HomeARC ML 2660
REVOLUTIONARY KIDS! Maria #138 DO 2660 10/90
--Can We Really Have'm?--If So, How?
--By Maria
1. I've been thinking & praying more about our JETTs, & the question I want to ask you is this: Do our children in the JETT groups have to be a bad influence on each other? If we were to send Techi--now that she's all cleaned & scrubbed & in possession of so many hard-fought victories--to one of our Family Schools, even one of our better Family Schools, is it inevitable that she would be adversely affected?
2. We know that Techi has won some definite major victories in her life, & is certainly much stronger spiritually right now than she was before when she did attend a good Family School & where she was adversely affected.--She has now made a genuine commitment for the Lord, & she's taken a stand to put Jesus first & to truly serve Him, & she doesn't want to do anything to displease the Lord. She's really trying to live wholeheartedly for Jesus now.
3. But if we were to take her out of our small Home situation & put her in any one of our large JETT groups, I can't help but feel that she would probably lose some of that desire to please only the Lord, that real commitment & dedication that she has right now. Even though she's much more mature spiritually than she was at that time, I'm almost positive that she would still be adversely affected, & that she'd fall right into becoming "one of the gang"--shallow, foolish & uncommitted!
4. I know that to describe our JETTs this way may sound terrible, but it's the truth. She'd probably cave-in & succumb to that pressure to conform to the group. If she was placed in a large group of kids her own age I think she would immediately fall into being shallow & flippant, & would wind up being concerned about not much more than wanting to look as slim as everybody else, wanting to be one of the "in" crowd, & being silly over the boys.
5. And that's really sad!--Because that's what we've got, we've got large Homes & large Schools with big groups! And in big groups of kids you're going to have peer pressure!--Either negative peer pressure or positive peer pressure!
6. So the question I want to ask you is, do we have to accept this sad state of affairs? Is this just the way it is & the way it's going to be? Is there nothing we can do about it? Do we just have to say, "That's the way it is with pre-teens, the combined strong negative characteristics of the group will always pull them down more than the good characteristics will pull them up"?
7. If you were to go into a System Christian boarding school & look at their 11-, 12- & 13-year-olds, you'd probably see very little difference between them & the kids in our boarding schools!--Except that our kids know a lot more Word, have done a lot more memory work, & they have more of an understanding of the Endtime & more of a vision of what's going to happen. But as far as their behaviour is concerned, sad to say, you probably wouldn't see too much difference.
8. They all have Jesus in their heart, but many of them are backbiting & comparing & foolish & gossiping & cliquey & shallow.--They don't seem to have much depth to them & they often can't apply the Word to themselves! So what's the difference? I really don't think you would find very much difference between System missionaries' kids in a normal System Christian boarding school & those in one of our boarding schools!
9. Dad once said that our Family kids have got it too easy right now, but that the suffering they may have to endure in the Tribulation will certainly sober them up & make them realise how important it is to get serious for the Lord. (Heb.5:8) (See ML#2525:59-61.) Of course, learning to become willing, yielded & submitted to the Lord is not an overnight thing. It takes experience, breakings, & time for all this to take place. But in the meantime, do we just sit back & wait for our kids to outgrow their foolishness & negative traits picked up from the other JETTs & Teens they come in contact with?
10. My question is, is that what we have to accept? Do we just say, "Well, when you get these 11-, 12- & 13-year-old kids together, of course they're silly & foolish & shallow!--That's just the way kids that age are! But just wait, when they get to be a few years older, they'll do better & they'll outgrow it & become more responsible. They'll know more where they're going & what they're doing, & then we can expect them to become more spiritually mature & to take on more responsibility." Well, I don't believe we have to accept that!
11. But up until now, sad to say, I think almost all of our Schools & almost all our JETT groups have been like that! And the only way that they're not going to be like that is if we can somehow overcome all of that negative peer pressure!--And the only way that I see to do that is to get the majority of the kids really sold-out for the Lord, genuinely committed & dedicated. Then they can then turn the tide & be pulling the others more on the positive side, & the balance will shift & we'll have positive peer pressure! If you can get a majority of kids to be sold-out, dedicated disciples, then they can influence & pull up the others.
WHAT TO EXPECT!
