02 April 2011

Educating Generations for Christ with the Fear of the Lord

When one seeks to learn what God says in the Bible about , understanding and discernment, he usually begins in the book of Proverbs. When we, as , want to ask God for his wisdom regarding , we need to begin in the book of as well.

The book of wisdom begins as follows:

"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel." 1:1-5

Now, ask yourself these two questions:
For what purpose do I want to educate my children? And, what is the goal behind sending my children off to the for thirteen years?

Can you honestly answer, as Solomon answered above, that the purpose you send your children off to a government school to be "educated" is so that they will know wisdom and instruction, discernment and understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity; to give your children prudence, knowledge, and discretion, and to make your children increase in learning and wise counsel? Before God, what is your real motive for institutionalizing your child?

Question: Is the government school system, which rejects the existence of God, which kicked God out of school 50 years ago, which threw out the Bible and the Ten Commandments, which forbids prayer to God, and which undermines your authority and the authority of God's Word on a daily basis - able to accomplish the goals of a truly godly and Biblical education that king Solomon describes above and that you desire for your child to receive in their education? No, it is impossible for an ungodly, anti-Christian, heathen, atheistic, humanistic, worldly school system to achieve the goals that Solomon declared and that Christian parents desire for their children. It is absolutely not possible. Those who think that public schools can achieve these results are deceived by the state or are self-deluded.



Next Question: How can Christian parents achieve the goals of true that King Solomon describes?

The answer is found in Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 which state:

"The FEAR OF THE LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

"The FEAR OF THE LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

The KEY to a truly Biblical and godly education that leads to wisdom and knowledge is to begin with the right foundation: the FEAR OF THE LORD and the KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY ONE.

Question: Do government schools begin on this foundation?

Answer: No! There is no or respect for God there. Do they pretend to? No! In fact, they vehemently state and demonstrate by their silence that God is not significant enough to even mention His Name or His being throughout the whole school year. In addition, they threaten to fire any teacher who dares to mention God or His Son or who dares to even quote from the Bible. How do I know this? I know this from personal experience, because when I was teaching in these government schools, I was threatened for doing just that and I lost my job at several public schools.

Question: Why do 85% of Christian parents hand over their kids to a godless, worldly, anti-Christian government institution day after day and year after year - to indoctrinate their children in creeds that are anti-Christian and completely opposite to the truth and wisdom of God and to indoctrinate them in moral relativism that teaches their kids that there are no moral absolutes and that teaches behaviors that are destructive and corrupt Christ-like character? Why do the vast majority of Christian parents subject their children to pagan , all the while expecting them not to come home as ungodly pagans conformed to the world?

Answer: Because they are either ignorant of what God requires in His Word regarding the education of their children, or they are willfully disobedient to God's expressed will that Christian parents are responsible to provide their children with a truly Christ-centered education. Why is that? Some of the reasons include parents that have completely wrong priorities, wrong values, selfishness, greed, compromise with the world, and slothfulness. The sin of slothfulness is doing the easy thing, the comfortable thing, the convenient thing - rather than the right thing, the godly thing, the righteous thing.



Here's what King Solomon said would happen to those who refused to educate their children God's way and abdicated their responsibility and allowed the state to usurp that authority and duty:

"Wisdom shouts in the street...she utters her sayings: 'How long, O naive ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge? Turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you'.

"Because I called, and you refused...and no one paid attention; and you neglected all my counsel, and did not want my reproof; I will even laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes...like a storm, and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you.

"Then you will call on me, and I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me,
BECAUSE they hated knowledge,
and DID NOT CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD.

"They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof.
So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be satisfied with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, and the complacency of fools shall destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil." Proverbs 1:20-33

This is a prophetic description of America's public school system today! All the darkness, evil, wrong, violence, immorality, illiteracy, poverty, dependence, and rebellion that we see in today's public school system is described right here by King Solomon 3,000 years ago. These are all the results of a nation that has turned its back on God and has expelled God from .

Dread has come upon our children and schools. Calamity has fallen on the schools. Distress and anguish are now a daily reality in public schools. The waywardness of the naive is killing our children morally, spiritually, and intellectually, and sometimes, even physically. The complacency of fools is now destroying our children in public schools.



