The ulterior motive in the school strikes

Home schooling in Britain is growing rapidly - and with good reason.

It is August and the schools are closed for the holidays. Traditionally, this has been a time when children are with their parents, whether at home or on holiday – that special time of the year that offers opportunities for families to be together.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 comes to mind: a mandate given by God long ago, that all might go well with us. We can picture parents and children considering the beauty of God’s Creation on summer days when, walking and talking, they learn together about him.

Yet in this continuing season of political tension and upheaval, it is much more likely that we will be encouraged to dwell on the new Prime Minister’s tactics to win parliamentary battles (especially the battle to come out of Europe) than on how we might bring up the nation’s children in the ways of God.

Indeed, when September comes round and the schools re-open, for Christian parents the prospect of what will be taught to their children is of ever-growing concern. Watchmen in our nation, such as our own team at Prophecy Today and Issachar Ministries and others such as Christian Concern, inform us of more and more examples of the danger posed to our children through agendas at work within our educational establishments.

Godless Agendas

Unbiblical agendas such as those that have been imposed by the LGBTQ+ movement are impacting even the youngest primary school children, who are being driven to question their God-given biological gender.¹ The movement to eradicate belief in the God of Creation has long imposed itself and now we move on to the consequences, clearly outlined in Romans 1.

For Christian parents the prospect of what is being taught to their children in schools is of ever-growing concern.

Ungodly forces are being allowed to influence the teaching of our children and take them off that wonderful, God-given path for each one. “Train a child in the way he should go” (Prov 22:6) is the mandate given to parents, for which a sensitive, protected, God-given educational programme is needed whereby a child, nurtured first by parents and helped by teachers, learns how to walk with God themselves. Woe to those who perpetuate godless agendas in our schools. Jesus had these words of warning for them:

If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matt 18:6)

Pressure Upon Pressure

The latest LGBTQ+ pressures on children add to others already well-established and highlighted in Prophecy Today for many years. The bigger picture, over the longer term, is of powers of darkness at work to divide up families and destroy the faith of an entire generation.

For example, before our eyes are growing numbers of teenagers being drawn into gang warfare and knife crime, to the extent that MPs are now recommending police officers in schools.² Does this not illustrate a society that is increasingly unguarded against the seductive powers of evil?

Even Christian schools are under pressure, as central Government has taken it upon itself to impose pressures to conform to secular humanist ideals, especially through Ofsted. If Ofsted were encouraging biblically-based curricula and putting in measures to protect our children by reinforcing the God-given mandate that parents have been given, then we could be grateful. If instead, we find an increasing departure and enforcement of ungodly educational content and strategy (dubbed ‘muscular liberalism’ by Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman), then it is time to be very concerned.

The bigger picture, over the longer term, is of powers of darkness at work to divide up families and destroy the faith of an entire generation.

Enough is Enough?

Many Christian parents are alarmed at what is happening in schools because of Government pressures to conform, and are saying, ‘enough is enough’. According to Ephesians 6:4 and elsewhere in the Bible, it is parents who have responsibility for their children. In the coming days, I do not doubt that many will seek to withdraw from or avoid the growing corruption of the world, including that which is in many schools.

Home education of children is an obvious, and still legal, option, that has much support in the USA and which many Christian families in the UK are already pursuing with great success. The number of home-schooled children in Britain has doubled in the last four years.³ It could become even more widespread here if those of us with experience in education can help make it an attractive and meaningful possibility.

If there is not a major move of repentance across the nation as a whole, home education could be a vital means to strengthen Christian families for the days ahead. Education of our children in a Christ-centred way should be a central priority in this, and will require those with expertise to seek the Lord in considering how to provide support. Could this be part of God’s strategy for safeguarding faithful families in future? What part might you play?

References

1 It is interesting to note the furore which has broken out in Birmingham primary schools between school staff intent on imposing a radical LGBTQ+ agenda and concerned parents. Most of the parents protesting are Muslim, prompting some difficult questions for the Government on how to negotiate the competing demands of these two minority groups, Islam and LGBTQ+.

2 MPs call for police in schools to cut youth violence. BBC News, 31 July 2019.

3 See here. This is for a variety of reasons, one of which is undoubtedly the impulse of Christian parents to protect their children.

Parliament is sliding down the slippery slope of Romans 1.

Wednesday 27 March 2019 was a day that will be remembered in history as the occasion when MPs ‘took control’ of the business of the House of Commons in regard to Brexit. With all the attention on the process of Britain leaving the European Union, it is very easy to forget that there is still a trickle of ‘normal’ business being processed.

