MythBusters Case#18: Think The HomeSchool Battle Is Over? Think Again.

Some of us are old enough to remember when homeschooling in America was illegal, and for that matter, unheard of.   Even private Christian schools were under great pressure from local and state governments to conform to stringent regulations.  In view of such oppression, homeschooling looked like an impossible dream—an unreachable star.  But in the 1980s some brave parents ventured out on a limb to pioneer this epic undertaking in the face of strong opposition in high places.

Necessity is not only the mother of invention; it is the mother of desperation.  Some parents hit the panic button.  Others caught a vision.  The public school system was going down hill, academically, morally, and spiritually.  It still is.  Public school mediocrity is feeding the homeschool movement, which  is growing in numbers, experience, and quality.

The record shows that the accusations of its critics are collapsing like a house of cards.  On average, homeschooled students are running rings around their public “educated” counterparts.  Now, who’s hitting the panic button?  The worm is turning, but the opposition is rising once again!

A MYTH popular with the governing class and recently parroted by Attorney General Eric Holder holds that a law banning homeschooling entirely would violate no fundamental liberties.

Alert!  Homeschooling families are again in danger, not only in Sweden and Germany, but right here in America.  Attorney General Eric Holder has stated that a law that bans homeschooling entirely violates no fundamental liberties.

Michael Farris, Founder and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, has taken the case of the Romeike family (a German homeschooling family who fled to the United States for political asylum).  He is opposing  Holder’s attempt to deport them back to German oppression, where they face criminal prosecution with fines, jail sentences, and removal of the custody their of children.

May we ask you, Mr. Attorney General, whatever happened to that open invitation to those seeking political asylum at the foot of the Statue of Liberty penned by Emma Lazarus: “GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE”

Read the Article  (or copy and paste to your browser).

http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/2013/201302110.asp

MythBusters Case#17: Rebuilding Education With The Ancient Trivium Model

It has been over a century and a half since America turned away from the classical trivium and followed John Dewey down the dead-end road to Progressive Education. It is no exaggeration to state that this radical experiment has brought us by degrees to the brink of cultural destruction.

There have been voices of dissent along the way. Among these was Dorothy Sayers, a colleague of C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien at Oxford. In 1948 she penned an essay entitled “The Lost Tools of Learning”, which called for a return to the ancient trivium model of education.

In 1991 that essay became the inspiration for a book by Pastor Doug Wilson entitled “Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning.” That book in turn spawned the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, which has prospered under the steady hand of its Executive Director, Patch Blakey. Patch laid bare his vision for education in a recent interview with MythBusters.

---

1. We’ve heard a lot about the Trivium in recent years, Patch. What is the Trivium? Is that a biblical concept?

ACCS employs Dorothy Sayers’ version of the Trivium, which includes three aspects: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. These three stages not only define the tools of learning, they also are employed as the means of educating students consistent with their developmental stage of learning.

Pastor Randy Booth wrote an excellent essay entitled, “Borrowing the Truth” (available on the ACCS website, www.accsedu.org under Classis Archives 1997), in which he states, “Our primary concern should be: is it biblical? The Scriptures are our only rule of faith and life, not the Greeks or modern pedagogues. All truth claims must pass the biblical standard…I believe the trivium model of learning passes the test, as far as it goes. The Greeks did not start or end with the fear of God–they therefore ended in failure. Nevertheless, they did get part of it right. The trivium model is comprised of three phases of learning: 1) grammar, 2) dialectic, and 3) rhetoric. These are but new labels for the biblical concepts of: 1) knowledge, 2) understanding, and 3) wisdom.”

2. That’s a very helpful explanation of the trivium, Patch. And thanks for sharing with us today. Can we start out by talking about the ACCS? What exactly is it, when and why was it founded?

Thank you, Dennis. It is a pleasure and a privilege to be interviewed by you, and to be able to talk with you about ACCS.

ACCS stands for the Association of Classical & Christian Schools. It was established in 1993, and is a 501 c(3) organization. ACCS grew out of the national response to a book published in 1991 entitled Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson. This book described the educational philosophy instituted by Logos School in Moscow, Idaho – the philosophy being an attempt to follow the pattern set down by Dorothy Sayers in her essay The Lost Tools of Learning. The overwhelming response to the publication of this book made it apparent that an association would have to be formed to handle all the requests for help and information. The Association, formed in 1993, began to host national conferences, giving rise to even more interest, and has grown steadily since.

3. What do you mean by a classical, Christian education?

Christian:
We address “Christian” first because we are first, and foremost, Christian schools. Our understanding of all things, including all things pertaining to education, is shaped by Christian truth. Thus, to acquire a sufficient understanding of classical education, one must first be able to view it from a Christian perspective. While in other ages and other times, the “Christian” in classical education was assumed, today it is not so. Given the present state of affairs, we believe it is important to clearly spell out the Christian presuppositions that underlie classical and Christian education and the trivium.

