The Battle for our Children's Souls

[0:00] The item in the bulletin talks about the message for this morning, relationships are everything, part two.

[0:12] I really feel a need to interrupt that, so I'm going to postpone it, and that will be part two one week from today, the Lord willing. And what I have to bring this morning is something that I had not intended at all to bring until 6 o'clock this morning, and that all changed.

[0:35] So I think you'll see why when we get into it, but I do want to care for just a couple of items that are in the bulletin, and one has to do with this March 16 thing, the 316 message.

[0:47] I know a number of folks are interested in that, and I'm grateful for each and every one of them. And I would simply ask you, if you would, please, could you remain behind so that after the elders and their wives meet with the folks applying for membership, we could at least give a few minutes discussion to this 316 thing.

[1:09] It is very important, and the calendar tells us that the time is shortening, so we need to take advantage of it as much as we can. And it might be somewhat inconvenient, but I would appreciate it very much if you could remain behind.

[1:23] After the morning service, we will be meeting immediately with the membership candidates. That will not take long, and shortly thereafter, we'll be able to address the 316 thing.

[1:37] And if you're unable to stay, we understand, but if you can, we would appreciate it. Men's class is Tuesday, Wednesday. We've got a busy week coming up. Wednesday, the prayer meeting. And Thursday is our monthly Bible study, and it will be content that is related to some of the future items that we are facing even now.

[1:57] And we'll be looking at the pen of esteemed scholar, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and we'll be bringing some things that will be very, very helpful regarding the future.

[2:08] So I would appreciate that very much if you could join us. That will be Thursday morning at 9 o'clock, and the meal is served then, and the study will follow as soon thereafter, probably about 9.30.

[2:24] So the message that we did not intend to bring at all until the early hour this morning needs some introduction, so I will get underway with that.

[2:41] And then the article that will be shared with you is by an author that very likely you've never heard of. I've never heard of the gentleman either, but you will have after we share the article with you.

[2:56] So let me preface his article with some remarks of our own. There is a concerted movement about that has always been there, but largely underground and mostly undetected.

[3:14] Of recent months and years, however, it has become more and more obvious, especially to Christians. Over the past 50-plus years, I have been your pastor.

[3:30] You have heard me, in reference to the Bible, relate how the original fall of humanity began with the first parents of the human race, namely Adam and Eve, and we believe them to be historical, actual, real people, fashioned by God and instilled with his image and likeness.

[3:53] We have attempted to portray that disastrous fall, that initial act of disobedience, as having much far-reaching consequences.

[4:08] It has negatively impacted all the offspring's generations, including us. Principal consequence has been the predictable death of every member of every generation since the original creation.

[4:28] We have attempted, along with the reality of death, to speak of the totality of the fall, that not only was accompanied by death, but also severely impacted every facet of our being.

[4:47] One of the chief facets so impacted has been increasingly obvious during the past few decades, beginning especially with our devaluation of human life as revealed by legalizing abortion on demand.

[5:07] This was closely accompanied with the removal of prayer from our public schools and the rejection of the official recognition of the God of the Bible as creator and sustainer.

[5:25] Be reminded these realities occurred more than 50 years ago. Flowing from those moral and spiritual underpinnings is the plethora of predictable results.

[5:43] When the previously divine authority has been removed from the national policies that have been in place and relied upon since the founding of our nation, we are awakened today as to where that has taken us.

[6:04] As much as I, as your pastor, have emphasized the reality of the fall and its consequences, you have only heard me over the past few years place an emphasis on the depth and the breadth of that fall, and I have characterized its totality by stressing its effect upon our world with its pervasive, warped logic, and skewed thinking.

[6:28] You've heard me use that term a number of times. Warped logic, skewed thinking. This has impacted all of human culture. It has from Genesis 3, but it is becoming more and more intense.

[6:43] It allows present-day humanity to devise and advocate positions and demands that simply defy all logic and rationality. Our nation, along with the rest of the world, seems to be presented with a new kind of abnormality and perversity with every passing month.

[7:07] I'm beginning to think of it as the absurdity of the month. What will be the next one? You know, it just gets crazier and crazier as it goes along, and people just shake their heads in unbelief and say, where is this stuff coming from?

[7:22] This is crazy. Defund the police, and men competing in women's sports, and all of this. What is going on?

[7:33] It's becoming more and more bizarre as time goes by, including the gender dysphoria and its attendant demands and confusion. There is nothing that so strikes at our humanity as the radicalization of masculinity and femininity and their respective identities.

[7:58] And once you scrap that... Well... So, the article that I want to share with you, and be advised I'm not accustomed to doing this, because as I've said, I've been your pastor for over 50 years, and I have never taken time in the pulpit to read an article to you.

[8:25] Never have. I've read from some, a lot, but never read an article. Never made that the message. But that's what this is. And prior to reading this, I had never heard of Phil Ginn.

