35. DARE NOT TO OFFEND LITTLE ONES
“But whoso shall offend
one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better
for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)
The purpose
of this story is to warn you against putting undue
fear, unclean
fear into the hearts of little ones. Doing
so will terribly “offend” them regarding clean fear toward our Creator God.
One of the most devastating
and deplorable
things I see in this heathen idol-worshipping nation of Japan, is Japanese
parents putting the fear of
devils into their little 2-year-old children. On certain
Japanese holidays, they take their infants to a heathen temple or shrine to
hold those precious little souls close to a Japanese man (a member of that
pagan temple) who is wearing the mask of an ever so ugly,
grotesque,
fierce devil. The sight of the fearsome demon depicted on that
mask terrifies
the infant, as the foolish man wearing the mask pretends
he is “coming after” the infant, to “get” the infant. The young foolish parents
laugh at their precious infant’s frantic screams, wails
and cries (horrified by this monstrous attack that is ever so real to the infant’s mind).
All false religions aim
to control
their believers thru means of various false teachings of various
retributions and punishments, resulting in instilling unclean fear
into the soul that is indoctrinated with those false teachings. I cannot fathom
the foolishness of the young parents who laugh over their infant becoming hysterical
over that fierce demon mask right close in their face (and being worn by a living being who is acting fierce).
Yet
when, with a heart full of love and concern for a child’s eternal welfare, I
calmly explain God’s Truth to children, warning them that people who reject The
Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour are put into never-ending Hell fire, parents
and other adults think it horrible of me to speak such frightening things to
6-year-old children. Of a certainty, that true and real fate that I teach is THE most frightening thing
that can happen to a human soul. Thus, we “Christian Believers” have a God-given duty
to be a diligent
watchman,
properly warning all the people we possibly can, to flee the wrath to come.
Back in the late 1980s, I had ridden the trains to visit a
Japanese family (at their invitation). When it came time to leave, they
insisted on taking me home by car; a lady, her adult daughter driving, and the
driver’s small girl, about 4-years-old (in the front seat beside her mother who
was driving). She was a precious little thing who was well behaved. All 4 of us
were talking as we headed out of the city toward my house in this rural town.
“Where are we going?” After about 20 minutes, the 4-year-old piped
up with that question to her mother. (She had simply piled into Mom’s car with
Mom and Granny.)
Her Mom paused briefly and then gravely answered, “We are going to
the mountains.” I did not yet know the “fearful” significance
of that statement from the Mom to her little daughter. I will learn it well
during the next minute.
That precious little soul became ever so fearful and
started whimpering to her Mother. “I’m sorry. Oh, I’m sorry.”
I soon realized that Mom typically “disciplined” that child
by means of false, idle, fearful threats. When that girl
was bad, Mom would put on an “angry act” as she told the little one that she
would take her out into the dark mountains and leave her (throw her
away). Mom would continue, describing the dangerous animals that inhabit the
mountains (bears & such). “You won’t have a house, or food to eat. You will
be alone. The bears will try to eat you…” And on and on Mom would rant,
striving to make her little one be good by means of instilling unclean
and false fear into her. Oh, it definitely scared that little soul. I praise
God for His Holy Scriptures, which warn that such an offender of little ones would
be better to have a millstone hanged about their neck and drowned in the
depth of the sea.
“Well, Missionary Richard, just who is supposed to be the
executioner in such a case, and carry that out?”
Well, to stick perfectly with the Scripture, Our Lord gave no
command for anyone on earth to kill the offender of a little one in that
matter. But I believe we can rest assured, that when each and every such
offender of little ones is judged by Almighty God, they will clearly come to
the understanding that they would have fared better for all eternity, if that
death sentence had been carried out before they committed that horrible
stumbling block offence.
“Lord Jesus Christ, my Soon-Coming Judge, please cause us all
to gravely think on how commonly adults attempt to control little
ones with fearful lies and deceit (thereby bringing unclean
fear upon them), because their little souls are yet so limited in
knowledge that we can “get away with it”.
Cause us to think on the detriment of lies that are not
fearful, rather simply used for convenience sake, such as (There aren’t any
more cookies!), tho the 5-year-old well knows there are still cookies
remaining. Please make us adults fully aware of how greatly such deception
will UNDERMINE that child’s trust in us, as they steadily mature,
thus (one day soon) becoming aware of just how terribly deceitful
we were to them.
May we keep in mind the painful corporal punishment ordained in
the book of Proverbs. A parent can minister the proper amount of proper
physical pain when called for, without a single word of lying or deception, but
rather telling the child; “I love you. I want you to do right.” “I
want you to love and obey Jesus to make Him proud of you.” Save us from the
tragedy of offending little ones. Make us aware of the great sorrow
those offences will bring to the offenders on Judgment day.
Also save us adults from telling children fictional ghost
stories and horror stories as truth to entertain ourselves on the fearful
reaction of little ones to this unclean fear. Amen.”
Granny was sitting beside me in the back seat. And when her little
granddaughter started whimpering in fear and apologizing, Granny tried to keep
her laughter quiet and hidden from the child, as Granny leaned over to
me and whispered, “She is always so quick to apologize.” Of course! That
is because God graciously created a believer’s heart in little ones. Tell them
the Truth in simple words, and then ask them if they want to tell Jesus they
are sorry and ask Him to forgive them. Many will do so the 1st time.
And just about all the rest of them will, after a few more regular sessions of
teaching them in love, this Vital Truth.
Richard Yerby (Matsuida,
Japan) www.Christ-is-all.us