The ACCS Confession of Faith defines the scope and elements of Christian truth individuals or organizations must affirm to be considered for membership in the ACCS. We see no need to add a second definition here as the Confession is sufficient. However, we do want to emphasize certain principles inherent in the Confession of Faith as they relate to education.

God is the sovereign source of all being and truth. As a consequence, the principles by which believers live are squarely opposed to the principles by which unbelievers live. The Scriptures are clear that we are to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Thus, to provide a God-centered and truly Christian education, it is necessary to break completely free from the educational philosophies that surround us. Christianity is an entire system of thought that shapes our perspective and interpretation of everything in the world. It requires that we present all ideas and concepts as part of a larger whole defined by Christian truth because there is no aspect of creation that does not reflect His glory and truth.

Classical:
From its beginning, ACCS has advocated as its definition of “classical” the form of education that Miss Sayers described in her 1947 essay, The Lost Tools of Learning, and subsequently popularized in Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson. Both of these authors advance the pedagogical methodology of the Trivium, which includes three aspects: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Further, ACCS advocates, along with Miss Sayers and Mr. Wilson that children tend to grow through developmental stages that generally coincide with the three areas of the Trivium. The Poll-parrot stage in which young children like to memorize and chant various bits of information coincides with the grammar stage of the Trivium. As children grow into their pre- and early teens, they become more argumentative and questioning; this is called the Pert stage, and coincides with the dialectic aspect of the Trivium. In their mid to late teens, children seem to be more vocal and expressive; this is called the Poetic stage, and conforms to the area of rhetoric. Children that are taught with these developmental stages in mind are receiving an education using classical methodology: the trivium.

But there is another aspect to this, and that is to teach children their Western heritage through reading the great works of the West. These books provide the classical content. Such books are necessary to appreciate the arguments that have formed the way we think. This is so that our children can adequately provide the Christian antithesis to the humanistic arguments of our heritage that are still being advocated by our godless culture today.

Included in our definition of classical is instruction in either Latin or Greek. As Douglas Wilson points out in Repairing the Ruins, “About eighty percent of English comes from Latin and Greek, with over fifty percent of our vocabulary coming from the Latin.” Studying Latin helps a student understand grammar, helps them become more proficient at learning many modern languages (such as Spanish and French), and trains them “in the essentials of the scientific method — observation, comparison, and generalization.” Studying Greek does much the same and also helps equip student to read the New Testament in the original language.

ACCS recognizes that there are other definitions of what constitutes “classical” education which may have their strengths. Whereas ACCS is not necessarily antagonistic to these other definitions, it does not seek to embrace all of these other schools of thought. ACCS willingly acknowledges that it has a defined understanding of what constitutes a classical education and seeks to encourage that concept without apology.

4. How does the classical trivium approach differ from the typical Christian school education?

Sadly, many Christian schools simply follow the methods and content of the public schools, but add on a Bible class or a worship assembly to the school curriculum. If you were to ask a board member, administrator, or teacher at these schools what principles of education they followed in their classrooms and curriculum, I would surmise that many would not be able to provide a clear, concise and simple answer because they do not follow any specific principle of education from which their pedagogy follows. Classical Christian schools on the other hand, have clearly defined principles that they employ in the classroom that are consistent with the children’s level of development. ACCS schools also strive to have a fully integrated curriculum that begins with Christ as Lord in all subjects.

5. How about you – how did you get mixed up in all of this?

My education and experience equipped me to be a U.S. Navy Captain with 23 years of service. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, and a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. I served as commanding officer of USS Patterson (FF1061) and my final tour of duty was as Engineer Officer on USS Enterprise (CVN 65). During my tour on Enterprise, I helped start a classical Christian school in Hampton, Virginia. My wife and I learned about classical Christian education from reading Douglas Wilson’s book, Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, and decided that was the education we wanted for our children. Up until that time we had homeschooled or used private Christian schools to educate our children. I retired from the Navy so we could move to Moscow, Idaho, to enroll our children in Logos School. My first year in Moscow, I worked as a part-time janitor at Logos School where I learned of ACCS and their need for an executive director. Because of my administrative experience as an officer in the Navy, I applied for the position and, in the providence of God, was ultimately selected for the job in June 1996. I have been pleased to serve in that position since.

6. Are you saying that classical Christian education using the trivium is really just a return to the education of a former day? Where exactly did America get off the track educationally?

Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that the Trivium has been around for over the past 1500 years. However, if someone were to assert (as they have) that ACCS is not following the exact model of the Trivium employed in the Middle Ages, we would agree. Douglas Wilson gave an excellent talk on this topic at the ACCS conference in Austin in 2008, in which he affirms that ACCS uses the model of the Trivium with the added observations made by Dorothy Sayers in her essay, The Lost Tools of Learning. Douglas Wilson’s talk was entitled, “Defending Sayers’ Insights,” and may be obtained from http://www.WordMp3.com.

