Vacation Bible School Is Unbiblical - Part 2

Part 1 of my series on VBS can be found here.

Continuing in my series on VBS (Vacation Bible School), I am demonstrating from the Bible why it's not such a good idea. This post will be very sober because of the nature of what could potentially happen at VBS. This topic is an elephant in the room for many churches because they refuse to believe this could happen at one of their churches.

VBS Opens the Door for Predators


The Bible warns of sick, twisted individuals who will target your children for nefarious purposes. These people are called "reprobates." The New Testament continually hammers away at this doctrine of reprobation. Many Baptist pastors ignore ALL these verses and chapters on reprobates, exposing their flock to dangerous predators. The epistle of 2 Peter, the book of Jude, Hebrews 6, Romans 1, 2 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and many other places reference these depraved people. The whole book of 2 Peter is entirely devoted to these people! They are individuals who have rejected God, and as a result, have been given up by God unto vile lusts and affections. Your kids - our kids - are in their sights, to pervert and molest them. To willingly turn your face up at this possibility is to endanger your child's innocence and very life. Ask yourself, why aren't Baptist preachers getting up and railing against certain men crept into our congregations unaware? Why aren't they "crying aloud" as the Bible puts it? If a preacher is worth his salt, he needs to preach the whole counsel of God, which includes preaching on and warning about reprobate men.

The Bible is clear on this position. You cannot simply trust everyone in your congregation. The disciples had a traitor among them for over three years, Judas Iscariot. Though, at the same time, we are not commanded to go around suspecting individuals. What does this mean? Don't let your kids out of your sight. Don't give your kids over to strangers. But what do parents do at VBS every year? Exactly those things. Why should we be concerned? Read your Bible:

Jude 1:4 declares,

For there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men...

2 Peter 2:13-14 states,

Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls...

Again, in Jude verses 12-13 say,

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

These predators will blend in among the congregation. They are chameleons, able to say all the right things and appear to be decent. They want access to kids, though. What's the easiest way to gain access to children in a church? Teaching Sunday School, "kid's church," or Vacation Bible School. This is where they will get the access. And VBS opens up even more doors for opportunity because every year more volunteers are needed to help VBS run smoothly. A predator may have attended a church for only a year, so everybody feels comfortable with him. And then he may apply for a position as a VBS teacher. This is how it works, and this is how kids are irrevocably harmed.

Don't believe me? Please take a moment to follow these links:

• Baptist pastor in Tennessee covers up for VBS worker who sexually molested many girls.
• Baptist youth pastor in Maryland violates teen girl during VBS in the "sound room."
• Baptist deacon in Missouri who molested several children "helped lead vacation bible school and bible study for kids."
• Youth pastor repeatedly molests young boys over the span of several years - he was also in charge of the middle school boys' VBS each year.
• Youth mentor and deacon in Hawaii convicted of sexually assaulting minors he drove to Vacation Bible School.
• Seventy-year-old pastor convicted of molesting his own grandchildren was also involved in leading Vacation Bible School. (Facebook photos here)
• Man rapes girl in basement room of Baptist church in South Carolina during Vacation Bible School.

Do you notice how many of these incidents occurred at a Baptist church? These predators infiltrate all churches, and Baptist churches are not immune to them. Just because you're in a Baptist church does not mean you can trust everybody. In most cases of molestation, the victim and violator know each other. Parents typically trust these men, unaware of what animals they really are. The atmosphere in many of Baptist churches today is far too trusting. That needs to change. Not only that, but many of these churches have basements and hallways full of small rooms. These rooms and basements allow for predators to have enough cover to do their reprehensible crimes. What's the solution? Don't split kids up from their parents. And you know what else you can do? Quit building churches with so many rooms. Instead, focus on keeping the church as "one body" as the Bible commands - not splitting them up!

Did these men who committed these atrocious acts clear a background check? In all likelihood, they did. Many child molesters don't get caught until years after they've committed these acts. And then even if the children do speak up, they are instantly silenced for speaking out against such a "respected" pastor, deacon, or youth minister. A background check cannot insure against all criminal acts. To think that you are "protecting" the children by making all VBS workers submit to a background check is a joke. Every child molester has a clean record before he makes his first strike. I wouldn't ever in a million years trust my child over to a VBS worker at any church under any circumstance. My kid stays with me or my wife 24/7.

Galatians 2 talks about "false brethren unawares brought in" who intended to pervert the gospel message of salvation. Judas Iscariot was a reprobate, unaware to the other disciples. These reprobates often obtain entrance into a church and maintain their persona by being likable and charismatic. Nobody would suspect them. There are men who creep into churches not just to pervert the gospel, but to also pervert your kids. The Bible refers to their "creeping" actions several times. What else in this world "creeps" around? Animals. Beasts. This is what the Bible calls these people. 2 Peter 2:12 speaks of them "as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed." The only cure for these predators is death, not prison for a few years.

When a church is running roughly a hundred kids during VBS, it's not possible for the pastor to be completely aware of everything that is happening - if the pastor isn't a reprobate himself. You cannot know with 100% certainty that the VBS workers all have pure intentions. And you most most certainly cannot be present in every room all the time. The solution is simple. Do church the way the Bible tells us to do it. The Bible never mentions splitting the kids up from their families or doing separate churches services or "schools" for them. The New Testament references the church as "one body" ten times. Christ never turned children away, so why should the pastor?

Then were little children presented to him, that he should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such. (Matthew 19:13-14)

Protect the kids. Shut down VBS for their sake. And be assembled in one body, not forbidding the children to be apart of the body.