The year is 1998 I am standing in front of the town hall in a little town not far from murmansk. In front of me a young man is standing restless eager to join his friends. I am pleading with him to understand that Jesus truly died for his sin and that this is not just a religious image or metaphor, it is a reality and that his relationship (or lack thereof) with God will have eternal consequences. He looks me straight into the eyes and says, I wish I could believe as you do, but I sacrificed two dogs to the Devil yesterday, I belong to him. I told him that today was the day of salvation and that God would welcome him back. He walked away from me troubled, the week after that he was killed on his motorcycle by a train.
The Devil knows that we are in a war, he takes no prisoners and shows no mercy. The gospel preached by MTV, the most resounding voice in youthculture today, is a gospel of silicon augmented bodies, riches and fame. It is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week proclamation, calling out to worship sexy bodies, money and fortune.
Day in and day out our young generation stands in the bombardment of the new media culture giving them answers to the questions they never knew they had, allthewhile the questions of who am I, what is my purpose and is there more to life than this? are largely unanswered and ignored unless the world finds a way to capitalize on the question at hand, and they do. In many stores today you can buy little stones, that will, placed on your body heal you, help you and give you answers of tomorrow.
“The stones will call out”
If we are silent, the rocks shall cry out, and they are! Where is the church in all this, where is Gods army in this gruelling battle? Why have we locked ourselves into our church halls where we constantly bicker about how to properly worship God, tradition and liturgy our new idols. Vanity and Comfort our allies.
Wake up!
Let us storm the gates of Hell and take back what he has stolen from us! Let us not rest until either we have brought the gospel to every living soul on this planet or we are resting in His comforting arms, put to sleep by the soothing words of His melodic voice, “Well done, faithful servant!”