When I first listen to this compilation, it brought me to tears as well, how can it not? It still brings me to tears. To hear anyone crying like that, especially children, it will bring you to tears and your emotions cannot help but come into play. That, i think is the danger here.We cannot let emotions always sway us. We don't run our lives by our emotions, or at least we shouldn't. Feelings change with the wind, Truth does not. You cannot trust "feelings". I am wondering how far we must go with stirring up the emotions to bring conviction. I don't know the answer exactly, but I know this is too far.

My children are 6, 9, and 15. My two youngest are not "on fire" for the Lord as of yet, but my oldest has been on fire since she was about 12 or 13. She has developed a burden for the lukewarm church, for missions, etc... She has a passion for the Lord that is not like any other that i've seen at her age (sorry Arielle, that i am talking about you :) I could not have asked the Lord for a daughter who could be more committed to the Lord, with wonderful discernment and just a sad, sad heart for the compromise of the church-- yet she has a real problem with this compilation. She cannot bear to hear it. To her also, it sounds demonic in nature.

Yes, this compilation may bring people to tears and the words may convict, but at what cost? I think that many who listen to it, even those who are brought to tears, can sense something is just not right about the whole thing. Yes, children can weep and be sorry for sin, but where have they learned to scream and show no sense of self -control. God can just as easily hear our prayers and cries in our prayer closets and in our homes around the family table. Someone mentioned a 'cult', and from what those kids may have been exposed to, I have to question the motivation of the adults and the carefulness to guard innocent hearts. The main speaker (girl) talks about 7, 8 year olds as well. Children this age are still learning obedience to the Lord and to their parents; learning the fruits of the spirit, etc.. I would rather have a child who was committed to learning how to love the Lord and their neighbor, and the displaying the fruits of the Spirit,- than a child who was in anguish over the state of our country but lacked in fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).

Our children are to be cherished and their hearts should be guarded while they are young. They are to be gently molded into Christ-likeness. I am very sad still for those children who lack peace of mind and joy. They will have plenty of time and opportunity to feel burdened and wearisome as they grow into adults. Let's let them be children.

In His love, Chanin

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Chanin

I'm surprised by the response of most of the people who wrote. My thoughts about this recording were and are good and I'm surprised so many come to the opposite in your thinking. It does bother me that some people whose judgement I trust have this negative opinion.

It has been said that these children were praying as adults. I'm wondering how many of the adults who have responded to this in a negative way have ever prayed like this. If you have, do you still pray like this?

Most of us probably have come to the conclusion that we don't come to God through feelings, however, if you really love someone {God} feelings are a part of love. It is a very good idea that all of us should break an alabaster box at the feet of Jesus.

One who has been forgiven much,
GaryE

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Gary Eckenroth

Hi GaryE...

I listened to the recording, and I am torn on how to receive it as well. It's not that there is anything [i]wrong[/i] in what they said. In fact, I hope that the prayers were honest. My only concern (and ever so small concern) is the [i]way[/i] in which such prayers are said. It sounds like a very [u]private[/u] prayer being offered in a very [u]public[/u] way. A friend of mine once called them "preachy-prayers" -- in which you [i]want[/i] others to listen to what it is you are saying (or praying). I'm not saying that such prayers are always wrong. Sometimes you want someone to [i]agree[/i] with you concerning an issue. But it sometimes seems that, even with tears, such well-meaning prayers are offered with the listeners in mind first (even before God).

Having worked with a large children's ministry a few years ago, it is amazing what you can learn from and about children. There is a misguided perception from many Christians to accept what children say because they are so [i]innocent[/i]. Perhaps that was true a few decades ago, but this is a fairy tale in modern America. Children are growing up faster than ever (probably too fast). And along with this, they are facing many of the same "character issues" that adults face.