12. I think we should be able to expect our JETTs & Teens to be real revolutionaries for Jesus, genuine disciples, sold-out kids who are on-fire for the Lord!--Of course, they'll always have some problems, but I definitely believe it's possible that they can be motivated to really live for Jesus. That should be their aim, their goal, to really do things for the Lord. They should be enthusiastic & really different than just the run-of-the-mill Systemite missionary kids!
13. To accomplish that, you've got to do it with the whole group. You cannot have just a few little children here & there in the group who are really sold out & on-fire for the Lord, it won't work. The peer pressure is too great. You're not going to be able to have just a few kids who make that commitment & really want to do something for the Lord, while the rest of them, the majority, won't. The peer pressure is too great, & the few won't be able to buck or withstand it.
14. You've got to swing the whole group in the right direction. You've got to somehow swing the majority to the good, to the side of living for Jesus, or you're not going to have anybody. The TTCs were a success because the "in" thing, the "fun" thing, was for everyone to be learning their lessons & everyone to be living for Jesus & everyone to be good & obedient, doing the right thing, & they all did it. Those TTCs are an example of positive peer pressure that worked.
15. Unless we can accomplish that in our Homes & Schools, & get the kids to see that truly serving the Lord is the "in" thing, the majority thing, then you're not going to have hardly anybody doing it! Because with kids, no matter how strong they are, it's very difficult for them to withstand peer pressure! Maybe when they get a little bit older, in their teens, they can stand more on their own, although it's still difficult for them to stand up & buck the tide. But for the pre-teens, you've definitely got to swing the majority the right way. I'd say we've virtually got to have a perpetual TTC in our Schools if we're going to have success in really training them spiritually & have them really grow & be molded the right way.
SPIRITUAL MATURITY: CAN ALL JETTs HAVE IT?
16. The question is: Is it really possible to have a group of JETTs with normal weaknesses & problems all genuinely on-fire & really dedicated to the Lord, having decided to serve Jesus & make a personal commitment to do everything they do for Him?--That they just want to please the Lord in every way?
17. Some of the adults who have read the Techi GNs have said, "Techi is more spiritually mature than our JETTs. The doorknob is way up there, & we're not sure if the others can really reach it." But I think the reason Techi is spiritually mature is because she's recently gone through those battles & breakings, & she's had a lot of close personal shepherding to help her through all of that. That's why she's spiritually mature right now. It's not that our other 11-year-olds can't get to be spiritually mature, it just means that our adults would need to really help them & work with them & do what they're supposed to with them.
18. Saying someone is more spiritually mature is not the same as saying someone's more intelligent. I consider Techi to be a very normal child, of average intelligence. Of course, when I say average intelligence, I mean average intelligence in the Family, because I think our Family children are quite intelligent because of the good Godly environment that they've been brought up in. I think most children are born with more or less average intelligence, but with the right environment, their intelligence can be increased & expanded.
19. So I think Techi is of average intelligence for a Family child. (But our Family kids are above average.--D.) But I agree that she probably is more spiritually mature than most of the kids her age.--Not that much more intelligent & not necessarily even more emotionally mature, but at present more spiritually mature. Techi is more spiritually mature today than she was just a few months ago, & as I said, it's because of the breakings & battles she's gone through, & the personal training she's received. But I think it's possible for all our 11-year-olds to become much more spiritually mature than they are right now.
20. Spiritual maturity is something that you can gain, & you can gain it pretty quickly! Your intelligence is not something that you can usually change that quickly, but you can become spiritually mature over a short period of time if the circumstances are right. So I don't think we can excuse the rest of our JETTs by saying that the doorknob's too high in the Techi GNs; I think that we can expect our other kids of that age to become that spiritually mature & learn the same lessons that Techi's been learning. I think they can!
LASTING REVOLUTION?--OR TEMPORARY REVIVAL?
21. The problem we're facing in our Schools, Combos & large Homes is negative group peer pressure, & it's a difficult problem to overcome. But I'm not ready to give in & say we can't overcome it, because I think that we have a few precedents where it has been done! First of all, we've had our TTCs where the kids attended for just a few weeks up to two months, & most of them had a real change & made real commitments in their hearts to the Lord, & really dedicated themselves to being 100% disciples, revolutionaries for Jesus, real Endtime soldiers! They prayed & they wept & they spoke in tongues & got prophecies & there was a genuine outpouring of the Spirit!
