Introduction Parkdale Grace Fellowship Sunday AM, Sunday, April 17, 2016 Schools Mission Field or Mine Field? This morning I am going to address a question that I am often asked, and I am asked this question more in recent years than ever before. Knowing what we do about the deteriorating spiritual and moral condition of the public school system, Should we as Christians send our kids to the government run public schools? The main reasons Christians hesitate to take their children out of the public system are financial challenges of private schooling or home schooling, or the sense of responsibility to leave their kids in the public school as a witness. I have been reluctant to speak on this issue because it tends to be a contentious issue. But the peril that we are facing in our day has risen to a very critical point where I believe, like the watchman on the wall, if I remain silent I am going to be responsible for the spiritual damage and destruction of many of our children therefore I must sound the trumpet and I must sound it clearly so that the warning is unmistakable. In the opening verse of this morning s scripture reading, 2 Timothy 3:1 says, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. The word perilous suggests demonic times will come. One of the most useful tools that has been taken over and is being effectively used by demonic powers to advance their cause in the world today is the public education system. We are living in a time that demands much vigilance and living on high alert. We need to be living with a wartime mentality recognizing that a massive spiritual invasion is underway and our children are prime targets. I am not going to do a complete study of this issue today, but I want to cover some of the basics looking at the following four questions: What is the Condition of our Government Schools? What Does the Bible Say about Educating our Children? What about Our Responsibility to Evangelize the Schools? How Do We Prepare Kids to be Missionaries? 1. What is the Condition of our Government Schools? Parents, it is a mistake to assume that the public school system is basically the same as when we were students. There has been a radical deterioration in the whole culture, curriculum, moral value system, and world view. Unlike a hundred years ago, when the focus was on reading, writing, and arithmetic with the teachers given freedom to implement their own content, now the focus is not on developing the skills of "the three r's", but rather indoctrination. Government run public schools are not neutral when it comes to religion the official religion is secular humanism.
2 Humanism asserts that there is no higher being than humans, and we each have the right to determine for ourselves what is right and what is valuable. This anti-christian religion is mandated, it s not optional, and its doctrines are embedded at every level in the curriculum, and these doctrines are aggressively pushed by trained instructors from grades K through 12. So that when students graduate they are thoroughly indoctrinated and fluent in the beliefs of secular humanism. Some of the major doctrines of their religion include atheism (there is no God), or New Age spirituality (an occult based form of spirituality). Another major doctrine is evolution, a doctrine which denies the Biblical account of creation and the special place of humans in the world we are just animals, therefore we are justified in acting like animals. Though it is a religious belief with very little true scientific evidence, evolution is taught as scientific fact with no allowance for any alternative views. Relativism is another doctrine of the public school system. Relativism affirms that there are no absolute truths, and therefore no absolute right or wrong. The Bible is just a book of opinions but has no authority to speak to moral issues. Homosexuality is taught and promoted as not only normal and acceptable but as a lifestyle to be celebrated. Environmentalism is a core doctrine which values nature as equal or more valuable than humans. Socialism is another key doctrine taught in the schools. Socialism elevates government to function in the place of god over the people, and people s identity and value is determined by their work and what they can contribute; the weak have little value under socialist thinking. Most schools don t merely promote a different religion but they are also very anti-christian in policy, doctrine and practice and intolerant of Christian values and practices. In most public schools, Reading of the Bible is banned or restricted; prayer is banned or restricted; sharing your faith with others is banned or restricted; openly expressing your Christian moral values is banned or restricted. These restrictions are especially strictly enforced against Christian teachers so that they are extremely limited in their freedom to have spiritual influence on their students. So even if your kids are fortunate enough to have a Christian teacher there is very little that teacher is allowed to do to alter the mandated curriculum or to bring Christian values or beliefs into the discussion. Therefore, the public school system is not neutral when it comes to religion it strongly teaches the religion of humanism and it is increasingly strong in its opposition of Christianity. So in sending our children to a public school we are sending them to a religion based education just as surely as if we were sending them to an Islamic school in a Muslim majority country. However, it is not just false doctrine and anti-christian attitudes that confront our children in the school system, but they are also being pressured to accept an unbiblical lifestyle. We are all aware of the recent provincial NDP government s Guidelines for Best Practice, in lay terms commonly referred to as the Bathroom Guidelines, in which the provincial
