By J. Jeff Toler, Shenandoah Christian Alliance
“The church is the key to moral order in a civil society” – Charlie Kirk w/Pastor Jack Hibbs
The problem with sharing our own values and traditions with our children is they have trouble hearing us over the noise of everyone else in their lives. Our values must include the shared connection between responsibility and meaning. Are they hungry for that? How can they be if they are not hearing it discussed anywhere else? Is it even possible to have discussions like this with our children when all they are hearing in school focuses on rights and privileges? It’s very doubtful.
These concepts should be central to our own lives. Virtue it is assumed, ought to have been taught by our parents. But we must come to terms with the reality of this present age: because of divorce, abuse, and infidelity, 27% of our children grow up with only one parent—the vast majority of these are fatherless. As Christian parents, when was the last time we actually heard our children ask questions about issues of character, decency, and integrity? In the classroom, instruction of these values has been edged out by discussions of inclusion, diversity, racial divide, gender identity, and all of the popular tropes —and have been replaced by the very objectives of Marxist ideologues. The most important influencers of your children are their teachers. Christian and family values are often held in contempt by them. They are not allowed in the classroom.
The people who typically think high moral character and civility really matter are usually people of faith. The Body of Christ should be influencers and accepted role models wherever we are placed. If we have been placed in a peaceful community we do well. But if all we seek is our own personal peace, prosperity, and contentment, we are not contributing to real community at all. Examine the cities where recent and current rioting, looting, and destruction are occurring, and you will see how little community actually mattered. Imagine then, how our children are processing the politicized danger of COVID, the rioting and destruction, government edicts, forced isolation, and hiding behind masks? The youngest are traumatized. The older kids are contemptuous.
Has history taught us anything about the threat and menace of Marxism/Communism?
When Marxism emerged in the very early twentieth century, few predicted the terrible danger it would pose. Ultimately however, history proved that era to be the deadliest of any time in the epoch of the Church Age. Communism throughout the world claimed roughly 100 million lives through forced labor, starvation, firing squads, and only God knows how many other horrors. We recoil when we learn of the rape and murder of someone in our neighborhood. If something so horrible happened to one of our own family, we would be devastated, and inconsolable. With 100 million, we are unable to process this information with any such emotion—because we cannot comprehend it. Nevertheless, we should thank God this ideological nightmare is over.
But it is not over.
Is Communism still a threat to humanity? Yes, because it now exists as cultural Marxism throughout much of the world. In America, it is found in virtually every cultural and social system, including: the media, entertainment, both in the judicial and medical systems, big tech business, and education. In American politics, the case can be easily made that it is capitulating to cultural Marxism in a number of ways. A stark comparison of how this actually looks is found in a party platform comparison. It is important to notice when it comes to education, the Democratic Party has taken no position on school choice. The DNC platform does state, “We believe a strong public education system is an anchor of our democracy” for “all children.” And small wonder as we will see.
There is an important connection between our church, our children, and our schools… they are ours because they belong to us.
The highly influential education theorist, psychologist, and cultural Marxist, Benjamin Bloom wrote:
- “A student attains ‘higher order thinking’ when he no longer believes in right or wrong. A large part of what we call good teaching is a teacher’s ability to obtain effective objectives by challenging the student’s fixed beliefs… the teacher should be able to use education to reorganize a child’s thoughts, attitudes, and feelings.” (1)
Much of the educational taxonomies inspired or developed by Bloom are a significant part of America’s public school curriculum today. The Christian family should expect support from their own church with a strong response to the attack mounted against us by the very authority that we thought would safeguard our children: the public school systems.
Over time, America has adapted to cultural Marxism because almost all social systems have fallen under the influence of this evil cult of insanity, and we weren’t paying attention. But certainly, our children should not be in public schools at this time. They should be learning the truth. How? Through home schooling or private Christian schools. How have they fared in the 2019-2020 public school year—that was ended five months early, and may remain closed indefinitely?
One thing Kirk makes clear, Marxists know The Church is a threat. That is why they want our churches to keep quiet, and stay closed. School closures are another way to create chaos, and should be considered child abuse.
Marxists always have, and always will despise God, His Church, and the family. In the year 2020, the truth of this has never been more obvious. Voting Christian values is still possible. It may not be in 2024.
(1) Gotcher, “Benjamin Bloom and His Taxonomies (“modernized” by Marzano and Webb) compared to Karl Marx”
