Propaganda – from No Reason To Hide by Erwin Lutzer

Live Not by LiesEvery mainstream media outlet and some alternative ones present some form of propaganda.

But generally speaking, it is the left (aka Marxist progressives) who are in control of the narrative.

Leftist news outlets and politicians’ goal is to make us weary of standing up against their bizarre ideas of sexuality, race, and justice.

If they can cause us to lose heart, they know it will be easier to get us to submit and tell ourselves “The wolf is at the door; just let him in.”

But, before we resign ourselves to giving up, we must understand that the battle is often won or lost through an assault on words which is ultimately a war on ideas.

The radical Marxist left wants to use words not just to win the debate but to cancel debate altogether.

They want to destroy the influence of those who disagree with them. They want to use propaganda to limit and control our thoughts

(Aka)Gaslighting:

The purpose of propaganda is to reshape peoples worldview (views of reality) by redefining reality.

The long-term goal is always about power.

The ultimate goal is to make them obedient to the dictates of a leader or group of elites who tell us they are committed to “what is best for the people.”

Eventually, people will suspend their judgment, set aside what they know to be true, and join the “masses”. i.e. Herd instinct.

Propaganda makes lies credible.

When we are not open to the possibility of being wrong, propaganda is more readily able to accomplish its purpose.

Jesus repeatedly said, “He who has ears to hear, let hear” (Matthew 11:15). He was saying that there is no one as deaf as someone whose heart is not open to truth.

George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-four after spending time pondering the rise of communist Russia and Hitler’s chilling control of Germany.

The Encyclopedia Britannica summarizes the book 1984 in this way:

Its depiction of a state where daring to think differently is rewarded with torture, where people are monitored every second of the day, and where party propaganda trumps free speech and thought is a sobering reminder of the evils of unaccountable governments.

To do this, lies must be sweetened to make them easier to swallow.

Humans do not always need words for feelings, but we do need them for thought, especially complex thought. And that is why Big Brother is at war with language. He wants to make it less useful for examining ideas by reducing the power of words to the barest expressions. Newspeak is his tool for keeping his subjects permanently inarticulate.

Word control is intended to bring about thought control.

Aldous Huxley, in his book Brave New World, described a totalitarian state:

A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors, and schoolteachers.

The goal is for people to love their servitude and accept the controlling narrative, which is designed to limit what they say and what they are allowed to think.

Isaiah wrote in Scripture: “Woe to those who call evil good”.  You can only call evil good if you rename the evil; to say it differently, good words must be used to camouflage the evil. But, to call evil good is only half the task; the other half is to call that which is good evil. Language must be manipulated to accomplish this.

In a nutshell, Propaganda is telling people what they want to hear, then giving them what you want to have. The goal is to make a lie to appear to be true. Also known as gaslighting.

To paraphrase Voltaire, “Those who can make you believe the bizarre can make you commit atrocities,” And if people can be made to believe a lie, they will live as if the lie were the truth.

George Orwell called this verbal sleight of hand Newspeak.

A revolution can be brought about only when you have slogan that is hard to speak against (and of course you need an enemy to hate). Slogans like Climate Change, Black Lives Matter, Social Justice… They all sound like something everyone can and should support, but when you unpack what they really mean you discover it involves the restructuring or more accurately deconstructing the whole order of society.

Take social justice. When you unpack what it really is all about is gender identity, Critical Race Theory, socialism and equity.

Propagandists are very adept at slogans. They say one thing but really mean another.

When Hitler starved children he called it “putting them on a low-calorie diet.”  Killing Jews was “cleansing the land,” and euthanasia was “a compassionate use of medical therapy.”

Remember: Propaganda is telling people what they want to hear, then giving them what you want to have.

The radical Progressive Left does not use language to describe reality, but rather to create a “reality” they want you to believe and accept.

Orwell wrote in his book 1984, “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.”

In this same book, Mr. Winston was expected to say 2 + 2 = 5, it was not so much an attempt to convince him of this, but rather, to get him accustomed to speaking lies and doubting his own judgment. If he could speak lies, he could live by lies.   Remember Common Core?  How many of our children have been brainwashed by this lie (not to mention their parents as well?