Earlier that day MPs had participated in four ‘deferred divisions’, recording their votes on paper. One of the votes was in the name of the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds. It sought approval for the draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019.¹

Whilst most people, including Christians, have focussed on Brexit, I have found myself asking if there was an element of divine arrangement in the RSE division being held that same day.

The EU and Scripture

Experience suggests that amongst Christians, individuals' responses to the EU are influenced by their eschatology. Here, therefore, I look back in time, rather than forwards, to a Scripture passage that provides an historical perspective through which to evaluate the vision behind a united Europe.

Acts 17 records Paul's speech to the people of Athens, in which he declared that the ‘unknown God’ could be known. He reasoned that this God made "from one blood every nation of men", and ordered "their times and the limits of their lands." He then explained why the Lord had put men in separate nations - "that they should seek the LORD...and find him."

Scripture traces the beginning of nations to the division of mankind at Babel (Gen 11). Their construction of the tower was accompanied by a desire to make a name or reputation for themselves, thus preventing them from being scattered. Their Creator frustrated their proud plans by confusing their speech and separating them. Paul explained how this was actually for mankind's benefit - to put our forefathers, and now us, in situations which would motivate us to seek for the Lord and find Him.

The vision behind the European Union - to eliminate wars by removing national identities - has similarities with the union of tower builders from Shinar. The fatal flaw in the present-day project is that mankind is seeking to achieve peace through their own efforts whilst excluding their Creator. Such a scenario, motivated by a desire to throw off the Lord's ‘fetters’, is described in Psalm 2. This quest turns our attention back to RSE.

The vision behind the European Union has similarities with the union of tower builders from Shinar.

RSE and LGBTQ+

Education Secretary Damian Hinds (left), Philip Davies MP (right).The new guidance should have been approved the previous Wednesday, but at the end of the debate,² one MP, Philip Davies,³ refused to approve the proposals. His action necessitated the following Wednesday's division, when he was joined by 20 others in rejecting the changes, whilst 538 supported them.

What had become clear in the previous week’s debate was that the majority of participating MPs perceived these measures to be promoting LGBTQ+ rights. Essentially, the guidelines distinguish between the ‘relationships’ and the ‘sex education’ aspects of the curriculum. The Government view is that parents' freedom to withdraw children from the latter should not apply to the former. It is under ‘relationships education’ in primary schools that the Department for Education wants children to learn, in Amanda Spielman's words, "that sometimes there are families that have two mummies or two daddies"⁴ and that is alright.

Others have discussed at length the reasons why this is a dangerous direction of travel and why the new guidance should be rejected.⁵ That is not my purpose here. Nor do I want to discuss the clash which this approach has already precipitated with Muslim parents at Parkfield School, Birmingham. Jules Gomes has helpfully highlighted where such secular stupidity will lead.⁶ My objective is to connect the overwhelming support amongst our political elite for forcing LGBTQ+ norms on young children with the failure of the self-same people to deliver Brexit.

Hopefully most Christians realise that Romans 1 is the passage which prophetically describes the judgment process in which Britain finds itself today. We are reaping what we have sown for centuries - the roots go back to the Enlightenment at least. The steady progression which Paul outlines begins with a refusal to recognise the Lord as God, leading to minds being filled with foolish things and senseless hearts being darkened. Idolatry comes next, followed by sexual immorality, as the Lord gives people over to the desires of their hearts.

Romans 1 is the passage which prophetically describes the judgment process in which Britain finds itself today.

The result is a society full of the awful attitudes and actions now bringing death to our streets and emotional and mental distress to many children. The consequences are unavoidable - though they know his law, "that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

If the same-sex marriage legislation did not convince Christians that Britain is now reaping the fruit of the unbelief it has sown for centuries, then I am not sure that this most recent decision will either - but it ought to!

The Consequences of Damaging Children

When Justin Welby, despite his evangelical credentials, spoke out in November 2017 in defence of Church of England schools allowing pupils to self-identify their gender,⁷ these words of Jesus came to mind; "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea" (Matt 18:6).

With that in mind, consider the ease with which the majority of our MPs agreed last week to teach unrighteousness to the nation's children. What does this say about the foolishness that now grips them?

The evidence is that they have been handed over to delusion, because they refused to receive a love of the truth.⁸ Is it any wonder therefore that they are unable to know what to do about Brexit?

