LIKE MOTHER HEN, IT IS TIME FOR HOLY ACTIVISM FOR YOUR CHILDREN
As someone who grew up in a traditional and natural environment and has chosen agriculture as a profession, the lessons learned from the protective yet audacious ability of a mother hen will be with me as long as I live. The mother hen was able to determine what the predator was. She could tell if it was the owner who was bringing food or a foe coming to pick up her chicks. Do not be surprised; even as the owner, the mother hen will occasionally peck with her beak as a warning when you are getting too close to the feeble chicks. She is also very quick to open her feathers for the chicks to enter immediately when she sees a hawk. You need to see the anger on her face if, by mistake, the hawk picks up any errant chick that did not enter her protective care. Any child that walks around at that time will receive the fiercest attack. Mother Hen teaches me about responsibility to my family, especially to my children. It should be for you too.
As we begin 2024, I believe family—yes, your family—should be your priority. And as parents, you should review how you have handled or should have handled your children, which the ‘worldly system’ has termed ‘vulnerable’. The word vulnerable as it is used in our world has been pushed to the point that godly parents could now be labeled ‘predators’ for teaching their children godly virtues and characters. The irony of the terminology is that the same system that tagged children vulnerable is still the one rolling out programs, ideologies, teaching, and various exploitative avenues either to prey on children, make money through their innocence, introduce the ideology that will replace God in their minds, and further put them on the pathway of confusion.
The intention of God for godly children couldn’t be clearer from the Scriptures in Malachi 2:15. “But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.” It suffices to say that a broken home or battered family cannot produce the godly children that God wants. The reality is that the menace, brutalization in the name of correction, violence, and other demeaning actions from some supposed ‘godly’ homes have added fuel to some laws that have taken children from the care of parents. In the days when curricula and pedagogies have systematically shifted from cognitive and skill development to sexual, gender-affirming, godless activism, we must prepare our family altar to be able to win this last battle. When children are taken off from the correction of the family and the word of God, right from kindergarten age, the disaster and affliction to come can only be imagined.
The epidemic that we see with children given to drugs and all vices is an indication that the family is failing, and we must rise. In some countries, parents are shunning public schools; home schools have become popular in some states, yet we have not gotten the needed peace. The level of toxins put into society is too much for us to accept becoming the silent minority. “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; it shall never produce a meal. If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up” [Hosea 8:7]. We need to deploy the full force of our minority plus the God factor for the good of society. The power of the Holy Spirit in us can bring about changes in society in 2024.
We all need to awaken to holy activism, just like a mother hen, on behalf of our children. There is an evil and dangerous pattern about children in our world today that believers must arise and fight against.
First, repair your family altar. Wake up early to have at least 30 minutes of prayer and scripture reading with your children before sending them to school. Try as much as possible to monitor the spiritual and character welfare of your children in tertiary institutions. Since you are still providing the tuition and all other expenses, you should not neglect their spiritual well-being.
Secondly, some believers like Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel who are placed in high places need to begin to play their parts in ‘killing’ or nipping in the bud some evil and obnoxious changes in the government. Sometimes, such rules and laws are passed to supposedly protect children, but they are enacted to remove them from parental control and to obey God. “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” [Esther 4:14].
Thirdly, be interested in and involved in your local school administration or management. It may be where your wards are enrolled. In the school where my children are enrolled, every year they make calls for some volunteer positions. They vary from joining a counselling team to joining the SGB (school governing body) or the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association).
Fourthly, adopt schools to send some gifts. It may only be a ream printed papers. You may decide to buy uniforms or shoes for some learners. One of my ministerial friends was sharing these testimonies. He has adopted schools where he provides shoes and Bibles for the kids. He said that without being part of the SGB, the schools have always sought his opinions on anything they wanted to do in the school. The last time I visited his church, I saw buses taking some of the students back to their villages after service. He has had an impact in that community.
Fifth, and finally, stand up and brighten your corner. You can be creative about this. There are many of us who have made names for ourselves in our respective disciplines. What about working at the local schools for 30 minutes on literary days to read stories and histories in a friendly environment with the pupils and students? The world and the media have projected those who walk nakedly, do hair like mad people, and are worldly stars as the models, while most of us who God has raised up and made names in our respective careers and disciplines are hiding, and many of us are bugged by names of denominations. My kids always observed me waving some schoolchildren in our estate when I drove them to school. They asked me where I knew them. I had a discourse with one of the postdoctoral research fellows at my university, who invited me to his room about a year ago, specifically in January 2023, and he shared his vision with me. He has been going to schools with the documentary about Dr. Ben Carson (the first neurosurgeon who separated the Siamese twins). He asked if I would be willing to partner with him, to which I agreed wholeheartedly. We wrote intention letters to many schools. One of the schools agreed. We were given permission in this school, and we projected Dr. Carson’s book, The Gifted Hands. Many of them yielded to Christ that day. So, I always wave at them when I see them on my way.
The mother hen may just be bird lower than humans, but the lessons from her protective instinct can be imbibed. Our children must be preserved through God’s word, and this cannot be a passive adventure as we see epidemics of violence and destruction taking over God’s heritage and tomorrow’s leaders.
Dr. Yiseyon S. Hosu is the president of Shepherd’s House for All Nations Ministries, an NPO for global evangelization and discipleship.