I have emphasized for many years a simple proposition: either God the Son – Jesus Christ – and His word – the Bible – are authoritative in all matters pertaining to truth, or man is left with his own finite speculations and opinions as his highest source for determining truth about how best to conduct his life.  

This “either/or” proposition is really the fundamental issue of all spiritual warfare, as described by the Bible.  In reference to the reality of Satan, the apostle Paul states: “we are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Cor. 2:11).  And later in 2 Corinthians, the nature of Satan’s schemes is defined when Paul states that the crux of his ministry is “pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor.10:4-5).  In other words, the essence of Satan’s “schemes” is to capture people’s minds with his strongholds of ideals and speculations grounded ultimately in his lies about truth and reality.  This is why Paul says to the Corinthian believers, “I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). 

Neil Anderson, in his well-known Bondage Breakers series, states: “Satan’s first and foremost strategy is deception … His power is in the lie” (pp. 31-32).  Sadly, many professing Christians seem quite naïve when it comes to this point, allowing so many unexamined assumptions to affect their lives without passing them through the truth filter of God’s word!

Obviously, this is extremely relevant to the kind of education our children receive.  Anything that calls itself “Christian education” must have as a first priority a commitment to distinctly integrating biblical truth into all facets of the child’s training and education.  No doubt, there are other critical factors, including parents and teachers who are the “living curricula” as godly, relational role models as well as heartfelt intercession on behalf of our youth.

But we can never over-emphasize the priority of God’s authoritative truth and its content being imparted to our little ones as a primary distinctive of a truly Christian education.  Without such a clearly biblical content, the assumptions formed as the basis for our children’s worldviews will be skewed and ultimately harmful.

One of the common arguments against a distinctly Christian education, whether in the form of homeschooling or the Christian school, is that so many of the children so educated are really no different than those produced by non-Christian systems of education.  No doubt, there is an element of accuracy to this argument.  But this is largely a fallacious contention, in that no one should claim that Christian education begets Christians.  Only the Holy Spirit can do that!

But we can fill our children’s minds with the content of God’s truth and trust as the Holy Spirit brings His convicting and converting power at a time that He knows is best for each one, that the deposit we as parents and educators have made will serve as a vital element of the knowledge base of truth essential in following Christ.  

In my view, and I believe in the context of biblical principle, the sacrifices necessary in providing our children with the kind of education described above will be eternally rewarded, and many lives eternally affected!