[8:46] G-I-N-N. Phil Ginn. Never met the man. Not familiar with him at all. But he is the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[9:00] Previously, Ginn served as both a lawyer and a judge, retiring as senior resident superior judge for the 24th Judicial District in North Carolina.

[9:15] And he penned the article that I'm going to read to you. It appeared in the last issue of Decision Magazine.

[9:25] Those of you who got it may have already read the article. It's called, The Battle for Our Children's Souls. Parents must be alert to the anti-Christian agenda of the secular elites.

[9:42] Well, it is an anti-Christian agenda of the secular elites, but we wouldn't expect it to be a pro-Christian agenda, would we?

[9:58] No? Really? Of course not. We all need to be reminded as believers in Jesus Christ, we do constitute the minority.

[10:12] You need to keep that in mind. The majority is not with us in our conviction regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ, who he is, why he came, what he did, and why it matters.

[10:24] They're not with us on that. And there was a time when we were not with that either. And we have to remember that. So, I want to preface this by saying those who are advocating the things that we will be talking about and reading are not to be identified as the enemy, although sometimes it's really difficult not to think of them that way.

[10:46] But we have to constantly remind ourselves these people advocating these positions and these ideas are not the enemy. They are captives of the enemy.

[10:58] They are those of whom the Apostle Paul spoke in 2 Corinthians 4 when he said, if our gospel be hid unseen, it is hidden to those who are lost, to those whose minds the God of this world, get that, whose minds, minds, the thinking process, whose minds have been blinded by the God of this world, lest the glorious light of the gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them.

[11:34] So, they do not realize it, of course, and the position that they take is automatically, they think that you are the ones, we are the ones who are blinded, they are the ones who see.

[11:49] You need to keep that in mind. The Adversary, very powerful. Battle for our children's souls. My, oh my.

[12:04] Talking about 50 years I've been here, just trying to think back. I could not have even imagined in my wildest thinking that I would ever be reading an article about this, like this.

[12:20] Not, not in the U.S. of A. The social service worker will be polite, but cool, and businesslike.

[12:41] Despite your confusion, fear, and even anger, you dare not lose your poise, because that will ultimately be used against you. You will learn in short order that your refusal to cooperate will be futile.

[12:59] The social worker will just return with whatever government force is needed to remove your children from your home. After initial pleasantries, quote, unquote, your children will be sent to a separate area where they will be questioned individually outside of your presence.

[13:28] You will not be told who made the accusation against you, only that an anonymous report has been made and the worker is compelled to do a welfare check, quote, unquote, on your children.

[13:48] Make no mistake, the social worker will have the power to place your children in a government approved foster care facility to protect them, quote, unquote, from the harmful effects that they are exposed to in your home.

[14:13] We're not talking about lead in the paint. Then the investigation will begin in earnest with court hearings and public exposure to the problems, quote, unquote, created by your care of the children.

[14:30] You may wonder what crime could trigger such a harsh result. Potential sexual or physical abuse, neglect of your children's health, medical or nutritional needs.

[14:45] Now, we all know those things take place. All too often, there are far too many abused and neglected children as a result of drugs and alcohol and other things that cause people to treat their children in a terrible way.

[15:04] But that's not what we're talking about. The time may soon come in America where this scenario occurs simply because you are teaching your children Christian values instead of what the secular culture and government want them to learn.

[15:23] children. This picture may seem repugnant to you, and it should. It also may seem somewhat far-fetched, but it shouldn't.

[15:35] be groundwork for this scenario is already in place. So far, it has been used mostly for good to address the issues of child abuse and neglect.

[15:51] However, it could easily be weaponized, that's a word we've been hearing a lot of lately, haven't we? Weaponized against conscientious Christian parents.

[16:03] We've already seen once trusted institutions like the FBI and the Justice Department abuse power for political purposes.

[16:18] Recently, Attorney General Merrick Garland's Department of Justice declared war on parents who dared to civilly call out public school boards across the country for indoctrinating children with critical race theory and hypersexual pornographic material.

[16:42] Some parents were undoubtedly irreverent and demanding, but labeling them domestic terrorists is more than a little over the top.

[16:54] Actually, the great sin of these parents is doubting that the educational professionals in charge know more about what is best for their own children than they do.

[17:08] And I just have to stop here and inject something because it's necessary. from the very beginning God established parents as the primary authority for the care and direction and provision for their children.

[17:29] No institution and no state, if you want to call it an institution, it's the institution of the family. no one is the authority for your child like you are.

[17:44] And I would be the first to admit there are a lot of parents who do not measure up to the role. There's no question about that. We have a lot of neglected and abused children.

[17:56] That's beside the point. We are simply establishing the principle that children are under the jurisdiction and authority and care and provision of the parents, not the state.

[18:12] This reality is not confined to attacks on the teaching of the truths of the Christian faith. Nevertheless, true Christians should know by now that this culture is not friendly to the Bible's message of sin, redemption, and transcendent morality.