Question: What is the reason for all of this distress, calamity, anguish, dread, destruction, killing, corruption, and death?

Answer: "BECAUSE THEY HATED KNOWLEDGE AND DID NOT CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD." Because they did not accept God's counsel and spurned His reproof. Therefore, they are now reaping what they sowed and eating of the fruit of their own humanistic and godless ways.

Question: What can Christian parents do today to save their children from such a horrible and destructive life and future?

*****Answer:***** Proverbs 2:1-12 gives the answer from God's mouth through King Solomon. If we take it to heart, remove our children from this godless system, repent, and take responsibility for educating our children God's way - either through or through - then we can reclaim our children and put them into God's hands to save them, preserve them, and give them a future... BUT, we cannot expect God to save our children if we raise them contrary to His ways and allow the world to disciple them in moral relativism, spiritual relativism, multi-culturalism, and all kinds of dogmas and philosophies that are opposite of God's ways. That is the way of foolishness and unrighteousness and it leads to death and judgment. Christian parents must , once and for all, and never go back to the world and its ungodly ways to train their children. Proverbs 2:1-12 clearly teaches:

"My son, if you will receive my sayings, and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry out for discernment, lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;

"THEN you will discern THE FEAR OF THE LORD, and discover the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. For it is the LORD who gives wisdom; it is from His mouth that come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice, and He preserves the way of His godly ones.

"THEN you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you, to deliver you from the way of evil..."

It's time to do the right thing, the righteous thing, and to start educating our children for God, in God's prescribed manner, according to His Word, His commandments, and His instructions.

Thank you for visiting my blog on . This is asking you to check back often for my most recent postings on , , , and the . Consider adding my RSS FEED so you can keep up to date on godly . This article was posted by Josiah Friberg on his Christian Education blog: www.alleducationisreligious.blogspot.com. For assistance, contact at: www.ExodusMandate.org

30 March 2011

Southern Baptist Battle over Christian Parents Educating Children God's Way and Removing them from Public School Indoctrination


A battle is raging in the Southern Baptist Convention regarding . The heroic and bold leaders of this are calling for all Baptists to remove their Christian children from the anti-Christian, ungodly, humanist, spiritually and morally corrupt government indoctrination camps known as . It's time to and educate them God's way, according to Christ, according to the Word of God, according to the truths and principles of the Kingdom of God!

Government schools are hazardous to children, and especially to Christian children. Christian parents need to wake up and see public schools for what they really are, not for what they claim to be or for what they once were. The truth is: government schools are unreformable. Christian parents and church leaders must understand why government schools cannot and should not be expected to provide the Christian education that the Bible enjoins Christian parents to provide their children.

The courageous leaders and pioneers of this resolution are and , and they are strongly supported by other key leaders such as and .



Southern Baptist Battle for Christian Education Moves to the States

Pinckney-Shortt Christian Education Resolution Inspires Resolutions in at Least 10 Conventions Covering 15 States

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - When T.C. Pinckney, retired brigadier general and prominent Southern Baptist leader, and Bruce N. Shortt, a Houston, TX attorney and home school father of three children, first joined forces to ask the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to consider a resolution urging Southern Baptist parents to pull their children out of public schools and provide them with a Christian Education, they didn't foresee that their effort would inspire Baptist leaders in at least 10 conventions to introduce similar resolutions in the SBC's state and regional conventions this October and November.

The sponsors of the state Christian education resolutions see a pressing need for continuing the debate over Christian education that was begun by the Pinckney-Shortt resolution.

Roger Moran, a prominent Southern Baptist leader from Missouri and member of the SBC executive committee, calls for bold Christian leadership in education:

"One of the great tragedies of American Christianity has been the near universal failure of its leaders to boldly proclaim the inherent dangers lurking within America's government owned and controlled schools. As the educational philosophy of public schools increasingly mirrors the anti-Christian philosophy of our activist judges the time has come to proclaim with absolute clarity that "render unto Caesar" was never intended to include the hearts and minds of our children."

