No Place Like Home
Booklet, 28 pages
Copyright © 2005 James L. Melton
Suggested Donation: 50 cents each
Introduction
Largely due to the failures of government schools, many parents who never thought for a moment that their children would be educated anywhere other than in a public school are now seriously pondering such alternatives as private schools, church schools, and even home schools. This booklet has been published to help such parents.
The first section, New World Education, is from chapter 6 of our book Satan’s New World Order. It shows the reader how and when government schools were established in America, why they were established, and where they are headed.
The second section comes from an article in the Summer, 2003, Bible Baptist Bulletin, originally titled Back to School or Back to the Jungle? Its purpose is to encourage parents to home school their children, especially Christian parents.
We believe these two titles together can be used of God in the hands of wise Christian soldiers who see what modern education has done to our families and desire to do something about it.
This is not a “how to” booklet on home schooling, but rather a “come on, give it a try!” booklet. Parents are different, and children are different, so there are many different approaches to home schooling. There is no “one way” to home school. The best way to learn about some of the different avenues of home schooling is to ask various people who home school. But that’s step number two. Step number one is making up your mind to do it. Hopefully, this booklet will assist you in that decision by first sounding a warning and then by offering some words of encouragement.
My wife, Angela, and I attended and graduated from government schools, so we both know how these schools are anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Christ, and, in many ways, anti-American. After our first child was born, we decided two things: (1) Angela would be a “stay at home mom” and (2) we would not send our children to a “public” school. We now have five children, and, by God’s good grace, none have ever been in a “day care center” or a government school. If we can do it, anyone can do it. No, it isn’t easy, but we have found that the rewards far outweigh the sacrifices. We ask that you read the following pages in a spirit of prayer, asking God how you might best use this information in your own life. May the Holy Spirit be your guide (John 16:13)
New World Education
In the mid 1600’s, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, a German philosopher, stated that he could rule the world if he were given control of its education. During the next century, Prussian monarchs would be the first to adopt government education as a popular way of producing and controlling fit “children of the State.”
Upon seeing the effectiveness of government education, other European nations began following the same path. By the time of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, government schools had become commonplace among dictatorial nations.
When the Communists came to power in Russia, one of their first acts was to drive a wedge between children and their families by establishing government controlled schools.
The same was true with Adolf Hitler in Germany. When German children entered the Grundschule at the age of six, they entered a training ground for becoming loyal followers of Nazi ideals.
If Satan was to prepare America for his new world order, molding young minds was a must. Government controlled schools would be absolutely essential, yet most early Americans felt very differently. We had fought and won our independence, and we were now prospering in our newfound freedom (1776-1840). The general opinion among most Americans was that the education of children was a family matter in which government had no business intruding. Government involvement in education would also mean higher taxes, another unpopular idea in early America.
Nevertheless, the push for government education was on because it was essential for Lucifer’s plan. Liberal Massachusetts eventually established a state board of education in 1837. Over the next few decades, other states would also begin to meddle in education, including New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Connecticut. By the turn of the twentieth century, Americans had grown accustomed to the idea of government schools. A number of educational organizations had been established, including the National Education Association (1857). With all of the educational bricks in one pile, Satan now needed a man to apply the fake new world slime for mortar (Gen. 11:3; Eze. 13:10-16).
John Dewey and “Progressive Education”
That man was an atheist named John Dewey. A signer of the original Humanist Manifesto, Dewey viewed education as a means of shaping and controlling society. While most Americans believed that education’s purpose was to equip young people that they might reach the highest potential in their individual lives, Dewey chose to use education as a way of producing certain kinds of citizens for a “better society.”
The first affirmation of the Humanist Manifesto that Dewey signed in 1933 was a direct assault on the first verse of the Bible. As we know (and as most people in 1933 knew), the first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This was not suitable to Dewey and the other manifesto signers, so they agreed that
Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.
Having stated that the universe was not created, their next step was to rid man of a Creator. Their second statement declared that man “has emerged as a result of a continuous process.” This was a “safe” position to take since Darwin’s theory of evolution was now an accepted scientific “fact.” The 1933 manifesto went on to reject the idea that humans have eternal souls, and they declared that it is more needful to be concerned with “the here and now” instead of exercising faith in “unreal hopes and wishful thinking.” This was Dewey’s crowd. He was “America’s foremost philosopher and educator,” and he was a Bible rejecting fool (Psa. 14:1).
Dewey was born in 1859 in Burlington, Vermont. While in college in the late 1870’s, he became interested in philosophy and how it could be applied to changing society. Dewey did not believe in absolutes. Nothing, in his eyes, could be a settled final authority or foundation for life. Life was a continually changing process, so there was no room for absolutes such as God, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, or salvation through Christ. This he learned from G.W.F. Hegel, the nineteenth century German philosopher.
After being rejected for the graduate program at John Hopkins University, Dewey began a teaching career. By 1904, he had earned such a reputation with his writings and experiments that he was asked to assume the chair of education at New York’s Columbia University. Dewey became a teacher of teachers, and the Columbia Teacher’s College became a training school for teachers around the world. From this position, and through his extensive travels and writings, his radical views would indoctrinate educators throughout the world.
With Rockefeller money, Dewey founded the Progressive Education Association in 1919. In the years to follow, he and others would poison educational systems with their progressive philosophy in hopes of molding minds for a new world order.
John Dewey was so opposed to absolutes and so supportive of “open-mindedness” that he readily admitted not having any real answers:
Although I have raised large questions, it is not my ambition to answer them.
Of course it wasn’t, and it wasn’t his ambition to have anyone else answer them. That’s the whole point in Dewey’s philosophy: throw out all the real answers in life, and replace them with endless psychobabble that answers nothing and helps no one. That’s one of the reasons for God warning us about philosophy in Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
The mission of Dewey and company was simply social change. They wanted to change society by shaking off of the old way of individualism with its absolute morals, absolute truth and absolute salvation, and they wanted to usher in a new age of collectivism, experimentation and open-mindedness toward new ideas (which means closed-mindedness toward God and the Bible). Professing to have real answers was almost a sin. The whole point was, and still is, to produce an entire generation of socially-programmed robots who have no God, no Bible, and therefore no moral, intellectual, or spiritual foundation on which to stand. Such a generation would live for “the here and now” without acknowledging any personal accountability to God. This brainwashed generation would view life as a continual experiment in an ever-changing society. Anyone foolish enough to cling to the old paths would be in a tiny minority and would be looked upon as right wing extremists and religious fanatics. That’s what the Deweyites wanted, and that is exactly what has happened.
A typical example of this new style of education is found in a 1947 NEA publication where the question is asked,
Is it more important for Dick to excel everyone in his class and bring home a report card of all A’s, or for Dick to learn how to live with all the other boys and girls in his neighborhood?
