Florida Exodus Mandate : Christian Education for Christian Kids

THE IMPORTANCE OF REACHING PEOPLE WHEN THEY'RE YOUNG

2005-08-27T13:39:00.000-04:00

The following consists of excerpts from studies made by Geo. Barna. I think you will be as surprised as I was by many of these findings.

His web site is

www.barna.org

Dr. Robert Dreyfus

The Importance Of Reaching People When They’re Young

“Adults essentially carry out the beliefs they embraced when they were young,
The reason why Christians are so similar in their attitudes, values and
lifestyles to non-Christians is that they were not sufficiently challenged to
think and behave differently – radically differently, based on core spiritual
perspectives – when they were children. A person’s lifelong behaviors and
views are generally developed when they are young – particularly before they
reach the teenage years”. As evidence of this, Barna provided research that
showed four critical outcomes.

1. “A person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time
they reach age nine. While those foundations are refined and the
application of those foundations may shift to some extent as the individual
ages, their fundamental perspectives on truth, integrity, meaning, justice,
morality, and ethics are formed quite early in life. After their first
decade, most people simply refine their views as they age without a wholesale
change in those leanings.”

2. “A majority of Americans make a lasting determination about the
personal significance of Christ’s death and resurrection by age 12.”

3. “In most cases people’s spiritual beliefs are irrevocably formed
when they are pre-teens.”

4. “In essence, what you believe by the time you are 13 is what you
will die believing. Of course, there are many individuals who go through
life-changing experiences in which their beliefs are altered, or instances in
which a concentrated body of religious teaching changes one or more core
beliefs. However, most people’s minds are made up and they believe they know
what they need to know spiritually by age 13.”

Citing research showing that a large proportion of church-going people
dropout of church between the ages of 18 and 24. The percentage of teens
who are not only born again but also believe in the accuracy of the Bible,
personal responsibility to evangelize, believe in salvation by grace alone,
and possess orthodox biblical views on God, Jesus and Satan - have
declined from 10% in 1995 to just 4% today. This demise is attributable
to growing numbers of teenagers who accept moral relativism and pluralistic
theology as their faith foundation. Public schools use values clarification and
situational ethics beginning at a very young age to indoctrinate children.

WHY I BECAME INVOLVED WITH EXODUS MANDATE & WHY I THINK YOU SHOULD

2005-08-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

Please click on the following link to hear a personal introduction by Robert Dreyfus

2005-08-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

Dr. Robert Dreyfus
Florida Coordinator Exodus Mandate
P.O. Box 1548
Ocklawaha, FL 32183
(352) 216-1703
rdexodus@localnet.com
www.Exodusmandate.org

James Dobson & Gary Bauer in their book, Children at Risk state:
“A great Civil War of Values rages today…Two sides with vastly differing and incompatible worldviews are locked in a bitter conflict that permeates every level of society…the struggle now is for the hearts and minds…the war is not fought with bombs and bullets, but with ideas.”

The struggle is for the hearts and minds of our children. The enemy’s weapon is the public (government) schools which are the primary cause of the problems in America. Government schools have indoctrinated generations of children to believe in evolution, relativism, post-modernism, feminism, multiculturalism, socialism, mindless tolerance, sexual promiscuity, phony self-esteem, and indoctrinate children into accepting homosexuality as a normal alternate lifestyle. Schools have also lowered academic standards; teach that God is irrelevant, and that the philosophy of secular humanism holds the best hope for mankind.

Government schools, encouraged by the teacher’s unions and directed by homosexual organizations, are now indoctrinating children as young as 5 years old into accepting homosexuality as a normal alternative lifestyle. Over 3,000 government schools now have homosexual clubs.

Secular education’s intent is to sever our nation from its Christian moorings by instilling a secular worldview in children so that when they become adults serving in the courts, the government, the news media, the entertainment industry, and even in our churches a secular worldview will prevail.

In Deut 6:4-9 and in many other Scriptures, God gave the responsibility to the family that children should be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Secular Humanism has no place in our hearts, churches, homes, or classrooms. Secular schools belong to the world of the antichrist, and we to that of Christ our Lord. We have different lords, and we also need a different kind of education. Christian children are being devastated spiritually, morally and academically by a pagan ideology taught on a daily basis. Two hours of Church does not make up for thirty-five hours a week in a secular school.

A report by the Baptist Council on Family Life in 2002 stated that 88 percent of children from Christian families leave the church shortly after graduation and most never return. Ministry leaders and pastors must understand the need to return to their crucial battlefield, and guard the most vulnerable members of our communities by providing K -12 thoroughly Christian educations for children. It is simply not possible to reform the public schools. Instead we must come out of that corrupt system.

The goal of Exodus Mandate is to save children’s souls by convincing parents that Christian children should receive a truly Christian education. Christian children brought up in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord will be spiritual champions, who can be used by the Lord to save the nation.

Before I retired 70 percent of my practice was composed of children., and I noticed a pronounced difference between children. When I greeted a child attending public school, my greeting was either ignored or the reply was generally a grunt. Almost without exception children who were home schooled or who attended a truly Christian school were mannerly, articulate, knowledgeable, and pleasant to be with.

Why I became involved with Exodus Mandate, and why I think you should consider partnering with us.

Christ demands that parents provide a truly Christian education to their children. Deut 6:4 – 9

The most important issue facing the nation and the church is the devastation of our youth.

Freedom: Thomas Jefferson said, “If a person thinks a nation can be ignorant and free he expects something that never was and never will be.”

Effectiveness: I believe Exodus Mandate is the most effective organization addressing this problem.

Economic: Every child removed from public schools saves taxpayers approximately $7,000.00 a year.

Loss of students and funding will force public schools to improve.

Many Christians are pursuing diversions and leaving the most vital battle area, our children, unprotected. Nothing equals the important of the struggle for the K-12 Christian education of our children. The church must not be content to allow the liberal humanists to indoctrinate their children during the week, while they urge their members to engage in minor skirmishes on Sundays. There is a small force of Christians who understand the situation who are charging into the teeth of the enemy. Unfortunately many people remain unaware of, or are not willing to face the problem with a realistic plan that has some possibility of success.

Those who understand the absolute necessity to engage the enemy, have no choice but to take on the liberal humanist establishment, and wage a vigorous battle for the children. This is the main battle, and we are now at the decisive moment in that battle. The final battle in the cultural war will not be fought over drinking or gambling, but over who will educate this and future generations of children. Ministry leaders and pastors must guard the most vulnerable members of our families and communities.

There are many worthy ministries, but Exodus Mandate addresses the most important issue facing the church and America. You can help by supporting us. I hope you will prayerfully consider this proposal, and view it in a positive light. We are anxious to discuss this proposal with, you and are ready to provide any additional information that you may need. Thank you for considering our request.