Pastor Larry Reagan, a leader in Christian education and the editor of the Concerned Tennessee Baptists' newsletter, also puts it bluntly:

"Increasingly pastors are concluding that the profound decline in standards in the public schools make them unfit places for Christian children. This is becoming a very hot issue among Baptists and other evangelical Christians. As pastors we need to step up to the challenge by making sure Christian Children receive a Christian education 24/7."

According to Wiley Drake, a well-known Southern California Baptist pastor and broadcaster:

"As Christians, we must rescue our children from public schools. They are being coerced and persecuted there. Frankly, speaking as a pastor who has observed the deterioration of public schools for many years, I would say that Christian parents who are putting their children in public schools today are endangering their children spiritually, emotionally, physically, and educationally. This debate is important because parents need to know how toxic public schools have become."

Like the Pinckney-Shortt resolution, the state Christian education resolutions typically cite multiple powerful reasons for the need to remove Southern Baptist children from public schools. Those reasons include such considerations as research results showing the negative effects of public schooling on the attitudes and beliefs of Christian children, the 2002 finding by the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life that 88 percent of the children raised in evangelical homes leave church after the age of 18, and the fact that nearly 3,000 public middle and high schools have homosexual clubs and public schools are rapidly adopting curricula and policies teaching that the homosexual lifestyle is acceptable.

The SBC state conventions have their meetings in late October and early November, and the sponsors of the state Christian education resolutions plan to have their resolutions debated at their state conventions.

The original Pinckney-Shortt resolution garnered significant national media attention, including articles in the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, The Washington Times and the Boston Globe, among many others.

Cal Thomas described the original Pinckney-Shortt resolution in a June 14, 2004, Op-Ed as "…what could be the most radical and most successful education reform proposal ever made."

Columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote May 9, 2004 in the Boston Globe, "I'm not a Southern Baptist or even a Christian - I'm a religious Jew - but I vote with Pinckney and Shortt. Parents who take their faith seriously ought to think twice before putting their kids' education in the hands of the state. If war is too important to be left to the generals, the shaping of children's minds and values is surely too important to be left to government educators."

The Pinckney-Shortt Christian Education Resolution also received powerful endorsements from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the premier home school organization in the USA, and from Joel Belz, publisher and founder of WORLD Magazine, the largest evangelical news magazine in the USA.

Joel Belz stated in his June 5, 2004 WORLD Magazine editorial, "I speak fairly often around the country on behalf of Christian schools and homeschool groups. Wherever I go, I try to make just two points: Pick a school that tells the truth. And pick a school that works. It's a sad conclusion to draw, but more and more obvious, that public, state-sponsored education increasingly flunks both those simple tests. It lies to or at least misleads our children about the most important issues of life. And increasingly, it fails to prepare our children for the marketplace in which they are called on to work."

Additional information, including the text of a typical state resolution, can be found at www.exodusmandate.org and www.getthekidsout.org

CONTACT:

State and Regional Sponsor Contacts

Tennessee: Pastor Larry Reagan 731-225-2628, 731-364-6724

Missouri: Roger Moran 636-668-8055

South Carolina: Dr. Henry Jordan 864-226-4551

California: Pastor Wiley Drake 714-865-8132

Baptist Convention of New England (Conn., VT, ME, MA, RI, NH): Pastor Jonathan Black 401-849-0210

Illinois: Pastor Pat Pajak 217-877-5653

Florida: Dr. Robert Dreyfus 352-288-0090

Texas: Pastor Grady Arnold 713-305-0320

Virginia: T.C. Pinckney 703-780-1566

North Carolina: Pastor Creighton Lovelace 828-245-1057

General Contacts

T.C. Pinckney: 703-780-1566

Bruce Shortt: 832-483-8882

E. Ray Moore, Jr.: 803-714-1744 (Exodus Mandate Project - Director)

For assistance, visit: www.ExodusMandate.org



Thank you for visiting my blog on . This is asking you to check back often for my most recent postings on , , , and the . Consider adding my RSS FEED so you can keep up to date on godly . This article was posted by Josiah Friberg on his Christian Education blog: www.alleducationisreligious.blogspot.com. For assistance, contact at: www.ExodusMandate.org