ISLAMIC TRENDS IN AMERICA

          "Taha Ahmed was all of five years old when he stood in front of a Muslim congregation and read from the Quran in Arabic. It wasn't so hard, he whispers now…after all, he was there to celebrate the fact that he'd read the holy book completely. Now, having just turned 7, he's busy memorizing it... .

          A growing Muslim population in America is importing a rite of passage called Ameen… .It has two parts: The first Ameen, or 'Amen' is held when a child finishes reading the Quran, roughly the length of the New Testament, for the first time in Arabic. The child reads the book aloud, sounding out the words without necessarily understanding the words.

          The second Ameen comes when someone has finished memorizing it, a task that can take a full-time student as long as three years. According to the news article, Taha Ahmed has a "5-year-old sister, Iman," who "is almost halfway through her first reading of the book, and she has started memorizing it." While her parents say she does not yet understand it, and while the parents do not speak Arabic, they claim that "just saying the Quran is an act of worship."

WORTHLESS PRIORITIES BY MANY CHRISTIAN PARENTS

          The F.D. editor wonders how many Christian parents have had their children privately read through the entire N.T. alone at home in Greek and then read portions of it publicly in Greek to a church congregation, all by the time the child is age 5 and arduously memorizing its entire contents at age 7?

          The sad facts are that most Christian parents today don't read the Word daily themselves, because they are too heavily involved in materialistic and sports pursuits when they are home leaving little precious time for any Scriptural instruction and edification with their children. "Home" for even most Christian families now centers in a huge entertainment center area/room where families foolishly waste the evening hours in spiritually non-productive passive pursuits.

          Many Christian parents provide their children with every kind of new technological gidget/gadget available, but invest little/no time with them in Scriptural instruction. In the genuine Scriptures-the preserved Word of God-parents are challenged both to provide solid Biblical instruction and Biblical example to their children.

THE BIBLICAL EXAMPLES AND EXHORTATIONS

          In the O. T., in Gen. 18:19, God stated about Abraham: "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." In Deut. Six, God exhorted fathers that the Word He was giving them should not only be embedded in their own hearts, but that they should "teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deut. 6:6-7).

          In the N. T., in Eph. 6:4, parents are admonished by the apostle Paul to "bring" their children "up in the nuture and admonition of the Lord." Speaking about Timothy's spiritual heritage, Paul stated "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also." (II Tim. 1:6).

          In II Tim 3:14-15, Paul exhorted Timothy to "continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

THE WRITER'S HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

          When the F.D. editor was a lad, his parents insured that his home was a place where the Scriptures were predominant! They personally saw to it, with their own presence, that he was present at every weekly church service: SS-AM-PM and Mid-Week Prayer Meeting. They also sent him for eight years, from ages 5 to 13, every Tuesday evening, to the church's "Junior Bible School" [JBS] instructional programs.

          The editor is not boasting, but at age five he was memorizing huge chunks of Bible passages and Bible verses! By the time he had completed both the graduate (1^st 4 yrs) and the post-graduate years (2^nd 4 yrs), JBS courses, he had a working knowledge of the entire Scriptures as a 13 year-old teenager, including completing courses on personal soul-winning and the missionary journeys of Paul!

          The minimal Bible-instruction many children receive today is mainly composed of diluted "veggie tales" that poke fun and make light of Scriptural characters, along with a diet of religious rock songs that emphasize the sensual and heavy bass rhythm beats.

          When faced with these facts, it is little wonder that Islam is rapidly gaining momentum in the battle for the hearts and minds of America's children and youth. For Muslim families, Quran indoctrination via reading and memorization is becoming typical¸ while for many Christian parents reading and memorization of the KJV is becoming atypical, or to put it frankly, ignored and neglected.

A SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS

          The F.D. editor seriously challenges Christian parents who read this article to reassess their spiritual priorities and begin living, as the gospel songwriter said, "with eternity's value in view" (II Cor. 4:16-18). God has given Christian parents a rich spiritual deposit in their children. It is imperative that via Biblical indoctrination and godly example, they wisely invest, not spend, their family years together in bringing up their children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord.

          The writer urges Christian parents to dispose of spiritual worthless gimmicks/gadgets that do not enhance the Biblical upbringing of children. Replace them with worthwhile simplicities in activities and time that will enhance their spiritual maturation in Christ, so that at the Bema judgment seat you can receive the Savior's smiling approval-I Cor. 3:11-14, II Cor. 5:10. The consecration of genuine Christian parents should surely equal or exceed the dedication of Islam's adherents! (Phil. 1:21)