Most parents never saw this publication. If they had, a good many would have had a few questions of their own: Is it more important for the NEA to stick with the teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic or for them to usurp my authority by teaching my children to be global citizens for the coming Antichrist? Is it more important for the NEA to decide who my children “learn how to live with” or for me, the parent, to make that decision? Are you people implying that I, the parent, am incapable of deciding with whom my children should socialize? If a sodomite “family” moves in down the street, should you, the NEA, or me, the parent, decide if my children “learn how to live with” them?
The publication continues with another example:
Is it more important for Paula to learn that quarter note gets one count or for Paula to learn the joy that comes from singing with her friends?
Wise parents would immediately have some questions of their own: Is it more important for the NEA members to teach basic education (since that’s what the American tax payers pay them to do) or for them to turn my daughter into a social slave? If you people taught my daughter to sing with her friends, what exactly would she be singing? Would these singing friends include boys? Would this singing also include dancing? Shouldn’t my child’s social behavior be my concern and not yours?
The old paths are gone. The fundamental teaching of “the three R’s” is history. Sure, academics are still taught, but only in the greater context of creating a “social mind.” There are exceptions, of course, but the general purpose of modern American education is to mold children for Satan’s “global society” where there are no absolutes.
The great preacher and statesmen Bob Jones, Sr. once said that he had never seen a successful man who had not at some point come under the dominating power of a great truth. In Dewey’s spaced-out world, there are no great truths, only ideas and experiments; therefore progressive education has produced a generation of losers.
Progressive education has produced high school “graduates” who cannot half read. Of those who can read, only a minority of them can read intelligently enough to comprehend and apply the reading material. Therefore, such people usually see no point in reading anything other than the sports page, People magazine, or TV Guide. Today’s employers have to endure incompetent employees who cannot learn their jobs well enough to perform them without constant supervision or correction. In fact, one study has shown that American businesses lose over $25,000,000,000 annually due to the poor reading and writing skills of their workers. Families are ripped to shreds because parents lack the fundamental moral qualities that keep couples together and keep them focused on enduring hardships in order to make their family a success. Progressive education has produced parents who cannot control their children and who will not learn from others (since there is no “right” way to do it). Dewey’s philosophy has produced theological “doctors” who cannot effectively preach, teach, or write. It has produced a society of voters who are easily manipulated by catchy buzz words and empty campaign promises because they lack the soundness of mind to think intelligently and find the hidden truth. It has produced an America that now accepts sodomy as an “alternate lifestyle” because our citizens lack the intellectual ability to understand the threat that this sin poses to our national existence. Like a powerful drug, progressive education has literally “fried” the brains of a high percentage of American citizens, rendering them unable to even see the nation’s problems, much less fix them.
There were others who helped to give American education this new framework. New “thinkers” such as Horace Mann and Jane Adams certainly contributed, but it was John (no absolutes) Dewey and followers such as George Counts and Harold Rugg who administered the overdose that would gradually destroy the whole educational system.
In 1933, Harold Rugg wrote a book for teachers called The New Technology. In this book, he stated that
A new public mind is to be created. How? Only by creating tens of millions of new individual minds and welding them into a new social mind. Old stereotypes must be broken up and new “climates of opinion” formed . . .
There you have it. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are no longer the fundamental objectives of government education. The creating of “a new social mind” has been the plan for over seventy years. Rugg authored a number of “social studies” textbooks and influenced millions of young minds. His work was later replaced by the work of other authors who were more subtle in their tactics, but the job was still done, and that’s one of the reasons for our present educational mess.
The National (Public) Education Association
If one should doubt that Satan is using America’s educational system to help prepare minds for his new world order, he has only to consult the National Education Association’s 2000-2001 Resolutions where this mammoth teacher’s union gives its support for disarmament and for the world government-minded United Nations. But this is nothing new for the NEA. As far back as 1946, their Journal stated that
at the very top of all the agencies which will ensure the coming of world government must stand the school, the teacher, and the organized profession (emphasis added)
Why should the NEA, a teacher’s union, be concerned with world government? Why should the National Education Association be concerned with the establishment of an international government? Maybe it is because of a series of meetings that were held by the Carnegie Foundation in 1908 and 1909. According to Newswatch magazine, the minute book for the Carnegie Foundation reveals that during these years this tax exempt foundation held discussions on how to best change the lifestyle of the nation. It was decided that war would be the best way. It was further decided that gaining control of the U.S. State Department would be the best way to involve America in such a war. After their first war was over (WWI), they decided that the only way to keep their plan on track was to control American education. The Carnegie Foundation would work for change in international relations, while the Rockefeller Foundation would do their work on domestic issues. Consequently, one should not be surprised to discover that both foundations have been large contributors to the NEA and other radical educational groups.
In the book Dumbing Down Our Kids, author Charles J. Sykes states that
The NEA also maintains a tight hold on American schools by controlling the portals of admission. The union works closely (some would say incestuously) with teacher’s colleges to maintain a professional monopoly on entrance to the teaching profession.
The NEA web site states that
NEA has a long, proud history as the nation’s leading organization committed to advancing the cause of public education.
Notice how the NEA is primarily interested in the advancement of “public” education, not education in general. Karl Marx would be very pleased with the NEA. After all, the tenth plank in his 1848 Communist Manifesto called for “Free education for all children in public schools.” (emphasis added) On the NEA web site, the word “public” is used in connection with schools, education and institutions several times, yet the rights of private schools and home schools are not mentioned even once. Nor does the web site mention the fact that the NEA supports the globalistic efforts of the UN. In speaking of its “long, proud history,” no mention is made of the fact that the NEA has been a leading promoter of John Dewey’s progressive education that has done so much damage to the minds of millions of Americans. In their deliberate omissions, they’ve also omitted telling anyone that they have a record of supporting abortion, access to birth control without parental consent, a nuclear freeze, and education promoting global citizenship. The web site states that the NEA has 2.7 million members who work at every level of education “from pre-school to university graduate programs” and that they have affiliates in every state and in 13,000 local communities across the nation. With such a massive membership base, Satan will likely continue to use the NEA to help guide America into his coming world government.
Prayer in Schools
An eye-opening book to read (assuming you can read after seven decades of “progressive education”) is a book titled, America: To Pray or Not to Pray? by David Barton. Barton states that in July 1987, God led him to take a closer look at what has happened to America since this simple twenty-two word school prayer was ruled unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962:
Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country.
This “dangerous” prayer posed such a “threat” to liberty that it was forbidden from our schools in the 1962 Engel versus Vitale case.
Barton and his co-workers researched thousands of articles and documents relating to the four specific requests made in the prayer: God’s blessings upon (1) us, (2) our parents, (3) our teachers, and (4) our Country. As Barton well states, the results of that search are both “clear and shocking.”
