Earlier this year, I decided to teach my young boys how to play chess. I had made an earlier attempt, but it was probably premature. This time around they caught the bug and now love to play on a regular basis.

At one point early in the process of learning how to play, Timothy (age five) said he wished the pieces could move any way he wanted. In other words, he didn’t want there to be any rules! I had to explain that if the pieces could move however we wanted them to, the game would always end on the first move. After all, if anything goes, the player who moved first would simply capture the opponent’s king with any piece of his choice. There would be absolutely nothing to prevent it. Interestingly, the very thing that Timothy thought would give him maximum freedom (no restrictions on how he could move his pieces) would literally make the game pointless and unplayable.

Within the confines of the rules, however, players have enormous freedom—freedom that would be literally impossible without the rules.

It’s counterintuitive, really. We want freedom. We want our own way. It’s against our nature to embrace limitations of any kind. And yet, sometimes it’s the limitations that make the good stuff possible. In the case of chess, it’s the rules—the limitations on our “freedom”—that make it one of the most fascinating games ever invented, with virtually limitless possibilities. No rules or restrictions would mean unpredictable chaos at best, and utter pointlessness at worst.

It’s not just games that benefit from rules, however. Life is like that as well. God, as our loving, gracious Creator, has given us certain rules to live by. Yes, we can break His rules, but the result will never be what we could have enjoyed had we followed His commands and principles. The limitations are an essential part of enabling us to experience the best—and most fruitful—life possible.

Take marriage as an example. One of God’s instructions for husbands is to not be bitter against our wives (Colossians 3:19). I could view that as a restriction on my freedom as a husband. After all, it’s a negative command—something God tells me not to do. Could I choose to assert my will against God’s, reject His limitations, and become bitter toward my wife? Absolutely. And if my wife and I have had an argument, it might even feel good in the short-term to nurse some bitterness. The result, however, isn’t going to be good. I’ll not only be sowing the seeds of marital disintegration if I persist in harboring the bitterness, I’ll also be sowing the seeds of my own misery. But if I choose to accept God’s limitations on my behavior, I’ll reject bitterness, choose reconciliation, and enjoy a strong marriage that becomes all God wants it to be. That’s real freedom.

Our culture thinks of freedom as the ability to do whatever we want without restrictions—just like what Timothy wanted on the chessboard. The Bible, however, gives a different perspective. We’ll either be slaves to sin, or we’ll be servants of Christ. In other words, as human beings, we’re going to serve something. The question isn’t if we’ll serve, but what (or Who) we’ll serve. Interestingly, however, Christ offers humanity true freedom, while sin leaves us in bondage.

Genuine freedom, viewed from a Biblical perspective, isn’t about living any way we want. It’s about finding freedom in Christ and living within the limitations of God’s laws and principles. Some people reject that as too limiting. In their view, Christianity is a religion of rules and regulations. What they ignore, forget, or don’t realize is that these restrictions are meant to protect us from the genuine bondage of slavery to sin.

I’m not talking about salvation. We don’t earn God’s favor by following the rules. Christ took care of the penalty for sin when He died on the cross in our place. Instead, I’m talking about experiencing the freedom that comes from living life the way our Creator intended it to be. After all, He’s the One who made it all and He knows what’s best.

Is there some area of life where you’re tempted to reject God’s limitations on your ability to live as you please? If so, realize that by rejecting God’s instructions, you’ll be choosing bondage to sin. If it doesn’t feel that way yet, give it time. The Bible does tell us that sin provides pleasure, but only for a season (Hebrews 11:25). Eventually it will leave us enslaved.

I don’t know if Timothy fully understands yet that the rules in chess not only make the game possible, but are also the very thing that makes it beautiful. It’s the same with life. God’s rules don’t rob us of our freedom—they make it possible for us to experience the genuine freedom of life the way He meant for it to be. If that’s not the best freedom possible, I don’t know what is.

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st.

Learn more HERE.

A few months ago, Barna released the results of interviews conducted with 650 Protestant and Catholic church leaders “about the factors influencing spiritual formation and development” of children. The project, done in cooperation with Cardus, yielded some interesting findings.

First, unsurprisingly, both Protestants and Catholics agree that parents/family bear the primary responsibility for the spiritual formation and development of children. More specifically, 99% of Protestant pastors and 96% of Catholic priests rank parents/family as number one. I would agree.

Also unsurprising is that both groups rate the church as having the second-greatest responsibility (92% for Protestants, 77% for Catholics). So far, so good.

“School” and “Christian community” rank at #3 and #4 respectively for both groups, and government/society brings up the rear at #5.

All of this makes sense, and it’s good to see that church leaders recognize that parents bear the primary responsibility for the spiritual formation of the next generation.

Unfortunately, things get a little murkier after that.

When asked how their church prioritizes the spiritual formation of children, 73% of Protestant pastors said they do so through Sunday school or youth classes. (For the Catholic priests, the number one method was catechism and sacramental prep classes.) Other top priorities include encouraging children to participate in the main worship service, camps and VBS, and worship services for children.

Only 20% of Protestant pastors and 17% of Catholic priests listed “training parents for spiritual conversations/training at home.”

In other words, despite the fact that church leaders overwhelmingly recognize that parents play the most important role in their children’s spiritual formation, only about one out of five churches are actively training parents to fill that role.

I’m guessing most of us could back up that data with our own experience. How many churches have you attended or pastors have you known who have made equipping parents a high priority? Sadly, it’s often not on the radar—at least not on a consistent basis.

And yet, we could certainly make the case that raising the next generation in the ways of the Lord is equal in importance to any other responsibility God has given to His people. If that’s true, then why aren’t churches and pastors taking an active role in equipping parents to do their job?

We could speculate about the reasons for this disconnect, but I wonder if it really comes down to an unbiblical mindset of delegation that has permeated the thinking of American parents.

What do I mean by that? Simply this: most parents in modern America parcel out their children’s upbringing to outsiders rather than doing it themselves.

We delegate our children’s minds to the teachers at school.

We delegate their physical development to a gym teacher or coach.

We delegate their entertainment to screens.

And we delegate their spiritual growth to a children’s worker or youth pastor at church.

Then we sit back, feeling like we’re doing a good job because we’ve got all the bases covered.

The problem, of course, is that God didn’t call parents to simply coordinate their children’s upbringing. He didn’t call us to simply make sure our kids show up at the right place at the right time so everyone else can take care of them.

Instead, He calls us to be active participants. In truth, I would suggest that He calls us to do far more than we delegate. (In fact, that’s a great question to ask in relation to your kids: are you doing more than you’re delegating? If not, it’s time to think about realigning priorities.)

And so in this context, I believe that many churches have been willing participants in this system of delegation. And even while pastors recognize that parents ought to be shouldering the primary responsibility of teaching their children, perhaps there’s a fear that they won’t—and so the church has to take up the slack. And then somewhere along the way, equipping parents gets lost in the shuffle.

Maybe there are other reasons as well. I don’t know. What I do know is that it would be an amazing thing if more churches started devoting more time and energy to equipping parents for this incredible responsibility of teaching and training the next generation.

I don’t know what the solutions are. Perhaps a good start would be more sermons on family related topics. Churches that are blessed to have parents who have successfully raised godly children could offer mentoring relationships or a parenting Bible study class. Options such as these may not be the full solution, but they would at least be a start.

In the meantime, we as parents need to take our responsibility seriously whether our churches are equipping us as actively as we’d like or not.

For those of you who have completed you’re parenting journey and you’ve successfully launched God-honoring young people into the world, perhaps you could prayerfully consider how God might want you to come alongside younger families to help, equip, and support them.

Lastly, if you’re a pastor or church leader, I would encourage you to evaluate what your church is doing to equip parents. Is that part of your vision? If not, should it be? It’s worth considering in light of the value God places on parents and children.