CONTENDING FOR THIS GENERATION

2005-03-28T18:58:00.000-05:00

The following are excerpts from the article “How Will We Contend For This Generation?” by the Christian Law Association. By David C. Gibbs, Jr.

THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY

Churches have a great deal of statistical information available to demonstrate the current perilous state of America’s children. The recent census reported that there are seventy-three million young people under eighteen living in America today, with thirty-one million of them between the ages of five and twelve.

Statistically today, only 75% of those Americans who profess to be Christian attend a local church. By the year 2025 it is anticipated that only 35% of those who professes to be Christian, will be attending a local church. Why? One reason for this prediction is that the teenagers of today are setting their habits to become the unchurched of tomorrow

Today only eight percent of all American teenagers attend any church. And statistically, it can be shown that eighty percent of all beliefs are set for life between the ages of four to sixteen.

THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION

America’s public schools currently spend more than S38o billion attempting to influence what our school-age young people think and believe about life. Children fall into the hands of educators at ever earlier ages. More than half of all three- and four-year-olds are already enrolled in school. Nearly two-thirds of all five-year-olds spend their entire day in Kindergarten. How has all this early education influenced American children academically?

• Nearly one-third of all school-aged children are at least one grade behind in their
academic performance level.
• Fewer than three out often fourth graders can read at grade level
• By eighth grade, only one-third of students are reading at grade level
• Only one-fourth of eighth graders are proficient at math.
• Eighth graders rank tenth in science and twenty-first in math when compared
with students of equivalent age in twenty-five other industrialized nations.

While academic skills may he lagging behind, American children are learning something from their early entry into school. More than four out of five children under thirteen use a computer at school on a regular basis. This prepares them well academically, but can also prepare them for similar out-of-school activities regarding computer use for entertainment, not all of which may be wholesome.

THE INFLUENCE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SEX-EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Public education programs claim to play an important role in protecting children from the adverse consequences of an overly sexualized society How are they doing?

• Forty-two percent of boys and thirty-three percent of girls between fifteen and seventeen have had intercourse.
• An estimated eighteen percent of fifteen-year-old girls will have a baby before age twenty.
• Eighty-five percent of the one million teen pregnancies each year in the United States are unplanned
• One in twelve children is no longer a virgin by age thirteen.
• Nineteen million teens are infected with Sexually transmitted Diseases (STDs) every year in America, yet sixty-eight percent of teens say they are unconcerned about STDs. Compare these STD numbers with statistics from previous generations. In the 1960s, at the start of America “sexual revolution, “one out of every thirty-two students was infected with an STD. By 1983, that number had jumped to one in eighteen; and by 1996, the number was one in four “Today, there are over thirty new STDs not previously seen, and thirty percent of these new strains are incurable.

Sexually active girls are nearly three times more likely to attempt suicide than girls who are not sexually active, and sexually active buys are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than boys who are not sexually active.

• Twenty-six percent of teens think it is embarrassing to admit they are virgins.

• More and more public schools are engaged in positive programs to urge school children to accept homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle that has no moral consequences. Gay clubs are proliferating to compete with Bible clubs, and same-sex couples are going to court to gain the right to attend high school proms.

Given these statistics, what sort of sex education do our nation’s public schools engage in? There are nearly 93,300 public schools America. Of that number, only 700 use abstinence-only sex education programs. The other schools prefer “safe-sex” programs~ arguing that abstinence is unlikely for teens. But what do teens themselves think?

Despite what they are learning in school and hearing in the media, eighty-four percent of teens still instinctively know what’s right and wrong and say pregnancy-prevention programs should teach young people to be married before they have a child.

Two-thirds of US teenagers who have had sexual relations wish they had waited longer while twenty -eight percent say their personal experiences have made them more opposed to early sex.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH

Who is left in American society to tell young people the truth? Our children desperately need parents and churches to fill this role in their lives and teach them to be faithful to the Biblical message. Churches have a vested interest in the spiritual condition of our nation’s children. If the media, schools, and many parents fall down on the job, churches are the only place left where children can turn for truth. Churches have a responsibility not only to God, but also to this generation of children, to make sure they are instilled anew with the principles of Biblical truth.

Most children instinctively possess some sort of spiritual beliefs. Nine out of ten accept the existence of God and believe that every person has an eternal soul. More than four out of five want to have a close relationship with God as a cornerstone of their lives. So how are the churches doing?

What do statistics tell us about what our children believe about faith and the Bible? A survey of today’s thirteen-year-olds showed that only three percent had a Biblical worldview as the foundation of their decision making. Young people are most likely to base their decisions, including their decisions about morality and sexuality, on their feelings (37%) and on what other people expect of them (26%) rather than on the Bible as a standard of absolute truth for moral choices (8%).

The same survey showed that three-fourths of these thirteen-year olds believe the following:
• The devil does not exist - Satan is just a symbol of evil.
• A good person earns entry into heaven by doing enough good works.
• All of the sacred books from different religious traditions (the Bible,
Koran, Book of Mormon, etc.) are merely different expressions of the
same spiritual truths and principles.

Two-thirds of these thirteen-year-olds believe the following:
• Praying to deceased saints can have a positive effect on your life.
• The Bible discourages sin, but never describes it as an innate behavior

Half or more of these thirteen-year-olds also believe:
• Life either has no meaning or the meaning is realized through hard
work leading to the production of resources to enjoy comfort and security
• There are no absolute standards for morality and ethics.
• When Jesus Christ lived on earth, He committed sins.
• The Bible does not specifically condemn homosexuality.

It’s obvious that our churches have a big job ahead of them to impart a Biblical faith to the next generation of leaders in our nation, our churches, and our families. What are we doing? Studies show that less than fifteen percent of the average church ministry budget is allocated to ministries for children and youth. If it is correct that the checkbook is an accurate indicator of priorities, young people appear to be a secondary concern for many churches, despite the obvious needs of our nation’s children. Trends have long indicated that, by the time they reach the age of thirteen, most children have already set the course of the rest of their lives with regard to spirituality and faith. Capturing the minds of children is a battle the church must not lose in this generation.
The local church is this generation’s only hope. Pray that we reach this generation for Christ before it is too late!

The Most Vital Issue Facing The Church

2005-03-21T10:01:00.000-05:00

SHOULD PARENTS REMOVE THEIR CHILDREN FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
by Dr. Robert Dreyfus
352-288-6707 - robert21411@juno.com

A STANDING OFFER – I WILL DONATE $1,000.00 TO CHARITY TO ANYONE WHO CAN PROVE THAT ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE HAS ANY SIGNIFICANT INACCURACIES

Government schools can be compared to a fleet of poorly designed vehicles managed by bureaucrats not wanting to change the status quo, and maintained by those unable to significantly correct the problems due to mandates keeping them from making significant changes. After reading Charlotte Iserbyt’s 500 page book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that the disastrous state of the public school system was and is intentional. Whatever the intent, public schools are designed as a socialistic system, compulsory in its support and in the delivery of its product.

