In a powerful conversation on Kap Chatfield‘s Directed Life podcast, Leigh Bortins, the founder of Classical Conversations homeschooling curriculum, raises a vital question for this generation: Is artificial intelligence a tool of the enemy or an urgent wake-up call for the church?
Bortins believes we’re in a “Founding Father moment,” a time when the church must rise with wisdom to steward the technologies rapidly reshaping society. Drawing from her background in aerospace engineering and decades in homeschool education, she warns that general AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, which scrape the internet for information, often produce what experts call “ghosts” and “hallucinations,” false or misleading content that can appear truthful. In contrast, “narrow AI” is built on vetted, expert material and is more reliable, particularly in medicine, law and education.
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But Bortins’ concerns go far beyond misinformation. She sees a spiritual battle unfolding as children and adults alike become deeply attached, and even addicted, to their devices. “I’ve watched how parents have struggled to get their children to esteem their siblings or family more than a cell phone,” she said. “That’s just Satan jumping up and down saying, ‘I got your kid.’” For her, the enemy’s strategy is clear: use any tool humans embrace, including technology, to lead them into idolatry.
Yet, this isn’t a call to reject AI altogether. On the contrary, Bortins encourages Christians to engage with it redemptively and use it to carry out our mission as Christians of preaching the gospel. “This is the first time I’ve seen Christians trying to get in front of a technology and explain to folks how to use it well,” Bortins said. With proper discernment and a Christ-centered focus, she believes the church can leverage AI for good and train others to do the same.
She also challenges the church to shift its dependence from worldly systems to God’s economy. Comparing today’s culture to Israel’s bondage in Egypt, Bortins and Chatfield ask whether Christians will continue to look to “Pharaoh” for provision or return to trusting God, who gives the power to create wealth (Deut. 8:18). This, she argues, is central to making wise choices about finances, education and technology.
From a homeschooling perspective, Bortins emphasizes that true education is not about mimicking the public school system at home. It’s about raising up children who think God’s thoughts and walk in His purposes—like Joshua and Caleb, not the ten unbelieving spies. Parents, she urges, must act quickly to “get to their kids before the world does.”
As AI evolves and terms like AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, and Super AI move from theory to reality, Bortins calls on the church to remain spiritually alert. AI, like any tool, can be used for good or evil. What matters most is who wields it—and for what purpose.
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As artificial intelligence becomes more widely accepted and used by more and more people, this is not the moment for Christians to back away from technology, but rather to get out ahead of new inventions and set the tone for how the world should use them in a God-honoring manner.
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