Raising the next generation may not take a village, but it does take parents. And speaking on behalf of Christian parents everywhere, let me just say that we can use all the help we can get! The family is under attack, and it’s time for parents, the church, and the entire Christian community to stand together for the next generation.

The classic 1961 film The Guns of Navarone is one of my favorites. Set in World War II, it’s about a small group of Allied commandos set ashore on the German-controlled Greek island of Navarone to blow up the massive guns stationed there. The presence of those guns—situated high on a cliff and controlling the surrounding waters—prevent the Allies from storming the island of Kheros where 2,000 British soldiers are stranded. Time is running out for a rescue, but it will be impossible if the guns aren’t disabled.

In other words, the fate of 2,000 men rests on the shoulders of the small group of men sent to destroy those guns of Navarone. No small responsibility.

As the film progresses, American Keith Mallory, played by Gregory Peck, takes charge of the group. At one critical point, he makes the difficult decision to leave one of their wounded comrades behind—in the hands of the Germans—in order to safeguard the success of the overall mission. In his mind, it’s the life of their comrade against the lives of the 2,000 men trapped on Kheros.

It’s a wrenching decision, and the ethics of it could certainly be debated. But in the mind of British Corporal Miller (played by David Niven), it was a reprehensible choice and he doesn’t mind letting Mallory know how he feels.

During a heated conversation near the end of the film, Mallory and Miller are arguing about another difficult decision. Miller obviously has no taste for military officers who have to make the kind of morally ambiguous calls like the one Mallory made earlier.

During the conversation, Miller tells Mallory that he “never let them make me an officer. I don’t want the responsibility.” An angry Mallory retorts, “Then you’ve had a free ride all this time. Someone’s got to take the responsibility!”

Someone’s got to take the responsibility.

That’s the nature of leadership. It’s not always easy, fun, or enjoyable. There are going to be times you’ll want to run the other way. But you can’t—because the responsibility is still yours whether you take it or not.

Men, that’s the way it is when it comes to leading our families spiritually. We may not be called upon to make decisions affecting the lives of thousands, but we are called to shoulder the responsibility of leading our families, nurturing our wives, and teaching our children. The job is ours whether we like it or not. When God hands out responsibility, we can’t shrug it off and say “No thanks.” We’re still accountable.

I need this message as much as the next guy. My wife and I have at least one decision to make right now that isn’t going to be easy, but I have to take the lead in having the necessary conversations, weighing the options, and prayerfully coming to a conclusion. Frankly, I’d rather not. It’s easier to punt, procrastinate, and postpone. (I can be an expert procrastinator!) But the bottom line is, for the good of my family, and to be able to stand before God knowing I’ve done what He called me to do, I have to accept the responsibility.

But it’s not just about the big decisions. We also have a daily responsibility to be the spiritual leader in our homes. And if we don’t do it, who will? If we don’t teach our kids about God and His Word, who will? The youth pastor? The Sunday school teacher? Maybe, but will that really be enough? God apparently doesn’t think so. That’s why He told parents in Deuteronomy 6 to teach our children “diligently.” God wants our children to be taught in His ways with a level of diligence that frankly most of us never reach.

In practical terms, how do we lead our families spiritually? Here are a few suggestions:

• Pursue God yourself, and make sure your family knows you are. I don’t mean we should self-righteously parade our spiritual life in front of our families in a “look at how godly I am” sort of way, but your wife and kids ought to know you’re reading your Bible and praying regularly.

• Attend church with your family. We can’t expect our kids to see the importance of being faithful to church if we’re not doing it ourselves.

• Lead a family Bible time. This is one area where I need to grow. I’m too hit-and-miss. The good news is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. Use an age-appropriate Bible study of some kind, or just read something straight out of the Bible and talk about what it means for a few minutes. Pray together. Maybe sometimes you also sing a song or work on a memory verse.

• Pray with your wife. My wife and I pray together before going to sleep each night. It’s usually pretty short. But once a week (usually on Sundays, either before the kids get up in the morning, or after they go to bed at night), we sit together and pray for our family in more detail. We pray for our kids. We pray about decisions we have to make. Sometimes I’m the only one who prays, sometimes we take turns.

• Pray with your kids individually. This is a habit my wife and I started recently. Every Sunday, we take each of our three older kids individually to talk and pray with them for a few minutes (we alternate—one week I take each child, the next week my wife does it). It’s a good opportunity to have a few quiet minutes with our kids away from the noise and hubbub of everything else going on (when you have four kids ages seven and under, things can get noisy!). Sometimes they share something they’d like us to pray about, sometimes they don’t. That’s okay. We chat for a few minutes, pray with them, then repeat the process with the next child.

• Teach, correct, and encourage your children from Scripture. This is another area I’m working on. When I have to teach or correct my children, I want to use Scripture—not as a club to hit them over the head with, but so they understand what the Bible says about how we should live and interact. But I don’t just want to reach for the Bible when I’m correcting them; I want to encourage them from Scripture as well. We can do that by sharing the hope of the gospel, the promises of God, and the attributes of God such as His love and faithfulness. (They also need to understand His other attributes, such as His holiness, righteousness, etc.)

• Be a positive role model for your wife and children. Again, this is an area of growth for me, but it’s vital that we model the values of the Christian faith in front of our families. This can include setting a positive example in the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer (mentioned earlier), as well as giving, serving, sharing your faith, practicing hospitality, etc. We may have to get out of our comfort zone sometimes, but our children need to see us living an authentic Christian life.

Remember: it’s our responsibility as husbands and dads to lead and nurture our families spiritually. Just like Gregory Peck in The Guns of Navarone, we might not always enjoy it. It might be hard and even unpopular at times. But let’s not opt for the seemingly free ride of shirking our call. Because really, we can’t. Responsibility is sticky. When it’s ours, it’s ours, and no amount of ignoring it will make it go away.

Let’s answer the call.

Subscribe to the IFI YouTube channel
and never miss a video report or special program!

Lesbian actress Ellen Page just posted an Instagram photo of her and her “wife” topless and kissing in honor of LGBTQ “pride” month, providing symbolic evidence that the cultural movement to normalize homoeroticism is chiefly about sex—not love—at least not love in its true and complete sense.

Page is the young actress who in early February delivered an anti-Christian screed on The Late Show with arrogant Catholic heretic Stephen Colbert in which she attacked Vice President Mike Pence over his theologically orthodox views on marriage. In her diatribe, Page demonstrated—again—that cultural regressives can’t distinguish between moral disapproval of acts and hatred of persons.

With a sycophantic Colbert hanging on her every word, the over-emoting Page declared that Mike Pence’s views on homosexuality and marriage were the cause of the allegedly homophobic attack on homosexual actor Jussie Smollett:

The vice president of America wishes I didn’t have the love with my wife…. Connect the dots! If you were in a position of power, and you hate people, and you want to cause suffering to them… you spend your career trying to cause suffering, what do you think is going to happen? Kids are going to be abused and they’re going to kill themselves. And people are going to be beaten on the street…. This needs to f**king stop. 

So many questions about her unhinged lecture.

Pence spent his “career trying to cause suffering”? Really? His entire career?

Do efforts to retain sexual complementarity in the legal definition of marriage constitute “trying to cause suffering”? If so, do efforts to retain the criterion regarding number of partners in the legal definition of marriage constitute “trying to cause” polygamists and polyamorists to suffer? Does the desire to prohibit close relatives from marrying constitute “trying to cause” those who experience Genetic Sexual Attraction to suffer?

What exactly “needs to stop”? Does Page think Christians should stop believing Scripture? Stop reading it? Stop preaching it? Stop expressing biblical truths in the public square, where Page remains free to express her anti-biblical beliefs? If so, which biblical truths should Christians stop expressing in the public square? All biblical truths or just the ones Page doesn’t like?

