Sacrifice can be such a positive word. When it refers to the selfless giving of one person to another, it describes the best of being human. And when it describes what Jesus Christ did for we humans, it describes the best of God Himself. Sacrifice also describes a large part of what parenting means. What a great, God-given privilege it is to give the best of ourselves to nurture and mature a part of ourselves.
But sacrifice also has a “dark side,” especially in regard to parenting. In our culture, where values are topsy-turvy, sacrificing for our children has tragically degenerated into sacrificing of our children—at the altars of our own selfishness, convenience, and apathy. If our kids can’t come to us because we aren’t there, they will find someone to run to. And the growing numbers of “deserted” kids, to whom home is little more than a place to sleep and eat, have fuelled occult influences in this country, in a way we could never have imagined. We’ve left too many of our kids on Satan’s doorstep. Charles Evans knows the despair that comes from pinning your hopes on the enemy. As a teenage Satanist, he was driven to the brink of suicide before Jesus Christ mercifully invaded his life and delivered him from the lies of the occult. In the past decade he has spoken to thousands of teenagers and parents about how insidiously easy it is for a kid to buy the lies of Satan, when there is no one there to tell him or her the truth. And his experience is balanced with scholarship about the occult and, what is more important, scholarship in the Word of God. The pages of this book are filled with hope—both for parents and their children…