Christians should recognise that we share a responsibility for what has happened. Mixture in the churches has meant that over the last two centuries we have collectively squandered multiple opportunities to challenge secularism. We too are reaping what we have sown. There is no room for us to point the figure at politicians when we have failed to stand for righteousness. Within ‘Bible-believing’ circles today there are those who are embracing unrighteousness, whilst the majority of the remainder remain silent.

Could the reason why it is Muslim parents who are rising up to challenge the secularism of the political classes be that Christians have forfeited their responsibility? If so, the outlook is far from good.

If as God's people we are no longer fit for his purposes, we need to seek him seriously to discover what we should do. When Israel lost its flavour, it was twice thrown out of the land. If the churches have lost their saltiness, then no amount of campaigning will rescue society.

Through Joel, the Lord told his people that it was time to "Return to Me with all your heart," adding "Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate...Who knows whether he will not turn and relent?" Christians need to do this earnestly, not to save the nation, but to ensure they are anchored firmly in Christ and prepared for what lies ahead.

Further update: The RSE guidelines are currently going through the House of Lords, where hundreds of letters of complaint have prompted a floor debate instead of just a vote. Read more on the Barnabas Fund website.

References

1 Find out more here.

2 Approval of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019. 20 March 2019, Hansard, Volume 656. Watch on Parliament TV here.

3 Philip Davies, MP for Shipley.

4 Ofsted says schools should teach pupils about same-sex couples. BBC News, 21 February 2019.

5 Why the Draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education Act 2019 should be rejected. Gavin Ashenden, 20 March 2019. And Izzy Montague, "parents are part of the problem" and why RSE is so controversial. Christian Concern, 29 March 2019.

6 Teaching Muslim kids gay sex is like force-feeding their fathers pork. 'Rebel Priest' Dr Jules Gomes, 12 March 2019.

7 Roberts, R. Church of England tells schools to let children 'explore gender identity'. The Independent, 13 November 2017.

8 Hardy, R. Receive the Love of the Truth. Amen.org.uk.

9 Hosea 10:12: "Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek The LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you."

Christians must take back territory lost to Disney.

A deeply disturbing report has highlighted what many have come to know, expect and even accept – that many of our children are missing out on religious education.

Flagging up the ‘state of the nation’ report published by the Religious Education Council and the National Association of Teachers of RE (NATRE), the Daily Mail headline ‘Death knell for RE in schools’ was, I think, a tad over the top.¹

However, the neglect of this aspect of education is very serious and, as with so many sections of our broken society, the Church is in part responsible.

The Reason for Education

The very motive for introducing education for all in the 18^th and 19^th centuries was so that children could come to know the love of God. It was, in the first place, so that they could be taught the Bible, which contains a treasure trove of teaching on all matters of life and which equips new generations with unsurpassed knowledge on how to live – not just with your mind and body, but with your heart and soul.

The Bible teaches repeatedly that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 9:10) and someone has said that godless education simply produces educated sinners.

The original motive for introducing education for all was so that children could come to know the love of God.

Deborah Weston, NATRE’s research officer, said: “By developing knowledge and understanding about different religions and world views in the security of a classroom, young people have the opportunity to engage with complex, diverse and constantly evolving subject matter.”² Indeed, what’s wrong with that – even for our humanist friends?

Julia Diamond-Conway of RE Today, an exhibitor at the Christian Resources Exhibition, said there was no excuse for breaking the law by not offering RE in schools. She told CRE News:

In collaboration with NATRE, we produce many high-quality resources to inspire and inform children – for their lives both now and in the future. There is just no excuse for not following the law and teaching a subject so relevant in today’s society. Many people think RE is about issues from centuries ago and no longer relevant. But our material talks of modern times and uses modern techniques to involve children fully in the learning process.³

A Department for Education spokesman said: “Religious education remains compulsory for all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools, at all key stages and we expect all schools to fulfill their statutory duties.”⁴

Perhaps this latter phrase – ‘statutory duties’ - is part of the problem. We have lost the heart and soul of what education is really about. We treat people as computers. Back in the 19^th Century, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, speaking on the subject of education in various countries, said: “The truth was that wherever everything was left to the government the subject became a machine.”⁵

A Deprived Generation

According to the report, 28% of secondary schools told the Department for Education that they gave no dedicated curriculum time to RE. It is estimated that this equates to 800,000 pupils being deprived of their legal right to learn about major religions and beliefs, leaving them without the religious literacy they need for life in modern multi-faith Britain.

It further called for “a clear public statement that it is not acceptable in any circumstances for a school to be failing to provide RE at any key stage as part of its broad and balanced curriculum.”

