Our young people are locked in a desperate struggle for survival, and many of us are either totally unaware of the struggle or are underestimating the seriousness of the situation.

Young people are being constantly bombarded from every angle with all kinds of moral decay... sexual perversion... rampant drug abuse... rebellion... and violence. Many youth are unable to resist the onslaught because our society has begun to accept and adopt these decadent practices as normal.

The deterioration of the home... the breakdown of authority... the undermining of discipline... and the compromising of basic moral principles have steadily weakened the foundations of our society leaving us confused... demoralized... vulnerable... and easily manipulated.

The media... while pretending to be outraged by this moral decadence around us... is often actively promoting the latest variation of immorality. It is especially difficult for young people to make responsible choices based on the input they are receiving from radio... television... the press... books... magazines... live concert performances... and other youth-directed events, because these formats are so heavily slanted toward negative solutions to problems and ignore the possibility of alternative answers.

The situation is rapidly deteriorating and shockingly little is being done to address or treat the problem at its roots... that is, to provide our youth with positive constructive alternatives.

Our kids have an abundance of free discretionary time.... and very little discretion. Humanism... the dominant influence in the public schools condemns discretion, teaching that virtually everything is OK... that values and rules of the previous generations are essentially useless. The children are taught to form their own value structure, "situation ethic"... the wisdom of shaping the future. In short, they are forming a society of young folk with a bizarre mosiac of values... with virtually no direction... save that of their immediate personal pleasure.

The media encourages social, moral, and spiritual anarchy, while mocking the church and those that have built society for their children... rather than for their own pleasure.

Our children ignore the lessons learned by our forefathers that make up the fabric of society, and experiment with drugs... crime... love... sex... while trying to escape from the responsibilities of family... education... social... obligation... the work ethic... etc.

Where would we be if every generation had discarded history and re-invented society, no stone upon stone, no precept on precept, and no cumulative wisdom... just a brand new society?

Where would we be if this principal was ignored in the technological arena? Maybe mowing our lawns with goats, cooking over campfires, wearing animal skins, or walking... everywhere.

The church has done a remarkable job over the centuries... but seems to be hard pressed for a way to reach this truly unique generation. Most of them are not poor... or downtrodden... or lacking for education. On the whole, their needs are met, and yet, they are bored with life as their parents know it. How can we expect kids who have grown up on 30 channels of 24 hour a day satellite TV... Star Wars... Disney World... 200 mph sports cars... mind expanding drugs... and beepers to warn drug dealers of approaching police.. to be attracted to home Bible studies... singles pot-luck dinners... and putt putt outings. These kids live in a fantasy world, never before possible, a world founded on "vain imaginations."

Our schools... the courts... and the media... have rewritten the meaning of perfectly good words. Words like discretion, discrimination, judgement, and gay. Now gay is good, but for the wrong reasons... and the others are all bad, again, for the wrong reasons. Let's not allow this trend to keep us from a good word or concept.

What we need to reach these kids is imagination... not the "Vain Imaginations" of today's 20th century glitz... science fiction... or "MTV" world... but a Godly, timeless... imagination. The kind that Godly men have shared throughout history. Certainly Noah... Abraham... Moses... Solomon... and St. John had Godly imagination... along with faith... commitment... and obedience.

Certainly the early church fathers had this imagination... as they went out to their world, two by two... then by caravan to Asia, Africa, and Europe. The printing press and its Godly uses was imaginative... as was the inclusion of missionaries aboard ships to the new world... North and South America. And to the missionaries who reached out to the people of the South Pacific on board sailing vessels like the "Morning Star" personified imagination... with great love and commitment.

In that same spirit of ministry and the Godly imagination inspiring the "Morningstar" of the 1800's... MasterPeace Communications and Morningstar Fellowship... is reaching out to these 20th century fantasy land kids with timeless, Godly imagination... not fantasy, but imagination with form... substance... direction... and purpose.