Have We Lost Our Children?
This is a
“Clarion Call”
“Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain.”(Joel 2:1)
It’s time for all people to awaken from their slumber.
This is a time to see clearly the signs of the times.
No.10 JudeoChristianClarion.Com “Have We Lost our children”
Have we lost our children as casualties of war?
Not war with another country, but with our own country.
Over the years we have seen our children under attack.
It starts with the fact that the family as the nucleus of life for children has unraveled. Marriages today only have a 50/50 chance of staying together. Divorce is as common as yesterday’s news. Couples live together and have children and never marry or second marriages and you have stepmothers and step fathers and step brothers and step sisters and four different sets of grandparents. You have mothers living with their boyfriends or vice versa. Children feel alienated. They even feel as though they do not belong and that they are only causing a problem. Many feel that they caused their parents to get a divorce.
Our schools, television, even commercials, have taken it upon themselves to train up our children in the way they want them to go. They have been taught that parents are outdated in their thinking. They have been taught that they have their rights, and they can make their own decisions, for every area of their lives. They have been taught that if they are white and male they need to apologize. Boys are taught that they need to grow up being weak and feminine. Our children are taught that they should not refer to the sexes as boy or girl, male or female. They are teaching our children at early ages things that they are too young to be taught about life. Our children also go through being rejected, bullied, shamed and even canceled if they should think differently or look differently or even act differently.
This of course leads to suicides. We have seen an increase in suicide among our children. Yes, we have had a pandemic over the last sixteen months which did hinder many children, because there was no in person schooling, and after school activities were cancelled, and many parents were home, which gave way to many arguments and stress in the home. Many children were isolated from their friends. But children today do not know how to cope. We have in our colleges today saferooms, where students can go if they are distressed by someone’s words or actions. Our schools have left our children weak. Suicide rates have been going up for years now, even before the pandemic our children were committing suicide.
According to “American Health Ratings.org”
In 2017, there were more than 6,200 suicide deaths among adolescents and young adults ages 15-24, making it the second-leading cause of death for that age group.
Divorce, bullying, feelings of social isolation, sexual abuse and even a death of a parent are some leading factors to suicde among children and young adults.
One big factor that was not included in the list was no religion in the home. We have seen a drastic drop of children, especially teens and young adults in our pews at church. We have seen attendance drop dramatically among adults over the years which alone would attribute to children not coming to church. In young adults, college age especially, we have seen a drop over the years, because
According to “Faithful Mother,” Voddie Baucham reports research that shows that between 70%-88% of youth active in the church will walk away from the faith in college. We are not rooting and grounding our children in the faith.
Dawson McAlister, a national youth ministry specialist, argues that “ninety percent of kids active in high school youth groups do not go to church by the time they are sophomores in college. One third will never return.”
We are not winning the battle over our children’s hearts. We must have conversations with our children. We must understand what they believe and how they view their lives, and God in their lives. What is their worldview? It’s important because we base everything on what we call our moral compass. So what is the problem? We think that when our children grow older that we do not have the right to pry in their lives. This is a lie of the devil. As parents we will always be parents, and it is our obligation to keep our children safe, especially if they are still in our home or financially tied to us. But this respect for parents begins when they are young. We need to know who their friends are and who they communicate with on social media. Do not believe the lies that say, you have no right, that your children should have their privacy. You have a responsibility before God to raise your children as Proverbs 22: 6 tells us,
“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.” You will give an account to God one day.
Many children are hooked on pornography. Here are some signs that may point to your child using pornography or even sexual abuse. Check your children’s browsing history. Limit your children’s time on the internet. Do you see them taking their devices into the bathroom? When you enter their room do they quickly change what they are looking at? Is there behavior changing? They may begin to be rude or use language that is not appropriate, also they may become combative. Are they losing interest in the things that used to interest them?
Do you see your child becoming depressed?
There are many people on the web who would love to get their hands on your children. We must protect our children and that means we must stay alert.
We are also losing our children to drugs. According to “National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence Inc.”
“An estimated 20 million Americans aged 12 or older (8% of the population) have used an illegal drug in the past 30 days. Illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or prescription drugs used without a prescription.
Marijuana has now surpassed traditional cigarettes in middle school smoking rates. According to the CDC, 6.8% of students say they tried marijuana before they turned 13 years old. With the rise of vaping, 2.6% of 8th graders now vape marijuana as well. Like alcohol, underage marijuana use can disrupt brain development in children and has a serious negative impact on their academic performance. With the legalization of marijuana in several states, and possibly more in the future, marijuana use among youth is likely to increase.
Inhalants are household fixtures like gasoline, keyboard cleaner, paint thinner, markers and glue that give off noxious fumes that can get people high. These drugs are extremely dangerous, but readily available to younger children. This ease of access is perhaps why 5% of 8th graders say that they have used inhalants in their lifetimes. Fewer teens believe that occasional inhalant use is harmful, a belief that puts them at great risk for suffering from unintended consequences of inhalant abuse.
