WORMWOOD HIGH

Painting by Patricia Backora

CHAPTER ONE

MY DESCENT INTO HELL

It was my very first day at Wormwood High. Home room for several grades would
be held in the cafeteria. I was chatting with a few younger girls from the seventh
and eighth grades. Maybe I’d said too much earlier to the wrong person. But I
couldn’t have concealed my dark secret much longer anyway. Not unless I chose to
lie about it.

My descent into hell began with a bang, much like a cyclone rages through a sleepy
little village and razes it in seconds. Bullies have infrared radar eyes which miss
nothing, and bloodhound noses which can sniff out fresh new opportunities for being
mean. The first day or two of the new school term is critical to the reputation of the
Top Dog of the bully pack. His buddies, the subordinate bullies who follow his
example, are counting on him to find someone to kick around for the duration of the
school year. His enjoyable task is to scan the homogenous high school crowd and
pinpoint a victim, someone who deviates ever so subtly from the accepted standards
of the Cult of Cool, that whimsical religion embraced by the vast majority of
teenagers. Someone has enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks, to learn the sordid
Law of the High School Jungle: You have to sell your soul to be popular, but all you
have to do to make plenty of enemies is just be there. Someone’s “Wonder Years”
are about to be turned into their Wounded Years.

I’d already violated one of the many taboos of those bigoted times. I possessed a
surname of non-Anglo-Saxon ethnicity. The more one’s name deviated from “Smith”
or “Jones”, the more likely it was that a few cranks would suspect him of being an
atheist or Communist subversive. My ancestors certainly did not arrive on the
Mayflower. Nor were we in the upper strata of local society, hobnobbing with the
families of bankers or doctors (who were the upper-crust in my home town). We
had a strange name of French origin, its spelling modified to conform to the English
language.

“C......! C......!” cried a gang of leaping, whirling lunatics who’d burst into the
cafeteria for the express purpose of castigating me for my unpardonable sin. I saw
faces twisted in devilish leers. Raucous voices screamed: “Stay away! You’re UGLY!
We don't want your cooties!”

I looked no worse than anyone else, though I wasn’t a Baywatch babe with sharp
shoulder blades and thin pins. But being singled out for special abuse hurt. My
jaws tensed. I shook with involuntary sobs. Why, oh why, didn’t I have a tougher
hide? Why couldn’t I turn off my feelings like a light? Damn those stupid tears!
Shed for those yapping dogs to lap up!

It only takes a spark to start a forest fire. And how quickly it spreads. The most
insignificant thing will incite a bully to designate YOU as his target, and incite others
to wage relentless psychological warfare against you to keep him in cheap thrills.
Perhaps it’s your last name. Or, you wear braces. It could be anything, even a pair
of shoes the bully disapproves of. He especially dotes on major-league foibles, such
as being full-figured in a society which worships skeletal kick-boxers with silicone
chests. Man, it’s cool to be cruel, and you’re a dweeb if you’re sweet.

But whatever his asinine excuse, the bully has got a lotta hate to give and he’s just
gotta loosen his load of nastiness on SOMEBODY! He’s just gotta scan the crowd and
pick SOMEONE out. Once he zeros in on his prey, he latches onto him/her like a pit
bull terrier; and thereafter, it’s party time for the devil who drives him. Don’t kid
yourself. He wouldn’t buzz off even if you changed your name to J. P. Cool, lost 80%
of your body weight, riddled your face with rings, or yanked out your own braces.
Only the power of God can deliver you from satan’s power, once he’s drawn a bead
on you. Believe me, I’ve been around for half a century, and I have learned that
truth thoroughly. Many a night I’d lay awake wondering if I was put on earth just to
learn that people are capable of great evil, and just to learn how to hurt.

I had done nothing, said nothing out of the ordinary to anyone. Yet my reputation
was already shot to hell. Like a brushfire the damage spread, far beyond my control.
The tongue of the sinner is an unfathomable evil, set on fire by hell itself (James
3:5). No matter how friendly I tried to be, regardless of what I would or wouldn’t do
or say, I was already marked as an outcast.

Throughout those eternal months in hell I would feel the tight noose of icy cold fear
tightening about my neck. My natural psychosomatic “fight or flight” response to
danger would be suppressed, as I did time in a prison I could neither flee from nor
triumph over. I remember looking up at the birds in the sky and wishing I could fly
away from danger just like them. Instinctively I know it is wrong to throw a bunch of
people together day in and day out who may not even like each other. Even animal
shelters don’t lock Rottweilers and kittens up in the same cages!

Lots of bullying victims are downright ashamed to complain about verbal abuse. But
is it any less of a sin in God’s sight to bruise the immaterial, everlasting part of a
person, his soul, than to batter his body? Even great saints of the Bible complained
about vicious verbal abuse heaped on them by their enemies.

Job, who was covered head to foot in boils and recently bereaved of all his children,
thought verbal abuse was worth complaining about. He says in Job 30:1: But now
they that are younger than I have me in derision. Let me tell you, it’s bad enough to
get bad-mouthed by people your own age. But how humiliating, when you’re several
times older than some sassy punk of thirteen who verbally harasses you on the
street. You’ve lived a long life and fought many hard battles. You’ve earned a bit of
respect, just for weathering this warped world for so many decades. You’ve still got
toothmarks in your soul from where dogs bit you a long time ago. Then this little
punkster and his sidekick in a backwards baseball cap point and laugh at you,
dancing ever so slowly toward you, daring you to run, just ‘cause you’re
outnumbered. Ignore them and they just harass you more till they get a rise out of
you. My, but he devil loves this type of situation. Not only has he gotten your
tormentor to sin, you’re tempted to sin by hating them or returning their
compliments.

Aw , you might say, you’re being too sensitive. It’s only verbal abuse. So long as
noses and bones aren’t broken, so what? How blind people can be, especially those
who zealously preach the importance of saving eternal souls from hellfire! I say
souls need to be healed here and now, not just in the future. Verbal abuse,
supposedly mild kid stuff, is satan’s way of poisoning the soul. Scripture calls him
that old serpent the Devil (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). A serpent is a snake, and satan is a
most poisonous one. He fills people’s tongues with his venom. James 3:5-8 speaks
of the evils of the tongue. It is set on fire by hell. It is full of deadly poison. What
does the tongue of the abusive individual poison but the soul of his victim?
Consider the deadly cocktail of emotions which spring from a daily dose of verbal
poison:

1. Fear There is always the possibility that verbal abuse will escalate into physical
assault. And even if it doesn’t, it’s very imtimidating to see your personal reputation
ripped to shreds.
2. Shame Your self-esteem is demolished. It hurts to become the school
scapegoat. Even if you don’t deserve the abuse you feel stigmatized and want to
crawl into a hole and hide.
3. Anger There is understandable anger toward the perpetrators who launch these
vicious attacks because God put within each of us a longing for dignity and justice.
4. Hate Bullying can destroy the victim spiritually as well as socially, emotionally
and physically. If the abuse persists, and more wounds are inflicted before old ones
have a chance to heal, anger against injustice can degenerate into bitter hatred of
the perpetrators, much to the devil’s delight.
5. Helplessness What torture it is, being a kid trapped in a hopeless, no-win
situation like school. Your fight-or-flight instinct, built into all higher forms of life, is
suppressed. You can’t fight the crowd hostile to you, and you can’t quit school. So
shame, fear and frustration eat away at you daily. I felt like I was being held
captive in hell, both at school and on the bus.
6. Depression Proverbs 15:15 says: All the days of the afflicted are evil. Even on
weekends or other “good” days, I knew it was only a temporary break from the
ongoing school battle, and a cloud always hung over my head. I genuinely hated
being alive in this world.
7. Self-loathing The bullies pumped so much poison into my ears I even began to
hate myself for being bully bait. I felt so low I began to wonder if the bullies really
did have some God-given right to be mean to me. When I looked in the mirror, I saw
only a frightened freak with frizzy hair.

