A Primer of What Happened To Our Marriages and Families In America

There are many lives have been ruined by this century’s adoption of the practice of dating. The broken marriages, the broken families … are the curse of dating. God’s ideal pattern of how a person should find their mate is based on sound scriptural principles.

If we have "set" our "hope in God," it is because we believe "the words" that come from God's mouth. The Holy Bible is the pure word of God, and is "purely" preserved in our English language in the Authorized Version of 1611. "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." (Psalm12: 6-7) "We will not hide them" Vs.4, from our children. We must not, and for this reason; so "that the generation to come might know them" Vs.6.

In this message I want to preach on the dangers our children face if they try to find their mate through the practice of DATING. I want to show from God's word some basic scriptural principles that will show our young people how they can find their mate for life. I want to show that BETROTHING is the way, because it is The LORD'S way to one finding their mate.

Now let me turn to you, young men, and let me turn to you, young ladies. Have you ever felt that life has been too hard on you; that maybe you haven't got all that you truly can get? I mean, look at all those rules in your life that conspire to control you. Aren't they just so many restrictions that have been deliberately placed on you, and really are no good for you? After all, who knows better what is good for you … except for you? Now, have your friends ever piped that one to you? Come on now, someone has whispered this one to you more than once, and maybe twice. Yea! How about, many times!

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Questioning The Authority

(Genesis 3:1-6)“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

You have to admit that more than once, and maybe twice, or maybe many times, you have, in the quiet musings of the heart, from within yourself, heard that voice. It begins by questioning the authorities in your life. It is done like this. You first misquote them, or misrepresent them, while you try to feel out this new friend that seems so peculiarly irresistible to you … who is leading you off on some wild tangent with such a BIG QUESTION.  YEA, HATH GOD SAID?

He now has your ear. “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

You answer your new friend with something that is just a little less than the truth like Eve did. I mean, you decide to embellish it a little with your own little revision as to what The Authority said, by adding “neither shall ye touch it.”

What is the harm?, you say. That is how our old heart works. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”  Now … you have been primed for this one.

You are ready for a whopping big lie, and it is exactly what you wanted to hear. "The God-given authorities in your life … are not there for your good!  Dating is good for you!"

Your new friend has piped to you a tune so irresistible and so captivating that you swallow it all down into the inner parts of the belly. After all … all your senses agree that every thing your friend has ever told you … is the truth.

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

This account is six thousands years old! (Watch out! Sin has a price that is higher than you will ever want to pay.)

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The Pied Piper Comes To Town

In the nineteenth century poem: The Pied Piper Of Hamelin by R. Browning, we see the following scene. (For those of you who are familiar with the story, the town of Hamelin was infested with rats, and the city fathers were desperate for a solution.)

“Come in! the mayor cried, looking bigger: And in did come the strangest figure!"

(I wonder who he might be?)

“His queer long coat from heel to head, Was half of yellow and half of red; And he himself was tall and thin, With sharp blue eyes each like a pin, And loose light hair, yet swarthy skin, No tuft on cheek, nor beard on chin, But lips where smiles went out and in--- There was no guessing his kith and kin! And nobody could enough admire, The tall man and his quaint attire.”Quoth one, “It’s as my great-grandsire, Starting up the Trump of Doom’s tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!” He advanced to the council table: And, “Please your honors,” said he, “I’m able, By means of a secret charm, to draw All creatures living beneath the sun…”

And so goes the story! 

If you are willing to hire him, and have agreed to pay the high price, he will perform you the services, that will smooth this life’s road for you, and so will ease you, I am told, of the burden of all those attendant troubles common to this life. And of course, if you fail to pay what was promised, the Devil will exact from you a higher price than you ever meant to pay.

"Once more he stept into the street; And to his lips again, Laid his long pipe of smooth, straight cane; And ere he blew three notes (such sweet, Soft notes as yet musician’s cunning, Never gave the enraptured air) There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling, Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling, Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering, Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering, And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering, Out came the children running. All the little boys and girls, with rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after, The wonderful music with shouting and laughter. The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood, As if they were changed into blocks of wood, Unable to move a step, or cry, To the children merrily skipping by--- And could only follow with the eye, That joyous crowd at the Piper’s back."

Let's pause for a moment. Everything thus far in the story seems to be fine. The children are happy, (so it seems) and we, as parents, even begin to talk to ourselves in this way: "Let's just go only a little bit away from the precepts and commands of God." “Listen,” we parents say, "Let our children choose for themselves alone the path they want to take to find their life mate."

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The Children Left To Themselves Are Spoiled (Or Ruined)

Now let's see what happens to the children following the Pied Piper in our story.

"… And after him the children pressed; great was the joy in every breast. He never can cross that mighty top! “He’s forced to let the piping drop, and we shall see our children stop! When, lo! As they reached the mountain’s side, a wondrous portal opened wide, as if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; and when all were in to the very last, the door in the mountain side shut fast."

Yes, the children are going down!

Look at the divorces and broken homes! What began as a trickle will end with a flood. The strangest figure has “walked this way from his painted tombstone" to do for us his service. He is able “by means of a secret charm, to draw” our children away to their destruction through a vain deceptive philosophy.

He is A Pied Piper! He is our adversary. He is the Devil, himself, and he now has for several generations, mesmerized us, and TOTALLY distracted us through a vain philosophy of his own very special making. This VAIN THING has been TOTALLY adopted by our nation. This vain philosophy is called DATING. We have forgotten the warning of Colossians 3:18. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

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Set Your Heart Aright

What, then, is “after Christ”?

The answer is THE BOOK!

Fathers! Mothers! Young persons ... LOOK in the Bible!

Believe THE BIBLE!

Memorize The Bible! Meditate in The Bible!

Take it for your own heart-felt practices.

DETERMINE in your heart to build your relationships on scriptural principles found in God's Holy Writ. Always go the way through faith ... in THE BOOK.

“Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:1,6).

Be sure you are IN CHRIST JESUS! Yes, SAVED by the blood of The Lamb of God. Saved from the eternal wrath of God, and going to heaven!

Saved! Saved! Saved! Amen!

Next: The Betrothing Primer