Big Brother’s goal is a population so dependent on the government it is willingly controlled.

Do you remember during the George Floyd riots seeing a reporter with burning cars and buildings in the background, saying that the demonstrations were “largely peaceful.” So riots can be described as “peaceful,” looting is “redistributive justice,” and those who break the law to enter the US are not illegal immigrants but “undocumented workers.”  And a criminal is “a person who has issues with the law,” which implies the real culprit is the law itself.

The left is using words to attempt to reorder reality when they tell us “That man you see competing in sports is actually a woman.”

The university that will not allow a conservative to speak on campus does so in the name of tolerance. And the mother who kills her unborn child is simply making a healthcare decision.

They tell us drag queens are artists who should be welcomed to libraries to speak to children. “Drag is art,” writes Jaden Amos, who reports for NPR.

When the goal of language is not truth but ideology and power, the totalitarian state has already arrived.

Many universities and colleges have policies narrowing the realm of permissible speech, reducing students to silence and ultimately ignorance due to a lack of critical thinking skills.

The reason for this madness is NOT to elevate the conversation, but to silence it. The goal is to produce students who graduate with ideological conformity; those who do not comply are intimidated and canceled.

The left is very intolerant of the three C’s that shaped America: Christianity, the Constitution and capitalism.

Research by the Cato Institute reported that nearly half of the students aged 13-22 said they stopped speaking up in the classroom because of the prevailing atmosphere of intolerance and political correctness.

The goal of the Progressive Marxist Left is to imprison the mind. Eventually, people will not be able to object to any radical leftist ideas no matter how bizarre because there will be no vocabulary for doing so; the words will have been banned.

The debate is no longer about ideas, but about bigotry and hate.

The left wants to pass hate speech legislation to shut down the expression of conservative ideas on the pretense that they are hateful and cause harm. In a strange twist of irony, the left will sometimes even justify violence as “free speech.”

Anywhere Communism/Socialism/Marxism has been installed, Gulags and death ALWAYS follow.

Russia used the tactic of labeling dissidents as mentally deranged. In effect the government says, “Challenge our idea, and we will declare you mentally ill and need to be locked away in an insane asylum.”

The radical left says, “You disagree with me? See a therapist.”

In propaganda, ideology controls the “facts” rather than the facts controlling the ideology. Therefore, “facts” are carefully selected to fit the narrative.

Take Canada as an example of our future here in the USA where even true statements can end up being banned. “Not all truthful statements must be free from restriction,” said Canada’s Supreme Court justice Marshall Rothstein.

Propaganda does not just control what is being said, but also what is not being said.

Look at how the media covered the Kyle Rittenhouse story. He was vilified as a racist because he was white (even though the three people he shot defending himself were themselves all white). He was labeled a “white supremacist” and belonged to a militia and “carried a gun across state lines.”  All of which were lies propagated by leftist news media.

Contrast this with the story of Darrell E. Brooks after he deliberately drove his van into people who were celebrating a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin in December 2021 killing six people. Some news outlets never even carried the story and within days it all but vanished from the news.

Rittenhouse shot three people in self-defense; Brooks deliberately killed as many people as he could. But his story died because it could not be exploited for racial or political purposes.

So propaganda does not just control what is being said, but also what is not being said.

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Does God Ask Us to See the Future? 

Live not by Lies not thru me

What is it that so many in America, and the world, fail to see?

The future.

Christians, real, true, traditional Christians are expected to see the future or at least listen to those who see it.

Do we heed the prophets or do we ignore their warnings as did the German Church in the 1930s?

Well, if you are merely one who dwells in Christiandom but are only a “professing christian” then you likely, like most progressive christians, do not take the Bible literally; you do not consider the Bible as inerrant and infallible and thus you have a problem understanding what you are seeing, which means America has a problem.

We have a problem because only 6% of Americans have a Biblical Worldview (BWV) which means for 94%, their view of reality, past, present, and future is distorted. And worse yet, just slightly more than a third (37%) of American pastors have a biblical worldview. The majority—62%—embrace a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism.