To answer the second half of the question, the simple response is that American schooling started veering away from its classical and Christian foundations in the 19th century with the establishment of the common schools. Many Christians were involved in the promotion and establishment of what has since become the public school system. However, there were some Christian leaders who clearly saw the threat that such a system posed. A.A. Hodge, the head of Princeton University late in the 19th century, made this observation with regard to the public school system, “I am as sure as I am of the fact of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”

For more information on this subject, read Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning (Douglas Wilson) and The Messianic Character of American Education (R.J. Rushdoony).

7. Is there any biblical warrant for public education? What is the problem?

The Bible assigns the primary responsibility for the education of children to parents, and specifically to fathers. The education is mandated to be one in which the child receives a full-orbed, Christ-centered education, as is made clear by Moses (Deuteronomy 6:4-7), Paul (Ephesians 6:4), and of course, by Jesus Himself (Matthew 28:19-20).

John Milton Gregory, who wrote the book, The Seven Laws of Teaching, once stated in a speech that he thought the government had a vested interest in the education of its citizenship. I would agree, but only in a very qualified way. A nation can only survive and prosper if its citizens have a solid understanding of and faithful obedience to God’s laws (Deuteronomy 28: 1-2, 15). But the actual education of the populace is not a responsibility of government, but of parents as stated above. The government needs to get out of the education business and leave that to parents. The government needs to provide a safe environment for Christian parents to fulfill their God-mandates responsibilities.

The problem with the government’s public school system is that because of its stated commitment to pluralism, no one religion is recognized to have pre-eminence over any other. This means that in the government’s eyes, all religions are supposed to be equally true, which has the net effect of affirming that no religion is true because they all have contradictory truth statements. However, as has been increasingly evident, the public school system is tolerant of just about any religion other than Christianity, and this is because Christ claims to be Lord of all (Matthew 29:18) and the Scriptures claim to be the only infallible word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

8. Would you say it is sin for Christians to place their children in government schools?

While the Bible doesn’t state anywhere explicitly that students are not to be instructed in government schools, the Bible emphatically requires that children are to receive a 24/7 education with the Triune God at it’s center (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). The Bible also says to the one who knows to do what is right, but does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17), and that whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). It seems inconsistent for Christians, who say that they are committed to obeying the Bible, to have their children trained in a system that denies the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the government’s public school system does, and then assert that they are doing so in faith, especially when they read in Scripture that the education children are to receive is to be all-encompassing and centered on God’s word.

The argument that many Christian parents give that they are sending their children to be “salt and light” in the government’s public school system doesn’t hold water. Most children have neither the training nor the moral fiber to be “salt and light” in such a spiritually antagonistic environment. These parents are simply abdicating their God-given responsibility to raise up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord by giving their children over to be educated by a system that at best considers Christ irrelevant, and at worst denies His sovereign authority over all creation (Matthew 28:18).

If a Christian parent were to ask a public school teacher in his classroom to explain the basis upon which he asserts that 2+2 equals 4, the teacher would more than likely respond that “it just does.” How can this be consistent in a universe created by chance where every event is only a chemical reaction and in which there is supposedly no ultimate truth? The public school system, by its very nature (which is agnostic at best), is unable to answer any of the ultimate questions that men ask and that a good education should answer, such as “Who am I and why am I here?”

9. How would somebody go about starting a classical, Christian school based on the trivium model in their community?

I would encourage them to obtain a copy of the ACCS School Start-Up Notebook from ACCS, and read it carefully. It contains a lot of helpful information from men who have been directly involved in starting classical Christian schools themselves. The Start-Up Notebook is available on the ACCS website at http://www.accsedu.org, under the tab labeled “Start a School.”

MythBusters Case #16: Register Communists, Not Firearms

Weeks after the fact, the Sandy Hook tragedy is still fresh on the mind because twenty of those murdered were children of such a tender age.  Families have been devastated for life.

Tearful and determined people demonstrated in Washington D.C. with signs reading, “Never forget Sandy Hook.”  And who can forget a tragedy of such magnitude.  People are demanding, and rightly so, that something be done about these massive school shootings.  An article in February 3 issue of Freedom Outpost http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/02/sandy-hook-students-father-youll-have-to-take-my-gun-from-my-cold-dead-hands/ stated the following:

A father of a Sandy Hook Elementary School student testified on January 28, 2013 in a Working Group Public Hearing at the Connecticut State Capitol on gun violence prevention. While Bill Stevens’ fifth grade daughter was not harmed in the incident, she was a part of the children that were in “lock down” during the shooting and following it. However, Mr. Stevens said that his daughter’s friend’s little sister was one of the children that was murdered…

All of which serves to reinforce the Myth: We need more gun control laws to put an end to these mass gun killings.

