Sermon: Where Are the Children?

How Do We Treat the Little Ones?
#1720A
Ronny H. Graham
Given 29-Jul-23; 37 minutes 2023-07-29

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A few weeks ago, you might recall that Dr. Maas spoke about rampant deception that has been prophesied to occur at the close of the age, engineered by the arch deceiver, Satan, and those whom he has deceived. It does indeed seem that since the COVID crisis, deception has begun to run rampant, and it appears to be cropping up in more and more of the simple facets of our lives.

Several politicians and other leaders of government have been quoted saying that we should not let a good crisis go to waste. What did they mean by that? With COVID beginning to fade in our memories, who knows how many laws (or should I say executive orders) have been placed on the books for future enforcement for their agenda.

There are two things that I would like for us to consider today that at first do not seem to be related. But in reality, I hope to see that perhaps they are. The first one has to do with our current society's push to transform the age old proven method of gender identity. When you were born it was simple. Your mother or father just took a peek and there, clear as day, made a determination, boy or girl/male or female. But in our modern society, the world would have you believe that someone made a mistake. Perhaps you were in the wrong body. They did not see what they thought they saw.

As we are all aware of, there is a huge push from the political arena that anyone should be able to choose the gender that they would like to be. If you were somehow not happy in the body you are in there is a growing list that you can choose from. I heard one a few weeks ago something that I had not heard before. It is called a furry. I thought, what in the world is a furry? If your child identifies with a cat, they can now go around acting like a cat and they want you to think this is perfectly normal. It is now being reported that this idea has gone so far that some schools in the U.S. are putting out litter boxes for the furry's! Now that brings up another question, what type of cat are they? Are they a tomcat or a molly cat (which is a female)?

What is going on in people's minds?!

Another one I heard the other day is that if your child wants to be identified as a 20 or 30 year old, even though they are only 10, it is perfectly okay to let them choose. Keep that one in mind because it is one of the keys to the woke agenda.

Now, the buzzword for this latest political movement that we have been hearing about since 2010 is labeled as "woke." Until a month or so ago, I did not have a clue what woke was. Levi [Graham] actually mentioned it in the truck and I said, what in the world is that? So I went to Google and, a "woke," as you might have guessed it, is one who has woken up. What have they woken up to? All the social injustices in the systemic inequality in the United States. These woke people are termed "critical thinkers, someone who supports necessary cultural and legal reforms such as implementing diversity hiring, shifting funding from police to community programs, encouraging LGBTQ identities, eliminating misinformation online [they should say truth], implementing reparations, eliminating whiteness, and altering our economic system. Being woke is generally seen as a good thing by much of the liberal Left."

This is nothing new, brethren. This is socialism. Encouraging LGBTQ identities, eliminating whiteness. What does that even mean? These critical thinkers do not even realize that they are being used by Satan in an attempt to destroy being created in God's image through loss of identity. They even say that traditional American values are outdated. What these so-called critical thinkers mean is that if you do not agree with them, you are outdated. They are critical of your thinking if you beg to differ.

There is a huge push to destroy the identity of the United States of America. But is that not what happened to Israel? Most of Israel do not even know they are Israelites. I am sure we have all seen movies where a person loses their identity and it is a terrible thing to go through. Do we know where we come from? Do we know who we are? Do we understand why they want to destroy the artifacts of history? And on a more serious note for us, is it possible for the church to lose its identity?

It seems that since the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God, the scattering has continued for more than 30 years now and it may keep on going. We have heard of even more splits because of disagreements over the COVID protocol, which has been good for us. (We have a full house today.) Is the church a reflection of the division of our nation?

These critical thinkers, although being deceived, really believe that they have the answers to usher in a utopian society. But did you know there is another man who thought on the same things? It was his goal to create a genderless society where men and women were shaved from head to toe and labeled as asexuals or non-sexual. His government was also brainwashing children to turn against their parents and to report to the government if there was suspicious activity in their homes. This suspicious activity could be nothing more than teaching and disciplining their children as they chose. Children were also being taught in government schools to hate whiteness. The man behind this movement was none other than Mao Zedong of Communist China. And it is believed that this critical thinker was responsible for the death of over 80 million of his own people! Does this sound like utopia?

Now, before we go to the second thing, let us go to the Bible.

Malachi 4:5-6 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

The book of Malachi is, of course, the last of the Minor Prophets. And here in verse 6, we find a serious warning: if the hearts of the fathers are not turned to the children, the hearts of the children to their fathers, God will come and strike the earth with a curse. There has been a lot of speculation over the last few years about who this Elijah was or what he would have to say. And I am not here to address that. (We will let Clyde [Finklea] do that.) One could spend years trying to figure these things out and it would still be speculation.

