Proclaim the good, and not the bad

by Alan Harris

Thankful(? )Thoughts From My Journal How do you reach people for Jesus? We want to place youth in front of ministry, place, point, drop it in front of them. What do kids like? Music, social networking, popular books and movies, group acceptance, love, affirmation, escape, distraction, to speak like everyone else, to complain (just read a few Facebook walls). Hopefully they would want to get all that and know God too.

We want to provide a strong vehicle for shaking these youth. We can't change them in one weekend. We can plant a seed. We can feed them a sample. God may send others to water and tend it or we may be fertilizer or plant food for previous seed.  We're small, but determined.

The world is not leading kids this way, or adults either.  I stay as far away from secular media as I can. The glimpses I get still shock me and turn my stomach. I see our government as a fear machine. Everything today is trying to keep us safe from corruption. But often it is corruption that is putting that fear in us. I don't think terrorism is out there. I think the devil is, and he's a liar.

Every time I react to something that's not conforming to God's ways, I hear people say, “What's your problem? Its not that bad!” It's not that BAD? Well show me something that is promoting good. Lets not see how much of the crap in the world we can tolerate and be entertained by.

“Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor 10:5) I don't see today's youth casting down ANYTHING. “I'm OK, You're OK, everything is OK, especially what is in the arts, media, the movies, Barnes & Noble. Its ok if the theme is of the devil. “It's not so bad. It's a beautiful story.” Or here's one from my kids, “Let me attack  something you like to prove you do the same thing! How dare you say something I feel validated with is bad?”

“Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thes 2:11-12

Who is calling evil-evil anymore? Is anything evil? How can we say “deliver us from evil,” when we accept every damn evil thing that comes across the screen? David Wilkerson used to say about bad TV shows, “TURN IT OFF!” Will some one raise the standard back again? Well, that's what we're doing.

Lets spend our time dwelling on good. If everything today is twisted and perverted away from God's law of love, then lets go back to things in the past. Learn from the Bible. Learn from good writers and speakers. Read God's truths and lessons. What are we doing to proclaim the good News? Who are we sharing it with?

“So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.” 2 Thes 2:15

So we will continue to proclaim the good, and not the bad.