Protecting Your Children

I had a minister hold up a picture of a very skinny, dirty, feeble man to show each of us in the men’s group that had gathered together one Saturday morning. It was quite possibly a homeless man. My first reaction was “sheesh…that poor guy!” I didn’t know if this was a missions pitch or what. Than he said “Would you trust this man to provide food for your family? Would you trust him to keep your family fed and nourished?” Obviously the answer was NO. His response: “Than how can you expect to spiritually feed your family when you are in this state spiritually?” That really made me stop and think. This was a church that always challenged me. They always encouraged me to dig deeper. The minister was a humble man who sought the Lord. I really took a lot away from this church. This particular instance really motivated me to stay in the Word. To keep in contact with the Lord. Sure I’ve failed at times, but I get up. I’m no better or stronger than the next guy. I know my place. I know my responsibilities and duties.

I had another minister who was anti-home schooling. I do agree that we are all entitled to our opinions in this area. I certainly feel that home schooling is the better and safer way. That’s why we do it. Anyway, the minister said that he would have never pulled his kids out of school if things were going rough (his children are grown up and out of the house). If they were having problems at school or getting in trouble, he would wait till they got home, he would fill them up with God and send them back out into the world. Sounds good, but each of his four children fell away in high school. His daughter had two children out of wed-lock with two different men. His one son (they claim) was possessed by a demon. Three of them ended up back in church. One of the children actually lives a somewhat spiritual life. He was a busy minister, caring for the needs of the community. While neglecting his flock at home. The somewhat spiritual one is following the same path. Her and her husband have three children now and they are always leaving them with someone while they go on mission trips, or go to evangelize. Don’t misunderstand me. Evangelizing and missions are very important, but look at the state of most missionary families. Especially the missionaries who leave there children behind. We have seen a lot of missionaries in our short years. The number of fallen children is amazing to me.

That was just my introduction. Deuteronomy 6 says :

¹ Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: ² That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. ³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵ And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸ And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹ And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Now I believe the Jews maybe took the frontlet part a little overboard. They were doing what the Jews were notorious of doing. Taking God’s heart commandments and making them physical laws. My point is that we are supposed to be training our children in this. In our speech and actions. Twenty-four/seven should be spent in communion with our children and the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 says:

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

When we send our children off to school for seven or eight hours a day, we are giving up our parental right for that time period. Not only are we giving up our parental right, we are shaking off our parental responsibilities and duties. You are no longer “mommy” for your seven year old. There’s another “mommy” teaching and training your children. And just because they are certified by the state certainly does NOT mean they know what’s best for your children. God gave your children to YOU, not the state or government. Just like the second minister I told you about. His “salt and light” theory is so anti-biblical. Where in the Bible does it say to send out a fool to teach the world the gospel (Proverbs 22:15 says: foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child…). And no, James Dobson does NOT know what’s best for your children. Train your children up in the Lord and establish them on a firm foundation before you send them out. Trust me, that doesn’t happen at seven or eight years old (or usually even 12 or 13). Why send your children to be subjected to the peer-pressure that you gave into? Why send them to fellowship with the dark world (2 Corinthians 6:14)? Do you really expect them to stand fast when being bombarded with profanity and pollution? How do you stand up against eight hours of bombardment of evil? Do you ever give in? Ever? Maybe that one dirty joke you laugh at? That one inappropriate conversation you take part in? 1 Corinthians 15:33 says: ³³ Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. What makes you think your child is exempt from this? You don’t throw one good apple into a basket of rotten apples and expect that one good one to make good the basket. Usually the opposite happens (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9 a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump).

“You’re being too protective” or “You’ll make them anti-social”. Yes, I have seen a few home school families that have backward children. A very few! Try interacting with some. See how they open up. Just because my children aren’t climbing the clothes racks at the department store doesn’t make him socially retarded. It makes him well behaved. Just because we don’t allow them to run through the parking lot or roam the stores alone; because we don’t send our children to school or youth group parties or to spend the night at peoples homes. Does this make us too protective? Look at the news. The abductions. The molestations. The rapes and murders. The teachers having sex with the students? Youth group children having sex on youth outings? It happens. I have heard first hand from several people that lost their virginity at a youth gathering. Many times on the church bus or right in the youth leaders house. And you will send your children out into this? And I’m being too protective?

“But they’ll be naïve and will not be able to function in society because it will be such a shock.” What the world calls naïve, the Bible calls pure. I would rather my children not understand a dirty joke they might hear. It keeps them pure (Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart…). And I do think my children should know what evils are going on in the world. The world should not be teaching them, though. If I teach them at home, I will teach them with a Bible in my hands explaining why it’s an abomination and why it displeases God. If you allow them to learn from the world, they will learn it as exalted. The world tries to exalt their sin. Do you want your children to learn about sex, drugs, adultery and all that goes along with it in an exalted light or a revealing light that shows what evil it truly is?

Men, these children were given as a gift to you. View them as a gift and not an inconvenience. Know your responsibilities, though. When you send your children out into the world for seven or eight hours a day, that leaves you with maybe four or five hours with them. You will have to un-do eight hours of teaching in four hours before bed. Do you think this will confuse your children? “If it’s so wrong, why do they send me here?” Read through Titus 2. This is not just about mothers and wives. It tells what a man should live like also. This is the Biblical principle we try to instill in our children. I leave you with one last verse. Matthew 18:6 says:

⁶ But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

I believe parents are offending their own children every day by not watching over them. By letting them roam. By not holding them accountable. I believe we are hurting God as well. By not taking care of the gifts he has blessed us with. Saying that “I don’t offend them, but their teachers might and that’s just the way the system is and there’s nothing I can do about it” is nothing more than a cop-out. Bring your children home. Protect and shelter them. Show them that you love them. Be home for them.

I know I went a bit long today. I hope you stuck it out. This is not a post trying to push you into home schooling. This is a post about protecting your children. To me, this is one of the no-brainer ways to do it. Feel free to comment with any questions.

God bless!

“…holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Heb. 12:14