That’s what those nasty kids did to destroy my soul. That’s what God had to deliver
me from. Still think bullying is only a harmless little kiddie game?

The Prophet Elisha didn’t take too kindly to verbal abuse. In II Kings 2:23-24 the
local populace has heard about the translation of Elisha’s mentor the Prophet Elijah,
who has just been taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire. But a gang of teenagers
thought it was funny and decided to razz poor Elisha about the miraculous ascension
of his teacher . Just like today’s bullies will suddenly spring out out the bushes to
harass you, they came against Elisha, who was walking alone. Ever notice? You’re
far more likely to be seen as a soft target and accosted if you’re walking by yourself.
Taking a walk, a pleasant form of exercise, becomes an ordeal as your anxious eyes
scan both sides of the streets. And if more than two teenagers are gathered
together, you duck around the corner to take a different route to the store, so they
won’t see you and harass you. Bullies never fight fair. They’re so cowardly they
prefer to run in packs and chase one lone victim.

Evidently they thought God’s taking up of Elijah was funny, so they said: “Go up,
you bald head. Go up.” Teenage punksters, the same then as now.

Elisha saw red. Not only were these stupid jackasses showing disrespect for a
prophet of God and deriding him for a physical trait he couldn’t help, they were
mocking a most holy miracle of God: the translation of a saint into heaven. Elisha
didn’t just shrug his shoulders and say: “Kids will be kids.” He turned around and
cursed them in the Name of the Lord. Just like those kids emerged out of nowhere
to vex Elijah, bears charged out of the forest to teach them a lesson on proper
manners. That’s for-BEAR-ance, Old Testament style.

King David, Israel’s most valiant warrior, had many close calls with death, but he
didn’t take verbal abuse lightly. Psalms 140:3 says it well: They have sharpened
their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah. You don’t
disregard a snake bite just ‘cause it’s a tiny one. A vicious tongue is a syringe of
poison, and it takes a miracle of God to protect us from its effects.

The Prophet Jeremiah suffered some incredible physical persecution. He was

starved, beaten, and imprisoned down in a well shaft. But he still thought verbal
abuse worth complaining about. Adults bullied on the job can complain to superiors
and even sue for damages. Women have the right to report bosses and co-workers
who sexually harass them, not just with pats on the backside but salacious words
behind their back. If work is hell, adults can go look for another job. They can leave
and look for a more decent working environment. So why do the most defenseless
members of our society--children, have to be at the mercy of those who hate them
and are hell-bent on their destruction? Why isn’t school bullying seen as the crime it
is? I remember these song lyrics: ‘Bless the beasts and the children. They have no
voice, they have no choice.’
Reassurance? I got lots of that every day: Reassurance that what I was going
through wasn’t normal, and I wasn’t either. Something must be wrong with me, why
else would I be singled out for systematic abuse? Unsympathetic adults aren’t much
help to a victimized child. Poor little kids who get picked on day after day after day
are told to “stop being a crybaby”, “grow up”, and “take it like a man”, “stand up for
yourself and fight back”, and, the most irritating: “quit feeling sorry for yourself,
people are dying horrible deaths all over the world. Well, being bullied is daily
death! Even the great Apostle Paul said: “I die daily” ( I Cor. 15:31, 2 Cor. 11:23).
Death takes many ugly forms, not just the final beat of your heart. Every single
school day without exception death was dealt to my poor soul by the servants of
satan.

People have often asked me why I can’t “just let it go” after so many years. I don’t
hand out cheap “forgiveness” like popcorn to the unrepentant. I wouldn’t give my
enemies the satisfaction of knowing I begged God to forgive their ugly, unrepentant
souls and let them off the hook without their ever having to confess their crimes
against me to Him. God doesn’t remove guilt for sin without repentance. It would
be sheer injustice if the Great Judge of all the Earth let them into heaven boasting
they got free entertainment out of me and never had to repent, and God did nothing
about it because He’s an old softie, and I didn’t mean that much to Him anyway.
Cheap “forgiveness” without repentance I can’t do, and neither does God. I can’t
bring myself to trivialize all those years of pain and humiliation as if they were
nothing!

What is God’s own attitude toward forgiveness? Is repentance a prerequisite?

Ezekiel 18:21: But IF the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed,
and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live,
he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto
him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
27 Again, WHEN THE WICKED MAN TURNETH AWAY from his wickedness that he
hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

28 BECAUSE HE CONSIDERETH, AND TURNETH AWAY from all his transgressions

that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

God promises life to repentant offenders. But He isn’t satisfied with just an insincere
“I’m sorry”. He expects the sinner to TURN AWAY from his sin. The word “repent”
comes from a Latin word which means to TURN AWAY FROM. If you turn away from
continuing down the road to death, you’ll do something positive as well by starting
down the road to life. A couple of kids on the bus said “I’m sorry” (when it was in
their interest to do so). But within a couple weeks they picked on me again. God
does NOT promise unrepentant sinners eternal life. You can’t get to Houston by
stubbornly staying on the road to Alaska and then blame God for where you end up!
A lot of sinners are roasting in hell today because they didn’t TURN AWAY FROM sin
and go God’s Way by trusting in Christ as Lord and Savior in true repentance.

To add insult to injury, I was often blamed for bringing the bullying on myself!
Ridiculing a bullied child for complaining about it is the most despicable double
standard I ever heard of! Adults suffering on-the-job abuse sure wouldn’t blame
themselves for the problem or make other excuses for their tormentors. They would
fight for their civil rights! Blaming the victim? Talk about kicking somebody when
they’re down! And as for “stand up for yourself”, even a big kid with a black belt in
karate would have a hard time fighting off a whole busload of attackers!

One tired old copout is: “There must be something wrong with YOU! Why else would
so many people want to pick on you?” What kind of stupid logic is that? Right and
wrong isn’t decided by majority opinion. God’s Kingdom of righteousness is NOT a
democracy!

The number of two-legged dogs who’ve taken bites out of me throughout my long
lifetime would probably fill a football stadium. But you might as well tell a girl who’s
been raped by a thousand men: “That many men can’t be wrong, do you think
you’re the only one who’s right?” Unlike people, God doesn’t whitewash evil just
because it’s the popular thing to do. God didn’t vindicate the vicious crowd who
demanded that Pilate crucify Jesus. God didn’t say something must be wrong with
Jesus just because His enemies outnumbered Him a million to one. God didn’t tell old
Noah to join the crowd at the local whorehouse just because he was the only guy
who had any scruples left.