When we don’t see the future from a Biblical Worldview [BWV] perspective, we fail to see that both our actions and inactions have consequences; just like the German Church eventually found out too late.

Part of our problem is the failure of so many to understand that inaction in times such as these is actually more damaging than the wrong actions.

It takes great courage to be a contrarian; to act or speak when the majority are not.

Sometimes it takes courage to remain silent but oftentimes it takes more courage to speak out when you know that what you are going to say is unpopular.

Find Your Voice: Have the courage to stand up to lies and speak truth.

Find the courage to share your thoughts not because you think it will change the minds of people who think differently than you but to show people who already think like you that they’re not alone and maybe inspire others to find theirs.

What are you willing to defend?

You either love truth or love lies – which are you?

Without the order of a Biblical Worldview, you get a future filled with chaos.

 

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1913 The Year the Cabal Enslaved America

The Cabal

Before 1913, things were different. Although there may not have been TVs, the Internet, or other forms of pervasive technology, there was one thing that individuals had back then: complete financial freedom. Few people had to worry about loans or debt back then since money was worth an astronomically higher value than it is now.

I like studying history, especially American history, and a long time ago, I noticed a pattern and connected many of the dots.

1913 appeared to be a pivotal year in America’s history, and it was NOT a positive turn.

I kept asking myself – why?  Why did all this occur in one year? What was the underlying cause? Is this when the deep state (aka Globalist cabal) actually started infiltrating America in our political system, media, church, and academia? I believe so.

  • 16th Amendment gave power to Congress to levy and collect income taxes
  • 17th Amendment changed Senators from being chosen by state legislatures. Now, instead of being beholden only to their respective states, Senators are now beholden to getting re-elected and every and any lobbyist.
  • December 23, 1913 almost essentially in the middle of the night, the Federal Reserve Act was passed in Congress on an oral vote that gave the Federal Reserve the LICENSE to print money. Our Constitution prohibits Congress from printing money BUT not from borrowing it from a private corporation. (BTW the Federal Reserve is a privately owned corporation; a Super-private corporation and has NEVER been audited)
  • From 1923-1929 the Federal Reserve printed so much money it caused 62 % inflation and then it suddenly stopped printing causing the crash of 1929. What they print is “legal tender” NOT lawful money.

But this “coup” to destroy America started long before 1913.

In 1836, Andrew Jackson did away with America’s Central Bank.

For the next 75 years, America had zero inflation and no erosion in our purchasing power.

An ounce of gold was worth $18.93 to $18.94 throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. Woodrow Wilson then reestablished the Central Bank (Federal Reserve Act); since then, our purchasing power of the dollar is less than 2% of what it was. In other words, $1 today buys what 1-2 cents bought in 1910.

As a critical thinker and a student of history, prophecy and worldviews, especially a Biblical Worldview, it is easier for me to understand what is happening than most but still, I was never able to put my thoughts into articulate words until I came across this recent article.

https://badlands.substack.com/p/1913

Right now, today, we are in the most dangerous war in America’s history; hell, in the world’s history. And yet, the majority of people don’t yet realize it.

We’ve had generations gaslit by academia, media, and the majority of the church into believing it is our duty to submit to authority, even if that authority has proven time and again to be a liar, murderer, and a thief.

If we lose this war, we traditional, born-again, true Christians better pray the rapture is real and that it is pre-tribulation.

We better also start working much, much harder at bringing the people we love to true, lasting salvation.

Note:

1st: Andrew Jackson fought against the Central Bankers and nearly paid the price with his life as he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

2nd: John F Kennedy also fought against the central bankers and DID pay with his life.

3rd: Donald Trump has been fighting against the central bankers since before he took office and look at the price he is paying.

Anyone who still believes the world is not in the grasp of the One World Order cult is either:

  1. The ignorant: This group is ignorant of the facts either out of willful denial or just doesn’t know how to discern the truth. These are the people who don’t know how to think critically, observe and recognize patterns and connect the dots.
  2.  The cowards or fearful: this group knows
    or at least suspects something is wrong but lacks the courage to resist or speak out. This group would rather just go along to get along.
  3. Actual part of the evil.
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I’m not convinced Unlimited Submission is a Biblical Worldview.

