PREACHING TO THE CHOIR (BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN TOO DISTRACTED TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON)

Look, I get it. Most folks who are contributors in the church—and not just consumers—have been at it for a long time. Many of them have been at it for decades or longer. They got married in the church. They baptized or dedicated their children in the church. They raised children in the church and handed their children off—in marriage—in the church too. Now, here they are, enjoying the joy of watching their grandchildren grow up in the church too.

PREACHING TO THE CHOIR
There's an old expression, you're preaching to the choir. What this statement implies is that whatever argument or opinion a person is trying to raise, there's no sense in trying to convince the folks who are already on their team. The problem is, sometimes the choir is too distracted to really pay attention to what is actually being said. 

JESUS CHRIST AND COMFORT 
Listen, I know you've got a good thing going. You've found that happy middle between loving Jesus and and not drawing attention to yourself, from a culture who is in blatant opposition to him. You've worked your entire life to try and find a balance between being in the world but not of it; while definitely still enjoying the pleasures of the world. You survived purity culture, Billy Graham Crusades, the Left Behind series, and The Purpose Driven Church, the rise and fall of Mars Hill, and the latest fad of deconstructing Christians. You've navigated the tricky waters of the Obergefell Decision and even survived the treacherous waters of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Yes, you have your battle scars but you're still standing and your faith is still strong.

BUT IS IT, REALLY?
You see, when duty calls it doesn't give you the opportunity to give a few options that work out best for you or your schedule. It doesn't care much about your exiting plans or how you'd prefer to spend your time. Duty calls, when crisis comes and when men and women are needed on the front lines.

Christians, that's exactly where we find ourselves. You see there is a culture war going on, but the trouble is a lot of Christians are completely fine sitting this one out; even while they change their profile pictures to support the United State's proxy war in Ukraine. Not because they don't have convictions, but rather because they are missing something far more important than convictions; namely, courage.

A PLACE IN THE CHOIR
While I can't tell you exactly where this whole thing started, I do know exactly where it's headed.

Last Monday night, in our local town of roughly 28k people, several teachers dawned their rainbow-colored battle gear, hosted an invite only "inclusive" pizza party, and then stepped up to the microphone to make it crystal clear where they stand on the LGBTQ+ celebration and how they intend to teach in accordance with their ideology and the authority granted to them by the district's recent Equity and Inclusion policy. 

During this speech, which was broken down into three equal parts to respect the rule of keeping statements to three minutes, the author of the speech—a 25 year teacher—made the following statement:

Some likely saw this teacher's speech (as well as the two follow-up speakers who continued it) as a much needed voice in support of the LGBTQ+ community; including students. Others found this teacher's speech to be a direct attack of them and their intentional efforts to demand parental rights within public school spaces. Others likely saw the speech and then moved on, unaware or even uninterested in why this all  happening in the first place. 

Still, there were others, like ourselves, who saw this as something far more nefarious than an happenstance pizza party which collided with a chance for a few random teachers to address the school board and the public. Something much deeper than what played out in the nine minutes these teachers spent, publicly sharing their opinions, perspectives, frustrations, and concerns. 

Every year, the National Education Association (the largest national teachers union in America) pulls in a ton of money. Most people are aware that teachers pay hundreds of dollars in dues to their state and local unions, for which they may see a return in the collective bargaining agreements those unions negotiate on their behalf. However, they also paid $202 in dues to the National Education Association during the last school year. How was that money spent? 

According to the74million.org, the NEA pulled in roughly $375M dollars in 2022. Not only is that a lot of money, but it's money that is largely spent on left-leaning political and ideological initiatives. One of those initiatives is the propagation, affirmation, and celebration of LGBTQ+ ideologies—within communities and school districts across the country—and attack campaigns of parental rights groups—like Moms for Liberty—who are gaining power and influence in an arena where the teachers unions have had unchecked and unfettered power for decades.

This claim might seem sensational, but sadly it isn't. And that's a major problem, especially for groups who seem to care so much about equity, inclusion, and fairness for all.

You see, decades ago God was driven from the American public schools. This was a coordinated effort by secularists—with the support of secular Christians, who fell for the oldest trick in human history; namely, the idea that God could somehow be removed from the equation for the purpose of promoting unity and a "greater good". 

What has happened in the American public school system, since Stone v. Graham (1980), is exactly what what was predicted by those who fought so hard against these efforts at the time. One of the harshest judgments from God is when he says to the people who have chosen to reject him: "fine, have it your way". 

And what way, exactly, is the NEA pushing for? What are their efforts and agendas? Well, one doesn't have to look to hard to see where the money is going and to which political and ideological causes the $375M dollars get slated for.

According to 74Million, "Affiliate spending also includes funding ballot initiatives in various states. Sometimes the money goes directly to a campaign, as with the $3 million NEA sent to Fair Share Massachusetts to help pass a millionaires’ tax last month. Sometimes it goes to a state affiliate, which then relays it to the initiative campaign".

For example, in Minnesota,  $250,000 went to Win Minnesota, a left-of-center “social welfare” advocacy organization. The organization is one of the main conduits of dollars for left-wing donors in Minnesota, helping to fund the Alliance for a Better Minnesota.

But their causes aren't strictly political. They are also ideological, as they use their hundreds of millions of dollars collected annually, to push progressive ideologies which they not only see as valuable but also necessary for the country's evolution.