Stand on your own two feet and defend yourself. It’s grossly unfair to put such a
heavy burden upon a lone child outnumbered by foes, expecting that one to fight
single-handedly the war being waged against him or her without any intervention
from parents and school staff, who take on the job of substitute parents during
school hours. God holds parents responsible not only for providing for that child, but
for doing everything they can to raise him in a secure environment. Any decent
shepherd will fend off the wolves attacking his flock. The gentle sheep aren’t
responsible for protecting themselves from the sharp teeth of wolves and mountain
lions, the shepherd is! To shame the victim for being unable to fight off a crowd of
attackers is grossly unfair. What if it were YOU under attack? A lot of people take
better care of their own dogs than their own kids.

What’s more, it’s unfair to put such a heavy burden upon a lone child, expecting that
one to fight single-handedly the war being waged against him or her without any
intervention from you, both parents and school staff, who take on the job of
substitute parents during school hours. God holds parents responsible not only for
providing for that child, but for doing everything they can to raise him in a secure
environment. Any decent shepherd will fend off the wolves attacking his flock. The
gentle sheep aren’t responsible for protecting themselves from the sharp teeth of
wolves and mountain lions, the shepherd is! To shame the victim for being unable to
fight off a crowd of attackers is grossly unfair. What if it were YOU under attack?

Christ’s suffering on the Cross was terrible beyond comprehension. Jesus suffered
for the sins of the world. But even His sufferings on the Cross came to an end after
six hours. Christ died and gave up His spirit to the Father. But bullied children, even
Christian victims of bullying, are expected to patiently endure endless harassment
and torture not just for six hours, but for six months, six years, perhaps longer!
Prolonged bullying makes you wish you’d just hurry up and finish the process of
dying, just like a rape victim suffering through the aftermath. Is your child stronger
than Jesus Christ Himself, that his/her sufferings should never end? The lame
excuse adults and authority figures give for allowing bullying is that it “builds
character”. Tell that to the inmates of Abu Ghraib prison, who suffered humiliation
and bullying daily from U.S. soldiers (who hailed from a “Christian” country, by the
way!). Did they torture those poor Muslim prisoners just to build their character, or
to destroy them inside?

Reproach (criticism) hath broken mine heart; and I am full of heaviness

(depression); and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for
comforters, but I found none (Psalms 69:20).
Parents and teachers, put yourself in the shoes of the frightened child who came
into this world a trusting, smiling infant and has already had his or her innocence
stolen! Stop blaming the victim! How many trillions of times do I have to hammer
this home? Bullying is ALWAYS the bully’s fault! And the fault of whoever or
whatever molded his spiritual development. Period. Just like domestic violence is
always the fault of the perpetrator, even when some longsuffering wives protest: “I
must have driven him to it.” Never excuse the crimes of a malicious sinner who
walks in the ways of his father satan, instigator of all the world’s wickedness.

If bullies can’t be rehabilitated, restrained or expelled, schools aren’t much safer

than a kiddie pool infested with sharks. Schools are even getting dangerous for
teachers nowadays, with so many of them being verbally abused and threatened
with violence. Teachers, who despair of their right to a safe working environment,
are either quitting the profession or seeking medical help for ravaged nerves.

If school is a dangerous place, it’s nothing but a necessary evil. How about this far-
fetched, futuristic alternative? School bullying (and teacher trauma) would become a
thing of the past if schools could be dispensed with altogether and a computer with
educational software could be installed in every home. That way kids could just
stay home and learn. But that’s unrealistic, isn’t it? The computer would have to be
advanced enough to babysit while the parents are at work! Even if super computers
could take over most teaching duties, you’d still need to gather the kids in a big
study hall to do their own individual lessons under the supervision of at least one
educated adult who could monitor the room to keep warring factions apart. Even
so the bully could still select victims and attack them en route to lessons.

All the bottled-up fear of the years caused problems in life I had to overcome
through the Power of God. It left its mark on me: an aversion towards noisy crowds
of kids and teenagers, and a reluctance to mix a lot with people. Instead of
“fulfilling my potential” and becoming a soft-spoken secretary, I, who was forged in
the fires of adversity, ended up a militant voice declaring God’s anger at the
wickedness of this world and warning of His impending judgment on sinners.

Estranged From God_Why?

In my dismal world, God was dead, and churchgoing bullies drove more nails in His
coffin. I saw Him as a passive mascot Who presided over cold, dead, country-club
church buildings. His crowd of “Christians” would drop by to say hello to Him once a
week on Sundays, drone dead hymns, and yawn at deader sermons. Finally they’d
stampede out the church and leave Him behind till next week. Joyfully they’d hurry
home in their fancy cars to go devour their Sunday roasts. The supreme irony is
that I’d received Christ in church as a child, after attending alone out of curiosity.
Also, I’d briefly attended church in my early teens. But the churches I’d visited only
subscribed to PART of the truth taught by the original apostles. They could tell you
how to get saved. Otherwise, it was life as usual. Glorious manifestations of God’s
sweet Presence and Power were reserved strictly for the afterlife. The vital doctrines
pertaining to the Holy Ghost Baptism were unacknowledged or rejected outright by
these conservative churches.

There are noted evangelists in America who preach with polished eloquence. They
strive to gather souls into God’s Kingdom. Yet they downplay, explain away,
misinterpret, or sidestep those Scriptures which exhort us to seek the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit. Salvation from sin and that unique Baptism are lumped together as one
and the same experience.

Notice in Luke 22:31-32. Jesus and His original disciples were gathered in the Upper
Room for the Last Supper, just prior to His trial and crucifixion. Jesus was about to
warn Peter that he would deny Him three times. He says: Simon, Simon, listen.
Satan has desired to have you. He wants to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed
for you, that your faith will not fail: and WHEN YOU ARE CONVERTED (born again
spiritually) ,strengthen your brothers. The disciples had walked with Jesus for at
least three years, but they had not yet been born again. Jesus had not yet offered
up His life as an atonement for their sins.

For some 40 days after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus continued to make
appearances to His followers in His immortal resurrected body. In the days
immediately following Jesus’ execution, His eleven disciples (Judas had committed
suicide), were hiding in a locked room, petrified that those same Jewish leaders
who’d just murdered Jesus were out gunning for them. They were surprised when
Jesus suddenly materialized before them without going through the door. He could
do this because his wonderful resurrected body was not hindered by the laws of
nature, or time and space. He showed the disciples the marks left in His hands by
the nails, and the deep scar left by the spear which had been hurled through his
side. Having satisfied His men that He was indeed the risen Savior Who possessed a
body of flesh and bone, and not a mere apparition, he gave them the commission to
preach the Gospel. Then He breathed upon His disciples and said, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost (John 20: 23). At that moment, they were converted, for the Holy Spirit
had entered their hearts by faith and imparted eternal life to life men who had been
spiritually dead ( see Ephesians 2:1).

Ten days before the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, Jesus gave parting instructions to His
disciples, just before His ascension into heaven: It is written that Christ must suffer
and rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and forgiveness of sins
should be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are all
witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but
you must first wait in the city of Jerusalem until you have received power from
above (Luke 24:46-49).

