What do you want from us? You keep showing, by your actions, that you hate what we’ve taught you; therefore, you despise us as well. You bring shame to your mother and great dishonor to your father. Why? Why is there no remorse for your deeds? Why do you shrug them off? “Only once” you say, or “I only did it twice.”—minimizing the seriousness of the sin. Would you say the same of murder? “I only did it once, don’t make such a big deal of it.” I don’t think so.

We love you too much to leave things as they are. There are consequences—not only for sin (STDs, cirrhosis); but especially for impenitence and lack of sorrow for sin—eternal death. It is that which concerns us the most—your eagerness to indulge in sin, and the lack of remorse and repentance. When you plan to commit the same sin repeatedly, you are not truly sorry. We continue to pray for you daily.

We ask that you limit your contact with us and your siblings as long as you are unwilling to fight against fornication and drunkenness which lead to a host of other sins. When you are ready to repent and fight, we can and will again support and welcome you with open arms.

Remember, you cannot fight this battle of life on your own. You need Christ who dwells in your heart. I know that many times it “feels” like he is far from you—those are the times when you fail to pray and search the Scriptures for his guidance.

The lie that the devil used with Eve, he still uses today and it is swallowed up hook, line, and sinker. It is in essence this: To know evil, you must “taste” it and disobey God. This is a lie from the devil, the father of the lie. (See Doctrine According to Godliness.)

God says to forsake evil and flee from it. What happened when Eve listened to the lie? What happened to Adam? Man could no longer tell good from evil. He calls evil, good; and good he calls evil. God is good and totally separated from evil. He works grace in us to separate ourselves from evil.

Our prayer is that God opens your eyes to see your sinful, miserable, undeserving, wretched state, (as he has caused me to see my natural state to be the same), that God may show you how you ARE delivered from that state, and give you a strong, healthy desire to walk in his ways. Even Paul had to declare, “O wretched man that I am—who shall deliver me?” and our comfort, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”—our deliverance.

Remember, in your times of weakness, that “the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Know that “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” not as stocks and blocks, but as willing servants. And God “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”

So, have you stopped reading yet? After you read the consequences of your impenitence? You then missed the most important part, dear child. Our life in dealing with our sinful human nature makes prayer very necessary. When prayer does not come easily, it is because we want to hang on to our sin. The Spirit then takes over with groanings which cannot be uttered. Yes, the devil and his temptations are powerful, but there is One who is stronger still, even to the point of limiting the power of the devil.

Or did you stop reading when I began quoting scripture? Is it that which turns you off and makes you tune out? Is the scripture what you stop your ears to? Is God’s Word what you walk away from? You would like to live in your sin a little longer? Maybe you think you will be given time to repent just prior to your death, as the murderer on the cross? Sin now, repent later—Is that your attitude?

You were brought up with the Word of God. You walk in the ways of wickedness, worldly ways. Sure, you may attend church when you feel so inclined, but where is your mind wandering during the sermon? What cynical thoughts did you have regarding what the minister said about judgment this morning and how judgment for the righteous is blessed and for the wicked it is fearsome? Or is that the point where you directed your thoughts elsewhere?

Scripture states (Philippians 3:18, 19) “For many walk,…the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” The end is destruction, dear child. Paul weeps when he writes this. I weep too, when I pray, “Lord, why does my child so kick against the pricks? Why must he struggle so? Grant him a repentant and humble heart that desires after Thee.”

Dear child, know my love for you. Know that for you I do not desire earthly wealth and riches; success by man’s standards does not impress me, for “better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.” Your so-called independence does not make me happy. Rather, poverty and total trust in God would comfort your mother far more. Understanding that you can do nothing outside of God’s grace would give me far more satisfaction. For you to realize that independence means nothing apart from total dependence upon God would be far more beneficial to you.

Know that for you, dear child, “I water my couch with my tears.” Know that for you, “Mine eye is consumed because of grief.” Know that “the Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer… the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping” (Psa. 6). May your struggle with sin bring you closer to that total dependence on God.

Back to the aspect of “sin now, repent later.” Dear child, please do not take that stance – there are consequences which are serious! Life long consequences! A certain woman married a divorced man, knowing it was wrong, with that very attitude. She said she would marry him, then repent later—then what? Would she divorce him to show her turning from that sin? Do you see how sin leads to sin and it becomes a vicious circle?

