We are in a war for the hearts and minds of our children

Have you ever been engaged in a debate/argument, but only thought of what you should have said after it was long over? Well we all have. And have you ever wondered why some of your favourite speakers are able to defend questions so well? And you have thought to yourself “I could never be like that?” But let’s stop for a moment and think how these speakers got there.

I want to suggest, that they learned to do this the same way that we learn anything else, by trial and error, by failing miserably, and then instead of licking their wounds, they think and pray and try, try, try again. It starts simply by talking, noticing what works and what does not, noticing what gets through and learning from that. I want to say that this works whether you’re right or wrong. But why do I say that?

Jordan Peterson suggests that Hitler learned this way, tapping into the chaos, and rage at the punitive injustice perpetrated by the Allies after the first world war. And I want to suggest that the extreme left is doing the very same thing, quite successfully I might add, with the injustices perpetrated on marginalized groups. Please note I am not saying that the injustices do not need to be addressed. But the way that the left is seeking to address this is not right (pun intended!). In particular part of their multi million dollar funded strategy is called "jamming." And it is working. You may have noticed that the Church has been intimidated into silence! Now the Scripture says “The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him” (Proverbs 18:17). But what if we are not allowed to cross-examine? What I am saying is that the truth will only prevail if we are prepared to fight for it! And if we are to be successful we need to go through the process described above (see also last day's post).

And the church really does need to wake up, because this battle for free speech is not only a battle for the truth, it is a battle for the hearts and minds of our children! In particular the propaganda coming out of the left is affecting our children in a very negative way. Consider the warped and twisted radical sex ed that is being fostered earlier and earlier on our children in the schools. Our children are being encouraged to experiment with all forms of sexuality and to regard gender as a social construct. We need to see where this is going, because there is a lot of evidence that it is leading to pathological confusion. On top of this we knew over half a century ago by Masters and Johnson, that our first sexual experience strongly determines the defining norm of our sexuality.

Father, it seems to me that we in the church have confused timidity with humility. I mean our hero overturned the tables of the money changes in the temple. And so I pray this morning Lord that you will wake up your church and give it the courage to speak the truth in love, the wisdom to do it in a way that brings honour and glory to You, so that many are brought to experience Your extravagant healing love. I will give You all the glory and praise in Jesus Name Amen