I’m not a big fan of doomers, of people who resemble Chicken Littles, who always see the glass half empty, who always turn lemonade into lemons. You know the kind. I’ve never been a pessimist, but life has a habit of grinding us down, so going negative is always a temptation, and in the past I was often given to wondering if It’s hopeless and we’re always going to be on the losing side. That highlights my biggest challenge in the Christian life, trusting God, even when it comes to our current cultural and political moment. None of us want to completely lose our country to the cultural Marxists, AKA the woke globalist Uniparty elite. Thankfully, In God’s providence He’s given us a powerful weapon against the Babel-builders in our day, something the Babelians cannot silence any more than the Catholic Church could silence the Reformation in the 16^th century, the Gutenberg press of the 21^st century, the Internet. I remember coming upon this phrase in a blog comment somewhere and thinking, that’s it! We can’t be silenced, and ultimately cannot be controlled because truth will win. It allows us to fight back in what is essentially an information war. We got an example of how that’s done this week.

This kid, and even more his parents, are modern-day warriors in the 21^st Century Reformation.

When I heard about this story, the first thing I thought was, this kid has awesome parents! Children don’t grow up like this if they have not been raised well. And not just that, but they have been taught to understand our historical moment, and learn what the stakes are. As some Christian traditions put it, they have effectively catechized their children. That word means “to instruct systematically especially by questions, answers, and explanations and corrections, and specifically: to give religious instruction in such a manner.” The key to that definition is systematically, or as Evangelicals often say, we need to be intentional in teaching our children, to be persuasive Christian parents. This is not the responsibility of the church or school or anyone else, but the parents. They have a part to play, but the ultimate responsibility is ours as parents. The Bible is very clear on that point. Just to take one passage from Deuteronomy 6 where Moses is teaching the Israelites what it means to Love the Lord their God:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

In the Bible it is always “you and your children.” Christianity is a multigenerational affair.

God wants to bless us, and that starts with families. He wants us to prosper and flourish in the promised land he has given us, and believe it or not (I know you won’t), that is this world! We live in the promised land, here now, because the promised land is simply where God dwells. The message of redemptive history is very clear that this is the entire point of it all, from God dwelling with man in the garden, then being expelled from God’s presence because of their rebellion. Then God teaches His people through the entire temple and sacrificial system that dwelling with them is what sets them apart from other nations, and finally Jesus coming as the Word made flesh and “dwelling among us.” We live right here, right now, in a land flowing with milk and honey! And God’s covenant promises, and the blessings that flow out of them, are as Peter says in Act’s 2, for us and our children, and for all those whom the Lord our God will call.”

Which brings us to our precocious 12 year-old. This kid’s parents knocked it out of the park! Listen to the mother schooling, pun intended, the school administrator in the video—priceless! And I know nothing about their religious convictions, but I don’t have to. This middle schooler did not grow up in a secular household. Take that to the bank. And as Christians this episode teaches us several things. One is what I’ve said about our children all their lives: they would no more grow up to becomes liberals or leftists as they would grow up to become agnostics or atheists. Just ain’t gonna happen! Why? Because I’m so great? Of course not. It’s because I am annoyingly, persistently teaching them all the time! One Sunday after church when our youngest, then maybe 8, was getting annoyed and asked why I was always lecturing them. His older sister said, “Well, Dominic, because daddy’s always teaching.” That was truly one of the great moments of my life. And I’m still lecturing and teaching even though they are adults. Like me, they never arrive and outgrow the need to be taught. And where does my wife fit in all this? She teaches too; I’m just more obnoxious. My daughter could easily have said, “Daddy’s always annoying.” And I love it! They do too! Of course they’ll only admit that begrudgingly.

So what has all this to do with taking our country back from the woke globalist elite? Everything!

What this family teaches us is that to win it takes not just words but action in the face of cancel culture intimidation by the woke establishment, whether that comes from schools or government or corporations, or anything the culture throws at us. And when we do, the 21^st century Gutenberg Press makes the cultural Marxists not only face a backlash from the mass of normal people, but from the law as well. What victory looks like in our time is utilizing peaceful and legal means to fight back and put the woke elite on the defensive. It’s a beautiful thing to see. This situation is a perfect example. Instead of backing down in the face of woke intimidation, this family fought back knowing they had the law on their side. Too many people cower and cave; we don’t have to.

As we’ve learned over the last fifteen years when Obama led the cultural Marxists to the pinnacle of government, cultural, and corporate power, all they have is lies. For them, “the narrative” is all, and “the narrative” is whatever advances their ideological or political agenda. Truth is irrelevant. Hypocrisy is a virtue, and projection the strategy: whatever they project upon their enemies, is what they themselves do. It’s actually quite impressive because they are relentless and utterly shameless. And having all the cultural, corporate, and government power now on their side, they believe they are invincible. They are not. As I often say, in 2023 we are in a period comparable to the late 1980s when the Soviet Union still appeared invincible too. Few living at that time ever imagined the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union would ever cease to exist, at least in our lifetimes. Then all of a sudden, they were gone. They too, like the woke left in our time, were an empire of lies, and lies cannot endure. All it takes is fight and action. Sometimes even a 12 year-old can show us the way, how to tell the left, don’t tread on me!