2 Kings 2:23-25 KJV
[23] And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
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[24] And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord . And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
[25] And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.
One of the Ironies of Faith is the spiritual condition of many of the children of the ministers of the Vineyard. It was an Irony of Faith that the children of the man who waited upon the Lord day and night, who man the Tabernacle of God and took care of the Ark of Covenant, were the same ones living a very ignoble life in the Court of the Lord, sleeping with the innocent women who had come to worship the Lord, and making the offerings and sacrifices to the Lord very repulsive to the people.
1 Samuel 2:12,17,22 KJV
[12] Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord . [17] Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord : for men abhorred the offering of the Lord .
[22] Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
By the their indecent behaviors, people hated to come to the Tabernacle of God to make sacrifices. We have many of such children of Christians and children of ministers of God today. Children who spoil the sanctuary of the Lord, who make the people of God to digress and be distracted.
Another example is the children of Samuel, the man who took over the Priesthood of the land from the hand of Prophet Eli. The man who grew up right in the presence of the Lord, who had been receiving the Word of God from childhood. He had no good children either. His children were very corrupt and were hated and resisted by the people of Israel.
1 Samuel 8:1-5 KJV
[1] And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
[2] Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba.
[3] And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
[4] Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
[5] And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
The two Prophets of God who controlled the land of Israel in successions had no good home and no good children. Because of the children of Prophet Eli, God rejected and terminated the Priesthood of the lineage of Eli and passed it to Samuel. And now, because of the indisciplined characters and integrity problems in Samuel children, the people of Israel rejected Samuel’s children as Judges and prophets and demanded for kings as other nations. His Prophetic lineage ended too.
Elisha was coming from the place of Power. He had just received power from his master and had just left Jericho and had gone back to Bethel, in the city where he met earlier with the Sons of the Prophet in Bethel Camp. He had, probably showed himself to the young prophets in Bethel and was going out of the city when he met these youths of the city, many of them, playing away their life. In the midst of their gist and careless playful relaxations, might have seen Elisha passing by decided to make him an object of Joke.
They began to sing and clap their hands and following him noisily shouting on him: “Go up, bald man; go up, bald man,….” Elisha found this distasteful noisy jokes very distracting and annoying and he could take it no further as they followed behind him noisily singing and shouting and clapping. Then, he turned back angrily at them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And instantly, two jungle bears came out of the forest and attacked the youths and tore forty-two of the children. THOSE WERE CHILDREN FROM THE CITY OF PROPHETS IN BETHEL.
The Bethel children were Children who were supposed to have been spiritually influenced by the lives of the Prophets in Bethel. The young prophets in Bethel lacked visions and strength to follow Elijah along to receive from him the Power, they had the knowledge of the mind of God, but lacked the power of execution of visions of the mind of God. So, the children in the City also had no good legacy to lay hold to. They had no discipline and respect for things and person of God. They were making jest of Elisha with huge disrespect and they received a curse
Today, the devil is attacking the children of many christian homes and families. Some parents are so fervent in the things of God, but pay less attention to the spiritual lives of their children. As long as their children follow them to church and take part in the morning devotions, they never cared what else happen to the private lives of the children. They do not follow them up. They don’t care what they look like in their social media profile. They don’t care about their friends or who they follow up in their Facebook or Twitter.
When our children begin to display some unwarranted attitudes and characters that are foreign, we should care and step forward immediately.
When we begin to notice that their eye lashes are getting longer than natural, when we suddenly begin to notice small tattoos on their wrists or ankles; when the boys begin to sag their trousers gradually; and our girls begin to post seductive selfies; and our boys and girls begin to make late-night long hour talks with friends, for we would not know when it would graduate into phone-sex. We should spring into actions immediately we begin to notice manifestations of subtle immorality and idolatry. We should be taking notice of the strange music they are dancing to and the strange dance they begin to copy on TV and in movies.
THE DEVIL HATE THE CHILDREN OF THE HOMES AND MARRIAGES OF CHRISTIANS AND MINISTERS.
THE DEVIL LIKES TO DESTROY THE LEGACIES AND MINISTRIES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND MINISTER PARENTS BY ATTACKING THE LIVES OF THEIR CHILDREN.
1 Timothy 3:2,4-5 KJV
[2] A bishop (overseer, pastor) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
[4] One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
[5] (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
Aphorism CITY 