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As I concluded in part one, in order for our children to be victorious while they attend the public school system, it is imperative that we as parents arm them with the proper tools and weapons. As we learned, these weapons are not actually physical in nature, because the battle itself is not physical either. It is a spiritual war to gain control of their very thoughts, to modify their behavior, and to alter their world view. It is a battle to exchange their Bible-based beliefs for the ungodly, liberal views of the world which are in defiance of God's Laws.

In reading the aforementioned verses from Ephesians chapter six -- please refer to the end of part one -- notice that the key components of our children's armor against Satan's lies are the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. It should be obvious that all of these tools are derived from the Word of God. Faith comes through hearing the Word of God. One's Salvation comes by believing in the Word of God. And our offense and defense comes from using the Word of God. So as you can plainly see, it all comes back to the Word, the Word, the Word.

As I have already clearly stated, this is exactly what we must give our children as responsible Christian parents, if we truly expect them to endure the battles they will face, and fight the good fight of faith they will encounter in the public school system. And trust me; they will encounter it; both from other children, and from the school teachers and administrators. I learned this from firsthand experience. So we must ground them in the Scriptures while they are still young and malleable. Consider the following group of verses which further emphasize the spiritual nature of our warfare:

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."


"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."


"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"


"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."


To help you to remember exactly who you are fighting against, remember the verse reference 1 Timothy 6:12 above, and then look again at Ephesians 6:12 as quoted below. As you can see, they have matching verse references:

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."


So, we -- and our children -- must remember that we are not just fighting against physical things such as the physical public school system -- that is, the teachers, principals and administrators who may oppose our Christian beliefs. Rather, we are fighting against the spiritual influences behind them. This is precisely what Paul means by the previous verse that is found in his Epistle to the Ephesian brethren. While some of these teachers are aware that what they are teaching is wrong and contrary to the Bible, and while they will be held accountable for their actions, we also need to recognize that other teachers may do it out of ignorance, or at least out of blind obedience to the system of which they are a part.

In other words, if the school administration says, "These are the books you use", or "This is the lesson schedule you will follow", there isn't much that they can do about it; unless they want to see their last paycheck. If more teachers had stronger moral fiber, and more Christian conviction, perhaps things wouldn't be as they are. Sadly, as we all know, money is the true god of this world, and we all need it in order to survive in this present life. As the Apostle Paul also wrote to Timothy:

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."


What a truly sad statement for the world today. Because some people have coveted after money, either out of greed, want, or need, they have erred from the faith. They have allowed their selfish, materialistic life to quench their spiritual fire, and their flame has gone out. In the context of the topics we are discussing in this series, we could say that in the case of Christian teachers, they have compromised their faith, and have agreed to teach things which they know they shouldn't, just so they can get that next paycheck. It must be a tough call to make. Do you honor God and your faith, or do you compromise in order to survive in the world? It isn't a situation I would want to be in.

But notice though how the previous verse ends. It says that they've "pierced themselves through with many sorrows". While we often picture rich people as being worry-free, sometimes this is the furthest thing from the truth. They are always worrying about how to get more money, or how to protect what they do have from thieves, embezzlers, con men, etc. If they are trying to hide their wealth from the IRS, they might also be worrying about getting caught and thrown in jail! But the bottom line is actually this: Is it really worth being so rich if it draws you away from God? The Bible offers a clear answer in verses such as the following, and there are many more similar to these ones:

"And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."


"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words."


"There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand."


"As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand."


"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also . . . No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon . . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."


"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"


"And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."


"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."


"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."


"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."


"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."


"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."


"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain."


Based on the previous set of verses, I think it is probably safe to say that those Christian teachers who compromised their faith in order to get their next paycheck will also be sorrowful when someday the Lord asks them why they were so ashamed of Him, and why they weren't willing to stand up for the truth. Why did they choose a comfortable lifestyle over being faithful to His Word? They had a golden opportunity to fill those young children's minds with the truth of the Word of God. Instead, they gave them Satan's lies like evolution, and ungodly, blasphemous books such as "Aunt Mary's Live-In Girlfriend", "Why My Daddy Left Us For Another Man" and "My Two Mommies". Or perhaps they taught sex education without emphasizing the point that it was a sacred union ordained by God between a man and a woman, and not just a mechanical act meant to be enjoyed with whomever, whenever regardless of the outcome. Yes, some of those teachers are indeed going to be ashamed. I am reminded of verses such as the following:

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."


"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."


"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."


"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."


"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."


In my view, if teachers are not prepared to also teach their students the story of Creation from the Bible, then they are unfairly educating them. Why? Because they are only giving them man's version of the truth and not God's version of the Truth. They are purposely teaching only one perspective; and that basically amounts to brainwashing and indoctrination. This is a false balance, of which the Lord does not approve, as becomes evident by verses such as the following:

"A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight."


"Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good."


On an even more serious note, by teaching such things as evolution, and anything else which contradicts God's Word, they are placing a stumbling block, and a rock of offence, in the way of our children; thus causing them to become confused, and leading them to fall away from the truth of the Word of God. As we can see by the following verses, the Lord considered this to be a very serious sin, which would lead to very dire consequences:

"And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 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. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!"


"Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."


Please note that in the previous group of verses, the two words "offences" and "stumblingblock" are derived from two different Greek words; that is, "skandalon" and "proskomma". These words share a common meaning of stumbling block or an offence. In the context of the Scriptures, this refers to something which causes one to stumble and fall away from the Truth. This is precisely what these satanic doctrines and perverted teachings do. They cause many children, and even adults, to doubt God's Word. As Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, the people that cause such things are going to have a heavy price to pay; especially if they know they are doing it. Perhaps this will strike a little Godly fear into some atheist parents, science teachers, and those people who are promoting the acceptance of same-sex relationships in our public school system.

