Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/3653/-1/140/
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PREACHER WARNS YOUTH: Stay Away From Drugs, Violence, Illicit Sex
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Young people in church, community, school and family life have been warned to stay away from the dangers of drugs (including alcohol), violence and illicit sex. The admonition has come from Seventh-day Adventist Minister Pastor Jerry Languedoc.
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Pastor Languedoc addressing young people and adults at Jireh Tabernacle
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The pastor, who has ten years of ministry and is based in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, accepted an invitation from Anguilla to conduct an Adventist Youth Week of Prayer on the island from June 17-24. It commenced on June 17 with a joint service for the three SDA congregations at Jireh Tabernacle at South Hill.
He told the young people that the spiritual warfare in which the world was caught up “demanded affirmative action.” He went on: “As young people, we have been called to make decisions for God, to worship and to serve Him and not to please man….There are challenges facing our youth in this perverse and wicked world and we must choose right from wrong. Oftentimes when I see our young people wasting their lives, hooked up on drugs and involved in all manner of evil, it pains my heart…They are now leaving the church, joining the world and saying ‘the church is boring.’ They are faced with the magnet of drugs, alcohol and pre-marital sex. Many of them are now losing their principles and trying to please their friends.”
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One of the main sections of the congregation
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He observed that in some places the prisons were filled with young men and young women were “selling their bodies.” He lamented that many young people, engaged in violence, were now shooting and killing themselves everywhere.
The pastor declared that many young people were caught up in the “I see nothing wrong with it” syndrome. He continued: “You want the answer? You won’t find it in drugs. You won’t find it in the world or in your peer pressure. You will find the answer in Jesus Christ. He is the answer to your problems and frustration. Today the church is faced with challenges of losing our young people and once they reach in college and graduate, that’s it.”
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One of the main sections of the congregation
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He encouraged young people still in the church “to stay on board the ship and let Jesus be your captain.”