teacher Devotions: Losing My Religion

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

I’m starting a new Sunday School series this week at our church. It’s called “Losing My Religion.” It’s all about the cultural influences, emergent movements, and inter-faith dialogues that are diminishing the Christian faith of our children. Not since the fourth and fifteenth centuries have our people faced such a disabling theosophy that threatens to lead them astray. They believe that one worldism and interfaith worship holds the key to a peaceful planet. They are being led like lambs to the slaughter and taken down a path which will steal them away from God. The choice that I have is this: do let them follow the pied pipers of superficial spirituality and poseur popularity, or do I use my own gifts and faith knowledge to counter it?

I keep thinking back to Mary Slessor, the great Scottish missionary to Africa and the choices that she had to make. She confronted witch doctors and popular superstitions in order to bring Christ into the communities where she served. She opposed slavery and witchcraft, and stopped the horrendous killing of twin babies, who were crushed into large jars and buried alive because they brought bad luck to a village. Did Mary Slessor sit down and share courteous dialogue about the different religious philosophies and practices? Did she break bread with those who used fear and violence, superstition and magic to maliciously control the people?

Mary Slessor preached and practiced the Gospel, letting Christ’s words and ways liberate the heart, minds, and souls of people who were physically, mentally, and spiritually enslaved. She confronted evil with Christ’s good. She faced down wicked with His Holiness.

I fear that our kids have got no earthly idea about who Christ really is and what He came to change. They talk about God as if He is just another application that they can conveniently add on to their iphones. They are enslaved to their culture and sliding down a path that will lead to persecution and perdition. The planet has become their god and globalism is their religion.

I cannot let it go and leave it be. I cannot watch souls being tricked and a whole generation being swallowed up and led into a maelstrom that will eventually crush their faith and bury their beliefs. It’s time to win them back for Christ…

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, the world would diminish Your divinity and eliminate Your influence over the people of this planet. Our kids are being cleverly misled and are getting caught up in a cultural wave that will one day crash and wreck their souls. Help the Church to re-seek Your ways and re-own Your words, so that a stronger generation may grow in true Christian faith, and not just a faith of their own creating and choosing. In Your Holy Name, we adamantly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org. (I'm also going to do an online version of the series. If you would like to participate, please send me an email and I'll get you signed up).