Many have worked to reform public schools using both the carrot and the stick. In spite of all efforts public schools are much worse today than they were in 1963 when the Supreme Court removed the Bible from public schools. Perhaps the greatest indictment of public schools comes from teachers themselves. Nationwide, public school teachers are twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own children. In some districts up to 53% of public school teachers have abandoned public schools. Then there is the statement from the prestigious study by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which reported in 1983: “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and as a people….If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.” Books such as:: John Stormer’s, None Dare Call It Education, Martin Gross’, The Conspiracy of Ignorance, Thomas Sowell’s, Inside American Education, William Kilpatrick’s, “Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong,” Rudolf Flesch’s, Why Johnny Can’t Read, and Mel & Norma Gabler’s, What Are They Teaching Our Children? and many others have all detailed the disaster of public education.
Most educational reformers like my self who have worked for decades trying to bring about genuine reform in public schools have concluded that all efforts to reform public education are futile. We now advise parents to remove their children from public schools.

Our most precious possession is (or should be) our children. Shouldn’t we do whatever is necessary to provide for their spiritual as well as their physical well being? Is any sacrifice too great? We warn our children not to play with fire. However, parents have been deluded by slick serving propaganda produced by the educational bureaucracy into believing that the public school their child attends is better than average, rather than a poisonous environment where their souls are destroyed? Christians fight to end abortion. Shouldn’t we also fight to save the souls of our school age children?

A study by the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life revealed: 88 percent of the children raised in evangelical homes who attend public schools leave church at the age of 18 never to return. How correct he was when Martin Luther said, “I am afraid that schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.”
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 1Ti 5:8

Christians spend much of their time, energy and money fighting abortion, promiscuity, single sex marriage, drugs etc. Most don’t realize that these evils stem from a government educational system at war with Christianity. Government schools have become a cancer that is destroying our nation and the souls of our children. If Christianity is to be preserved, Christians must strike at the source of these problems by removing their children from public schools that promote an anti-Christian worldview.

One of the first things authoritarian governments do upon gaining control is to take over the educational system in order to make people more manageable. John Dunphy laid out the spiritual battle in Humanist magazine, “The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and miseries, and the new faith of Humanism,...will finally be achieved." Government schools are the engine of social change which have transformed America from a Christian to a pagan nation.
Samuel L. Blumenfeld is a Messianic Jew, author of four books on education, and a syndicated columnist. Here are excerpts from his article, Have Public Schools Become a Criminal Enterprise?

“There is no doubt that American educators are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to dumb-down the American people. Charlotte Iserbyt in her definitive book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, has documented the process so thoroughly that there can be no doubt about the intentions of our educators and the fact that the conspiracy is being financed by the richest liberal foundations and the federal government. John Taylor Gatto, in his book, The “Underground History of American Education, describes how the conspiracy operates in the schools. He spent 30 years teaching in public schools and knows intimately how the system works.
Our educators have also become legal drug pushers, forcing six million children to take mind altering drugs in order to become more malleable for a criminally conceived curriculum. The use of the whole-word method, known as Whole Language, deliberately creates reading disability and the condition called dyslexia. Children know that something terrible is being done to them, but they don’t know how it is being done. And so they become angry and frustrated and their behavior reflects their hatred of the school.
So now the educators have a perfectly plausible reason for drugging the kids. Most parents prefer to believe a credible lie-that there is something wrong with Johnny-than an incredible truth-that their child is the victim of deliberate educational malpractice…..the deliberate dumbing down process makes them feel dumb, inadequate, and disabled. And they are told that they were born that way and must learn to live with their artificially induced disability.
All of this could have been avoided had the child been taught to read with intensive, systematic phonics. But that is why the educators don’t teach intensive, systematic phonics. They want to create disabled children who will be put on drugs and in expensive special education classes.”

Children in public schools are at risk in 4 ways: Academically, Spiritually, Morally, and Physically.
The academic risk: The children become intellectually crippled by the teaching methods and relegated to a life far below his or her original potential. Close to 50% of graduates are functionally illiterate, and of those that go to college in Florida up to 70% have to take remedial courses before they can begin taking college level courses. In contrast the literacy rate in America was 98% prior to public schools. America spends more per capita on education than almost any nation in the world, yet American children are dead last in academic achievement as compared to other industrialized countries. The answer is not more money. The educational bureaucracy uses its failure as a means of extorting more money. Interestingly enough states that spend the least amount of money on government schools have the highest SAT scores, and many states spending the most have the lowest SAT scores! Should we continue to reward poor performance?
The spiritual risk: Christianity has been expunged from schools and the value system of the religion of Secular Humanism installed in its place.. They use revisionist history and mythological evolutionary biology to demean Christian values. The teaching of Biblical Creation and Intelligent Design is no longer permitted, whereas the mythological theory of Darwinian evolution is taught as fact. Children are taught that they are the descendants of monkeys, and then we are surprised when they act like animals. C. S. Lewis wrote, “In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”
The moral risk: Government schools have installed sex education courses which have increased sexual activity among children, and are now encouraging homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. The spread of STD’s and pregnancy among children has reached an all time high. They have indoctrinated our youth into the belief that there are no absolutes by teaching values clarification and situational ethics. That experimentation with drugs is a matter of private decision making, and that the child’s decisions should not be thwarted by parents’ old-fashioned moral values based on superstitious religion.
The physical risk: Nationwide, there were approximately 1,466,000 violent incidents that occurred in public schools in the1999-2000 school year, and lets not forget Columbine! Six million children are now taking Ritalin and other psychotropic drugs. A recent study by the U.S. Education Department showed that 4.5 million students were victims of sexual misconduct by teachers in the past decade.

Consequentially millions of children in government schools are condemned to lead lives as intellectual cripples, stunted in mental growth, spiritually empty, and open to vicious temptations without a moral code to protect them. Remember the Biblical admonition: Therefore from their fruits ye shall know them. Mt 7:20

Public schools have become totally impervious to rational reform. The only sensible thing that parents can do is remove their children from these schools and put them in Christian schools or teach them at home. The time has come for us to recognize that in spite of our best efforts, the government ‘edukayshun’ system has become so corrupt that any expectation of change for the better is hopeless. Preventing meaningful reform are secularists, the media, teacher’s unions, textbook publishers, schools of education, and local state and federal education bureaucracies. They all stand shoulder to shoulder as federal courts protect their monopoly control.

Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and numerous others have pointed out that during the last half of the 20th century public schools were transformed from agents of education to agents of social change. The roots of this development go back to the early decades of the century, when the philosophy of John Dewey began to shape the teacher colleges. Dewey, a militant atheist and humanist philosopher, and proponents of atheistic socialism, believed schools should be the engine for liberating children from the religious convictions of their parents and converting them into Secular Humanists.
Focus on the Family president James Dobson said, “A tidal wave of postmodern philosophy is overwhelming students and teachers, The leading edge of this wave is advocacy of homosexuality.” Noting one extreme example, Dobson quoted an article in which Bob Chase, head of the National Education Association said, “acceptance of homosexuality should be the goal for educators.” In April of 2002, James Dobson urged California parents to abandon the state’s government school system. Dobson stated: “In the state of California, if I had a child there, I wouldn’t put the youngster in a public school….I think it’s time to get our kids out.”
Charles Moore of Christian Century writes, “Children in public schools are under an influence with which the churches cannot compete and which they cannot counteract. The public school presents the church with a generation of youth whose minds have been cast in a secular mold.”

In an editorial in Christianity Today Rod Paige, President Bush's secretary of education, was quoted as saying that “8,600 of the 92,000 public schools nationwide have failed to meet state academic standards for the last two years.” Paige also called the National Education Association ‘a terrorist organization!’

Christ’s church must inform parents of the situation in government schools, and the Biblical mandate that they are responsible for providing a Christian education for their children. Many parents think the church can overcome the indoctrination children receive in government schools. But statistics show that one hour of church is no match for 30 hours/week in a government school that indoctrinates children with the religion of Secular Humanism.

If parents removed a significant percentage of their children from public schools, it would result in:
· Saving a remnant of children who can be used by Christ to help reclaim America.
· Creating an incentive for churches and the free market to provide alternative schools.
· Savings taxpayers money. For every student that would not have to be educated in public schools taxpayers save approximately $6,857.00./year.

· Providing competition. All objective studies have shown that more money, decreasing class size, building new schools, hiring more teachers has little or no effect on academic achievement. The only thing that has shown to force improvement in government schools is competition; the fear of losing students. Regardless of whether competition is provided by home schools, Christian schools, parochial schools, private schools or vouchers, all bring pressure upon public schools to improve. However, understand that government schools even with competition would remain by law secular, anti-Christian establishments.

Today, Christians find themselves in a similar situation to that which Catholics faced at the turn of the century. Catholics viewed public schools as militantly Christian; but a Protestant Christianity pervaded, and the Catholic bishops wanted Catholic children brought up in their own faith. Consequently the Baltimore Conference of Catholic Bishops of 1884 mandated the parochial school system, and did that which was necessary to establish parochial schools. At the very least Protestant Churches must begin to make parents aware of the dangers of placing their children in government schools, and help them provide a Christian education for their children.

Secularists make no secret of their intent. The militant message of the award-winning essay of the American Humanist Association in 1983 was, “The battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith.”

More and more Americans are becoming aware that the expulsion of Christianity and ethical instruction from public schools has gone hand in hand with a decline in academic achievement and a collapse in public morality. What is at stake in this conflict is the very foundation of Western Civilization.
There is no more important battle shaping up in America than for the hearts and minds of children. Whether this generation will be Christian, or atheist, whether its code of morality and ethics will be based on Judeo Christian beliefs or in the secular nostrums of the moment, will be determined by where the children are educated.. Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”

Someone’s values, someone’s beliefs, someone’s concept of morality, will be transmitted during the education of the child. The only question is whose? All forms of secularism are destined to fail. However, if Secular Humanism continues to reign in government schools, we had better begin building new prisons. External force is the only line of defense left, when the internal constraints of an informed conscience and religious belief are lost. However, secularists will not easily surrender their control of the schools which they use for the propagation of their faith.
Someone said, a sign of insanity is to continue to do that which you have been doing, and expect different results! If Christians continue to put their time, energy and money into attempting to improve public schools, they will find that their efforts only produce empty churches, empty lives and a devastated nation.

Nowhere in Scripture does it say that children are to be educated in a secular school. On the contrary, Scripture gives the responsibility to parents to provide their children with a Godly education.* Many Christian parents have unknowingly placed their children in public schools thinking that they were doing the right thing without realizing how corrosive an environment government schools have become. It’s a sin to knowingly place a child in a godless institution whose goal is to destroy the child’s Christian faith and instill the religion of Secular Humanism.

Christ and history will judge us by our action or inaction. What will it profit us if we lose our children? Tragically the silence of the Church on this issue has been deafening. Are we more worried about pragmatic concerns than with spiritual concerns? Are Christians, parents, and pastors willing to sacrifice children to anti-Christian public schools rather than take the more difficult stand on principle? God forbid. Be aware of the frightful warning in Mt.18:6 " and whoever may cause to stumble one of those little ones who are believing in me, it is better for him that a weighty millstone may be hanged upon his neck, and he may be sunk in the depth of the sea.
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
*Command to parents Dt.6:1-7, Eph.6:4
Command to provide godly education Mt.28:18-20; 2Cor.10:5; Rom.12:2; Joh.17:17; Pr.1:7; Lk.11:23; Pr.22:6; Ps.78:5
For more information: www.exodusmandate.com, http://mwhodges.home.att.net/education.htm, www.getthechildrenout.com

One Room Schoolhouse

2005-03-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE TO GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

By Dr. Bruce Shortt

Note from Dr. Robert Dreyfus - This article by Dr. Bruce Shortt describes how any church no matter how small can provide a Christian Education to children.

“The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth. It is the one business for which the earth exists. To it all politics, all war, all literature, all money-making, ought to be subordinated; and every parent especially ought to feel every hour of the day, that, next to making his own calling and election sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by God – this is his task on earth.”
Robert Louis Dabney

From the establishment of the first American colonies until well into the 19th Century, education in America was overwhelmingly Christian and provided primarily through a collaboration between parents and churches. In fact, in 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville observed that education in America was almost everywhere in the hands of Protestant clergy.

Today, our “government school habit” is the single greatest threat to the future of Christianity in America. Between 80% and 90% of the children of Christian families attend government schools, and of those children roughly 70% will no longer attend church within two years after graduation from high school. Moreover, children who attend government schools are far more likely to embrace moral relativism and adopt a non-Christian worldview. Christians need to understand that, whatever else they may be, government schools are effectively evangelical institutions for secularism and various forms of “New Age” theologies.

Christian parents and churches are becoming increasingly aware of the harm inflicted on children by government schooling. Paradoxically, many Christian parents would like to remove their children from government schools, but don’t. Similarly, many churches would like to offer an alternative to government schools, but don’t. Why?

The “Box”

Despite their misgivings, many Christian parents leave their children in government schools because the available Christian schools are prohibitively costly or because there is no Christian school in their area. Others do not homeschool because they lack confidence in their ability to homeschool or because both parents work or there is only one parent in the family.

Churches, on the other hand, and particularly small to medium sized churches, are reluctant to provide educational alternatives to government schools because of the capital commitments, operating expenses, and marketing and management efforts required. Against this background, the reluctance of most churches to provide schools for their members’ children and children in the community is not only understandable, it is entirely rational. But what if education and the dominant model of schooling are not inextricably linked?

