BE CAREFUL KIDS

DANGERS OF THE WORLD

Welcome back children of God!

If you're old enough to read, then you already know about some of the dangers of the world and how to avoid them, like not talking to strangers or not getting in a car with someone who says your mom is in the hospital or that they found your dog.

In this step, we're going to talk about some of the things in the world that can be dangerous to your soul.

Did you know that the devil is trying to win as many souls as he can away from God? It's true. He will do anything to try and make bad things look good to you. He wants you to think that being good isn't fun anymore. When you don't care about being good anymore, that's when you know the devil is winning.

Now, hold on just a minute. Remember that we talked about original sin and how we all do bad things sometimes, so never forget that when you're sorry for your sins, God forgives you, and your soul still belongs to God.

Now, what if you went down a road, and you knew there was a trap in the road, covered with sticks and leaves, just waiting for someone to come by and get caught in it. Would you warn all the people that you know and love, NOT to go down that road?

OF COURSE YOU WOULD!

That's what the devil's traps are like ... roads with hidden traps in them. I'm going to tell you about some, so that you won't go down the roads where the devil is waiting for people to carelessly wander so they will fall for his tricks and his traps.

One of these traps is the computer. Well, if you never used the computer, you would have never found the CHILD OF GOD program, but there are also many bad things on the computer, and it is a good idea that one of your parents should be with you whenever you use it. For your own protection, and because you are concerned about your soul, you should ask your parents to use the parental controls on your computer so that you can't be bothered by harmful stuff. God will be so proud of you. While you're at it, ask them to do the same with television. Even commercials and the news have things on them that are bad for people to see and hear, and most of the time, it's very hard to forget things that you see and hear.

Have you ever seen something like a gory movie that you wish you had never seen so you would never think of it or remember it ever again? Once you see something, you can't un-see it, but there are so many things that God wishes you'll choose to never look at. Sadly, these are the things that the devil will try his hardest to get you to look at. Be strong. Make the right choice and do the right thing ... Like we talked about in Step 1.

Just think of how many people would have never gotten hooked on smoking cigarettes, if they never tried that very first one to begin with. It's the same way with many things in life. The devil makes things look exciting, but they are really just roads with traps. Stay away from them.

You see, the devil puts thoughts into peoples' minds by things on the computer and television and many other ways, and then you get to choose what to think of those things. Your conscience, remember, tells you when something is good or bad, and sometimes you can't control the thoughts that pop into your mind, but if you choose to keep on thinking about something bad, then it becomes sin, so if you don't go down that road in the first place, then you don't have to worry about that trap. Only go down the roads where you KNOW there are no traps. If there is something bad in your mind that you can't seem to get rid of, talk to your parents about it. Sometimes just talking out loud about it is enough to expose it to the light of truth that it is bad and then it will be easier to forget.

Books, magazines, clothing, gossip, television, computers, friends, movies, games, drugs, bad language, money, fame, music, power, loneliness, illness ... These are all things that the devil uses to try and win souls, and there are even more. As a CHILD OF GOD, you have to be on the look out for the tricks that the devil uses in these things that sometimes seem ... Normal.

One of the trickiest things that the devil does is to make his tricks seem like they're not tricks. He's not going to jump out of a box of Cracker Jacks and say, "Hello, I'm the devil, and I'm here to pluck your soul out of God's hand!" Oh, no, my dear children, He's going to be sneaky about it, so you have to be one step ahead of him. Another thing to know, is that he can't just take your soul, you have to be willing to give it, or it still belongs to God.

A lot of times, He does things so slowly that people don't notice that what they're doing is bad. Let me give you an example. Fifty years ago, they couldn't use the Lord's name in vain on television. Now, you almost can't find a show that doesn't. That doesn't make it right.

Ask yourself ... If everyone jumped off the Empire State Building, should you?

Every day there is something that is more surprising than the day before, something new or different that the devil is using to win souls away from God. You MUST become aware of those traps and keep away from them.

BE ALERT!

If there is something that everybody is doing ... Beware ... It's probably something that the devil came up with.

The devil has already convinced the United States of America that God shouldn't be allowed in school, so prayer is not allowed inside our school buildings, and celebrating Holidays like Christmas and Easter are now called winter and spring break instead of Christmas and Easter Holidays.

You also have to be careful of the things that the public schools try and teach. We Christians have strong faith, and we believe in what the Bible says, that God created the Heaven and Earth, but the schools teach that a ball of fire exploded and that's how they were created. They have no proof of this, but they are teaching kids that.

Evolution is another lie that the world is trying to teach children. God created mankind just as he is. Mankind didn't come from a germ that turned into a fish, then an alligator, then a monkey, then a man. God would have told us. God has nothing to hide from us.

The Bible says:

Prove all things, and stand up for the right things.

In our step from yesterday, we talked about goals. The goals that you reach for in your GOALS FOR GOD are called short term goals, because you want to reach them in a short time, but there's something you should know about long term goals. A long term goal is something that you work toward for your future. A good example of a long term goal is what you want to be when you become an adult.

There are many goals that people want to reach, but while they are working toward them, they forget all about their real goal as a Christian ... to glorify God. It's very important that you never let anything become more important to you than God. If there is a long term goal that you really want to reach, ask God how you can glorify Him through what you want to do.

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Another thing to never forget is that one of the ways God wants us to glorify Him is by serving His people. While you're still very young and have a lot of time to decide what you want to do in your future, keep in mind that God wants us all to help one another, not just ourselves.