“And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim,” Judges 2:8-11.

I read these words with a trembling and vexed heart on Saturday 19th July, for they all too vividly describe what is happening yet again amongst God’s people! I also read that morning a companion chapter, Jeremiah 15.

In them both there is reiterated the judgment that follows departure from the Lord by His people!

Such is the tendency of the Christian to stray that under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Isaiah said: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,”Isaiah 53:6.

That ‘straying’ brought about the Saviour’s sufferings on the cross as the means of atoning for our sins and rescuing us and bringing us to the safety of the fold.

Despite being acutely aware of this truth, God’s people, with sad regularity, drift away from the Lord and set aside the clear teaching of His Word and, in consequence, raise children who because of the ‘drift’ of their parents, KNOW NOT THE LORD, NOR YET THE WORKS WHICH HE HAD DONE.

I. I BELIEVE THAT THE ROOT CAUSE OF THIS SAD DEPARTURE AND CONSEQUENT JUDGMENT, IS THE FAILURE OF THE ADULT GENERATION TO RIGHTLY TEACH THEIR OFFSPRING!

On Friday 18th July ‘The Christian Institute’ issued a statement which was headed:

Long-awaited sex ed guidance removes age limits for sex education

“It is also now explicitly clear that “all” teaching materials for sex education lessons “should be available to parents”, including external resources.

Previously, some schools have refused to allow parents access to materials, citing copyright issues, with providers claiming to be fearful that their content would be plagiarised.

But the new guidance also states that where contracts exist that would prevent parents from accessing “any material at all”, these contracts are “void and unenforceable”. This is because “they contradict the clear public policy interest of ensuring that parents are aware of what their children are being taught in sex and relationships education”.

“While this is welcome, the new guidance does contain some concerning updates regarding LGBT content. Previous wording had stated: “Primary schools have discretion over whether to discuss sexual orientation or families with same-sex parents”.

But this has been replaced by: “We strongly encourage primary schools to teach about healthy loving relationships, and to include same-sex parents along with other family arrangements when discussing families”.

While this statement relates to education on the mainland, here in Northern Ireland, the Department of Education tends to keep in step with what happens in the schools in the rest of GB.

Presbytery’s foolish decision

In response to directives from the Department of Education here in Northern Ireland, the majority in our Presbytery passed a resolution back in March of this year, part of which stated:

“That the imposition of the new ‘Relationships and Sex Education’ directives for schools has launched sustained assaults on so many points of God’s moral law for mankind is a painfully obvious fact. (more…)