Tyranny Vs LibertyUnlimited Submission IS NOT Biblical

Christians should do all they can to submit to the government (Romans 13:1-7).

However, the government does not have unfettered authority to control our lives.

We all face gray areas as believers, yes. But adopting a secular worldview, in whole or in part, is not “loving your neighbor.” Living as a courageous Christian who stands for the truth and extends an arm of love to others while never sacrificing the principles of God’s Word is what it means to “love your neighbor.”

If, for example, we lived in China, and we were under the “one-child” policy, we would have grounds for not following this policy. This worldview is directly contrary to Scripture’s teaching on the goodness of a home full of children (see Psalm 127 and 139). In such an instance, love of neighbor actually means standing against “Caesar” with a posture of gracious and controlled defiance.

For Christians, love of neighbor DOES NOT MEAN obeying the commands of false worldviews (Matthew 22:34-39).

For Christians, love of neighbor DOES MEAN you do what God commands, not what the world demands, and from that God-obeying stance, reach out to others in grace and truth.

The Great Commission and the Cultural Commission are Inseparable

 The scriptural justification for culture building begins in Genesis (V 1:26-28)

For five days, God created the world/universe we live in, then on the sixth day, He created man in His image and gave him/(us) dominion over creation [Genesis 1:26].

He commands us to carry on where He left off – the development of His creation will be our responsibility and it will be to “fill” and “subdue” the earth and that can only include both social and cultural means as well. (Gen 1:28)

At this point creation (before the Fall) is still “very good”. God gives the responsibility of creating civilization to the one who bears His image. We must further populate the planet by producing offspring, and we must further shape the environment and the culture by taming it.

Since Adam and Eve, each generation still bear children, builds families, and spread across the earth. We still tend animals and plant fields; we still construct cities and governments; we still make music and art.

Maybe we have lost our influence over the culture because the church has focused solely on the Great Commission of saving souls and has neglected to save/build the culture as well.

Salvation doesn’t mean simply freedom from sin; salvation should also mean being restored to the task we were given at the beginning of time – the task of creating and maintaining culture.

Every part of creation came from God’s hand. Redemption does not appear to be just for individuals but for all creation (Col 1:15-20).

The teaching seems to be clear; Christians are saved not only from something (sin) but also to something (Christ’s lordship over ALL of life).

We are meant to proceed to the Restoration of all God’s creation, which includes private and public virtue; individual and family life; education and community; work, politics, and law; science and medicine; literature, art, and music.

The goal of Redemption includes the sacred as well as the secular. We are to bring “all things” under Christ’s lordship in the home, school, work, corporate board rooms, movie screen, concert stage, city council, and legislative chambers.

Politics, the law, and art [all forms of media] are all part of the Cultural Commission or Mandate.

This is why EVERY Christian must have a comprehensive worldview that covers all aspects of reality and only a Biblical Worldview gives us that.

A Biblical Worldview insists that God’s laws govern ALL of God’s creation.

 

Source for these thoughts:

How Now Shall We Live by Chuck Colson

Unlimited Submission? By Dan Fisher

 

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When your worldview is wrong, EVERY decision you make is wrong

what is your worldviewEveryone has a worldview; it helps us to form our thoughts, our values and make the decisions we make.

According to Barna Research, 83% of American adults claim to be Christian but upon further digging, George Barna discovered a disturbing reality: Only 8% of these “professing christians” have a Biblical Worldview and worse yet, and the real reason the church has lost its influence on the culture, only about half the Christian leaders have a Christian Biblical Worldview.

Listen, we need worship, prayer, fellowship, Bible study, and evangelizing, but if our clergy, our churches continue to ignore their responsibility to redeem the culture, Christianity will continue to be marginalized and eventually relegated to private small group (illegal) gatherings; not dissimilar to any other “progressive”, “communist”, “socialist”, “marxist” nation.

The churches biggest failure of the past 70 or so years has been the failure to see Christianity as a life system, or worldview, that governs every area of our lives.