22. Now, do we look on that & say that it was just a once-in-a-lifetime experience & that it can't be repeated?--Or that maybe it might happen again some time in the future if they go to another TTC? I don't think we should look on it that way at all. I think that that kind of experience can be repeated all the time, & not have to wait for a TTC which comes only once in a great while. In fact, I think it can be carried over into our kids' everyday lives, & I think it should be!
23. We may not necessarily have the constant high excitement level of a TTC where everybody's weeping & crying & praying & rah-rahing & shouting & everything. I'm not saying that they have to maintain that kind of emotional high. I'm talking about maintaining that level of dedication & sincere desire to serve Jesus, & really wanting to consistently work on strengthening their weak areas so they can be real disciples & witnesses for the Lord!
24. I don't see any reason why our kids can't continue to have that motivation to keep up the fight & continue that level of commitment to the Lord! I'm sure that the Lord doesn't want our TTCs to be nothing more than church revival meetings! In church revivals they get all hepped up & hyped up & everything seems great. But then the minute the evangelist goes out the door, they lose their fervour & their enthusiasm & fighting spirit & they just settle back down to business as usual.
25. If we have these TTCs & everybody gets all excited & everything's different, & then the kids go back to their Homes & they lose all that dedication & fervour & just go back to life as usual, that's the same thing that the churches do in their revival meetings!--And we condemn the churches for that! We say, "Those revival meetings are great, but they should be living like that all the time!" And if we condemn the churches for that, how can we approve our doing the very same thing in our own ranks!
26. If our kids are capable of that level of commitment at 11, 12 & 13 years of age at a TTC, why can't they be capable of that kind of commitment when they get home too? What's keeping them from it? If they're capable of it for two or three weeks, there's absolutely no reason that they can't be capable of it the rest of the time as well! And if they are capable of it, then I'm pretty convinced that the Lord wants them to do it, & in fact requires it of them!
27. Look at our Victor Program! That's not something that happens for just a few weeks, it's been going on for over a year!--And it's proving that positive peer pressure can work & that our kids can live like genuine dedicated disciples, & they can keep their hearts & minds on the Lord & His Work.--It can be their major interest. Even with all their problems, their weaknesses & NWOs, the mood or atmosphere or attitude that prevails there is much more Godly than Worldly.
28. So I think that the Victors Program is a good precedent, to show that it can be done. And if we know that these kids are capable of staying spiritually inspired & close to the Lord, then I think we can have the faith to know that the Lord wants them to be that way all the time! He doesn't just want them to get "revived" for two weeks & then die out again. We didn't go to all that work of having those TTCs just to have them go back home & start living the same old way they lived before & forget all about it. We were trying to start something in their lives & spark something, ignite something that would carry on as a consistent part of their lives, & not just some temporary thing!
29. We wouldn't have gone to all that trouble & had all those leaders laying down their lives in exhaustion & spiritual drain day after day after day just for some little revival meeting, just so those kids could have an "experience" with the Lord that was merely a once-in-a-lifetime thing, some kind of a fun retreat or holiday like the churches have! It was supposed to carry on in their lives. But unfortunately, it hasn't, because our system hasn't been working properly. Maybe it's because we haven't had the vision that we should. But we're now going to try to change all that!
30. There's got to be real spiritual excitement in our Homes & Schools & Combos.--The real "This is a Revolution & we're something special" that the TTCs have had. If it's just a School that they're in, a pre-teen group where "here we study the Bible & we keep our nice little schedule & we're trying to be good", that's not enough. It needs to be, "We're really striving to live for Jesus!--And to become His special, elite Endtime Soldiers, & we feel so privileged to be in His Army that we're willing to do anything it takes to reach the goal through our special training!"--Not just, "We're here in the Family & we've got to be a good sample & be good kids & learn our memory work & try to go along with whatever we're supposed to do."
31. I'm convinced that our Teen Victor Programs as well as our TTC programs should not just be an exceptional one-time temporary thing, but need to be carried over into their everyday lives! That commitment, dedication & genuine discipleship has got to be brought over into our Schools & our Homes. It's got to be not the exception, but the rule!
32. Otherwise we're just like the churches with nice little Christian boarding schools. Their kids may be in supposedly "Christian" schools, but they're still full of all the cares of this World and have all the infighting and backbiting and shallowness and foolishness that normal worldly kids have! They have no goals, no vision, and no motivation to be any different.--Are we going to be satisfied with that?
THE NEED TO SET OUR SIGHTS HIGHER!