Jesus had earlier breathed His Holy Spirit into their hearts to impart salvation to
them, but He would not dispatch them to the mission field until they had first
received the Baptism (total immersion into) the Holy Spirit. I will explore this in
greater detail in the chapter: SEEK THE BAPTISM.

What a pity that many church groups would rather adhere to established church
traditions than be equipped with spiritual power to overcome satan, their deadly
enemy. Incidentally, my use of the lower case “s” is deliberate. By faith I see satan
as God sees him_cut down to size by Jesus’ victory on Calvary. In my eyes he is
lower than a dirty cockroach, and unworthy to have his name capitalized.
During my rotten high school years, I lived in utter ignorance of Christ’s living
Presence. I related to Him only a historical figure Who was irrelevant to my troubled
life. I was so broken inside I even hated God for giving me the frizzy hair kids teased
me for.

If TV is to be believed, you’re a subhuman mutant unless your hair shines like a

plate glass mirror, your limbs look like toothpicks, your eyes are as huge as a hoot
owl’s, and your cheeks are as hollow as the Grand Canyon. If you aren't a starving
stop sign with big boobs and a flat fanny, you're a fat monster. As for your hair, the
blonder the better. Frizzy hair of all colors gets more bad press than leprosy. I’m old
enough to remember when shampoo commercials merely promised squeaky clean
hair without tears. Today’s vitamin-packed emulsions allegedly transform your
frizzies into a shimmery sheet of silk, such a psychedelic light show that'll outshine
the sun. Yeah, right! Funny, your hair is allowed to soak up nutrients Babylon
forbids you to eat. Well-fed, fat hair hanging on a hollow, hungry face!

Besides weather-proof, mirror-gloss hair, you just gotta look like a garden hose.
Just imagine, a woman’s been on the Death Diet so long her dog drags her out to the
back yard to bury her! Even a gal who’s had a big passel of kids is expected to look
like an eight-year-old, even if it means lifelong fasting. Except she’s gotta keep up a
respectable front for Romeo with silicone shots.

Get this: Not only does the Fashion Industry save lots of loot by farming out clothing
manufacture to starving third-world nations, it saves a fortune on material too. Size
zero’s all the rage now! And if you REALLY want to be a mean, lean sex machine,
confine your food intake to lettuce leaves and starve yourself down to size double
zero! Pity the high school girl who orders more than a skimpy salad at lunch time!

True, there is a big obesity problem in the United States, but women tend to be tiny
in the Far East. But big bucks still need to be made by Babylon. So some new
oppressive beauty ideal had to be invented over there to oppress women (and
men!). Not weight, but height, something once written off as unchangeable! In
China, a girl designed by God to be petite must grow physically, not just
vocationally, to reach the top in the business world, or her prospects in life will be
small. That means surgery to artificially stretch her leg bones. Ugh! Painful
recuperation follows each phase of the process, and sometimes it takes more than
one op to reach the top of your growing potential. But, hey. what’s the big deal with
being a little on the short side? Every time I fly coach I feel sorry for long-legged
folks!

For sure, beauty standards are more bizarre than ever. All hail to consumer
conformity. “Beauty” has become an obscene weapon in the hands of the
Establishment to oppress women and keep them in their place as lookalike sex
dispensers gangbanged out of the same plastic mold.

God, Who values us all as individuals, loves variety in His creation. But the bully
loves variety for a different reason. It gives him an excuse to target people who are
different. If you looked just like all the other 2000 kids on campus, it would be more
of a challenge to single a victim out!

Beware of being yourself. You’d better hop and bop like everybody else, show off a
perfect bod with a pierced navel, and have the same heat-processed hair as
everybody else. You’d better love the same canned music as they do, or you won’t
be cool! If you’re just a clone of every other kid on campus, of course you’re gonna
have boatloads of friends, ‘cause cool kids love only themselves, and the image of
themselves they can see in you! It’s in their interest to like you. If they rejected
you and your lookalike values gangbanged off Babylon’s one-size-fits-all press, they
would only be rejecting themselves. Who they are is dictated by Babylon.

SOCIETY IS SCARED OF ITS OWN CHILDREN

How true, this prophecy in Isaiah 3:5: And the people shall be oppressed, every one
by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly
against the ancient (elderly), and the base (dishonorable) against the honorable.
And in verse 12: As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule
over them (KJV). It was almost as if Isaiah could see into the future down to our
day. Men have grown weaker and more passive while women have grown stronger
and more aggressive. In many churches, women easily outnumber the men because
their husbands are snoozing on the couch in front of the TV watching football. Too
many men are abdicating their position as priests over their own homes and
delegating all the responsibility for the children's spiritual training to their wives. And
as for the worsening state of child behavior in society, today even the smallest kids
are telling parents and teachers where to get off.

In parts of the UK, many vulnerable people have become virtual prisoners in their
own homes, huddling behind their doors in fear of feral youths who go around
tearing up everybody else's property. Many elderly residents of housing projects
don't even like to walk one block to the convenience store because of the gangs of
hooded youths who congregate around the doorways. They act like they own the
place. They verbally harass passers-by. Young hoodlums vandalize parked cars and
tear up bus shelters. Just recently some beautiful new playground equipment got
burnt up by teenage hoodlums. The small children cried because of the loss. But
the teenage punksters knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell they’d ever be
made to pay for the destruction. If you're walking alone, they point and tease and
laugh at you, daring you to say something back. Even the tiniest children know and
use the foulest language imaginable. Paul describes our wild, rebellious generation to
a tee in II Timothy Chapter 3. Briefly I'll comment on the passage.

VERSE 1 THIS know also, that in the last days perilous (dangerous) times shall
come.***** A climate of terror has gripped the earth as never before. ***The Bible
says that in the last days men's hearts shall fail them for fear (Luke 21:26).

VERSE 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,*****Have you ever before
seen such a preoccupation with "self"? In some cases, affluent parents put their own
self-fulfillment ahead of their own children's spiritual training. It is far more
important to society to pressure couples to labor long and hard to pay for a fine
home, a fancy new car or a designer wardrobe than to free up one parent to spend
adequate time at home to raise the children to know the Lord.

VERSE 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent

(lacking self-control), fierce, despisers of those that are good,*****Here is one
reason why Christian kids have such a rough time in secular high school. It just ain't
cool to be a Christian and stand up for love and righteousness. Vicious sinners
despise good people. When a fellow student is being brutalized by fierce bullies, it is
rare for anyone, even a believer, to defend the victim and speak out against the evil
of bullying. Why? The peer pressure is on. Nobody likes to stick out like a sore
thumb and go against the flow, not even most religious people. It's cool to be cruel.

VERSE 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of

God;*****All the popular movie action heroes act like they're the next best thing to
God, and in watching them, kids live out their own fantasies through them. What kid
is going to look up to a super hero who confesses that without God he is nothing,
and gives God the glory for the victory? That's very uncool, and such a motion
picture would go bust at the box office. The pursuit of pleasure has become a billion-
dollar business worldwide, as untold millions party hard on their way to hell.