Climbing Out of the “Box”

Unnoticed assumptions tend to govern our behavior in exceptionally powerful ways; they derive their power from the very fact that we are unconscious of them. With respect to education, one of the most pernicious unnoticed assumptions is the ingrained belief that the education of children takes place primarily in a “school” and that a proper “school” looks and operates like a government school. Consequently, when Christians set out to create a Christian school, they reflexively believe that they need to create an institution that has “classes”, a faculty, administrators, counselors, special facilities, and a host of other things that are features of government schools as they exist today.

These assumptions about schools and education are the primary reason most churches do not provide schools. Why? Because this conception of schooling and education carries with it heavy fixed costs, a burdensome administrative apparatus, and a requirement for significant scale to spread fixed costs. These characteristics of our assumed model of education and schools make launching a school a very risky undertaking for a church, particularly in light of the fact that every private school must make its way in the face of competition from government schools that are “free.”

The Christian One Room Schoolhouse provides churches and parents a way to climb out of the “box” by enabling any church to create a spiritually, morally, and academically superior alternative to government schools. At the same time, the Christian One Room Schoolhouse is inexpensive for parents, addresses the need of some parents for supervision of their children during weekdays, and does not impose on churches the heavy fixed costs and other burdens that normally accompany creating and operating a conventional Christian school.

What is Christian One Room Schoolhouse
and How does it Differ from a Conventional Christian School?
By Bruce Shortt

The Christian One Room Schoolhouse is a hybrid that combines characteristics of homeschooling, homeschool cooperatives, and conventional Christian schools. Moreover, the Christian One Room Schoolhouse model can be used to turn virtually any church into a “school.” Perhaps the best way to describe the Christian One Room Schoolhouse is to say that it combines the flexibility and power of homeschooling with the institutional sponsorship of a church. In a Christian One Room Schoolhouse the students are homeschoolers and use a homeschool curriculum selected by the sponsoring church. During weekdays the Christian One Room Schoolhouse students meet at their sponsoring church under the supervision of one or more “coaches” provided through the church. While at church, older children would spend most of their time working on assignments and projects from their lesson plans. Younger children would spend most of their time in structured play, being read to, and watching instructional videos. Once a child has completed his school work, he would be free to play, read, pursue musical interests, or any other constructive activity agreed upon by his parents and the sponsoring church. In the evenings and on weekends parents would work with their children to provide them with individualized instruction, review their progress, and set learning goals.

From the standpoint of parents and students, a Christian One Room Schoolhouse differs from a traditional Christian school in several ways. First, the Christian One Room Schoolhouse relies on the homeschooling educational model - a self-paced tutorial form of instruction in which parents and students share in the responsibility for the students’ education. Second, attending a Christian One Room Schoolhouse will be significantly less expensive to attend than a conventional Christian school, perhaps costing as little as the homeschool curriculum adopted by the Christian One Room Schoolhouse. Finally, a Christian One Room Schoolhouse, like a traditional one room schoolhouse, will provide a more intimate learning environment in which children interact in small groups and are not strictly segregated by age.

From the perspective of a typical church, sponsoring a Christian One Room Schoolhouse has several advantages over attempting to create and maintain a conventional Christian school. Conventional Christian schools follow the government school “institutional schooling” model. Consequently, there is a substantial investment in “bricks and mortar,” students are segregated by age in classes, a teaching faculty must be hired and maintained, certain levels of enrollment must be maintained to spread fixed costs, and a significant administrative apparatus is required to manage the plant, employees, finances, and student recruiting efforts of the school. For a church, this represents a substantial commitment of time and energy, creates a high level of fixed costs, and forces upon the church both financial and institutional risks. Most churches in the United States are relatively small and either do not have the resources to establish and maintain a traditional Christian school or are unwilling to assume the risk of such a project.

Unlike a traditional Christian school, a Christian One Room Schoolhouse has few fixed costs. There is no faculty, no additional “bricks and mortar,” and very few administrative costs. The lack of burdensome fixed costs permits a Christian One Room Schoolhouse to be small. In fact, each Christian One Room Schoolhouse should probably not exceed twenty-five to thirty students. Of course, because the Christian One Room Schoolhouse’s costs are primarily variable costs, a Christian One Room Schoolhouse can function quite well with only a few students.

How is a Christian One Room Schoolhouse Created
and Who Contributes What?

Parents and a sponsoring church create a Christian One Room Schoolhouse. The sponsoring church provides the space for the Christian One Room Schoolhouse (typically in its Sunday school facilities), at least one television and VCR, at least one “Pentium” type computer, a computer printer, a dial-up internet connection, and one or more “coaches.” The items of hardware do not need to be either new or the latest models. Often members of congregations have items like these that can be donated, so under almost any scenario the cost of the hardware items should be less than $1,000. Additional non-capital costs would include supplemental insurance, modestly increased utility expenses, and additional dial-up internet connection expenses. Given the small size of a Christian One Room Schoolhouse, these expenses should not be large.

The Christian One Room Schoolhouse coach or coaches would be drawn from members of the church and their participation would be a ministry, not a “job.” Parents would be responsible for the cost of the homeschool curriculum, transportation to and from the Christian One Room Schoolhouse, providing their children with a nutritious sack lunch, and school supplies. In addition, each parent would be expected to provide some agreed upon service to the Christian One Room Schoolhouse (e.g. coaching in an area of special expertise, maintenance work, etc.) and form or join a homeschool support group related to the Christian One Room Schoolhouse.

Whether a church fully absorbs the small capital costs and additional operating expenses incurred by sponsoring a Christian One Room Schoolhouse, whether financial assistance is provided to very low income students, and other details of the structure and functioning of any particular Christian One Room Schoolhouse are questions for the sponsoring church and parents.

What is the Role of a Coach?

“Coaches” in a Christian One Room Schoolhouse will primarily do two things. First, they will assist with keeping the students safe and on task. With respect to the youngest students, a coach will primarily engage in structured play with the children, read aloud to them, and organize and supervise other learning activities (e.g. watching or listening to educational materials).With respect to older students, a coach will monitor group activities and, if able, field on an individual basis some questions relating to subject matter. It is not expected, however, that a coach will function as a “teacher” in a conventional sense with respect to older students, except in instances where a parent or a member of a homeschool support group with a special expertise serves as an academic coach (e.g. as when a parent who is fluent in Spanish provides instruction and conversational practice in Spanish).

What about Extracurricular Activities?

Like homeschool students generally, Christian One Room Schoolhouse students are able to participate in homeschool choirs, orchestras, sports leagues, debate teams, and other activities sponsored by local homeschool support groups, churches, and other organizations.

