The War on Children and a New Book Calling for a Recovery of Courage, Clarity, Conviction, and Public Faithfulness

The War on Children and a New Book Calling for a Recovery of Courage, Clarity, Conviction, and Public Faithfulness

30 July 2026

5.1 MINS

I’m struggling for words. Pure evil goes close.

If you doubt what I’m saying, please watch my interview last week with Courtney Schneider about what is happening in Victorian schools.

Teaching 15-year-olds about giving oral sex to their uncle has no place in civil society.

That should not have to be said. But it does.

The War on Children

LGBTQA+ political activists have captured politics, academia, the media and woke corporates and are waging total war on little children.

Jesus talked of the ocean and millstones to be hung around the necks of those who cause a child to stumble.

I wonder what he’d say to a politician who lets gender clinics inject them with puberty blockers.

Our politicians need to wake up. We all must.

It’s why Family First exists — to fill a vacuum in politics. It’s why I wrote a blog in 2020 about two Brisbane drag queens reading to children.

Gender fluid ideology and exposing kids to sexualised role models is of course dangerous for them.

New Book Exposes the LGBT+ Agenda

A large chunk of my book Turn the Tide, which was released last week, tells the story of the rainbow political movement’s war on children and how Australian politicians are the rainbow activists’ useful idiots.

In four chapters of the book, I write of how I came to be sued and what has gone on inside tribunal hearing rooms over the past almost seven years.

You won’t believe what the drag queens’ expert witnesses from woke universities believe about what is appropriate for your children and grandchildren.

It’s a million miles from what mainstream people think, yet their ideas rule the courts, politics and media.

I’ve got a chapter on how LGBTQA+ activists are pushing for commercial surrogacy in Australia so two gay “married” men can rent a woman’s womb, purchase babies and deny children the love of their mother.

I name the Nationals MP pushing this in NSW. You heard that right — the Nationals.

For children who make it through the abortion gauntlet (100,000 per year in Australia don’t), they then must make it through drag queen story time as toddlers followed by LGBTQA+ indoctrination at school if they are to have any chance of forming a functional family of their own.

Our Political Class Is Poisoning Our Children

Thanks to weak and woke politicians, our kids are swimming in a toxic culture.

Exposing this was one of the main reasons I wrote my book.

It is why I get up every day and work with a small but amazing team of mostly volunteers to raise a political movement that will courageously fight this evil.

It is why I was devastated when the Liberals finally got their wish and concocted a way to get rid of Moira Deeming.

As I point out in this week’s podcast (available now on Spotify, see it on YouTube below), she was one of our best. She had that rare quality in politics — courage.

For me it is not about the party brand. The side of vulnerable children lost a fighter last week.

The people within the Liberal Party who are on the side of the rainbow political movement had a big win.

Our side doesn’t protect its own when they are in trouble. That must stop.

Please buy my book. It is designed to light a fire, so this doesn’t happen again.

NSW Turn the Tide Book Tour

I’m going on the road with my book. Check out the locations here. I’d love to say hi and personally sign your copy.

Turn the Tide Book Tour

Praise for Turn the Tide

Eric Mextaxas, Author of Bonhoeffer and host of Socrates in the City

“It has been my longing and prayer that readers inspired by my own book, Letter to the American Church, would write something similar for the people of other western nations. That my good friend Lyle Shelton has done that for the people of Australia and New Zealand blesses me tremendously. Please share it with as many pastors as you possibly can. The hour is late!”

Bob McCoskrie, CEO & Founder, Family First New Zealand

“Lyle Shelton has been at the forefront of the culture wars for the past two decades, both in Australia, but in general on behalf of social conservatives across westernised countries – countries which are slowly but surely surrendering their Christian ‘DNA’ to the new cultural religion of ‘anything-but-Christian’.

“He has paid a massive cost for these brave and principled stances – pilloried for fighting for the true definition of marriage during the 2017 plebiscite; taken to court and sued for protecting children from the warped sexualisation & gender ideology of drag queens; mocked for speaking up for the unborn child at risk of abortion; attacked for calling out the gender agenda which places the confused & vulnerable child at risk of chemicalisation & castration; and targeted with ‘hate speech’ laws simply for standing up for parents & families who are being kept in the dark on the radical Safe Schools curriculum, critical race theory & climate alarmism being indoctrinated into our children at schools.

“I repeat what I wrote when endorsing Lyle’s first book ‘I Kid You Not’: Notes from 20 Years in the Trenches of the Culture Wars. Rev Billy Graham said, “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” Lyle has ‘stiffened my spine’ many times, and I am certain that when you complete reading Lyle’s latest book, your spine – and heart – will be transformed, ready to speak up with conviction for the honouring of marriage, the building of strong families, the protection of all life from conception through to death, and for the Christian DNA of your own country. Even if…”

Michelle Pearse, CEO, Australian Christian Lobby

“Lyle Shelton’s Turn the Tide is a much-needed wake-up call for Australian Christians. With intellectual clarity and a remarkable command of recent history, he documents the past ten years of our cultural decline – lamenting the silence of church leaders and the compromise of Christian politicians that contributed to it.  He urges his brothers and sisters in Christ now, in 2026, to a faithful outworking of their Christian convictions.

“As my boss during my first season with the Australian Christian Lobby between 2007–2012, I know him as a man marked by humility, grace, and courageous conviction. I commend this book as an absolute must-read for anyone who is serious about Christian influence in Australia.  May we move from theologising and philosophising regarding our cultural decline to joining Lyle in turning it around.”

Rex Adhar, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Otago

“It is no small task to clearly and intelligently analyse the political, moral and social terrain of Australasia. Lyle Shelton’s Turn the Tide is a valuable and lively conservative Christian account of the current quagmire, but it is not despairing. The tide can be turned if we are not fainthearted.”

Mark Varughese, Senior Pastor & Founder, Kingdomcity

“Lyle Shelton’s Turn the Tide is a bold and thought-provoking call to the Church in our generation. With clarity and conviction, Lyle challenges believers to rediscover the fullness of our mission—not only to reach people with the message of Jesus, but to be a transformative presence in the world around us. This book confronts some of the most pressing cultural and moral questions of our time, urging the Church to engage with wisdom, courage, and grace.

“While readers may wrestle with aspects of the argument, there is no doubt that this work comes from a deep desire to see the Church rise to its God-given purpose in this hour. My prayer is that Turn the Tide will provoke meaningful reflection and inspire a renewed commitment among believers to live out their faith with both conviction and compassion.”

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Republished with thanks to Lyle Shelton.

Images via Adobe and Locke Press.

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