Only when the Church realizes that the final hope of redeeming the culture is to recognize the battle now is principle against Principle, worldview against Worldview.

Only then can we effectively evangelize a culture that now lives by a lie.

Evangelizing the gospel and helping to renew the culture are both ordained duties of The Way – True Christianity.

Real, True Christianity offers the only strategy to live in harmony with our world.

Far too many of our clergy and the churches they lead have been more influenced by culture than their influencing the culture they and their flock live in.

This is why we are in the situation we currently find ourselves – a citizenry that has been influenced by Marxist Progressive Leftism.

This worldview of Satan controls completely, two of the three major institutions of influence – public education and media (news, entertainment, literature, music, etc.)

And, unfortunately, this satanic worldview now preaches from the pulpit of far too many of our churches as well. They preach what they call Progressive Theology.

How do you recognize if you belong to one of these churches?

In her book “Another Gospel?” Author Alisa Childers gives the following description of progressive churches:

“Progressive christians” tend to avoid absolutes.

They view the Bible as primarily a human book and emphasize conscience and practices rather than certainty and beliefs.

They also tend to redefine, reinterpret or even reject essential doctrines of faith like the Virgin Birth, the deity of Jesus, and His bodily resurrection.”

Warning Signs to Look for to determine if your church is a progressive theology church:

In addition to the watering down of the gospel and leaning into every social justice narrative like Racial Injustice & Black Lives Matter, Political correctness, Climate Change, Critical Theory, Illegal Immigration, etc., they also are:

– an open advocate of homosexuality and gay marriage.

– take a liberal stand on abortion

– allow for the ordination of both men and women, including non-celibate homosexuals

– do not teach that Scripture is inerrant

– teach that the Bible is not to be taken literally

If we are going to make sense of our world, we must study worldviews.

Only the Biblical Worldview gives us a way to understand both the physical and moral order of things.

Only a Biblical Worldview covers all areas of life and thought.

Only a Christian Biblical Worldview offers a way to live in alignment with the real world.

 

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See, Judge, Act: What it means to be a Christian Dissident

Worldview

In today’s world, having a Biblical Worldview is a prerequisite to being a Christian Dissident.

To See means to be awake to the reality going on around you.

To Judge is a command to discern soberly the meaning of those realities in light of what you know to be true; seeing in light of a Biblical Worldview.

Then to Act after you’ve reached a conclusion; act to resist the evil.

Born Again Christians are called to Live Not By Lies, but to Live only in Truth. We must be willing to live outside the mob, courageously defend truth, and be willing to endure the consequences.

Our duty is to never knowingly support lies!!

(Things like The Dark Art of Framing of Fake News media outlets; wolves in sheep’s clothing in our churches that teach progressive christianity and worshiping the wrong Jesus; Marxism in our schools that erase history, teach “revised” history and squelches free speech by using semantics as a weapon of deception and political correctness to shame and falsify language; social justice of the gay mafia, the racist bigotry of organizations like BLM or any other social justice propaganda that denies biblical truth;  )

We may have to live in this world of lies but we do not need to choose to allow the world to live in us.

Sometimes being a dissident means speaking up and sometimes it may mean keeping silent when you aren’t expected to.

As Born Again Christians with a Biblical Worldview we are the only ones equipped to See the world as it really is; Judge the meaning of those realities in light of what we know to be true based on the perspective of a Biblical Worldview; and then after you’ve reached a conclusion, Act appropriately to resist the evil present.  (Source: Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher)

Born Again Christians with a Biblical Worldview don’t share our thoughts because we think it will change the minds of people who think differently than us. We share our thoughts to show people who already think like us that they’re not alone. We share so others might be encouraged to find their own Voice and consequently inspire others to find theirs.

 

 

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Raising Responsible Adult Citizens

Raising Responsible AdultsRaising responsible, mature adults should be the desired end result of all parents.

Three Characteristics of Maturity:

  • Self-control – not ruled by emotions and passion
  • Wisdom – rational
  • Responsible – 1st Habit of Private Victory of Highly Effective People

Liberalism is the natural characteristic of the human heart. It is the natural result of our fallen nature.