Under the “us” category, Barton found that the birth rate for unwed girls between fifteen and nineteen years of age had climbed only moderately in the 1950’s, and the rate had actually decreased just prior to 1962. However, after the Supreme Court threw “Thy blessings upon us” out of the schools in 1962, the birth rate for unwed girls in this age bracket began to climb. The rate in 1951 was about 13 births per 1,000 girls. In 1955, the rate climbed to about 16 and stayed there until 1961 when it actually started going down. The Supreme Court decision came in 1962, and then the rate started climbing: 16 in 1965, 17.5 in 1967, 22.5 in 1971, 25 in 1979, 27 in 1983, 32 in 1987, and nearly 45 in 1993. That’s about a 300 percent increase since the ruling. Along with this increase came an increase in pregnancies among girls under fifteen years of age (5,000 in 1963; 20,000 in 1971; 25,000 in 1979), a 400 percent increase in gonorrhea cases in the 10-14 age group between 1962 and 1988, and a 1,000 percent increase in fornication activity among fifteen year olds between 1962 and 1988. Other charts show a tremendous increase in rape arrests, aggravated assaults, and murder (from about 35 per 100,000 in 1965 to over 140 per 100,000 in 1991). Some increase in the figures would be expected due to population growth, but when looking at charts showing the figures from the fifties through the eighties, it is very clear that the early 1960’s were a drastic turning point, and that’s when “Thy blessings upon us” were forbidden in the schools.
“Thy blessings upon . . . our parents” was the next category of Barton’s study. He learned that divorce rates had decreased in the 1950’s and then leveled off between 1957 and 1962. Then, after “Thy blessings upon . . . our parents” was thrown out of the schools, the divorce rate began to climb. In fact, it doubled over the next ten years. The early 1960’s also proved to be a turning point for unmarried couples living together, single parent households and also adultery.
Another “curse” that has fallen upon parents is the curse of denial. Research has shown that today’s American parents are far too satisfied with the performance of their kids in high school and with the schools themselves. Over two thirds of the parents surveyed have said that they are satisfied that their kids were well prepared for the job market. However, employers had a different story to tell. Less than thirty percent of employers said that their newly hired graduates had sufficient math, writing, and reading skills. That’s a gap of over a thirty-five percent difference between what parents are comfortable with and with what employers expect, and the gap is even larger with parents of college-bound students. The problem isn’t likely to be fixed when parents are too blind to even see it.
Barton’s category on “our teachers” shows a downward turn in American education in general. SAT scores, both total and verbal, took a nose dive after the 1962 ruling, and school expenditures (dollars per student) would increase by over 1,000 percent by 1990. A growing number of teachers are also falling short in meeting the true qualifications for their teaching positions.
The fourth category, “Thy blessings upon . . . our Country” also offers some staggering numbers. Between 1951 and 1962 there was an average of around 200,000 violent crimes committed annually in the United States. During the two years following the Supreme Court ruling banning prayer in schools, that number rose to over 300,000, and by the end of the 1960’s the number had reached about 700,000. By 1980, it had climbed to over 1,000,000, and it was pushing 2,000,000 in 1993. That’s nearly a 1,000 percent increase since the Supreme Court ruling in 1962, yet population growth has experienced only about a fifty percent increase in the same time period. Sexually transmitted diseases have skyrocketed since 1962, costing Americans over $2,000,000,000 annually in health care expense. Alcohol abuse is up, wrecking our families, claiming 100,000 lives per year, and costing us over $100,000,000,000 annually in financial loss. Barton states that forty-five percent of our male students are heavy drinkers and twenty-five percent of our female students drink heavily. About 23,000,000 Americans have problems with alcohol.
Also in this fourth category, national productivity has decreased since the early 1960’s (while our national debt has only increased). Compared to eleven other manufacturing nations, the United States has experienced the largest production decline over the past four decades.
The Humanists, Socialists and Communists took over the schools in the first half of the twentieth century, and they threw God out in the second half. Consequently, their educational system has “evolved” into a jungle system.
The Top Problems in the Schools
Before the high court threw God out of the schools in 1962, the top problems in government schools were considered to be:
1. Talking
2. Chewing gum
3. Making noise
4. Running in the halls
5. Getting out of turn in line
6. Wearing improper clothing
7. Not putting paper in wastebaskets
However, a whole new list had to be created after a couple of decades without God. David Barton’s book, on page 35, cites a USA Today article from September, 1985, and points out the new problems being faced by our schools:
1. Rape 10. Vandalism
2. Robbery 11. Extortion
3. Assault 12. Drug abuse
4. Burglary 13. Alcohol abuse
5. Arson 14. Gang warfare
6. Bombings 15. Pregnancies
7. Murder 16. Abortions
8. Suicide 17. Venereal disease
9. Absenteeism
I would encourage the reader to order a copy of Barton’s book and read the facts in black and white and see the numerous charts. When our schools threw God out, he left and took his blessings with him.
Luther’s Accurate Prophecy
Over 400 years ago, Martin Luther, the great German reformer, warned future generations of the consequences of expelling God from our educational systems:
I am much afraid that the universities will prove to be the gates of Hell, unless they diligently labour to explain the Holy Scriptures and engrave them upon the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution where men are not unceasingly occupied with the word of God must become corrupt.
They have become corrupt, and they have become “the gates of hell.” They have become “an agency working for the barbarization of youth,” to quote Professor George Reiseman of Pepperdine University. Like sheep being led to the slaughter, America’s young people are being led right into the bloody hands of Satan. Parents should seriously consider pulling their children out of the government school system and enrolling them in good private schools or take up home schooling. After all, why should you send your children to a place where God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ aren’t legally welcome?
Colleges, the main focus of Luther’s prediction, have also forsaken God. A high percentage (some say as high as eighty-eight percent) of the first one hundred American colleges were founded for the purpose of training men for the gospel ministry. Harvard, founded in 1636, had Puritan affiliations. Yale was founded as a Congregationalist school in 1701. Princeton was founded as a Presbyterian school in 1746. Brown was a Baptist college, founded in 1764. There are others, of course.
John Witherspoon, first president of Princeton University, once said,
Cursed be all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.
When is the last time a Princeton president made a statement like that? That probably was the last time.
Harvard’s Rules and Precepts, observed in the year 1642, included a statement that every student was to be “pressed” to
consider well that the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ at the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.
If a Harvard professor tried to “press” that on a student today, he’d be fired for religious discrimination and bigotry. In fact, this one quote by a modern Harvard professor will show how higher education has made a 180 degree turn over the past three centuries. This is from Dr. Chester M. Pierce:
Every child in America who enters school with an allegiance toward our elected officials, toward our founding fathers, toward our institutions, toward the preservation of this form of government . . . all of this proves the children are sick, because the truly well individual is one who has rejected all of those things and is what I would call the true international child of the future.