What is Page’s conclusive, research-based evidence that it is the faith of theologically orthodox Christians who express their views in a biblically defensible manner that causes child abuse, childhood suicide, or “hate” crimes?

Word to Page: No one objects to her “loving” another woman. Christians are commanded to love their neighbors and even their enemies. No, theologically orthodox Christians never begrudge people love. What Christ-followers disapprove of are homoerotic acts.

And they believe that marriage has a nature—an ontology—central to which is sexual differentiation, and without which a union is intrinsically non-marital.

If Page is befuddled by the origin of such beliefs, she should ask Catholic heretic Colbert who surely knows their origins even as he rejects them. Colbert surely knows what the Old Testament teaches about homosexual acts, what St. Paul teaches about homosexual acts, and what Jesus teaches about marriage.

Colbert and Page would be well-served by spending some time with Carl Trueman, biblical studies professor at Grove City College, who recently wrote an essay for First Things titled “Love Is Not a Feeling” in which he said,

in contemporary Christian approaches to political issues, “love” –a code word for whatever the political piety du jour may be—is set in opposition to “dogma” or “doctrine”—code words for whatever piece of traditional Christian teaching is deemed to be inconsistent with said political piety….

Trueman exposes the thinness, instability, and error in contemporary conceptions of “love” by summarizing the ways three different scholars characterize post-modern man’s conception of love, which in turn shapes post-modern man’s understanding of man:

To approach the matter from Philip Rieff’s perspective, we might characterize modern men and women as psychological selves for whom the good and the true is identical with whatever happens to make them psychologically happy at any particular moment. Or we could use Charles Taylor’s notion of expressive individualism, that the modern self is the person who expresses outwardly that which they feel inwardly…. Or we could adopt Alasdair MacIntyre’s notion of emotivism, and see modern ethics as manifestations of emotional preferences. Bringing all three to bear upon the sexual revolution, it becomes clear that the LGBTQ moment is not merely a revolution in what sex means; it is a revolution in what it means to be human. (emphasis added)

Trueman further argues that,

For many, gay marriage is a dead issue…. And therein lies the danger: We need to remember that for a Christian to recognize gay marriage as Christian… is not simply to recognize a shift or expansion in the definition of marriage. It is far more significant for the Faith…. it is to abandon Christian teaching about the self—as made in the image of God, and as resting upon an order which transcends individuals and their contexts—in favor of one constituted by whatever the moral structure of society happens to be at any given moment in time.

Gay marriage emerged from the sexual revolution; and the sexual revolution is the latest iteration of a revolution in the self, which has been taking place for hundreds of years and which stands opposed to the essentialism regarding human beings at the heart of orthodox Christianity. The moral structure of contemporary society stresses the foundational importance of individual psychological conviction with a marked preference for prioritizing polymorphous sexual desire as definitive of a sense of self. In legitimating gay marriage, a symptom of this underlying structure, Christians therefore effectively affirm the legitimacy of this deeper revolution of the self.

It’s important to note that the conception of marriage as the union of one man and one woman as articulated by Jesus is intellectually accessible even to those who reject Christ.

It’s important to note also that to reject Page’s and Colbert’s re-conception of marriage is not a manifestation of hatred but, rather, of true love—the kind that children deserve and society desperately needs. Homosexual faux-marriage will no more be a dead issue for committed Christ-followers than will be the slaughter of the unborn.

“The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.”
(Isaiah 40:8)

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Ellen-Page.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Embracing the blessings of children in a culture that doesn’t

It was reported recently that the number of births in the U.S. fell in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, marking the lowest number of births in more than three decades. The fertility rate also hit a record low of 1.7 births per woman, which means, as a nation, we’re not even on track to replace our current population. (If it weren’t for immigration, the population would already be declining.)

Some experts were surprised at the decline. Traditional wisdom suggests that the number of babies decreases during times of economic hardship, and increases again during times of prosperity. But the economy has been improving, yet the number of births is still declining.

“The birthrate is a barometer of despair,” states Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California, as quoted by NPR.

Explaining that idea, he says young people won’t make plans to have babies unless they’re optimistic about the future.

“At first, we thought it was the recession,” Myers says of the recent downturn in births. But after a slight rise in 2012, the rate took another nosedive. He adds that by nearly all economic standards — except for high housing costs — birthrates should now be rising.

As for what’s behind the negative sentiment among people of childbearing age, Myers cites the current political turmoil and a gloomy outlook for America’s future.

“Not a whole lot of things are going good,” he says, “and that’s haunting young people in particular, more than old people.”¹

Maybe. But I can’t help thinking there are other reasons for the falling birthrate as well. Namely, our culture continues to drift away from a Biblical worldview, and that includes a Biblical perspective on family and childbirth. The Bible teaches that children are a blessing and that we have a responsibility to populate the earth and raise up godly children. That’s not the viewpoint of most of our culture.

If we reject that Biblical view of family, we’re left with no overriding reason to give birth and raise children. If the world feels too uncertain, or we’re not as prosperous as we’d like, or there are other obstacles in the way, why bother?

I’m not saying that practical considerations can never influence decisions regarding how many children to have. What I am saying is that the lower our commitment to a Biblical view of children, the less of a consideration it will take to cause us to give up on starting or growing a family. And I believe that’s where our society is today. It’s not hard to believe that economic or political uncertainty influence the American birthrate. But I don’t believe it would have the size of impact it currently does if we didn’t have a secularized worldview that fails to prioritize children.

The Bible calls us to prioritize eternal considerations over temporal ones, and this perspective should inform our decisions regarding family size.

Now, that said, the Bible doesn’t command us to have a certain number of children. There’s no perfect number as far as Scripture is concerned. But the Bible does tell us that children are a blessing. Not only that, it tells us that children in quantity are a blessing (Psalm 127:3-5). The idea that the perfect family consists of Mom and Dad and two kids isn’t drawn from the Bible.

I’m not condemning anyone who has two children. That’s between you, your spouse, and God. What I am saying is that the modern ideas about family size are rooted more in temporal conveniences rather than eternal considerations. I’m also not saying we’re required to have as many children as physically possible. What I will say is this: as God’s people, informed by Scripture and seeking to live a life in accordance with Biblical values and an eternal perspective, we ought to at least be open to the possibility that God may want to bless us with more than 1.7 children.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know it’s hard work raising children, and having a large family doesn’t always feel like the blessing God says it is. My wife and I had our first baby the day before our first anniversary, then added three more in the six years after that. Our youngest just turned one, and at this point, I don’t know how many children we’ll end up with—that’s something we’re still praying about! Suffice it to say, we’re very much in the thick of things and will be for some time to come.

When things get tough, we would do well to keep in mind what God says in Malachi 2. In that passage, God tells the Israelites that the reason He joins a husband and wife together as one is so they can raise godly children. That’s the eternal significance of our parental responsibilities. God wants us to raise up children who can serve and worship Him and make an impact on the world around them for His glory.

Raising a family—yes, even a larger-than-average family—is holy work. It can get crazy, hectic, exhausting, and overwhelming. But it’s God’s work. It matters. At a time when the world is abandoning God’s perspective on children, let’s embrace the blessings and commit ourselves to raising up a generation who can make a difference in God’s name. 

¹Bill Chappell, NPR, U.S. Births Fell To A 32-Year Low In 2018; CDC Says Birthrate Is In Record Slump; https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/723518379/u-s-births-fell-to-a-32-year-low-in-2018-cdc-says-birthrate-is-at-record-level, accessed on 5-16-19

Subscribe to the IFI YouTube channel
and never miss a video report or special program!

“There’s other ways to generate revenue, not on the backs of our kids and young adults who are going to be addicted and sucked into this.” So said State Representative Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines), at a news conference that was held outside the Thompson Center earlier this month. Rep. Moylan is leading a bipartisan effort that opposes Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s precipitous push to legalize recreational marijuana.

