When Josiah became king, he was 8 years old.  He did not know that there was anything wrong with the kingdom that he inherited.  The temple, all the priests, and everything related to the worship of and obedience to God, was in a decrepit condition.  The nation had fallen into idolatry and it had been that way since before he was born.  Like all young people, he thought the dilapidated, sordid, disorder was normal.  However, Josiah at 18 years of age begin to seek God.

Discovering the truth
Hilkiah, who was the priest, should have known what was right.  However, he may have also have been raised in the degradation.  As the highest spiritual leader, he was presiding over a totally apostate nation, and no one had ever told him.   However, when King Josiah turned 18, Hilkiah quite by accident found the Book of the Law.  When he has it read to King Josiah, the young king became outraged.

When Josiah turned 20, he called the elders and other religious figures together, and made a “covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.”  Then Josiah cleaned house.  He tore down all the idols, burned and otherwise destroyed all the false altars, and even defiled their places with the powdered bones of dead men.

Our nation is in the same raunchy condition spiritually and secularly.  We are a wicked nation that is becoming increasingly wicked.  Just the fact alone that our nation has sanctioned and committed the murder of over 57 million babies, with many professing Christians sanctioning the slaughter, makes it cursed by God.  In the nation that was founded by Christians on Christian principles, we are now developing policies that are aggressively against God, His Son Jesus Christ, and anyone who devoutly follows Him.

A Deceived Generation
However, let’s focus on Christianity.  Christianity is in unpredicted apostasy.  Most of the younger generations have never know it any different.  The cancer of apostasy is eating the fabric of righteousness and spitting out the bones of truth mixed with lies.

Their leadership is defiled.  They prefer to resemble the emissaries of Satan rather than someone set apart (sanctified) as an anointed man or woman of God.   With body piercings, tattoos, secular fashion, and using the language and mannerisms of the world system, they present bondage in their messages.

The younger generations have thrown off scriptural restraints, discarded every righteous restriction, and have leaped headfirst into apostasy.  They are not knowingly subjects of Satan.  They do not knowingly worship at his altars, imbibe his polluted spirituality, and knowingly reject the Holy Spirit and the voice of truth.  They do it because they are deceived.

They sit under “rock star” pastors, novices who have no substance and blatant heretics.  Their messages are designed to entertain, but not to convict or offend.  The messages are a mixture of humor, pop psychology, and strange interpretations of the Scripture stretched to cover the heresy.  If they quote a bold exhortation from God’s word, it is applied to anyone who disagrees with their aberrant paradigm.

Some Youth are Waking Up!
However, some of the youth are becoming edgy.   They are the ones who long for God.  They know something is wrong, but not many of them know exactly what it is.  They are actually reading the Bible and studying what they read.  Even in the mangled text of modern, hip, bibles, there is some truth.  One day they may, as Hilkiah, eventually discover an accurate translation.  Upon reading it to themselves and other young leaders, they may come to the realization that they have been deceived and cheated out of their inheritance, which is the legacy of the life and experiences of godly people.  They will realize that they are being cheated out of a true relationship with God, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit.

They may realize that the longing in their soul—that is never satisfied by the churches they attend—is a longing for God and truth.  They may recognize that the unsettled feeling, and the sense of dread, is because they worship in a diabolical environment, empty of the righteous presence of the Holy Spirit.

When that occurs, some of them are going to rise up in righteous protest.  They are going to begin exhorting their friends and challenging the evil.  This army of youth will be powerful because they have been in the shadowland, feasted with demons, and known the emptiness of the entire paradigm of Christian worldliness.

A Mighty Youth Army
I do not know how large this army will be or what effect if any it will have on the apostasy.  When they come out of their dark places, they may discover that the older sector of Christianity has apostatized down a different path.  Maybe they will begin meeting in small house churches.  They may take over dilapidated and declining churches that are closing their doors at the rate of several hundred each month.  One thing is for certain, their voices will be heard.  God will make their leaders all like prophets.  They will stand in the faces of the “Steven Furticks” and “Perry Nobles” of this generation and boldly rebuke them.  It may be what those apostate leaders fear the most a youth uprising against them and their high places.

It is a job for the Remnant to pray for this uprising of godly young people.  We need to pray that they truth will burn like fire shut up in in their bones and words of truth like flames on their tongues.  We must pray that they will not be discouraged when they realize the devastation that they were born into and not be dismayed at the task ahead.  We must pray that they do not compromise when they realize how alone they are in the world system and Christianity.  We must pray that they will be content to be accepted by God.  We must also accept them and encourage them to be Josiah and Hilkiah in their generation.  Praise God for His immeasurable wisdom and power!!