Indications are that there is a multi-pronged attack for the hearts and minds of the young; a concerted effort to capture their spiritual attention and mold their moral allegiances right from their earliest days.
One vivid example of this trend was recently reported: the opening of 'After School Satan Clubs' by The Satanic Temple for children as young as five years of age. Harry Farley for ChristianToday.com explained that the organization has billed the extra-curricular option as a challenge to evangelical Christian after-school programming which they say has infiltrated America's elementary schools.
"It's critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think," said Doug Mesner, the Satanic Temple's co-founder, according to The Washington Post. Mesner also goes by the professional name of Lucien Greaves.
As Farley noted, however, The Satanic Temple is not shy about who its real target is. The secular after-school clubs are being targeted at elementary schools where there are currently Christian programmes known as the Good News Clubs.
"While the Good News Clubs focus on indoctrination, instilling children with a fear of hell and God's wrath, After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism," Greaves said. "We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of an everlasting other-worldly horror."
Franklin Graham, the outspoken evangelist, wasted no time in offering his response to the announcement. He said America was "already seeing the devastating effects of secularism everywhere" and called on followers to pray for Greaves' "eyes to be opened to the truth of the Gospel and his own personal need of a Savior".
Another initiative targeting the youth utilizes the ever-popular media channel of television. In a recent article for the Christian Examiner, Michael Foust reported on VH1's controversial program Dating Naked - sexually explicit adult-rated content left open to the viewing of teenagers.
The VH1 show, rated TV-14, shows young adults dating 'in the buff'. VH1 pixelates the private areas, although that does little to make it more acceptable.
"Most parents would be shocked to find their young teenagers watching this sexually-explicit nude dating show," said PTC President Tim Winter. "But VH1, in all its wisdom, believes this kind of content is appropriate for middle school and high school aged children."
Conservative groups such as the Parents Television Council and One Million Moms have fought back. Both have repeatedly urged their supporters to contact companies and ask them to pull commercials from the program.
The end result has been that major advertisers such as Sprint, Samsung and Panera Bread have agreed to stop sponsoring Dating Naked. The latest company to drop its ads from it is Fruit of the Loom.
Fruit of the Loom released a statement which, according to One Million Moms, read, "Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concern. Fruit of the Loom has a family friendly advertising policy that does not permit airing on mature or explicit programming. We are following up with the network to ensure brand advertising does not run during this specific program in the future."
Monica Cole of One Million Moms said Fruit of the Loom responded to the campaign within "a couple hours" of it being launched."VH1 should be ashamed to air nudity and then call it entertainment," Cole wrote. "... This horrendous show, packed full of extremely graphic content, has been extensively marketed to teens."
This kind of programming feeds yet into the next level or consequence of watching sexually explicit content: the actual practice of fornication by the youth, and the provision of free condoms to them on the premise that "they'll do it anyway so we need to protect them when they do".
Although the argument may have sounded plausible to some, time and extensive research has proven it wrong. John Stonestreet, Christian Post guest columnist recently posed the question:
"Remember those so-called "experts" who assured us that condoms would cut rates of fertility and STDs?
A recently released study by University of Notre Dame researchers Kasey S. Buckles and Daniel M. Hungerman has found that access to condoms in schools actually increases teen pregnancies by about 10 percent -- that's right, increases it!
Buckles and Hungerman selected 22 school districts in 12 states that started such programs back in the 1990s, including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The study analyzed teen-fertility data from nearly 400 high-population counties over a span of 19 years.
Among the contributing factors Buckles and Hungerman cite is the possibility that condom-distribution programs can crowd out efforts to encourage young people to delay sexual activity. Condom-distribution programs may actually encourage more teenagers to have sex," they said.
Stonestreet further posed the question: "Is this really that surprising? If adults tell teens that the decision to engage in sex is theirs and give them condoms, what message do they receive?"
Michael J. New, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, further alluded to studies confirming the failure of the condom experiments on youth.
"Overall," said New, "the study adds to an impressive body of research which shows that efforts to encourage contraceptive use either through mandates, subsidies, or distribution are ineffective at best or counterproductive at worst. In many countries, increases in contraception use are correlated with increase in the abortion rate."
So what should Christian parents and guardians do then to counter the wave of unGodly attitudes and values targeting their children? Stonestreet's advice: "Teaching our own kids about sex and design and relationships and marriage, while pointing out and countering the lies about sex proclaimed in the culture, is first and foremost our job as parents and as Christian communities.
Christian families and Christian values have always run counter to the culture, and in these Last Days this uphill battle against secularism and humanism is only intensifying.
Take the case of California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson who recently proudly announced a new framework that will impose lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered lifestyles into the curriculum as early as the second grade.
The announcement was, as usual, cloaked in the new politically-correct language and spirit of inclusion and anti-discrimination. The end result is that the concept of the traditional nuclear family with male and female parents raising children is undermined at an age when children are particularly vulnerable to indoctrination.