As the cigarette ad says, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” Yes, a long way down. Fifty-two percent of Harvard's seventeenth century graduates became ministers. How many Harvard ministers do you know today?
In 1962, prayer in the schools was outlawed. In 1963, Bible reading in the schools was outlawed. Then God’s Ten Commandments were outlawed from being posted in a “public” school in 1980. If you leave your children in the government school system, they will either be socialized into “global citizens” or they will be looked upon as outcasts and possibly outlawed just like prayer and God’s word. Satan’s system plans to either conform them or condemn them. I would start looking for alternative education immediately.
Tightening the Squeeze
As government education has continually grown more corrupt, there is no indication that things are going to improve. In fact, quite the opposite appears to be the case. On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). While professing to leave education in the hands of “local people,” the President stated that
the new role of the federal government is to set high standards, provide resources, hold people accountable, and liberate school districts to meet the standards.
When inaugurated into office, our Presidents are required to take the following oath:
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Where, may I ask, does our Constitution authorize the federal government to “set high standards” and “hold people accountable” in regards to the education of American children? There is no such authority given to the federal government by our Constitution, and our leaders know this quite well. What they also know is the fact that they can literally steal these rights from the people and get away with it. Most Americans do not realize that the entire Department of Education is unconstitutional, yet it certainly is. Little by little, piece by piece, the federal government is being allowed to assume full control of American education, and therefore America’s children. The NCLBA is just one more step, and a big one at that.
Federally Sponsored Testing
If government school parents would invest as much time, energy and money into academics as they invest into athletics our nation would experience an educational revolution. Unfortunately, while Johnny is entertaining his parents and the sports crowd with his impressive three pointers, he is being programmed into a “global citizen” by the change agents in the schools. As a general rule, parents “don’t know and don’t care” so long as he “keeps up his grades.”
Anita Hoge was a rare exception to this rule. In the mid 1980’s, this thirty-four year old Pennsylvania mother began noticing an emphasis on sociological themes in the school where her children were students. There were behavior-oriented games, disturbing films, role-playing, field trips to cemeteries, and chilling classroom questions like
If your town was about to come under nuclear attack and there was only room for three members of your immediate family in the bomb shelter, which ones would you leave out and why?
Then one day Anita received a phone call from her son who was at school. He had slipped out of class long enough to call his mother and inform her of a peculiar test that he was being required to take. Knowing that the test would probably vanish before she could get to the school, Anita instructed her son to remember as much of the test material as possible, especially the name of the test. He managed to scribble down some questions from the test, and he also got the test name: the Educational Quality Assessment (EQA). This behavior-oriented test, which required parental approval, was secretly being given to the class. One of the items that the boy copied down was as follows
A person is in a large crowd on a street corner. They are protesting about something. Some people pick up rocks and start throwing them at windows. In this situation, I would also throw rocks when I knew (a) there was no chance of getting caught, (b) I agreed with what they were protesting about, or (c) my closest friend decided to throw rocks.
“I would not throw rocks at all” was not an option. Clearly, this was an effort of someone somewhere to gather sociological data on young people, not to teach “the three R’s.”
Anita arrived at the school and asked to see the test. As she expected, the test was gone. The test had been brought in from outside state proctors and given to the students. Her further research revealed that over half of the questions on the test were “blatantly attitudinal—about personal feelings, opinions, and home life.”
This was the beginning of a long and hard battle for Anita and Garrett Hoge. They would soon learn that the EQA test and a related curricula were connected to federal funds that were being smoothly funneled through the state’s education agency.
Federal law actually forbids the U.S. Government from involving itself in curriculum, so “assessment testing,” which influences curriculum, would also be illegal. Public Law 96-88, Title I, Section 101, No. 3 states that
Parents have the primary responsibility for the education of their children and states, localities, and private interests have the primary responsibility for supporting that parental role . . .
Did you get that? The state is required by law to support the parental role, yet they can give surprise sociological tests without the parent’s consent. In 1970, Congress passed an amendment which prohibits the federal government from exercising
Direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program instruction, administration or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed or published instructional materials . . .
Further research by the Hoges revealed that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was heavily involved in similar testing all over the country.
The book Educating for the New World Order by Beverly K. Eakman chronicles the five year battle between the Hoges and the State of Pennsylvania. On pages 41 and 42 she points out the fact that the EQA test is basically seeking the answers to just six questions:
What is the student’s “locus of control”?
Is the student “externally or intrinsically motivated”?
How amenable is the student to change? (i.e., “willingness to receive stimuli”)?
Will the student conform to group goals?
To what extent will students be willing to comply with directives from authority figures?
Finally, what situations/factors will cause a child to change his behavior or attitudes?
Is this the kind of information you want your child giving out to people in government? How do you know that they haven’t done so already? Have you checked? Do you check regularly?
Page 51 of Eakman’s book ought to raise a few parental eyebrows. Writing of a special curriculum process called the “Intermediate Unit,” the author writes that
Their vans go from school district to school district loaning films and other “supplemental” teaching aids. The Pennsylvania Group claims it has even seen these vans parked outside a few private and parochial schools that receive federal funds. Parents can be assured that by the time they get around to asking about a controversial film like the one in Garrett Hoge’s class, it will have disappeared to another school and maybe to another country.
Eakman comments that
States use different terms to describe Intermediate Units, which make it difficult for lay researchers to locate them nationally.
This is obviously done so that the national effort to assess and change children can continue. They find out from the tests what changes need to be made, and they make the needed changes in new curricula. Little by little, year by year, decade by decade, the future citizens of the new world order are molded. In addition to this, the “authorities” build up a large amount of data not only on the children, but on the families in general. That is, in a sense, children are often used as “spies” against their own parents and families by innocently giving private information to educators.
Rather than overuse our “fair use” rights by quoting too heavily from Eakman’s eye-opening book, I’ll simply suggest that the inquiring reader consider ordering the book and reading for himself. After five years, the Hoges won the battle with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the EQA tests were stopped; but for how long, and what about the other forty-nine states with their computers all linked into data bases with private information on millions of American children, perhaps even yours? What will be done about all this? Not much, if anything, so the bulk of American youth will continue to be programmed into world citizens for the Antichrist.
The case of Anita and Garrett Hoge is just one example of how it is becoming more and more common for descent, honest, hard working American people to find themselves at war with the public educational system, and it isn’t just the parents. Good teachers, such as Adele Jones, are being terminated from their teaching positions because they refuse to “dumb down” their tests so that more students can pass their classes. Other would-be teachers are refusing to continue their training upon discovering what “kind” of teachers the system expects them to become. The whole educational system will only become more corrupt as our most descent people are either expelled from it or they willing desert it for better alternatives.
