ideas that are aimed at taking them captive.
Here are two statements that I believe to
be of utmost importance to parents,
church leaders, and educators
when it comes to protecting our
children from the false ideas of
this world:
The goal of protection must
not be to “shelter” our children
from the world. The goal of
protection must be to “prepare”
our children for battle with the
world!
Protecting our children is not the
problem. The problem is with the goal
we use for protecting them. If it is merely
to “shelter” them, then we are setting them up for failure
because when they leave our care and go out into the real
world, they will be destroyed. As we protect our children
from the influences of the world, we must always be “prepar-
ing” them for the battle they will one day enter into. In other
words, the education we give our children at home, church,
and school must prepare them for the spiritual war God
expects them to fight as an adult. They must be fit for battle!
Kevin Swanson states it well in his book, Upgrade, “For
a child to be fit for battle and be salt and light, he must be
prepared to confront the world, to wrestle with principalities
and powers, to cast down imaginations that oppose the knowl-
edge of God, and to bring into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ.”
These are powerful words. When God sends us out to be
the salt of the earth and the light of the world, He expects us
to be able to confront the principalities and powers of dark-
ness. We must be prepared to do battle so we can destroy the
ideas and speculations of this world that oppose God’s truth.
Unfortunately, not too many adult Christians are fit for battle
in today’s world, much less our children and youth!
Therefore, we should never send our children to secular
education programs when they are not prepared to do
spiritual battle while there. Again, I call your attention to
the warning Swanson gives. As you read his words, think
about how ill-prepared a child or young person is to tackle
topics such as these: egalitarianism, God-eliminating evolu-
tion, materialistic socialism, relativism, environmentalism,
atheism, pluralism, sexual freedom, etc. Can children ever
be prepared to combat those ideologies? The answer is
no; therefore, it makes sense that children
should not be subjected to a steady diet
of falsehood through their education.
I found an interesting parallel
to this concept in the book of
Numbers. There were a couple of
times that God told the nation of
Israel to conduct a count of the
people. In each of these instanc-
es, we find that they numbered
the men who were twenty years
and older who were fit for battle.
Even though the young men had
to be physically prepared to fight the
enemies that were all around them, the
enemies also represented pagan cultures. God
was not merely wanting to defeat Israel’s enemies—He want-
ed to eliminate the false gods of the surrounding nations. To
accomplish this required all men who were twenty years old
and up to be physically, mentally, and spiritually prepared
and fit for the battle.
I wonder what would happen if every Christian parent
would dedicate the first 18-20 years of their children’s lives to
fully prepare them to confront the pagan culture that exists
all around us. If the home, church, and school were fully
committed to making sure every child was fit for battle by
the time they became twenty years old, I believe we would
see a generation of Christians who would enter adult life
and actually be the salt of the earth and the light of the
world. That generation would then be able to do what our
generation has failed to do—turn their world upside down
for God’s glory.
Let’s join forces and prepare our children to make sure
they are fit for battle!
God’s people need to understand
that a battle for their kids is
raging around them—a battle
that is being won by those who
seek to destroy the next
generation spiritually!
Dr. Glen Schultz has given the past 48 years of his life to educat-
ing future generations according to God’s plan. After five years
in public education, he entered the field of Christian education,
where he has been a teacher, coach, principal, and superinten-
dent. Dr. Schultz just completed nine years as an associate pastor
at Sherwood Baptist Church and Headmaster of Sherwood Chris-
tian Academy. Before this, he directed the Christian school work
at LifeWay Christian Resources for nine years, served as the As-
sociation of Christian Schools International Southeast Regional Director for seven years,
and was Superintendent of Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg, Virginia for 16
years. Currently, Dr. Schultz is giving his full-time attention to training the next generation
of Christian educators on a biblical philosophy of education as founder and director of
Kingdom Education Ministries. Glen is the author of Kingdom Education: God’s Plan
for Educating Future Generations and several parenting booklets. He has been married
to his wife, Sharon, for 47 years and has three children and six grandchildren. He is a
member of the Renewanation Board of Directors.
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