Please watch as Rep. Moylan voices concerns regarding aggressive commercialization, increased addiction, impact on neighborhoods, and compliance and oversight challenges. Parents and grandparents especially need to be aware of the negative effects legalized, high potency marijuana will impose on the children and youth of Illinois.

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to send a message to your state senator and state representative to urge them to reject the push for legal marijuana.

Additionally, PLEASE CALL your lawmakers to make sure they know that many people oppose this disastrous policy. Click HERE for their names and phone numbers, which you will find at the end of the state list. Please make the calls!

Watch more:

Please visit IFI YouTube channel and this video playlist dedicated to the opposition of marijuana legalization.

Read more:

Thinking Biblically About Recreational Marijuana

Medical Doctor from Peoria Opposes Legal Pot

ER Doc Says “Recreational” Pot Has Ruined My Town

IFI Resource Page on Marijuana

Former State Rep. Jeanne Ives Address Marijuana & Illinois’ Economic Crisis (podcast)

More info:

NoWeedIllinois.com

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

Written by Traci Devette Griggs

When Netflix first released the series 13 Reasons Why in May of 2017, school systems and public health officials all over the country warned that it could cause an increase in teenage suicide. (See previous story here.) Apparently, that is exactly what happened.

According to a study in the April 2019 Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: “After accounting for seasonal effects and an underlying increasing trend in monthly suicide rates, the overall suicide rate among 10-17 year-olds increased significantly in the month immediately following the release.” (Netflix posts all episodes of an entire season all at once.)

Tim Winter, President of the Parents Television Council, is outraged over Netflix executives’ response to previous concerns that the first season, in particular, glamorizes teen suicide and gives kids the tragically false impression that they can exact revenge against tormentors by taking their own life. Netflix has since produced two more seasons of the show, the third to be released soon.

“This [recent research] follows another concerning statistic after the show was released,” according to Winter. “The Google search term for “How do I kill myself” went up 26 percent. So you now have evidence that there is a link between this show, targeting teenagers, targeting children, that basically romanticizes teen suicide, and a number of teenagers and children who are actually killing themselves. It’s deeply troubling.”

What’s more disturbing is that the evidence of the spike in online searches for committing suicide was from a research paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association back in October 2017, just months after the first season aired.

“Netflix seems to be one of the biggest perpetrators in terms of explicit content marketing towards children,” continues Winter. “They have a constitutional First Amendment right to produce this type of content. But I think it is outrageous that a publicly traded corporation would market and profit, they would profit from children who watch a show, and it’s now being linked to increased rates of suicide of children.”

The rate of increase in suicide was attributed almost exclusively to boys, ages 10-17 years old, a finding that surprised researchers since the main character, who is graphically portrayed committing suicide on the show, is female. This statistic tracks suicides that result in death, not suicide attempts.

This article was originally published at the NC Family Policy Council blog.

Written by Rey Flores

If there is one freedom which we Americans have embraced since the invention of the automobile, it is the freedom to move about as we please. Whether it’s getting to and from work, driving our children to school, running to the grocery store, or taking a family vacation, our cars are a huge part of our lives.

There are those of us who rely on our vehicles to make a living, whether it’s someone using their own private vehicle to deliver food, or as a Lyft or Uber driver. Many companies and private businesses also rely heavily on their fleets of vehicles to deliver goods to and from distributors, suppliers and their own customers. But if one state lawmaker has his way, all of us will once again be facing an increased tax burden at the gas pump.

As if we didn’t already have enough increases on gas prices, here comes the state once again, picking our pockets. Every time the state needs more money, and that just happens to be always, they come at us with taxes, taxes, and more taxes.

As the Chicago Tribune reported, legislation introduced recently by State Senator Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) would more than double the state’s gas tax to 44 cents a gallon. Furthermore, the driver’s license fee would double to $60.00 and vehicle registration fees would rise to a whopping $148,00. That’s twice what each fee costs now!

If these taxes and fees do indeed increase, those who own electric cars would feel the biggest shock of all. Do you realize that these increases would bring the registration fee for electric vehicles from $17.00 all the way to an astronomical $1,000.00? Talk about shocking!

In response to this legislative proposal, State Representative Allen Skillicorn (R-Crystal Lake) issued a press release pointing out that, “in light of the recent report from the Comptroller’s office that April revenues were $1.5 billion higher than expected, it appears that the legislation to ‘significantly hike’ gas taxes and licensing fees is unnecessary and one might even say punitive if enacted.”

True. If April’s revenues were indeed $1.5 billion higher than expected, why on earth are increased fees and taxes being brought to the table? Some of our tax-happy legislators are acting like spoiled, petulant brats on Christmas morning who received a boatload of presents and began to cry about not getting more.

Skillicorn continued, “I commend Governor Pritzker for stepping back from a bad idea in the form of a pension holiday when the data from the Department of Revenue estimates that next year’s tax collections increased by $800 million. Let’s give the Trump economic recovery and the enactment of serious reforms, such as amending the pension clause, a try instead of passing more taxes and fees that crush Illinois families.”

These fees and tax increases would further squeeze Illinois families and hurt the many businesses which employ the heads of these households as well. When faced with increased overhead costs, small businesses in particular have to make hard decisions about how to cut corners. Unfortunately, the corners to be cut may be some of their employees. Cutting employees often results in decreased productivity and profit, as well as increases in the workload on the employees left behind, further burdening them for the same pay.

These fee and tax hikes would also have a long-term domino effect on the entire state. It’s been proven that higher taxes often equal fewer jobs, higher unemployment, social welfare programs further stretched, and people eventually moving out of state.

A December 2018 Wall Street Journal editorial reported that “Illinois’ population declined by 157,000 over the past five years, which is equivalent to the mid-sized city of Rockford.” The WSJ also wrote that “these population shifts mean that several states including New York, Illinois and Minnesota are likely to lose House seats after the 2020 reapportionment.”

Are we in need of transportation funding to fix Illinois crumbling roads, bridges and other infrastructure? You betcha. But at what cost? I can attest personally, at least regarding roads within Chicago’s city limits, that driving on some of these streets is akin to driving on the surface of the moon. These aren’t potholes anymore—they’re craters.

Let’s find other ways to fund the transportation and infrastructure needs of Illinois. There’s certainly no shortage of speeding and red-light cameras which are bringing in all sorts of revenue to the City of Chicago, at least. Increasing vehicle registration fees and raising taxes on gas will only drive many more people out of Illinois. Then who are they going to tax?

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your Illinois state lawmakers as well as Gov. JB Pritzker in opposition to the legislative proposal to more than double the Illinois motor fuel tax. Tell them to stop any attempt to increase the gasoline tax. Let them know that working families cannot afford to give the government more of our hard-earned money on a daily necessity such as gasoline. Moreover, why would Illinois want the dubious distinction of having the highest overall gas tax burden in the nation?

Read more:

House Committee Passes Bill That Would Make Illinois Gas Tax Burden Highest in the Nation

Illinois Can Spend Another $10B on Infrastructure Without Tax Hikes

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

Being a mother is often a thankless job. I know because I wasn’t properly thankful for my own mother when I was young (sorry, Mom!), and I also see how often my own young children take my wife for granted.

Not only that, but our culture is becoming increasingly conflicted about motherhood. On the one hand, we do recognize the importance of moms, and many of us are thankful for the role our own mother played in our life. But at the same time, we’re seeing a general devaluing of a mother’s role and the whole concept of motherhood. Too often children are viewed as encumbrances to a woman’s education, career, or life goals.

In other words, having kids is fine and good once you’ve reached a certain point in your life, but they’re not worth sacrificing your future for.

Perhaps that’s why we’re seeing the average age for first-time motherhood increasing and the number of intentionally childless couples on the rise.