VERSE 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn
away.***** In certain places churches are essentially little different from fancy
country clubs. Oh, the devil doesn't mind churches so long as they don't stem the
tide of evil in the community. When a churchgoing child's religious training is devoid
of the power and love of the Risen Christ, he is much more apt to conform to the
prevailing darkness at school and just join the crowd.

School bullying is reaching epidemic proportions because discipline is outdated in

public schools. With no consequences to fear, juvenile delinquents feel free to boldly
do the devil's dirty work for him. Today even teachers are being attacked, both
verbally and physically. Many suffer such psychological distress from uncontrollable
pupils they finally give up and leave the profession. For them, school is nothing but a
zoo full of wild animal kids.

One TV "child developmental expert" gives advice on child-raising. You are told
never to "smack" (spank) your children, just hold them to restrain them till the
tantrum is over. Then you are supposed to send the child to a special place for
"time-out" till he or she is ready to behave and apologize for the rude behavior. That
advice is to be applied even to the most aggressive, foul-mouthed brats. I was
horrified to watch four-and-five-year olds curse at their mother and call her
degrading names when they didn't get their way. I would have faced a whirlwind of
wrath if I'd dared treat any adult that way when I was a kid.

One TV show depicts weepy, helpless, parents who stand helplessly by as their own
kids viciously insult them and trash the house for good measure. But oh, no, there's
no such thing as bad children, only inadequate parents. Mom and Dad are forbidden
to lay a hand on verbally abusive kids to correct them.

One day I saw a tantrum-throwing brat at the mall who plainly did not want to go
grocery shopping with his father. The father pinned the boy's flailing arms to his side
as they went along. Helplessly the beleaguered man pleaded with his son to behave
and quiet down. The boy's legs dragged the floor as his dad half-carried him toward
the supermarket. What made my mouth hang open in shock was this: The kid
couldn't have been younger than ten. He wasn't much shorter than his dad. He
looked almost as tall as myself! What an outlandish sight, a pre-teen kicking up a
whiny fuss like a tiny toddler going through his terrible two's! Society might be
sliding down to hell in a supermarket cart because it has rejected the Word of God,
but everyday reality is getting to be more bizarre than fiction!
Only problem with holding a supermarket-trashing toddler to restrain him instead of
giving him a quick swat on the seat is this: What do you do when the kid no longer
looks up to you, but has stretched out so much his feet drags the floor and you
break your back just trying to pick all 160 pounds of him up? If a sixteen-year-old
has never learned respect for authority, he would only laugh if you told him to go sit
in a corner. If you tried to ground him, he'd just hop into his car and drive off
laughing. Once your feisty little toddler is well into his teens, he's big and strong
enough to hog-tie you and invite the whole gang over for a beer party.

Bud Gives Old Dad The Business

Just imagine Bud Jr. interacting with Big Bud, his dad. In the first scenario Big Bud
puts into practice the diplomacy he’s learned at his local parenting class.

Big Bud to Bud Jr.: I hate to sound critical, but your room is a bit unhygenic and
malodorous. Pretty please, Bud Jr., won’t you rectify the situation? Come, show me
how creative we can be in applying the old elbow grease. I’ll even go fetch the Ajax
for you, to lend you a hand.

Bud Jr. knows he’s three inches higher than his dad. He sneers down at him as if he
were pond scum and says: "Shove off, you old $*&@! It’s MY room!"

Big Bud loses his rag: "Shut up, you stupid punk! I’m the one who pays the rent to
keep this roof over your head, so I get to make the rules. And if you don’t like it you
can pack up all your stinking clothes in a garbage bag and go can go sleep in the
gutter!"

Bud Jr. glares at him and goes up to his room, cursing.

Big Bud is a lost sinner. He’s physically too small to discipline Bud Jr. His status as
breadwinner of the home is the only weapon he has at his disposal. Bud Jr. gave in
to avoid being thrown out into the street, but the air is supercharged with hostility
and tension. How would Big Bud have handled the crisis had he been a Christian?

Big Bud to Bud Jr., who is fresh from school.: "Son, I don’t want to sound unkind,
but I can smell your track shoes and sweat shirts all the way down here. Please go
straighten your room.”

Bud Jr.: "($%@#! off, you old *%&$#! It’s MY room!"

Big Bud: "Hey, where did you learn THAT kind of talk? You didn’t learn it from me!"

Bud Jr.: "None of your &%#$@ business. Shut up!"

Big Bud, calmly: "Son, it may be your room, but the Lord has placed me in authority
over this home as its head, and I am to be respected. Now you apologize to me and
then I’ll decide your punishment for swearing at me."

Bud Jr.: "&$#*&!! I’m sick of the way you’re always shoving religion down my
throat. Don’t ever preach at me again, you little worm."
Big Bud applies a bit of tough love: "Son, go pack your things. If you can’t abide by
my rules, you can’t stay here anymore! I won’t have you acting that way around
little Ruthie and Jamie."

Bud Jr.: "Fine, I’ll stay with Gary Bradley. His dad’s real cool. He lets Gary drive his
car and drink out of his liquor cabinet."

Big Bud: "If you go over there, you'll STILL be under my rules, because I hold legal
jurisdiction over you. You take one sip out of Mr. Bradley's liquor cabinet and I'll
swear out a warrant on him for serving liquor to a minor."

Bud Jr.: "Christians aren't supposed to get anybody into trouble!"

Big Bud: "All I know is, son, if you don't apologize right now to your dad and take
your punishment like a man, you be in big trouble with MY Dad, because I'm gonna
tell him all about you and ask Him to deal with you Himself in ways that I can't. In
the Bible, God always assigns the hardest cases of judgment to the highest
authorities. And if you think I'M hard on you, you ain't seen nothin’ yet."

Bud Jr. doesn't shout hallelujah but mumbles an apology He accepts a six-month
sentence of curtailed social life and extra household chores, along with a can of Ajax.

Rights And Responsibilities Go Hand-In-Hand

Today, children claim the same rights as adults. If that's so, then adult
responsibilities should go hand-in-hand with adult rights. One person's rights end
where someone else's rights are infringed on. Delinquents should take the same
consequences as adults would for defacing property and destroying someone else’s
car. No, not jail. That's a disgusting, degrading place, even for adults. The best
idea, I think, would be a Christian boot camp which would instill discipline into them
and teach them good citizenship. They should have a drill sergeant figure
overseeing their rehabilitation, who would make them snap to attention in formation
and say "Yes, Sir!" In the ideal delinquent camp, all junk food would be cut out. It
only makes kids hyper. Instead, wholegrain bread, fresh fruit and vegetables would
be served. Devotions would be read and chapel attendance required. Bedtime would
be strictly observed. Vigorous chores would be assigned to every able-bodied kid
each day, rain or shine. The kids would be paid piecework wages, which would go
toward compensating their victims for the damage they caused. Nothing like good
old-fashioned physical work to wear out mischief makers so that they're too tired to
create chaos. Demerits would be issued whenever trash was thrown around or fights
started.

Corporal punishment has a built-in problem in that some individuals find it hard to
draw the line between what's reasonable and what isn't. If spanking isn't an option,
there are other strict ways to discipline offenders who insist on being treated like
adults. Those who break the rules of the camp's code of conduct would be isolated
from the other inmates until they decided to buckle down and learn a few manners.