[18:33] Our ruling elites do not want biblical truths passed on to the next generation because it interferes with their culture's godless embrace of hedonistic excess.

[18:50] And let me insert something here, too. Why with the children? It's very simple. Children are malleable. Children are impressionable.

[19:01] you aren't. You're over the hill. You're a lost cause. They can't get to you. But they can get to your kids. That's the whole point.

[19:14] And this is to take place and is taking place right under your nose. Not in every school, thank God.

[19:26] Maybe not even in most schools. But one is too many. And it tends to increase. What better way to accomplish this goal than through penetrating the mind of our innocent children with false history and false concepts of self fulfillment while suppressing true critical thinking and logic.

[19:50] Their ultimate goal is in an unthinking population that depends on government for everything by creating generations who simply do what they are told and who lack the ability to evaluate real truth much less biblical truth.

[20:08] Now that's the whole goal. That's the end game. Is to make government king. Not government serve but government be served.

[20:21] That's the end goal. That's what socialism and communism are all about. the individual is nothing. The state is everything.

[20:35] The only remaining obstacle preventing these would-be crusaders of falsehood from completely remaking American culture in their own image is the sovereign grace of God.

[20:49] And let us not forget these words found in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

[21:06] Until and unless these words can be neutralized and made irrelevant, there can be no total cultural erasure of God from the marketplace of ideas in America.

[21:19] In other words, God has got to go. Because he's an impediment. He's an obstacle to what they want to accomplish.

[21:32] There is an old adage that says, if the law does not exist in the heart of the people, then it does not exist at all. This is why our vulnerable children come under attack beginning as early as preschool.

[21:49] Our would-be dictators want to completely eradicate any thought of Christian concepts from children's minds before those thoughts can crystallize into true belief.

[22:03] Because if they do, then they become a problem. Thus, they have engineered a swiftly eroding quality of public education along with the headlong attack against the entire family structure beginning in the home.

[22:26] To be certain, we did not get to this precipice overnight. Nevertheless, it is not too late for Christians to awaken from their slumber and realize that we are in a pitched battle with forces beyond our comprehension.

[22:46] And at stake are the precious eternal lives of our own children and grandchildren. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

[23:07] Ephesians 6.12 What then should Christians do to hold back the onslaught of tyranny surreptitiously directed against our children?

[23:20] Hiding our heads in the sand certainly has not worked. From my experience in public life and in raising my family, my first admonition for Christian families is to make yourself aware of your surrounding circumstances.

[23:37] Do not be a mere spectator in your child's life. Shut off your television and get focused on what's going on around you in your community and schools and look for opportunities to influence these areas.

[23:56] Taking personal spiritual responsibility for things within our reach is something everyone can do. Second, adjust your family's schedule to make the spiritual development of your children and grandchildren a priority.

[24:15] That is a priority. That is you don't squeeze it in if you can somehow find time. You make it a priority. It's at the top of the list. Sports and other extracurricular activities can distract from building the kind of spiritual and character foundation that will last beyond the school years.

[24:41] And let me just insert something here. Nobody's saying eliminate basketball and football and all the rest and don't allow the kids to do this or that or that. No, no. We're talking about a balance but we're talking about putting the emphasis where it needs to be.

[24:54] And there's no reason why all of these things cannot be accomplished. After all, it profits neither them nor us anything if they gain the whole world and lose their souls.

[25:08] This pitched battle does not rest solely on the nuclear family. Our churches need to focus on solid educational opportunities for our children all the way from preschool through high school and beyond.

[25:23] Too many of our so-called Christian educational institutions have sold their souls to the popular culture or become so expensive that a normal family can't afford the cost.

[25:37] Additionally, our churches can help families that are or would be with adequate support committed to homeschooling or to private Christian education for their children.

[25:50] Consider funding these efforts alongside missions as a practical way to reach the next generation in your own community. Finally, if you are like many families that have no other option but public school, get engaged with your children to talk about the why beyond the Christian faith to help them navigate a world that mocks what they are taught at home.

[26:19] Seek answers together to difficult questions to deepen your relationship and remind them that they are not alone. get connected with other parents who are engaged in what is going on in your children's classroom and work together to graciously but firmly require public attention to areas of concern.

[26:43] Brave parents who are rising up against tyrannical school boards all across America can serve as templates for action toward public accountability.

[26:53] equality. Some are even running for open seats on those school boards. And some aren't even waiting for the seats to be open. Some have been recalled.

[27:08] These times are too challenging, too grave for us to sit idly in the sidelines any longer. The faint-hearted need not apply, nor do the fanatical. simple. Simply put, let us be committed to singularly focused, prayer-filled efforts to raise our children in a godly and biblically-based manner, regardless of the personal cost.

[27:30] It is not too late. The trial is not over, and the verdict has not been rendered. Our children are the greatest mission field in America. it's time we acted like it.