We have lost the heart and soul of what education is really about - we treat people as computers.

It would be quite wrong to conclude that today’s youngsters are not interested in the spiritual side of life. It’s just that many have been denied the chance of exploring these things. And this is where much of the Christian Church is failing them. The average person in the pew is tragically ignorant of the huge opportunities we still have for sharing the Gospel in schools. They simply accept the perceived, but misinformed, notion that God has been thrown out of the school window (perhaps, in part, due to the teaching of evolution as opposed to creationism) – and all we can do is lick our wounds and sulk over a very sorry state of affairs.

Yet in stark contrast to the USA, where it may surprise many to learn that Christian teaching is banned from schools, we have a wide open door. And as with the vision St Paul had of the man from Macedonia (Acts 16:9), many are saying to us: “Come over here and help us!”

Opportunities Still There!

Conscientious head-teachers are only too willing to welcome those who have a heart to teach (though not preach to) children about the love of Jesus. In some cases, even qualified RE teachers (who are not necessarily Christians, after all) feel out of their depth when asked to lead assemblies.

But Christian youth workers can (and do) step up to the plate with an authoritative, passionate and winsome approach to the subject. And if they win the trust of staff, there are many opportunities to support pupils through the school curriculum.

For example, Bible Society’s Open the Book project is becoming increasingly popular in primary schools as teams from local churches around the country lead assemblies through a dramatic reading of Bible stories.

I declare an interest in this subject as my wife is involved in visiting primary schools across the large metropolitan borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. Along with other Christians, I have on many occasions accompanied her on various projects and witnessed the sheer delight of children – wide-eyed and open-mouthed – as they respond in rapt attention and wonder to the amazing stories of the Bible.

We share these stories because they are true – not fairytales – and yet there is something truly magical about them too! We need to take back territory lost to Disney and the like, and restore our confidence in the ‘greatest story ever told’. It should not surprise us that the Gospel story appeals to children. After all, Jesus said we could not enter the Kingdom of God unless we approached it as little children do (Matt 18:3).

It’s not that today’s youngsters are not interested in the spiritual side of life – it’s that many have been denied the chance of exploring these things.

Saving Priceless Souls

Our education has become too cerebral. Have we forgotten the importance of the soul? Jesus said: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?” (Mark 8:36). What price do we put on the soul of a child? It is priceless. Do we think that by filling them with facts they will live useful lives?

Jesus said he had come to give us “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). Isn’t that what we would like to see in our children – that they would learn to live life to the full; knowing God, being comfortable with themselves, feeling secure in the love of Jesus and fulfilling a very clear purpose as they answer a particular calling on their lives?

Jesus put so much emphasis on children, and I’m told that Jewish tradition still bears that out in that those wishing to teach children, as opposed to adults, are required to spend far more time training for the role.

Jesus warned that in the case of those who cause any of these little ones who believe in him to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone tied around his neck and drowned in the depths of the sea (Matt 18:6). Denying the opportunity for children to hear about Jesus surely comes close to this – for you would be encouraging them to turn away from God and never know the joy of salvation and of sins forgiven.

A Calling of Great Honour

Without a compass, how do we find the way? Forget the Satnav and the iPhone. Without the measuring rod of the Bible, how will children know right from wrong; how will they discern lies from truth?

In searching for a memorial plaque to a Jewish relative on the Thames Embankment, I was taken aback somewhat by a magnificent statue to Robert Raikes (1736-1811), founder of the Sunday School movement – a reminder that in days of yore, educating children with the Bible was seen as a calling worthy of great honour.

May it become so again!

References

1 Daily Mail, 18 September 2017.
2 Ibid.
3 Hall, D. RE in schools: No excuse to break the law. CRE News, 21 September 2017.
4 See note 1.
5 Speech to the House of Commons, 20 June 1839.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘What Are They Teaching the Children?’, edited by Lynda Rose (Wilberforce Publications, 2016).

This very pertinent and important question for our age is thoroughly explored in this collection of 12 essays written by a wide-ranging group of well-qualified contributors and skilfully put together by Lynda Rose, CEO of Voice for Justice UK, who have published this volume in conjunction with Wilberforce Publications.

Much Food for Thought

Lynda herself has written a key chapter, entitled Battle for the Soul of our Nation. Other topics covered include the role of parents as primary educators, the relevance of Christian assemblies and the issue of indoctrination, especially in the areas of sexual morality and scientism (the way in which scientific investigation has been turned into a belief system). The collection concludes with a personal reflection by Baroness Cox, called Holding the Line.