The myth is so superficial that MythBusters can’t help but suspect the motives of its perpetrators.  You don’t have to look very far into history, recent social experimentation, and the Bible to conclude that the gun control argument is a fraud.  We found the evidence to be ovewhelming.

Let’s think it through.  The Freedom Outpost continues with this concerned father’s remarks:

However, Mr. Stevens said that his daughter’s friend’s little sister was one of the children that was murdered, “when 911 and ‘lock down’ were not enough to protect her from an evil person, not protect her from an ‘assault rifle’ or some type of an inanimate object, but from an evil person…”

He also pointed out that gun ownership is a right and should not make gun owners suspect simply because of the numbers or kinds of guns they own or even how much ammunition they have…

“But criminals and tyrants,” he continued, “tyrants especially, beware, ‘lock down’ is not an option at the Stevens’ residence and 911 will be dialed after the security of my home has been established!”

Stevens asked, “Why is that same security that my daughter enjoys at home with her dad not available at school in Newtown? That is what you should be considering, not making her dad a criminal.”

“Charleton Heston made the phrase, ‘From my cold dead hands’ famous,” Stevens thundered. “And I will tell you here today, you will take my ability to protect my Victoria from my cold dead hands!”

Stevens slammed his fist on the desk and walked out to applause from the citizens listening.

Friends, this is what it’s going to take, men who will stand up to the bureaucrats and politicians who are eager to trade our liberty for a bit of security and leave us as victims. Major kudos to Mr. Stevens! God bless you Sir!

A more recent school shooting took place in Atlanta.  It was scarcely reported, and when it was, the details were left out.  The shooter was halted in his tracks by a man with a gun.  A 14 year old boy was shot in the neck, but survived.  Nobody knows how many lives this armed citizen might have saved.  Which is faster, response to a 911 call or a bullet out of the barrel of a 357 magnum?

The week prior to Sandy Hook a gunman opened fire in the Clackamas Town Center near Portland, Oregon.  Two people died before a man with a pistol drew a bead on the killer and locked eyes with him.  He didn’t fire because of people in the background, but the killer fled and shot himself.

This part of the story was omitted in news reports.  A local columnist for the Portland Oregonian used the occasion for a rant against the AR-15, never mentioning the local hero who broke up the rampage with his pistol.

In a subsequent column the same reporter expressed extreme naivete about the motives of gun-grabbing politicians, quoting a local sheriff who didn’t think Barack Obama intended to confiscate anybody’s guns.  Lenin had a term for this kind of journalist:  “useful idiot.”

Barack Obama’s affinity to Communist tactician Sol Alinsky, is well documented (The Manchurian President, Chap. 4, WND Books).  Anyone in doubt about the benign motives of Barack Obama would do well to consider the tragic story of the scores of genocides that were perpetrated during the 20^th Century on unarmed people.  The first step in the process is always gun registration, then gun confiscation, then deportation to forced labor and extermination camps.  But of course, it could never happen here.

To buy into the gun control argument you have to turn a blind eye to the obvious.  Recent mass murders are invariably committed in so-called gun-free zones like theaters and schools.  Cities with the toughest gun control laws – like Chicago, Washington DC, and New York – have the highest murder rates.  By contrast, in 1982 when gun ownership was made mandatory in Kennesaw, Georgia, crimes against persons plummeted by over 74 percent and are now almost non-existent.

Case Closed:  In conclusion, MythBusters turned to the ultimate authority on violent crime.  What does the Prince of Peace have to say on the subject of gun control.   Nothing direct, but when it came to the issue of sword-control in first century Judea He told His disciples “let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one…And they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”  And He said to them, ‘It is enough.’”

MythBusters Case #15: The Neutrality of Public Education Exposed

It seems that American society has drifted into a turbulent sea without anchor or sail, and there is scarcely a safe harbor in sight.  Nonetheless, there is hope.  It would be easy to lay a large share of the blame at the doorstep of the public school system, and we would be right.  But let’s look deeper.

American civilization was not born in a bed of roses; it was weaned in a rugged and hostile environment.  The early settlers had to battle an untamed wilderness just to keep body and soul together.  They certainly did not have government to fall back on to educate their children, or anything else for that matter.  They took seriously Moses admonition to the Israelites to obey God’s law in subjecting their children to a godly education:

Modern American Christians have lost that vision and adopted a contrary Myth: A neutral public education is adequate for our children’s basic academic needs.

Our MythBusters investigation found opposing evidence from the Book of Scripture and the book of  history.

Initially we found this admonition in the book of Deuteronomy:  Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God is one LORD:  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And the words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).

The Pilgrims fled not only from persecution in England, but later from bad influence on their children in Holland.  They recognized that education was anything by neutral.  These tender seedlings were not yet ready to contend with the enemy in the gates (seats of power), but their parents realized that they were a heritage of the LORD.  They were like arrows (weapons of war) in the quivers of their fathers, and their day would come to take their positions in the multigenerational war for the kingdom of God (Psalm 127:3-5).

