TARGETing Children

Ryan Cox • August 10, 2023

TARGETing Children

“Recent debate around proposed laws in several states has reignited a national conversation around inclusivity. So earlier this week, we reiterated with our team members where Target stands and how our beliefs are brought to life in how we serve our guests. Inclusivity is a core belief at Target. It’s something we celebrate. We stand for equality and equity, and strive to make our guests and team members feel accepted, respected and welcomed in our stores and workplaces every day… In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”


   ~ Target, “Continuing to Stand for Inclusivity”, April 19, 2016 [1]

With this news came a broad range of reactions, one of which was the refusal of conservative families to shop at Target (1) for fear of sexual predators and (2) to stand for what is morally and Biblically right. Indeed, each of the CTF families ceased shopping at Target after this announcement. Were/are families warranted in their fears of what might happen to their loved ones?


The WOMAN Means Something campaign released a study in January of 2018 to see what happened following Target’s new bathroom policy. They found a significant increase in “voyeurism-related offenses”.[2] The report showed that 94.5% of victims were female, 100% of the perpetrators were males, and children were the victims in 34% of the offenses.[3]]
  [1]


Consequently, Target saw their sales fall from $73.785 million (2015) to $69.495 million (2016); net earnings also fell from $3.321 million (2015) to $2.669 million (2016), a 19.6% drop.[4] It wouldn’t be until 2018 that sales would recover to 2015 levels[5] and not until 2019 that net earnings would recover to 2015 levels.[6] [

With the recovery in sales and profits and the embracing of ESG scores[7] and the cultural revolution, Target felt safe to release their most aggressive moral agenda to date with their 2023 “Pride” collection. What they were not anticipating was America’s reaction when children become a primary “target”. The greatly increased merchandise included items to help young people struggling with gender identity “hide” or alter their appearances. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Target also partnered with U.K.-based brand Abprallen, whose designer Eric Carnell is an outspoken Satanist (though he says he doesn’t believe in the actual real Satan). The brand features occult imagery and messages like “Satan respects pronouns”.[8]


Backlash was so severe, that Target had to act: “Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”[9]

Indeed, when I personally went to the Target in Norman, OK, I could find no such “pride” merchandise.[10] But for Target, their troubles were only beginning. Citi analyst Paul Lejuez reported that Target saw a 13.9% drop in store traffic the final week of May. Additionally, Target saw its stock values fall for multiple weeks, resulting in a loss of $15.7 billion.[11]


Did Target learn its lesson? Not at all. The very next month saw their Australian stores having to remove a children’s book from all locations (but not online) due to its incredibly graphic content.[12] 


Why have children become the focus of today’s attacks? As Target’s partnership so clearly answers, children have always been one of Satan’s targets. From the sacrificing of children to Molech to the sacrificing of children to transgenderism, Satan seeks to destroy families in efforts to eliminate Godly progeny. Today’s tactics are not much different than those in the past – mostly cultural pressures to conform to the current sinful trends. And, tragically, more and more parents are unaware of what is happening.

This is why the Lord our God has COMMANDED Godly parents to teach their children the ways of the Lord, PERSONALLY. Just taking them to Sunday services or sending them to a youth group doesn’t cut it. If a Christian parent is not personally imparting the faith to his or her child(ren), then he or she is in open defiance of the Lord.


5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they were to teach them to their children, 6 So that the generation to come would know, the children yet to be born, That they would arise and tell them to their children, 7 So that they would put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But comply with His commandments, 8 And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

 ~ Psalm 78:5-6 ~


This is also why we are promoting our new program entitled Divine Identity, in which we expose what is actually going on in the current cultural revolution, in particularly regarding gender identity. Please contact us if you would like to have this program in your church, and please pray that the Lord will work through it to provide life-changing results for the glory and growth of His Kingdom.



  1. Target, “Continuing to Stand for Inclusivity”, A Bullseye View, 19 April 2019, <https://corporate.target.com/article/2016/04/target-stands-inclusivity>.
  2. As in “upskirt” (2.3x increase) or “peeping Tom” (2.9x increase).
  3. Dirks, Paul. “Gender-Inclusion Policies and Sexual Violence: A Longitudinal Analysis of Media Reports at Target Stores”. WOMAN Means Something. 29 January 2018. <womanmeanssomething.com/targetstudy>.
  4. Target 2016 Annual Report, <https://corporate.target.com/_media/TargetCorp/annualreports/2016/pdfs/Target-2016-Annual-Report.pdf>.
  5. Target 2018 Annual Report, <https://corporate.target.com/annual-reports/2018/financials/financial-highlights>.
  6. Target 2019 Annual Report, <https://corporate.target.com/annual-reports/2019/financials/financial-highlights>.
  7. Target, “Sustainability & ESG”, A Bullseye View, <https://corporate.target.com/sustainability-ESG>.
  8. Parks, Kristine. “Target customers shocked after company features pride items by Satanist partner: Devil is ‘hope’ and ‘love’”. Fox News. 24 May 2023. <https://www.foxnews.com/media/target-customers-shocked-company-features-gay-pride-items-satanist-partner-devil-hope-love>.
  9. Target, “Target Statement on 2023 Pride Collection”, 24 May 2023, <https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2023/05/Target-Statement-on-2023-Pride-Collection>.
  10. The only thing I could find was one endcap in grocery with “pride”-themed champaign.
  11. Flood, Brian and Suzanne O’Halloran. “Target market cap losses hit $15.7 billion, shares approach 52-week low amid woke backlash”. Fox Business. 12 June 2023. <https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/target-market-cap-losses-hit-15-7-billion-share-near-52-week-low-amid-woke-backlash>.
  12. WARNING: Graphic Content - Rolfe, Brooke. “‘Welcome to Sex’ children’s book causes chaos on retailers’ shelves”. New York Post. 18 July 2023. <https://nypost.com/2023/07/18/anger-intensifies-over-welcome-to-sex-book-in-big-w-and-target/>.
    WARNING: Graphic Content – Caporn, Dylan. “Yumi Stynes defends kids’ book Welcome to Sex after Big W, Target ban while sales skyrocket online”. The West Australian. 20 July 2023. < https://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/books/yumi-stynes-defends-kids-book-welcome-to-sex-after-big-w-target-ban-while-sales-skyrocket-online-c-11337849 >.