3 government has tried to coerce all schools in the province to establish guidelines that would allow for transgender students to use school washrooms and change rooms of the opposite sex. This is just a taste of the morality and lifestyle being encouraged and promoted in our public schools. The washroom policies are just part of numerous other ungodly policies put forward which are designed to accommodate, promote and celebrate the GLBT lifestyle in all schools while undermining the role and authority of parents to influence the lives of their own children. Teachers are not allowed to inform parents if their son believes he is a girl and wants to use the girl s washroom and change room at school. Teachers are not allowed to inform parents if their teenage daughter is pregnant and is receiving counseling to have an abortion. But those same teachers cannot give a child an aspirin at school without the parent s consent. They will give the parents the say on little things but deny them any input on the truly major issues in the life of their children. How much of an impact does this indoctrination have on our children? Consider the fact that most students spend 6 to 7 hours a day, or about 33 hours a week in school. By the time they graduate from grade 12 the average student receives close to 14,000 hours of instruction by this ungodly system. (Voddie Baucham, The Children of Caesar ) Meanwhile the average evangelical Christian family spends less than 5 minutes/day or less than 30 minutes a week in spiritual conversation. (Ibid.) At this rate it is impossible for Christian parents to compete with the government run, ungodly school system for the minds of your children, even if you add an hour or two of spiritual instruction each Sunday at church there is no way that can compete with over 30 hours a week of doctrine laced instruction in the government schools. Luke 6:40 ESV, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher." You cannot separate the teacher and the disciple and say the teacher at school is only giving academic instruction but I am the one discipling my child. Whoever is educating your child is discipling your child Luke 6:40 underscores the powerful influence of the teacher on the students. After 14,000 hours of instruction our child has been fully trained and indoctrinated by whatever educational system they have been part of. As Voddie Baucham has said, If we continue sending our children to Caesar for their education we need to stop being surprised if they come home as Romans. Who does God want to have the greatest influence on your child? A godless government or a Christian parent? 2. What Does the Bible Say About Educating our Children? Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
4 Multiplied studies have confirmed that 70-85% of our children are walking away from the Christian faith after they graduate they are generally going in the way that they have been predominantly trained, just as the Bible said they would. The childhood years are the most important years for influencing the future of a child. Who is having the most influence on the way our children will go? A secular, atheistic, humanistic, anti-christian school system is absolutely incapable of training children to live in the way God says they should go. But on the other hand, less than 20% of children trained by Christian parents at home depart from the faith after graduation. (National Home Education Research Institute U.S.; Canadian Center for Home Education) They generally continue to go in the way they have been trained, just as the Bible said they would. Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." In contrast, the atheistic school system denies the existence of God so where are wisdom and understanding going to come from? Psalm 14:1, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good." Therefore what kind of teacher is instructing our children in the school system if the teacher denies the existence of God? The Lord says such teachers are corrupt fools! Proverbs 13:20, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed." Who then should be training the children? Ephesians 6:4 NIV, Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." The spiritual training and development of the children and the young people is the responsibility of the parents, particularly we fathers are responsible to ensure that our children receive a godly education. Deuteronomy 6:6 7, "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Parents are given the responsibility of teaching our own children the word of God daily, not just a five minute daily devotional, but instruction in the word of God is to be embedded in every activity of our day all day long. We as parents, or at least trusted godly role models, are the ones who should be spending 6-7 hours a day discipling our kids in the knowledge and wisdom of God. Look at what the Bible has to say about the shaping of the minds of the Christian: Psalm 1:1 6, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly Who are the humanistic, atheistic, evolutionary, secular educators? They are the ungodly. Blessed is the man who does NOT walk in the counsel, or does NOT follow the instruction of the ungodly.
5 nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful Our government education system scorns the idea of the existence of one all powerful, all knowing God. Our government education system scorns the idea of the world being created in 6 days as the Bible declares. Our government education system scorns the idea of practicing sexual abstinence before marriage and one man for one woman for life. Blessed is the one who does not sit in the seats/school desks of the scornful. Jesus said in Luke 6:40, everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Do we want our children to grow up to be ungodly scoffers of the truth? What kind of people are training our children? Psalm 1 continues in verse 2, But [blessed is the man whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night Not just 5 minutes a day. This is what Deuteronomy 6:6-7 was instructing us to do with our children. Talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Now as we read the last verses of Psalm 6 let s ask ourselves, Which of these outcomes do we want for our children? 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Don t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within (J.B. Phillips) 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ," 2 Corinthians 10:5 AMP, we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God The doctrines of secular humanism being taught in the schools insult our God. This verse describes how believers are to engage in spiritual warfare against such teachings. We are to cast down or destroy arguments and opinions that are raised against the knowledge of God. This prescribed action is the opposite of daily exposing the minds of our children to doctrines that oppose the knowledge and teaching of God, and submitting to the government s demands that our children learn these false doctrines. Colossians 2:8 ESV, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."
