After God led the Israelites out of Egypt, open the Red Sea, delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh, and then gave them the Ten Great Commandments, do you suppose they got their children up every morning, washed their faces, fed them breakfast, got them dressed, put a sack lunch in their hands and then sent them back to Egypt to be trained? And we wonder why the Church is in such a weak position. The tragedy of the Church is we failed the last generation in teaching them how to stand for the Truth.
The American culture sometimes acts as a barrier to understanding the Scripture, which was written in the context of Eastern culture. There are many aspects of Eastern culture that American Christians misunderstand and is understood by those to whom the Scripture was written. The passage in Psalms 78:5-8 is an excellent example of the confusion between American culture and Eastern culture.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
The testimony and law that the Psalmist is talking about are not the Bill of Rights or the U.S. Constitution that they should make known to their children. The Eastern people understood that testimony and law were contained in the Scriptures. The Hebrew mind took for granted that this was from the book of Deuteronomy. This portion of Scripture was called the Shema, which means to hear. The Israelites knew it was of the utmost importance to hear and obey this commandment.
Often the American Christians will disregard the LORD's commandments as written only to the Israelites and not apply them to their lives.
Several years ago, I was asked to make a presentation at a Christian Education Conference on the decline of the Sunday School and its impact on society. Here is some of what I presented.
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work He had done for Israel. Judges 2:10 NKJV
Over the past two generations, society has slipped into a mold of complacency and self-indulgence. Prosperity, hope, and noble ideals were replaced with an "If it feels good, do it" attitude. We became worshipers of self, while our culture has gone morally bankrupt. The present youth generation is at significant emotional, social, and spiritual risk. Young people are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than the youth of twenty years ago, and today's youth account for almost one-third of all abortions. Is there a way to change?
Yes, there is, and today's problems can be traced to the previous generation's choices. In the scripture reading, we have an account of a nation that forgot to teach its children the ways of God. We can look in retrospect at the Hebrews. We can trace the present crisis back to the root cause of the problem. We can look at the factors which contributed to a generation that did not know God. We can see the parallels which exist between a culture that lived about 1100 B.C. and our present-day culture, and oddly enough, the contributing factor to the moral and spiritual downfall of the early Hebrews is the same contributing factor to the current day decline in morals and religious values---Christian education is no longer critical. The Church was too busy seeking respect from the world that it slowly shifted from the absolutes of God's Word to the world's standards. Now the Church's youth have absorbed the values of the more extensive youth culture of the world.
Why has all of this happened? Looking at the example given us in God's Word, an entire generation of children were not taught the teachings of the Lord God Jehovah. Parents, priests, and leaders failed to instruct their children in the ways of God. They were facing a moral decline. Their children did not know about the great deliverance from Egyptian bondage, the wanderings in the wilderness, and the victories over the kings of Canaan. They were ignorant of their spiritual heritage. Now they must survive in a culture that will soon absorb them into idolatrous pagans. How could this happen?
Before we can understand the present generation, we must look at the preceding generations. During the time of Moses, while wandering in the wilderness, the Hebrews based their moral standards on the Law of God. Certain things were right and wrong, and the people knew why they were right and wrong. Even with the rise of Korah and his band, the foundation of hope lay with trusting and believing God. This generation passed the message of the Law --- obedience to their children. They taught their children the precepts with the more essential principles behind them. But they didn't take the time to explain the why's of the Law.
During the time of Joshua, the next generation grew up believing certain things were right and wrong because God says so--somewhere in the Law. They existed with a biblical morality: an ethic initially based on the Law but had long since lost its spiritual meaning.
The next generation concluded that certain things were right and wrong, but they didn't know why. They were moral people, but their morality was not founded on clear teachings, even though they may have memorized portions of the Law. They were unable to explain why they believed; they just knew it was what good people do. The opinion of their neighbors was more important than what God thought of them.
The generation following Joshua knew certain things were right and wrong, but they didn't care! They broke away from the rules of the previous generation. They abandoned their God. The lack of connection with the moral Law was part of their rebellion. This led to moral degeneration. How could this happen?
First, let me say, knowing where we are going is very important, but knowing where we are is just as important. As we read and study the life of the early Hebrews, we tend to be critical of their disregard for God. We must keep in mind that we can look in retrospect over several centuries of their culture. It is effortless to sit back and find fault with their actions. Yet, we are in the same position that Israel found itself after entering the Land of Canaan.
Looking back to the nineteenth century, we can find the foundation for the significant problems facing the world today: environmental pollution, materialism on a large scale, racism, political terrorism, the alienation of the individual, bureaucratic dominance, drug wars, moral decay, religious intolerance, and spiritual apathy.
The resentment that many in the Third World now feel toward western Europe and the United States stems from the nineteenth century. It is useless to comprehend China, African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern attitudes without understanding the effects of Western Europe and the United States' dominance on the world in the nineteenth century. It is just as useless to try and understand the social and cultural problems of today without understanding the past.
