The Achille's Heel of the Christian Parent

The Achilles Heel of the Christian Parent:

Hello there beloved! Thanks for visiting my blog. Today's post is very different from my usual post, but I really feel lead to share with you a word of caution about parenthood that God shared with my husband and I. God specifically used a dream to teach us about just how dangerous even the most innocent forms of entertainment can be for children.

I believe God purposely gave us this insight during our season of not yet having children because it will be critical for when we do.

I pray that you view this with article with an open mind and  find several tokens of wisdom as well. I also pray you will be patient, because this is a pretty long post.

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It Started with Discussing Biblical Principles for Parenting:

A few months ago my husband and I randomly began discussing Christian parenting. Particularly, whether or not Christian parents were too strict or too liberal with the permissions they gave their children.  I am not even sure what exactly sparked this conversation, but ever since God began showing us that we will have children, we have found ourselves discussing the idea of parenting quite a bit.

That night, after our 2 hour long conversation that consisted of more questions than answers, we decided to bring up this topic in prayer by asking God to show us how we can be God-fearing parents.

I didn’t expect the Lord to answer directly, especially because we are not expecting a child tomorrow by any means, but to my surprise, the Lord answered our prayer in a very direct way that same night. 

After we prayed, I laid my head down to go to sleep, and within a couple of minutes, a dream began to play before my eyes. This was a very odd dream however because I perceived that I was not yet asleep.

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The Answered Prayer: A Dream about a Child

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In this dream, I saw a mother who was joyfully pushing her very young daughter on a swing. The swing sat right on the edge of a bank that jutted out into a pond. However, the pond water was dark and full of dozens of very large alligators-like creatures that were slashing around in the water so viciously that they could not be overlooked. 

The swing was anchored to a tree and the seat was on the end of two very long ropes that allowed the child  to swing pretty far out over the alligators with each push.

Yet, the mother seemed utterly oblivious to the huge creatures that could have easily swallowed her daughter in one bite. Instead, she continued to push her child out past the edge of the bank and over danger.

The child appeared to be very happy as she was swinging. She had no idea that she was being suspended over dangerous waters. The mother likewise. And even if the mother did did see the danger, she certainly believed that it was impossible for her child to ever succumb to it.

It seemed as if the only thing the mother was meditating on was her child's smiling face and how much her little one enjoyed the swing. And so, the mother pushed her child above the dangerous waters again and again, without fear and without any understanding of the danger she was exposing her child to.

I marveled at this for a while even after the dream faded away. I couldn’t understand what type of parent would deliberately push their child into dangerous territory. In fact, the word that came to mind over and over when considering the mother in this dream was “oblivious”.

Just one slip-up and the child could have fallen to her doom or one of the large "gators" could have jumped out of the water and launched at her child’s dangling feet.

The dream faded and I immediately knew the dream was from the Lord, and that is was an answer to the question we asked God during prayer.

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What does this dream mean?

As I sat there pondering and inquiring of the Lord in my spirit, God began to bring to my mind various kid-friendly entertainment mediums (especially specific shows and movies) that contained ungodly themes that many of us fail to notice. The more He brought them to mind the more I  began to understand the main point of the dream. I continued to pray about the dream and discuss it with my husband and over the next few days God gave more understanding about different elements in the dream.

The Swing:

I believe God used the swing to represent entertainment that looks to be child friendly.

The Alligators:

Upon further prayer I began to understand that the alligators represented themes that were abominable or detestable to God. Specifically, these were themes that He detest that parents allow their children to be exposed to again and again  via cutely packaged "kid friendly" entertainment(emphasis on animated digital media such as cartoons, movies, social media etc.).

The Terrain

As I pondered more, God brought to mind the terrain of the dream in more detail. I believe the tree that the swing was anchored to, along with the surrounding land, was representative of the solid foundation of Christ, while the water represented the dangerous territory of Satan along with the the demons and abominations that come with his line of work.

By juxtaposing the solid land to the dangerous waters, and showing a child being pushed back and forth between the two, I believe God was trying to show me that Christians are allowing their children to be exposed to two types of upbringing. One is the foundation of the Bible and the other is the digital world that Satan has strongly influenced.

The children are then able to go back and forth between the two worldviews constantly during a stage in their life where they are the most impressionable and the most spiritually vulnerable, all at the hands of their very own parents.

The Mother:

Lastly, I wondered to myself, why did God show a mom and her daughter and not both parents? I actually pondered this while writing this section of the post and in that moment God brought to mind this phrase "Keepers at home".

Titus 2:4-5 says " ... teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

The Greek word used for the phrase "keepers at home", comes from the Greek word "Oikos" which has a deeper meaning of guardian or watcher. The women are to be the "watchers" of the young children spiritually and physically. By no means am I saying that fathers have no place in watching their children, it just highlights the expectation God has for women as mothers. Mothers were designed to be the primary person watching over their little ones during the day.