The Christian One Room Schoolhouse
is a Superior Alternative to Government Schools

The Christian One Room Schoolhouse is designed to permit any church to sponsor an educational alternative to government schools that: (a) is affordable for nearly all families, (b) does not unduly burden the church, (c) allows the integration Christianity and a superior academic education, (d) accommodates many levels of ability, and (e) draws parents, students, and the church closer together through a common educational enterprise. Unlike other alternatives to government schools, the Christian One Room Schoolhouse is not limited by geography or by considerations of the economics of scale. By being a low cost alternative, more parents will find a Christian One Room Schoolhouse economically within their means than a conventional Christian school. To the extent that families cannot afford the full cost of a Christian One Room Schoolhouse, the low cost of a Christian One Room Schoolhouse makes it far easier for sponsoring churches and other organizations to provide meaningful scholarship aid. Because a Christian One Room Schoolhouse is independent of the government and does not require special facilities, a Christian One Room Schoolhouse can become operational in very little time.

Despite their benign image, government schools are destroying our children spiritually, morally, and academically. This is happening precisely because we have been neglecting our duty as Christians to ensure that our children receive a Christian education. Although the Christian One Room Schoolhouse is far from the only alternative to government schooling, it can be an important element in any strategy to rescue children from the spiritual, moral, and academic wastelands of government schools. Allowing our children to be educated in government schools is gross sin. A fresh obedience to God is required; we must begin turning our hearts toward our children.

What Would You Call An Institution ?

2005-03-21T09:49:00.000-05:00

WHAT WOULD YOU CALL AN INSTITUTION
By Dr. Robert Dreyfus

That deliberately dumbs down children

Academically among industrialized nations America is nearly dead last. .Approximately 40% of graduates are functionally illiterate, and of those who go to college approximately 42% have to take remedial courses.

That indoctrinates children into accepting homosexuality as a normal alternative lifestyle.

Bob Chase, head of the National Education Association said In April of 2002,

“Acceptance of homosexuality should be the goal for educators.”

That drugs children to make them easier to handle:

6 million children are being given Ritalin or other psychotropic drugs.

That destroys children’s Christian belief

88 percent of children from Christian homes who attend public schools leave the church shortly after graduation and many never return.
That increases children’s sexual behavior
Sex-ed has resulted in a 500% increase in pregnancy to unmarried girls 15 – 10 years old since 1968.

That sexualy molests children

A recent study by the U.S. Education Department showed that 4.5 million students were victims of sexual misconduct by teachers in the past decade.

That leads to increased illegal drug use by children.

A study in Illinois showed that Dare and Quest lead to increased drug use. Since 1965 illegal drug use among youth is up 6,000 percent.

That places children in physical danger

Nationwide, there were approximately 1,466,000 violent incidents that occurred in public schools in the1999-2000 school year

That teaches children there are no absolutes

Values clarification and situational ethics are presented in many various ways.
That promotes New Age philosophy
Meditation, Buddhism, and other eastern religions are promoted.

That indoctrinates children with the philosophy of socialism

Globalism, environmentalism, revisionist history are all used to indoctrinate children to believe in socialism and other collectivist philosophies.

That indoctrinates children with the religion of Secular Humanism

I don’t know what you would call such an institution, but I would call it EVIL. The institution I’m referring to, in case you haven’t figured it out, is the public (government) school system.
Government schools devastate children morally, spiritually, and academically. Remove your children from government schools and either homeschool them or place them in a thoroughly Christian school.

Communist Goals Being Met in America

2005-03-19T12:44:00.000-05:00

Communist Goals Being Met in America

Nearly every one of the Communist Goals has been accomplished. The ones relating to elementary and secondary education are: Goals 17, 24, 25, 26, 28, 31, 32, 40, and 41.

1963 Communist Goals

The following was entered into the Congressional record by Albert Herlong, Jr. (a Floridian who served in Congress from 1949-69) in 1963.

1) US acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war
2) US willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war
3) Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the US would be a demonstration of "moral strength"
4) Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5) Extension of long term loans to Russia and Soviet Satellites
6) Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination
7) Grant recognition of Red China, and admission of Red China to the UN.
8) Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the Germany question by free elections under supervision of the UN
9) Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the US has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress
10) Allow all Soviet Satellites individual representation in the UN
11) Promote the UN as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the UN as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo)
12) Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party
13) Do away with loyalty oaths
14) Continue giving Russia access to the US Patent Office
15) Capture one or both of the political parties in the US
16) Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions, by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism, and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers associations. Put the party line in text books.

18) Gain control of all student newspapers
19) Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20) Infiltrate the press. Get control of book review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.
21) Gain control of key positions in radio, TV & motion pictures.
22) Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all form of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings", substitute shapeless, awkward, and meaningless forms.
23) Control art critics and directors of art museums. " Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art".

24) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography, and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.
26) Present Homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as "normal, natural, and healthy".

27) Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a "religious crutch"

28) Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state"

29) Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30) Discredit the American founding fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man".

31) Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of "the big picture:" Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32) Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture - - education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33) Eliminate all laws or procedures, which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34) Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35) Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI
36) Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37) Infiltrate and gain control of big business
38) Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat.
39) Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40) Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41) Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42) Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special interest groups should rise up and make a "united force" to solve economic, political, or social problems.
43) Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44) Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45) Repeal the Connally Reservation so the US can not prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

AND YOU WERE TAUGHT THERE WERE NO CONSPIRACIES!

The Harsh Truth About Public Schools

2005-03-19T12:39:00.000-05:00

Reviews of Bruce Shortt’s book, “The Harsh Truth About Public Schools. I have copies available at a discount if you would be interested in purchasing the book. Robert Dreyfus Robert21411@juno.com

Avg. Customer Review:

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Our church purchased extra copies..., March 9, 2005
Reviewer: Bob Enyart "KGOV.com" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

We think Bruce Shortt's expose of what's happening in America's public schools is so crucial, we purchase multiple copies for our church library in hopes that it will convince more families to homeschool. We loved the book!
-Pastor Bob Enyart, Denver Bible Church

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Truth Over Agenda, January 27, 2005
Reviewer: Pat Marcum (TN) - See all my reviews

Sometimes the truth is harsh, but it needs to be said. That is exactly what Bruce Shortt has done in his new book. His conclusions are supported by both hard facts and credible research. Those questioning the importance of resolving the educational issues discussed in this book often attempt to dismiss the facts in favor of advancing various social agendas, thereby sacrificing the truly significant questions of life on the altar of tolerance. This book exposes the great gulf between truth and tolerance, and provides practical solutions for change.

No Christian Child Left Behind, January 25, 2005
Reviewer: Elizabeth Watkins "Director of Southern Baptist Church & Home Education Assn." (Allen, Texas) - See all my reviews

Twenty-five years ago, the Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence began over an educational issue. Two brave and godly men, Judge Paul Pressler and Dr. Paige Patterson were the true heroes, which led the charge to return us to biblical orthodoxy.

