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Voddie Baucham

Dear Christian: You Can’t Be For the Great Commission & Against Growing Families

by Kelly Crawford July 9, 2018

written by Kelly Crawford

When you’ve written at the same spot for 11 years, sometimes you think you’ve said all the things. But then again, unless people are digging into the archives, some things bear repeating. So hear goes part of my heart…

I recently listened to a Voddie Baucham sermon that reminded me of the Christian’s double standard when it comes to the Great Commission. (Totally worth the listen–at least the first 13 minutes.) He reminds us of the story of Jim Elliot and the other 4 men who lost their lives ministering to a remote Auca tribe. Then their wives. They went back to the savages who murdered their husbands in order to share the gospel with them. The Great Commission. Worth the risk even of life itself. We call them heroines, unanimously.

Then he told the story of his Christian friend, “Jane,” a faithful mom, who just had her 6th VBAC. Her friends call her irresponsible. Why?

The Great Commission is nothing more than sharing the gospel with people who don’t know the Lord. The savages in Ecuador and the children born here in America have one thing in common: they need the gospel. Is one more important in the Kingdom than another?

Christians have largely and colossally missed the boat on their understanding of children. While the Great Commission urges us to disciple the nations, our own children surely stand first in that line. Throughout Scripture we see, over and over, His directives about children:

“Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them…”

“And why did He make them one? Because He desires godly offspring.”

“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine, and your children like olive shoots around our table.”

And yet the church focuses on evangelism of the lost–out there, simultaneously scorning the Christian family who accepts the children God gives them. The irony is blaring. Can you see it?

Dear Christian brothers and sisters: our job here is to glorify the Lord and advance the Kingdom of Christ. We do that by both bringing the gospel to the lost around us, and bringing the gospel to our own children, welcoming them as the gifts God says they are, and one is not greater than the other, though our job as parents, I believe is the weightier job.

If Christians everywhere saw their own responsibility to bring up children to know and love the Lord, as part of the Great Commission, by sheer numbers (yes I said it) we would see Christ’s Kingdom advance and His authority and dominion rule. Disclaimer: does it mean every child a Christian brings into the world will become a Christ-follower? No it doesn’t. It means the odds are in our favor that our faithfulness will bear fruit over the course of history. We’re in a long-term battle here.

Love the gift of children. Encourage it among your fellow brothers and sisters. Don’t claim to hate abortion but poke fun at the mother with more than 3 children. That is hypocritical. Christians were given instructions to be fruitful. To multiply. To fill the earth. To raise those children to glorify God. The church’s first growth is through families. Don’t despise the fruitfulness of the womb that God created.

July 9, 2018 17 comments

christian living church/children's ministry motherhood/family/parenting Voddie Baucham

Parent’s Duty to Disciple and Why Our View of Children Should Be Elevated

by Kelly Crawford October 18, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Readers often challenge me with questions/comments that I need to ponder seriously. They are questions that matter, I am thankful for them and they need to be answered.

“Kelly, you seem to elevate this topic over the others…”

“Kelly, why do you interfere in personal matters?”

“Kelly, why don’t you just live and not talk about these things, and let the Holy Spirit work as he wishes?”

The Lord providentially brought this message by Dr. Voddie Baucham into my hearing (without my looking for answers), and I could barely contain the outpouring of my soul about “why” indeed, I am compelled to talk about the things I do. In his profound message lies the answer.

Just personal matters?

It’s interesting that all throughout Scripture, instruction was given to the people of God as a group–a body. Suffice it to say, our personal choices profoundly affect the “body”. We are not separate entities, no more than your arm is separate from the rest of your body. And while it is true, each man will stand or fall before the Judge, as Christians, it would be naive to assume that the body will not suffer if its members have a skewed, biblical world-view. This, I believe, is the reason that Paul so carefully instructed Titus to “teach sound doctrine”; specifically as it relates to personal, daily living. It’s the reason God repeatedly sent messengers to instruct His people. (We are all messengers now. And I believe our lack of understanding of that has caused the church to indulge in error without check. We no longer “admonish one another” or check each other–which is why I said I’m thankful for the above questions and challenges some readers are willing to make.)

Why do I seem to elevate some topics?

The topic of children has mainly been the brunt of this comment. It is important to understand a few things…one, I don’t discuss matters of salvation much here–admittedly the most important topic–because my blog is directed toward believers. Hopefully, we’re beyond the fundamentals.

