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All across the country, the yellow buses are rolling again.  Children and teens are returning to school.  The vast majority will attend state run schools, otherwise known as the public education system.  90% of Christian parents will continue this year to send their children into the public education system for 8 + hours a day.  Some of these parents truly have no option (e.g. single parents whose churches will not help them to stay home if they so desire).  Other Christian parents have simply never been challenged to think more clearly and more biblically on the issue of childhood education.  Still others are just not willing to make the lifestyle sacrifices to either home school or find solid Christian schools as alternatives.  And a few Christian parents have been called by God to send their children into the schools as missionaries.      

I applaud and pray for those teachers, administrators and students who are truly living as gospel-centered missionaries in the public schools.  But, let's face it, few and far between are these warriors.  A 15-year old who cannot explain in clear language the basic gospel message, much less strongly defend the Genesis creation account against the Darwinian onslaught, can hardly be considered a missionary.  Same goes for teachers and administrators.  And yet, I am personally aware of some teachers and students who are genuine warriors for Christ in a system that is pagan / secular.  We have some in our local church, and I pray for them often.  They are on the front lines of the war for truth in America.  God help them and churches must love and support them.

That said, please allow me to chronicle some deeply troubling trends in our nation and its school system:

• Back in June, a teacher at Southland Christian School in St. Cloud, FL was fired for having pre-marital sex.  The teacher admitted her sin when questioned by the Principal, but in no way repented.  In fact, she sued the school for letting her go.  Nevermind the application she completed to obtain the job clearly stated teachers were expected to live by the values of the Christian school, which the most casual observer would expect probably included extra-marital sex.  The teacher's attorney, Edward Gay, in his defense of his client on the Today Show, stated, "The teachers are serving a secular purpose, and therefore they are goverened by federal laws of discrimination."  Did you catch that?  Teachers serve a secular purpose.  Even teachers in a private Christian Schools?  The worldview underlying this assertion is loud and clear - EDUCATION IS SECULAR.
• President Obama's Race to the Top initiative (which is realy just President's Bush's No Child Left Behind with a new name, which is really just President Clinton's . . . you get the point) is centralizing an already far too centrally controlling system.  States now have to compete for federal funds for their schools.  And who is defining the rules of competition?  Who decides the winners?  Why of course, the federal government and the marxist education czar.  The federal government's standards must be met if a state wants money for education.  But, the federal government's standards have led our nation in the past 25 years to consistently be in the bottom 1/3 of the industrialized nations in literacy.  That's right - our kids cannot READ. 
• The NEA is one of the most marxist / socialist organizations in America.  October 1st is their official day to celebrate the communist revolt in China under Chairman Mao Zedong.  Of course, once an uproar began, NEA removed that day from its website calendar, but we're not fooled, are we?  After all, their recommended reading list for American teachers still includes the works of Saul Alinksy, a socialist who was also an avowed satanist.  Christian teachers have no business paying dues to the NEA.  Choose an alternative like the Christian Educators Association International.

Add to all this the fact that my 10-year old daughter just revealed to us that during the one semester she attended 2nd grade here in rural North Carolina, boys in the back of the bus would frequently pee (urinate for you technical types) in bottles while girls watched.  The whole system is in decay.  It is depraved and ruinous. 

Now, friends, I cannot speak for you, but the dangers of the public schools (and some private and even Christian schools) are simply too much for me to bear.  This is especially true and poignant every time I read Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6, so many of the Psalms and Proverbs.  I do not shy away from praying God will grant many of you Christian dads and moms the courage to begin the joyous journey of raising and educating your own children. 

For those of you who keep your children in the public system, please be reading their textbooks, countering every falsehood with biblical truth, opting your children out of so-called comprehensive sex education, or any sex education done by the state for that matter, and attending PTA meetings to fight for God's truth in this system that is in centrifugal decay.  For the glory of God and the good of your children, please do these things, at minimum!

Remember, it only takes one generation to go from lovers of God to lovers of idols (Judges 2:10).  Fight the good fight!