I have noticed that well-meaning children often want to be very pleasing to the important adults in their lives (like their parents, pastors, etc...). While helping with the children's ministry at an Assembly of God church that I attended, I noticed something quite astounding. A well-known "holy laughter" minister held a two-week "[i]crusade[/i]" at the church. Many people (including myself) felt very uncomfortable about the doctrine being taught and preached from the pulpit. During one of the Sunday morning services, this "evangelist" decided he wanted to go to the Children's Church to "start a revival" amongst the children.

This man came into this very large Children's Church (mostly filled with children that were bussed in from poor areas around town). The "holy laughter evangelist" began to tell the children that he was going to lay hands on them -- and that most of them were going to fall on the ground and some would begin to to laugh uncontrollably (as if they were drunk). Some might regard such "[i]preliminary explanation[/i]" as being an act of faith. However, it is often a mental trick offered by some ministers (even some well-meaning ministers) to subconsciously suggest what they want to happen.

Once this man begins praying for the children, I noticed something quite peculiar. The children coming on the buses just stood there. Many of these children are quite honestly sincere in their hunger for God -- and actually became [i]afraid[/i] when nothing happened. However, some of the children that were raised in Church (perhaps 25 of them) actually did what the "minister" suggested. They were "slain in the spirit" and some of them "laughed like they were drunk." However, I noticed that some of the kids laying on the ground with their eyes closed would often "peek" to see what was going on around them (or who was watching them), and then close their eyes and go back to their state of laughing.

Can children "fake" things? Sadly, the answer is yes. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are insincere in all that they do. It just shows that they often learn through imitation -- and that in some cases, they have become alot more like adults than we often give them credit.

Like stated earlier, I hope that these children were sincere. I am not going to try to read too much into it. But I am also not going to be moved by public prayers that should be coming from the hearts of all believers -- regardless of whether they are children or not.

:-)

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Christopher

Hm. This is something else. And I was torn when I began listening to it. But the cries of these children from the pits of their hearts are amazing. I've read everyone's reply thusfar & I can understand why it's become a tug of war.

But I would love to know who has the authority on this website, on this Earth, or in the Heavenly Realm to say what or whom God can use for His glory, for His purpose?

Does anyone? Who is to say that these "innocent" children cannot be used by the Almighty. If the Lord saw fit, He would use the very stones on the ground to pour their hearts out to the Lord. So who is to decide that "God wouldn't do this ... He would do that" with the exception of His own revelation in His word?

As a sidenote, I believe, children are not at all innocent. I believe the Almighty does not love & desire children for their supposed "innocence". You have to instruct a child to truth. You have to instill honesty in them. To say that little children do not have darkness in their hearts is to say that there is an "age" in where darkness enters the heart. Now, I do not want to be simplistic here, but we cannot claim that children ... are innocent.

So if not innocence, why does God love children so, & desire for us to be like them?

[i]Incompetence[/i] He loves children because they are simply incompetent. What can a child do on his own? Can he feed himself? Can he work? Can he provide for himself? Can he depend on himself & himself alone? Can he do ANYTHING for himself? Does not a child seek his parent for every single little thing? Does he not seek his parent for wisdom? For food? For clothes? For EVERYTHING?

The Lord wants us to just simply come as children. Fully dependant on Him & Him alone.
Abba, from you comes all things. There is not a single breath that enters the lungs You gave me, that does not come from you.

Full dependence.

But to get back to the topic at hand. Initially, it rattled me but I see how God can manifest Himself in any of His creations. I don't hate children by the way lol ... I actually want to work with them, but I do understand that the label "innocent" (I believe) shouldn't be stamped upon them.

In Christ

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Arnaldo Santiago, Jnr.

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Mike Compton

hi there, my first reply onthis forum. I believe that we are sometimes mistaken about the term innocentand it's meaning. I believe that in the biblical sense it means " not having DONE wrong with the same intention " . WE all have Original sin and the fact of it is never hidden that we have inherited it either. But it much more important than just not knowing how to tie our shoelaces, for example, and it is not even a comarison of how we should live, except that we AS ADULTS choose to become children ( again ),,,,,,,
cheers
Rosscoex

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Mike Balog