We do know that one Elijah has already come and there may be another one or at least one in the spirit of Elijah. As far as we know and understand the Day of the Lord is still yet a future event. So there is still time for a change, still hope of repentance. I never thought of it before, but is the Day of the Lord in fact the curse that will come?

What does this actually mean to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children? One thing for certain, if this does not occur, the Lord will strike the entire earth with a curse, something we most certainly want to avoid at all costs.

I think it is safe to say we are on thin ice when it comes to avoiding the curse coming to the earth as we begin to explore the second thing that I was referring to. Remember, the first one was the attacks on gender identity. And the second one that I would like for us to consider is human trafficking, more specifically child trafficking or sex trafficking. I might warn you that anyone who delves into this subject, it is very disturbing and the things are very hard to imagine, but they are real and perhaps occurring right under our noses.

According to the founder and leader of an organization called O.U.R., which stands for Operation Underground Railroad, human trafficking operations have exploded over the last several years reaching an estimated $150 billion annually. They have already surpassed the illegal arms trade and may even surpass the drug trade if they keep going.

Tim Ballard, the founder of O.U.R., states that this is now the fastest growing enterprise in the world. People are being taken against their will and used for slave labor. And as heinous as it sounds, they are being used as organ donors. You know, it seems that mainstream media never lets the time of slavery that occurred back in the U.S. in the 1700s and 1800s get very far from our minds. Did you know at present there are over 40 million people who are now in some sort of slavery around the world? And who knows how many are enslaved in the communist regimes of China, Cuba, and North Korea.

Now, Mr. Ballard began as an undercover government agent working for the Department of Homeland Security, where he fought against child and human trafficking for over 12 years. After becoming so frustrated with all the red tape the government had to jump through just for one rescue, he decided to strike out on his own and do it from a private organization where he would not be subject to all the bureaucracy of government policies, or perhaps their politics.

These traffickers are not your run of the mill kidnappers, per se. They are well organized and will descend on an area that has suffered a natural disaster such as an earthquake we had a few years ago in Haiti or places like Ukraine that is being riddled by war, where they are now reporting thousands of children unaccounted for. These kidnappers love natural disasters, descending on places like these, and they describe it as "harvest time." Targeting children who perhaps cannot find their families, are homeless and hungry, they gain their trust with promises of taking them to their families, feeding them, and their evil plan continues as they exploit these children.

Since its establishment, O.U.R. has rescued several thousand kids and they will actually go into a place for just one child. But in one operation, I believe it was South America somewhere, they infiltrated an operation and they found over 400 kids in this one house being exploited, and all were rescued. Mr. Ballard also says that this evil is not only a worldwide problem but it has gripped our nation—and it reaches the highest levels of government. In fact, he says that the country that has the highest demand for this atrocity is the United States of America! Will we avoid the curse if we remain on our current track? It seems that we do not stand a chance.

Let us add another scripture here in Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Here, Paul addresses the fathers saying, "do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." As we saw back in Malachi, we find instructions to the fathers specifically to bring up your children in the instruction of the Lord. Perhaps a good way to do that is to discipline. Discipline is one of those words in our society that people look down upon and parents have begun to fear disciplining their children. Why is that? Discipline, while it may involve correction, is actually defined as "making disciples of in obedience to a set of rules."

In Mao Zedong's China, if you tried to discipline your children to teach them any other rules other than the government, you became an enemy of the state. Is that where we are headed? Mao knew that to take control of a society, he had to indoctrinate the children to obey his rules.

Where do all these weird ideas come from that are getting into our government schools? Does a child wake up one day and decide they want to be another gender? Do they just wake up one day and decide that mommy and daddy are the enemies? Do they wake up one day and decide they should not pledge allegiance to the flag? Do they wake up one day and decide that the idea of a Creator God should not be mentioned or prayed to at school? Who decides what is taught in our government schools?

In the name of liberating children, giving them power to choose, the liberal Left "wokers" or whatever you want to call them, are seeking to take over the minds of your children! And brethren, if you do not think they have an agenda, you might want to think again. I heard someone say the other day on a broadcast, If a child is old enough to choose which ice cream he likes, he is old enough to choose a gender. That is impossible. God already designed gender determination to occur at conception; whichever sperm swims the fastest, male or female, and breaks the outer shell of the egg in a woman first, that is when the gender is determined. Man cannot change that. They may alter it. They may destroy it. But they cannot change it. You will never be able to meow like a cat.

Now, under the disguise of liberating the children, mom and dad become the enemy. God is far removed from all instructions in our schools, but it is okay to teach sex education to the point that what we are putting in our schools today, the FBI would have arrested them just 20 years ago. Are the hearts of the fathers turning?

