Giving Posterity a Chance: Who Is Responsible for Teaching the Next Generation and What Is It that the next Generation Must Learn? – Life lessons from Reverend Ralekholela on the MLM Talk Show Part 2

In the first part of the interview on Posterity between Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe and Reverend Ralekholela, the reverend shared some insights on what has helped him to remain active in the ministry for over 40 years.

In this second, they discuss about the responsibility to teach the next generation and the important issues that must be taught to those who shall be given the baton in the relay of life.

Pastor Morgan: Reverend, I would like to ask you another question. Who is it that is responsible for teaching the next generation?

Evangelist Ralekholela: I want to thank you so much my beloved pastor for that question, because it’s a question that really eats my heart.

If you look at the Bible, you will begin to realize that the book of Exodus talks about the children of Israel in the wilderness and the wonderful miracles that God for them when they came out of Egypt.

Thereafter comes a generation under Joshua. This generation is comprised of people who were born in the wilderness – people who did not see the miracles at the Red Sea. However, there some people who were purposefully left as the remnant for posterity’s sake.

These people were meant to continue the move of God since they were the first hand recipients (eye-witnesses) of the move of God in Egypt. They saw it when it started, they saw it when they crossed the Red Sea and they saw all the other things that God did in the wilderness.

So, when people were sent from Kadesh-barnea, to spy on the promised land, its only Joshua and Caleb that came back with the good news. The Lord then said, you Joshua and Caleb, you are the only people among those who are twenty years and older who will cross over. They had a spirit of seeing beyond their own time and abilities.

Joshua and Caleb had a spirit of seeing beyond their own ministerial time – they could see a generation within them.

They were not selfish about the goodness which God did to them in the wilderness – they had seen God bringing them provision, destroying their enemies and opening the Red Sea – to them, they saw that a generation that was coming must know these things.

When they came from Canaan, they said, yes the majority of people who went to spy on the promised land say that the land is good but the enemies are great giants, but for the sake of the unborn generation, we need to believe God and as such, we shall go and take that land as God instructed.

Joshua and Caleb were responsible for teaching the next generation. That is why, after Joshua and Caleb died, there were still some elders who came from Joshua and Caleb.

These elders continued with the miracles to show the people what God had done, hence, we need to thank God for books like this Posterity book, because it helps keep these secret tablets like the one that Moses brought from the mountain.

We can pack and keep (preserve) these nuggets nicely using the technology that we have today, not for ourselves but for the next generation.

After the Joshua generation, the Bible says that all the people who came out of Egypt and all those that outlived Joshua died and there arose another generation that did not know God. This caused the chosen nation to succumb to sin and wandered in the wilderness for 400 years.

As such, I am sure that the people who are responsible for teaching the next generation is – You and I.

It is my belief that what we are doing now by having this conversation on posterity is what many people in the world have failed to do and have thus robbed the next generation by not storing and sharing the information about the things they know about God.

I believe that we are responsible for passing knowledge about God to the next generation.

Pastor Morgan: Reverend, my other question is – What must we teach the next generation and why?

Evangelist Ralekholela: One of the greatest things that Jesus did is that when he resurrected from the dead, he spent time with the disciples – post resurrection ministry.

During that period, he once called all the disciples to certain mountain and told them – Do not be afraid, power and authority has been given unto me.

He also said in that great commission – Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations and teach them – to observe….!

We need to teach people to observe. We don’t just get people to be converts since converts are merely fed with information, and such, they don’t get to encounter the experiences of walking in these streets.

Yes, we are responsible for making sure that this generation should hear what we teach but one of the greatest things that we must do is – we must ensure that we walk the talk – we must demonstrate what we teach them. That is what this generation needs.

Jesus said – Teach them to observe….!

They must observe how we speak. They must observe our integrity and generosity. These are some of the things that people don’t need to be told but they must observe. In other words, the greatest gospel to produce in the next generation is the gospel that disciples.

When you make converts, you are just recruiting people from one religion to another but when you make disciples, you make these people to be under a certain discipline – the discipline on how do you hear the teacher and how the teacher walks.

Their disciplined will be influenced by how the teacher wept when he was in trouble, how the teacher laughed when he was supposed to cry, how the teacher responded to trouble and criticism of this world and even how the teacher responded to the changes on the atmosphere around him.

Yes, it’s not everything that people will observe, but on some of the things, people do really observe from our lives. In other words, what you have to teach the people is to teach them to observe the Word. We must teach them to observe.

We have a responsibility to demonstrate a Christ-like living – to live the Christian way. We have a responsibility to live according to the Biblical standard because our generation is not only tapping from words in a world full of too much information.

There is too such information in this time. You are I, are living in the times of advanced technology where you can now get information from various sources which are even difficult to confirm if the information you get from them is true or false, good or bad.

As such, the next generation will be able to survive if they are taught to be disciples. They will survive because they will be under a certain discipline – the discipline to propagate the truth.

A disciple will survive because he/she watches how the forefathers walked the same path. If we teach them to observe the written Word and then make them see it in our lives, I believe, that’s one of the greatest things that we can teach them.

Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe is the founder and senior pastor at In His Presence Ministries International Church based in Soweto, South Africa. Reverend Ralekholela is the founder of Gospel Fire Ministries International based in Vereeniging, South Africa.