CHICKEN
You're just plain chicken! Ever have someone yell that at you? The nickname
"chicken" is one of the most-used slang expressions of the twentieth century.
In plain talk, chicken means coward! A chicken is afraid to die, afraid not to
follow the crowd, to live life to the outtermost limits. They call you chicken
if you won't smoke. You are chicken if you won't drink, and chicken if you
won't listen to hard rock music. Today a teen-ager who refuses to act like a
heathen is out of step with the mainstream.
Prisons and reformatories are overflowing with teen-agers who have been
indicted for murder, assault and battery, drug addiction, and immorality. And
many of these teens boast, "At least I'm not chicken."
All across America, shocked and heartbroken parents are asking their unwed
pregnant daughters, "Why did you do it?" The foolish answer: "I didn't want to
be chicken."
Our highways are overrun with teen-age hot-rodders playing the chicken game.
They race down the middle of the road toward each other's car - and the first
one to get off the white line is chicken.
Teen-agers are being lured and seduced into sin and corruption by other teen-
agers who have sold out to the devil. Some so called "friend" will lead an
innocent teenager into a trap, and then jeer, "Come on. What's the matter? You
chicken?" A lot of teen-agers are doing things now they would refuse to do but
for one thing - they want to be like the gang! Teen-agers are throwing their
morals to the wind just so they will be accepted by big-shot sinners leading
the crowd to hell.
WHAT IS A CHICKEN?
A real chicken is one who breaks down under pressure. One of these days God is
going to put on the pressure. He is going to see how big and brave and smart
teenagers will act then. The Bible says, "It is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Every teenager will stand
before almighty God on the judgment day. This will be real pressure. A lot of
fellows and girls who aren't chicken on earth will really be chicken when they
stand before God!
Every Catholic, every Protestant, and every Jew will stand before God and be
judged for every wicked word that came out of his mouth and every sinful deed
he did. When God puts on the pressure, "every knee shall bow... and every
tongue shall confess." Every eye will behold Him on that great day. Every teen-
ager who had no time for God or Jesus Christ will fall on his face and weep
and cry and scream for mercy!
The end of time is almost here. Everybody is talking about it. Everybody feels
something world-shattering is about to happen. It is going to be worse than
floods, earthquakes, famines, or other calamities.
God is warning people everywhere that the end of time is near. Communistic
leaders are getting ready to push the launching buttons that will fill the
skies with missiles. China is getting ready to march with its millions. Africa
is shaking itself from sleep like a mighty giant. Crime, delinquency, drug
addiction, sex, hate, and fear are spreading around the world like a cancer.
Fear is causing heart attacks around the world. The Bible says, "And when
these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for
your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28). Jesus is coming soon.
But the world has been scared so many times that most teen-agers are no longer
afraid. At the very brink of eternity, the music is getting louder, the curses
stronger, the dances faster, the joking and laughing dirtier and cheaper, the
loving more vile, the smoking and drinking heavier. But worst of all, hell
itself is breaking out in high school halls and in the hearts of teen-agers.
You can throw this tract away and try to laugh it off, but already you have
read too much. You have heard the truth and you will never be able to shake
off what you have just read. Conviction has gripped your soul and you are
beginning to feel different. You know you have been putting on a front. You
know the end is coming, and you know you are not ready to meet God. You have
to admit to yourself that down deep in your heart you are wondering what is
going to happen when the end comes.
Do you believe the Bible is the Word of God? The Bible warns all the world in
Rev. 6:12-17 that after Jesus comes again there is going to be a great world-
splitting earthquake. The sun will become black as a velvet cloth. The moon is
going to turn blood red and the stars of heaven are going to fall on the
earth. The sky is going to roll apart. All the mountains and islands are going
to rock and reel and slide out of their places. And then suddenly a blinding
light will shine from God's throne and every sinner will be forced to look at
the face of the Christ he rejected. Read it for yourself. It's in every Bible.
Every teen-ager who refused to surrender his life to Jesus and serve God will
try to run and hide when that day comes. The Bible predicts you will scream
and cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on you and hide you from His
face. But there will be no place to hide.
Go ahead. Keep on sinning - rock and roll, smoke, drink, swear, play with sex,
act big and brave, act like you don't need Jesus, act like everything is going
to be all right. But don't ever forget that one day soon you will have to look
into the face of Jesus! One day your fun will turn into terror!
Remember, a chicken is one who breaks down under pressure. A chicken is afraid
to die. But the Bible says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." God is
putting the pressure on you right now, teen-ager. Forget what your friends
think of you. They can't stand before God and do you any good. Why pay
attention to them now?
One of these days soon you may pick up the newspaper and read these headlines:
"MILLIONS MISSING - ALL OVER THE WORLD." The angel Gabriel is soon scheduled
to blow the last trumpet - and then suddenly Jesus will come. All the
followers of Jesus will disappear in less than one-fifth of a second - the
time it takes to wink an eye. Babies will be missing from mother's arms.
Christian people will vanish. Teen-agers will be running through the halls in
schools looking for their Christian classmates but they will be gone. The
radio and TV sets will be buzzing about the mysterious disappearance of people
from every nation.
The Bible says that when you least expect Jesus, then He will come. The Bible
also tells us: "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and
the other left. Two women shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and
the other left" (Matthew 24:40). The Christians will be taken - the sinners
will be left. Are you going to be left behind when Jesus comes again?
Are you going to get ready to meet Jesus now? Or, are you going to be chicken?
You did not get this message by accident. You are one of many teen-agers
getting this message all over the world. There is only one way to be ready to
face the dark future: give yourself to Jesus Christ. Receive Him as your
Saviour. Accept Him into your life as King.
Here is how: confess your sins to the Lord Jesus with your mouth. Repent and
be sorry for all your sins. Forsake your wicked way of living. Call on Jesus
and ask Him to come and live in your heart. This is the Bible way to be saved.
The first move is up to you. God will meet you halfway. Pray this prayer from
your heart:
"Jesus, I admit I'm a hopeless and lost sinner. I need you. Forgive all my
sins. I confess them all to you right now. I know you can and will forgive
them. I believe on you, Jesus. I accept you into my heart now as my own
Saviour. Thank you, Jesus, for hearing a sinner's prayer and for the gift of
eternal life you have just now given me. Amen."
David Wilkerson
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