By Arthur Owiti
THE YOUTH

Apart from women being one group that has been targeted as an entity false gospels the youth is another group that is facing a major onslaught form not only prosperity gospel proponents but Mainline denominations which are faced with dwindling numbers.
As usual the onslaught is about Control, Power and Money.

One reason why the youth are a hot target is because they signify growth. When you have young people in your church ,you
have couples. Then you have marriages then you have families-that is the easiest and most stable way of multiplication in the eyes of the wolves.

Pastor Muriethi, Kenyan Pastor of Hose of Grace church used this tactic very well by teaching on his Sunday morning programs about dating and getting the right mate. Well you guessed it right …. the youth were attracted, at least a number. Next thing they had couples night ,that is enough to making the nuptial bells grow louder. Next you have families in your church.. marketing at its best.

What his program and others have shown is that most youth do not attend church.It has been stated that only 8% attend church on Sunday in Nairobi.Yet there are many hyped up youth churches. We shall consider this later.
Due to traditions of men in the church many youth became apathetic towards Christianity.

Historically, the youth were not considered religious at least in the early 50s until the 60s culture revolution ultimately led to the formation of the Jesus movement which gave Christianity a new lease of life among young people.

Once the Jesus movement cooled down, church leaders thought they got an idea what the youth wanted.

Instead of changing their dead man traditions and false doctrines of men, they opted to lure the youth to their institutions using culture. Culture entailed the Arts -music drama and dance and language.

This brought forth Contemporary Christianity and things such as Christian Contemporay Music. This form of Christianity spread fast thanks to the Vineyard Movement and TBN, PTL etc.Within no time, the TV and Radio were the new parents and new pastors since from these mediums the youth culture and op culture arose.

However from 2000 onwards the bait that lured young people back again to the institutions began to change shape. This was due to the Kirk Franklin revolution that brought out lyrics that challenged the status quo and styles that shocked the status quo.

This revolution exposed that the youth were still not satisfied by what institutional religion offered. But in the name of getting numbers the churches that sneered at Kirk Franklin’s style employed it into thei churches just to capture numbers.

In the mix of this came the Prosperity Gospel that spread like wildfire thanks to TBN. It could not have come at better time when the youth were desperate.
Young people make up the lowest economic class in society. Yet they are hopeful to make it the system of the world.

With visions of success and going to a higher level the Prosperity Gospel was food to the soul to many youth.
Thus Mainline churches also changed their sermons to fit into the chase for the numbers. Again the churches treat their members as prey and not as a family.

As if that was not all, the new preaching of Buddy Jesus was the order of the day and still is. Jesus was made a homey but mentioning that he hates iniquity and loves righteousness was considered to judgmental for the youth. This is what gave room to the Seeker friendly churches where practically everything that the members like is sanctified and used even if it is unscriptural and worldly.

This far have young people been carried away by such marketing gimmicks and sweets because they are seen as fodder and not as people who need to walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. The love of the world has made so many young people drunk
I always pray for shaking to shaking them from their stupor.

What the young gullible people do not see is that despite all the hype and the crackers, it is all about Obeying God-that what matters. The false notion of separating Jesus form his word to accommodate young people is just falling into the same dead man traditions.

Just because it sounds cool and hip does not mean that it is not dead. It is still poisonous when worldliness is baptized in the waters of Christian words. One still remains empty i the heart ,carrying the heavy burden of false Christian entertainment instead of the Yoke of Jesus, following him.

Either it is the word of God or following churches that are experts at entertaining but awfully poor at making you grow spiritually when that is the number one reason why people are supposed to fellowship. The youth are caught in the trap and they cannot see it.

In Christ Jesus,

Arthur Owiti