The Word of God in Romans 9:6 says, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” Romans 10 states, “All who call on the name of The Lord will be saved.” So why do we see such failure in our country? Could it be because many of these teenagers have never heard the words of the Good News found in Jesus? Could it be that they got their view of Christianity from the media and the leadership of Hollywood? Could it be that if someone was sent into the middle and high school(s) in your community to share the words of Jesus that many would call upon the name of The Lord?
We do not need to tell anyone that our nation is in crisis. We have been deceived by the great deceiver who took something that was meant for good and twisted it to mean something else. Our founding fathers made a statement and wrote in the Constitution about separation between Church and State to protect people from the government establishing a church. Our culture has used it to remove God from our public debate and have taken all references to God and the Ten Commandments out of our schools. Now, our culture is heading towards no moral foundation. We have a culture that is defined by Hollywood and the Supreme Court. We have babies having babies. We have kids killing each other. The list goes on and on. The hopelessness of students is shocking. These are eye-opening statistics that need to get the Church’s attention:
Every day in America:
- 5 children are killed by abuse or neglect – one death every five and a half hours
- 5 children or teens commit suicide
- 186 children are arrested for violent offenses – one arrest every six minutes
- 4,133 are arrested in total
- 386 are arrested for drug offenses
- 3,312 high school students drop out – one student every eight seconds
- 18,493 public school students are suspended – one student every second and a half
(Numbers are from the Children’s Defense Fund website: www.childrensdefense.org. Children are ages 5 – 17.)
Could Romans 10:12-13 come true: “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:13-15 ESV)”?
For the Good News to go forward in the 2013-14 school year,
Brad Schelling
