The Ohio Independent Baptist, March 1968

by Rev. Joseph C. Fritz This mes age wa delivered by our brother, Rev. Jos. Fritz (Calvary Baptist Church, Oberlin), at our OARBC conference la t October. It was requested by 1those who heard it, that it appear in the pages of The Ohio Inde– pendent Baptist. We submit it <to you in condensed form. It h,as been stated ,th at 64 % ( ap– proximatel1y 110 million) of the pop– ulation of the U mted States axe church members. One wonders wha,t percentage of these attend regularly. What percentage attend a Bible-be– lieving church? Is America :6orsaking God? Conditions in this great land seem to say that ithey are! We Ignore Youth What is happening? The youth orf today are 1nfluencing America tre– mendously in every avenue of life. I An automobile dealer, who recently ' attended an automobile convention, said that the automotive industry was gearing their ales toward youth. We need only to behold the sales of Mustan.gs and GTO's to get a glimpse of this fact. Youith influences the buying of cl,othing and food. It is youth that brings out the modern music that predominates the radio dial. Of our presenrt 199 million people in America, 100 million of them are 30 'Years of age and under. A total of 234,000 babies are bein1g born every month! Will we reach our youth? How can we? Let's make our Sunday chools .our major where we have pro-gram geared to thejr level. Vacation Bible Schools need to be stres ed as never before. I am quite sure that we are missing out in not having Chri tian Day Schools and that we will ome day look back with extreme regret ~or not having done something about it. W/1y are t/1e yt1utl1 so i111portc111t? ( 1) Because tl1e youth of today wiJJ llC the legi51ators of tomorrow, and they need a faitl1 that they won't legi late agair1st. (2) Because the youth of today will be the teacher s and J)rofe s rs of l 11101 row, and they 11 d a faith to live by and to propa– g~te. ( 3) Because tl1e youtl1 of today "' 111 be the parents of t0111orr w, and th pare11t n1ake the hon1es tl1at ,,re THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST America. Should we reach the yourth because we Jove America? Yes! But, more importantly, ·becau e we love oul . They represent a real mi ion field. Bar-ring any holaoau t, one day, if the Lord tarrie , we will not only be i,nfluenced by the youth but will be do,minated by them. In a day when 1he police, the court , and the schools are unable to handle the youth, and the home are having trouble, we know of One who can handle them. We can poi·nt them to the Lord under our variou influence , and ,the Holy Spirit of God will 'take control. Let us not be sati fied in ju t per– mitting our young people to go off to any college or state school that they choose. Let's promote our Ch,ristian 1colleges as nev·er befiore. We're Jiving during days of rebellion again t God, again t the home, against the schools, against ocial order, and against the Jaw governing our conduct in America. Instead of ending them ,off to a school to learn to 1nake a livirig, let us end them off to a school that will teach them how to live. We Forsake God Wl1y is this l1appe11ing in A 111erica? Becau e An1erica has been for ak– ing God. When we for ake God, we depart from His face, Hi way , and His comn1andment . The Bible say that idolaters are guilty of for aking (]od. ( I amuel 8:8) "They have for aken n1e and f oJlowed other god ." We know what an idol is, and if we Jove and erve idol , then ot1r children arc going to be j11 t what we are. hey ob crve our conduc t and know what w <;erve. We cann t f ol then1. inc ot1r televi\ion set~. ur 11 111e~. ot1r ttulon1 biles, t1r l1oats, c>ur car11ping outfits, and t1r n1a- tcrial g tfs have beco111e little g d~ to us, wh,tt els · can we c pcct f1 on1 <>t tr chifdr ~n f1t1t that they al. o will put t l1 e111 ahead of Goel. Why <lo I 111cn t ion l h·c)e th j ngs as god ? J t's si,~1pl y hccausc they arc t.hc very things that keep peo,pJe f ron1 bein,g in church on Sunday and on prayer meeting night . These things are bless– ing from God but when we puit then1 ahead of God, ,they become our cur e. "vhou shalt have no other god before me." We for ake God by forsaking His hou e. ( II Chron. 29: 6) in preceded the ir failure to at tend the Lord's wor hip next they turned their back upo,n worship and then upon God. This i the order quiite often. Note in ver e 8 that God judged them for it. We a] o for ake God by forsaking His way. ( II Peter 2: 1, 2 and 9: 15) (Roman 1 :2 1-32) Peter men,tions th,e fact that people will follow the • • pern1c1ou way of false teachers as opposed to God's way. They take the way of the flesh. Thi is a picture of the new morality. Then the Apostle Paul gives us a pic.ture in Roman about ome in our society "who did not want to retain God in their knowledge God gave rthem over to a repro,bate mind, to do those 1hing which are no,t convenient." (Rom. 1.28) When we forsake God and Hi way , we'll then naturally be– come the picture in ver es 29-32. We Forget God What is the cause of A rrierica for– saking God? I there really a cau e? We,re aware of the teachings con– cerning n1an ' heart, but apart from the heart condition there eem to be another cau e. In Deuteronomy 31 :20 God gives a prophecy concerin– i ng Israel to Jo hua and Mo e . 'For when I hall have brought them into the land which I ware unto their fat her , that floweth with n1ilk and honey; and they hall have eaten and filled then1 clve , and wa en f ait; then will they turn 11nto other g d . and erve them, and provoke n1e. and break n1y coven·ant." Pro perity then become a ten1pter. Thi pr phecy co n1e trt1e in Det1t. 32: 15. During pro pcrot1 tin1es. n1an tttrn to hi ... own device , foll wing man rather than God. There were 3 milli n pc - pie that w re able to p nd th ir va– cation abroa 1 thi .. · ear. and thi. ot1ght to ind icatc .. n, thing f t1r pr p rity. Pr perity i n ble ing in on1c wa 1 .. , l1t1t in a11 th r it an httrl >ttr . piritt1ality nothe1 rca "'On wh , 111crica i i11 thi\ con(lttion is h\,;catt'ie she h ,1\ l1 er1 {Continued on Page 16) MARCH, 1968 PAGE 9