Under the New Covenant, the apostle Paul admonished Christian fathers to “bring them [their children] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).  When the Prophet Jeremiah told God’s people to “Learn not the way of the heathen” (Jeremiah 10:2), he was not telling them to turn a blind eye toward their evil doctrines and practice, but recognize them for what they are, and do not follow them.

We discovered this excerpt from a prayer by early American Puritan leader Cotton Mather:

And, O thou Saviour, and Shepherd of Thy New-English Israel: Be Entreated Mercifully to look down upon thy Flocks in the Wilderness. Oh, give us not up to the Blindness and Madness of neglecting the Lambs in the Flocks. Inspire thy People, and all Orders of men among thy People with a just care for the Education of Posterity…Save us, O our Lord JESUS CHRIST. Save us from the Mischiefs and Scandals of an Uncultivated Offspring; Let this be a Land of Light, unto Thou, O Sun of Righteousness, do thyself arise unto the World with Healing in thy Wings. Amen.  [Emphasis added]

So how did we get from where we were then to where we are today?  Not only does the unconverted man in general look for escape mechanisms, but Christians have that tendency also due to indwelling sin.  As even Peter, James, and John fell asleep as Jesus prayed in that desperate hour (Matthew 26:37-41), so the church has been slack in its responsibility at various times and places through history.  We have a heavenly treasure, but it dwells in earthly vessels.

The ancient Greek philosophers not only had a great impact on the church and the world in medieval times but also on early America and right down to the present.  These humanistic notions always find fertile ground in fallen human nature.

Plato’s abstract never-never land of surrealism has driven elements of the Christian church into pietistic escapism.  “Why polish the brass of a sinking ship?”  This led many evangelicals to abandon ship around 1925 at the time of the “Scopes monkey trial.”  Although prosecutor William Jennings Bryan won the case in the staged trial of John Scopes, the creationist position was publicly trashed by the ACLU.

Case Closed:  Public education is not neutral, but decidedly anti-Christian.  We cannot allow the public education system to continue ransacking our children’s hearts and mind and replacing the Christian faith with the false notions of a non-existent neutrality.  There is no demilitarized zone in this battle for their souls and our culture.  It’s time to fight back!

MythBusters Case #14: Public Education, Is It Biblical?

Sadly, many Christians think, speak and act as if they are wiser than God.  They see nothing wrong with sending their children to Government indoctrination centers to have them brainwashed by a humanist curriculum.  They are under the delusion that their children will be fine as long as they take them to a 45-minute Sunday school class once a week, see their parents pray over meals, and participate in family devotions.  These things may be well and good, but they are no match for 25 or 30 hours a week of compartmentalized godless programming.  Perhaps their pastors have not sufficiently warned them of the dangers lurking on the campus.  These are matters of life and death.  Please get informed.

Myth: The influence of a loving Christian home is sufficient to overcome the evils of public education.

 

Here are some excerpts from an article by Dr. Phil Stringer of Landmark Baptist College:

 

The concept of government control of education has become so accepted in the United States that most people take it for granted. Yet, there is no concept of civil government controlling education in the Bible, in the Constitution, or in the first 75 years of American history. The American people need to rethink the idea that the civil government should be responsible for educating children.

 

The problem is not just poor academic achievement, the wasteful spending of the public school system, or the loss of moral standards. The problem is that the government is the wrong agency to be involved in education.  Public education is unconstitutional and inefficient. But, most of all, it is unbiblical.

 

All education is religious in nature, even when educators pretend that it is not. All forms of education are based upon a world view. All forms of education try to answer basic questions of life that are religious in nature. In fact, many of the current debates about separation of church and state involve the public schools.

 

It’s High Time for a Mass Exodus

 

Just a few decades ago, participating in home schooling was like pulling teeth.  Regiments of social workers, accompanied by law enforcement, were pounding on doors everywhere and confiscating children.  It was a nightmare for decent families who had their fill of the public school system.  These were the pioneers constantly living under the threat of family disruption.  Parents lived in mortal terror of these bureaucrats lurking and looking for the slightest pretext of “child abuse” by homeschoolers.

 

Today, homeschooling is legal in every state, but the battle is far from over.  The Home School Legal Defense Association is barraged with calls from members complaining of harassment from school officials who either are drunk with power or don’t know the laws of their state.  It seems strange that these highly paid people would be inept in their bureaucratic business.  We need to increase our numbers so these oppressors will take notice and back off.

