Teen Probe

S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T T-A-L-K T-O T-E-E-N-S

Education. That’s why you go to school, right?, to learn how, to be able to do, to steer away from poverty and failure, be a winner and all that. So let’s look at it. Is your education really a ticket to the land of the triumphant? Is success measured in awards and diplomas? Just how valuable is your education? What and where will it get you?

Education can be a good thing. To know is okay. Learning has advantages. And limitations.
Wisdom, not knowledge, gets you there. Unfortunately, schools major in knowledge, not wisdom. Schools cannot transform the fool, but simply educate him. The product is an educated fool.

Knowledge knows, wisdom does. The educated knows what to do, the wise does it, the fool doesn’t. Fools don’t make it, ending up where they don’t want to be. Theirs is remorse. Hey! how did I end up here?

A fool chooses flimsy leaning posts. Looks to others for a point of view. Majors in minors and minors in majors. His heroes are anemic. He goes with the flow without question.
Fools do dumb things. Like leaving a sign on the door, Key under doormat. Like going to a nerd for advice. Stuff like that. Education won’t change him.

Education is okay but it’s not the answer. I’m not down on education, okay?, I just want you to get it in right perspective. There are major flaws in your education. Hey, I know you don’t like to hear it, but I’m getting a rep for saying things people don’t like to hear, and I’ll say it again: The education you are getting has some very major defects. Now I’m not talking about 2+2=4 and H2O and not forgetting the silent p in psychic. I’m talking about perspective. I’m talking about things that matter. I’m talking about purpose and direction and attitude. I’m talking about life, where you’re going and why bother getting there. So when life on earth is over you would have done more than frittered away a pile of years.

Your education doesn’t come from school only. It comes from family, the boob box, the media, movies, friends, and whoever you hang with. Words, words, words – they come at you from every direction, this one says this and that one says that, and there is this way of looking at it and that angle and wow!, it seems like everyone has the answer. Words affect you, don’t think they don’t. Words are powerful little critters that get inside through your ears, swim around your brain for a while, nestle in your memory, bring a change or reaffirm an opinion and then, often, leak through your mouth for others to hear. Words can bring sorrow, pain, accusation, deception, false promises, bad advice. Or truth, hope, joy, healing, prosperity, laughs.

Your education consists, largely, of the words you hear and read. The value of your education is relative to the quality and quantity of these words. Who are your teachers? – they are simply the people you learn from, paid or unpaid, qualified or unqualified. By their words they influence you to think and behave the way you do.

If you looked at Mary’s life you would say Hey! that’s far out, the poor kid, what a raw deal. Mary, not her real name, and her five sisters were never allowed out of their father’s influence. He pronounced a curse over them if they dared disobey his every command, and they lived in fear. Never drove a car, held a job or many other things we consider routine. They were prisoners in their home. Daddy educated them, Daddy provided, Daddy did everything, Daddy was their only influence. They rarely heard another point of view and if they did they would probably think Hey, that’s kind of kinky because it didn’t go with what they had been taught. Their perspective was distorted and yet, because they could not make comparisons, they considered their life normal. Finally Mary “snuck out from my Daddy” and got set free. She was 54.

You have to see that, to one degree or another, what happened to Mary is, right now, happening to you. Your perspective is being defined and limited by others. You are being taught weird things. Like your multi-great grampa swung from trees and ate bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Like right changes with the times and circumstances. Like if it feels good do it. Like ‘me’ is god. Like life ends at the grave. Stuff like that. You are a prisoner to mentalities passed on to you. But from your perspective life is normal.

You have to see you are going in a particular direction for no other reason except most everyone else is going the same way. You never had an opportunity to assess what’s the right way to go. You were simply placed. I said, you were placed.

You are driving down a four-lane highway, lots of traffic, zoom, honk, screech. You don’t know it but up ahead there is a break in the road. People driving one second and flying the next, flying to their death down a thousand-foot chasm. But from your perspective, cruising down the highway, all is well. All these people you’re following must know where they’re going, right? There is safety in numbers and all that.

Suddenly you are picked up and lifted high in the sky, don’t ask me how, okay?, it just happens, and now you can see all around for miles and miles and you see the highway you were driving on and the disaster ahead. Your perspective is different.