Say “No” to Government Schools
Rather than fight a losing battle with Satan’s system, parents should get their children out of the government schools. Private schooling, religious or non-religious, is a reasonable option, but I believe that home schooling is usually the best. Mike Smith, president of the Home school Legal Defense Association, says that
Home schooling has been around since the dawn of time and examples of home schooling can be traced through any period of history. Since Adam and Eve, God has given to parents the responsibility to teach and train their children. Throughout history, numerous education methods have been tried. But the one method which has consistently produced the best results is home schooling, or tutoring. There’s just no substitute for the one-on-one private tutorial method of education upon which home schooling is based.
The Home school Legal Defense Association estimates that nearly half a million children are now home schooled in America. Satan, of course, is not pleased with that number. During any given week, one can log on to the HSLDA web site (hslda.org) and see real life examples of how Satan is trying to seize full control of all American education, and he will likely succeed, but God forbid that we should make it easy for him. God forbid that we should sacrifice our children to the devil.
The Home School Advantage
Reprinted in part from the article Back to School or Back to the Jungle? originally printed in the Summer, 2003, Bible Baptist Bulletin
God has commanded us to train up our children in the way they should go, yet we have millions of Christian parents sending their children off to Satan’s indoctrination centers one hundred and eighty days per year. The American school system has deteriorated to the point that many non-Christian families have taken up home schooling.
For the Christian parents who still see nothing wrong with the government school system, I think it’s safe to conclude that they don’t exactly understand what God meant when he said to “train” up a child. These are the kind of parents who spend two or three decades “raising” their children by providing food, shelter, clothing, and a general public education. As long as the kid finishes school, stays out of jail and gets a job, the parents pride themselves for having successfully “raised” a good kid who turned out to be a good man or woman. The idea of TRAINING the child in accordance with God’s word never entered their mind.
Psalm 127:4 speaks of children as “arrows” in the hand of a mighty man. No matter how mighty the man, an arrow will not shoot straight unless it is made straight. An arrow will sail a straight course and effectively strike its target only after it has been prepared for doing so. So it is with children. If they are to be godly in life, they must have godly training, and they will not receive such training in the current school system.
Angela and I consider our family a militant missionary work. It is our duty before God to produce godly soldiers for the Lord’s army. Today our children are in basic training. Tomorrow they’ll be on the battlefield of good and evil. We want to do our best to prepare them for combat. We want it so that when the devil hears the name “Melton” he knows he is up against a servant of God, a trained soldier for Jesus Christ. Anything less will be a disgrace to our family name, and, more importantly, a disgrace to the Captain of our salvation.
My sons may or may not become preachers, but I have every intention of training them to be holy men of God who live to please God in this world. My daughters are being trained to be godly Christian ladies, wives and mothers. The world “raises” their children; we train ours. Because we train our children, we view the world and its institutions as a threat to our cause, so we must guard our children from it. In plainer words, how can we succeed in training our children to be godly when the ungodly school system has access to them over thirty hours per week? I won’t say that it’s impossible, but I will say it is unlikely. Just look around.
If you are one of those parents who has pondered the idea of home schooling, I’d like to offer some words of encouragement. Please keep reading and judge for yourself if there aren’t some really good reasons to home school your children.
However, before actually getting into the reasons for home schooling, let’s deal with a couple of common arguments against it. One is the notion that children can get a better education in a public school. People who make such claims haven’t met and gotten to know many home school families. Home school kids learn very well actually, largely due to reasons which we’ll cover shortly, and it isn’t uncommon to find them outperforming students of government schools. The “less quality education” claim is a myth.
Another argument against home schooling is the social argument. It goes something like this: “Children need to learn to interact with other children, to socialize with others, and they can’t learn that in the home.” First of all, it is incorrect to assume that home school children spend all their time “in the home.” It is quite common for home schoolers to plan activities outside the home, sometimes even two or three day field trips with other home school families. Such events sometimes involve just a few children, and sometimes two or three dozen are involved. So there are numerous opportunities for children to interact. Secondly, for one to presume that home school children are damaged socially without first meeting and talking to such children amounts to just plain prejudice. My children, for instance, interact very well with other children. Angela and I have both received good comments from people who were surprised that our home school children still acted like children. Of course they do; it’s the jungle system which teaches them to act otherwise.
Now, let’s consider some of the good reasons for home schooling.
Protection from Harmful Influences
There hasn’t been a day since my first child began kindergarten that I worried about her being exposed to harmful influences such as drugs, profanity, pornography, violence, or nudity (and that’s just on the bus going to the school ).
I’m not too old to remember the public school environment. I can well remember the nasty language and nasty jokes often told by the school kids. I can remember the obscene things often spoken of by various teenagers right in the presence of six and seven year-olds. I can remember the guys telling of their weekend experiences with their “dates.” I can remember the many instances where I personally felt pressured to take part in the same sinful practices (and often did so) just so I could “fit in.” I can remember older siblings despising their younger siblings out of fear that they would “tattle” to mom and dad about their wicked deeds.
I can remember all too well the harmful influences of the jungle system. To this very day my mind has images in it of ungodly things that I picked up in a public school room, on a public school playground, at a public school event or on a public school bus. At only eleven years of age, I heard of rumors of a male teacher having intercourse with an eighth grade girl. At about the same age, I heard of a case where several boys attempted to have their way with an eighth grade girl on the school property. I won’t even discuss high school.
If you are a parent who came up through the government school system, then you know as well as I that my preceding comments are not exaggerated and they are not rarities. In fact, for the sake of common decency, I have omitted a great deal. Now, why would a parent who really wants the best for their children send them into an environment which they know to be utterly wicked?
Do you want to protect your children from harmful influences? Don’t send them to a government school.
Instill Your Beliefs and Moral Standards
As a parent, you have the right and the responsibility to teach your children about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, and God’s will for man. You are under no moral obligation to surrender this responsibility to anyone else. Your children belong to YOU, not to “society” and not to “the government.” It is perfectly proper for YOU, the parent, to TRAIN your children in the right ways of God. God told the Israelites to TEACH their children about Him: “And these 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.” (Deu. 6:6-7) This modern notion that parents should leave God and the Bible alone and let the child decide what to believe when he is older is a doctrine of devils. God said to teach them while they are young so they will know when they are old, and they will not depart from it. A parent who doesn’t believe in teaching his children about God is a parent who doesn’t know God.
Assuming that you do know God and what it means to live righteously before Him, what better opportunities could you have to teach your children than with home schooling? Instead of having access to them a few hours per day, you can have access to them ALL DAY. While teaching English to your children, you can have them write sentences about Jesus. While teaching math, you can have them subtract evil Judas from the other eleven disciples. While teaching history, you can teach Fox’s Book of Martyrs if you wish, and the Bible has much to contribute in the fields of science and health. There are some great home school resources to help parents do these very things. To turn our heads the other way is to pass up one of the greatest opportunities God will ever send our way: the opportunity to instill our beliefs and standards into our children.