From birth, we are driven by emotion and passion.

We want what we want when we want it and we refuse things we do not want.

Children start off with the will to be gratified; we need to be taught self-control, wisdom, and responsibility.

“The emotional intelligence of parents today is depriving children the opportunity to learn through adversity. Most adolescents from affluent families have all the useful accessories – cell phones, credit cards, computers, and cars – but they have few of the responsibilities that build character…indulged children become susceptible to self-absorption, depression, anxiety and lack of self-control.” – Ed Shipman

Ten principles for shaping our children’s character and grooming them with self-control, wisdom, and responsibility:

1. Children must be helped, through proper training, to rein in their passions.

Children start off life with the will to be gratified. If that will is allowed to go unchecked, a child will grow up to be ruled by his passions rather than reason. A person ruled by his or her passions will then make decisions based on what gratifies them rather than on wisdom or responsibility. Such a person will not be governed by objective logic or personal integrity, but by what is merely expedient.

To prevent that from happening, the primary goal of parental training must be to help children learn self-control.

The military learned long ago that the best followers make the best leaders – group consensus destroys effectiveness.

Children, because of their innate desire for gratification, do not need to exercise leadership, but to follow strong leadership. This is why, for the first few years of their lives, we must offer strong leadership, giving them little say in the decisions we make for them.

Children raised to think they should have a say in all decisions that affect them grow up self-centered, demanding, impatient and ungrateful.

Parents who encourage their child to always speak his mind may never have to second-guess his opinions but they inadvertently feed his contempt for authority.

As our children head into adolescence it certainly may be wise to solicit thoughts and opinions from them. After all, we love them and they are people who deserve the respect of having their thoughts and feelings heard but, the family is not a democracy.

Childhood is a season of learning to accept leadership with grace and humility.

2.  Children’s happiness must not be the driving force of the home.

Watching children laugh and play is a tremendous joy, even for the biggest curmudgeon however, we must not live to gratify our children’s every desire and make our decisions based on their responses.

The happiest children seem to be those who are secure in their parents’ LOVING authority.

They obey the first time they are spoken to and know they will be rewarded with the trust of their parents and be held accountable with disciplinary consequences if they obey.

They are happy because they have found safety within the boundaries established and enforced. They are at peace because they do not have to carry the load of helping their parents run the home.

3. Children must not be indulged.

Indulging our children with everything for which they cry, beg or pout does NOT satisfy their will-to-be-gratified – it actually does just the opposite.

Indulging them includes things like buying them every new fashion-wear, video game or getting them a cell phone with unlimited minutes.

We indulge them when we offer freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want, with minimal accountability or when we permit them to talk back and voice their opinions about every instruction they receive. And we inflate their sense of self-importance when we make family decisions based not on what we think is wisest or best, but on their moods and reactions. An indulged child ultimately runs the roost. Constantly gratifying our child’s desire for pleasure creates in them a sense of entitlement and a general lack of appreciation.

The truth is that life does not give us everything we want and we better instill that early in our child’s training.

4. Children must not be rescued from every hardship.

When our children are infants we listen for their cries to know when they are suffering some discomfort and need our attention.

The problem is that too many parents never distinguish the difference between their will-to-survive and their will-to-be-gratified as they get older. They continue to rescue them every time they pout, cry or grumble.

Examples of rescuing are when we permit them to complain ungratefully about what they have been served for dinner, or worse, mom goes back to the stove to cook them something different. Or, jumping in to provide entertainment in response to the complaint of being bored.

Whenever their feelings are hurt, we do them no favor by rushing to their defense by attacking the offender.

However, we DO harm them ourselves if we do not teach them how to endure offenses and handle the inevitable “difficult people” in life. We must model for them that other people’s words or opinions of us need not determine how we react. If we are not careful, we will raise our children to be thin-skinned social wimps who blame others for their own inability to handle offenses.

Learning to face and overcome life’s hardships is a key part of developing maturity.

5. Children must be allowed to suffer the consequences of their actions.

When we continually rescue them from having to suffer the consequences of their actions, we keep them from developing a proper sense of responsibility.