You see, that’s what I’m trying to do, lift you up above yourself, above your life, above your circumstances, above the crowd. Why? So you can see! Seeing is okay, isn’t it? See what? See reality, see things the way they are, like maybe for the first time in your life. Are you listening?

You really are heading for destruction. What you lean on will not hold you up, what you trust in will fail you, the education you deem sacred won’t help a bit. So what if you know that the square of an hypotenuse of a right angle triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Where will that get you?

How good an education are you getting? Is your education steering you in the right direction? Or are you, like Mary, only getting one point of view?

Your education is limited. There is so much you are not being taught. I mean, important stuff. There is a whole world out there you know little about. God and the devil, angels and demons, hey they are real even though you can’t see them, even though they are not taught in school. Wars on earth only reflect the real war. The real war is over the souls of men and women and children.

Jesus was the most profound, gifted, knowledgeable teacher who ever lived. Jesus has more enemies than any other person, but few dare to publicly negate His ability to teach. Even many atheists declare His teachings profound.

Question: If that is true how can you ever hope to get a sound education while ignoring the greatest teacher who ever lived? Let’s do that again: If Jesus was a profound teacher how can you hope to get a sound education while ignoring His teachings?

Answer: You can’t.

Back to perspective. The only true perspective is God’s perspective. All other, yes all other perspectives are distorted….. riddled with misconceptions, foolishness, bias, lies, stuff like that. These distorted perspectives come in the form of religion, humanism, New Age, atheism, feminism, socialism, psychology, etc., etc.

And the only true book is the Bible. Because the Bible is God’s book and it contains God’s perspective. Why does the education system ignore the Bible? Why isn’t Jesus Christ expounded on the education channels? If Jesus was so wise why aren’t the biggies talking about Him? Why highlight guys like Shakespeare and Freud and Darwin while ignoring Christ? Hey, the answer is in the Bible. Listen up.

2 Corinthians 4:3,4: If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose mind the god of this age has blinded, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Hey, who is this ‘god of this age’? Never heard about him in history class. Freud never mentioned him in his enlightened writings. Sure, the cartoonists poke fun at him but they don’t think he’s for real. Hey, satan is real, I don’t care what they have told you. Jesus spoke to him, was tempted by him, rebuked him, warned people about him, trained His disciples to do battle against him, called him “the father of lies,” “the wicked one,” “the evil one.” As a matter of fact His reason for coming to earth was to free people from satan’s kingdom.

Yes, the devil has a kingdom and you are part of it. The word ‘god’ means ruler. Rulers have kingdoms to rule over. Jesus said to His religious enemies, “You are of your father the devil.” Hey, that’s heavy. Jesus said that satan was their (spiritual) daddy. Wouldn’t the same be true of you?

“He has blinded the minds” of the unbelieving. Hey, who is being blinded? Hang on to something while I tell you. The people who are blinded by the kingdom of darkness are most people. The people around you, the ones teaching you, the ones you lean on and emulate, the guys that say if it feels good do it and Ha ha, if there really is a hell I wanna go there cause that’s where my friends will be and funny stuff like that. They are commentators, newspaper and magazine columnists, cartoonists – not all, but most. The blind guys are “those who are perishing,” the majority, you know, the people driving down the (zoom, honk, screech) highway.

And the blinded guys is also you. Yeah, you have been blinded by “the god of this age.” You can’t see things as they are. “Lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ… should shine unto them.” Hey, them is you! You have been blinded. Why? Because if you ever come to the place where you understand the gospel and respond to it, you will be set free. Black Hat would have lost one of his pets – you.

What is the “gospel of Christ”? Well, for starters, it’s the truth, something you’re not too accustomed to. It is accurate information about God’s plan of salvation. God’s plan of salvation is Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the price of your sins with His life. Gospel means ‘good news.’ The good news is you no longer have to be at enmity with God, the sins separating you from God can be wiped away by simply accepting Christ (that means accepting His lordship over your life, a decision to live life His way) and His sacrifice as payment for your sins. The good news is there is another road you can be placed on, a road taking you off the highway leading to eternal remorse and destruction and pain, and unto the road leading to indescribable joy and purpose and abundance. That’s the good news. dummy has blinded you to the truth of the gospel and threw you other philosophies and mentalities to entertain you and keep your mind off your need for salvation.