The holy purpose of bearing and raising children is being lost in our culture. Raising the next generation is increasingly an afterthought to college and career—something we do after everything else has been taken care of, and even then perhaps only if we really want to and think it will be meaningful and fulfilling.

This isn’t the viewpoint of a culture aligned with Scripture and God’s views of motherhood. It’s the perspective of a culture that has lost its way and has been distracted from the things that matter most by things that matter far less.

With all of that in mind, I’d like to say emphatically and without equivocation that moms matter. Raising the next generation for the glory of God isn’t a lowly calling. It’s not a second-class job compared to pursuing a career, running for office, writing a book, traveling the world, or starting a business.

That might not be the message of the world, but it’s a message we need to hear.

If the value of a job is determined by how long its impact lasts, you’d be hard pressed to find a calling that outranks motherhood. After all, as a mom, you’re shaping lives that will most likely last for decades on this earth, and then for eternity beyond. Not only that, the children you’re raising will impact others for both life and eternity as well.

I’m not here to demean anyone’s career, but how many professional women can say that their daily responsibilities and decisions will resound through endless ages to come?

If the value of a job is determined by the effort it demands and the hours it requires you to be available, you would again be hard pressed to find a calling that surpasses motherhood. Few other jobs require you to be constantly available and on call any hour of the day or night. The demands are high and the sacrifices are real.

If the value of a job is determined by the wisdom required to perform it well, motherhood again outranks virtually all other options. How much wisdom does it require to nurture young hearts and minds, helping our children learn to navigate life in a way that honors God and allows them to lead fruitful lives?

Frankly, such wisdom can only come from God. But I believe He delights in granting it to the overwhelmed mom who cries out for it with a needy and believing heart.

By any of these measures, motherhood is indeed a high calling.

And I would dare say you know that. But perhaps it doesn’t hurt to be reminded.

Speaking more personally for a moment, it’s no exaggeration to say I don’t know where I would be without my mother. She wasn’t perfect, but she worked faithfully to fulfill the calling God gave her.

And that, I think, is something all parents would do well to copy.

Our children don’t need us to be perfect—which is good, because we can’t be. But they do need us to be faithful.

There are so many things a godly mother should be: kind, just, capable, encouraging, wise, firm, and loving, just to name a few. But these would matter little if they weren’t undergirded by daily faithfulness.

Faithfulness as a mother matters because motherhood itself matters. Your children matter. And they need you.

Don’t let anyone tell you that being a mom isn’t important. And don’t let our messed up culture get you down, feeling like you’re a second-class citizen if you’ve made the noble choice to be a full-time mom instead of pursuing a career.

So I challenge and encourage you: be a faithful mom. Fulfill the high calling God has given you.

And one day, your children might even say thank you.

Subscribe to the IFI YouTube channel
and never miss a video report or special program!

Written by Abigal Ruth

The love of a parent for a child is the most natural love there is. Most people find it easier to love their children than any other people on the planet and would sacrifice their very lives for their children if necessary. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that our love for our children is probably the purest and least self-serving love of which we are capable as fallen human beings in a broken world.

So how is it that killing our children has become not only epidemic in practice but morally acceptable in the minds of so many Americans? I am of course talking about abortion. The most obvious answer is that we are sinners and everything about us is corrupt in one way or another—even our love for our children. God makes that fact crystal clear in the Bible which whitewashes nothing. References to children being sacrificed to pagan gods pepper the pages of the Old Testament. The well documented practice of ancient Romans abandoning their unwanted infants at garbage dumps to die of exposure, neglect and/or animal attack, surely indicates that a lack of respect for human life is normal for human beings who don’t have the enlightenment of God’s law. But still, how have so many mothers become the mortal enemies of their own unborn children?

I would suggest to you that there is another principle at work here. It can be found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians (3:24) which says, “the Law has become our tutor…(AMP)” Paul was, of course talking about God’s laws which He gave to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The central point of this verse is not the point I am about to make, but nevertheless true: For better or worse, all laws teach people about right and wrong—especially non-religious people who do not have an independent moral code. They figure if it’s legal it must not be that bad…

In their excellent book, Legislating Morality, Dr. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek say it this way,

“Even though laws don’t change hearts overnight, they often help change attitudes over the long term…Today, apart from the tiny fraction of racist extremists in this country, everybody believes that slavery is morally wrong. Did hearts and attitudes change overnight because we outlawed slavery? No. Behavior changed because slave owners didn’t want to go to jail, but the law did help change pro-slavery attitudes over the long term…Before the Civil War, slave owners could rationalize the obvious immorality of slavery under the cover of “it’s legal.” Afterward, the law didn’t proved that convenient excuse and attitudes slowly changed.”

The same has been true of abortion. Abortion on demand was illegal for the first 200 years of our existence as a nation. All fifty states had laws against it. Even in New York it was limited to cases of rape, incest and saving the mother’s life. Before Roe v. Wade the vast majority of Americans believed that abortion was immoral. The laws in all fifty states protecting the unborn confirms this. The legalization of abortion did not come about as a result of the American people clamoring for it. The change in attitude toward abortion came after seven unelected U.S. Supreme Court justices arbitrarily reversed the will of the majority as expressed through their legislators to protect the unborn. Legalizing abortion helped to remove the stigma of immorality and taught millions of Americans the lie that abortion is morally acceptable. We have seen the same change in attitude happen in a stunningly short period time with regard to homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage.

We need not criminalize every behavior that God calls sin. That would be both unworkable and foolish. However, our civil laws should never contradict God’s laws because God’s laws accurately reflect what is truly right and wrong.

I can foresee a day in which infanticide, prostitution and even pedophilia will not only be legalized but will become morally acceptable in the minds of many Americans. Unless more people learn to fear God and turn to His law as the primary source of moral wisdom, the escalation of evil is inevitable. The consequences will be catastrophic–especially for children. Pastors, it’s time to quit pulling your punches. Teach God’s law as well as His grace. If your congregations don’t learn right and wrong from God they WILL learn it elsewhere…

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
~Romans 10:14~

Recently, another purportedly Christian child welfare agency abandoned its commitments to Christ by agreeing to place children in the homes of people who affirm that which God detests. Faced with an ACLU lawsuit, Bethany Christian Services (BCS) in Michigan has agreed to place children for fostering and adoption in the homes of unrepentant homosexuals, who will provide to these children “the counsel of the wicked.” In so doing, BCS—the largest Christian foster and adoption agency in the country—has granted unto Caesar that which belongs to God. BCS follows in the sullied footsteps of its affiliate in Philadelphia and Illinois’ Lutheran Child and Family Services (LCFS). BCS should now remove “Christian” from its name.

BCS laughably claims they “are focused on demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ by serving children in need,” ignoring the inconvenient truth that the love of Jesus Christ is inseparable from his holiness. Does any theologically orthodox Christian believe Jesus would have placed orphans in the homes of unrepentant homosexuals who believe homosexual acts are pleasing to God? What do BCS and LCFS think families headed by homosexuals will teach their children about homosexual acts and marriage—which is a picture of Christ and his bride, the church? And what do BCS and LCFS think the implications of those beliefs for both the temporal and eternal lives of children are?

Lesbian Dana Nessel, Michigan’s recently-elected attorney general, tweeted her thanks to BCS. Such appreciation from the morally challenged Nessel should tell BCS they made the wrong decision. Nessel is infamous for her a vulgar campaign ad that said,

So when you’re choosing Michigan’s next attorney general. Ask yourself this: Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting? Is it the candidate who doesn’t have a penis? I’d say so.

What kind of civics lesson did this teach children?