If you are concerned about the ways in which state education has become a vehicle for promoting secular and liberal beliefs about religion, morality and the family, often overriding the wishes and values of parents, then this is a book that will give you much food for thought.

Vital Resource

It is not a book to be dipped into lightly. Every chapter has been thoroughly researched and is well-documented with many endnotes. The overall contention of the book is that education today has become an ideological battleground.

There has been a revolution, a bloodless coup that has been consciously planned and instigated by secular activists committed to the overthrow of the Judeo-Christian foundations on which our educational system was built. Given this scenario, this book is a vital resource for teachers, parents and all those concerned with the wellbeing of our nation’s children.

What Are They Teaching the Children? (352 pages) is available from Amazon for £12.

The American College of Pediatricians speaks out about the damage that politically correct gender ideology can do to children.

After Dr Lisa Nolland's article last week on the LGBT movement, today we quote at length from a statement made by the American College of Pediatricians (March 2016), which gives a professional medical perspective on the harm that gender ideology can do to children. You can read the full statement by clicking this link.

Originally posted March 21, 2016 – a temporary statement with references. A full statement will be published in summer 2016. Updated with Clarifications on April 6, 2016.

"The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.

1. Human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: "XY" and "XX" are genetic markers of health – not genetic markers of a disorder. The norm for human design is to be conceived either male or female. Human sexuality is binary by design with the obvious purpose being the reproduction and flourishing of our species. This principle is self-evident. The exceedingly rare disorders of sex development (DSDs), including but not limited to testicular feminization and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third sex.

2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one. No one is born with an awareness of themselves as male or female; this awareness develops over time and, like all developmental processes, may be derailed by a child's subjective perceptions, relationships, and adverse experiences from infancy forward. People who identify as "feeling like the opposite sex" or "somewhere in between" do not comprise a third sex. They remain biological men or biological women.

3. A person's belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such. These children suffer from gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria (GD), formerly listed as Gender Identity Disorder (GID), is a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V). The psychodynamic and social learning theories of GD/GID have never been disproved.

4. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous. Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.

5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.

6. Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.

7. Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT – affirming countries. What compassionate and reasonable person would condemn young children to this fate knowing that after puberty as many as 88% of girls and 98% of boys will eventually accept reality and achieve a state of mental and physical health?

8. Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse. Endorsing gender discordance as normal via public education and legal policies will confuse children and parents, leading more children to present to "gender clinics" where they will be given puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually ensures that they will "choose" a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as young adults.

Michelle A. Cretella, M.D.
President of the American College of Pediatricians

Quentin Van Meter, M.D.
Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians
Pediatric Endocrinologist

Paul McHugh, M.D.
University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital

The bottom line: Our opponents advocate a new scientifically baseless standard of care for children with a psychological condition (GD) that would otherwise resolve after puberty for the vast majority of patients concerned. Specifically, they advise: affirmation of children's thoughts which are contrary to physical reality; the chemical castration of these children prior to puberty with GnRH agonists (puberty blockers which cause infertility, stunted growth, low bone density, and an unknown impact upon their brain development), and, finally, the permanent sterilization of these children prior to age 18 via cross-sex hormones.

There is an obvious self-fulfilling nature to encouraging young GD children to impersonate the opposite sex and then institute pubertal suppression. If a boy who questions whether or not he is a boy (who is meant to grow into a man) is treated as a girl, then has his natural pubertal progression to manhood suppressed, have we not set in motion an inevitable outcome? All of his same sex peers develop into young men, his opposite sex friends develop into young women, but he remains a pre-pubertal boy. He will be left psychosocially isolated and alone. He will be left with the psychological impression that something is wrong. He will be less able to identify with his same sex peers and being male, and thus be more likely to self identify as "non-male" or female.

Moreover, neuroscience reveals that the pre-frontal cortex of the brain which is responsible for judgment and risk assessment is not mature until the mid-twenties. Never has it been more scientifically clear that children and adolescents are incapable of making informed decisions regarding permanent, irreversible and life-altering medical interventions.

For this reason, the College maintains it is abusive to promote this ideology, first and foremost for the well-being of the gender dysphoric children themselves, and secondly, for all of their non-gender-discordant peers, many of whom will subsequently question their own gender identity, and face violations of their right to bodily privacy and safety."

For the full statement with footnotes and explanations, click here.

Quoted with permission from the American College of Pediatricians (ACPEDS). The ACPEDS website contains a wealth of scientific information and resources in defence of biblical principles regarding family, sexuality, health and life.