Page 24 - January15-Catalyst

CHANGING OUR NATION
By Joe Grimaud | Continued From Page 5
that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”
I am told the wall around Jericho was 50 feet tall and very thick. Impregnable, you might say, but not for the God of Israel.
Dr. Nixon’s message was on circling a situ- ation with prayer. The walls of Jericho were built to withstand anything. They seemed impossible to breach. That is how our soci- ety seems to me today. I’m sure most of you agree with me, but what are we going to do to change it? Let me address the problem bluntly. I hope you will still love me, but I am going to tell it like it is.
I understand that over 40 percent of new births in the white community are out of wedlock. In the black community they tell me it is over 70 percent. These things are bad for our country and our cities, but it doesn’t stop there, they are also happening in our churches. It used to be a real stigma for a young lady to get pregnant and have a child out of wedlock. Now, it is hardly giv- en a second thought. Yet, these situations lead to children growing up without fathers, grand parents raising their grandchildren, or else the children becoming homeless ur- chins roaming the streets, sleeping and eat- ing wherever they can find some solace or stealing to survive.
What is wrong with us? Of course, when one of our daughters gets pregnant, we still love them, and we know God can forgive them. But when there is no stigma at all, our society as a whole suffers. So how do we solve this problem?
When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, Jo- seph decided to put her away privately as the law and custom demanded in such situa- tions. But, in this case, we know God in- tervened, since the child was conceived of the Holy Spirit and Mary was a virgin.
Do we want to create a stigma against such again to make the change?
As it is in our society now, we have a situa- tion where one unmarried young lady has a baby and it is a big time of rejoicing. Other young ladies see this event and, since there is no stigma, they want to have a baby of their own also. As my son recently commented to me, “Dad, having a baby has become like going to the grocery store and bringing home a loaf of bread just because it is the thing to do now.” But, of course, we love the individual, and we love our children and we certainly do not want to cast them out.
Yet, statistics, and common sense, tell us that these situations lead to high rates of poverty and crime to mention nothing of the sin element. And, of course, when we
24 CityLight.org
February 2015