The deeply troubling trend of Christians jettisoning homosexual practice as a disqualifying criterion for child placement continues apace. This month, Katy Faust, founder and director of the wonderful children’s rights organization Them Before Us, posted a YouTube video in which she argues that hard-to-place children should be placed in the homes of homosexuals. Her claim raises some important questions:

• Would Ms. Faust’s position pertain if the adopting parents were two brothers in a consensual incestuous relationship or if the parents were five people of various sexes in a polyamorous relationship?

• What criteria does Ms. Faust use when evaluating the suitability of a home?

• Is there any type of adult relationship that is so intrinsically disordered and God-dishonoring that no truly Christian organization should place children in the care of those in such relationships?

• Is it wrong to place children in the homes of people who affirm wickedness as righteousness and who will teach their children body- and soul-destroying lies as truth?

• If the homes of self-identified homosexuals are suitable homes for hard-to-place children, wouldn’t they be suitable homes for any and all other children?

It is not solely the idea promulgated in this video that is problematic. It’s also the source. Since Faust is conservative and justifiably well-respected among conservatives for her commitment to the needs and rights of children, her support for placement of children in foundationally-disordered homes will carry significant weight among conservatives.

In researching this topic, I came across a story I missed when homosexual news outlets were reporting it in 2010. It’s a story they cast as a grievous injustice perpetrated by Lutheran Child and Family Services. The alleged grievous injustice was that LCFS declined to place a 15-year-old self-identified homosexual boy in the home of homosexual couple Matt Nalett (then 33) and Fred Steinhauer (then 64) (pictured to the right).

The now 72-year-old Steinhauer posts photos on his FB page of shirtless young men in their underwear. Steinhauer’s most recent FB post is an ad from a company called Nasty Pig that was founded 20 years ago by two homosexual men and geared toward homosexuals. The company’s founders describe Nasty Pigs as “a trailblazing brand that makes hot clothes that get you laid.” The ad Steinhauer posted shows only the chest and crotch of a shirtless man wearing a jockstrap.

On his Facebook page, Nalett recently posted a doctored photo of the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park that showed a naked man urinating.

Today LCFS would place a 15-year-old self-identified homosexual boy in the care of such a couple, and many Americans would cheer such a placement as a manifestation of social justice and evidence of progress.

Last summer in June 2018, the Chicago Tribune published a heartstrings-tugging profile of Bill Guest, a 40-year-old, unemployed homosexual man who lives at home with his parents and yet was able to procure a baby through an organization called Family Source Consultants that matched him up with a surrogate who chose him specifically because he’s homosexual (Guest and his daughter pictured to the right).

Family Source Consultants describes itself as “a leading authority in third party reproductive services” that “matches and facilitates Gestational Surrogacy and Egg Donation arrangements in the United States and Internationally” and “is pleased to assist individuals and couples of all… sexual orientations.”

No longer does American society believe what Obama once believed and proclaimed on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He and virtually all other Americans once believed that mothers and fathers are essential to fulfilling children’s intrinsic needs and rights. Sadly, society no longer recognizes, respects, or protects children’s rights. Instead society slavishly serves the disordered, selfish desires of adults.

“Progressives” argue that only the number of parents is critical—not their biological sex, but they rarely if ever explain how they arrive at that number. Conservatives can explain why. The number two derives from the sexual dimorphism of the human species. Dismissing as irrelevant the natural way new humans come into being, Leftists simply assert that two is the magic number for an ideal home. For them, the source of that number poses an intellectual stickywicket they prefer to avoid.

As we move from a country shaped historically by a biblically-informed worldview to one opposed to values informed by theological orthodoxy and informed by the exaltation of absolute autonomy, moral relativism, and the sexual revolution, children suffer.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/GayAdoptions.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

A couple of weeks ago, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I found myself in our dark, dingy basement in one of my sporadic efforts to clean it out.

Our basement is one of the old-fashioned kind. Unfinished. Dimly lit. Concrete floor and cement block walls. Periodic water problems.

It’s also a mess.

Every year when I outline my goals for the months ahead, I say I’m going to clean out the basement. And every year I don’t do it. Oh, sometimes I spend a few hours down there trying to make headway against the clutter and disorganization, but it’s never enough to truly get the job done—or even stay ahead of the organizational entropy that always creeps in.

And so on this particular Saturday I was down there once again, halfheartedly trying to make progress against the mess. I gathered up some debris, carried it upstairs, and hauled it out the back door to the garbage can waiting for me by the garage.

And that’s when I discovered what a beautiful day it was.

It was far too beautiful to spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning the basement, and also too beautiful not to take the kids out for a hike somewhere.

So I finished up a few tasks then shared my idea with my wife to take the three oldest kids (6, 5, and 3) out for a walk at a local nature park. She was on board, and of course the kids loved it. So out we went.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking through the woods and playing at the creek. The kids had a wonderful time, and it always does my heart good to see them having real experiences out in the natural world. (As one passerby said when he saw them, “Kids ought to play in creeks.”)

As I think back on that Saturday afternoon, I’m reminded again of the importance of right priorities. Not only that, I’m also reminded how easily we can see what our real priorities are.

Cleaning out my basement obviously isn’t a burning priority for me. It’s been a mess for years, and even though I keep saying I’m going to clean it up, I never allocate enough time in my schedule to finish the job. Sure, the mess aggravates me, and it’s embarrassing anytime someone else has to go down there and see it, but I’m apparently not bothered enough to invest the needed time to get the job done.

And that gives us a clue about discerning our true priorities. Simply put, where are we spending our time? If the basement were a genuine priority, I’d make sure it was getting the necessary time to get the cleaning out it needs. It’s not getting my time, so it’s easy to see that—despite my words and intentions—it’s not high on my priority list.

On that particular beautiful Saturday, taking my kids out was a higher priority. And I’m glad to say that on that occasion, I think I got my priorities right. That’s not always the case, but it was that day.

The truth is, words are cheap. Good intentions are free. We can say we value our walk with God, our marriage, or our children—but are we backing up those claims by putting our time where our words are? Does our schedule match the priorities we claim?

I’m not saying that time with our kids should always win out over a home repair project, or that we should always choose extra Bible study over mowing the lawn. I’m not saying we should never work overtime or enjoy a hobby.

What I am saying is that if we look at our schedule over an extended period of time, it’s going to give us a window into our genuine priorities. We can say that our children are one of our top priorities, but if it’s been weeks since we’ve carved out intentional time with them, it might be time for a reality check. The same goes for our marriage and our walk with God.

But here’s where it gets difficult. When we choose to spend our time one way, we’re automatically choosing not to spend it in other ways. So when we say yes to working overtime, for example, we’re saying no to spending those hours with our family. That’s not always the wrong choice, but we have to look at our patterns over time.

The reality is, we all have more options for spending our time than we can possibly accommodate. And that’s why we have to make choices. If we’re not saying no to some things—even good things—in order to say yes to God, our spouse, and our children, our priorities are out of balance. We can talk all we want about how much these things matter to us, but until we’re reshaping our schedule to reflect those real priorities, it’s just that—talk.

If you were to do a priorities audit based on your schedule over the past several weeks, what would it show you? Do you like what you see? If so, great! If not, perhaps it’s time for some realignment.

In the meantime, my basement is still a mess. Maybe I should plan to spend a few hours down there next Saturday . . .

The open secret is no secret anymore. The tragedy is being uncovered for the world to see. As headlines now announce, “Sexual abuse scandal rocks the Boy Scouts of America as it is revealed ‘more than 12,000 members were victims of perpetrators who will soon be revealed in ‘perversion files’.”

This is shocking and terribly painful. But it is not surprising in the least. It has been reported for years that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was covering up this sexual scandal, whether by hook or by crook. As reported by the LA Times in January, 2015, “Settlement in sex abuse case keeps Scouts’ ‘perversion files’ closed.”

Now, at last, this horrific story is coming to the light of day.

