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The Old Paths
They Still Matter
I seldom yearn for the "good old days". The quality of today's computers, for example, are a far cry from those that were around even 15 years ago. When someone says, "They don't make them like they used to," I reply, "I'm certainly glad that they don't!"
I do long, however, for a return to the "old paths, where the good way is" (Jer.6:16). There was a time when schoolchildren were taught kindness, purity, loyalty, obedience to authority, and reverence for God. Back then, newspaper and magazine articles reflected the belief that we are moral beings who should exercise self-restraint and seek the good of others.
Today, this idea has largely been scrapped and replaced with the concept that we can be happy only when we have the freedom to fulfil our every selfish desire.
This year in Norway the Prime Minister was impressed by a local school which taught pupils to shake hands and show respect for one another. Schools all over the country picked up the Prime Minister's signal and some devoted a whole week teaching children about manners.
But really this kind of education is quite useless. I have recently been on antibiotics and have had to relearn the importance of taking my medicine continually over a long period of time to ensure that the bacterial infection is destroyed. One week's instruction on manners is quite useless when it is never taught again and the secular media drums the opposite message into children's brain every day of the week on TV, in magazines, books, LPs, cassettes, videos, clubs, discos, etc..
In Jeremiah's days people weren't ashamed of their sins (v.15). And when the prophet pleaded for them to return to the "good way", they responded, "We will not walk in it" (v.16).
God has given a prophetic message to this New Covenant Church and it is this: this generation will not return to the "good way". The people in Jeremiah's day were given a second chance but only after severe chastening and much suffering. The next item on the prophetic calendar in our day is the Great Tribulation and the end of the present system of things when Christ returns again.
As New Covenant Christians we are sickened by the way our schools are destroying our children. We have said: Enough! Now we want to educate them ourselves in the "old paths". This is perhaps one of the greatest impulses for many of us for gathering to Zion. Of course, we want to try and influence our communities too, for the sake of other children and parents, and to assist other Christians in their desire for a return of the good way, but we know that whilst we do this, our children are suffering, and Satan is winning victories that he need not if we would but gather to Zion.
We want to take our children out of the world system and give them a healthy education in a controlled, loving and healthy environment. We want an end to liberal, permissive philosophy which teaches our children to behave however they want. We want an end to stress and sorrow in our families as we watch our little ones walk the way of the world. Therefore we have resolved, with God's permission, to gather to Zion.
Will you be a part of it? Join with us, "ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it" (Jer.6:16). Amen.
This page was created on 21 May 1998
Last updated on 21 May 1998
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