[27:49] And the author again is Phil Ginn. The name is spelled G-I-N-N. He is president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[28:00] He has served both as a lawyer and a judge, retiring as a senior resident superior judge for the 24th Judicial District in North Carolina. School boards.

[28:14] You know, who is it, who is it that is supposed to determine the curriculum for the schools? I'm speaking, I'm asking the question, I'm just dumb.

[28:25] Is it the school board? Pardon? Okay.

[28:36] Sarah, I'm sorry. Save, save your, save your comments. We're going to have to get that on a mic, okay? Because there's no pickup here. Where's our mic, man? Okay, young legs.

[28:59] Thank you, David. Okay, go ahead. mo SQL. I'm ready. I'll see you do help.

[29:16] Okay, would you talk about it? This is of the extroject? What's the good picture? Okay, well, my thinking, and this is just, I'm just speaking out of ignorance now, but it seems to me that the school boards ought to have some input in this, if not most of the input.

[29:39] They ought to be able to determine to pass yea or nay with the curriculum that's what? I've got another mic up here. All the way up here. Come on up here. Put your hand up so he can see where you're coming.

[29:51] The state of Ohio is primarily responsible for determining what the criteria should be, but then your accrediting associations, such as North Central Accrediting Association, they also have input into that.

[30:11] And then the school boards are supposed to filter through those demands and try to find what is the best curriculum to achieve acceptance from those two institutions.

[30:25] Okay, thank you. Well, Dolly and Sarah are both former school teachers, so they're very familiar with the whole nine yards, much more so than I am.

[30:36] Somebody else have a comment or a question? Oh, clear in the back here. All the way in the back, David. I'm going to get those young legs to work out. You're going to sleep good tonight, boy. But it really comes down to who publishes textbooks.

[30:52] They're so very, very expensive. Once the curriculum, quote-unquote, has been determined, textbooks are published, and then schools simply have no choice but to purchase different textbooks, and therein lies the big problem because the misinformation is built in.

[31:12] Okay, thank you. Well, all I'm saying is I can't speak with any degree of authority about this because all I know is what I want the end result and the desire to be, but I can't say how to get there.

[31:28] I do think that our public schools, well, just from the standpoint of finances, and that I understand a little bit. Do you realize that the United States of America pays more money per year to educate our children than any other nation on the globe?

[31:50] And do you have any idea where we are placed in achievement tests with all of the other nations? The last I heard, it was something like 18th from the top.

[32:04] We are not getting any bang for our buck at all. In fact, it is disastrous. And does the name John Dewey mean anything to anybody?

[32:21] I would suggest that when you go home, it's got nothing to do with Thomas Dewey, unless they're somehow related, but one was a politician and governor of New York and ran for president against FDR and was defeated.

[32:42] But John Dewey is generally considered to be the father of American public education. And you might just want to Google John Dewey and see what he was all about because he said in motion, and of course, if I'm not mistaken, I think he was coming from a position of atheism, too.

[33:04] That might affect some things. But what we are talking about here is becoming so pervasive.

[33:16] And it really ought not to surprise us because our children and their ages and their susceptibility to information and data, especially from a respected source like a teacher.

[33:34] And I don't know about you all, but when I was in school, back before the earth's crust hardened, I considered teachers as just, you know, as close to God as you can get.

[33:49] And every teacher I ever had was way smarter than my parents. I just knew that because, you know, they were just, well, because they were teachers. And that automatically made them smarter than your parents.

[34:01] Your parents, of course, you grow up, you think they don't know anything until you wise up a little bit. But anyway, it's just, it's a phenomena that we're dealing with now.

[34:11] And like I said, it started 50 to 60 years ago. And it's been on a downward course ever since. And most of us, and when I say us, I'm talking about believers, most of us have just kind of been asleep at the wheel, not really realizing what's going on.

[34:30] You know, you've heard the analogy of the frog in the kettle. Yeah. You just take a frog and put it in a kettle of cold water and put the kettle on the stove and turn the fire on just a little bit.

[34:48] And eventually the water, of course, will get warm. And that old frog just sits there. And it gets a little hotter and the frog's still sitting. And it gets a little hotter until pretty soon.

[35:02] The frog is cooked. With a slightly increasing temperature over time, he doesn't even realize he's being cooked to death.

[35:14] That's exactly what's happening in our U.S. culture. And there are multiple forces at work, many of which are connected, and some are completely unconnected and even disinterested in the others.

[35:32] But there is a mastermind behind the whole thing that is pulling the strings like a marionette. And that is none other than the adversary. And I face a lot of mental and emotional struggles about this whole thing.

[35:50] But the biggest one that I face right now, and have been for quite some time, and I've shared it with the people on Wednesday night, and it is this. I don't know, and I don't know any way of determining it, whether this nation has simply exhausted the patience and the goodness of God so that he's had enough, and he's ready to bring the curtain down.