Secondly, I think few people realize how profoundly important our view of children is to the Kingdom work of Christ. I truly believe a wrong view of children is one of the foundational errors in the church and has had enormous implications for our evangelism and spreading of the gospel. We like to think it’s an isolated issue of privacy, irrelevant to anything spiritual. And as Dr. Baucham so passionately articulates in his message, nothing could be farther from the truth. God has written in our very bodies His will for us concerning children. He didn’t even have to mention it in Scripture, yet He continued to reinforce the importance of a right view of children. Forget the details! They are so often what create the controversy during these debates. The details can, indeed, be left for individuals to make choices regarding their family’s circumstances. But let’s get our over-arching view of children right, consistent with God’s view of children! After that, the details are going to work themselves out. I’ll let Dr. Baucham “bring it home” 😉

His message–if we could just get this one thing– would radically change the face of our culture. It’s big, ladies, it’s big!!! Perhaps the family could gather around and listen during family time, but whatever you do, make time for you and your husband to listen to this 20 minute message. Then pass it on! It is so passionate, so encouraging and it’ll make ya wanna shout!

Dr. Voddie Baucham’s message:

The Centrality of the Home in the Evangelism and Discipleship of the Next Generation

October 18, 2009 20 comments

homeschooling motherhood/family/parenting political public school Voddie Baucham

What Does the School Bus Have to Do With the Future of American Healthcare?

by Kelly Crawford September 1, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

“One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.” While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education. What’s the difference? If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no.”

Read the rest of The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare

September 1, 2009 9 comments

homeschooling pregnancy/birth control public school Voddie Baucham

Top 5 Reasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Gov’t School: Baucham

by Kelly Crawford July 8, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Because I love God’s people…because I’m heart-broken over the constant news of God’s people losing their children, or raising spiritually impotent ones…because I believe there is clarity from Scripture about the responsibility of Christian parents….and because I would betray my conscience to refrain from speaking.

Voddie Baucham posted a poignant look at public school and the Christian’s responsibility…it’s worth clicking the link at the bottom to read in its entirety.

Please know that though this topic is sure to arouse anger and the accusations that I’m so accustomed to, I post in humility and love…love could be the only possible reason I would dare to subject myself to the persecution to come.

“Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective….

According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make… you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principally to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them.” -Voddie Baucham

Top 5 Reasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Gov’t School

July 8, 2009 106 comments

homeschooling Voddie Baucham

Launching Children Like Arrows

by Kelly Crawford March 20, 2008

written by Kelly Crawford

I’ve been all about “taking action” this week 🙂 But living deliberately is what I think must happen if our culture is ever to be taken back for the Kingdom. There is no more room for apathy, nonchalant, careless Christians. We must know what we believe, why we believe it, and then fight for it.

If you have a large family, you know one of the challenges is answering people for the “odd” decision you’ve made to allow God to give you more than two children. And I submit to you, that this is just one of many areas where we can live deliberately, and use the incredible opportunity right in front of us to “shine” in the world.

Based on something Dr. Baucham said in the sermon I posted yesterday, I came up with an answer that I’m going to start using when someone questions me. Devising an answer isn’t boastful or self-righteous; it is a duty to be able to “give an answer for the hope that is within us”. Thinking through situations and having an answer for why we live the way we live is a good thing.

The most common question that is often difficult to answer is “Do you want anymore [children]?”

Voddie Baucham quoted God’s command for the children of Israel while they were slaves in another country. Here’s what He told them:

“Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters–that you may be increased there, and not diminished.” Jer.29:5,6

I’ve taken what Baucham says he and his wife say to people who ask about their large family(they now adopt), tweaked it a little, and have come up with a truthful answer that I challenge you to use as well. So, to the question. “Do you want any more?” Or, “Are you going to have anymore?” I am going to begin answering:

“We are going to have, teach, train, love, disciple and launch as many children from our home for the glory of God that we can before we die.”

Simply put, we’re in spiritual warfare, and one of the main weapons God has given His people is more children (arrows). What kind of warrior do we want to be?

Why else would God be constantly admonishing His people to “have more children, and teach them about Me”? Why did he specifically command His people to marry and have children, and so on? Because He wanted His own people to multiply and take dominion!

I’ve actually heard Christians accusing other Christians in a demeaning way for “seeing how many children they can have”. Well? I think that’s an excellent practice given the implications of Scripture! That is, if you understand WHY you are having children–as a dominion-taker. If you don’t want to, OK. But that should make you an even bigger cheerleader for those who do! We’re on the same team, remember? And by God’s economy, more is better!