Pressler said he decided to take action when he discovered the kind of teaching various Christian young people with whom he had worked were receiving at Baylor University.
"They [the students] called me to come and see what their textbooks were saying, what they were being taught at Baylor so that they could know what was right and what was wrong," he said. "The books were just liberal garbage. We worked it through with these young people ... to try and keep them from going down the tubes. Driving back from Waco that night after looking at those textbooks, I promised myself that I wasn't going to sit back anymore, that something had to be done. I called Paige Patterson the next day and that's where it all [began]." - Judge Paul Pressler, Pressler: Conservative resurgence was grassroots movement, Baptist Press, Mar 30, 2004 By Jeff Robinson

"In the final analysis, we did not attempt a reformation movement because we thought it would succeed, but because we sincerely believed we were right about the inerrancy of the Bible, and because we did not want to tell our children and grandchildren that we had no courage to stand for our convictions." - Dr. Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, "Anatomy of a Reformation: The Southern Baptist Convention, 1978-2004"

Pressler, however, credits concerned laypeople with effecting deep changes that ultimately righted the denomination. "The heroes of the conservative movement are not those whose names were in the press. They were the grassroots people who loved the Lord and loved the convention and loved God's Word and wanted to make sure that Southern Baptists returned to what [the Bible] teaches."

Twenty-five years later, a new reformation has begun, again by concerned laypeople, who love the Lord, love the convention, but most importantly, love God's Word enough to solidly construct the education of our children around it. By endorsing Dr. Shortt's book, The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, Pressler and Patterson have passed the "Southern Baptist Baton of Courage and Truth" down to Bruce N. Shortt, Ph. D. and T. C. Pinckney, Brig. General, retired, and 2nd Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention. These two men, our generation's true heroes, were the co-authors of the Christian Education Resolution, historically rejected by the messengers of the 2004 Southern Baptist Annual Convention. General Pinckney's courage in 2001, as he warned the Southern Baptist Executive Committee that we were losing our children, was the inspiration for our ministry. Dr. Shortt's solid and extensive research, proving The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, provides the sound Biblical foundation for our mission. The title is appropriate, because the book made me angry, sad, and physically ill, but empowered! It will NOT tickle your ears, but my Bible says the Truth was never meant to. I know it's true, from our family's personal experience with government education.

Parents: I'm pleading with you to read it. We are praying for "no Christian Child Left Behind!"

Pastors: As shepherds, is it not your role to tend the flock? For the children's sake, please read Dr. Shortt's book. Our children are dying spiritually, emotionally, and physically. If you are a homeschooling father and pastor, we are praying for you. We know there are many of you being persecuted for being obedient. Like Pressler, Patterson, Pinckney and Shortt, you will always be able to look your children in the eye, and say you had the courage to stand for your convictions.

Biblical Principles on Educating Children

2005-03-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

Consider these biblical principles on educating young children.

1. The education of young children is the primary responsibility of parents. Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-21; Psalms 78:1-7; 127:3; Proverbs 22:6; Malachi 2:13-16; Ephesians 6:4.

2. The education of young children is a 24 hour-a-day, seven-day-per-week process that continues from birth until maturity. Deuteronomy 6:7; 11:19; Proverbs 22:6.

3. The education of young children must have as its primary goals the salvation of and discipleship of the next generation. Psalm 78:6-7; Matthew 28:19-20.

4. The education of young children must be based on God's Word as absolute truth. Matthew 2 4:35; Psalm 119.

5. The education of young children must hold Christ as preeminent in all of life. Colossians 2:3, 6-10.

6. The education of young children must not hinder the spiritual and moral development of the next generation. Matthew 18:6; 19:13-14; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17.

7. The education of young children, if and when delegated to others by parents, must be done so with utmost care to ensure that all teachers follow these principles. Exodus 18:21; 1 Samuel 1:27-28; 3:1-10

8. The education of young children results in the formation of a belief system or worldview that will be patterned after the belief systems or worldviews of the child's teachers. Luke 6:40. [BP]

Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-21;
Psalms 78:1-7; 127:3;
Proverbs 22:6;
Malachi 2:13-16;
Ephesians 6:4.
Deuteronomy 6:7; 11:19;
Proverbs 22:6.
Psalm 78:6-7;
Matthew 28:19-20
Matthew 2 4:35;
Psalm 119.
Colossians 2:3, 6-10.
Matthew 18:6; 19:13-14;
Mark 10:13-16;
Luke 18:15-17.
Exodus 18:21; 1
Samuel 1:27-28; 3:1-10
Luke 6:40.
Proverbs 2:1-11
2 Timothy 3:16

Martin Luther on Education

2005-03-19T12:34:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther on Education

Luther wrote:
“There is nothing which will more surely earn hell for a man than the improper training of his children; and parents can perform no more damaging bit of work than to neglect their offspring, to let them curse, swear, learn indecent words and songs, and permit them to live as they please. ... it is highly necessary that every married person regard the soul of his child with greater concern than the flesh which has come from him, that he consider the child nothing less than a precious, eternal treasure, entrusted to his protection by God so that the devil, the world, and the flesh do not steal and destroy it. For the child will be required from the parent on Judgment Day in a very strict reckoning. [p. 263]

Regarding appropriate schools and universities, Luther wrote:

“Where the Holy Scriptures do not rule, there I advise no one to send his son. Everyone not unceasingly busy with the Word of God must become corrupt; that is why the people who are in the universities and who are trained there are the kind of people they are. ... I greatly fear that the universities are wide gates of hell if they do not diligently teach the Holy Scriptures and impress them on youth.” [p. 307]

Results of Barna Survey

2005-03-19T12:32:00.000-05:00

The following consists of excerpts from studies made by Geo. Barna. His web site is www.barna.org I think you will be as surprised as I was by many of these findings. Dr. Robert Dreyfus

The Importance Of Reaching People When They’re Young

George Barna, whose company has been conducting research for more than twenty years, commented, “Recent studies we have conducted show that the beliefs a person holds at age 13 vary little during their adult years. The most effective way to influence such beliefs is by teaching people when they are young and still in a spiritually formative stage.”
“Adults essentially carry out the beliefs they embraced when they were young, The reason why Christians are so similar in their attitudes, values and lifestyles to non-Christians is that they were not sufficiently challenged to think and behave differently – radically differently, based on core spiritual perspectives – when they were children. A person’s lifelong behaviors and views are generally developed when they are young – particularly before they reach the teenage years”. As evidence of this, Barna provided research that showed four critical outcomes.
1. “A person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time they reach age nine. While those foundations are refined and the application of those foundations may shift to some extent as the individual ages, their fundamental perspectives on truth, integrity, meaning, justice, morality, and ethics are formed quite early in life. After their first decade, most people simply refine their views as they age without a wholesale change in those leanings.”
2. “A majority of Americans make a lasting determination about the personal significance of Christ’s death and resurrection by age 12.”
3. “In most cases people’s spiritual beliefs are irrevocably formed when they are pre-teens.”
4. “In essence, what you believe by the time you are 13 is what you will die believing. Of course, there are many individuals who go through life-changing experiences in which their beliefs are altered, or instances in which a concentrated body of religious teaching changes one or more core beliefs. However, most people’s minds are made up and they believe they know what they need to know spiritually by age 13.”
Citing research showing that a large proportion of church-going people dropout of church between the ages of 18 and 24. The percentage of teens who are not only born again but also believe in the accuracy of the Bible, personal responsibility to evangelize, believe in salvation by grace alone, and possess orthodox biblical views on God, Jesus and Satan - have declined from 10% in 1995 to just 4% today. This demise is attributable to growing numbers of teenagers who accept moral relativism and pluralistic theology as their faith foundation. Public schools use values clarification and situational ethics beginning at a very young age to indoctrinate children.

