ARE YOUR GROWN CHILDREN UNSAVED OR BACK-SLIDDEN?

BONITA ANN (LOGSDON) RICHIE 

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Do you have grown children that are unsaved?  Do you have grown children that professed salvation in Jesus as children and are now living in sin in the devil's playground of this evil hell-bound world?  I do have two grown children that are grossly back-slidden from The LORD Jesus.  It is a terrible pain in my heart.  I have prayed for them for so long and Jesus has yet to answer my prayers for their return to Him as LORD of their lives but The Holy Spirit strengthens me and encourages me to keep praying for them.  Did I fail them as they were growing up?  Yes I did.  The LORD Jesus had saved my soul at the tender age of six years old.  As I grew up and became more acquainted with the evil world, I tried living with one hand in the world's hand and the other hand in The LORD Jesus' hand.  I was a Christian that lived back-slidden.  I could speak The Word and I could play the piano in Church but I did not LIVE The Word.  There is a distinct difference between speaking about Jesus and living for Jesus.  As a result of the guilt I felt when God brought me back into His fold in 1991, I blamed myself for my children's indifference towards The LORD Jesus but God brought me from that for they are held responsible before God for what they are...or are not.  Psychiatry and the secular world teach all of us that we are to find something or someone in our past to blame for our actions.  God does not work that way.  He holds each one of us accountable for our deeds and words.  None of us will be able to stand before God on Judgement Day and plead "It is 'so-and-so's' fault that I missed being saved by Jesus".  God simply "won't buy it". 

The same merciful and gracious God that brought me back into His fold many, many years ago (in 1991) is the same merciful and gracious God that can bring my grown children back to Him.  The same merciful and gracious God that brought YOU into His fold is able to do the very same thing to and for YOUR grown children. 

I learned something from my Momma many years ago.  She taught me that the farther a child runs away from God and into the arms of satan, the farther the child will run and avoid the godly Christian parent.  This is a fact you will need to know as you see your own grown children leave you behind for the ungodliness and evils of this hell-bound world.  Satan leads the child as far as he can from Jesus' influence and teachings in hopes of claiming the soul for all of eternity.

What are we to do now for our grown chidren?  We are NOT to pet them in their sins.  We are NOT to compromise what God has called us out of in order to placate them.  We are NOT to mourn and grieve over our past failures in our children's lives when God has forgiven us of these failures.  (God knew about the failures when He called us to repentance!)  We are NOT to rescue them from the wages of sin for God will use these things to get their attention and focus back onto Jesus...(just like He did with you and me!)  We are NOT to even eat with those who claim to be Christian and yet are living for the devil!  READ I CORINTHIANS 5:11!!!  "BUT NOW I HAVE WRITTEN UNTO YOU NOT TO KEEP COMPANY, IF ANY MAN THAT IS CALLED A BROTHER BE A FORNICATOR, OR COVETOUS, OR AN IDOLATOR, OR A RAILER, OR A DRUNKARD, OR AN EXTORTIONER; WITH SUCH AN ONE NO NOT TO EAT."  We can see from this scripture and from other scriptures in The Word the importance that our Father places upon living separate from evil people even if that includes those in our own families or those living ungodly in our Church family.  It is at that point that we have to decide between God's desires or our own flesh desires for family harmony.  Jesus told us plainly that he who loves family more than Him is not even worthy of Him and He also states that a man's foes shall be they of his own household!  (Matthew 10:36-37) 

So what ARE we to do?  We are to do our very best to live godly lives before The LORD Jesus Christ and we are to pray for our grown children's spiritual condition.  We are to pray fervently and NEVER quit praying for them while we live on this earth.  We are to pray hard for their salvation til either we die or they do.  If, indeed, our children are chosen unto Jesus' eternal salvation, they will have a day of reckoning when God will definitely get their undivided attention.  They will see first-hand the results of serving satan.  Their world will fall apart as they know it to be.  True repentance and return to The LORD Jesus will occur. Ultimately salvation and return to The LORD Jesus is THEIR choice.  If they die lost or back-slidden and are cast into hell after their last breath here on earth, we must remember that they chose this for themselves by knowingly rejecting The LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.  If you or I ever have to face this reality pertaining to our grown children dying without Christ, we will have The Holy Ghost to comfort us and we will need to remember that the pain that we will feel at that point will only last for as long as we are alive here on this earth.  After our last breath God will wipe away the tears from our eyes and we will remember the heartbreak no more. 

To those who have, as children and even as grown adults, endured the heartbreak of divorce and other hearbreaks encountered by having had back-slidden or lost parents, The LORD God Almighty Jesus Christ commands that children honor their parents.  He did not say that parents are to be honored only if they have been righteous parents.  He includes ALL parents in this command.  We are to honor our parents for this is the will and command of God.  To those who have parents who continue lost in sin or back-slidden, pray for them.  The same God who brought me back to His fold is able to do the very same thing with your parents.

In Jesus' Love,

Bonita Ann (Logsdon) Richie

FATHER, PLEASE SAVE OUR CHILDREN!!!  IN JESUS' BLESSED NAME I PRAY.  PLEASE ANSWER THIS PRAYER FOR JESUS' SAKE, DEAR FATHER.  AMEN.