Let me remind you of something I stated earlier. This battle which is being waged in the school classroom is in actuality a spiritual war to gain control of our children's thoughts. Because by gaining control of their thoughts, the people who are behind this scheme can then modify their behavior, and also influence and alter their world view. As I said earlier, it is a battle to exchange their Bible-based beliefs for the ungodly, liberal views of the world which are in defiance of God's Laws. In short, it is a battle of the mind, and that is exactly how the Bible describes it as well. Consider this set of verses, and notice how they all talk about the mind:

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."


"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."


"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."


"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"


"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."


"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;"


"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled"


"For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."


"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"


So you see, that is the real battleground; and public school teachers are in the perfect place to influence what goes on in children's minds. Tragically, it is an unfair, lopsided war; because children that age do not possess the spiritual, emotional or mental maturity to always differentiate between what is true and what is false, or even what is right and what is wrong in some cases. In short, as I noted earlier, their minds are very malleable, which makes them vulnerable to whatever ungodly crap the world wants to stuff into their heads. That is why we must beat them at their own game. We must ground our children in God's Word before they enter the arena of the public school system, so that they are insulated as much as possible from the ungodly stuff they will hear and learn there. They won't survive without our help.

Aside from the various subjects we have already discussed in this series, another thorny religious issue confronting our modern public school system concerns school prayer. As you may know, while student-led prayer has been deemed acceptable in some schools, anything outside of that -- such as prayers which are initiated by school faculty or administrators -- is strictly prohibited, because such actions supposedly violate the so-called separation of church and state. In the Book of Psalms, King David makes it obvious that he was devoted to morning prayer. Likewise, in the Gospel of Mark, we also see that Jesus had a habit of getting up early in the morning in order to pray to His Father. Consider the following verses:

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."


"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice."


"But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent [come before] thee."


"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."


In decades past, school prayer was not as major of an issue as it is today because America was -- or at least supposedly claimed to be -- much more Christian back then. Exactly how much truth you see in this statement is a matter of personal opinion. In my view, any nation which can indiscriminately drop nuclear bombs or napalm on defenseless men, women and children, or which can impose trade embargoes or sanctions on poorer nations of the world until their governments bow to some pre-determined demand, or which engages in so-called "regime change" in sovereign nations, does not appear to be very Christian to me. But I discuss these topics in other articles, so I won't belabor the point here.

At any rate, it seems that it is only as the United States has become richer, more economically and militarily powerful, and more materialistic, that she has lost her first love for the Lord. When it came time for her to make a choice, sadly, she made the wrong one. In other words, she chose materialism and her love for the world over her love for God. Consider the following verses:

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."


"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."


"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."


Sadly, not only has modern, hedonistic America in large part forsaken her God, -- although she self-righteously continues to go through the motions of claiming to believe in Him -- but she has likewise defiled the heritage the Lord gave her. As in earlier verses I quoted, there is a very interesting parallel in the Book of Jeremiah where ancient Israel became guilty of the very same thing, as we see by this verse:

"And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination."


In this particular case, the Lord, via the Prophet Jeremiah, is referring to the fact that the Israelites forsook the one true God of Israel, and began to idolize and worship other false gods. As you will see in a minute, America is guilty of doing the very same thing.

Another factor which has served to pollute the heritage of "Christian" America is the subtle agenda which was disguised by such words as "the land of the free and the home of the brave" which beckoned the weak, the tired, the poor, and the downtrodden to come to her shores. Mother America asked the Old World nations to send her their sons; and send them they did. However, they did not realize that the vast majority of the immigrants would become cheap labor for America's elite, who would subjugate them under discriminatory labor laws and tax laws; thus ensuring that they would remain the weak, the tired, the poor and the downtrodden. So, nothing had really changed except for the master's name. Thus America was, and continues to be built upon the blood, sweat and tears of the poor of the world, both at home and abroad.

One side-effect of this massive immigration is that America has become an international melting pot with a hodgepodge of belief systems and religious practices. Whether or not this complication was anticipated, I cannot really say. However, it has definitely affected the moral and spiritual fiber of America. As I mentioned a moment ago, ancient Israel was also polluted in a similar manner when the Israelites disobeyed the Laws of Moses by not destroying their heathen enemies the Canaanites. Instead, they compromised their faith by adopting the pagan Canaanite gods, and by intermarrying with Canaanite women. They lost their spiritual purity, and continued to do so on and off for centuries after that. That is precisely why God judged and chastised them over and over again. I discuss this subject more fully in articles such as "The Fruits of Disobedience".

Because of America's current spiritual condition, in which there are now many foreign, non-Christian religions being practiced throughout the land, it is thus a bit ludicrous to refer to her as a strictly "Christian" nation, in my view. In fact, according to a report I read some time ago, Islam is not only the fastest growing religion in America, but it is also said to be the fastest growing religion around the world as well. If you are interested in my views regarding that faith, please refer to my series entitled "Holy Qur'an and Islam: A Doctrine of Devils?".

But here's the thing. The United States has basically shot herself in her own foot. In the words of the Bible, she has fallen into the pit which she dug for others. She invited all of these foreigners in who practiced other religions, and now she is rapidly losing her Christian identity. I am reminded of verses such as the following:

"He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate."


"They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah."


"Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him."


"He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him."


Please go to part three for the conclusion of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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