33. We need to set our sights a little higher for our 11-, 12- & 13-year-olds & not look at them so much as babies & spiritually immature little things. Our attitude can't be, "Oh, they're just kids.--They have a right to be foolish & shallow, after all, they're hardly even teens yet. We've got to just let'm have their fun, we can't expect anything more of them." We've got to get over that attitude & forget that & stop talking down to them & thinking down on them & just thinking that they can't be spiritually mature in the Lord!--They can!
34. I'm convinced that they can be just as spiritually mature as many of our adults! Their spiritual maturity usually depends on what they've gone through.--From breakings & from dedication & commitment & a desire to really be sold-out to the Lord!
35. Our kids can have just as great an understanding of spiritual principles & concepts as the adults can. The Lord's made most spiritual concepts so that even a young child can understand them. He even said, "Unless you become as little children, you're not going to enter the Kingdom of God!"--Mat.18:3. Instead of the children becoming like the adults, the adults are supposed to become like the children! That shows that the children can grasp it as well, sometimes even better than others!
36. So why should we exempt our kids from being spiritually mature when the Lord as good as says that they're the ones who can grasp it best? I think we're all going to have to set our sights a little higher for our JETTs & Teens, & start realising, "Look, they can get in on this too, & they can be just as dedicated as the rest of us!"
37. I think the Lord wants us to get all the kids to the state where Techi is now. That's not to say that Techi's an angel or something, I don't mean that at all. But she's fighting. Her sincere motivation is, "I really want to please Jesus & I don't want to disappoint Him.--I want to put Jesus first." We need to get that same kind of real commitment & genuine desire to please the Lord in a group somehow! There must be some way that we can extend that & bring that into a group by positive peer pressure.
38. But how do we do it in groups, how do we get all of them to have that kind of attitude, that kind of commitment, that "We really are committed to live for Jesus, to put Him first in our lives." At the TTCs & JETT Camps, JETTs who were 11 & 12 years old were prophesying & crying & sincerely confessing & testifying. But how do we get them to that kind of spiritual state where they can stay that way, & not lose that fire & vision & dedication as soon as they return home? That's what we need to strive for, that's the goal!
39. We know that it's possible for the kids to make deep personal commitments to be fulltime disciples & to really have a desire to wholeheartedly serve the Lord. We've been able to see that at the TTCs & the Victor Programs, & I've seen it now in Techi. So we know it's possible. But it should be permanent, & not just a fly-by-night feeling that they have. That's how the Lord wants them to be all the time!
40. I'm not saying that they need to be constantly jumping up & down & shouting "Hallelujah" & waving their arms in the air. I'm just saying that I know it's possible for Techi to keep that state of desperation & learning & growing, challenged & putting the Lord first. I've seen her making really difficult choices in her personal life, choices over her own personal wishes & desires, in order to put the Lord & His Will first. I've seen her in just a few short months become able to fight many personal daily battles on her own with the Word & prayer. So if we know it's possible with one child, & we know it's possible in a group at a TTC or at the JETT Victors, then we know it must be possible with all of our kids!--And I know it's the Lord's Will!
41. So it is possible for kids to be spiritually alive, & it's even possible for them to be that way in a group!--And I have the faith to say that it's necessary, it's something that the Lord wants, it's the Lord's Will. Therefore, if there's a need, there must be a way! He promised He'd supply all our needs, so there must be a way to put that into practice, to get it going! I think we just need to really pray & look for ways to do it, knowing that it can be done!
THE SOLUTION!
42. So what's the solution, how do we implement this?--First of all, we have to have the vision & we have to know what's possible & what we're shooting for! We may not know every detailed answer right now, but if we have the vision & we know what the Lord expects & what is possible--& even what is necessary--then we can have faith to look for & find some solutions.
43. I'm sure that one of the main solutions for our JETTs is the same solution that we've discovered with our one little pre-teen & her problems, & that's to simply spend more time with them, helping to pull them through! I think that's how we're going to have to deal with all of our JETTs' problems, & I think we'll find the same solution works for them all. Taking the time to really get to know their hearts & thoughts & to counsel them & help them through their battles is a solution that is going to do more than just pull them through their immediate problems.--It's going to help carry them all the way through & on to real 100% dedication & commitment to Jesus!
