The Enemy wants the young

In a story filed on the Straits Times Interactive, a profile is given of those who are drawn to the mujahideen (radical fundamentalist Islamic warriors): “unemployeed, impressionable and reckless, 26-year-old Taufiq Abdul Halim is the face of the next wave of foot soldiers being deployed to fight [in] the cause of religious extremism.”

According to the article, young Taufiq attended an Islamic school for two years “north of Islamabad, Pakistan.” There he studied the Quran. He was part of a loose organization of friends. Analysts labeled him and his “type” as “young, unemployed ‘loose cannons’.”

All over the world, it seems the Enemy of our souls is using a variety of ways to trap the “young, impressionable loose cannons.” These young men and women are dangerous to him, and he is going to any length to neutralize that danger.

There are an estimated 1.8 billion youth in our world under the age of 15. That’s roughly 30% of the total population of the world. In 94 non-World C countries (nations where less than 60% of the population is affiliated with a church in the Christian tradition), the total population is 4.36 billion. Of these, 1.3 billion are under the age of 15. In other words, three-quarters of the world’s youth live in unevangelized and unreached nations.

I submit that our world’s structures of sin are intentionally created to enforce generational patterns in order to trap the youth. When he cannot trick them into an overtly sinful nature, his next line of defense is to lull them to sleep with the seductive force of materialism. For those who are firebrands and simply will not yield to either temptation, he offers the fire of spiritual revolution - on his terms, not God’s.

What do we do with these “young, impressional firebrands”? Should we send them off to Bible school for a few years? Should we tell them to sit down and be quiet?

Jesus called Peter to follow Him. Peter was definitely a loose cannon at times. Jesus called Simon, who was labeled “the Zealot”. He called John, a young dreamer. I wonder what Jesus would do if confronted with these “young, unemployed loose cannons”? Would he remonstrate them, or call them to His service?

Our organization has been prototyping these kinds of schools. In one Asian nation, the LiveTheCall program trained 40 emerging leaders to plant churches; since that training, each leader has planted 2 to 3 churches. Dangerous to the enemy, indeed! For obvious reasons, we are ramping up this kind of training for use all over the 10/40 Window.

We aren’t the only organization training youth. This process must be accelerated. The Church worldwide should rapidly deploy training schools for “young, unemployed, impressionable loose cannons” - the on-fire spiritual youth of our world - all over the 10/40 Window. We should intentionally seek out those who are young, reckless, willing to leave everything, who are unemployed, who are abandoned by “society,” and we should inspire them with the King and His Kingdom and call them into service.

If the Enemy is targeting young, unemployed, impressionable and reckless young men and women, isn’t that a good enough reason to ask what they could do if they were in the service of the King?