Taking Hard Stands

by Daniel Cox

And he (John the Baptist) shall go before him (Jesus Christ) in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.  Luke 1:17

Six weeks after a formerly homeschooled daughter enrolls in a “good” rural public high school in conservative East Texas, her new boyfriend and friends brutally murder her family – including her little brothers - because her parents were attempting to uphold biblical standards for relationships with their daughter by forbidding her to date ungodly youth according to the Word of God.

This martyrdom tragedy from last March which I have just come to hear of demonstrates the stark contrast we have as Christians with the world.  Particularly we home school families.

It also demonstrates the tragic speed at which a lifetime of training can be destroyed by the Enemy.  It took 19 years for the public schools to train up the Caffey family’s killers.  But it only took six weeks for those killers to take a Bible trained, sweet church singing, sanctified daughter and turn her into a conspirator for her own family’s death because of her newfound immoral desires.

We must not compromise with the world one iota which has as it’s demonic desire the hearts of our precious children and family.  We must take the hard stands at the first point in our homes and not give any foothold for the devil.

Also, for those who have been tempted to give up home schooling for the much easier route of sending your children to school: the home is God’s ordained place of ministry and education to our children – not the government schools.  The Lord warned, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.”  There are few other institutions more pharisaical and corrupt in its doctrine than the public schools in America – which teach children that God is not Sovereign, that parents are not the final authority in the home and teach lies that directly subvert the Word of God by saying “we don’t know if God created everything because we do know that everything is a product of evolution.”  The Word declares that all things were made by Jesus Christ, and that nothing was made out of the things that are. 

The Word of God has not only shaped Church history with its exciting yet sacrificial sagas, it is shaping our homes as Christians – or at least it should be.  The loving truth of the Word of God must hold absolute sway in our homes if we are to have a Christian family.  We must read aloud God’s Word to our children and family so that they know the heart of God and so that the reason for our faith can come alive to them.

Oh that our children will give Christ their hearts!  The Word declares that as we parents turn our hearts to our children in justice and love, God will turn our children’s hearts to us.  We simply must have our kids’ hearts united with us!  (See Malachi 4 and Luke 1).

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts.

Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [with] the statutes and judgments.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Malachi 4

My parents made it clear that every home has standards, like it or not, and that we would be free to seek God about standards in our homes when we established them and they would never interfere, just as they were doing for our own good as best they could in the fear and admonition of God.  That gave us perspective.  Our upbringing was as a family – doing things together as a family, with other Christian families or specifically with non-Christian families in order to reach them for Christ.  Other less courageous  Christians termed such seeking after God for the souls of children as “legalistic.”  My parents’ actions saved our lives and souls.  

We as parents are not perfect, we do not always make the right choices or decisions.  For that we ask for prayer.  But we desire to keep our home holy and not train our children in the filth generally called TV and the trash normally referred to as the latest movie.  Every friend of our child, invitation to sleep over, movie, song, artist and event should be carefully reviewed and prayed about.  The Bereans did this with the Apostle Paul – how much more must we with those whom we do not know.

Every Christian family is independently autonomous and must make their own choices before our Sovereign and Holy God according to His Word, and we each must give some deference to those choices without being judgmental.  Those who have freedom in an area should not pressure or flaunt the freedom unnecessarily to those who have convictions in opposition to the freedom and vice versa.  Yet we all must agree to not compromise our children’s souls on the truth.

Even the smallest compromise on truth can have the worst effects and consequences – Oh dear God forgive and protect us from such a sin.  The world attacks these things as legalism but fails to identify how we believe salvation is directly caused by obedience to standards of godliness and holiness.  Rather, the exact opposite is true – because we are saved by grace we press on into obedience to the high calling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – not the profligate calling of the world which seeks to enter our homes through any means possible.  The Scripture declares that godliness is a mandate for the believer.

I find it funny that most of us would condemn false teaching in the church along with the physical act of adultery (and hopefully fornication as well), yet so many Christians fail to purge their home of heretical atheist teaching from the schools that are training their children and the adulterous, immoral depictions permitted on the television.  May we all have wisdom and obedience here as I know how hard these choices and decisions can be.

We are not perfect but we serve a Christ who is – the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Our God is a jealous God.  May the Lord Jesus Christ help us, bless us and protect us each His people and all His families.  Jesus thou Son of David, have mercy on us.