Hey, I am talking about a conspiracy. dummy is after your eternal life. He is the one who has kept Jesus and the Bible out of your education, out of your school. Jesus called this fallen angel “the father of lies.” He invented lying and is the champion liar. Deception is his specialty, always in the background affecting people and programs and happenings. He is fraudulent, crafty, merciless. And he hates you. I said, he hates you. If he’s got you when you die, he’s got you for eternity. He has blinded you from the reality of Christ’s atonement for your sins, from the many promises from God to you if only you would believe.

So if Jesus is such a great teacher, doesn’t it make sense to hear what He has to say? So listen up and get educated. Jesus said, “Unless a man [that includes you] be born again he [you] cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus said, “This is the condemnation [of the world], that light [Jesus] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light.” Jesus said, “The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.” [Simply stated, Jesus is saying most people will end up in hell.] Jesus said, “The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” [Simply stated, Jesus is saying comparatively few will end up in heaven.] Jesus said, “God so loved the world [that means you] that he gave His only begotten Son [Himself], that whosoever believes in Him [Jesus], shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus said, “Do not fear those who can kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The words of Jesus bring life. They bring joy and peace and prosperity and healing and purpose and joy and goodness. Only His words will bring good to your life, affect you positively, steer you right.

Jesus spoke truth. Jesus spoke from true perspective, God’s perspective. The Bible says, “The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” And, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.” You cannot get a sound education in the things that matter if you ignore the Bible. There is no wisdom outside of a relationship with God.

What determines if a person is wise or foolish? Jesus gave a simple lesson. He taught that a wise man is one who hears His words and builds his/her life on His words. The fool is the one who hears His words and does not build his/her life on His words. For example, you have just heard some of Christ’s teaching. Jesus would call you wise if you responded to, accepted, and built on what you have just heard. But if you reject His words, if you continue to build your life on the words of others, Jesus would call you a….. yep, you got it.

Before closing I would like to point out a few more differences between Jesus the Teacher and any other teacher you have had. First, Jesus was innocent. No other person could say that about themselves. It was an innocent person nailed to a cross on your behalf. Secondly, Jesus loves you unconditionally. I am not saying Jesus only tolerates you, but He loves you. Tell me, what teacher would love you if he knew you rejected him and his teachings? Or if you told him all the rotten things you did and thought all your life? How many teachers do you think would be at your funeral if you died, say, five years from now?

But Jesus loves you unconditionally. That kind of love is called agape love. He never forgets you. He has always been there waiting for a response.

When Mary fled from her father she ran to a man of God and by the power of God became a restored person. Next came her sisters one by one and then her dad. All saved from their sin and prisons by the love and power of God. God did what no psychiatrist could. And what He did for them, what He did for me, He will do for you.

Truth: Almost two thousand years ago someone, a very special someone, freely suffered a shameful death in payment for your sins.

Truth: You have a despotic enemy who has blinded you to that reality.

Truth: Most people in the world will enter eternity deceived by this enemy of their soul, including the people you walk with, admire, study, listen to.

Truth: If you reject the words of Christ you will go to that horrible place you don’t want to go. Every moment for all eternity you will wish you were never born.

Truth: Jesus loves you. The Father loves you. You are their creation. They long to have fellowship with you.

Truth: You can, right now, receive this great gift of life. Simply pray this prayer with all the sincerity you can muster.

JESUS, I CONFESS I AM A SINNER. I HAVE DONE MANY SINFUL THINGS. I HAVE BEEN FOOLISH. BUT NOW I TURN TO YOU. PLEASE WASH AWAY MY MANY SINS WITH YOUR BLOOD THAT WAS SHED FOR ME ON THE CROSS. I SURRENDER MY LIFE TO YOU. I AM FROM THIS MOMENT YOUR PROPERTY. I ENTRUST MY LIFE TO YOUR KEEPING. I BOW TO YOUR LORDSHIP. I WILL LEARN YOUR WAYS AND WALK YOUR PATH.

And now tell someone of your decision for Christ. I said, tell someone, anyone.

Thanks for listening.