44. Say a JETT is acting up & he's got a big problem with rebelliousness or something similar. In dealing with that problem, in solving it through personal attention & prayer & the Word & close communication, that time spent with him is going to not only help him get over his one immediate specific problem, but it can greatly help in carrying him through to dedication to the Lord & real commitment to serving Him!--Which in turn will influence other JETTs!
45. As our JETTs & Teens overcome their problems & get closer to the Lord & become more dependent on Him, they will begin to see & realise firsthand that He has all the answers & solutions for whatever their problems are, & they'll start clinging to Him more. Then when they become more sold on what He can do in their lives, realising how they can have His power in their lives, they'll also realise how His power can help others as well. Little by little they'll become more committed to the Lord, loving the Lord more & loving the Family more, & as a result, they'll see the importance of the Family. From there they can go on to becoming real proponents of the Family, really wanting to witness & tell others about it!
46. So I think the primary solution for our JETTs & Teens begins with simply giving them more time & personal attention. The adults who care for them just need to take more time with them, getting down to their level & working with them more individually.
47. The answer to winning a whole group of them is probably to win them over one by one. Win more & more of them until we win the majority. And then the majority will influence the others in the right direction. I don't know what all of the answers are, but I don't think we should accept that our 11- & 12-year-olds are just going to be silly, immature, foolish, cliquey, backbiting, comparing, gossipy little brats just like the church kids are!
48. Of course, the adults who spend time with them have to be sold-out as well. But we're assuming that the adults are sold-out & that's why they're able to help the kids.--Not that they don't have their own problems that they're working on, but they're dedicated to overcoming them & to going on for the Lord & doing whatever He has for them to do.
WANTED: ON-FIRE DEDICATED ADULTS!
49. Maybe part of the problem is that a lot of our adults have not been dedicated enough & not had enough excitement & fervour in their walk with the Lord & service for Him. Some people sort of reach a "dying on the vine" stage, & no longer have enough excitement in their lives for the Lord. They get sort of "weary in well doing" (Gal.6:9), & therefore fail to be the good example for their kids that they should be.
50. When that's the problem, no matter how much time & attention they give their kids, if they're not alive spiritually & a good sample, if they're not getting victories in their own lives, then it's going to be pretty difficult for them to be able to lead their kids to victory. It's like the blind leading the blind.
51. But when our adults realise the seriousness of the problem that we have on our hands, & the challenge we now face with our own children, hopefully that will get them back on the ball.--If not for themselves, for the sake of their kids! Like the Japan Victor Shepherds said in their reports about the Victors, lots of times they felt like giving up, but they didn't because they saw those kids & they knew they had to keep going for them!
52. So I think our parents & teachers & Shepherds will get on-fire & pitch in & do it.--Even if it's just for their kids' sake. And once they're dedicated & they've rolled up their sleeves & taken up the challenge, I think the time & the attention & the Word poured into the kids is going to work & bring them through to victory! And I believe we can make disciples of them, just like we've done with our early babes we won off the streets!
53. You should be encouraged with the fact that we've done it before with our babes, & we had good success. The Lord obviously approved of & blessed our methods, & they resulted in a lot of strong disciples. If we've done it once & we've known how to do it & we've had plenty of practice at it, why can't we do it again?--With our own kids! It's not like we don't know what to do or we don't have a blueprint or we haven't had practice before. We can pretty much follow that example of our early babes' training.--Not in every respect, of course, but in many respects we can just take that experience from the past & apply it to our young people today.
54. Maybe one reason why we haven't been winning more new disciples lately is because a lot of our people have sort of cooled off, gotten tired & given up the fight. But they're now going to have to get it back again! We know the Lord hasn't stopped being just as powerful & revolutionary & inspired as ever! Maybe some of us have & we've just sort of grown "weary in well doing" & have laid down on the job!--But it's time to get back on the job & win & save our own kids!
55. (Fam: We were just reading the Letter "Who To" (ML#334A), & Dad said, "If I couldn't go out & win a disciple a day, I think I'd feel like a failure!" That's the kind of spirit you have to have.) Yes! And now we can win our own kids! Hallelujah! (Techi comes in.) We're going to have a new revolution with our JETTs & Teens & win'm to the Family, & DV, many more than one-a-day! (Techi: That's going to take some work, Mommy!) That's right! We've got the kids already, we just have to win'm! It will take a lot of hard work, but each one we win is worth it!--Amen? Will you help win our kids?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