Teach Your Children as Individuals
Regardless of how learned and devoted a government school teacher may be, he or she cannot dedicate the time needed for the proper instruction of each individual child in a classroom. Yet, a home school teacher can dedicate as much personal time as is needed to a single child.
While a teacher in a classroom is dividing his or her time and attention among twenty or thirty students, a home school parent can be spending two or three hours (or more) with one child. There is simply no way that a government school can produce such a personal touch.
Develop a Love for Learning
Someone once said, “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.”
This principle is so very true in education. The prevailing philosophy in modern education is that one must study, pass the necessary exams and work up through the appropriate grades and degrees in order to get anywhere in life. The main reason, and often the only reason, that students learn anything in school is the fact that they are required to do so. Very few learn because they love to learn. Very few students will go out and buy a book just so they can learn more about a subject which isn’t a part of their required learning. Why is this? It is because they haven’t been taught to love learning. They’ve been fed a fish, but they haven’t learned to fish. When their educational requirements are over and their formal education is complete, they will stop learning and consume their time, energy and money with entertainment and recreation.
A home school parent-teacher can change this. No teacher can care more about a child’s study and learning habits than his own home school parents. Very few teachers in the government school system have the ability or the desire to make learning attractive to the students. They may be good at getting a student to pay attention and learn the required information, but getting them to love doing so is a different thing altogether. When you find an exception–a public school student who loves to read and learn new things–you will likely find some very dedicated parents in the home who spend lots of time tutoring and encouraging the student. There are other exceptions, but the exceptions do not overthrow the general rule: no one cares more about a child than his own parents, so no one will exercise the same level of devoted teaching as a loving home school parent.
Take a good Bible teacher for instance. A man who teaches well will produce students who enjoy learning, even when no diplomas or degrees are being sought. A good Bible teacher gets excited about his teaching and he makes the Bible interesting to his students. Over a period of time, he not only teaches his students the Bible truths that they need, but he also teaches them to love learning more.
There is no good reason why this cannot happen to most all young people today. Most anyone can develop a love for learning, but very few do. Parents can take matters into their own hands and make a major difference. If they don’t, it isn’t likely to happen.
Stronger Relationships
Home school parents generally enjoy a closer relationship with their children than parents who do not home school. One reason is obviously the amount of time the parent and child spend together. While the world system pulls the child and parent apart for several hours per day, home schooling keeps them together, as God intended, so better relationships naturally develop.
Another reason is that the child can see the sacrifices of the parent. Children aren’t stupid; they know a parent really cares for them when that parent spends hours teaching them each day, especially when all the neighborhood parents send their children to be taught by someone else.
A third joy in the relationship is the fact that home school children have greater respect for their parents. Since they’ve learned so much from the parent, they’ve learned to look to the parent for further instruction. In fact, many home school children view their parents as the smartest and wisest people in the world. This generates a high level of respect for the parent, and rightly so (Exo. 20:12).
Quality Time Together
Paul writes to the Ephesian Christians and encourages them to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:16) The evil days in which we live have a way of devouring our time like a fire, so we ought to treasure every moment.
My children are growing up. My oldest daughter, Rachel, will be a teenager soon. It seems like only three or four years ago that I witnessed her birth and Angela and I brought her home from the hospital. Nathan, Rizpah, Noah, and Jacob are all healthy and growing rapidly. In just a few years, they too will be young ladies and young gentlemen, rather than small children. Time is ticking away, and our children will be grown and gone one day. We have learned to treasure our time with them.
Well, home schooling adds to that time. The average school student will spend in excess of 15,000 hours of his life either at a school or traveling to one. That’s nearly two full years of time I, as a parent, have the right to choose how that time will be spent. My wife and I believe it is far better for our children to spend that time with their family. They will have the last fifty or sixty years of their lives to spend as they choose, and no one can lay a better foundation for their lives than the family which God ordained. Once our children grow up and make their way out into the world, they’ll always treasure the time which their parents, especially their mother, spent with them.
Insure Proper Discipline
God commands parents to exercise proper discipline with their children. We read in Proverbs 23:13-14, “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” The twenty-fourth verse of the same chapter says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” The Bible instructs parents to discipline their children. Proverbs 19:18 commands parents to, “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.”
Every act of disobedience in a child deserves to be dealt with by a godly parent who understands the meaning of righteous, appropriate and well balanced discipline. Very seldom will one find such discipline in a government school.
Suppose for instance that my daughter attended the local school system and she stepped out of line in a science class by calling her teacher a “liar” for teaching evolution. Would my child be disciplined only for calling her teacher a liar, or would the discipline also be measured in light of the fact that my child is a Bible-believing Baptist? Would the discipline be a spanking, extra homework, writing off, or would she be expelled from school? Would the fact that she’s the daughter of James Melton, that narrow-minded preacher at Bible Baptist Church, be figured into the mix? Are you sure?
Suppose she didn’t call the teacher a liar, but she did develop a snobby and proud attitude toward the teacher. Would any discipline be exercised, or would this be passed off as a minor thing of no significance? How will my child behave at home and at church services when her attitude problem has been accepted by the school system?
You see, there is no way that a public school can exercise the same discipline as a parent. The school teacher doesn’t have the same love and dedication toward that child as the parent. There are many good school teachers, and some undoubtedly love their students and want the best for them, but this is a long way from being a parent.
It’s very true that even most parents refuse to properly discipline their children, but for those of us who do practice Biblical discipline, are we willing to allow the progress we’ve made in the home to be marred by the weak disciplinary standards that we observe in so many government schools? Remember, the command to “train up a child” was not given to a school system.
Set Great Examples
“And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.” (I Ths. 1:6-7)
If home schooling is right for one family, then it is right for many others as well, but where will such families find the needed faith and courage to step out and try it for themselves? The world is filled with people who spend their lives dreaming of what they might like to do someday, yet they never get around to taking any action. This is where so much talent and so many possibilities are just wasted.
One reason that such people never take any action is that they think they’ll be alone in their endeavor. They have no close family members or friends who have this same vision, and they’re afraid of taking the step alone. Some fear persecution, some fear failure, and others simply fear the unknown. Most of these people will never take it upon themselves to begin such an endeavor as home schooling until they see someone else taking the initiative and setting some good examples. As the Christians at Thessalonica, we need to stop waiting for others to “go first” by taking action ourselves. One should not spend his life only following the examples of others; he should learn to set a few as well.
Home schooling is a perfect opportunity for setting such an example. Take the Melton family for instance. My wife made up her mind one day that she wanted to home school our children when they grew old enough for school. Naturally, I supported her decision, so we were cautious not to get ourselves into a financial trap which required us both to work. When our first child was born, Angela quit her job at the bank, and she hasn’t returned to work since. That was eight years ago.
