Last night’s terrorist attack at the concert in
Manchester was evil. This terrorist bombing is resulting in many family members
and friends grieving over the loss of loved ones. Others may lose limbs and have to deal with
serious injuries the rest of their lives. In addition to the evil inherent in all
terrorist attacks, the attack at the concert in Manchester had an extra element
of darkness: it targeted a venue which
was full of children and young people and their families. The devil seems to
love to hurt children.
So let’s get some things clear:
Nothing at the concert in any way justified this evil
attack.
The terrorist was entirely wrong.
We should mourn with those who mourn and pray for God’s
comfort for all who are hurting.
Nothing I am going to say next changes any of these
truths at all.
Now, for the hard part.
As evil as terrorists are, I’m not convinced that they are doing more
harm to young people than pop stars like Ariana Grande are. Yesterday, I did
not know who Ariana was except for perhaps a vague recognition of her name as a
young pop star mentioned in news headlines. So I spent just a few minutes
researching her on the internet. What I
found broke my heart.
I had no idea how massively popular she is. She has several YouTube videos with just shy
of a billion views apiece. She is one of a whole set of young pop stars with
empty lives and empty lyrics who are leading our youth astray. In what ways?
Her videos, like those of her peers and previous pop stars,
are highly sexualized. Why in the world
would any sane parent want their daughter (or son) to watch this stuff? We imitate those we admire. God designed us that way. If we teach our children to admire Christ and
courageous believers who love sacrificially, they will imitate these shining
examples. If we leave them to admire
today’s pop stars, they will later be reaping the consequences of sexual
immorality, empty lives, drug addiction, and a desire for the praise and
attention of people which leads to deadly pride if they get it and to
debilitating depression if they don’t.
Then there’s the well-publicized fact that Ariana dumped
Christianity (seems unlikely she was ever a true believer) because Bible
believing Christians don’t support, affirm, and celebrate her older brother’s
homosexual lifestyle. It’s not merely that this promotes homosexuality. It is her attitude that if God through His
Word says something we don’t like, we should ignore and reject it.
My goal is not to personally attack Ariana. I feel sorry for her. She is on a path which predictably leads to
substance abuse, depression, and eventually death, followed by God’s
judgment. I sincerely hope she repents.
Our youth are growing up in a scary world of bombs at
concerts and vehicles turned into weapons.
They need the love of Christ to overcome such hate. They need God-given courage to shine the
light in this darkness. They won’t find
these things at a sugary sexualized pop concert.
A Prayer: O Lord,
you saw the terrible terrorist attack last night which brought death and
destruction. Please comfort all who are
mourning. Be close to the families who
lost loved ones. Please be with youth who
lost their friends. Lord, help heal those
in the hospitals. Pour out your grace
and mercy.
Heavenly Father,
You also see how many millions of youth are being led onto a path that leads to
death and destruction by the pop stars and the culture they are captives
of. Please set our young people
free. Open their eyes to see Jesus. Send a powerful revival among the young
people. Set them free from the filth
that floods the internet and the airwaves.
Show them Your Way which leads to life.
Forgive them for their sins. Have
mercy on them and rescue them.
In Jesus Name.
Amen.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment