LADIES, GENTLEMEN, young people, children, are you and your homes ready for the coming of Jesus Christ? If Jesus had come last night would you have been ready?These were among the questions asked of hundreds of Seventh-Day Adventists gathered in The Gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex last Saturday for the East Caribbean Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists Annual National Convention.
The speaker was United States-based family life therapist Dr Alanzo Smith. His thought-provoking message was the highlight of an all-day ministry in song, prayer, praise and worship.
The sermon, delivered under the theme Inspiring Lives, Uniting Families, sought to recognize the importance of families to societies and Christian living.Speaking directly to husbands and wives, and taking his text from Matthew 24:44, Smith said the coming of Jesus Christ was not the paramount concern of the text, but the readiness of God’s people for His coming.
“There is no question that the coming of the Lord is sure. What is not so sure is the readiness of our homes, our children and our families to meet Christ when He comes,” Smith stated.
He added: “What is happening in the homes these days is daunting and frightening, and marriage life is becoming a bed of burden in a house of mystery. Satan knows that a failed marriage affects the couple, their families, children, friends, the church, and at large, will affect our entry into our heavenly home.”Smith said statistics in the United States showed that 63 per cent of suicidal youth were from fatherless homes; and so were 90 per of homeless children, as were 85 per cent of youths with behaviour disorder problems. The preacher said the figures also showed that from fatherless homes were 71 per cent of high school dropouts and 85 per cent of the youths in prison.
He told the men they “are the high priests and backbones of their families” and if family life failed, the society in turn would fail. Smith said too many children were growing up without fathers, and urged the males present not to add to the already high statistics. He gave reasons for the break-up of family lives and homes.
He said: “Many homes are in trouble because marriage vows and the minister’s role in the wedding ceremony are not taken seriously. Many trivialize the marriage ceremony.”
He added: “Many come to me and say, ‘Minister, make the vows short and sweet’.” He noted: “The fanfare of the wedding cannot be shortened, but the most important part – the ingredient that will make the couple legally belonging to each other – is trivialized.”
Secondly, he said marriages were in trouble because of the arrogance and anger of some men who abuse women; and thirdly, because some women “are too stubborn and selfish”.
He urged couples to love and respect each other; never compare their spouses to others, and to communicate often. He specially told wives to submit to their own husbands, but warned husbands that submission was easy when love was shown. The minister also told parents to love and inspire their children and to never argue in front of them, since some of the things they said and did could damage their young ones emotionally and psychologically for life.
At the end, scores gathered at the altar following Smith’s call for special prayer.
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