Neither Angela or I have a college degree, so no one can say, “One must have a degree in order to home school.” Mothers all over can now look at my wife and say, “Hey, if Angela Melton can home school, why can’t I?” She has actually had numerous opportunities to assist other ladies who have expressed interest in home schooling, but this would never have been possible if she had not taken that first step and began to home school her own children.
I also think of the example that we are setting for our children. Many parents are home schooling today simply because they were home schooled. It’s a wonderful thought to think that our decision to home school might establish a way of life for future generations of Meltons. What a blessing! What an honor!
God has given us the opportunity and ability to set some great examples for others. My, what an honor! Let us seize this opportunity and make the most of it rather than travel the easy road and do a disservice to our fellow man and our descendants.
Do Your Best
We only have one chance to train up our children the right way. We do not receive a second chance, so why not do our very best with the chance we do have?
How many parents can honestly see their child graduate from high school and say, “We gave it our all–we did our best.” Most wouldn’t make such a statement, and most who did make the statement would be lying. Private schools are generally better than government schools, and home schools are generally better than private schools, so how can any government school parent honestly say that they did their best? There may be some exceptions, but these are certainly rare exceptions. Most parents could give their children a better education and training-up, but they are not going to make the choice to do so. They will take the easy road and give their children less than the best.
Not me. My children are precious, and I intend to provide them with the best training possible. By God’s good grace, I made a brilliant choice in choosing Angela as my partner for life, so my children have a superb Christian mother. Together, we made the brilliant choice to home school our children. It’s tough at times, especially on Angela, but we intend to persevere. Lord willing, one day we will have the great honor of truly saying, “They’re in God’s hands now. We’ve done our best in preparing them for life.” I hope you, dear reader, can say the same.
Traditional Bible Schools:
Unscriptural & Unnecessary
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Copyright © 2002 James L. Melton
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I believe, based on the word of God, that God’s plan is for churches to teach his word, not colleges, institutes, or schools. God may use such alternatives to teach and train men for the ministry, since churches are failing so miserably, but this doesn’t change his original plan. The original and best plan is for the local New Testament church to teach and train its own people.
Now, that’s where I stand. I haven’t said that anyone’s school is of the devil. I said that schools are not the best plan. There is a better way.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Mat. 4:23) Here we have the New Testament’s first mention of the word “teaching.” Jesus is doing the teaching, but not in a school. He went to where the people were rather than expect the people to come to him.
Notice Matthew 11:1: “And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.”
“I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.” (Mark 14:49) Teaching in the temple? In the cities? In the synagogues? Why didn’t the Lord simplify matters and start a school?
With no permanent dwelling, Jesus traveled mile after mile, from city to city, ministering the word to hungry souls, yet never once did he even hint at the necessity of Bible schools. If anyone ever had a just cause for establishing a school, it was the Lord Jesus Christ, yet he didn’t do so. If any man ever earned the right to start a school and have students travel to him for learning, it was the Lord Jesus, yet he didn’t do it.
Well, maybe the apostles started a school. Let’s see: “And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.” (Acts 5:21) Nope, no school there.
Now, get this one: “Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” (Acts 11:25-26) Paul and Barnabas bore the burden of travel and spent a whole year teaching with one church. By modern standards, these two men were idiots. After all, why waste a whole year in one church when one can start a school and have people coming from many churches? Would that not be logical? No, to God it would be very illogical and very unscriptural.
Notice Acts 18:11: “And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Eighteen months were spent at one place teaching God’s word. No school was established or even discussed.
Some will undoubtedly argue that schools are necessary for the deeper teaching and training while the churches handle all the basics. Paul disagrees: “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house.” (Acts 20:20) Paul kept back nothing which was profitable. They learned everything they needed from the man who taught among them, so there was no need for moving off to Bible school.
In laying down the qualifications for a bishop in I Timothy chapter three, Paul says that a bishop must be “apt to teach” (vs. 2). Webster defines the word “apt” with such words as “suitable...having a tendency... inclined...ready ...qualified.” God’s will is for the church leadership to be fully capable of teaching his word and training men for the ministry.
In I Timothy 5:17, it is the elders in the church which labor in the word and in doctrine, not the professors in the schools.
Now, get this one: “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (II Tim. 2:1-2) Paul isn’t telling a college president to commit these truths to the teaching faculty. No, he’s telling a pastor to commit these truths to faithful men in the church so that others can be taught. The entire teaching process is a church ministry.
According to Hebrews 13:7, the ones who teach you the word of God are the ones who have the rule over you. Now, would that be the professor or the preacher?
Question: When the disciples suggested that Jesus send the hungry multitudes away to buy food, what did say? Did he commend them for such a wonderful idea? No, he did not. Although it seemed impossible to feed the multitudes, Jesus left the feeding duty in the hands of the disciples by saying, “ Give ye them to eat” (Mark 6:37). He didn’t send anyone anywhere!
Having laid a scriptural foundation, let’s consider some of the damage that is being done by the Bible school system.
The Church Relieved of Her Duty
There are preachers who will scream themselves silly over women who send their God-given children to daycare because it’s the mother’s duty to stay home and train up her children. Yet, every year many of the same preachers will send their own spiritual children off to some school or institute to learn the Book that God told them to teach! It’s nothing more than spiritual day care because it relieves the church of her God-given duty to teach and train her own.
Bible Schools Promote Biblical Ignorance
Not intentionally, of course, but it does happen on a wide scale. Here’s how. A church of 100 people has two hungry young men who want to study for the ministry. The pastor doesn’t want to take on the challenging task, so he sends them off to some school. Now, he can relax and teach very simple things to his church without feeling like he’s cutting anyone short. After all, the really “serious” students of scripture are at the school. So the congregation remains ignorant of the scriptures, and the preacher really doesn’t care as long as they come to church and behave themselves.
For contrast, allow me to use my own teaching method. In addition to a weekly sermon, I teach intense verse by verse studies to my church two or three hours every week, sometimes four or five hours. My thinking is that if I can learn the Bible (without a school), anyone can learn it. I accept no excuses for ignorance. In fact, I frequently give tests. I don’t seek to embarrass or intimidate anyone, but I do make it clear that every Christian should be always seeking to increase his knowledge of God’s word and its application in his life. Consequently, when I preach or teach, most of my members pay attention and take notes. If a person doesn’t learn enough at Bible Baptist Church, it’s because he doesn’t want to learn or he’s mentally handicapped - neither of which would be helped by a Bible school.