[36:24] And we've got it coming. Nobody to blame but ourselves. And that may be what is in store for us. And if it is, our efforts are futile.

[36:38] God's made up his mind, and Sodom and Gomorrah is going down again. And when you look at what's going, what's taking place in lawlessness, and murder, and assault of all people, assaults and murders of the very people who are put in place specifically for the purpose of serving and protecting us.

[37:10] And it's like open season on law enforcement. Is that crazy or what? Yeah, it is crazy. A generation ago, we had never believed that anybody could even think of something like that happening.

[37:25] And as I told you before, when I was a kid growing up, I knew you could do, there's one thing that you never, ever thought of, and that was doing any disservice, especially not any criminal service to a police officer.

[37:43] I mean, those people enjoyed a level of respect and fear, but it was a good fear. It was a righteous fear. That's all gone.

[37:54] That's all gone. And now we've got men and women who wear a badge who are designed to serve and protect and who are unable to do so because they are hindered in their job and the execution of their task, or I'll tell you what, I'll bet you anything, and I haven't talked to any of them personally about this, but I'll bet you anything that police officers today, when they pull over someone in a routine traffic stop, they're thinking a whole lot different than what they used to think.

[38:37] I'm not even sure that they regard a routine traffic stop as a routine traffic stop anymore. And this is what we're dealing with.

[38:51] and back to the school situation, I think there needs to, and it started, it started, this started this public uprising at this, one of these schools down south, and people are really getting upset, and you know, they are becoming aware of what is taking place because somebody like that is taking the lead and blowing the whistle, and people are starting to look at their own school districts and what's being taught and this critical race theory and all of this garbage, which is nothing more than a veiled kind of racism.

[39:27] That's all it is. And this racism is something that we've been, we've been trying to escape from for decades and have made tremendous progress from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

[39:42] Tremendous progress. And yet there's virtually no credit given for that. It's because those who are pushing the liberal agenda, you never do enough.

[39:54] They're never satisfied. No goals, no objectives reached, get no credit for it. It's push, push, push, push. They want their way and you can have the highway.

[40:06] That's the effort to take over this nation. And this next election that is coming up is going to tell the tale. November 2022.

[40:21] And I'll tell you what, boy, I wish that election were tomorrow because anything can happen between now and then.

[40:33] And people who are in power, if they have no morals about them and no respect for the truth, their motto is the end justifies the means.

[40:51] And the end is power, get it, maintain it. The means, whatever it takes. Lying, who cares?

[41:02] Besides, the other side lies too. You can justify it with that. So this is what we're dealing with. And I remember hearing Dr. Francis Schaefer in the 1970s took a busload of people from Grace and we went over to Indianapolis and heard Dr. Schaefer.

[41:23] And I'll never forget a statement he made. It was in connection with his book that he published at the time, How Should We Then Live? And he said, the average American will not become involved unless his own personal peace or prosperity is threatened.

[41:46] Otherwise, he is content to just sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Well, I'm telling you, we can't afford people like that anymore.

[41:56] The time has come when we're going to have to get our head out of the sand and start making some noise. There's a right way and a wrong way to do it.

[42:07] And anything to do with violence is always the wrong way. If you have to stoop to violence in order to achieve your means, you've already lost. But we need to engage in some pretty smart thinking and resolve and determination that we are not going to allow this nation to go down.

[42:30] And as I've said before, the thing that puzzles me is the writing may already be on the wall. We're going down. And all I can say is I'm not surprised.

[42:44] I'm not surprised. And I wouldn't be able to say, but God, how could you? God would answer with how could I not? On the other hand, and I guess this is what I'm hoping for just as an American and as a lover of this country and lover of my fellow man, I would just love for there to be one more shot at this thing.

[43:20] of our getting it together and maybe pull it out of the fire as brands from the burning. I don't know if we're going to get that shot or not, but I think we have to try.

[43:35] And as the point has been made, when the Apostle Paul said, I fought a good fight, a lot of people would look at that and say, yeah, well, you did, but you didn't win.

[43:52] Your head went under the executioner's axe and a Roman guard sliced your head from your body. You call that winning?

[44:03] Well, if you discount all that Paul did before that time, yeah, I guess you would consider that losing in the final analysis.

[44:17] But he left behind a considerable legacy, didn't he? Maybe that's all we'll be able to do is just leave behind the legacy. I don't know. I don't know. But as Paul said, I have fought a good fight.

[44:28] And from a human standpoint, when you go under the executioner's axe, ordinarily, we wouldn't consider that winning. We tend to think of that as losing big time.

[44:42] But you, as a believer, need to be reminded we are not called upon to win the fight. We are called upon to fight a good fight.

[44:57] Win or lose. We know in the end who really wins. But in route to the winning, there are losses.

[45:09] Almost every country that has won a war lost some of the battles on the way there. But you win in the end, and that's what matters.