In certain countries it's illegal to tap your kid's Seat of Education to calm his
histrionics when you refuse to buy him candy in the supermarket. And if your kid
cusses you out for asking him to go to bed, think twice before fetching the fly
swatter. Your child might be "taken into care", (put in a foster home) and you might
never get him back (though some defeated parents might count that a blessing).
Today's kids are legal experts. If they cause chaos in a neighborhood or assault the
neighbors, they know their rights. If you use physical force to protect yourself from
burglars who have broken into your home to harm you or your family, it's YOU who
are liable to get into trouble with the law! In poverty-ridden neighborhoods, kids
feel it’s their right to set fire to a new car someone else has worked and sweated
their guts out to earn. Wild teens often wear hoods to conceal their identity from
surveillance cameras. But even if caught and tried, they usually get a slap-on-the-
wrist sentence while the hapless property owner is left holding the bag for the
damages.

Many Christian parents have seen the light and are now home schooling their
children to prevent them from picking up the bad habits of the "cool crowd" which
calls the shots in secular high schools. These parents have invested far too much
love and prayer in their precious children to allow them to be contaminated by the
degenerate filth infesting today's public schools. My heart goes out to poorer
parents who MUST work full-time, and can't possibly afford to home-school or send
their kids to private Christian academies.

A No-Win Situation

It's a vicious circle. The cost of living is way out of sight. Both parents in the
majority of homes must work, not for luxuries, but to cover basic costs of existence.
In the worst case scenario, a child is left to strangers to raise, and when he gets
older, he virtually raises himself. Instead of one big happy family interacting around
the dinner table, you have a teenager nuking a frozen burrito in the microwave if he
bothers to eat at home at all. By the time he sees his parents, they're way too
frazzled to interact much with him. All they want to do is collapse in front of the TV
before getting ready to tackle yet another hard working day.

The vacuum left by the parents’ absence must be filled. If the parents aren't there
to instill basic moral values into their kids, who will? There's the TV, the Internet,
the movies, and the kid's school pals. They don't know right from wrong either
because no one was around to teach them. That's a big part of the reason so many
kids are causing trouble today. They never were taught the reality of sin, or their
need for salvation in Jesus Christ.

The worst thing of all is, millions of mothers would love to be home with their
children to raise them themselves, at least in their formative years. But this
perverse economy demands that both parents must work to provide the basics. And
even those women who are lucky enough to be financially able to stay home with
their children are made to feel ashamed for doing so. That's how little the tough job
of parenting is valued by today's modern materialistic society! That's saying that it is
of no importance to instill good character traits into the next generation, so that they
become well-adjusted, loving adults! Even horse breeders and dog trainers are
shown more respect than full-time mothers, just because they earn good money
making their animals the best that they can be. The ugly truth is: Money doesn't
just talk, it swears! In this fallen world money can buy you just about anything, even
love and respect. And every worthwhile thing can be measured in dollars and cents!
After all, you can't buy a BMW with love!

The Perils Of Puppy Love

Speaking of dog trainers, let's imagine this scenario: Roger, who lives alone and has
just adopted a baby St. Bernard from the animal shelter, must go off on business
for six months. Roger doesn't want to shell out hard cash to pay a qualified dog
trainer to care for the puppy and train him in his absence. Instead, a kind neighbor
will just drop by periodically to refill his food and water bowls. Then the man will
simply leave the house and let the dog go about his business. Roger sincerely
believes that firm training is psychologically harmful to animals as well as people.
Freedom to do as one pleases is far better. Surely as the dog grows older he will
automatically grow up to be a well-mannered pooch. Besides, the neighbor will leave
the TV on for the dog to watch so he will learn proper social skills.

Six months pass. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what months of neglect
have done to the dog. When Roger comes home, he is overpowered by the stench
left by a dog who has never been paper-trained. All the stuffing has been ripped out
of Roger's leather furniture. The dog has made mincemeat out of his moccasins.
Every table lamp is in shards. Total devastation.

Roger goes ballistic. He swats the 150-pound puppy with a copy of the Wall Street
Journal. "Bad dog!" he scolds. He goes over to the TV and kicks it. "I blame YOU for
corrupting my dog!" he shouts. "If only this stupid dog hadn't learned disorderly
behavior from YOU instead of how to live together in harmony!"

Roger orders his dog to sit. Instead, the dog jumps up on Roger and tries to grab
the Twinkie out of his hand. When Roger tries to take it back, his "cute little puppy"
bites him.

A far-fetched scenario? Yes it is, because you would seldom, if ever, hear of such
neglect on the part of a man who paid hundreds of dollars to buy a purebred St.
Bernard. Most likely, the dog would have received the best of training and care
because the owner had invested so much in him. Roger's St. Bernard has become a
wild animal instead of a domesticated pet due to Roger's own indifference and
refusal to make sacrifices to train him.

A similar thing is happening to precious children worldwide, just because their

parents are unwilling (or unable) to spend time with them to raise them in the fear
of the Lord. And by the fear of the Lord, I mean reverential respect, not being so
afraid of God that you're afraid to get to know Him and love Him. That dog had no
reverential fear toward his owner because no one had been there to properly train
the dog to know any better. So he reverted to his natural wild nature. Today in
Britain a new phenomenon has arisen: what is referred to as "feral" (wild) children.
Children of countless poor homes have been left to fend for themselves and figure
out for themselves what is acceptable and what isn't. They are never taught about a
Living Christ Who longs to transform their lives and show them a higher way to live.
Christ has been kicked out of public schools except as a brief mention in courses like
"Comparative Religions". According to this lost generation, anything goes, so long as
it ain't you who gets hurt. Because they fear no consequences for breaking it,
rebellious kids could care less about the Golden Rule: Do unto others and you would
have them do unto you. Their only rule is: "If it feels good, do it."

God wants parents to spend quality time (and as much quantity time as possible)
with their children, and to teach them the solid truths of His Holy Word from an early
age. As the sapling is bent, so grows the tree. In Ephesians 6:4, Paul seems to be
cautioning fathers not to be harsh with their children as they properly train their
children. The verse says: And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Even though children need
a proper spiritual upbringing, they must also be treated with loving consideration as
fellow human beings.

Ephesians 6:4: Proverbs 22:6 makes a rock-solid promise: Train up a child in the
way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. A child raised in a
Christian home might have his contrary moments as all kids do, but deep down he
will know the truth, because he received it at your knee as a small child. And if such
a child should ever stray from that truth, it behooves a godly parent to stand in the
gap for him in trusting faith that he will eventually awaken to a close relationship
with Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Turned Off By Hypocrites

It isn’t just non-Christians who devote their lives to crass consumerism, to the
spiritual detriment of their children. Nominal churchgoers also pledge allegiance to
the god of materialism. Why? So they won’t get ostracized by others they look up
to. My, but religious folks amused my family. There was a gigantic church just
across the street from us. It had several imposing Roman columns and took up half a
city block. I’d often wonder: Is God really impressed by all the big money which
went into building that big castle? Does He really live there?

