What Are Alien Youth?

I heard the term years ago on a Skillet CD my brother loved to listen to. The song, called “Alien Youth”, calls for youth to take over the world for Christ. And, so, I recently got the song stuck in my head again, and then began thinking over the meaning of it.

Jesus had a special heart for the youth. John, the youngest of the disciples, thought to be between the ages of fourteen and sixteen by some, was called “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and was included in his inner circle. Together with Peter and his older brother James, he got to see things none of the other disciples did and was often sent with Peter on important errands such as fetching the colt he rode into Jerusalem and making sure they had a place to celebrate Passover. He saw the Transfiguration and followed Jesus all the way to the cross even when the all the others left Him. John was most likely an energetic, passionate young man (Jesus didn’t call him a “son of thunder” for nothing) and Jesus realized what great potential this teenager had to further the kingdom. And John didn’t let Jesus down. After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, John:

·         took Mary, Jesus’ mother, into his home and cared for her (John 19:27)

·         healed a lame man with Peter (Acts 3:6)

·         wrote 5 books of the New Testament (John, 1,2, &3 John, Revelation)

·         endured persecution including dealing with his brother’s beheading, getting boiled in oil, and being exiled to the island of Patmos (after the boiling oil and several other things failed to kill him).

This fisherman-turned-apostle did much for the kingdom of God despite all the odds, Roman emperors, and Jewish leaders stacked against him. In a way, you could say he started the alien youth movement through his devotion to a wandering, penniless preacher and his willingness to drop everything and go at two simple words from his Master-“Follow me”.

After John came John Mark and Timothy, two companions of the Apostle Paul. While not much is said about either of them, both accompanied Paul on missionary journeys. While in prison, Paul wrote to letters specifically to Timothy encouraging him to be an “alien youth” (not his exact words; I can guarantee those two words, at least not together, do not appear in the Bible, no matter what your translation is). Before them all came Mary, Jesus’ mother, believed to be only fourteen at the time of Jesus’ birth. In faith Mary stepped out and agreed to be the Messiah’s mommy, even though it could mean her death. As the story goes, Mary was betrothed to Joseph. By Jewish tradition, that meant they were married but Mary couldn’t enter Joseph’s home and had to remain pure for a year. Then they could have their official marriage ceremony.

This gave Joseph time to build her a home and make things ready for her. It gave Mary time to embroider the swaddling bands that would be wrapped around their hands during the marriage ceremony and later would swaddle their newborn children. The only way the betrothal contract could be broken would be through divorce and only for very severe reasons, such as adultery. If Mary was found to be pregnant, she could be accused of adultery and stoned to death for it. Not an easy thing to deal with. But she went through with it any way, and because she did, Joseph took her for his wife early and Jesus was born safely without his mother being stoned.

In a nutshell, alien youth are young people who give up everything to follow Jesus, down to their very life. He has the say, not them. He calls the shots and they follow them to the letter. They take up their crosses and follow Him daily. They answer the call to help “the least of these”. They pray for more than just their meals and their problems. They’re sold out, radical, Jesus freaks.

Take a look around you and try to count up the number of teenagers you know who fit this description, who could be counted in with the likes of Mary, John, Timothy, and John Mark. You can probably count them all on one hand. But here’s the other thing-can you count yourself as one of them?

If you can’t, there’s a problem and it’s a big one.

Alien Youth-Introduction

I’ve met a lot of teenagers. And I met them mainly through church. And that’s where the problem comes in for me. You see, I’m confused. People say the word “church” and what do they think? It depends on the person. Some think overly pious snobs who sit in their pews wearing Prada shoes and turning up their noses at the poor and ungodly. Others think of people who constantly shove a Bible in their faces yelling, “You must be saved!” And while being saved is important, it’s not the whole story-it’s the beginning. And this is where my confusion comes in.

Too many people believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior and then just leave it alone. They go to church on Sunday, get convicted, cry, go to the altar and pray, and then lose it when they walk out the door. You would never know that Jesus is supposed to be their King of kings. They act just like everybody else. Especially teenagers.

I know that teenagers face constant peer pressure to be like everybody else because I felt it and I still do. I’ve given into it and sometimes I still do. There’s a certain standard set (not a very high one) for teens that includes loafing your way through high school, graduating with a C average, partying hard on the weekend, spending Friday nights on dates, playing a sport(s), a few chores, not crashing your car, getting a job, and maybe paying for your own gas. Not very much is expected of us. Not very much is asked of us. Not even of Christian teens.

For Christian teens the bar can be raised a bit (but not too much). We are expected to stay away from those parties (or at least the alcohol), keep our purity until marriage (or however much of it we can manage to keep in our wave of compromise), go to church on Sunday, go to Christian youth conventions, volunteer every now in the name of Jesus (or getting those community service hours needed to graduate), and religiously attend youth group on Wednesday nights.

We are raised in Christian homes with Christian parents. Why then does the apple fall so far from the tree? Because our faith is not our own, it’s our parents’. And because we don’t know the real Jesus.

Out of all those teenagers I’ve every met, a handful I would say are genuinely saved, genuinely concerned about heavenly things, though not enough to distract them from conversations about movies, non-Christian music, and (with them being mainly girls though a few boys are included) guys they like, guys they hung out with, and buff, handsome movie stars. In ways, they’re better than normal, worldly teenagers, but they just don’t have it all there.

Out of all my teenager acquaintances, I can, maybe, pull five who I know are sold out for Christ. They still have their faults and their shortcomings, but you can see the Jesus glow. You can hear it when they talk and see it in their smiles. And so, the question that sums up my confusion is, why aren’t there more teenagers like this? Why is five pushing it when I look for teenage friends who really know and love Jesus more than anything? Why can’t I find anymore alien youth?

 I’m asking you to join me in an alien invasion-an invasion of expectations, peer pressure, and the whole dead culture surrounding the teenage “world”. I’m asking you to help me say that I know five, ten, fifteen, twenty, a hundred teens sold out for Christ, living their lives to the fullest of His purposes. Because without Christ, we’re dead and we know it. Let’s storm Planet Earth, take it over, and set up a new kingdom-His kingdom.