Protecting children from predators in a digital world

Our screens bring the predators right into our homes and our children's bedrooms

Our hour conversation with Adam Johnson was one of the most moving in memory. Ginger cried. She covered it over pretty well, and you’ll have to listen carefully to the third segment to catch it.

Adam Johnson is a Christian, a working man, a husband, a father of five children, and a powerful writer on Substack. We were drawn to him by an intriguing essay titled I set fire to my school when I was thirteen, and his more recent follow-up article in his other subsstack “Follow me” —the article is Where Is God?

We open the show talking about sexual abuse he endured at the hands of a health professional when he was thirteen, but which he only recently recalled. He makes an informed plea for parents to be more aware of protecting their children from being groomed by predators masquerading on children’s platforms as friends. Adam emphasizes that it’s not just the stranger at the park who presents a danger to our children, but that our screens bring predators right into our homes and our children’s bedrooms, where we are our children’s last line of defense.

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The last segment of the show shifts to examining “the dark night of the soul,” which results from inevitable human torments stemming from childhood and mortality itself. Share with us this sobering, educational, and moving hour.

An hour after we prerecorded this show, our guest published another article we have to share titled “I’ve been in that bed before”, through which we are reminded to reach out to someone, to speak, especially in the darkest times when we feel the most alone.

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Transcript Summary of this podcast episode

The family is the first institution God made. Before temples and courts, he placed a father, a mother, and children together. That truth matters now because everything that preys on our children attacks the family first.

Predators do not always lurk in shadows. They sit behind screens and speak as friends. They build trust with toys and games. They promise a reward, then ask for secrecy. They move the child off a safe platform into private chats and send images that break innocence. Grooming begins with a single lie. It grows by cutting parents out of the conversation.

Schools can become a second tier of that war. When teachers and counselors tell a child not to tell their parents, they take the place of parents. When institutions treat feelings as identity and secrecy as progress, they widen the breach. That opens the door for bigger systems to control children and redefine what a family is supposed to be.

We are not helpless. The cure starts at home. A parent present is the oldest safety device there is. Talk with children without fear. Know their apps know their friends and make the home the first and safest place to bring trouble. Love is not soft. Love sets boundaries and asks hard questions.

Churches must return to being companions in the dark night of the soul. Prayer, honest listening, and shared suffering heal wounds that pills do not. Medicine has a place, but it is not the first answer to every human hurt.

This fight is not partisan. It is about being guardians of the young and keepers of human dignity. If we stand together and choose presence over convenience, we can push predators back. Love is the work of a lifetime. Start today. Protect the children with vigilance and prayer.