I like to look up stats, so I thought I would see if I can find one right here. With divorce rates, where there are, I think around 50% or more, it is really a hard thing to find anymore because there are so many people living together. But I tried to find out how many children are actually growing up without a father. And what I found was quite disturbing. Of children growing up in single family homes, 80% do not have a father, they are being raised by their mothers. Where are these fathers? Is there any way we will avoid the curse? Thank God for the mothers.

You can be turning over to Jeremiah 10, but I will read while you do that Ecclesiastes 1:9. Solomon says, "That which has been is what will be, and that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Jeremiah 10:1-3 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus sayeth the Lord: "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are futile."

Do not learn the way of the Gentiles. The Amplified Bible says, "Do not learn the way of the pagan nations." The King James says, "Learn not the way of the heathen," and my margin says "their ways are vanity."

Enter the ancient Greeks and the Romans, the Gentile nations. I did not know this, but while preparing this split, I came across an article describing the Greek and Roman societies. This article had a liberal slant to it that would lead one to believe that these were superior people than ours today, perhaps more of these critical thinkers. Now this is a quote from the article:

In modern times, pedophilia is seen as a morally abhorrent behavior. But the ancient Romans and Greeks openly practiced forms of pedophilia, although it was not legally or morally regarded as it is today.

They make it sound like it was okay for them because there was no law against it. It was not morally regarded as it is today. There has always been a law against sexual perversion—the law of God. Tim Ballard said in one of the YouTube videos that I watched that this child trafficking for sexual purposes reaches the highest levels of government. Remember Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew? The article regarding ancient Greece and Rome said that pedophilia was common among nobility. Are we following the pagan nations? The heathens?

They are even trying to replace words like pedophilia and pederasty, which is the stronger of the two, meaning child abuse, with phrases like MAP, or minor attracted persons. Believe it or not, brethren, it gets worse. But I had to stop because I was in tears.

These people are critical thinkers? Is there any consolation at all in what these people are trying to do? Any hope of saving our society? It seems that somewhere somebody must still have a conscience because they know that in order to continue this atrocity, for it to be okay, at least in their own minds, they have to get rid of the seventh commandment. That is what gender neutrality is all about. You get rid of the sexes, you get rid of the age difference, and there is no law against the sexual perversions that men desire. And we know this wickedness is why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And I am sure that the time of the Flood was no different.

Did indeed the empires of Greece and Rome fall because of their sexual sins against children? Is America's time running out? Does God judge a people on how they treat their children?

Now, with the time I have left, I hope to get this sick feeling out of our stomachs (or at least mine) that this subject gives you, and focus on how does Jesus Christ view children. Some commentators believe that the entire Bible is a book about children and that the whole purpose of the creation of the earth was so that God could have children.

Let us go back to one more scripture here in Psalm 127.

Psalm 127:3-5 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall be ashamed, but they shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

They will not be ashamed. children are a heritage, a gift from the Lord. How many times do we hear of using our spiritual gifts to glorify God? What are we doing with our heritage, our gifts of children?

In biblical times, if you were unable to have children or were barren, it was considered a curse. On the other hand, the coming of children into the home was considered divine favor, like arrows in the hand of a warrior and a man whose quiver is full is a happy man. (Ask Mark, where is he? He has definitely got a quiver full. Might need another quiver here before long. Sorry, Mark.)

Now let us go to one of perhaps the strongest rebukes in the Bible, back in the book of Mark.

Mark 10:13-16 Then they brought young children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But Jesus saw it, and He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." And He took them up in His arms, He put His hands on them, and He blessed them.

Despite the ideas of man's modern Jesus, which would lead one to believe that He was too weak to swat a fly, perhaps humming and walking around with His hands folded like a monk, this episode here shows that just maybe the real biblical Jesus was not that way at all. In fact, some commentators believe that this is the strongest rebuke in the entire Bible, and it involves none other than His own disciples.

Now, just prior to what is going on here, we find that the disciples are discussing and maybe arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Maybe they were feeling a little puffed up deciding who would have access to Christ and who would not. Then along comes all these pesky parents trying to get their children up front so Jesus could touch them, and the disciples began to rebuke them. Did they somehow think that shunning the children would be okay and Christ would be okay with it as well? "Get those messy noise makers out of here. Can't you see Jesus has more important things to do?" But Jesus saw it.

About this time, the disciples are probably looking for a place to hide. Verse 14 says, He was greatly displeased. "Let the children come to Me and do not forbid them." The Amplified Bible says that when Christ saw it, He was indignant. Some synonyms that perhaps shed a little more light on just how Christ felt about what the disciples had done here are furious, incensed, livid, and boiling. Did they know they were pushing away Christ's heritage, as we saw in Psalm 127? I am sure they were all looking for a rock to hide under by now. James Moffitt adds that Jesus said, "Let the children come to Me and do not stop them." Does God love the children? Let us look at another one back in Matthew 21.

