In Judges 2:1-2, God said to the Israelites: "I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?" Could He ask the same question of His men today? Have we made a covenant with this world. Have you agreed to terms of peace with this evil and perverse world in exchange for favor or the illusion of safety? Have we let their altars stand in our homes? Do we allow our children to play among vipers? Do they see us calling out evil by name, and treating it accordingly?
In verse 3 of the same chapter, God said: "Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'" Don't deceive yourself; they will be thorns and snares to us, too. We will be examples before our children one way or another. And, the world we live in will quickly tell us for what we are. Will we be temple prostitutes teaching our children how to follow in our steps? Or, will we be the one God's mighty men of valor, training our children in the timeless ways of our fathers who honored Him and ran this race before us?
In Judges 3:7, God said of the Israelites: "They forgot the Lord their God". While the "enlightened" among us abandon the Lord, to make peace with our enemy, the devil, we will be trained in the use of the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, by that very Spirit. In the full armor provided by our God, stand and drive the gods of this world from your home. Show your children what a man does when a snake tries to come into his home.
In Tolkien's The Two Towers, Aragorn counselled King Theodan of Rohan to prepare for war. Theodan, balked at the advice, in order to not further anger the enemy who was already advancing against them unprovoked, saying: "I will not risk open war." Aragorn answered: "Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not."