These are hard times for Christians. A President hostile to our perspective has been installed in the White House. Vermont and Iowa state governments have redefined marriage at law to allow for two men or two women to "marry" one another. Tax dollars are pouring into the coffers of abortion providers. And perhaps worst of all, Christians have forgotten how to give thanks. For all the heart rending cultural decline all around us, more heart rending still is sin within Christ's body.

Though we live in a time of cultural and economic decline, we live in a place of both relative freedom and relative prosperity. I have, in God's grace, not long ago had occasion to visit brothers in Christ in a country still under martial law, ruled by socialist dictators. Our church recently participated in a drive within the western churches of this small denomination to raise tens of thousands of dollars to be certain that the thousands of members of our denomination over there do not starve to their deaths. We worry about our 401ks. They worry about whether their children will live through the night.

As we enter into a time of cultural decline, too many of us are worrying about that which is Caesar's, and bears his image rather than that which is God's and bears His image. We fret about what Washington is doing to our money, while eighty percent of evangelical parents hand their children over to the state to be taught in a context where Christ's Lordship is daily denied. Even those of us who homeschool worry about this petty intrusion and that niggling incursion into our homeschooling freedoms. Meanwhile, in Europe, children are being dragged off to state schools, and parents just like us are being dragged off to jail. We have forgotten to give thanks.

Opportunity to Witness

The United Kingdom has slid more deeply into cultural decline than these United States. But even there God has not left Himself without a witness. A few months ago I received an email from Conor O'Riordan, a producer for Revelation/Genesis TV, (www.revelationtv.com) the second most popular Christian television program in the United Kingdom. He asked if I would be willing to come to London to appear on a live program to debate over the course of several hours the merits and blessings of homeschooling. I told him I would be delighted to so do. He then explained that as the second most popular Christian television program in the UK they had the ability to reach millions of viewers, but did not have the budget to get me there. I told him I would still be delighted to do this.

In the ensuing months I have been preparing what I hope to say. Conor has lined up my opponent, Robert Reich, a well known Stanford professor who has published articles critical of homeschooling in prominent magazines and journals. My eldest daughter Darby has been working extra jobs to earn money that she might be able to come along, to be a help to me, and to be an example of the kind of child homeschooling can encourage. And now I am seeking to raise the money necessary to go there and make the case for homeschooling.

In addition, I have been given several other opportunities to serve the saints on the far side of the ocean. I have been invited to teach the Saturday before the debate and to preach the Sunday before the event in Dublin, Ireland. Plans are also under way to teach in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as other smaller events while in London. These opportunities, like all that we do at Highlands Ministries, are on the one hand exciting, but on the other hand, expensive. We need to be busy raising funds.

Help Needed

Given hard economic times, this is no easy task. Given the opportunity, however, we need to get it done. We are asking those here in these United States who share our commitment to homeschooling, to encouraging Christians to live more simple, separate and deliberate lives to the glory of God and the building of His kingdom to help us raise these funds, that the case might be made. If each of you would give only $20, we would easily be able to make the case. And those whose freedoms are in far greater danger than our own, might still enjoy the freedom to homeschool. Those who already love the Bible might hear what it has to say about raising His children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And even those hostile to us and our convictions might see that we are not asking for special favors from the state. We are only asking for freedom. Please visit here to make a donation, just remember to put London in the comment section, and please remember to pray for this gracious opportunity.

Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr.

Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. is a homeschooling father of seven, a frequent speaker at homeschooling conferences and is the author of several books including When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling. He is the founder, chairman and teacher of Highlands Ministries in southwest Virginia.