Responsible people are not only reliable to their duties but do not depend upon others to clean up their messes or pay for their own obligations.

Restoration and restitution are key expressions of responsibility.

If we do not hold our children accountable for themselves but rescue them from the consequences of their actions, they grow up to believe that the pursuit of pleasure without consequences is their supreme right. They develop a “victim” mentality, thinking they are not responsible for the circumstances they have brought upon themselves.

Parents also teach irresponsibility by issuing too many warnings or reinforcing bad behavior. When a child is caught sneaking dessert before dinner, parents encourage bad behavior by merely admonishing him not to do it again and allowing him to finish eating what he took. This is no different than what is happening in many of our public educations schools today of the teacher permitting students to turn in assignments past the due date without any penalty.

Consistently allowing children to behave irresponsibly without consequence encourages future misconduct.

6. Children must be required to obey the first time they are spoken to.

An important key to remember is that parents must give directives just once.

Parental directives must be spoken calmly and only once, with an appropriate disciplinary consequence for disobedience.

When an authority figure habitually repeats directives or gives multiple warnings, it produces several negative side effects in our children.

  • Children permitted to continually disregard instructions grow up with their will-to-be-gratified strengthened.
  • Children consistently permitted to disregard their parent’s voices will lack the capacity to obey quickly at the threat of danger.
  • Those that have authority but are reluctant to exercise it, foster disrespect in those they lead. Parents who lose their children’s respect can often trace it back to this.
  • When parents repeat themselves, their anger may build until they are driven by rage to bring punishment. Raging parents can be tempted toward abusive parenting.

7. Children must be taught to obey without always knowing the reason why.

If parents establish firm behavioral boundaries for their toddlers, without offering a reason why they should obey, and limiting their personal choices, by the time their child is four years old will have learned self-denial and will be well on the path to self-control.

If children are offered reasons to obey before they have learned to obey without them, they will not learn the self-denial that is the foundation of self-control.

To grow in wisdom, children must be taught the reasoning behind parents’ commands but the time in childhood to begin making them wise is only after they have demonstrated they can consistently obey without needing to know why.

Children must learn that they are to obey first and then return for a full reason why.

Sassy and argumentative children who think their parents owe them convincing explanations usually get their way because parents justify all their instructions.

Children raised in such homes tend to grow up insubordinate toward teachers, law enforcement, employers and others in positions of authority.

8. Children must be required to treat parents and other adults with respect.

Respect for all authority, whether for people or rules, is learned in the home. Being required to obey parents and communicate respectfully teaches self-restraint and emphasizes that not everything one feels or thinks needs to be expressed. It reinforces the self-control inherent to maturity and helps children grow up to be good citizens.

9. Children need oversight of their moral diet.

By virtue of their years and life experience, parents have a greater understanding of cause and effect than their children. They know the wisdom behind the statements such as, “Eat your spinach,” You need your sleep,” and “Stay out of the street.” All a child knows is that he craves junk food, likes to stay up late, and the street seems a fun place to play. Because the average child has little life experience and his thinking is clouded by his “will-to-be-gratified,” he is the last person to know what is good for him. Parents must realize that they do not need their children’s permission to be parents – they already have that role. They must simply act on that authority, without apology. Children will not protect themselves from their appetites, so parents must take charge and protect them physically, mentally and morally.

Studies overwhelmingly show that children who saturate themselves with entertainment marked by senseless violence will be more tolerant or prone to violence; those who watch movies or music videos containing sensuality will increasingly express themselves sexually; children or adults with a diet of entertainment involving illicit relationships will treat marriage and wedding vows with less honor.

A child’s character is formed primarily by what good goes into him, and not only by what is kept from him.

And no one is in a better position to sow into his like Mom and Dad.

Unlimited use of computers, video games, television, etc. has become standard diversion tactics for too many parents.

Parents must decide that their children are worth a daily investment of time in teaching them character and a Biblical Worldview.

10. Children must be loved.

Parental love means doing what is best for children no matter how they might respond. One very poor reason modern parents are so soft on their children is because they crave their acceptance.

