CHILD OF GOD
STEP 5
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.
1
Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
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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.
Colossians 3:23
And whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto
men ...
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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.
STEP 5
Be sure to
write something in your journal or diary to God and don't
forget to do your GOALS FOR GOD.
For
today's step, ask your parents to set the parental controls on
your computer and television.
Also, spend some time thinking
about your long term goals.
What do you want to do with your
life that will glorify God?
Write down some of your ideas
because remember, goals that are written are reached more
often. To continue the CHILD OF GOD program ,
return tomorrow and select:
STEP #6
And I'll meet you there!
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