But who can calculate the damage that was done? How much emotional blood does the BSA have on its hands? How many lives have been marred or even destroyed?

But this is only the beginning of the travesty.

Not only has the BSA allegedly covered up thousands of cases of sexual abuse of children, but while this was going on, the BSA actively opened the door to gay scouts and even gay scout leaders. It’s as if they were inviting the complete implosion of their organization.

And they did so at the expense of vulnerable children, some of whom have been scarred for life.

Think about that for a minute.

Back in 2015, I wrote, “As of July 13^th, ‘the executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America has unanimously approved a resolution that would end the organization’s blanket ban on gay adult leaders,’ allowing individual scout troops to set their own policy.

“This is nothing less than moral suicide for the Boy Scouts of America.”

And it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Just some decency, mixed with common sense, would have been more than enough.

For example, we hear all too many reports about female school teachers having sex with their teenaged male students. There’s a male-female, heterosexual chemistry that can be dangerous, which is why we constantly set protective boundaries to do our best to avoid abuse.

That’s why we don’t have heterosexual, female scout leaders working alone with male scout troops or heterosexual, male scout leaders working alone with female scout troops. And that’s one reason why, for decades, the BSA would not allow openly homosexual scouts.

To do so would create an environment that could make other boys uncomfortable. It would also create an environment that could lead to potential sexual abuse, as in a 17-year-old homosexual boy seducing a 14-year-old scout mate.

But all that had to change in the name of equality and tolerance.

Forget about all the straight boys (meaning, at least 95 percent of them). No, a potentially unsafe and uncomfortable environment must be created for all of them to make the less than 5 percent feel welcomed.

And remember: the BSA voted to do this while knowing about thousands of cases of male-on-male sexual abuse.

Yet even this was not enough.

Instead, there had to be a push for openly gay scout leaders.

To protest was to be a bigot. To raise caution was to be a homophobe.

And so, the BSA took one more fatal step, allowing for openly gay scout leaders, virtually guaranteeing more instances of the sexual abuse of children.

Only God knows how many BSA executives are culpable for voting for this change.

In my 2015 article, I wrote: “The very same webpage referencing the ‘Perversion Files’ is replete with other headlines, including: ‘Boy Scouts failed to report abuser’ (Oct. 29, 2011); ‘Boy Scout files reveal repeat child abuse by sexual predators’ (Aug. 5, 2012); ‘Top executives did not report suspected Scout abuse cases, files show’ (Dec. 30, 2012); ‘Men tell of sexual abuse by scoutmaster decades ago’ (Oct. 20, 2012); ‘Boy Scouts’ opposition to background checks let pedophiles in’ (Dec. 2, 2012); and ‘Release of Scouts’ files reveals decades of abuse’ (Oct. 19, 2012).”

And, I asked, “Why in the world would you want to swing the door wide open to men whom you know are attracted to males? . . . It’s not a matter of hating gays. It’s a matter of loving children.”

The good news is that the perversion and abuse is being exposed. The bad news is that the damage and destruction is incredibly widespread. Who knows how many other stories have still not been told (or, perhaps, never will be told because of guilt or shame or suicide)?

If you have (or had) a child in the BSA, I encourage you to do two things.

First, have a talk with your son (or sons) and ask them with love and tenderness to tell you the truth about any sexual abuse they experienced or witnessed. If they have a story to tell, it should be added to the current lawsuit. And, of course, see if your kids need professional counseling because of the trauma they suffered.

Second, get your boys out of the BSA today. There are other (safe!) alternatives available, like Trail Life. If none are available in your area, perhaps you can help start a new branch.

As for the BSA, I do not say, R.I.P.

Rather, as you are going down for the count, look into the eyes of the children (many of whom are now adults) whose lives you have knowingly destroyed. Look into their parents’ eyes as well.

And live with that.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

During Holy week, a manifestly unholy thing was revealed about actress Charlize Theron. It was revealed that she’s pretending along with her 7-year-old son Jackson that he is a girl. Theron permits him to dress in distinctly female clothes, wear his hair in long braids, and refers to him as “her,” declaring he is “every bit as much a girl as her three-year-old sister.” Well, except for those pesky scientific realities like his penis and every cell of his body which declares his male DNA.

Theron made this astoundingly foolish statement:

Yes, I thought she was a boy…. Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: “I am not a boy!”

A fatherless 3-year-old boy says he’s not a boy, Theron believes him or pretends to believe him, and the state doesn’t remove him from her home?

The government conducts extensive background checks, home inspections, and interviews to determine parental fitness, because the government has a role in protecting both the rights of individuals as well as the public good. Today we have a government that not only allows parents to facilitate the chemical sterilization and surgical mutilation of their children but mandates that adoption agencies place children only in homes that will permit such grotesque abuse.

Theron doesn’t explain exactly how she knows her son’s perception that he’s not a boy proves he’s a not boy, nor does she explain why he dresses in pink tutus since the Left tells us pink tutus have nothing to do with femaleness. Isn’t Theron reinforcing arbitrary and destructive stereotypes through his clothing and hairstyle requests?

How did we get to this cultural low point in which both elected leaders and unaccountable government bureaucrats have concluded children have neither a need to accept their biological reality or the right to be raised by parents who will help them accept and love their biological reality?

The factors and forces are many, but the primary two are that we “have exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,” and that “progressives” have gained control of all the large cultural institutions that shape public life. Now that they’ve achieved dominion over our large cultural institutions, they are moving on to the greener pastures of our mediating cultural institutions. Mediating institutions are,

“those institutions standing between the individual in his private life and the large institutions of public life.” They help bridge the gap between each of us and the overarching society that we live in.

The two mediating structures over which “progressives” have not yet gained total control are the family and the church, but they’re working like the devil to control those. Nothing delights “progressives” quite like the prospect of using power to quash parental rights, intellectual diversity, and the First Amendment.

The arrogance and ignorance of Leftists who control one of our large cultural institutions—the one by which “progressives” will capture the mediating institutions of family and church, thereby securing  their iron-grip on the larger institutions—is exposed in a short video of Kerrie Torres, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services in the Brea Olinda Unified School District in California who was recently asked why the school is teaching high school freshmen about pedophilia and pederasty.

Torres answers,

This is done because we are discussing historical perspectives of how gender relations and different types of sexual orientations have existed in history. This is something that’s occurred in history, so this is really important to include.

Astonishing. She unashamedly admits teaching other people’s children about pederasty on the public dime, and in the process tacitly admits her belief that pederasty is a “sexual orientation.” Do Torres and her colleagues—you know, the people parents entrust to train up their children in the way they should go—really think it’s “important” for 14-year-olds or any other adolescent to learn about pederasty, which is anal intercourse between an adult man and a younger boy, usually an adolescent boy who serves as the “passive” partner?

Many believe pederasty is a form of pedophilia. Those people are unaware of the finer distinctions the sexually perverse among us make between different forms of perversion. “Chronophilias” are age-related sexual attractions, such as pedophilia, hebephilia, and ephebophilia—terms that signify the age of children that arouse the sexual interest of adults. Pedophiles prefer prepubescent children as their victims. Hebephiles like their victims to have reached puberty but not be too old, so 11-14 is their target group. Ephebophiles are fond of minors in later adolescence, preying on 15-19-year-olds.

Many “progressives” claim that “sexual orientation” (i.e., heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual) is limited to sexual attraction between adult humans, which is how they get away with saying, for example, that men who prey exclusively on young teen boys are not homosexual. They assert that if an adult is not sexually attracted to adults, he has no sexual orientation, therefore, men who like only boys are not homosexual because homosexuality is a sexual orientation—which they don’t have. Got it?

But there are already some who believe “chronophilias” should be considered “sexual orientations,” which is what Torres seems to think. In the service of slowly normalizing yet another form of sexual deviance, they’ve renamed pedophilia “minor attraction,” and view it as a natural “sexual orientation” that ought not be stigmatized.