Dr. Baucham jokingly explained how he wanted as many arrows as possible, as would any warrior in his right mind. “Never mind where I’m going to put them….I’ll find a place–just give me more arrows!”

March 20, 2008 13 comments

motherhood/family/parenting Voddie Baucham

The Real Fight–For Our Children

by Kelly Crawford March 9, 2008

written by Kelly Crawford

A state ruling in CA sent shock and fear through the hearts of homeschoolers in that state this week. And rightly so. In short, an appellate court ruled that only parents with credentials can home educate their children. The ruling is being appealed in the Supreme Court, and thankfully, Schwarzenegger vowed to do whatever he had to do to ensure parents’ right to homeschool.

In light of what John Taylor Gatto was saying in the recent youtube video I posted, it is unthinkable that a parent’s right to choose his child’s education could be threatened. It is a basic constitutional right in question.

And yet, the attack on homeschooling is understandable in every sense, when one understands the ulterior motive of the state–to engineer state-slaves.

If you don’t think that a socialistic current is running viciously underneath the public education system, you better wake up and smell the coffee.

Homeschooling dares to allow parents to raise children who think outside the box–the classroom box, the curriculum box, and the social box. It allows parents to transfer their values to their children–there’s a novel idea–and to be in control of their experiences, of what they’re reading, studying, hearing and seeing. And there are actually some of you–Christian parents, reading this right now and feeling uneasy. Because you have been told that a parent shouldn’t have so much control. And worse yet, you’re convinced that the government needs this control!

Homeschooling is a huge threat to the state’s tidy little program for mass-producing docile, compliant, socialistic citizens. (And all you public-school graduates who feel you did not conform to the state’s agenda–calm down…I am one too. Some of us slip through only partially brainwashed–but it’s the exception, not the rule. And we still must spend the rest of our lives unlearning our public school dogma to some degree.)

In the words of Voddie Baucham…

March 9, 2008 13 comments

Voddie Baucham

Godly Rebels

by Kelly Crawford January 17, 2008

written by Kelly Crawford

“See the thing is, when it’s all said and done, and I’ve heard all the arguments about why mom can’t stay at home, and why daughters have to prepare for a career, and why the children have to stay in day care, and why we need two incomes, the fact still remains that THE FAMILY SUFFERS.”

We watched The Return of the Daughters over the Christmas holidays. (I’m so scatter brained, I can’t remember if I’ve already mentioned this!) What an inspiring tool for families!

If you haven’t got it, it’s a must-have for your library.

In a nutshell, the film paints a beautiful picture of what it looks like when a young woman embraces a radically different vision than that of the culture. It’s the picture of a family working together toward one goal, not segmented members of the family all doing their own thing.

One of my favorite points in the film was something Voddie Baucham said. He asks why it is that when Condoleezza Rice is a helpmeet to the President she is esteemed as a hero…but when a daughter and wife are a helpmeet to her husband she is an unintelligent doormat?

The film interviewed 7 young women and their families, giving a powerful answer to the question, “What does a girl do after high school?” Unlike cultural assumptions, these women were intelligent (that’s probably an understatement), pursuing higher education, articulate, strong, talented, opinionated, and yet godly women with a determination to help their parents build strong families in order to prepare to build their own strong families.

Because isn’t that the basis for our whole society? The liberals would tell you differently, but in my estimation, the entire success of a nation depends on the strength of its families. Would you agree?

Return of the Daughters portrays homes filled with the aroma of love…laughter, the delicious smells of cooking, unity of spirit, and peace. Not perfect homes, those don’t exist, but homes that mirror God’s grace and love. It’s really a simple concept, and yet a picture so absent in the typical family!

It took us a long time to get to the place where we don’t even see the importance of the home, not “home” as in the place people sleep and keep their clothes, but the vibrant, busy glue-of-the-family home.

Is it any wonder marriages are falling apart left and right? Imagine any organization, any organized group that starts out with a purpose, then all its members break off and pursue their own interests…

Go back to the Condoleezza Rice comment. Imagine the cabinet members, the staff that work for President Bush, calling in one day and saying, “Mr. President, today I’ve got an important meeting elsewhere–I won’t be able to make it to work. Oh, and after that, I’ve got a tennis match. But I will be able to come in after that, only I’ll have quite a few phone calls to make regarding my invested shares in the Keebler Corp., and let’s see, well maybe I’ll have a few minutes later tonight and we can go over that speech you’ve got coming up.”