America has raised a crop of insecure parents who fear their children’s rejection.

Parents more than fifty years ago knew that life was hard and took the responsibility of preparing their children for the coming life very seriously. Today’s parents are afraid to let the kids cry. Afraid to make them mad and dread the thought that their children may hate them.

When we give to get affection back, we ARE NOT loving them – we are using them to elicit good feelings about ourselves.

When our children are young and vulnerable, they dearly need our leadership if they are to grow up to become mature, responsible adults.

There are some parents who may be congratulating themselves right now thinking they are really good parents because the negative consequences we’ve discussed don’t apply to them or their children. Let me caution you, however.

There are some who intimidate their children into subjection but fail to win their hearts. Their children may submit to discipline and control, and listen respectfully when parents speak, but their hearts will be far away. A parent who does not have their child’s heart will eventually discover that all compliance and respect was simply an expression of self-preservation. Such a child may patronize his parents and outwardly honor them during his early teen years, but flee their authoritarian rule the first chance they get.

Parents who are able to maintain influence over their children’s hearts, which is crucial in the first 12 years of their lives, are those who have cultivated rich, loving relationships with their children.

A character formed in childhood is a key element to true maturity.

Influencing behavior is not the same as influencing hearts.

Parents who give supremacy to their child’s happiness tend NOT to raise happy children.

Here’s how we can help our children and grandchildren to develop an informed and thoughtful Biblical Worldview (BWV):

1. Talk about Worldview early and often.
2. Explain non-Christian worldviews.
3. Strongly encourage your kids to read good books. Books by design are sequential and linear. The internet is not. A book takes you from pg 1 to page 2, then 3 and so on. On the other hand, start on page “Google” and you go wherever Google determines.
4. Discuss ideas whenever possible.
5. Ask good questions [Smart Questions (SQs)]

Sources: Born Liberal Raised Right by Reb Bradley, A Practical Guide to Culture and Tactics by Greg Koukl

 

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Why a Biblical Worldview Matters

WorldviewWhen your worldview is wrong, every decision you make is wrong.

Cartoon Networks animated Children’s show “The Amazing World of Gumball (a twelve-year-old car) looks up at the sky and asks, “Tell me universe, what is the meaning of life?”

In response, the planets sing a catchy tune. And it’s completely atheistic.

When you think you’ve got a problem and your life is full of doubt Remember in the scheme of things your puny, little, tiny, weeny, meager, futile, worthless…Gloomy, bleak, and pitiful Life just does not count!”

And we wonder why our kids are killing kids?

Actions you can take to protect and teach your kids:

  1. Become aware of what entertainment your kids are exposing themselves to.
  2. Teach your kids how to actively engage entertainment rather than passively absorb it. Don’t allow the culture to think for them. Use this list of questions to guide the conversation: What is the main story or overarching theme? How are the characters portrayed? Who are the good guys? The villains? How are the visuals used to illustrate and accentuate the storyline? What’s the central conflict? Whom does it involve? Is it resolved and how? What values are promoted directly and indirectly? What is the good life according to the movie? Are there any religious references? If so, what is said and how is religion portrayed? What worldviews are explored in the movie? How are they portrayed? Are there any historical references? Are they accurate or inaccurate? How do messages match up with Scripture? Do this not only with movies and tv but with song lyrics and books. Help your kids to not only see the truth from lies but also how media can manipulate the narrative. (See Framing by PragerU). The goal isn’t to get them to stop exposing themselves to junk; it’s to get them to understand why it’s junk and they can stop themselves from becoming a sheeple.
  3. Replace toxic screen time with better screen time. Replace Netflix and Disney Channel with Phil Vischer’s, “What’s in the Bible”. Substitute the mindless media with thoughtful entertainment.
  4. Create alternatives to entertainment consumption.
  5. Get your kids outside.
  6. For younger kids, do t let the screen become the babysitter.
  7. Help them develop the READING habit.
  8. Practice what you preach.

Remember that as followers of Jesus, we are to be in the world, but not of it.

(Source: “A Practical Guide to Culture by John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle)

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