Wanted: 10,000 Alaskans to stand up for kids

In Matthew 15, Jesus is confronted by the scribes and Pharisees who ask, “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?”

While the point of transgression is unimportant for our purposes here, what is important is the point Jesus raised in his response: “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”

While tradition didn’t carry with it the force of law as the Commandments did, it had developed into a way of skirting God’s law by those who had the “it depends on how it’s interpreted” attitude. And the commandment Jesus is referring to here is the Fifth Commandment, “Honour thy father and mother,” and how that by giving a gift, called “corban,” the child no longer was under obligation to honor his or her parents.

Folks, you need to understand that this commandment is under attack once again. Oh, it probably won’t do away with Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, for even the most defiant rebel will have fits of gushy sentimentality once or twice a year. But what it will do is take away parental authority to raise their children as they see fit. If you want your children to do chores around the house and they don’t want to, as a parent, you will be out of luck. If you want to opt your child out of sex education, you will no longer have that prerogative. And remember all that work you put in so that you have to give your consent before your daughter can seek an abortion? It will be just a thing of the past.

But wait — there’s more! What if a foreign board of “experts” could issue declarations that would be binding on our courts and legislatures? What if that same board determined we were spending too much on the defense of our nation and could mandate we spend more implementing its programs?

Folks, these dangers are very real and will become a reality if the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child is ever ratified by our country.

Fortunately, there is something you can do. This past weekend I had the privilege of hosting Jonathan Horton, national grassroots director of parentalrights.org, an organization dedicated to preserving parental rights in this country via constitutional amendment. He said he needs more than 4 million Americans to join the campaign, and Alaska’s share of that is 10,000.

Folks, this is how change was meant to come to the Constitution. No more “change” by activist judges who legislate from the bench. No more change from politicians who simply disregard their vows to defend and uphold our Constitution. This is change done the right way, as written by our forefathers.

Yet, who would have thought such a change would be necessary? I mean, what is so evil about parents that the United Nations has declared war against them? Don’t they understand most children will eventually become parents? Where is this magic line those at the U.N. seem to be able to draw between when they want to “protect” the child, but then cast them away when they become parents?

I’ll tell you where the evil is — it is from social evolutionists who are busy transforming our culture from one that feared God to one that is godless. And guess what? Parents stand in the way. As long as parents have the God-given right to raise their children, they can only “pray” for another day.

But don’t think this right has not already begun to erode away. The battle for homeschooling has demonstrated this erosion as did the battle for private Christian schooling before that. Believe it or not, though we have a professing Christian sitting in the governor’s mansion, there are seeds among his staff just waiting to sprout and snatch these rights away.

For those of you who public school, don’t think you are immune, because if Alaska hasn’t caught the “check your parental rights at the school door” bug yet, it will; the virus is already down in the Lower 48.

As for you young people, while many of you might think that your parents are too controlling and that they should give you more freedom, let me assure you that your teenage years will be short lived. The day will come when you, too, will find yourself a parent, and you will look at your child and then come to understand what your parents went through raising you. You cannot understand now, but the day will come.

Wanted: 10,000 Alaskans who want to see change for the better. Contact parentalrights.org today and find out what you can do to help.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.