[45:24] So, any other thoughts anybody has? Feel free. Roger in the back. Where's our mic man? Okay.

[45:36] I would like for Nathan and Joe, I think they homeschool if they could explain this curriculum. Do they have to use the same textbooks as what Terry was talking about? Or do they read them and see if they're any good and change or what?

[45:50] Okay. Well, you know, I shared with the group, I think it was this past Wednesday, in all the years that I've been here, boy, you live through life and you ask yourself, are there any do-overs you'd like?

[46:10] Oh, man, I got a bunch of them. I got a bunch of things that I would love to be able to do over, but you can't. They're gone. And one of the things that I would like to do over is my promotion of homeschooling.

[46:27] I've always promoted it. I've always encouraged it. When Barbara and I were raising our kids, it didn't even exist.

[46:39] Nobody was homeschooling. And there were very few Christian schools. Dayton Christian was about the only one in the whole area. Springfield didn't even exist, Christian schools. And homeschooling was just not even considered.

[46:51] But given what's taking place in the last 50, 60 years, I would love to have that to do over again because I would have really stumped for homeschooling.

[47:02] And listen, I'm not saying everybody ought to do this. Homeschooling is not for everybody. There are people who for different reasons are not suited for it. But for those who can manage it, for those who can pull it off, that's traveling first class educationally.

[47:24] And your kids can get all of the socialization that they need at church and still at the playground with other kids in the neighborhood and everything. They're not going to be warped because of that.

[47:37] And as I've often said, there is just one thing and one thing only that American public school has going for it. And that's a small percentage of dedicated Christian men and women who are involved in some capacity teaching administration or whatever in the public schools.

[47:57] And I tell you, if it were not for them, the thing would be a whole lot worse than what it is now. That's the only bright spot. And there is a secularism out there that is undeniable and it is claimed to be a necessity because of the separation of church and state and all of that and nobody's suggesting that they be married.

[48:23] But it's... And you know, I must give credit here to the Roman Catholics in that they understood the necessity of being able to influence and impact and teach the young minds at a young age how influenceable children are, how necessary it is to put that foundation in them at an early age.

[48:54] And the Roman Catholics, I don't think, from the get-go, ever really trusted public education. I know there are a lot of Catholic kids in public education but there are a lot in the Catholic schools and parochial education as well.

[49:10] And you know, even that, even that and the efforts that they have made on that behalf of paying additional for their kids just like people do in their Christian schools, they've had some downsides.

[49:24] Look at how that has, look at how that has backfired on them with this huge scandal of priests molesting children in the schools and you realize that, you realize that the Roman Catholic Church worldwide has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to those people abused in Europe and here in the United States and some of the priests and cardinals have been defrocked or kicked out because they would just shuttle these priests on to different parishes when they were accused of something.

[50:08] So, that's that its downside too. You know, there's no, there's no perfect system. I don't care whether parents or churches or whoever is providing the education.

[50:19] It's all, it's all administered and run by flawed individuals anyway. we're all, we're all that but my, oh my, what we're dealing with now. Somebody else have a comment or question?

[50:30] Feel free. Yes, Lois up here. All the way up here. Come on, young legs. Oh, how I envy those young legs. Mine do good just to hold me up.

[50:44] Yeah, Lois? Is it on? Yes. Well, one thing's scary I saw on television that's out there today and that they can take a voice and they can listen like they may be taking in this instrument listens to you preach up there and it can mimic your voice and then have you saying anything that they want you to say.

[51:09] They can mimic your voice. This is out there today throughout our whole world. Wow. So when you think of a president running and what they could say that, say, what Trump would say or what Biden would say or anything, they can take it and put anything in and it sounds exactly and they can't even trace it as a voice sound.

[51:30] This is out there today. That is scary. That is scary. That is very scary. You can, you can virtually be made to say anything that they want you to say whether you said it or not.

[51:42] And you know with the technology today, you can put a human head on an elephant. I mean, the sky's the limit is what they're doing with the technology that would come back to bite us.

[51:53] Wow. Okay, well, boy. Like I said, I never thought I'd ever be talking like this or delivering a message like this.

[52:04] I got one more question. Yeah, where is it? Who's got it? I believe, I believe that you're right on it's been going on for 50 or 60 years. Is it because of COVID that brought home the education that the parents are now listening to what the children are being taught that it has become a front to us that we are now at the boiled stage that we didn't see this building up to this in this 60 years because of the incremental small heat turn up as they change definitions and change processes?

[52:44] Is COVID the wake up for us when we should have had, we should have been raising out of our slumber 50 years ago? Well, it's entirely possible.

[52:56] We tend to think of the whole COVID thing as just being bad news and we see nothing but the downside to it. But it could be a form of awakening us to some realities that we've been overlooking for a long time and it can serve, you know, it can serve some good purposes as well as some bad negative purposes.