And it just so happens that in the modern world mother's who stay at home are often the ones who sit their children in front of tv or other digital media to help calm their children down, or allow them to complete other tasks in the home. God used a mother, because in his eyes, they are the primary guardians in this area. This is also a direct lesson for me that coincides with other teachings God has been showing me about motherhood on a personal level.

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Overall, this dream was God's way of depicting of a Christian parent who believed that they were providing their child a firm foundation on Christ, yet they repeatedly allowed their child to leave their grasp and be exposed to Satan’s territory via entertainment repeatedly.

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But let's take a deeper dive into this.

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‍What are "abominations" or things God hates, according to the Bible?

For those who are not familiar, an 'abomination' is the name God uses in the Bible to describe things he hates or finds absolutely detestable, typically used in reference to sin. 

Some  things that God specifically labeled as an abomination were “ magic/ sorcery and divination (seeking after a diviner for guidance or answers)(Leviticus 19:31), same-sex relations (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13), gossip (Proverbs 6:19), mischief (Proverbs 6:18), and bloodshed (Proverbs 6:17), and idolatry (Deuteronomy 27:15) just to name a few. These themes are clearly outlined in the New Testament as well, but when God himself addressed them in the Old Testament, he would specifically use the word "abomination".

It's also evident from reading several passages in the Bible that even the mere imagery of these things was considered an abomination to Lord, this is emphasized very heavily in the book of Ezekiel and at one point the Lord even says:

 “Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Ezekiel 20:7).

The people of old knew to keep there eyes from willingly viewing evil. Yet we view such evil themes willingly through entertainment, especially digital media every day, and let our children do the same.

Just think of the above abominations. Are they not all throughout entertainment? Think of theme parks, shows, movies, video games, music, board games. Think of the most child friendly ones you can think of. Many are rife with the very list of abominations the Bible  mentions. Half the movies and shows that my Christian peers and I grew up watching were dominant in sorcery, mischief, and gossip.

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Abominations Hidden Amongst Innocent Entertainment:

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The more I began to think of the dream and my study of all the abominations noted in scripture, I began to ask myself “what is a common form of entertainment that seems innocent, but allows children to be exposed to such things?”

And I immediately thought of “kid-friendly” tv shows, movies that I enjoyed watching in my youth. In particular, Disney movies began to flood my mind.

I recall watching several movies made by Disney where sorcerers were paraded under the “kid-friendly” guise of the helpful “fairy godmother” or the quirky wizard. I can still remember many of the catchy songs that played during these scenes.

I think of the witch Ursula from the Little Mermaid and the infamous song “poor unfortunate souls” that she sings as she does magic or witchcraft to capture the voice of Ariel.

Or the song “dig a little deeper” sung by Mama odie, a voodoo priestess in the movie Princess and the Frog. My whole family and I loved that movie and I even remember watching it at my Christian school a couple of times too. Yet, I can’t think of one person that cared that we were watching a witch with a python around her neck, use a cauldron to make a spell that was aimed at  helping Princess Tiana  “find her true self”.

I couldn't stop my spirit from being flooded with remorse as I meditated on how often God says in scripture that he hates sorcery and witchcraft, and how it is an absolute abomination to him. Yet many Christian parents allow their children to watch and entertained imagery of witchcraft without any thought all throughout about how God would feel about it?

I even began to question all the superhero movies that I absolutely love even as an adult and began to ask myself. Does God consider it a light thing when Christian children or adults marvel at characters such as Thor, ”the god of thunder” or Loki, the god of mischief? Is He not a jealous God?  Does he not say put no other gods before you? Does he not hate things like mischief and bloodshed that these movies are rife with? Why would I ever think it was okay to watch such things.

There are plenty of examples of ‘abominations’ in modern-day digital entertainment that parents allow their children to be exposed to including imagery of sexual immorality, all in the name of “kid-friendly entertainment”.

The more I read scripture and then tried to fit television and movies into it, I realized just how luke-warm we really are. I guess it just never really occurred to me  how easily these things slip into the Christian home. All Satan has to do  is wrap abominations in a kid-friendly wrapping paper and we willingly gift it to our children in the name of a way to pass the time.

Could it be that we have forsaken what it means to be a ”holy nation, a peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9)? Is the church today guilty of “conforming to this world” all in the name of entertainment? Why are we no longer like the men of the Bible who feared God? Why are we not like David who sought after God's heart and came to the conclusion that " [he would] set no wicked thing before [his] eyes.." (Psalm 101)?

When thinking about all of this I couldn’t help but be pricked to the heart because I will admit, my husband and I, though we don’t watch anything “bad” by the world’s standards, we have greatly fallen short compared to God’s standard as it pertains to entertainment, especially when it comes to video games and movies. And surely this standard would have been imparted to our children in some fashion if God had not graciously educated us.

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Is it really that serious?