On Sundays we’d gawk out the windows and watch what I called the “Peacock
Parade”. With studied gallantry, sharp-suited men in spit-and-polish shoes would exit
their brand new cars and go open the doors for their wives, all resplendent in
beauty-shop coiffures and fine fashions. Out the back seat tumbled two or three
kids. The little girls, their shining tresses all ribboned and curled, invariably wore
lacy, flowery dresses and black patent leather shoes with lacy socks. Even the most
rambunctious little boys chafing in their little suits would remember that dreaded
“hickory” Daddy could twist off the big oak tree in the churchyard. So they’d put on
their finest Sunday manners and walk sedately beside their fathers. Hand in hand,
the picture-perfect family would smile sweetly and make their grand entrance into
the awesome temple which would have been the envy of Julius Caesar.

I remember my dad grinning and saying, “How much would those folks love Jesus if
they had to go to church wearing burlap sacks and driving an old junk car?” Spying
out the window, he’d observed more than one heated spat taking place in those
fancy cars. But once husband and wife got out to greet their church friends, they’d
smile like angels, as if on cue. After all, they were people of good breeding and must
play the part, especially when they were in the public eye.

Increasingly, I saw the shallowness of typical modern-day churchianity. It was just

so much refined, pretty cotton candy that quickly dissolves to nothingness in your
mouth.

It was near impossible to get my dad to set foot in a church. All his supervisors were
fine upstanding members of the most popular denominations. But their manner of
life belied their profession of faith in Christ. One of the few exceptions was Red, one
of Dad’s buddies at work. This man, Dad said, had once gotten down on his knees in
front of a belligerent enemy, and prayed for him, rather than seeking vengeance.
Red pastored a small country church, one which boasted neither refined manners nor
Roman columns. One Sunday Dad took me out there to hear him preach. No soft-
spun beating around the bush with that man. Red believed in forgiveness, but he still
knew a fiery hell awaited unrepentant sinners. Red could preach a roof-raising
sermon on hellfire and brimstone that kept people from dozing off. Dad said, “I can’t
go with all that screaming.” But at least Red wasn’t a hypocrite, and his sermons
were much more thrilling than the airbrushed fluff which passes for gospel preaching
today.

Sadly, my dad got turned off by his pretentious church-going bosses, although he
was friends with one man who “walked his talk”. It’s a shame that hypocrites claim
to represent the humble Christ of the Bible. Dad knew religious folks who
worshipped their WASP Jesus on Sunday, but badmouthed black folks on Monday.
How ironic that most of those fine churches had foreign mission boards intent on
reaching “darkest Africa” for Jesus! And it would have mortified all those gentlefolk
to learn that Jesus was not a right-wing WASP, at all, but a Jew whose teachings
were so revolutionary they rattled the Establishment of His day.

One family friend, a minister and piano dealer, often bragged about his shady
business dealings. He just couldn’t show Dad the Light. At work, Dad’s supervisors
would come by and watch him toiling away at his manual labor and say, “C....., if
only you’d join the RIGHT clubs, go to the RIGHT parties to meet the RIGHT people,
and join the RIGHT church, you’d get promoted to a nice desk position in a hurry,
and your life could be so much NICER!” So, church was merely a means to an end.

Before daily devotions in public schools were outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court
(and for a while thereafter), a brief Scripture passage would be read and the Lord’s
Prayer recited by a student volunteer ( I never did volunteer). I’d just scowl and sit
in the back of the room as the others rose and bowed their heads. I thought, What
a waste of time! If God exists at all, He isn’t impacting THEIR lives very much. Most
of these kids hate blacks, and even the Ku klux Klan claims to be Christian! I, who
had been saved at the age of twelve, had grown so hostile toward religion I even
admired Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the woman who fought to take prayer out of the
schools.

I knew that most of those kids were forced to go to church every Sunday at the
“right” denominations (in each locality one would be more acceptable than the
other). The idea was this: Warm a padded pew for two hours on Sunday, and God
will look the other way as you raise hell the rest of the week.

Those hypocrites saw salvation as a one-dose inoculation against going to hell.

“Once-saved-always-saved” was their passport to an easy life of unbridled
compromise with this world of sin. I recall a crowd of kids spilling out of school on
that fateful November afternoon in 1963. They’d just heard some news that really
made their day. President Kennedy had just been shot. The delirious cheering rose
up to heaven and grieved the heart of God. Why were they so happy? Because they
hated blacks, and Kennedy had treated them like real human beings. So I reasoned,
How can I possibly believe God is good when all those churchgoers act like the
devil?

Care must be taken by preachers to ensure that ALL conversions are genuine, that
people have not responded to altar calls out of peer pressure. A superficial “decision
for Christ” is NOT the same as deep, daily surrender, accompanied by the “washing
of regeneration (newness of life) and renewing of the Holy Ghost” spoken of in Titus
3:5 . Salvation is contingent upon repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). This is an individual experience. No one is ever
automatically saved by being brought up in church, or christened as an infant!

Even genuine believers can fall away from Christ unto perdition. I recall one young
Christian brother back in the early 70’s, during the height of the “Jesus Revolution”.
He was full of zeal and raring to go for Jesus. He married a deeply spiritual woman
who was utterly devoted to him. In his middle years he repaid her by turning from
Christ and adopting such an indecent lifestyle she had no choice but to divorce him.

The happy-go-lucky reprobate took off like a shot, leaving his poor wife with three
kids to raise on her own. She didn’t receive a dime from that bum. Perhaps “once-
saved-always-saved” emboldened him to behave like this. He had been an avid
student of the Bible in his youth. He must have overlooked I Timothy 5:8: But if
anyone doesn’t provide for his own family, especially those of his own house, he has
denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Now I believe that eternal security in Christ hinges upon four principles. For easier
recollection, I suggest you remember the acronym LORD.

Love Him
1. A believer must WANT to remain under the covering of the Blood of Jesus.
It is
possible to cast off your own faith (see I Timothy 5:12). The apostle Peter
warns: For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are once again entangled in
them and overcome by them, the end of those people is worse than the
beginning. For it would have been better for them NOT to have known the way
of righteousness, than, after they had known it, to turn from God’s holy
commandment. But it has happened to them just as the proverb says: The dog
has returned to his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mud (II Peter 2: 20-22). Jesus says in John 14:15: If ye love me keep My
Commandments. And again, in verse 23: If a man love me, he will keep my
words.

Obey Him
2. So long as the believer walks in an attitude of reverent dependence upon
Christ and obedience to His Lordship, and is careful not to turn the grace of
God into a license to commit sin, he remains justified by faith and acceptable
to God the Father. We stand by faith, and must not provoke Him. For if God
didn’t spare the natural branches (unbelieving Israel), take heed to your
ways, lest he also not spare you. Consider the goodness and the severity of
God: on those who apostatized, severity.; but toward you, goodness, IF you
continue in His goodness: otherwise you also shall be CUT OFF (Romans
11:21-22). Jesus says in Revelation 3:5: He who overcomes shall be
clothed in white garments; AND I WILL NOT BLOT HIS NAME OUT OF THE
BOOK OF LIFE, but I will acknowledge his name before the Father and His
angels. The clear inference here is that it impossible to have your name
blotted out of His Book if you repudiate His Lordship over your life and make
the things of this world your god. This is rebellion and idolatry, the two
things which, unrepented of, will take a believer out from under the covering
 of the Blood of Christ. When that happens, God sees our sins instead of the
righteousness of Christ.