TWO KINGDOMS. TWO CHOICES.
Friends, there are only two kingdoms. There's the Kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the enemy who is working against Christ. There are no other options. These are the only options. One kingdom submits to and works for works for Jesus and the good of people. The other works for Satan and the ultimate despair and eternal damnation of people.

I know many of you will say this is an unfair and irrational assertion to make, so I beg you not to take my word for it. Let's look at what Jesus has to say about it, instead.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever 
​does not gather with me scatters. 

Matthew 12:30

The whispers of Satan, which have been the same since the fall of humanity (see Genesis 3), are to try and convince creation—more specifically humanity whom God gave dominion over the earth—that we're better off without our Creator.

In our rejection, as we pursue things like inclusion and social-justice and equity, humanity continues to chase that which can only be found in submission to Christ. Things like peace, freedom, identity, love, acceptance, joy, prosperity and kindness. These things are not achievable in man's kingdom, because they belong to God. He is sovereign over them all and they can only be found when mankind is in a right relationship with their Creator. This can only occur through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. There is no peace, without Christ. There is no love, without Christ. There is no equity or inclusion without Christ. None of these things are achievable, without Christ. 

​How can I be so sure of this? I can be sure of this, because Christ was sure of this. He told us explicitly and without confusion that he is the only way! 

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

No one comes the Father, except through Jesus. And anyone who is not with Jesus, is against him.

Public schools are not with Jesus. That is both by design and by the precedence set in place by Supreme Court decisions in America's past. But schools do not operate on their own. They operate under the authority and accountability of the school boards. And this means that even though decisions made within public schools must not be tied to a specific religion or belief system, those who hold to these convictions have the ability to hold the schools accountable to their own established rules. 

This is precisely what organizations like "Moms for Liberty" and other parental rights groups are fighting for. They are not pushing their own religious or ideological beliefs on students in the public schools, nor do they seek to do so. They also have no desire to silence, exclude, erase, bully, or persecute those who consider themselves to be members of the LGBTQ+ community. What they do aim to do is ensure that activist groups with power and influence within the established public school systems, like the teachers unions or the progressive organizations they fund and support, don't either. 

What we see in many of the activist and partisan efforts of secularists is to try and co-opt things which God owns and use them as tools to manipulate people. These efforts are done in the name of love and inclusion, but they are actually rooted in evil. I say this confidently, because as we already saw in Christ's words, people are either for Christ or they are against him. There is no middle ground and America will reap what it sows. Either good fruit or evil fruit (again, these are Christ's words not my own).

BUT WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE CHOIR
Friends, the choir has been sitting in the comfort of the pews, while the world has been embracing godlessness in the arenas which are shaping the future. Parents have been sitting on the sidelines as the battle lines have been drawn. We've been sending our kids to the frontlines of the culture war, while we've been distracted with our efforts to live in comfort and not make waves.

Yes, we're busy. We're tired. We're weary. We're confused and overwhelmed by life and bills and other various trials. Sometimes things like this seem pointless or even too big to try and tackle. Yet, we continue feeding a system that is against Jesus, while making very little efforts to do anything more than complain about how broken the system is.

All the while, our children are being raised (and dare I say indoctrinated) to believe that the values, ideologies, and worldviews which we firmly hold to—and raise them to know and embrace themselves—are actually the problem. That their silence on things is actually hate and complicity with the evils of white privilege, systemic racism, and bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community.

We have given the public school system, as well as the teachers unions and the progressive activist organizations they sponsor and fund, dominion over what the overwhelming majority of children in America are being taught day in and day out. All while we, their parents and primary guardians, have maybe 2-3 hours a day to try and check in and discern just how much of an influence this secular and godless environment is having on the minds and hearts of our children. 

I know many will see this as an attack on public schools, teachers, the unions, or other progressive activist organizations. But it's really not. They are who we thought they were!

Instead, this is an appeal. An appeal to the hearts of parents who have been sitting on the sidelines, paralyzed or indifferent to the realities of the battle being waged between Christ's Kingdom and the kingdom of man. We will reap what we sow. And sadly, by all measurable accounts we already are.

The question now becomes this: am I, for my own comfort and gain, willing to continue to sit on the sidelines as my children are being sent to the frontlines of the culture war.

We don't have to give control of the public education of our children to those who have ideological and political worldviews which run contrary to the Kingdom of Christ. I have no expectation or ambitions to mandate the ideological bent of those who hold the positions of teachers, administrators, superintendents etc, or what should be taught in public schools. However, we do have the authority and ability to push back and ensure that they are not crossing lines with the instruction of our children!

But this won't come without a fight and a commitment to push back against the powers and agendas which have already had exclusive and unfettered access to these spaces for decades. To push back against the $375M dollars they raise annually. To join with likeminded organizations in our effort to push through the rhetoric and attacks leveraged against Moms for Liberty and other parental rights groups, as they push into spaces where they are not invited or welcomed; simply because they hold to worldviews that are different than those who are supposedly fighting for "tolerance and inclusion". 

The teachers union is hedging their bets that the majority of parents will be too afraid or overwhelmed to speak up. That their desire for a comfortable and reticent life outweighs their concerns for their children or the ideological instruction they are receiving at school. The appeal I am making, in this post, is simple: are you willing to call their bluff?