[53:15] I mean, there's an upside and a downside to almost everything and who knows, who could have ever imagined that something like COVID that has actually taken how many lives worldwide, over a million worldwide, how could anything like that ever have anything good about it?

[53:38] but who knows, maybe it has served to be the kind of wake-up call that we needed because it did create a different mechanism for seeing and understanding and evaluating things that we never gave the time of day to before and all of a sudden they've come to the surface and we're saying, whoa, where did this come from?

[53:59] How long has this been going on? And people are starting to stomp around and make some demands, so even in that there can be a good thing. Anything else?

[54:12] Anybody? Yes, Marie, up here in front, this way. Okay. No, I was just thinking that Roger, I think, wanted comments from Nathan or Joe about the curriculum and you haven't gotten that.

[54:37] I'm sorry, I'm sorry, dear, I didn't hear what you said. I got my hearing aids on and I still didn't hear you.

[54:48] Give that mic back to her. I think I need to hear this. It's just that you didn't give time to Nathan or Joe to answer Roger's question about their homeschooling curriculum.

[55:03] Okay, thank you. I didn't, so Nathan come up here. Listen, if anybody needs to leave, leave with our blessing, but otherwise we're going to, yes.

[55:20] That's a good point, Dave. Yeah, there's, you know, it's, hope schooling has been a tremendous challenge. It's definitely not easy and having to do all the work of figuring out curriculums and all that can be overwhelming.

[55:39] And over time it becomes easier as you kind of navigate it. But in the beginning it's something that for a lot of people, including us, felt like we can't do this.

[55:51] This is just too much. And we committed to it and eventually it became just a way of life that became manageable.

[56:01] It's still not easy ever, but it's manageable. And when it comes to the curriculum there is, the hard part is over the years, like you said, homeschooling movement is somewhat new.

[56:14] It's probably less than 50 years old. And in the early days there wasn't much to choose from. Today there's way too many options.

[56:25] Lots of great options. A lot of encouragement. There are homeschool conventions that you can go to and there are trade halls if you will, at these convention centers with thousands and thousands and thousands of books and hundreds of curriculum choices.

[56:46] And most of them, I won't say all of them, but most of them giving glory to God, focusing on spiritual aspects of life, character, and obviously not having a lot of the junk.

[57:08] There's a lot of stuff put into textbooks today that are just promoting certain agendas. And it's not just reading, writing, and arithmetic anymore.

[57:19] That's kind of being pushed to the side almost. And it's really so many promoting agendas, trying to indoctrinate on socialism and some of these other things.

[57:31] So, lots of great options, but it can be overwhelming. I can appreciate that. Nobody's saying it would be easy. What we're saying is it would be valuable.

[57:44] And there's a huge difference. Okay, Hope? Yes, I am definitely in the trenches of homeschooling. It's beautiful. It's a gift. I love being able to hug my kids whenever I want.

[57:57] They're with me all the time. Like my husband always says, you cannot educate if your children do not obey you and respect you. So, the challenge I find on my most hardest days is educating is an extension of parenting.

[58:15] And as we all know, parenting is hard work. But as Christians, we're called to parent our children and to teach them and to train them. It's just wonderful.

[58:27] You can choose your curriculum. I get most of our curriculum from christianbook.com and I can teach them what Joe and I want them to know, which is first and foremost character, respecting authority, loving the Lord.

[58:42] And when all that is in place, like you said, you truly respected your teachers and I don't believe that's in place anymore with the culture and children.

[58:55] Children need a lot of love and nurturing from their parents. It just lays the foundation and it's just truly such a gift. If anybody has any questions ever, I'm happy to do my best to answer.

[59:07] Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. The only thing I'll add is I know Nathan's mentioned it's hard. It is hard, but I don't think it's as hard as watching your kids go astray when it's all said and done.

[59:24] Homeschooling is a lot easier than watching your kids become atheists. Amen. So that's something to keep in mind. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

[59:36] Nathan again. To add on to that, we do have friends who are in a position, sometimes it's family issues, divorce, and things like that where they just don't have any other options.

[59:53] But that being the case, it is a ton of work. Your kids are in a school situation all day where they're getting a lot of information put in their heads.

[60:09] So you have to be highly intentional when they come home and talking through the kinds of things that they learned in school. it's a lot of work.

[60:21] And I think in a lot of cases, like for us, it's less work for us because we just get them, we get a fresh slate, if you will. And there's not a lot of things you have to un-teach, which can be a lot of work in and of itself.

[60:38] Thank you. Thank you. I just want to close with this, make it clear. I'm a huge advocate of homeschooling, but I am also admitting it is not for everyone.

[60:52] And it should be a strictly personal decision by the family, not a decision that friends or churches or relatives impose upon them and try to lay guilt trips on them.

[61:08] If they're not homeschooling, shame on you, don't you love God, this kind of thing, it is a personal decision and nobody should be under the gun from someone else as to whether they make it.

