Be assured that when the knock comes at your door, it will be unannounced, warrantless, and will come at an inconvenient time.

The social service worker will be polite, but cool and businesslike. 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; the social worker will just return with whatever government force is needed to remove your children from your home.

After initial “pleasantries,” your children will be sent to a separate area where they will be questioned individually outside of your presence. You will not be told who made the accusation, only that an anonymous report has been made and the worker is compelled to do a “welfare check” on your children.

Make no mistake, the social worker will have the power to place your children in a government-approved foster care facility to “protect” them from the harmful effects that they are exposed to in your home. Then the investigation will begin in earnest, with court hearings and public exposure to the “problems” created by your care of the children.

You may wonder what crime could trigger such a harsh result. Potential sexual or physical abuse? Neglect of the children’s health, medical or nutritional needs? No. 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.

This picture may seem repugnant to you, and it should. It also may seem somewhat far-fetched, but it shouldn’t. The 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. However, it could easily be weaponized against conscientious Christian parents. We have already seen once-trusted institutions like the FBI and the Justice Department abuse power for political purposes.

 

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. Some parents were undoubtedly irreverent and demanding, but labeling them “domestic terrorists” is more than a little over the top. 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.

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. 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.

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? Their ultimate goal is 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.

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. 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.”

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. 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. 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. 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. 

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, 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” (Ephesians 6:12).

What then should Christians do to hold back the onslaught of tyranny surreptitiously directed against our children? 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. 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. 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. Sports and other extracurricular activities can distract from building the kind of spiritual and character foundation that will last beyond the school years. After all, it profits neither them nor us anything if they gain the whole world, yet lose their souls. 

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

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. 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” behind the Christian faith, to help them navigate a world that mocks what they are taught at home. 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 classrooms and work together to graciously, but firmly, require public attention to areas of concern. Brave parents who are rising up against tyrannical school boards all across America can serve as templates for action toward public accountability. Some are even running for open seats on those school boards.

These times are too challenging, too grave, for us to sit idly on the sidelines any longer. The fainthearted need not apply, nor do the fanatical. 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. 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. ©2022 Phil Ginn

 

The Scripture quotation is taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version.

Phil Ginn is president of Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES.edu), in Charlotte, North Carolina. Previously, Ginn served as both a lawyer and a judge, retiring as senior resident superior judge for the 24th Judicial District in North Carolina.