The Battle for the Next Generation
by Dr. Ed Young

A couple of years ago there was a movie made about a woman named Erin Brokovich. The movie centered around the town of Hinkley, which unknowingly had its water supply poisoned.

You see, for over 40 years, the major employer of the residents…Pacific Gas and Electric …had knowingly dumped a poisonous, cancer-causing chemical called Chrom 6 into the ponds surrounding its plant in Hinkley.

After time, the poison soaked into the ground water in Hinkley, to the point that people were washing their hands in it, bathing in it and even drinking it! They didn’t know they were being poisoned…and a large percentage of them eventually died of cancer as a result.

Today, America is living in a cultural “Hinkley.” Day after day our hearts and minds are being poisoned by the insidious lies of our culture. Satan has so infiltrated our culture’s worldview that we now find ourselves engaged in a battle of epic proportions…a war for the hearts and minds of our children.

If you doubt this, consider the many cultural battles we are fighting as a result of our culture’s worldview. From the normalization of abortion…to the embracing of the homosexual lifestyle…to the ever-decreasing importance placed on traditional marriage…to rampant sexualized content in media…our culture has succumbed to the lies of the Evil One.

And the lives of our children and grandchildren…the next generation…are at stake.

So how do we fight this battle? How do we arm ourselves? I believe there are two critical armaments.

First, we must understand that this is a battle for our minds…our children’s minds. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 make this abundantly clear:

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every (C)lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (NASB)

How do you capture your every thought? How can you let Jesus rule over your mind when so many other forces want control over it? And how can you help your children in that same quest?

Now be prepared, you may not like what I have to say because it’s not always easy to hear. But if you really do want the victory…if you really want a new life, a new joy, a new freedom, a new belief…you must memorize Scripture.

And you need to help your children do the same.

You must intentionally replace the poisonous mantras of our culture that seep into our minds and the minds of our children with the powerful truth of God’s Word.

Memorizing Scripture is as simple as writing a verse on a card and reading it from time to time throughout your day…and meditating on its truth. This is something you can help your children do even at a young age.

Each of us must recognize the garbage that has seeped into our minds from the waste dump of our culture. And each of us must combat the Evil One by putting the words of God in our minds and on our hearts.

Friday, September 30, 2005