6 There are spiritual powers at work behind the teaching of false doctrines and they have power to take the minds of people captive who listen to them. 1 Timothy 6:20 21, "O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen." Another translation of verse 21 says, Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. (NLT) That is exactly what is happening to 70-85% of our Children after they graduate from the government school system. Okay, so we have looked at the rapidly decaying moral condition of our public schools and the false doctrines they are teaching, and we have looked at what the Bible says about what education should be like and that we should not be putting into our minds, or the minds of our children the doctrines that are being taught in the public schools. I think it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the government school system is spiritually a very unhealthy and dangerous environment. And it is incapable of giving our children the kind of education that God requires us to provide. However this brings us to a couple of dilemmas that parents often face. Perhaps you would love to educate your own children at home or in a good Christian school but can t afford it. If this is your situation you need to make it a matter of prayer, and ask others to pray with you for God to show and provide a way to make it possible. If He doesn t want your children in the government schools, it may require making sacrifices but the Lord will show a way out. And I believe that there will be times when we as a church need to step up to the plate and come alongside some families to help them out so that they can give their children a godly education. Another dilemma is this, is it right for us to pull our children out of the public school system and leave all those unsaved children and young adults without a Christian witness? Many Christians believe that the Lord wants them to put their kids in the government school system as missionaries to evangelize their unsaved peers. 3. What About Our Responsibility to Evangelize the Schools? I agree that we are to be witnesses to the masses of unsaved school children in the government school system, and I will not try to argue against that responsibility. However we cannot use the Great Commission to cancel out all the other scriptures we have just looked at regarding our responsibility to give our kids and godly education and to guard carefully what is fed into their minds. We need to look to the Lord for ways to reach unsaved kids with the gospel while honoring God s instruction to give our kids a godly education and not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor to sit in the seat of the scornful. There are ways to influence unsaved kids and young adults for Christ without becoming part of the educational system.
7 Outreach can take place through cultivating friendships with neighbor kids in your community, or through participating in sports and building friendships with teammates. But what if the Lord has put it on your heart to put your kids into the public school system to serve as missionaries in that spiritually dark place? If you are convinced the Lord is calling your kids to evangelize the local public school then it is absolutely necessary that they be well prepared and backed with good support systems. We don t send mature adults into a spiritually hostile mission field without making sure they are well prepared, trained, equipped and backed with good support systems in place, so why would we ever entertain the idea of sending our young children into a spiritually hostile mission field without similar preparation and support? 4. So How Do We Prepare Our Kids to be Missionaries in the Public School or Anywhere in this World? First of all you need to evangelize your kids and make sure they are born again. There is no way that an unsaved child or young adult can be a witness for Christ. Secondly, particularly if they are twelve years old or older, they should be baptized in water. If they are not ready to publicly identify themselves with Christ in baptism they will not be ready to publicly identify themselves with Christ on the school ground. Thirdly, parents you need to disciple your kids, teaching them the foundational doctrines of the faith so that they know what they believe, why they believe it and how to defend their faith at school. They need to be strong in their faith so that they are not easily shaken by opposing beliefs and ungodly influences. For this reason I believe the weight of biblical wisdom would urge parents not to send young children to public school. They are the most vulnerable and impressionable of all and are not strong or mature enough in their faith to resist the wiles of the devil and his deceitful influences. If the older ones are going to be missionaries you will need to teach them how to share the gospel to their friends and how to lead their friends to Christ. They also need to have a heart themselves for reaching the unsaved. If they themselves don t sense a personal love and calling to reach out to the lost they can t be sent out as sheep among the wolves simply because Dad and Mom have a heart for the lost. That would be very risky. They need to be called by the Lord to go, just as much as the parents need to be sure of the call of the Lord to send. You will need to be sure your kids are equipped with a good Biblical world view so that they can recognize the error in the secular humanist world view at school. This will include teaching your kids Biblical creation and the science behind it so that they can resist and refute the evolutionary indoctrination. You will need to teach them the Biblical basis for morality and God glorifying sexuality so that they can easily identify the error of the alternative lifestyles being promoted in the school. If they are going to be missionaries you will need to teach them how to pray effectively. A good prayer life is essential if they are going to remain strong.
8 There should also be evidence of God s hand and power upon their lives for ministry to others before they are sent out. We wouldn t send adults to the mission field if we didn t first recognize the hand of God on their lives for ministry. Obviously this is going to require you to invest a lot of time at home into teaching, discipling, and equipping your child for their well-being and for their ministry. But they will need more than good training; they will also need a strong support system in place. In the Bible Jesus always sent His disciples out in pairs. And later when the Apostles went out in ministry they went out in teams. So if our children are going to go into the school system as young missionaries we need to be sure that they are not going to be alone. They need to have another strong Christian classmate with them to provide support and encouragement. And one of the most important things to have as a missionary is a strong, supportive prayer base. Recruit a large group of relatives, friends and church family who will be committed to praying daily for your child. And communicate regularly to the prayer supporters the needs and challenges your child is facing in school. And your child will need ongoing training, coaching and careful monitoring of how they are doing. You need to maintain a strong relationship involving lots of personal time spent with your child. Be prepared to daily de-brief when they come home from school. Strategically and intentionally find ways to offset the 6-7 hours/ day of ungodly influence from school with godly influence and training at home. Conclusion: We have acknowledged the rapidly decaying moral condition of our public schools and the false doctrines they are teaching, and we have seen that the Bible clearly warns that we should not be putting into our minds, or the minds of our children the doctrines that are being taught in the public schools. Therefore, as long as we have the freedom of choice, the government school system should never be the default setting of choice for the education of Christians, especially in light of the ungodly environment it has become. Public education should be the exception for those Christians who are confident that the Lord is calling them to serve as missionaries in that setting. And for those individuals who are called to minister in the public school setting, we as a church need to be strongly backing them in prayer and supporting the family with strong teaching and resources. Copyright 2016 by Parkdale Grace Fellowship Permission: You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.