[61:20] But I am saying that I consider from all I have seen and heard, no, I have not personally been involved in it because for reasons like I told you before, but from all I have seen and heard, it is educationally, relationally, morally, spiritually, it is traveling first class.

[61:42] It's with you and your kids and I don't think there's anything that can compare with it. So it ought to be given serious consideration and I've got a little book. I only got maybe, well, I wasn't sure what was in it, you know, you don't want to order a bunch of books and be disappointed with it.

[62:00] So I just ordered a few and I'm telling you this book is something. It's just a little handbook book and I think it's, I think it's regularly priced like $15 and the Grace Nice price is five bucks.

[62:18] And I got a few, I just got a few left, I can get some more. And it was written by a woman, homeschooled mother, who was convinced at the beginning that there was no way that she could do it and that she needed to work outside the home because they couldn't get a loan on one income, had to have her income to, on and on.

[62:35] But this is the most practical thing. As an old grandpa who is a preacher was impressed by that book, why it almost made me wish that I was a young parent again.

[62:50] You know, not quite, but almost. But it's just so filled with really good, doable things. And, you know, so many, so many families today that feel that they absolutely have to have two incomes in order to survive.

[63:09] If they would just learn to pare back and eliminate a lot of the, you know what a lot of them are working for? You know what a lot of them are having two incomes for? Why many, not all, not all, but many of them are, is stuff.

[63:24] Just so they can have stuff. And they're giving up something that is far more precious just for stuff that moth and rust does corrupt.

[63:36] And the values are misplaced. I've just got maybe three or four of those books. Anybody who wants them, you can have them. It's just a wonderful little book. And it's written by a woman who not only has been there but is there and is doing it and it is doable and it is delightful.

[63:54] Okay, Lynette, this will have to be our last comment. Over here. What? Up there. Where are you going?

[64:08] Oh, okay. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay. This will be our last one. This time I really mean it. Okay. We homeschooled our son David from just kindergarten, first and second grade and then we chose to have him go to Emmanuel Christian and I want to tell you now because of the culture, the Christian schools now are not like they used to be.

[64:41] Yeah. And you used to be able to assume that you can homeschool your kid or not homeschool your kid and then have them go to a Christian school and they'll be fine. But I'm telling you now with the influx of vouchers for the kids being able to go from whatever school they are, what school district they're in, now they can go to a private school for free if their school district is in a state of emergency either academically or financially or some other way.

[65:15] And so now even our Christian schools, Springfield Christian and Emmanuel Christian, feel like they have to accept voucher kids or or else they wouldn't be able to stay operating.

[65:28] And what that does is those kids that are in the public schools that are maybe real problem kids, been kicked out for all kinds of reasons, fighting and everything, and they have unfortunately horrible home lives, many of them.

[65:46] Those kids are now going to the Christian schools and even though, and the, and Catholic schools. So even though you've got Christian teachers and Christian administration teaching your kids and those kids the Christian values you want them to learn, the kids are more influenced by their friends than they are by the teachers and by the parents.

[66:12] Sure. Yeah. So if what the kids, what their friends are doing is something you don't want them to do, you assume they're okay to go spend the night with this kid and go to a slumber party with this little girl and all that because they're going to the Christian schools and they're fine.

[66:30] But you don't know that. And when David graduated from Emmanuel in 2021, or I mean, sorry, 2011, he told me the next year he had been in touch with the kids in his class, which there were only 16 in his graduating class.

[66:51] Seven of them, 50%, claims that they're either lesbian or gay. And that's from Emmanuel Christian. So, you don't know what all they're learning from the kids.

[67:06] The peer influence. Yeah. It's huge. Yeah. I have to follow up. I'm sorry. Oh, okay. The same thing is happening in the homeschool community.

[67:20] Homeschooling is not a cure-all. It's not, it's not going, you're not going to avoid all of these things. We've had friends of my kids in the homeschool community that have promoted sexual deviancy.

[67:34] Wow. Wow. Things like that. I had no idea that was going on. It's not a cure-all. You have to keep an eye on your kids. You have to watch who they talk to. And it's easier in the homeschool, but it's, but you can't, you can't let, you have to keep that guard.

[67:51] That's our job as parents. The world is changing around us and it's changing everywhere. Yeah. Some places may be worse than others, but it's not like you can just escape. So.

[68:03] I, I, the world seems to have, used to have been so simple. But things have changed. Well, pray with me if you would.

[68:14] Father, we are simply not sufficient for these things, but we want to be. And we look to you to equip an outfit and educate us in however we need to be. We want to be susceptible and available and willing to serve you and to serve our families and our, love our children as we, as we really want to and need to.

[68:38] Give us the information and the impetus that we need to make this happen because we're ready and we want to. Thank you for yourself and for your provision for us.

[68:48] In Christ's name. Amen.