The conquest of Canaan was not an act but a process. This process involved change. Having spent four hundred years as slaves and forty years as shepherds in the wilderness, Israel is now rapidly changing into a different culture. Many dangers were confronting them.
The first danger was the possibility of extermination.
The twelve tribes had deliberately come among hostile foes who now surrounded them. Between the Hebrews and the eastern desert lay the Arameans (north), the Ammonites (center), and the Moabites (south). The Edomite (southeast) and the Amalekites (southwest) lay off from the southern land. Between them and the sea lay two powerful peoples, the Philistines (south) and the Canaanites (center and north). The Hebrews were in a do-or-die situation. They must stake roots and grow till their neighbors are pushed off the map, or they will cease to exist.
The second danger lay in the change in an occupation that the conquest made necessary and the consequent adjustment to new conditions of life.
Before, they had been nomads and shepherds; now, they must become farmers, vinedressers, artisans, and trade folks. It was a question if they could stop roving and master the complex art of developing the land into a viable way of life. Could they give up their tents and live huddled together in unhealthy stone villages and survive new forms of disease. The change was a challenge to their intelligence, courage, persistence, and faith in God. Some tribes would not meet the test; Simeon reverted to a nomadic life, the half-tribe of Manasseh, east of Jordan, was absorbed by Arameans, The Moabites swallowed up Ruben, and Asher changed the plow and ox goad for a set of oars, becoming practically Phoenician.
The third danger was political.
The Hebrews were, from the earliest days, thoroughly democratic. All tribes were on the same level of rights and opportunities, with special privileges for none. For two generations, they have confirmed their love for democratic life and institutions. They now came into close contact with the hostile Canaanites and Amorites, whose type of government was an autocracy in which the ruling family owned all the inhabitants as mere vassals and used them to defend or extend their power. As the Hebrews watched these kings grow in strength and success in war, it became a powerful incentive to drop their loose tribal form of government and copy the nations around them. Later during the time of Samuel, they did just that.
The fourth danger was the greatest---the realm of religion.
Coming fresh from the desert with enthusiasm still burning for the God who had delivered them from Egyptian bondage, brought them through the wilderness, given their victory at Jericho, and aided them in the conquest of the new land, they had one bond that made them different from their Canaanite neighbors---they worship Jehovah. But they had come into land over which Jehovah was believed to have no jurisdiction. They were in the area of Baal. Jehovah was the shepherd's God to be worshiped by the firstborn of the flock; Baal was a farmer's God to be honored with the first fruits of the soil. Being no longer shepherds and in a foreign land, many Hebrews felt they were no longer under any practical necessity to be loyal to Jehovah. This generation knew certain things were right and wrong, but they didn't care.
Suppose a Hebrew claims a portion of land in a hollow to the south of Bethel and begins to toil the soil. He buys his seed from a Canaanite neighbor, sows it by guess, and sits back and waits for the harvest. It never came; the seed rotted in the soil. He goes to his neighbor, who sold him the seed, to find out what happened. The Canaanite asks, "Did you make a sacrifice to Baal, who owns the field and lives in the big tree at the end of it?" The Hebrew confesses that since he was brought up to worship Jehovah, he did not. At which point, he is told he will never have a crop until he sacrifices to Baal. Not being rich enough to survive a second loss, he takes the advice of the Canaanite, who shows him how to make a sacrifice to Baal and happens to teach him the correct method of when to sow and how to take care of his field. Next year he has a bumper crop.
This episode makes the danger of Canaan real. Every feature of the new life was connected to the Canaanite religion. In those days, religion was not a separate function but a vital part of everyone's life. Everyone passionately believed that all calamities came to men because of some slight to one of the gods. It was wise for everybody to keep on the best terms with all divinities---which meant that every Hebrew must become an idolater. He must worship the local gods of whatever part of the land he occupied, as well as the more significant gods, the sun, the moon, and stars.
The danger lies in just this---there was nothing left to distinguish the Hebrew from his neighbors. His morals, influenced by the example of his neighbors and by the debasing rites with which Baal was worshiped, will become corrupt. In three generations, there will be no Hebrews who worship the Lord God Jehovah.
Now let's look at our present-day society. As a "Baby-boomer," I have contact with primary historical sources. I can or have talked with individuals who lived in the nineteenth century (1893), my grandparents, and those who live in the twentieth century, my parents (1924) and those who live in the twenty-first century (2021), my children and grandchildren. I can personally cover four to five generations of history for 128 years. Do you understand the responsibility that I have for the future of this world? Do you know the responsibility that I have to preserve the spiritual heritage of my family? Do you know my responsibility to maintain what is right, honest, just, and righteous? Do you know the responsibility that I have to correct the mistakes of my grandfathers? Do you understand that if there is to be a spiritual recovery, it is my generation that has been given the means to accomplish the task?