One of the dangers of inhalant use is sudden sniffing death syndrome. One of the most commonly misused solvents, butane, becomes very cold when sprayed directly into the throat. This can cause muscles in the throat to spasm for a long time and prevent breathing, and eventually can cause suffocation. Other inhalants can cause cardiac arrest or fatal cardiac arrhythmia (an abnormal heartbeat which can be deadly).
Drugs are entering our country at alarming rates and we must fight whoever and whenever we can by going to meetings and voting and also by knowing your children’s activities.
And with drug abuse often goes alcohol abuse.
Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States. Approximately 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence.
In the U.S, 7 million children live in a household where at least one parent is dependent on or has abused alcohol. Alcoholism is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the nation – 8,000 deaths are annually attributed to excessive alcohol use. The NCADD has found through research that parents play a key role in their child’s decision to use alcohol or drugs. Kids who learn a lot about the risks of alcohol and drugs from their parents are up to 50% less likely to use it. However, use of alcohol and drugs by older siblings can also influence the alcohol and drug use of younger siblings.
A study done by “The Recovery Village” found this
Research shows that people who drink before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become addicted to alcohol later in life. Among those surveyed:
10.1% had their first alcoholic drink at 11 years old or younger
37.5% had their first alcoholic drink between 12–17 years old
39.7% had their first alcoholic drink between 18–25 years old
12.6% had their first alcoholic drink at 26 years old or older.
We are also losing our children to gun violence. In many large cities it is a war zone, and our children are getting caught up in it. We have glorified violence in movies and TV shows and made these people our heroes, and we can not forget video games. The companies who produce these video games have gotten rich on our children and most glorify violence. So much time is spent on playing video games that our children forget that it is not reality.
According to a Times article on crime
In 2020 many Americans had experienced significantly higher levels of violence both wrought on and within their communities. Gun violence and gun crime has, in particular, risen drastically, with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and firearm-related incidents in 2020. That’s the highest death toll in over 20 years, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), an online site that collects gun violence data, and the Britannia Group’s non-partisan site procon.org.
We see in our streets a war being played out before our eyes almost nightly. Gangs have become like mini armies. A progression has taken place in our country and in many countries and we have seen it start in our schools and in our homes and not much if any is spoken of in our churches.
According to “Everytown Research and Policy,”
Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens. More than 1,800 children and teens die by gun homicide every year. For children under the age of 13, these gun homicides most frequently occur in the home and are often connected to domestic or family violence. Black children and teens are 14 times more likely than white children and teens of the same age to die by gun homicide.
According to “Gun Violence Archive 2021”
125 killed (ages 0-11) 296 injured
501 teens killed (ages 12-17) 1,237 Injured
And this is not even half of the year.
Of course the greatest cause of death amongs children is abortion.
62.5 million children have been aborted since Roe vs Wade
A life of crime and drugs and alcohol and pornagraphy is a recipe for sex trafficking.
“National Human Trafficking Hotline” statistics show a 25 percent jump in human trafficking cases from 2017 to 2018. This includes sex and labor trafficking. Of the more than 23,500 runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2018, 1 in 7 were likely victims of child sex trafficking.
According to “Children’s Right Group,”
Sex traffickers target children in foster care and group homes. These children are more vulnerable to exploitation because of the trauma they have experienced and the lack of a permanent, stable home.
- It is estimated that up to 40.3 million people around the world are being trafficked.
- Sex trafficking is one of the world’s fastest growing criminal industries. Trafficking generates an estimated $150 billion a year.
- Children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, especially children connected to the child welfare system. In the U.S., 60 percent of domestic child trafficking victims have a history in the child welfare system.
- Traffickers target youth in foster care because of their increased vulnerability due to a lack of family and emotional relationships and support.
- 74% of child trafficking cases involved sex trafficking, and the majority of those involved pimp-controlled prostitution.
- The average age of child sex trafficking victims is 15, according to numbers of children reported missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
- Many sex trafficking victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. 1 in 7 runaways reported missing were likely sex trafficking victims, and of those, 88% were in the care of social services or foster care when they ran.
- This list does not even include how many children who have come to this country this year without parents.
This country must come back to God. We must repent of our sins and we must begin to put God first in our lives. The Scriptures tell us that we can not serve two masters…God and money and many children go unattended because they live in a single parent home, for whatever reason. When we see a single parent we must befriend that parent and help them in whatever way we can. We must be good neighbors, life is not about your politics, or your religion. It is about loving God and loving your neighbor. If you see your neighbor and he needs help, then help. No father, then ask to do fatherly things with the boys. No mother, then ask to do motherly things with the girls. Start new programs at your church to reach out to kids. Let’s save our children. As it is, it may be too late, but we must try and as always, prayer is the way to go. We can fight the spiritual battle that is taking place in our world. Let’s take back one soul at a time and we will see that those souls will begin to add up, and we will see that, “NO”, we have not lost our children if we fight for them. Today, begin to pray for our government, from the President to Congress, to school board leaders and teachers, for Hollywood, big corporations, and those in charge of social media. Let’s pray and fight for the family, for our children, for ourselves, and let’s put God back in the home and school and government and in the marketplace and in the public square. We can bring our children back and the family and we can bring revival to this land, but it has to start with you and me and together we will see God return to make this country a light to the nations as it once was.
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