An Ounce Of Prevention

It is a tremendous honor to speak to this great Assembly this morning. I can think

of no greater honor than to be chosen to preach the Word of God at the Assembly

of the Churches of God of the Mountain Assembly.

Nehemiah 2: 18-20, "Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon

me. As also the King's words which he had spoken unto me. And they said,' Let us

arise and build." I like the emphasis placed on the word "us."

I am titling my sermon, "An Ounce of Prevention," because I believe that it sums

up what I am going to talk about this morning. I want to present to you what I believe

is the greatest challenge facing the church in our generation. The church has faced

the challenge of materialism, modernism, formalism, and many other ism's. But I

believe that there is a challenge confronting the church today, that is greater than

any the church has ever faced since it's beginning.

One great challenge is to have a more effective personal, soul-winning program

in all of our churches. Another great challenge has been to get every church

involved in our Missions program. Another challenge has been the bus-ministry.

But the greatest challenge we are facing today is the need for Christian

Education. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, spent more time teaching, than He did

preaching. Satan is using the ministry of teaching to cause great devastation in

the world today. Teaching is powerful! Teaching can be greatly used to build

God's kingdom if its importance is recognized and implemented properly.

Yes, I truly am convinced, with all my heart, that we need to get a vision of the

importance of the next generation. A vision so clear that no burden will be

considered too heavy, and no sacrifice will be considered too much, in bringing

the vision to fulfillment.

I. REASONS WHY WE NEED CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

1.The Effort Satan Is Putting Forth To Destroy The Next Generation.

The devil is putting forth an all-out effort to seduce and poison the mind's of our

youth. He is out to destroy their faith. To persuade them that the 'old time religion'

and the power of God, is out dated and not necessary. The devil is going to

extremes to tear down the foundations upon which the church was built! And, 'if

the foundations be destroyed,' our nation will collapse, and society, as we know

it today, will cease to exist. The traditional family, Sunday worship, Morals..all a

thing of the forgotten past.

(1) Television.

There are two institutions that Satan is using to poison the minds of our youth. The

first is television. Can you still remember what they aired on t.v. when you were

a child? I remember when television first came out. The preacher's called it, "the

devil's box!" We were too poor to own one so radio had to suffice. But after I was

grown, I purchased one. I really enjoyed watching shows, taking for granted their

innocence. My children watched cartoons such as Donald Duck and Mighty

Mouse. But now, coming into our home on a daily basis is a deluge of filthy themes, filthy scenes, filthy language, and atheistic agendas. Even the cartoons

have a devilish, atheistic philosophy interwoven. Millions are watching television

without realizing that they are cooperating with the enemy as he effectively uses

t.v. programing to destroy the sanctity of marriage, promote premarital sex and

extramarital sex, and make it sociably acceptable. He is destroying moral

absolutes, and all standards of good and evil taught in God's holy Word. He is

using t.v. very effectively to destroy parental discipline and authority. Parents are

sassed, cussed, and rebelled against on most t.v programs. And all the while,

the parents are portrayed as the villains instead of the heroes.

(2) Public Schools.

The second institution that the enemy is using as a lethal weapon to poison the

minds of our youth is the public school system. The devil is on the rampage in

our public education system. Horace Mann, with an idea he got from article 10

of the Communist Manifesto,that whoever controls what is taught the children,

can control society, fought a difficult battle to get legislation passed in the state

of Massachusetts,(1852) making a free and compulsory education available to

all children. I'll tell you what, if you thought that you could control society through the

minds of children, you'd pay for their education, too!

Then in 1963, a lady named, Madelyn Murray O'Hara, succeeded in taking

prayer and Bible reading out of our schools. When you and I went to school, we

were taught about how our nation rose to greatness because it was founded on

the principles of the Word of God. Our curriculum was God-centered. But not now.