June 2026 Printed Newsletter

June 1, 2026
globe on book

Sharp Institute for Biblical Worldview Studies

By Matt Miles • June 1, 2026
One of the most important ministry focuses CTF has is the Sharp Institute for Biblical Worldview Studies (SIBWS). Dr. Sharp began this division of our ministry in 2005 because of a specific call from the Lord. As Doc would share often, the Lord challenged him. He saw that even with all of the programming and books sold in the church programs that we did year after year, and as impactful and Kingdom-building as that was, when we left there was most often no one in the local body to continue our message and teaching on Genesis 1-12 and its importance to the Gospel. The Lord directed Doc to multiply the teaching and mission of CTF in the local body. So Doc heard the call and accepted the challenge, as he always did from the Lord, and IBWS was born. Doc called a few people to join him for study that first meeting of the IBWS at a dude ranch in north Texas. I was one of those first invited to come and study, as many of you know from my personal testimony shared over the years. It was Providence that directed me to this Cadre study group and laid the foundation for me to be in the position I am today. As the four of us in that first group studied, the Lord connected, emphasized, and exhorted the importance of Genesis in our worldviews. When I left that first meeting, I was full and ready to teach and preach what the Lord had just challenged and changed in my worldview. Now, 21 years later, Doc’s original calling and direction for the IBWS continues. Over the course of these years, 146 members have completed the training. Each one has been challenged to use what they have learned wherever the Lord places them in ministry. For some it is from the pulpit, others are in vocational student ministry, and some have been called to primarily impact their own families with worldview training. We send them off with all of our outlines and presentation slides to help accomplish this task. It is quite exciting to look back and see what the Lord has done through this endeavor. Ryan and I literally might not be where we are today if we hadn’t first studied in our Cadre program. When Doc retired and passed the mantle of the presidency to me in 2018, it seemed fitting to honor his enduring call to Biblical worldview training by renaming the Institute to bear his name. So now it will forever be called the Sharp Institute for Biblical Worldview Studies. Over the course of its history we have had consistent numbers of invited members desiring to learn more of the Word of God. However, we have never had a consistent location to provide the training. It’s through the generous offerings of borrowed church facilities that we have been able to continue SIBWS without a home of its own. It is time to change that. We are in need of our own facility to house the SIBWS presently and for future expansion of this CTF ministry division. We have been pursuing different options, from renovating our present office building to the purchasing of additional space. Providence would have it that 2 doors north of our offices there is a property for sale. It is a great fit for the SIBWS Cadre program needs, and it would also provide room for our books and resources department to expand out of its present cramped space. It has a room for a training facility, a kitchen (needing renovation), dining room options, possible sleeping quarters for a Cadre member in need, 3 bathrooms and a shower, parking out back (which we have been blessed to utilize for years by permission), and the afore mentioned room for our books and resources department. We have no idea how we could ever afford such a property without the Lord’s help, as we are devoted to being as debt free as possible moving forward in this ministry. In the midst of seeking the Lord for this need to be met, He has already sent us a generous offer of a $100,000 matching gift toward the purchase of a property , even if the building up the block is not the one. Truly, our financial position has never been more blessed at any other time in our history than at present, being completely debt free. So, I share all of this to ask for your prayers as we move forward to find a solution to our need of a home for the SIBWS and it’s continued effectiveness for the Kingdom. Also lift up the matching gift offer: I must exhort you to seek the Lord if you are one to help us do what, at this moment seems impossible, to purchase property without incurring debt . The mission of CTF is accomplished month in and month out with the exceeding blessings of churches, family members, and individuals that support us. The Lord’s faithfulness through all these years is unmistakable and we look forward to seeing Him do more of the impossible. May the Lord bless, keep, and challenge you for His Kingdom!
The First Prayer In Congress by T.H. Matteson, 1848

A Miraculous Covering part 1

By Ryan Cox • June 1, 2026
The First Prayer In Congress by T.H. Matteson, 1848
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