and your children to things that even movies with an R rating do not permit.

What has happened?

What has happened is that our generation has withheld God and Christ from our children. I know that this is not true of everyone for there are still a few Godly parents who are training up there children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, but not nearly enough. Society is on the decline, not the assent, and we are going to have to do something soon if we want to change things. But I must warn you that it will not be easy. The people of Noah's time were not willing to make the sacrifice. Nor were the men and women of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nor were the kings of Israel before their nations were destroyed. They thought, just as many of us, that it was too hard and too late for a change of heart and direction, so they didn't even try. 

You and I may also be tempted to think it is too hard to change the course of our nation as well. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but wouldn't you agree that our children have the right to find out? Again, this is not a task for the lazy but it is a job for the Godly. And I believe that you will agree that our children and their generation are at least worth the try. So, let's try!