For decades, the NCC had hundreds of employees and large budgets, and the council commanded respect as a pillar of American civil society. It was for public religion what the American Bar Association was for lawyers. It still has 37 member denominations. But, like those denominations, it is a shell of its former self, with a small staff and budget. What remains of the NCC is nestled in a small suite in the Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. What happened?

What happens when churches go vague on theology and detailed on politics? With the National Council of Churches (NCC), currently celebrating its 75th anniversary, we have the answer.
Have you ever heard of the NCC? If you are under age 60, likely not. But for decades it was the premier liberal voice for Protestant Christianity in America. In 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower laid the cornerstone on the new building in New York that would house the NCC and other Protestant agencies, in a tribute to their wide influence. Newspapers boasted that the new 19-story Interchurch Center, built with help from the Rockefellers, would house 37 Protestant denominations representing 40 million Americans and 144,000 congregations. Occupants included the Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed Church, and American Baptists, and a host of mainline Protestant agencies.
For decades, the NCC had hundreds of employees and large budgets, and the council commanded respect as a pillar of American civil society. It was for public religion what the American Bar Association was for lawyers. It still has 37 member denominations. But, like those denominations, it is a shell of its former self, with a small staff and budget. What remains of the NCC is nestled in a small suite in the Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. What happened?
An early slogan for the ecumenical movement at the 20th century’s dawn was “doctrine divides, service unites.”
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To all the Christian parents who still have your kids drinking from the filthy waters of public education, you also need to repent. Stop sending your children to Baal. Stop sending your children to Caesar. Go and get your kids and give them the education they deserve. Christian children have a right to a Christian education, and one day you’ll have to give an account to Jesus Christ himself. You already know this and therefore have no excuse. To whom much is given, much is required.

About 12 years ago, my wife and I decided to pull our kids from the government school system and commit to giving them a home education. When we did that, some of our friends and family members thought we were crazy: “What do you mean you’re homeschooling?”
We explained to them that God’s Word commands us to raise our children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” We explained that every successful student becomes like his teacher, just as Jesus said, “Every disciple who is fully trained will be just like his Master.”
We told them them that because we didn’t want a godless, anti-Christian, government-run school system to disciple our children, we were willing to sacrifice up to half our total income to protect the hearts and minds of our little ones. Some nodded of course with eyebrows lifted, eyes glazed over, and the little corners of their mouths pointed downward. But that was okay. We knew they didn’t understand. We knew we would have to bear the shame of stepping out in faith and obedience to God’s Word. We knew we would be characterized as religious fanatics and regarded as overzealous and extreme.
But you know what? Today more than ever we are proud of the decision we made. Our walk with the Lord has been greatly strengthened and our faith has been confirmed time and again throughout the past 12 years. Especially, as we look around at the current state and condition of our nation, we know that we did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The degeneracy of public education is manifest.
In the picture below you can see just how far we’ve fallen. What “show and tell” used to be and what it is today is a clear testimony to the absolute corruption of our society.
And no, this is not one of those “I told you so” kind of rants.
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Judge according to the Word of God, yes, but never indulge in self-righteous, hypocritical, hypercritical, prejudiced, merciless judgmentalism. That is never the way of Christ, and it should not be the way of Christians either.

Matthew 7:1 is one of the most needed and one of the most abused statements in the Bible. It is not uncommon to meet people who seem to know only three verses from the Bible: “Judge not” (Matt. 7:1), “God is love” (1 John 4:16), and “Let him who is without sin…be the first to throw a stone” (John 8:7). These people—professing Christians or not—are not really interested in understanding the Bible on its own terms. They are happy to sloganize the Scriptures if it suits their purposes.
Yet just because people can misuse a verse does not give us a reason to throw out that verse. The fact is that Matthew 7:1 is a necessary corrective that many Christians need to hear. If we can first clear away the false claims, we will be in a position to let Matthew 7:1 shape us as Jesus intended.
A Misused Command
So what does this verse not mean? First, “judge not” does not mean that we suspend the rule of law. God has ordained officers in the state (Rom. 13:1–2) and in the church (Matt. 18:15–17; 1 Cor. 5:9–13) to exercise judgment when the members of each institution fail to do what is right. We do not judge in the sense of exercising individual vigilante justice because we trust that God will exercise His justice through the proper authorities (Rom. 12:17–21).
Second, “judge not” does not mean that we turn off our brains. Elsewhere in Scripture, we are warned not to believe every spirit (1 John 4:1). We must be a discerning people, judging with right judgments (John 7:24). There is simply no way that we can read the Bible and conclude that godliness entails accepting everything all the time and affirming everyone no matter what. The same Jesus who preached about not judging also rebuked the church at Thya­tira for tolerating false teachers and sexual immorality (Rev. 2:20).
Third, “judge not” does not mean that we suspend all moral distinctions. The Sermon on the Mount does not forbid theological and ethical evaluation. Jesus does not prohibit harsh criticism when necessary. Think about it: the Sermon on the Mount is full of moral judgment. Jesus calls people hypocrites (Matt. 7:5). He tells the people to beware of false prophets (v. 15). Just a few sentences after the command to “judge not,” Jesus expects us to understand (and discern) that some people are dogs and pigs (v. 6). It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I don’t want you to be censorious, but neither do I want you to be simpletons.”
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