Invisible War

Invisible War

            There is an organization that was formed to raise awareness and aid the children of Uganda who are victimized by the recruitment of child soldiers.  In many villages children gather together and travel to remote locations where they can hide and escape the rebel militia that capture the Ugandan Youth and force them to be soldiers for their rebel army.  Invisible Children has raised awareness, money and developed systems of communication to help aid in the event of a raid.  With all that they are doing it still remains a tragic issue in Uganda that many children are being succumb to physical and mental captivity and forced to act out in evil and violent ways.

            Here in America we don’t have to worry about rebel soldiers coming to take our children, robbing them of their innocence and childhood by plunging them into war.  Yet there is a different threat that is just as horrifying, human trafficking.  In Hawaii alone you can see how much of a problem this is.  Young girls and boys are taken and subjected to sex trafficking, often drugged and manipulated psychologically to engage in a life of forced prostitution.  First Baptist Church San Francisco has been active in the fight against sex trafficking and they have been the target of many death threats and bullying by the people involved in this disgusting industry.  FBCSF partners with YWAM and their Justice Matters program in SF to help bring awareness and put an end to this tremendous evil. 

            My work at the high school is starting to leave me feeling worried for the future generations.  There is little respect for others, elders included.  Violence seems to be more accepted and more practiced.  Morality has taken a dive and the things that our youth do and say continue to leave me shocked.  Motivation and aspirations for something better in life, for a productive and supportive role in the community is nearly absent.  Then as I look around I realize they are not growing out of it.  Young adults remain in this youthful ignorance and violence persists and even grows with age. 

            There is another force taking hold of our children.  Probably the same force that oversees the perpetuation of child soldiers and child sex trafficking.  It’s a spiritual force of evil.  It’s the Enemy that is out recruiting our youth and drugging them with ideas and emotions that drive them to seek out a certain lifestyle.  The Enemy is out to manipulate through the general media, the enemy is out to recruit your child to do the workings that wage war against the moral fortress of our society.  In some ways it is loud and obvious and outwardly present for us to look at in disgust.  Then there is the evil that is subtle and progressively destructive.  Violence, sexual promiscuity, hate, laziness, self-centeredness, irresponsibility, there is an Enemy that wants our children.  What will you do to stand up and fight?  How will you, as a parent, stand against the Enemy when your child is the target?  Absence of authority in their lives is the best fuel for this wild fire.

This has been going on for ages and ages, but my fear is that we are slowly losing the battle.  In church we are going through the commandments of the Decalogue from the book of Exodus.  The moral commands hold so much value and as we move into the New Testament Jesus reviews those commands and says, “You have heard it said…but I say…” not to abolish, but to take it to another level.  Jesus challenges us to moral living, a lifestyle that will move us to fulfill the greatest commandment, love God and the second it like it, love others.  Perhaps that is the biggest destructive impact the Enemy is having on the world and our children, a loss of love.  Fight for your children and teach them to stand against the Enemy.  Even if you might not see it, there’s a war and we are all involved.   -jason