Or what about the couple who divorces, and the man, seeing no sign of reconciliation from his wife (for that is what he longs for) decides to take another wife. God leads his first wife (his true wife) to repentance and a desire for reconciliation and restoration of that relationship, after he has wed his second wife. What then? Must he divorce his second wife so he may be restored to the first? Or may she not repent and experience forgiveness and reconciliation because he could wait no longer? You see how ridiculous things become when we give in to sin and do not trust the Lord—His timing, His promises. (God hates divorce and remarriage when one’s spouse still lives is adultery—there are consequences to these sins.)

Dear child, ungodly decisions made when you are young have serious lifetime consequences. Even when you repent and are forgiven, you may have to suffer with a lifelong remembrance of your evil deeds. Because you indulged in fornication, sexual pleasure with your spouse may have its struggles. You may acquire an illness which prevents you from ever having children, the gift of God in marriage. Or you may have a child out of wedlock who reminds you of the sins of your youth. Christ requires us to remain pure for our future spouse, just as the church, the bride of Christ is to remain pure to greet her Husband when he comes again.

Your drunkenness, when you repent and are forgiven, may have given you a life-long illness, causing many years of suffering for you and your family as well as affecting your other relationships. Think not that your worldly “friends” will stand by you in such difficult times. “The wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth” (Psa. 10:3), and “the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psa. 10:4). “He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he wilt never see it” (Psa. 10:11). Is that you, dear child? Or is it your friends?

“Sin now—repent later?” No man knoweth the day nor the hour. God decides. Repent promptly, dear child, and resolve to forsake and flee. “Flee youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). I weep and pray for you—God alone will grant you grace.

“Lord, turn the hearts of our children to thee, to glorify and honor thy name, even when the consequences are hatred from the wicked world in which we live. Give them strength, Lord, and wisdom to acknowledge that thou art all and in all and that this world passes away but the Word, Christ, abides forever. Grant that through their struggles with sin their faith may be strengthened. Strengthen my faith, dear Father, to see that thy ways are best for me and my children. Help me and guide me to pray for them in a way that glorifies thee. For I know that thy ways are not always my ways. Help me to submit to thy will. Forgive all my sins and weaknesses and guide me to do and say the right things to exhort and admonish my children.”

Dear children, think not, “I would NEVER do that” or “I’m a good person, I don’t do those kinds of things.” You have only to carefully examine your heart to see what your thoughts are. When you are humbled to see the reality of your own sin and how your very thoughts and desires are blackened with pride, God gives you a heart of forgiveness, for you too have been forgiven­—how can you not forgive those who have walked in gross public sin? Are you really any better? Have you no need for forgiveness? Are you as the rich man who declared, regarding the commandments, “All these have I observed from my youth” and proceed to curse the poor and downtrodden?

“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (Prov. 20:9). “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right” (Prov. 20:11).

Dear children with your proud and haughty spirits, I yearn for your hearts to turn; I pray for you to forgive and love as God for Christ’s sake has loved and forgiven you.

Dear children, do you mock your brother who sins? Do you talk about him and his sin to others in a judgmental manner? Or do you pray for him, go to him in concern and humility, realizing how great your own sin is, and admonish him to turn from his ways and follow Christ? Dear children, I weep and pray for you. I pray that God keeps you away from the sin of being a “talebearer that revealeth secrets.” “Whoso keepeth (controls) his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles” (Prov. 21:23).

“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin” Because you think you are better than him, will you have nothing to do with him? Or do you yearn for him to turn from sin, and pray for courage to admonish him in love? A word from you may be far more effectual than from his parents…

I pray that our heavenly Father gives you a heart that does not have pleasure in wickedness, in the evil deeds of others to mock and ridicule. I pray that He humbles your pride and gives you great love, so great, that your life depends on it. I pray God gives you grace to walk in that humility and strength to speak to your wayward brother of the things of God’s kingdom. Let God’s Word be your guide, and pray. Pray for strength, dear children, and wisdom, and peace in your hearts. Pray for strength to hold your tongue when necessary and to speak peaceably, yet forcefully and with courage when needful. Stand on the promises of God, dear children, and walk in His grace in love. Forsake and flee sin and evil, dear children.

“To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jam. 4:7).

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (Jam. 5:16).