latest

I have been Youth Leader at my church (Baptist) for the last 16 years. In that time we have had our ups and downs ministering to teens; the good times and the bad.

But never this bad.

About 4 years ago, we were averaging 10-15 teens in our group (we're a small church, with attendance in the 80s and 90s.). Then an incident happened which began an unfortunate pattern.

"The Incident" (as I call it) involved a Sunday night youth meeting in which I mentioned, in passing, that the Bible condemns homosexuality (the topic was in the news). After everyone had been dismissed, one of the young girl's mother came storming into the room and blasted me for my insensitivity.

It turns out that the mother's oldest daughter (who was not at the meeting) is a lesbian.

Earthquake.

The fallout was immediate and devastating. Sunday school and Sunday nights' attendance shriveled down to me and my 2 sons.

It stayed that way for an entire summer.

Slowly, younger kids who were coming into the 7th grade started attending and from that we started over. We eventually built it back up to previous levels.

Then gay marriage started becoming a prominent national issue, and again I was forced to make a decision: go soft on the issue or stand firm on what the Bible teaches. Ignoring it wasn't an option, it kept coming up.

90% of the teens played along with everything until we got back from the annual Youth Convention in 2014.

And then they fled.

This time it hurt my sons, since the ones who left were their contemporaries.

How did I explain all this to my sons? It was rough. This is a small neighborhood. You can't help but pass by people that you know, people that you have ministered to. People that now look away when they see you, not even acknowledging your existence...or your sons'.

What of the remaining 10% that stayed? They moved away.

Our trip to youth Convention this year was a very small group. The only ones that stuck around afterward were my sons.

You can guess what this past summer looked like.

A couple of months ago, our bus ministry found a group of black teenagers that were really talented in performing arts (dance and interpretive movement). We even let them perform on a Sunday morning. However, one of them is gay.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

And here's the kicker: I've never had the chance to actually TEACH on the subject. I've just mentioned it in passing...and teens have fled for the tall grass.

As you can see, we have been on the receiving end of history. Believe me, it gets old.

I am on the verge of giving up, which I didn't want to do until my sons both graduated.

I've condensed our recent history for time's sake, but suffice it to say that we are in desperate straights.

The other thing that makes this so challenging is that I have no co-workers in this ministry, I work 2 jobs and have been the only teen ministry worker for most of my 16-year term.

My pastor has been supportive, but is really unable to help beyond encouraging words and prayers.

I'd like to have a dialogue here with Freepers who may have suggestions.

I fear for my Republic! I fear that we are going the way of ALL the other great Civilizations of the past, the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Incas, Maya, just to name a few. They too came apart from the inside out & were taken over by a greater outside force/s. When do our so called leaders start declaring themselves above the law, their protection security staff will start wearing purple so we will know who their are, & we cal tell them apart from the rest of the so called internal security forces. We already have to pay tribute at least once a year to them who live apart from us peasants. And let us NOT forget what is taken from us when we purchase anything that we need for our daily lives.

Then we grew up learning that our causes would be heard in the fair & UNbiased courts, & that the so called judges would listen to both sides & also a jury of our peers our listen in and make their decisions heard before all. But the “Will of the People” was the most important & the last word on any subject. But now all it takes is 1 black robed priest [term from the days of old when they were the judges for the elite] to tell us on how the king/s & emperors want us to live.

The Country that I swore an oath to protect from all enemies both forgin & domestic NO longer stands! And it is every person for themselves [or with their family] It is ok to rape, rob, burn, or destroy anything you want all in the name of something, anything you want. As long as you can say that you were oppressed in some way.

So now I am calling for the implementation of Paragraph 2 of the Declaration of Independence;

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States”

And that we hang every person who has helped cause these problems! Because tempers are short & memories are long. There will be NO appeal or reprieve, or pardon or parole, the judgment will be final! The ship of state is about to be righted & probably be the Veterans who will be the ones who right it, because we can NO longer trust those who make the laws or enforce them!

Will I be branded a traitor to the current regime? I know I will be. Will I be ridiculed, tormented, laughed at, mocked, more than likely. But to those of you who held make this mess of our country, I damn you ALL to the lowest reaches of the ancient Greek hells!

There will be a day of reckoning & you are not gonna like what you are going to get, whether in this life or the next! This I swear, before All Mighty GOD in Heaven.