Fifty years ago, Sunday school was the place to be on Sunday morning in America. There seemed to be no end in sight to the booming growth this arm of the Church had been enjoying for more than a decade.
By 1980, Sunday school attendance had dropped dramatically. Christian educators began to turn their attention from theory to the very practical question of how the educational task of the Church could be accomplished in an era when the Sunday school was in severe decline.
Today, things still appear to be going poorly for Sunday school, and the question remains, what are we going to do about it? How did we arrive at such a depressing situation in our Christian educational process?
Over the past two generations, society has slipped into a mold of complacency and self-indulgence. Prosperity, hope, and noble ideals were replaced with an "If it feels good, do it" attitude. We became worshipers of self, while our culture has gone morally bankrupt. The present youth generation is at significant emotional, social, and spiritual risk. Young people are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than the youth of twenty years ago, and today's youth account for almost one-third of all abortions. Is there a way to change? There can be a change made, but we must first do things to see those changes happen.
We must stop allowing the philosophy of exposure to the secular world to dominate our youth. Let me explain. We live in a time where our children are exposed to all kinds of ideas. Often, we are unaware of the concepts they are exposed to in their daily lives from school, movies, the Internet, books, peers, and adults in their lives. However, the One who created you and your children. The One who gives you life, the One who says that someday you will stand in His presence giving an account for every thought you had, every word you spoke, and every deed you have ever done, has commanded you to separate yourself from the exposure to evil. He said I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. Rom.16:19
The verse should put to rest the idea that we need to expose our children to both good and evil. You cannot allow your children to make up their minds about what they prefer in life. You are the parent. You have the responsibility to control what they are exposed to daily. That is why there are so many confused children today. Our children are given so many choices that they do not have the wisdom or understanding of what to choose. Why do you think there is such confusion among our youth about their gender? The confusion originated with Satan.
We have been studying the armor of God and how vital that armor is to shield us from the evil of Satan. Have we ever stopped to think of how important it is to train our children in the use of armor? When will we stop focusing on ourselves and start protecting our most precious possessions from the garbage destroying this generation? Just how much do you need to know or be exposed to evil for it to be simple? Absolutely nothing! That is what God proclaims in His Word.
The lie that you will hear even from people who profess to be Christian is children need to be exposed to the real world. Why do we want our children exposed to verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and ridicule and shame for being different? Why do you want to put your child in harm's way of drugs, alcohol, and even death? Yet, every day, children are exposed to evil that they should not know about.
In Proverbs 19:22, the LORD says, Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err. He used the imperative form of a sentence. This is a command, not a suggestion.
Let me give you an example of an imperative statement when the drill instruction knocks on the door of those in boot camp to wake them up. He does not gently tap on the door, saying, Gentlemen, breakfast is now being served in the mess hall. Wake up. No, he kicks the door open yells at the top of his voice, Get out of those bunks. Get dressed! Five minutes to roll call. Get moving now.
That is an imperative statement. The LORD gives another statement just as strong. Thus, saith the LORD, Learn not the ways of the heathen. This command came from the King of Kings, the LORD of Lord, so you had better listen and obey on the double.
Today, a generation does not know about the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Golden Rule, respect for others, authority, honesty, kindness, and a host of other moral values once taught in public school. They are ignorant of their spiritual heritage. Now they must survive in a culture that will soon absorb them into materialistic, self-indulging reprobates.
Some would have us believe that teaching these moral values is not the responsibility of the school. I would ask then whose responsibility is it? The home? The Church? If it is the responsibility of the home, where do parents learn to train their children in these values? The Church? Then why doesn't the Church seriously engage in a responsible training of these moral values and principles? Why is spiritual education left to telling Bible stories, singing choruses, and playing games? Why doesn't the Church feel the importance of making a difference in our society? Why isn't Sunday School the primary arm of training, equipping, and evangelism?
Are we so different from the early Hebrews? Are we so blind to the present that we will not see the inevitable fate that awaits us? In the early 1800s, there was a Biblical morality. Certain things were right and wrong, and they knew why. By the late 1950's we see morality based on secular culture, certain things were right and wrong, but they were not sure why. In the late 1970s, our society had become immoral, certain things were right and wrong, but they didn't care. Today, we live in a society with a total disregard for God. There is no such thing as right and wrong. Every man does what is right in his own eyes.
We have arrived at where the early Hebrews found themselves, a generation that does not know God. It has taken us less time than the Hebrews to raise a generation that is ignorant of God.
We need to cry out to the Lord in humility seeking his forgiveness and setting the present generation on the correct course by teaching them the ways of God as directed by the Holy Scriptures. We need to help our youth put on the armor of God.
