As I was reading an article this week, I was enlightened about some things we need to all be very aware of. I am going to share some key thoughts with you from this article on why we run buses, have a Christian school, and are pushing for more public-school ministry.
Witchcraft and the occult are on the rise among U.S. youth. A 2021 survey by Springtide Research Institute found that 51% of Gen Z teens and 40% of Millennial young adults regularly engage in the occult.
Matthew Staver (Liberty Counsel) tells a story of a 6-year-old elementary schoolboy, forced into the occult by his mom, who was saved through the Child Evangelism Fellowship.
Liam’s mother got sucked into the occult and became a practicing Satanist. Little Liam was forced to participate, joining hands with his mother and her fellow Satanists from within a pentacle—a circle drawn around a pentagram—to conduct their “spell work” and demonic conjurings.
But Liam’s mother also enrolled him in a Bible club, where he learned that Jesus is stronger and better than the devil. He couldn’t defy his mother at such a tender age, so he took what he had learned in his Bible club and began quietly praying in the name of Jesus any time his mother and her Satanist friends forced him to sit in their satanic circle.
After one satanic session, Liam’s mother hit him on the head with a hairbrush, drawing blood. But rather than seek revenge, as his mother’s dark religion taught, Liam responded by getting a paper crown from his room and placing it on his mother’s head.
When Liam’s grandmother asked him why he would do such a thing, Liam looked at his grandmother incredulously and said,
“Don’t you know, Grandma? Jesus teaches us to forgive.”
Kids often begin dabbling with witchcraft out of a desire to control their lives and circumstances. Lacking a connection with God, these youth embrace the occult to “empower” themselves and make themselves their own “gods.”
Ephesians 2:2 (KJV)
“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
A quick look at media—whether transmitted through movies, television, or the internet—shows that Satan has been hard at work using the airwaves to spread darkness.
Movies like Harry Potter present witchcraft as empowering entertainment for children. Young adult television shows like Lucifer present the devil as a decent guy who is just misunderstood. Cable shows like Ghost Adventures regularly televise actual demonic conjurings and satanic séances, while shows like The Dead Files encourage people to seek out “chaos magicians, witches, and demonologists” to “spiritually cleanse” their homes.
The social media hashtag #WitchTok, which promotes all things witchcraft, had 64 billion viewers as of late 2024.
Barna Research Group reveals the antidote to the spiritual warfare plaguing our youth. Barna’s research revealed that “possessing an evangelical faith perspective was by far the most significant factor insulating teenagers from unwanted exploration of the supernatural.”
In fact, evangelical kids are nearly three times less likely than their peers to have engaged in witchcraft.
This is why it is so important that the Gospel gets to children, and that we are leading children to Christ while they are in elementary school—during the most critical formation period of their lives.