 

There is a mind-set in American academia that would force all our children to be subject to some of the most outrageous classroom antics you could imagine.  Note the following from Public Advocate:

 

The Radical Homosexuals infiltrating the United States Congress have a plan:  Indoctrinate an entire generation of American children with pro-homosexual propaganda and eliminate traditional values from American society.  Their ultimate dream is to create a new America based on sexual promiscuity in which the values you and I cherish are long forgotten.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.  If you intend to fight this battle, please don’t send your children to the front line.  Keep them out of harm’s way until they are mature enough to contend with the enemy.  And even then, don’t send them to the pagan temples; train them at home.  Christ is not only ignored by the government schools, He is actively excluded by law.  Thus, it is no exaggeration to conclude that public schools are “anti-Christ” and that Christian children are being taught by anti-Christ.  it is long past due for mature Christians to take up this holy cause and pull their children from the jaws of death.

MythBusters Case # 13: America At The Crossroads — A Case Study In Cultural Blindness

Unwary Christians often stumble into the humanist treadmill.  Talk show host Bob Durgin (Harrisburg, PA) had a guest minister on his program.  They were discussing whether the subject of “God” should be part of the biology curriculum in a public school.  I could see their eyes glaze over when a caller suggested that God has not authorized civil government to teach children in the first place.  It’s a family matter.  Civil government should stick to its own business of being a terror to evil doers.  “How’d we get on that?” said the confused host.

The American culture has slipped so far down the line from its early mores since the Mayflower Compact (1620) and the Great Migration (1630-1641) that it can no longer see the light of day.  It has drunk so deeply from the well of the eighteenth century Enlightenment; it did not see social Darwinism creeping in behind to shove it into the well.  By now, it has fallen so far it cannot even see the sky.  This culture does not need to be rescued from danger; it needs to be raised from the dead.

Myth: America needs to spend more money on public education.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).  He not only “came into the world to save sinners” (I Tim. 1:15), but also to commission His followers to “teach all nations…to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20).  This Great Commission could only be launched by the Possessor of “all power in heaven and in earth” (v 18).  He has promised to see this mission through until our work on earth is done (v 20).

“Discipling the Nations One Student at a Time” is the capstone of our mission at King’s Way Classical Academy.  It is our hope that we never fail to declare the whole council of God as it applies to every subject we teach as well as to every area of life.  “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Tim. 3:16-17).  Our purpose is to equip our students to take leadership in tomorrow’s world.

Engaged, but Not Entangled

The Bible deals with our engagement with the world.  The apostle Paul tells us this in his second epistle to the Corinthians

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (II Cor. 10:4-6).

The Bible deals with our entanglement with the world.  The apostle John tells us this in his first general epistle.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I John 2:15-16).

These two principles set the parameters in Jesus’ prayer to the Father:

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15)

Here we have the fulcrum of the Biblical balance to be like “the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (I Chron. 12:32).

A Case in Point

 

The enemies of truth are showing their true colors in many ways.  The following story from Godfather Politics, September 23, 2011, under the headline “Student Punished for Christian Faith” is only one of thousands.  And the number grows.

Fourteen year old Dakota Ary attends Western Hills High School in Fort Worth Texas. He is an honor student, plays football and has never been in trouble at school; that is until earlier this week.

According to Dakota, the topic of homosexuality has been discussed on a number of occasions in his German language class. When the topic came up in class again this week, he told the student behind him that he was a Christian and that he believed being a homosexual was wrong.

His German teacher overheard his comment and started yelling at him and threatened to write him up with an infraction and then sent him to the school’s office. Upon hearing what had taken place and what Dakota had said, the assistant principal gave Dakota a two day suspension from school.

The story continues: His mom, Holly Pope, was anything but passive.  Her attorney, Matt Krause, is ready to take the case as a violation of “Dakota’s First Amendment right of free speech…all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The article goes on to cite other similar cases of abused Christian students in the cesspools of “learning” in the regimented government school citadels of perversion.  We admire Mrs. Pope’s courage for taking on the public school bureaucracy, but question her judgment in placing her son there in the first place.

Cleaning up the Temples of Baal?

Case Closed:  Fighting the case all the way to a secular humanist “supreme court” could have only one useful purpose—exposing the unfruitful works of darkness.  Attempting to clean up the public school system is tantamount to baptizing humanism.

It is high time for parents to take back from civil authority their God-given responsibility for educating their children.  Let us dismantle the temples of Baal.  Don’t try to clean them up.

Another well-meaning, but misguided, project has local churches in Portland, Oregon, volunteering for Saturday work projects at government schools.  This lends credibility to the government lie that they don’t have enough money.  Moreover, it has weakened the resolve of many pastors to insist on Christian education for their communities.

 

If we are to have “understanding of the times” as “the children of Issachar,” we must become acclimated to being engaged, but not entangled.  Now let’s go!

MythBusters Case #12 : Which Comes First, the Fiscal Cliff or the End of the World?

Awhile back, it was a race between Harold Camping and Steve Lerner.  Camping had two shots at predicting the end of the world and missed both times.  Lerner was mobilizing for the “collapse of capitalism” and he too utterly failed.  Now, fiscal and Metaphysical notions are at it again.  All this and Christmas too!  It just doesn’t get any better.

