The Great Commision & The Blessing of Children -9/29/09

2 Parents + 11 Children + 150 Grandchildren

+ 1,000 Great Grand Children + Great Great Grand Children

= A Legacy of Faith

We live in an era where children are commonly viewed as a burden, an inconvenience, or even with hostility by the majority of Americans. In fact, hardly a day goes by where we do not hear something about the 'Over Population of the World' or 'The Number of New Babies Contributing to Global Warming' and so on. The current norm is for parents to put their kids to daycare, some as young as 4 weeks, or schools entrusting their child's care to others so that their lives can continue uninterrupted or so they do not have to change their style of living. The President of the United States just unveiled a plan (click here for the article) that would keep American children in school longer, either by increasing the school day and/or the school week. There were several reasons given for this proposed change and among them was, in so many words, a convenience issue for parents who many have to be working extra jobs and/or do not have time for their kids until after 7 'O clock in the evening. However, God presents a different view of children in His word.

God calls children a blessing. He commands Adam and Eve in the Dominion Mandate to be "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis 1:28. In Matthew 28, the Great Commission, Christ expands the Dominion Mandate and promises that the World shall be His and His people (and their children Acts 2:39) shall be the means of bringing the nations into submission to Himself. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against Christ's Church (Matt. 16:18) as she marches through history bringing the nations captive to Christ through His word (Heb. 4:12). There are two ways Christ builds His kingdom there on earth, one is through evangelism and conversation of the lost, and the other is for Christian parents to raise their children in the 'fear and admonition of the Lord'. Though being born to godly parents does not guarantee one's salvation, as Christians we can expect God to work through families and that some or all of our children may have the blessing of growing up and never knowing a day in which they did not love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ps. 22:9-10 & Luke 1:41-42)

In that spirit, I want to share the following story with you. About how a woman, though presumably on Orthodox Jew (there's no indication in the article that she was a Christian), left her mark are this world with over 1,400 descendants within less the 100 years because she took the promises of God in the old testament concerning children seriously. Please read the following and enjoy:

Recently Reported: Woman dies at 99, leaves behind 1,400 descendents

One of Jerusalemite Rachel Krishevsky's grandchildren says with pride, 'Grandma knew all of her descendents'
Nissan Shtrauchler

The commandment to "be fruitful and multiply" the Krishevsky family follows quite closely. Last Saturday, the great grandmother, Rachel Krishevsky passed away at the age of 99, leaving behind no less than 1,400 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren.

Krishevsky got married to her cousin, Yitzhak, just before turning 19. The couple brought seven sons and four daughters into the world. In accordance with haredi custom, Krishevsky brought up her children to see children as a great joy. Her children subsequently adopted her outlook and produced 150 children of their own.

These 150 children continued the commitment to be fruitful and multiply and themselves had no less than 1,000 children. From here, the lineage continued even further, and Rachel Krishevsky was blessed with a few hundred great-great-grandchildren.

Rachel Krishevsky died on Saturday surrounded by loving descendents.

Due to their great numbers, the family is not quite clear on precisely how many descendents there are. "The estimate in the family is that we are about 1,400 people since almost all of those from the family line were blessed with many children," said one of the grandchildren Wednesday.

Though she lived a full and long life, the family is saddened by Rachel's passing. Krishevsky lived nearly her whole live next to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open-air market. "Grandma was a God-fearing woman her whole life, and her door was always open to the homeless and poor near the market who were looking for a place to eat," added the grandchild. "She knew the entire book of Psalms by heart, and participated in all the family events, happy and sad, up until two years ago. She knew all of her descendents. We are sad about her death, but proud of what she achieved in her life and her righteousness and compassion."

Though Krishevsky certainly produced many offspring, she did was not a record-breaker. In the haredi sector, there are two well-known cases of living people having great-great-great-grandchildren. One such case is in a Hassidic family living in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. Another such family is that of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian branch of haredi Judaism. A few months ago, his great-great-grandson had his first child.

Original News Article

Now you do not have to have 11 children or over 1,400 descendants to be considered faithful to God's commandment to 'be fruitful and multiply,' God does not set number goals for us nor does He ordain for all of His people to even be able to have children. However, just think about how many Christians would be in the world today if all Christian parents took this admonition a little more to heart and really did view children as a blessing? Not only a blessing, but as arrows to shoot into the future? (Psalm 127)

As an a side, there is notice being taken in our culture of this Christian concept. It is being dubbed, 'The Quiverfull Movement.' Specifically, there is a new book out by Katheryn Joyce called Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement

This book mainly focuses on the Patriarchy movement and it's leaders, like Doug Phillips of Vision Forum and names other notable Christians like Joe Morecraft, III, the Pearls, and others. Joyce takes on the subjects of Submissive Wives, Fruitful Mothers, and even addresses Virtuous Daughters in her book. Her main beef is with the thought that women are to be helpmeats to their husbands, submissive wives like Sara of old, keepers of home, baring children, training them up in godliness for the cause of Christ, and equipping them for their futures...she views all of this as oppressive and degrading, (in so many words). This is a quote from the Book Jacket which is worthy of note:

"Quiverfull takes us into the heart of a movement we ignore at our

peril, and offers a fascinating examination of the twenty-first-century

women and men who proclaim self-sacrifice and submission as model virtues of

womanhood - and as warfare on behalf of Christ." (emphasis mine.)

Joyce believes, ignoring those of us who seek to have children and raise them up in the fear of God as warriors of Faith is a threat to her beliefs and way of life, which she would ascribe to mainstream America as well. Ingnoring us to their peril. If we are faithful and God blesses then she will be right. Our warfare is not with weapons made of hands,"we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6) Do pray that God would raise up a faithful generation of Christians who will, by His grace, help to bring America back to her Christian roots and once again bow the knee before King Jesus.

There is another religion that does believe in taking the world captive through the means of bearing children (though obviously not limited to this) and is consistently practicing their belief...Islam. Though the Christian warfare is spiritual, Islamic warfare is more often then not a physical warfare. Islam certainly has a victory minded faith and they know in order to achieve victory their Children, and ours, are the key to the future. This is an amazing video and I would encourage all of you to take the 8 minutes to watch this. And pray, that God would give you a heart to share the Gospel with those of the Islamic faith.

I hope you will consider the data presented in this video carefully, may it bring us to our knees in prayer for the lost, may our hearts be strengthened to love those without a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus, may God burden our hearts day and night to share His truth, may He give us all proper view of children, and if He grants children to us...may we be faithful to raise them as Christian warriors (Eph. 6:13-18) for the glory of Christ and the advancement of His kingdom here on earth...as it is in heaven.