Next | Psalm 78
If you were the Devil, how would you take the next generation out and ruin them without them even knowing? I went to ChatGPT, and here is what the AI bot said: I Would Distract Them Constantly: Keep them entertained and glued to screens. Give them endless scrolling, video after video, game after game, until their attention span is too weak to hear God’s voice. Not rebellion, but distraction. I Would Redefine Truth: Whisper, “There’s no such thing as absolute truth. You have your truth, I have mine.” Let morality shift with feelings. Make the Bible look outdated, irrelevant, even oppressive. I Would Normalize Sin: Call sin “self-expression.” Call rebellion “authenticity.” Make holiness look boring, but worldliness look exciting. I Would Isolate Them: Cut them off from parents, grandparents, and the church. Convince them they’re better off figuring life out on their own, while surrounding them with online voices discipling them every day. I Would Numb Them Spiritually: Don’t make them hate God, just make them indifferent. Keep them so busy, so tired, and so overstimulated that they never stop to think about eternity. Give them a watered-down version of Christianity, enough to inoculate them against the real thing. I Would Attack Their Identity: Confuse them about who they are and why they’re here. Make them question their worth, their body, their purpose. If they don’t know who they are, they’ll never believe Whose they are. I Would Undermine the Family: If I can weaken the family, I can weaken the faith. If fathers stop leading, mothers are too weary, and homes stop praying, children will grow up without any spiritual direction. I Would Divide the Church: Turn the church into a place of arguments and preferences instead of a place of discipleship and mission. If young people see hypocrisy and fighting instead of love and truth, they’ll walk away. If a dumb AI bot could come up with that, what do you think the real Devil is doing? We have an enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy the next generation, and he will not give up without a fight. Today, we must decide to fight like hell against the devil of hell. We need to say to the next generation that we are going to protect you, fight for you, pass on the gospel to you, love you, mentor you and stomp the devil of hell back to hell and say, “NOT ON MY WATCH!”
Psalm 78 is written by Asaph. Asaph was the head worship leader appointed by King David. He was the “chief of singers” who wrote 12 psalms. (Pastor Thomas) Asaph wrote this Psalm to recount the story of God’s faithfulness to His people over the generations and remind them of their obligation to pass on the knowledge of God’s greatness and grace to the next generation. This is not just for parents but for all the people of God. Psalm 78 teaches us about our responsibility and opportunity to pass the gospel on to the next generation and the calamity that will come if we don’t.