 

The American people have a ringside seat to the circus—the clowns and the fire eaters.  Can you guess which is which?  If the end of the world comes first, we won’t have to worry about the fiscal cliff.  If the fiscal cliff comes first, some people will wish for the end of the world.  Now, let’s get serious and look deeper.

 

Myth: The ancient Mayan Calendar predicts the end of the world.

 

This is the crux of the matter.  The calendar stops suddenly. overlaying it with the Christian calendar only takes it to December 21, 2012.  Doesn’t it remind you of the horror movies where the Gypsy looks into the crystal ball and gives out with an awesome shriek because she sees nothing but darkness?  Does silence and darkness indicate the end of everything?  According to Maya scholar David Stuart of the University of Texas “The ancient Maya did not see the world in terms of endings, but rather in terms of constant renewal,”  These people “…worshipped and served the creature [creation] more than the Creator… (Romans 1:25).  Apart from the true God (Yahweh), the heathen tend to see time as cyclical rather than linear.  There are cycles within time, but time itself from the perspective of the Bible has a beginning and an end.  Animists have no vision beyond the course of nature.

 

The Bible refers to cycles, recurrences, and renewals, etc. especially in the Books of Ecclesiastes and Judges.  Those who walk in disobedience apply the cyclical notion to time itself because that is all they can see in their Aristotelian world of nature.  John Bunyan’s muckraker could not see beyond his own little empirical world.

 

 

The Mayans could not even predict their own demise.  They thought in terms of cycles of years, namely occurring roughly every 5,125 years.  According to an article by Rebecca Lopez Posted on December 14, 2012 at 9:43 AM under the headline Sides disagree on Catastrophe at Mayan Calendar’s End at http://www.kvue.com/news/183502881.html

“Experts say the Maya expected the calendar to end on the 21st, but then roll-over like an odometer and keep going. So December 22nd starts the new calendar.”

 

Case Closed: In addition to all the above, Dan Vergano, USA TODAY10:13p.m. EST December 13, 2012, under the headline Maya ‘End of World’ is a Mistranslation writes the following:

 

A doomsday prophecy was the last thing likely to be uttered by these ancient dynasty-builders. What’s more, Stuart was part of a team led by archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University that reported in May from the Guatemalan ruins of Xultun (SHUL-toon) the discovery of a scribe’s hut painted with calendar markings.

 

The markings tracked Venus, Mars and dates corresponding to a time after the year 3500, the team reported in the journal Science. That shows the Maya obviously expected the world to continue for many centuries. “So much for the supposed end of the world,” Saturno said.

 

A November study of cave stalactites in Belize added to evidence for how the world actually did end for the ancient Maya kings, with a series of droughts after 660 A.D.

 

Today, more than 6 million Maya live in Central America. The ancient kings vanished but the people remained.

 

And if 2012 doesn’t bring the end of the world, “I do know it is helping tourism” in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, Lucero says.

 

So, go ahead and do your Christmas shopping.  Have a merry and blessed Christmas and a happy New Christian Calendar Year!

MythBusters Case#11: Four More Years of Purgatory – John Tetzel Rides Again!

 

It’s a sad day in Muddville.  The Mighty Mitt struck out.

Following the 2012 election evangelicals are snarling at one another.  “You have the blood of the innocents on your hands!” says one side.  “You supported a heretic!” says the other.

Different people had different strategies to “stop Obama.” Some stayed home.  Others only voted on local candidates and issues.  Still others voted for a third party candidate.  Others voted for snake oil.  What will it take to bring evangelicals together?  The confusion masks a deeper problem, or which Barack Obama is only a symptom.

Myth: Four more years of an Obama presidency will destroy America.

It is not an Obama presidency that is destroying America.  It is the fabric from which Obama is cut.  It has been with us for decades.  It has led us “progressively” down the spiral toward perdition.  Romney is cut from the same cloth.

Both men have been influenced and aided by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), created in 1922.  The chief architect was Edward Mandel House.  The chief end was world peace through domination of world Government.  Its membership consists of Democrats and Republicans, labor and industrial leaders, “liberals” and “conservatives,” and various other so-called antagonists.

In American politics, the phrase, “May the best man win!” is a call for the most ruthless and cunning to take control and implement their agenda—perhaps to be tossed under the bus when he has served their purpose.  At present, it’s a win-win situation for the “progressives.”

MythBusters primary conclusion is this:  Both candidates were selling snake oil to perpetuate the status quo, much the same as John Tetzel sold indulgences to aggrandize the Papal power of the 16th Century.   It was CFR “A Team” versus CFR “B Team.”  The Tetzel’s of the world distract us from the only real solution (see below).

How did “the greatest country in the world” ever get into this predicament?  The Enlightenment battle against the divine right of kings has been successful, but at a terrible cost.  Mankind has traded it for the divine right of the people.  They rejected “Vox Rex, Vox Deo” and embraced “Vox populi, Vox  Deo.”  In both cases, we are led by the whims of man, be it one or many—I the king or we the people.  Neither is the voice of God.  The neglected alternative is  “Vox Scriptura, Vox Deo.”   It is our only hope.