Remain in Christ by Faith

3. In order to maintain our spiritual lives, we must remain in Christ, ever-
conscious that He is our only goodness. In John chapter 15, Christ is likened
to a grape vine, and his disciples to branches. If we refuse to submit to His
Lordship, turn away from Him, and cut off communication with Him, the
precious sap of His Life no longer flows into our innermost being to nourish
us, and we wither (see John 15:6). So long as an infant receives milk from
its mother, it will live and grow. It it stops eating, it dies. For optimum
spiritual health the soul must be nourished on God’s Word, the Bible. Only
then can grow into the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29). God already sees
true believers as righteous in Christ, although the unperfected soul of the
believer is still growing in grace and maturing in the knowledge if Him (II
Peter 3:18).

Daily Check in with God

4. Daily touch base with God. Repent of all known sins or bad attitudes, as soon
as God alerts your conscience to them. While we still live in our mortal
body, we all, at times, sin and fall short of the Glory of God. Even after
conversion it is imperative to daily abide in an attitude of repentant faith.
Notice in I John I: 8-9: If WE (John includes himself here) say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.

Unconditional eternal security is indeed a shaky doctrine. Romans 12:2 admonishes

every believer: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (into Christ’s
likeness) by the renewing of your mind. This is the daily process of the sanctification
of the soul. The soul must be cultivated like a garden. You don’t get a good harvest
by tossing a few seeds onto a patch of dirt and forgetting to weed and water it. In
Philippians 2:12-13, the apostle Paul says: Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God Who is working in you according to His own good
pleasure.

Passive Bullying-Satan’s Cold War

Evidently those kids at my school had never had these unpopular truths expounded
to them from their lukewarm church pulpits. If they did hear them, they either
didn’t sink in or the power to live by these principles was absent from their souls. II
Timothy 3:5 declares that in the latter days religious people will possess a form of
godliness, but will reject the power of true godliness (that of the Holy Spirit).

Having benefited little from the anemic preaching at their churches, the kids made
conformity to the “cool crowd” their real religion. Apathetic churchgoers, as well as
aggressive bullies, are driven solely by the need to be liked by the “right” people.
Keeping quiet and doing nothing to befriend bullied students is always the safest
policy to follow. So I was subjected to passive, as well as active bullying. Kids find it
safest to “go with the flow” and not to “make waves”. But even sewage goes with
the flow down into the toilet. Compromisers who fear men rather than God will not
only make waves, they’ll land in hell and make a big splash, rejected by God as
cowards forever (Rev.21:8).

The goals of passive bullying: To make the school scapegoat feel unwanted, to rob
him of affirmation as a worthwhile person, and to rip away his veil of basic human
dignity by exposing him to glaring scorn. For me, it took the form of deliberate petty
meanness. At lunch time, almost no one would condescend to sit with me. I usually
munched my peanut butter sandwich alone. If you didn’t know how to act like a
smart ass big time operator instead of a human being with a real heart, you were
treated like a leper. In gym class, I was always the last one chosen for teams. Now
I know I surf the Web instead of the waves, but there were others just as un-athletic
as myself.

In Art Class (my favorite), one boy would whisper out loud to his friend about how I
must have the mange and must be full of maggots. He’d sneer at me out the corner
of his serpentine eyes. Bad Billy just went on and on, inspecting me like a piece of
diseased meat, even slamming me for the way I walked. He knocked me as being an
example of looking “graceful”. His sarcastic comment reflected the popular prejudice
against any girl who wasn’t a tiny doll with toothpick arms. Billy’s lanky, goofy
sidekick was less malicious, but he went along with his vicious buddy, just because
he idolized him and wanted his approval. That snake Billy was one to talk about
grace. He lacked the only kind of grace that could get him into heaven, the Grace of
God.

I detested high school, though I got good grades. I might have done even better if I
hadn’t had to focus my energies on survival instead of concentrating on other things.
I wouldn’t relive my teens for all of Bill Gates’ billions. I wish I could purge a few ugly
faces out of my memory, just like I can flush sewage down the toilet. One
advantage of being older is I’m that much closer to meeting my Lord face-to-face
and asking Him why so much evil is permitted in this world.

I hated school assemblies, regardless of their content. I had to attend, or my

absence would have been reported. I’d always sit at the end of a row and slump
down in the dark, wishing I could make myself invisible. Only one other girl (a
genius I.Q.) would ever deign to sit with me. Everyone else gave me plenty of room,
some tittering and saying, “There’s a seat over there!” Tiny paper wads would fly in
my direction, just small enough to annoy me without getting the teacher’s attention.
Only one girl ever admitted to being a Christian and tried to “walk her talk”. But I
knew that in the Bible Belt, it was a statistical improbability that only one born-again
Christian attended Wormwood High.

Nominal Christians, like unbelievers, live for the moment, and only when they get
older or contract a terminal illness will they reflect upon their duties toward their
Creator. How many professing Christian teenagers have got the guts to actually
live out the love of Jesus Christ when popularity with their peer group is on the line?
I honestly feel for kids of today, the way they’re forever under pressure to conform
to every indecent trend the devil sends along, and nothing is ever right or wrong, it’s
only how you look at things. High school is a much worse place to be now than when
I served time in one, because now teachers and principals are too scared to even
scold rotten punks who make their own lives a misery. They’re afraid of getting sued
for bringing an alleged troublemaker to book for allegedly threatening some alleged
harm to some alleged victim. Mustn’t ever quash the bully’s constitutional right to
express himself. You might even get fired if your personal belief system isn’t warm
and fuzzy enough to let him off with a sweet smile.

My heart goes out to every Christian student who is making a courageous stand for
Christ in today’s godless secular schools, which are often little more than dumping
grounds for undisciplined, neglected kids. It’s tough to mean business for Jesus when
you have to mix every day with hard, hostile peers. Christian nonconformists are
harder to find than a six-dollar bill. I admire these unsung heroes for being on the
front lines every school day and defending godliness in an ungodly environment.
Although I sure don’t miss my teenage years, the way satan’s servants singled me
out to sacrifice to their god of hatred!

I know it can’t be easy to be a lone light in the midst of gross darkness. It is a

miracle of God’s grace, that the light within you can go on burning when satan’s vast
army threatens to snuff it out.

Christian teenager, I’m proud of you. Shine for Jesus. I know the pressure’s on, but
dare to be different. Jesus wasn’t ashamed to die for you. Let Christ live His Life in
and through you. Your life is the only Bible some of your peers will ever read. Be a
courageous soldier of righteousness. Don’t ever hide your light under a basket (Matt.
5:15-16). You have no reason to be embarrassed for being a believer. It’s the sinner
who ought to be ashamed.

Do what Jesus would do. Spread the good news of His Love. If you see your Christian
brother or sister getting discouraged, be a bright candle for Christ and help to
rekindle that other candle which feels like it’s about to go out. Make somebody else
feel like a valuable human being, especially someone whose heart is broken by
rejection. You could make a lasting, loyal friend who will one day fellowship with you
in the Paradise of God. If you’re thankful for Jesus’ love, just pass it on.