Startling Facts

2005-03-19T12:30:00.000-05:00

A 1994 study by the federal government concluded there is no evidence that DARE reduces drug use even though $750,000,000 per year was spent on the program. One important study showed that students in Illinois who took DARE had higher levels of drug use, violence, and negative attitudes toward police than students who had not. Quest, a values clarification curriculum that has also been widely used in drug education programs in government schools, has shown similar results. One Quest researcher, Liz Reyer found that the Quest students showed increases in use and more relaxed attitudes toward use when compared to control group participants.

Contrast that with the situation we face today in America. Although we spend more per student on education in America than any other industrialized nation we’re nearly dead last in every area of academic achievement. If money were the cause of the problems in education we wouldn’t have a problem. From 1970 to 2000, per pupil expenditures in government schools practically doubled when adjusted for inflation.

Not only are nearly half our students graduating unable to read their diplomas, many of our teachers are woefully unprepared. A recent investigation here in Florida found that fully a third of teachers failed their certification tests. There were some teachers who failed the tests more than 40 times. Some were never able to pass, and received a waiver that awarded them certification anyway.

A study by the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life revealed: 88 percent of children raised in evangelical homes who attend public schools leave church at the age of 18 never to return.

One of the most prestigious studies ever performed was that done by The National Commission on Education. Their report stated, “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and as a people….If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.”

Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance of education when he said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that never was and will never be.”

Perhaps the greatest indictment of public schools comes from teachers themselves. Nationwide, public school teachers are twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own children. In some districts up to 53% of public school teachers have abandoned public schools.

Christians spend much of their time, energy and money fighting abortion, promiscuity, single sex marriage, drugs etc. Most don’t realize that these evils stem from a government educational system at war with Christianity. Government schools have become a cancer that is destroying our nation and our children’s souls.

, we regularly send our children to sit in that scoffers seat for six hours a day, five days a week, four weeks a month, nine months a year, for twelve years. We then are amazed when our grown children become scoffers themselves and leave the faith

The only thing that has shown to force improvement in government schools is competition; the fear of losing students. Regardless of whether competition is provided by home schools, Christian schools, parochial schools, private schools or vouchers, all bring pressure upon public schools to improve. However, understand that government schools even with competition would remain by law secular, anti-Christian establishments.

To All Christians

2005-03-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

AN APPEAL TO ALL CHRISTIANS

As a Christian with a Biblical worldview I have fought for those things that I believed would extend the Kingdom both in the political and legislative arena for over 40 years, but the tide of battle is still going against us. An excellent example of this is that pro-life activists have demonstrated by word and by deed that they are committed to upholding the word of God. Nevertheless, the number of abortions has not changed significantly over the last two decades.

Fighting for the good frequently crowds out fighting for the best, and I could give many examples of this. I’ve come to the realization that the reason my efforts, as well as that of many Christians has been ineffective is that we’ve been largely hacking at the branches rather than at the root of the problem that’s producing the evils in our nation. The institution producing most of the problems in America is the public (government) school system. Public schools have indoctrinated generations of children to believe in secular humanism and socialism.

Now these secular humanists are serving in our courts, our legislatures, the news media, the entertainment industry and even in our churches. Unfortunately the church has largely ignored the detrimental effects which public schools have upon children, or have spent time and energy in the hopeless task of trying to improve government schools. A. Hodge, of Princeton Theological Seminary said in 1887:

"I am 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 engine for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, social and political, which this sin rent world has ever seen."

Consequently, I’ve decided to spend all my time, energy, and money in educating and encouraging Christians to remove their children from public schools. I believe children should be home schooled or Christian schooled based upon the following:

1. Abortion is monstrous. However, an aborted child is held blameless, and is a partaker of God’s grace. He is not subjected to a school system that may take his salvation from him.

2. It is the responsibility of the parent to "train-up" the child. Pr 22:6, Deut 6:4-9. Martin Luther stated, "There is nothing which will more surely earn hell for a man than the improper training of his children; and parents can perform no more damaging bit of work than to neglect their offspring, to let them curse, swear, learn indecent words and songs, and permit them to live as they please. .. it is highly necessary that every married person regard the soul of his child with greater concern than the flesh which has come from him, that he consider the child nothing less than a precious, eternal treasure, entrusted to his protection by God so that the devil, the world, and the flesh do not steal and destroy it. For the child will be required from the parent on Judgment Day in a very strict reckoning."

3. By placing a child in an anti-Christian environment where children are taught to honor false gods, parents are dishonoring and disobeying God’s command on a day to day basis. Whenever there is a blatant disrespect and disobedience of and for Gods Word, God has promised that prayers will not be heard. Isa 10 1:15 If Christians within a nation do nothing and remain silent about the sins of the nation promoting these evils, God has also promised to pluck up and destroy them.

4. Children who die at an age of accountability, and who have not repented and accepted Christ as their personal Savior will perish in their sins.

There are tens of millions of Christian children in public schools who are devastated spiritually, morally and academically by the indoctrination of secular humanism and socialism taught within these schools on a daily basis. A study done by the Baptist Council on Family Life in 2002 stated: 88% of children from evangelical homes who attend public schools will within one year of graduation from high school leave the church, and many never return! Another study demonstrated that 96% of homeschooled children accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Professor R. L. Dabney of Union Theological Seminary said,

"The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth...Every parent especially ought to feel, every hour of the day, that, next to making his own calling and elections sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by God – this is his task on earth."

II Co 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?"

But this is exactly what we do when we send our children to government schools.

I pray that all Christians spend at least a portion of their time working to save all children – both the born and the unborn. That they inform parents that placing their children in public schools devastates them spiritually, morally, and academically. That Christians encourage parents to remove their children from Pharaoh’s schools. We must also encourage home schooling and the establishment of good Christian schools. Doing this will save millions of souls, and perhaps even save the nation.

Rather than be discouraged, we should be reminded that it is our duty to be faithful, and to leave the outcome to our Lord. I Co 15:58 If you would like further information I’ll be glad to provide it.

"There are a thousand good things you can do for your country, but there is but one Best! Thus, beware of "Good Things," for "Good Things" has always been the greatest enemy of "The Best." Therefore, "Good Things" can destroy your country and your future.
Roy Branson

Remember, Public Schools Devastate Children