A 2013 article in the LA Times reports that

pedophilia once was thought to stem from psychological influences early in life. Now, many experts view it as a sexual orientation as immutable as heterosexuality or homosexuality. It is a deep-rooted predisposition—limited almost entirely to men—that becomes clear during puberty and does not change.

Who believes the current exclusion of hebephilia and ephebophilia from the list of sexual orientations will endure, and why should it? If, as the Left claims, “love is love,” isn’t age an arbitrary, socially-constructed, exclusionary limitation?

To conceal from scrutiny the next phase of the sexual devolution, Leftists huff indignantly that they would never sanction “minor attraction” because minors can’t offer consent. But how long will it be before “progressives” argue that 14-year-olds, 13-year-olds, and even 12-year-olds are, indeed, capable of offering meaningful consent. After all, if they are old enough to consent to an abortion or to be euthanized (as they are in Belgium where a 9- and 11-year-old chose to be euthanized), aren’t they old enough to consent to sex?

Moreover, many homosexuals believe not all sexual encounters between adults and minors are abusive. Many argue they’re even beneficial. Milo Yiannopoulis got himself into hot water for admitting what many homosexuals believe, which is that he was not harmed by his sexual interactions as a young teen with an adult man. Eve Ensler, lesbian and author of the infamous Vagina Monologues, wrote a scene about “sexual healing” between a 13-year-old girl and an adult woman—a scene she was forced to change due to public opposition. She changed the teen’s age to 16. Can’t have the public learning the unsavory truth about the homosexual community—yet.

In every society throughout history and across cultures that has accepted homosexuality, the dominant form it assumes is between an adult male and a pubescent boy. As more Americans become blinded to the wickedness of homosexuality or unwilling to accept the persecution that will come to those who speak truth about it, expect to see the Left clamoring to lower the age of consent.

Researcher Michael Seto, Forensic Research Director at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, calls  chronophilias “sexual orientations for age.” He explains that “up to 1 percent of men” experience pedophilia, which makes it perhaps twice as common as “transgenderism.” Pedophilic men say their enduring attraction began very early in life, and research suggests brain differences between pedophilic men’s brains and non-pedophilic men’s brains.

Aren’t these the same factors (i.e., age of emergence of attraction, intractability of attraction, and brain chemistry) that Leftists use to justify cultural approval of homosexuality?

Interestingly, Seto thinks that chronophilic sexual orientations are developmental errors:

I think chronophilias are the result of errors in age detection, where heterosexual male preferences for youth cues… are not offset by sexual maturity cues…. For pedophilia, hebephilia and ephebophilia, the youthfulness cues dominate.

This raises the question, why is no one permitted to examine whether a homosexual orientation—long known to be fluid—could be the result of some type of cue errors perhaps resulting from environmental factors?

Another question arises: Why should Torres stop at chronicling the chronophilia of pederasty for students. Since zoophilia has existed throughout history and since some view it as a sexual orientation, isn’t it equally important to have students study it?

In a study published in 2005 titled “Is zoophilia a sexual orientation,” researcher Hani Miletski wrote,

It was found that some people  (the majority of the participants in the current study) have feelings of love and affection for their animals, have sexual fantasies about them, and admit they are sexually attracted to animals—three components that describe sexual orientation. The current study further reveals that the majority of its participants reported being happy and not wanting to stop having sex with animals.

Why should speciesism—that is, “prejudice or discrimination based on species especially discrimination against animals”—be allowed to limit love and the definition of “sexual orientation”? There are people who identify as zoophiles. They not only enjoy sex with animals but feel affection for them. They too have existed throughout history. Torres should be chomping at the bit to teach teens about the love of man for horses.

The danger of including “sexual orientation” to antidiscrimination policies and laws should by now be obvious to all.

Two worldviews are colliding with cataclysmic results. The worldview shaped by historical Christianity views the world as a place purposefully created by God with a physical and moral reality, both of which are corrupted by the Fall. We need guidance to live rightly, and we rebel against God’s created order and guidance at our own temporal and eternal peril.

The alternative worldview shaped by worship of fallen man views the world as a place of randomness and purposelessness that self-creation and satiation of temporal desires provides the only meaning we can hope to find.

Theron expressed that vitiated and attenuated view when she said this about her children:

They were born who they are, and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up and who they want to be, is not for me to decide. My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be.

Neither Theron nor other “progressives” have a clue about the job of parents or the needs of children.

As America descends into spiritual, moral, and intellectual chaos, the first victims are children.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/When-Worlds-Collide-3.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

Last night we had an unexpected thunderstorm. If you have young children, you know that a nighttime storm can mean Mom and Dad won’t be getting much sleep for as long as it lasts! Such was the case last night. Thankfully it was short-lived and everyone was sleeping peacefully again relatively soon.

Dealing with frightened little ones during the crash of thunder brings up some interesting parallels to my own life as an adult. Because like a child huddled in bed during a storm, sometimes I can find myself overwhelmed or frightened by events outside my control.

What can I learn from my children and a nighttime storm?

First, their fear is essentially unreasonable. We’re warm and dry in our house. The pelting rain outside isn’t getting us wet, and the crash of thunder is just a noise. In other words, nothing is going to hurt us, so what is there to be afraid of? Why be scared of a sound? Yet, despite my attempts to calm my children with such rational thoughts, they remain frightened by the elements outside. Fear isn’t always rational, and that doesn’t change just because we grow up.

How often do I worry about things that are fundamentally unreasonable? Probably more often than I’d like to admit.

Yes, sometimes concerns are real. Problems exist. Pain is real. Suffering is real. Sometimes we know we’ll have to walk through something that’s going to cause genuine discomfort.

But unlike my children, when I face a frightening or concerning event, I can make a more mature choice to focus on what is true and right. I can choose to focus my mind on God and His word. As it says in Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Of course, I’m a fallen human being, and all too often I don’t keep my mind stayed on God, and so worry or fear creeps in. But I know what I need to do to fight back, and by God’s grace, I can grow in my ability to rest in Him.

But this brings up a second observation from the nighttime thunderstorm. My children don’t hesitate to call on me or my wife when they’re scared. Even though we have no power to make the thunder and rain stop, they can be comforted by our voices and our presence. They draw strength and security from us, their earthly parents.

And this, of course, is a perfect picture of the role God wants to fill for us as His children. Too often we go racing about in our fear or worry, trying this solution or that, trying to fix the problem or calm our fears in our own strength, by our own methods. Perhaps we should be more like my three-year-old, who never hesitates to call out—no matter the hour!—when she’s afraid.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t look for solutions to problems. But surely we should call out to God first, calm ourselves in His presence, seek His wisdom, and then set about taking whatever action He leads us to.

We live in troubling times. Looking to the future, it’s not difficult to imagine growing persecution of Christians here in America. It’s not difficult to imagine increasing unrest and conflict rocking our culture. Yet as God’s people, we’re called to be lights in the darkness, not hide under the blankets trying to block out the storm. We can only do that as we’re learning to trust Him more and more and to keep our hearts and minds hearts stayed on Him as the only One who can ultimately help us.

I don’t know about you, but my level of trust and dependence isn’t always where I’d like it to be. Sometimes I find myself anxious and fretful. But with God’s help, I think I’m learning to trust Him more. And that’s a good place to be.

Download the IFI App!

We now have an IFI mobile app that enables us to deliver great content based on the “Tracks” you choose, including timely legislative alerts, cultural commentaries, upcoming event notifications, links to our podcasts, video reports, and even daily Bible verses to encourage you. This great app is available for Android and iPhones.

Key Features:

• It’s FREE!
• Specific content for serious Christians
• Performs a spiritual assessment
• Sends you daily Scriptures to encourage and equip you
• You determine when and how much content you get