How well do you think things would be going in the White House under such conditions?

See the thing is, when it’s all said and done, and I’ve heard all the arguments about why mom can’t stay at home, and why daughters have to prepare for a career, and why the children have to stay in day care, and why we need two incomes, the it

At what point are we willing to lay aside all of our arguments, or excuses, or situations, and set our faces like flint toward the truth, and just do what we need to do to preserve our homes?

I read a secular article yesterday (pretty sure the author was not a Christian), and she made such an excellent, obvious point. She said, “Why are we still pretending that both parents gone from the home is OK, and not harming the family? We know statistically and intuitively that it is.”

So why do we keep ignoring the obvious? Because we want what we want and will go around the world to justify it.

And I can hear readers saying, “But what about this circumstance, or that one?” I’m not talking about that 1 in a 1000 unusual, difficult circumstance that doesn’t have a clean-cut answer. I’m talking about the acceptance and even promotion of a design that is harmful to the family, and was never intended by God, in my opinion.

People every today will make comments such as “this world has gone crazy”, and “I can’t believe what’s going on these days”…but they will not be upset enough to think…and to reevaluate their ideas. They will not be willing to take a stand against the popular currents of thought and practice. They will get into their Mercedes and drop the kids off for someone else to raise, and then go to help another man build his business and wonder why family life isn’t all they had dreamed about. One day they may wonder why their husband left; or why their daughter is pregnant, or why their son is on drugs. And they’ll chalk it up to life, and keep living in the same direction.

Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying. Mom deciding to stay home will not miraculously turn everything into a rosy, glowing, happy place. Sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing. Trials exist. Burdens happen. The problems we built for ourselves did not happen overnight; neither will the solution.

But gradually, as more and more people forsake the world’s formula for success and embrace God’s, the Original Creator, He will bless. What we need are Godly rebels. Amen, and amen.

January 17, 2008 20 comments

Voddie Baucham

Christians and Public School

by Kelly Crawford November 30, 2007

written by Kelly Crawford

As Voddie Baucham (one of my favorite speakers/authors/pastors) says in the clip below, this is a “sore” subject. I know that. And it’s not that fact that causes me to bring it up again on this blog. It is because my heart is so heavy over this topic that I post about it. I see failure in the Christian home over and over, and while there are many reasons for it, I can’t help believing that sending our children to public schools is a major factor. There…I said it. It’s time we pay attention to this issue. It’s time for Christians to wake up and take their children back.

I believe Scripture is not silent on the issue. How do we approach finding God’s will on a subject that is not explicitly written in the Bible? We read what is written there, and we carefully discern and apply it to the topic in question. The Bible doesn’t specifically address pornographic magazines, but we clearly understand its implications about them.

This post will likely take several days to cover. I would like to start with what I believe are just a few Scriptures that make it clear to me that government school is not an appropriate place for the children of believers. Of course, to see how these Scriptures could imply what I’m suggesting, one must first have a clear understanding of what is going on in the state’s school system, both underneath and on top of the surface. They must understand that education is not neutral, and the doctrines of humanism, socialism and many other scary “isms” are being taught to our children.

Those who are either in denial of what is going on or simply don’t want to answer it, will argue that “there’s nothing wrong with the public school system”.

I can emphatically say that such a stance is ridiculous. For the very proponents of “the system” admit their intent:

“Faith in the prayer-hearing God is an unproved and outmoded faith. There is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes.” (John Dewey. 1859-1952)

“I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith…The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new – the rotting corpse of Christianity together with all its adjacent evils and misery and the new faith of humanism resplendent in its promise of a work in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will finally be achieved.” (John Dunphy. The Humanist . Jan.-Feb. 1983.)

So, compared with the above statements, let us consider what Scripture has to say about our obligations:

“Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

If this is true of “the man”, how much more of “the man’s children”?

“And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that acceptable and perfect will of God.”

“Whatever things are true, whatever honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.”

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Do you understand the clear picture the Lord gives in this chapter about how parents are to teach their children? It communicates “saturation”…all day, every day, our children are to be fed God’s law. Is that what they’re being fed in public school, which is where they spend the majority of their time?

More on this touchy subject next post…

November 30, 2007 39 comments

Voddie Baucham

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