The Church Becomes Less Valuable
In Matthew 13:46 the church is likened unto a “pearl of great price.” The church is valuable to the Lord, not just because he loves her, but also because of her usefulness to him. For example, I love my wife because she’s very lovable and God gave her to me, but I also consider her to be very valuable to me because of all that she does. One thing that she does is teach (home school) our children. This makes her more valuable to me because I don’t have to send my children to an ungodly government school. Likewise, the church is more valuable to the Lord when she teaches and trains her own.
Notice the habits of the virtuous woman from Proverbs 31. Verse ten says that her “price” is far above rubies, so she’s more valuable than other women. Then verses twenty-six through twenty-nine say, “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.” That’s a good church being praised by her members and by her Lord for opening her mouth and teaching her own!
Why should any church decrease her value by relieving herself of the honor and duty of teaching and training her own?
An Unnecessary Burden
There are times when God may burden a church by calling a family to leave for a new church or ministry somewhere. This is normal and is to be expected occasionally. The church simply makes a few adjustments and carries on. But this is when God burdens the church. It is his church, and he has every right to do as he pleases. But man is never given the authority to burden churches. In fact, we are told to edify the church over and over again.
Let’s say a young man is saved at about fifteen years of age. He learns to read his Bible, pray, and witness, and by the time he is eighteen he is a very productive member of the church. He brings visitors frequently, he goes street preaching, he passes out tracts, he goes on visitation with the pastor and the other men, and his tithes help to finance the ministry. God has blessed this church, and it has a bright future with such young and zealous saints. So what does the church do? They place an unnecessary burden upon themselves by sending him off to Bible school. Less people will now visit the church, less people will participate in the various ministries of the church, and less money will be given to the church. Why? Because God’s people have been led to believe that it’s necessary to send young men to Bible schools. In many cases, this means that the church will now be run by women and unqualified men.
I have a simple question that I often ask myself in making decisions: “WHAT IS MOST NEEDFUL FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST?” That one question would empty most of the Bible schools in America if the students and parents would seriously consider it. That one question keeps me on the straight and narrow way. It keeps me from hopping on every bandwagon that rolls through, and it keeps me from running around the country trying to be someone other than who God wants me to be. The people and ministries of my home church need me more than anyone on earth, so I’ll stay right here and edify the church. Who needs you more, some Bible school or your church?
Think also of the burden placed on families. Only God knows how many men have greatly burdened their families after being bit with the Bible school bug.
Suppose a man has a decent job and a good wife who home-schools the children and guides the home. The family loves God, is in a good church, and shines as a beacon of hope to families throughout the community. Then the man gets the idea that he needs to attend Bible school. He doesn’t get this idea from the Bible, of course, but he does get the idea. So he quits his job, uproots his dear wife and children from the only life they’ve known and tears off across the country to chase his selfish dream. All of this is done in the name of “living by faith” and “following the call of God,” but the fact is that God ordained families and churches, not Bible schools.
Now, what about a man who wants to learn the Bible, but he can’t afford to relocate and pay for Bible school? Is it God’s will for this man to do without? No, it’s God’s will for the church to teach this man the Bible so his family isn’t burdened.
Bible Schools Decrease Faith in the Word of God
I’m not speaking here of apostate schools which attack the King James Bible. These schools destroy faith in the word of God. But any Bible school decreases faith in the word of God. You say, “Now, Brother Melton, that’s not true! I attend a good Bible school which teaches the King James Bible in depth and my faith in the Bible has been greatly increased, not decreased!” You’ve proven my point precisely. You are just one person, and somehow you think it’s okay for your church back home to go hungry for truth as long as you get the deeper teaching of the word. It’s okay for their faith in God’s word to decrease as long as yours increases.
God never said that learning his word was just for pastors, evangelists, and missionaries, yet this is the mentality that our churches have. The pastors and teachers in the churches are teaching the general truths to the church members while the deeper truths are reserved for Bible schools. So, if a young man gets really serious about the Bible, it is recommended that he go to school. This is unscriptural. If the pastor and teachers of the church had been teaching the whole counsel of God (like Paul) then all the members would have been exposed to all the truth on a regular basis. As the years rolled by, everyone’s faith in God’s word would have been increased and all of God’s people would have a Bible education. Special courses and studies, even special speakers, could be provided right there at the church for everyone’s benefit.
But this isn’t the case. The “real” teaching and training is left in the hands of the Bible school. This leaves the average church member to receive less teaching, which means he’ll have less faith in the word (Rom. 10:17). I receive calls and letters regularly from Christians who aren’t being taught the Bible in their church. Why aren’t they? Because their preacher believes that it’s the duty of Bible schools to teach the Bible, and 95% of the congregation agrees with him. This means that 95% of the church members will have less faith in God’s word. In fact, they will mock and ridicule the chosen few who do believe the Book and live by it. I see it all the time. This wouldn’t happen if all the Bible teaching was done in the church to all the people on a regular basis.
Increased Apostasy and Infidelity
In the presently accepted Bible school system, one professor or teacher can mislead hundreds or thousands of Christians in a short period of time. There is no pastor or father there to oversee his teaching, so the chances for apostasy and infidelity are increased. Only God knows how many young Christians ceased to be sound Bible believers after two or three years of Bible school.
However, God’s system provides some safeguards. When Christians are taught the word of God in the church, most of the students are not young and naive. In fact, many sitting in the congregation are just as learned in the scriptures as the one doing the teaching, so any false teaching is likely to be detected. Also, there are less people being taught. If a heresy is taught, at least it isn’t taught to hundreds of young men who will go out and poison hundreds of churches!
Alternatives to Bible School
If you are not learning the word of God in your present church, there are some good alternatives. One is a new church. If I were in a dead church, I’d leave. If your church isn’t teaching the Book, you can look for one that is. You may have to drive 100 miles one way and catch only Sunday services, but it’ll be worth it.
Another great avenue of learning is the vast amount of books and tapes that are available though various ministries. Start building a good library. Turn off the television and start reading and studying on a daily basis. Most of what you would learn from a Bible school can be learned by reading books and listening to tapes. The rest can be acquired by hanging out with some experienced men of God. You don’t need a Bible school.
Remember also that there are some good Bible courses available through various church ministries. You won’t have to move anywhere, and you won’t have to pay a lot of money. Just take the course and learn.
Your church could even start its own Bible school as a local ministry. This would allow your church members and other Christians in the area to take extra Bible studies without having to move anywhere. The teaching could be conducted or at least overseen by the pastor so as to keep things scriptural.
Friend, if you want to learn the Bible, God can provide a way without you having to place your trust in an unscriptural school. Schools may be a plan, but they are not the best plan, and they are not God’s ordained plan.
Dumbing Down Our Kids, p. 236.
Barton, David. America: To Pray or Not to Pray? (Aledo, TX: 76008. Wallbuilder Press, 1988), p. 3.
Dumbing Down Our Kids, pp. 29-30.
Educating for the ‘New World Order’, p. 11.
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