The Pressure is On!

Jesus once said, "And because of lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." - Mt 24:12

I've been thinking about it lately, specially in regards to young people. As the title suggests, THE PRESSURE IS ON!

Peer PRESSURE, family PRESSURE, carnal PRESSURE, worldly PRESSURE, media PRESSURE...; it's a daily struggle.

Basically, we have to develop our spiritual skills to a 'hand-to-hand' combat in order to literally survive in this filthy world. 

And to remain faithful to Christ as a young person nowadays isn't easy at all. You've got to be brave, have some guts to stand your ground and fight back at all that the world throws at you.

But that isn't the end. He also said, "BUT he who endures to the end will be SAVED." Mt 24:13

He has given us His Spirit, which once working in line with our minds, not hearts, mind you, turns us into supernatural beings, aliens in this corrupted world. 

"Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul". - 1 Pt 2:11

One of our youth members here in America wrote the following, "A thousand may date at your side, ten thousand may get married at your right hand, but it will not come near you." 

That isn't Biblical, but surely worth a thought.

Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator

Music for the Soul. DANGEROUS!

Last blog post you learned the physical consequences for listening to certain songs. As the title suggests, music for the soul is the satan's number one weapon, as the soul is linked to emotions. Once he touches your emotions through music he gains access to your innermost feelings. Once that access is obtained he then controls the person as a mere puppet. 


Devil's recipes:


Are you angry? Listen to Heavy Metal, Punk Rock. 


Are you in love? Listen to love songs. 


Wanna take a puff? Listen to Hip Hop, Garage or the like. 


Do you want to spur that rage inside you? Rap is what you need. Need a stronger dose? EMINEM is excellent to drive you crazy. 


Are you happy? Listen to... happy songs, I guess. 


In other words, there's a song for any kind of mood. He can control you as it pleases him. 
  
Well, I warned you before, can you stand the truth? If not yet so then I'm using the Bible as my last resource to bring you to your senses:  



"You were in Eden, the garden of God; 
Every precious stone was your covering: 
The sardius, topaz and diamond; 
Beryl, onyx and jasper; 
Sapphire, turquoise and emerald with gold. 
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes 
Was prepared for you on the day you were created." - Ez 28:13



Luke Castro
YPG National Coordinator

Can You Stand the Truth?

In most of my meetings I make sure I mention the danger some music imposes on us and I've noticed most youths find it really hard to believe in what  I'm saying. Some even think I'm trying to dictate their lives by telling them what not to listen to. Well, I decided to share with you what this secular pediatric website has to say. Even though it's from a physical point of view, the outcome is pretty much the same as of the spiritual one in the meetings.

Objective: To perform a comprehensive content analysis of substance use in contemporary popular music.

Design: We analyzed the 279 most popular songs of 2005 according to Billboard magazine. Two coders working independently used a standardized data collection instrument to code portrayals of substance use.

Outcome Measures: Presence and explicit use of substances and motivations for, associations with, and consequences of substance use.

Results: Of the 279 songs, 93 (33.3%) portrayed substance use, with an average of 35.2 substance references per song-hour. Portrayal of substance use varied significantly (P < .001) by genre, with 1 or more references in 3 of 35 pop songs (9%), 9 of 66 rock songs (14%), 11 of 55 R & B/hip-hop songs (20%), 22 of 61 country songs (36%), and 48 of 62 rap songs (77%). While only 2.9% of the 279 songs portrayed tobacco use, 23.7% depicted alcohol use, 13.6% depicted marijuana use, and 11.5% depicted other or unspecified substance use. In the 93 songs with substance use, it was most often motivated by peer/social pressure (45 [48%]) or sex (28 [30%]); use was commonly associated with partying (50 [54%]), sex (43 [46%]), violence (27 [29%]), and/or humor (22 [24%]). Only 4 songs (4%) contained explicit anti-use messages, and none portrayed substance refusal. Most songs with substance use (63 [68%]) portrayed more positive than negative consequences; these positive consequences were most commonly social, sexual, financial, or emotional.

Conclusions: The average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use daily in popular songs, and this exposure varies widely by musical genre. The substance use depicted in popular music is frequently motivated by peer acceptance and sex, and it has highly positive associations and consequences.

*Excerpted from: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/162/2/169

To be continue...

Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator

JOKER!

"Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were... 

foolish: stupid, silly, idiotic, witless, brainless, mindless, unintelligent, thoughtless, half-baked, imprudent, incautious, injudicious, unwise, ill-advised, ill-considered, impolitic, rash, reckless, foolhardy, daft; informal dumb, dim, dimwitted, halfwitted, thick, harebrained, crack-brained, crackpot, pea-brained, wooden-headed, dumb-ass, chowderheaded. - Matthew 25:1-2

Are the synonyms enough to make you understand? 

Perhaps you could attempt to read the rest of the chapter. 


Do you dare?

Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator

Wise Up!

Have you ever been in a situation where you do or say something and immediately after that you regret it? Young people often find themselves in this situation. Why? Because they act according to the impulses of their hearts, without wisdom.

What comes to mind whenever the word wisdom is mentioned is the image of an old man, full of experience and knowledge... this is the world’s image of wisdom. But there is a big difference between the wisdom that comes from God and the wisdom of the world.

The wisdom of the world often bears a lot of tragedy and problems simply because they act based on their own understanding. It’s equally easy to see the bad fruits of those who are unwise.

"Instead of kicking yourself every time you commit the same mistakes

seek wisdom from God that you may deal with things the right way."

For God, age or experience is not an issue. When Solomon asked for wisdom he was young, he had no experience of running a kingdom but he recognised that he wasn’t mature enough to deal with that responsibility and sought wisdom from God. He received it because his heart was after God’s own, meaning he wanted to do things right by God.

You may not be running a kingdom but you need wisdom to deal with family, finances, school, friends and the situation around you. Instead of kicking yourself every time you commit the same mistakes seek wisdom from God that you may deal with things the right way.

When you receive counselling from pastors or assistants, they don’t just sit there talking about things that they know. They are linked with God, they seek for wisdom and consequently God gives it to them in order to give people the right direction and advice.

Be wise.

If you want to grow in your faith, make sure you attend the last YPG Real Talk meeting of the year next Thursdays at 7pm.

Find your local YPG branch.

Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator