Home Education: An Option With Eternal Significance

The following is a portion of an article taken from the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of the magazine: Homeschoolenrichment.com and written by Jonathan Lewis, a homeschool graduate.



Given the extraordinary potential of strong, biblical families, it should come as no surprise that the devil has been actively at work to destroy families and thus crush the immense spiritual power they represent. If he can destroy the biblical family, he can destroy the children. Destroy the children from Christian homes, and the spread of God's Kingdom is dealt a critical blow. Thus, in a very real sense, the biblical family is at the very epicenter of the great spiritual conflict that rages between good and evil.

Since the family is at the center of the battle, it should come as no surprise that the devil has sought to destroy the family through every means at his disposal. Through a myriad of temptations and deceptions, Satan has actively worked to undermine the family, and thus hinder--or even halt--the passing on of the Christian faith and godly character from one generation to the next.

This battle for the family continues in the world today. From the struggle to redefine marriage, to the rampancy of divorce, to the barrage of anti-family messages poured out by movies, television, and media of all kinds, the family is still under vigorous assault. This shouldn't surprise us, given how spiritually powerful a Christian family can be.

In his war against the family, Satan does not need to completely destroy every trace of the family as an institution. If he can simply interfere with the proper function of the family, he has won his battle....

As we've already noted, on of the primary purposes of marriage and family is to raise up the next generation in a godly way. Thus, if the devil can stop a family from performing this function, he has more or less succeeded in spiritually neutralizing that family.

In the civilized world today, what is the greatest barrier to parents performing their spiritual responsibilities towards their children? The answer is simple: school. With the creation of an almost universally attended school system, children from Christian parents have been sent en masse out of the safe and loving environment of their homes into an educational system devoid of Christian nurturing.

What better way for Satan to destroy the function of the family?

Once public education had fully permeated society as the default option, parents were lulled into a comfortable feeling of indifference. We rarely question that which is as natural as breathing. Public school was the natural choice. Period.

Removing children from their families, however, was only half the battle. To achieve a more devastating victory, Satan could not stop at simply fragmenting the family and removing children from the influence of their parents. Certainly that would have been a triumph, but why stop there? If he could destroy the children once they were removed from their families, so much the better. Indoctrination in anti-Christian worldviews and moral standards, combined with the destructiveness of intense peer dependency, created an environment from which few would escape spiritually intact.

Placed within the system at a formative age, a child embarks on his or her educational journey still possessing a youthful innocence. Watch, however, as such children progress, and see the eyes that were once bright begin to lose their joy and luster. Watch as the happy, innocent smiles are gradually wiped away and replaced with expressions of rebellion, pain, and cynical apathy. Watch as the childlike faith is replaced with unanswered questions and haunting doubts. Watch as young people, removed from every wholesome influence and crying for the acceptance of someone--anyone--destroy their lives through encounters with drugs, alcohol, and immoral behavior. The innocent, bright-eyed kids of yesterday have become the tragic statistics of today.

If we could know the sum total of the spiritual potential being destroyed in our secularized education system, the answer would be mind-numbing. How many young people, who God desired to send as missionaries to the far corners of the globe, have been spiritually plundered in their journey through school, leaving in darkness the people they could have reached? How many physicians, intended by God to care for their patients with true Christian love and grace, have themselves been spiritually left for dead in the wastes of our schools? How many honorable judges and statesmen, intended by God to bring justice and righteousness back to our land, have instead embraced the moral relativism rampant in our culture? How many mothers and fathers, who could have passed their faith on to their children, instead had their own childlike faith shipwrecked on the rocks of humanism, evolutionism, and political correctness taught in our classrooms? How long will Christian parents ignore the problem and shut their eyes to the mounting casualties all around us?

Here's a point to ponder: if every Christian parent in this country for the past two generations had taken responsibility for their children as God intended, how much different would our world be today?

It was only a matter of time before someone would wake up and see the tragic results of sending our children to be taught and mentored by those who do not share our beliefs and values. Visionaries, brave and bold, challenged the prevailing paradigm and charted a new course. The Christian home education movement was born.

We're still in the minority, but even a small light can dispel much darkness. And just as one candle can light another without losing any of its own light, so we can spread the good news of this God-honoring approach to life through our positive example.

Those of us who have chosen to uphold the biblical family and follow God's ways in bringing up the next generation are like lights in the darkness, the city on the hilltop that Jesus spoke of, which cannot be easily hidden.

If America is the last, best hope on Earth for preserving the dream of freedom, as Lincoln believed, then surely the homeschoolers of the world are the last, best hope on earth for preserving the vision of strong biblical families and the idea of parent-child discipleship.

God has raised up the Christian home-schooling movement at this point in history for a special purpose. At a time when darkness was rampant and Satan seemed poised to crush all remnant of the biblical family, God chose to send light. Like Esther, who was God's instrument to bring deliverance to His people, I believe we have been brought to this place "for such a time as this."

With the spiritual destruction taking place around us, it is now more important than ever for us to realize the magnitude of our responsibility and to accept as a holy charge from God the privilege of raising up a new generation for Him. If we fail to train up an army for Christ, who will do it in our place? If we do not equip the next generation to stand strong in the battle, who will? Dare we hope that others will accept responsibility if we refuse?

The time has come for us to claim our position and refuse to retreat. Today, though surrounded by the casualties of war, let us take our place in the battle with courage and hope, knowing that God is on our side when we are on His. Through biblical home education, the missionaries, the physicians, the judges and statesmen, the mothers and fathers of the next generation can be trained in God's ways rather than being left to the destruction inflicted by the enemy of their souls. Through us, God can send light and hope back into a world shadowed in darkness.

Satan may try to deceive us with the belief that homeschooling is simply one of a variety of educational alternatives, and that each is equally valid. However, we can find strength and courage in knowing that we are engaged in a work far higher and nobler than simply instructing our children in the realm of academic knowledge. Ours is a fight for the very heart and soul of our faith and our families. Upon us has descended the responsibility of carrying the message of Christ to the next generation. To us has been entrusted the sacred duty of preserving alive the vision of a multi-generational legacy of faith.

Let us accept the charge humbly and gladly, and never surrender it for any price. With God's help, we can dispel the shadows and shine forth as lights in the darkness.