I am sure so many people will have mixed feelings about this post, some may even scoff at the idea that some of our favorite shows and movies are a no-no on God’s list. As I have started to talk about this topic with people I have heard some say "you are being to legalistic or religious about movies", or" its just a movie or just a book. Or one of the most interesting comments is " these movies or shows are fine, if anything, they teach our children lessons they can learn from.

And yes, shows and movies often have a good lesson in the end, but many are still filled with imagery God hates. Remember that most movies and shows are created by the world, so it's important not to let your guard down, you may see a a movie as an opportunity to teach your child a good lesson, but Satan may also see a movie as an opportunity to teach your child his lessons.

This is especially true for cartoons and shows that you allow your kids to watch daily. They could constantly be viewing themes that unbraid the Christian values you seek to instill in them.‍

While you are teaching your child to respect their peers, the devil may be teaching them to mock and pick on their peers through depictions of mischief in various cartoons/ shows . 

While you are teaching your child to trust God, the devil may be using digital media to teach them to trust in witchcraft and seek after divination for answers.

While you are teaching your child how real spiritual warfare is, movies may be teaching them that the spiritual world is just a fairy tale. 

While you are teaching your children about Godly marriage, the devil may be using a show or movie to teach them that same-sex marriage is okay.

While you are teaching your children that there is but one God, movies are teaching them there could be several gods in the universe. 

All of this while your children are the most impressionable. 

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You see, Satan very well could be using entertainment to chisel away at the Christian worldview you are trying to teach your children; reversing the very tenants you hoped to teach them, bit, by bit.

This is what God was showing me through this dream and through the Bible studies that ensued.

God is warning us that if we are not careful, entertainment will teach our children to possibly become people that “call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

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Entertainment truly could be the Achilles heel of the Christian parent.

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But maybe deep down inside you already know everything I am saying, but you fear that if you guide your household with God’s standards, your children would call you " too strict". 

Or perhaps you fear that your children would rebel because they are too "sheltered".

Well, consider the fact that Satan may be putting these ideas in your head to throw you a stumbling block so that he can continue to condition your children to a luke-warm Christian lifestyle.

Also, consider that your concerns to avoid such judgments in your house may cause you to face greater judgments in the house of God. Afterall, you will likely give an account for every single stumbling block you put in front of your children.

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The Fearless Parent:

This leads me to the biggest takeaway from the dream.

It was ironic that one of the primary features of the parent in my dream was that she had no fear or concern. Why? Because she lacked an understanding of the environment she was exposing her child to.

The Bible tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).

Likewise, the only parents who have no conviction as they allow their children to entertain things that the Lord hates, are the ones who lack the understanding of what it means to be holy, and they also lack fear of offending God.

Perhaps if we knew how serious God was about the things we watch, no matter how innocently packaged, we would guard what both we, and our children watch, with a higher level of righteous prudence.

This thought really got me. I imagined it was  judgment day, and you I was having to explain to God the things I allowed my children to watch. 

Imagine I let my child watch Harry Potter  since he or she was a 5-year-old and now im finding myself in front of God himself decades later, and God asks me " Did you ever consider how I felt as both you and your little one were entertaining yourselves with the very imagery of the things I hate? 

“Did you know that you moved me to jealousy as you allowed your precious little one to marvel at the sight of sorcery?” 

How would I answer that?

Will I say " Oh God, it's not a big deal it was just a kid's movie", besides it's not like it was real.  It was just a depiction of the thing you hate that is all!

Do you really think God will respond to me with  “Okay, you are right my child, it was just a show, well done my good and faithful parent”?

No.

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It’s also important to remember that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, He sees every single thing we see on an extremely intimate level, we have to be careful not to grieve him with what we allow our eyes to see.

Brothers and sisters, go over that list of abominations again and read the Bible thoroughly to understand all the things the Lord hates and ponder just how common such things are in today's digital entertainment. Discuss these things with your spouse in advance so that you can ensure you can guard the eyes of your young ones. 

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‍Heed the warning:

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So in closing, am I saying Christian parents should never allow their children to watch tv or do anything fun?‍

What I am saying is that Satan hides evil right under your nose disguised as good, especially in his digital playground. You must be vigilant. It is not enough to let the world tell you what is acceptable or "kid friendly. You need to start viewing things with God's rubric (The Bible).

Ask God to give you spiritual eyes so that you can discern His heart when it comes to entertainment for your kids and pray before you watch or entertain anything that includes books, music, theme parks, board games and so on.

And if you do not yet have children. That's may be even better. Ask for God to give you wisdom about parenthood BEFORE you have children. We need to put into place the structure of a God-fearing household in advance. Prepare your house now before its filled with little ones.

And remember, when considering entertainment from God’s perspective, that to God just “a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9).

‍My husband and I are surely left with a lot to think about and a lot of holes to patch up in our spiritual house, and I hope you have given this some thought too. 

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Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).

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In Christ, and with love, 

-Ciara

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