Windows to the Soul

Jesus instructed that the “eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matt. 6:22-23, ESV). Theologians debate the meaning of this passage, with many assessing that Jesus was speaking about the love of money. However, others teach that Jesus is using an illustration that is commonly summed up as the “eyes are the windows to the soul,” referring to the influence of things we read and watch on our souls.[1] This is not only true of adults but especially on the developing minds of children.

In the Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis described the following about the power books and teachers have in influencing a youth. The power that teachers have “depends on the fact that they are dealing with a boy: a boy who thinks he is ‘doing’ his ‘English prep’ and has no notion that ethics, theology, and politics are all at stake. It is not a theory they put into his mind, but an assumption which ten years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will condition him to take one side in a controversy which he has never recognized as a controversy at all.”[2]

Lewis recognized this trend of packaging philosophy in other curricula in 1944. Today, the secular left controls most of our culture’s institutions of influence; Hollywood, mainstream news, most university campuses, and even most Fortune 500 companies. Now, they have also inundated the children’s literature space with the worst of their ideas and propaganda.[3]

As many observed in late September this year, the parents in Fairfax County, Virginia, were shocked to learn that books, including graphic novels, with passages describing sexual acts could be found in local school libraries. One book, Lawn Boy, even featured a depiction of pedophilia between a homosexual man and a boy.[4] In another example, Santa’s Husband by Daniel Kibblesmith, Santa is gay with a husband named David. The North Pole has also changed and is getting warmer because of climate change, Rudolf has dietary restrictions, and the elves have unionized.[5]

Some people may counter that these are just one-off examples highlighted in the media, but I’ve had similar experiences with my daughter. Over that last year, she has brought home three troubling books from her school library Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag (transgenderism), Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland (LGB relationships), and Class Act by Jerry Craft (Critical Race Theory). Each of these graphic novels portrayed the current Cultural Revolution in a way that my daughter did not understand but was evident to my wife and me. C.S. Lewis had it right, all of these books are designed to place an “assumption” in the minds of children “ten years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will condition him to take one side in a controversy” they never knew was a controversy.

With the Cultural Revolution reaching my daughter’s school and the never-ending COVID restrictions, we decided to start homeschooling until we can move her to a Christian school. However, even in the home, the world finds its way in. While working on schoolwork, my daughter was looking for music on iHeart Radio, and I took a picture of one of the options offered in the children’s channels.

Yes, Disney has a “Pride” channel, and this trend only appears to be growing. Taking a look at GLAAD’s Media Award nominees, you’ll find several examples of mainstream children’s programming now catering to LGBTQIA+ messaging including Disney, PBS, Amazon, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network.[6] It just feels like the Cultural Revolution is everywhere, school, work, and now in the home. It’s ever-present and constantly pushing in.

This made me think of a recent post by Reading in Between the Life… where she provides an outstanding illustration of our current culture war and how it was started. In her post, she runs down a hypothetical confrontation with her neighbor Larry (which is hilarious and spot-on) describing how conservatives did not start the culture war. Conservatives didn’t throw the brick into our neighbor’s car. Christians did not start the war against traditional values, but we are involved whether we are engaged or not.

Over the last several decades, there has been a concerted effort to push the LGBT agenda.[7] Many cite the book After the Ball as the LGBT playbook, which outlined the following six steps in 1989:

1. Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and often as possible.
2. Portray gays as victims, not aggressive challengers.
3. Give homosexual protectors a “just” cause.
4. Make gays look good.
5. Make the victimizers look bad.
6. Solicit funds: the buck stops here (i.e., get corporate America and major foundations to financially support the homosexual cause).[8]

With a plan like this, we have been feeding the “eye” of our society “darkness” for over 30 years (Matt. 6:23, ESV). The techniques have been extremely successful at shaping the narrative of the public dialogue. For example, a survey of the 2000 census data found that more than one-quarter of same-sex households were concentrated in five urban areas New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, and Chicago.[9] Now, as reported by Newsweek, a recent poll conducted by Barna found among Millennials, 30% identify as LGBTQ, which is more than three times the rest of the adult population! When the researchers broke out the youngest of the group, Gen Z (18-24), they found 39% called themselves LGBTQ.[10] C.S. Lewis’ concern is echoed in a 2002 Regent University Law Review article that concluded “The [homosexual] battle centers on the control of public discourse through marketing and persuasion, to shape what society thinks about and how they think about it. Homosexual activists envision that a decision is ultimately made without society ever realizing that it has been purposely conditioned to arrive at a conclusion that it thinks is its own.”[11]

Brothers and sisters, our children are growing up in a world selling lies. Until our children are old enough to understand ethics, theology, and politics it is our job to “guard [their] hearts above all else, for it determines the course of [their] life” (Prov. 4:23, NLT).

Notes

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[*] Featured Image by Linda Morbe, Unsplash, February 13, 2021, https://unsplash.com/photos/jDQWMA72bqw.

[1] Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, vol. 1, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 155.

[2] C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (New York: HarperCollins, 1944), 5.

[3] Scott Walker, “Woke Children’s Books: Indoctrinating the Next Generation of Radicals,” Capital Research Center, October 12, 2021, https://capitalresearch.org/article/woke-childrens-books-indoctrinating-the-next-generation-of-radicals/?blm_aid=2723676161.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] GLAAD, “The Nominees for the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards,” retrieved on 7 November, 2021, https://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/32/nominees.

[7] Paul Rondeau, “Selling Homosexuality to America,” Regent University Law Review 14, no. 2 (2002): 443, https://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/student_life/studentorgs/lawreview/docs/issues/v14n2/Vol.%2014,%20No.%202,%208%20Rondeau.pdf.

[8] Narshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s (New York: Doubleday, 1989) quoted in Craig Osten and Alan Sears, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2003), 25, ProQuest Ebook Central.

[9] “The 2000 Census and Same-Sex Households: A User’s Guide,” published by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, quoted in Osten and Sears, The Homosexual Agenda, 31.

[10] Paul Bond, “Nearly 40 Percent of U.S. Gen Zs, 30 Percent of Young Christians Identify as LGBTQ, Poll Shows,” Newsweek, October 10, 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/nearly-40-percent-us-gen-zs-30-percent-christians-identify-lgbtq-poll-shows-1641085.

[11] Rondeau, “Selling Homosexuality to America,” 485.