When will pastors grieve for our children?

Church leaders who claim to be Bible faithful often avoid controversial issues and then duck under the rationale of “we just need to share the gospel.” Yet the shattered lives of their congregants and the lost souls they try to save pile up at the church doors.

The flood is here, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to protect our eyes. Sometimes pastors won’t even encourage Christians to vote when not only individual lives are in crisis, but our country itself.

The reality is that talk of homosexual sin, abortion or gender confusion are not primarily political issues. They are sin issues with some political implications, and the good news is that these topics can easily become opportunities to share salvation truth.

So why isn’t this being done? Some pastors have jumped into this fire and for them I am so grateful. Yes, these can be stressful conversations. For some, and this includes pastors, it is way out of their comfort zone and, to be honest, sometimes their hearts are not that troubled – yet – by the suffering caused by these sins.

However, there is another kind of suffering: that of children who have been victimized by those who, in the confusion of their darkened hearts, have become victims. But we can’t wait for the lesbian librarian to convert. Her evil actions must be stopped now (through changed policy, of course – never through violence).

Where are our church leaders? I’m not talking about people like Andy Stanley, who have made deep public compromises. (Read Megan Basham’s excellent book Shepherds for sale for more details). I am talking about those who still preach on a faithful Biblical foundation, but do not venture into battle.

I always thought it was because they didn’t know the details. It sounds cynical, but I think many people just don’t want to know.

I pray for the day when America’s pastors open their eyes to the truth and grieve. Grief and sorrow have driven me to do the work I have been doing for more than twenty years.

In June 2002, I gathered a stack of books, sat on my back deck and spent the next two weeks flipping through, reading as much as I could, taking notes, bookmarking pages and moving on to the next.

After the first day, I added a box of tissues to the pile.

The books are now relics, the first titles in a new ‘gay’ category for young people and teachers: Rainbow Boys, Growing Up Gay/Lesbian, Queering Primary Education, Queer 13: Lesbian and Gay Writers Remember Seventh Grade, and others.

I knew this would be a tough job, and I knew the proud and often pornographic corruption of underage children would infuriate me. But I didn’t expect how much it would make me cry imagining the innocent eyes that would read this depravity and lose ideals, dreams and faith in humanity. And get premature itchy curiosity and sometimes sexual arousal and the risky behavior that quickly follows.

That pile of books has been replaced in recent years by many, many more graphic titles: All Boys Aren’t Blue, The Bluest Eye, Gender Queer, A Court of Mist and Fury, This Book is Gay, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Flamer, Run the Game, etc. Many of these novels not only appear in public school libraries, but are recommended by teachers of AP language classes because gifted students need to be corrupted deliberately and early, I think.

The contents of many such books would be classified as “obscene” under the Ohio Revised Code, and distributing such material to a minor is a second-degree felony. The only problem is that Ohio educational institutions are exempt from such liability. That distinction, made decades ago, was granted at a time when parents could trust publishers and libraries. That time is over.

Much of today’s content is educationally inappropriate and pervasively vulgar. Not only are they pro-“LGBTQ” novels – although most of them are pure nonsense/fraud on multiple levels – but so are other novels depicting teen nudity, porn and drug use, disrespect for parents, teens having intercourse with all the graphic details of who took what, bodily fluids, etc. Again, pure garbage. American publishers profit from the sexual exploitation of our children and the educational institutions and the American Library Association are their pimps.

Think about the minds and hearts of the young person reading this garbage. Not only is the burgeoning adolescent usually initially shocked that such material is in the library, many will naturally have a sexual reaction, which is the poor goal of jaded adults. The lustful curiosity is accompanied by another response: loss, a loss that the adolescent may not recognize until sometime in adulthood, but that may be the moment when childhood ends, a door slams shut, and the chasm of a bleak future opens. “Is this what relationships are like?” “Is this what is expected of me?”

The excitement may drive them to seek out more such material. The porn industry loves the school library that offers kids snacks before they get the full-on crap that smartphones can then deliver. And we wonder why 25% of teens now tell the Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Surveys that they identify as something other than heterosexual. Experimentation is everywhere. Teen suicide is happening. And easily accessible porn puts girls in grave danger of sex trafficking and rape.

In addition to the book issue, spiritual abuse is on the rise in sex classes at many schools that normalize teen sex, gender bending, and even anal sex (do most pastors realize this?). These latter topics meet the demands of ‘LGBTQ’ groups to make sex education ‘inclusive’. What parents are not told is that teaching includes serious, high-risk sins.

What I wonder is why church pastors – and the Christians in pews – usually don’t fight this.

When I was so sad in 2002, I foolishly thought, “It’s because the churches don’t know.” So I started writing and broadcasting, teaching in my own small way. And I certainly haven’t done everything possible, but I continue because the sadness won’t allow me to remain silent.

So where are the churches to partner with those of us who are trying to fight for our children? I quickly discovered that lack of ministerial knowledge is usually not the problem.

We all have to choose from a series of tasks competing for our time, but letting God direct our hearts is the best way to do the sorting. Of course, we can’t address every crisis in America, but it does appear that Christian pastors are responding to the ongoing “LGBTQ” intimidation tactics exactly as these advocates want: by staying silent.

Christians allow Satan’s puppets to dictate what we allow. Predictably, we recoil from the ammunition of pejoratives such as ‘homophobic’, ‘book-banner’ and ‘racist’ (inaccurately unleashed in discussions of homosexuality or gender distortion).

Pastors, please check your hearts and your agendas. Who cares if you get yelled at? Sign up to speak at a school board meeting about the rotten books or sex ed (do your homework first). Testify at a statehouse hearing on a “men-in-women’s bathrooms” bill. Call on people from the pulpit to oppose abortion. Form a committee at your church to address cultural issues in the public square.

Doing so does not mean your heart is any less loyal to Jesus. It means you have decided to “love your neighbor‘ as He commanded, by protecting children and giving them the opportunity to hear and embrace the gospel before Satan kidnaps them for sexual corruption.

Don’t hesitate. Your church needs your leadership. And whether you realize it or not, we are at war. The other side understands that and knows that knowledge of God is their greatest enemy.

But it is our hope. Let us unleash the power of Jesus to overcome evil with good.