The spiritual battle now going on in America

 Now that the elections are over, mostly, it's time to look at an even more important battle going on in America. This is the spiritual battle that has been occurring in this country for the past several decades. It began with the removal of prayer and Bible reading in the public schools. Legalized abortion and no fault divorce soon followed. Now we have legalized the use of drugs in much of the country, same-sex marriages are now legal, and we see a number of cities calling for the defunding of police. Many want to see socialism take over the nation, and steps are being taken to make that happen. Religious liberty is increasingly under attack.

One place we see this attack is the growing concern of elitists who want to eliminate homeschooling. A professor at Harvard recently published a piece advocating for the elimination of parents homeschooling their children despite the studies that show that homeschooled children often score far higher that students who attended traditional schools. Her reasoning is that many evangelical parents are homeschooling their children and in the process they are passing on their religious beliefs and values. Since these beliefs and values often conflict with those of the state, this must be stopped. In effect, according to her and others, parents have no right to raise their children with Christian values and beliefs. Only the state is allowed to instill in our children the values the state wants them to have. This should concern every Christian and non-Christian family.

For decades our society has tried to force Christian teaching out of the public arena. Such teaching, we have been told, belongs within the confines of our church buildings but has no place in the schools, the government, business, and now we are being told they do not belong in the home. Unfortunately, the church has often been willing to go along with this mandate. Lest we complain too loudly someone threatens to revoke our tax exempt status and that is enough to silence our objections. We cannot afford to remain silent any longer. Too much is at stake.

The Bible encourages believers to take up the whole armor of God and to stand against the attacks of the enemy. There was a time when Christians would sing "Onward Christian soldiers," and take seriously the mandate to stand for religious freedom. Unfortunately, many denominations have removed that song from their hymnbooks. They don't sing it any longer nor do they take a stand for their religious beliefs.

The Founding Fathers recognized that our religious freedoms came not from the state but were inalienable rights given to us by God. It's time we remember that. We must also remember that our weapons are not those of the world: violence, verbal attacks, riots, and force. No, our weapons are prayer and the Word of God. Let the church begin to pray for a spiritual revival to sweep across our land and let every pulpit boldly proclaim the truth of God's Word. When we do so we will begin to recapture the ground we have lost.