The Enlightenment mindset can be traced much further back — not for decades, not for centuries, but for millennia–back to the Tower of Babel mindset.  There men first presumptuously imagined themselves the arbiters of their own destiny.  This is the soil from which our modern-day Obamas and Romney’s ultimately spring.

Digressing even further back into prehistory, we find ourselves in the loins of Adam, defying Yahweh face to face.  No wonder we’re in trouble!  God’s law was simple in Eden.  Do anything your heart desires except eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  The Creator determines that, not you or me.

That one act of disobedience unraveled all subsequent history.  It gave us expulsion from Paradise, the first murder and many thereafter, defiance and confusion at Babel, Chattel slavery and misery in Egypt, unthankfulness for deliverance, idolatry, blasphemy, Greed, theft, adultery, revolution, tyranny, and people looking for relief in all the wrong places.

Case Closed: Romney was not the panacea to the “Obama problem.”  Had he won, then we would have the “Romney problem.”  Sinful man is the problem, and he has an uncanny way of digging himself in ever deeper when he tries to become the captain of his own soul.  We are admonished by a merciful God to “trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

The way back up is through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance toward God.  We need to repent of our personal sins and our national sins.   In practical terms this means calling on our culture to turn back to the civil laws of Yahweh and away from the whims of men.  We must call on all men everywhere to recognize the crown rights of our risen and reigning Savior.  Let us delight to walk in obedience to Him.  Let build Christ’s kingdom in defiance of carnal empire building and let the world know that none of us are wiser than He whose kingdom rules over all.  This is the vision that will unite evangelicals in America and around the world.

MythBusters Case#10: How Safe Are Our Public Schools From Homosexual Predators?

You might well ask how safe are our public schools, period.  So why are we focusing on homosexuals in this particular case?  Is there is a devious mind-set afoot in high places breaking ground for acceptance of a perverted lifestyle?  Doesn’t the gay community consist of a particular group of people who simply want to be accepted socially and economically as other minority group?  For example, how does same-sex marriage threaten heterosexual marriage?  Why can’t they peacefully coexist?  Furthermore, what has all this got to do with public schools and predators?

Myth: We should  just treat sodomites fairly and let them have social benefits that real married people enjoy?

Several states have already legalized same-sex marriage  A case in point is the Maryland state legislature’s passing of such a bill and Governor Michael O’Malley’s signing it into law.  It is to become effective on January 1, 2013, but the people of Maryland are not buying it.  Enough petition signatures have been gathered to place it on the ballot as Question 6, which many hope to be voted AGAINST.

Michael Anthony Peroutka of The American View tells us why in no uncertain terms under the following headline:

 Maryland’s Question 6 Is About Government-Authorized Child Abuse

 For years now, the sodomite lobby in Annapolis has been desperately seeking to redefine the God-given and God-ordained institution of marriage. Now the people of Maryland will cast their votes to approve or to disapprove of this foolishness.

During this entire time, the sodomite strategy is to appeal to your sense of fairness: “Why can’t we just treat sodomites fairly and let them have social benefits that real married people enjoy?”

Here’s what they are NOT telling you:

The reason why it is so desperately important to homosexuals to redefine marriage in written “un-law” has little to do with “fairness” and much to do with gaining access to straight, normal, decent Maryland children from straight, normal, decent Maryland families.

You see, homosexuals can’t reproduce. So they must recruit.

Please consider carefully: Homosexuals can’t reproduce. So they must recruit. And the best place to recruit is in schools where they can have unfettered access to children—your children—and your grandchildren.

Public schools are where the recruiting goes on and on and on. It is being made part of the curriculum. In pre-kindergarten, your children are being taught that queer is good and it’s good to try it. They are taught to disregard the morality of their parents. And if you vote “yes” on Question 6, this tampering with the morals of your children will become official public policy.

Stripped of all its phony “fairness” language, what is being pushed is nothing short of government-authorized perversion of Maryland children. It’s a license for child sexual abuse.

I have heard from multiple sources that in the homosexual community, you and I are referred to as “breeders”—that is, suppliers of children that they desire to convert to their death-style.

We urge you not to fall for the phony “fairness” routine. Vote “Against” on Question 6. —Michael Anthony Peroutka

Case closed: So, same-sex marriage is only one part of this hydra-headed monster.  Several states have already imposed on their citizens a redefinition of this God-given institution of holy matrimony.

 Now you can see why we cannot be silent in whatever state this deceptive rhetoric poses its active danger.

Please, take the next step to protect your children from all the abuses of the public school system.  Enroll them in a real time on line high and Junior high school—King’s Way Classical Academy.  Click HERE and learn

MythBusters Poll: The Great Tribulation