Matthew 21:10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"

Matthew 21:12-16 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of thieves." Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"

There is a lot going on here so let us try to break it down. And if my timeline is correct, this is right after Jesus' triumphal entry in Jerusalem. After making His way over to the Temple, He finds the Temple has become a den of thieves. Jesus sees what is going on in the Temple—the house of God—and He drives out all those who bought and sold, overturning the money changers' tables. Needless to say, He was greatly displeased with what was going on in God's house.

Now, in light of what we just went through, did Christ actually run all the adults out of the Temple? There is another thing that occurs here that I have never really thought much about before. Maybe being focused on the cleansing of the Temple I missed it. In verse 15, we find that the chief priests and scribes are now the ones who are indignant at what they see and what they hear. Jesus comes to the Temple and they did not want Him disrupting their business operations and they began their attacks on Him asking, "Do you hear what these are saying?"

And what happens next is what I have never given much thought before. I guess focusing on the cleansing of the Temple it is overshadowed. God was in the flesh right before their eyes and the adults refused to see Him. The children began to cry out, singing, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Were the children the only ones who could see God? Did Jesus open their eyes to confound the mighty? Were these some of the same children that He had blessed before?

Is there anything more beautiful than a child singing to God? Is there anything more pleasing to God than His children praising Him? As we just saw, the children saw God for who He was and could not keep quiet. Perhaps this is one of those times that if the children had not cried out, the creation would have.

Now, let us go back to Mark 9 for our last one. This one is not directed at anyone in particular, but it is also considered a very strong rebuke by some and perhaps equally as strong as the one in chapter 10.

Mark 9:42 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."

In most of the interviews that I heard with Tim Ballard, the founder of O.U.R., he gives a lot of credit to God for the many miracles that he sees when he is involved in rescuing the children. And he describes this scripture in a way that I have never heard it described before. He even quotes it in the movie "Sound of Freedom," for those of you who may have seen it. He describes this scripture as the only time in the Bible that Jesus Christ goes mafioso. I am sure most of us have heard of the tactics that the mafia uses to get rid of someone or seen it in movies. What Jesus Christ Himself is saying that whoever causes one of these little ones to fall into sin, they would be better off dead.

Now, this scripture is somewhat different than the other ones in that it has perhaps a dual application, meaning not only the little ones, or children, but those who are young in the faith. God is very serious with how we treat the little ones—His children, His heritage.

As I was preparing for this and driving around Charlotte, as I do every week, a thought came to me. Have you noticed how many senior communities have been built in the last 20 years or so? Right there on their signs it says, 55 plus community. Are they really saying we do not want your children? More and more venues are placing restrictions on children, and more and more places are making concessions so you can bring your dog. Is something wrong here? Even Carowinds, right here in our own backyard, an amusement park for the young, have placed more and more restrictions on children. Part of this can be attributed to bad parenting. But have you ever thought, what other group in society are you allowed to discriminate against and it is okay? Try putting no LGBTQs on that sign and see how long your sign stays up.

As a matter of fact, if you do not want your unborn child, you can legally murder it. Are we following the way of the heathen? John 3:16 says, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Can we say that the plan of salvation began with a child? For God so loved the world that He gave His only child.

Now, we know that with God all things are possible, but avoiding the curse coming on the earth seems impossible.

But let us go back to where we began in Malachi 4. There is instruction here on to how we could avoid it, and it is very simple.

Malachi 4:4 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and the judgments."

Remember the law of Moses, the last instruction in the Old Testament, and we are told to remember the law, the same law that men have been trying to do away with since the beginning of time. No law, no conscience to bother you, and every man can do what is right in his own eyes.

Let us close in Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:3 "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 18:10 "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven."

We must become as a little child. You know what is so beautiful about a little child? Every one of us who has ever been born is a child, except Adam and Eve, of course. But we were all born with it and even they were created with it. It is the very thing that Satan deceived Eve in the Garden and destroyed, and continues to try to destroy this day. It is innocence. We had a lot of examples of innocence up here a while ago. I will point to Louie first. He is our latest favorite. Little Mackenzie up here trying to sing her heart out. I think Victoria moves [sings] with her whole body. But were they not beautiful in their innocence?

The innocence of a little child carries no hatred, no self-centeredness, no guile. And if you want to be in God's Kingdom, you have to go back and become as a little child. How is that possible with our carnal selves? Remember, children's angels always have God's attention. That is what verse 10 means. They are always before His face. The Father is always watching His children, His Son's inheritance.

Will we avoid the curse or will Christ go mafioso on us?

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