a wonderful blog post I *had* to share

Why the Kids Really Need A Little Red Hen Mama....

The grain mill whirs loud, crushing a stream of kernels. I stand in the kitchen by an open sack, grinding the wheat to bake the bread, to break the fasts. Since the beginning, since the dawn, this, the work of women, the feeding of children. The sun rises.

And I have to ask it straight out....

Why do I feed my kids scraps off the floor?

I think this, line the loaf pans with sheets of parchment paper. Our youngest, still sleepy, pulls a stool up beside. Shaping the warmth of the bread dough between the palms, I murmur it, laying dough down into loaves "... then tuck the babies into their wee trundle beds.... " I say this every time we make bread.

"Those pans aren't really trundle beds, are they?" Littlest laughs, her nose crinkled, ringlets bouncing.

"Yes, they are!" I wink. She shakes her head happy. "And then we spread the blanket up over the cribs and let them rise in sleep." I pull a warm damp cloth up over the bread pans. I tussle her hair. She giggles.

Bread for babies.

Or scraps?

Littlest peeks under the corner of the damp dishtowel, check on dough rising, and Jesus peels back a bit of me again:

"Stand in line and take your turn.

The children get fed first.

If there's any left over,

the dogs get it." ~ Mark 7:27

She turns to me, face framed in tendrils tangled and I look into that upturned face, freshness with a dash of freckle. I brush her cheek: Who gets fed first in this house?

Photos and Text: Ann Voskamp@Holy Experience

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Mystery Babylon – Who is it?

Mystery Babylon – Who is it?

Mystery Babylon – Who is it?
Monday, 1st February 2010
Urgent Questions
Babylon is Fallen, is Fallen

The prophecy about Babylon’s destruction

There it is—as crystal clear as it can be. The Revelation 14:8 prophecy plainly predicts the future fall of Babylon. Listen to it: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

Knowing that this prophecy about the coming fall of Babylon exists, and knowing that the United States is fighting currently in Iraq —the nation that contains ancient Babylon, we simply must ask ourselves if the prophesied fall of Babylon has been fulfilled.

There are prophetic prognosticators in abundance ready to quickly and loudly proclaim that the time for the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy has arrived. But let’s see what the scriptures actually say.

When will the prophesied fall of Babylon happen?

Revelation 16:16 announces the beginning of the Battle of Armageddon: “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”

The next three verses record the fall of Babylon the Great. “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air…and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

This passage clearly teaches us that the destruction of Babylon will take place at the time of the Battle of Armageddon.

Since we know that the Battle of Armageddon occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation, after the reign of the Antichrist and after the mark of the beast, it is obvious that the war with Iraq is not be the prophesied destruction of Babylon.

Another prophecy of Babylon’s Destruction

The entire ministry of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was devoted to prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away of Israel into Babylonian captivity. He also prophesied the return of Israel to Jerusalem after 70 years and foretold the ultimate destruction of Babylon.

The prophecy against Babylon is found in Jeremiah 50:1-23.

“The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken…For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein… Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.”

Verses 17 and 18 establish for certain when this destruction of Babylon was to occur:

“Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.”

The above scriptures teach us that this particular prophesied destruction of Babylon would occur during the era of the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar.

Furthermore, verses 39-40 declared that Babylon would never again be inhabited. “Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands will dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever…”

Two destructions of Babylon foretold

The prophecy of Jeremiah clearly stated that Babylon would be destroyed, never to be inhabited again. Yet the book of Revelation prophesies the destruction of Babylon at the time of Armageddon. How do we reconcile what appears to be a biblical contradiction?

Literal Babylon vs. Mystery Babylon

The physical city of Babylon was originally built by Nimrod after the flood. It was located on the Euphrates River, about 55 miles south of where Baghdad, Iraq stands today. The name Babylon came from the Tower of Babel that was constructed there.

Babylon became a large city of global prominence around 1728 B.C. during the reign of Hammurabi. The glory years of Babylon were achieved under Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 B.C.). The city declined during the reign of Belshazzar, and came to ruin when Xerxes, the Persian king, destroyed it in 478 B.C.

Thus, Jeremiah’s prophesied destruction of Babylon was accomplished, and, just as the prophecy said, it has never been inhabited to this day. Saddam Hussein launched a project to rebuild Babylon in the late 1980’s, but the effort was halted by Gulf War I and has yet to be resumed.

But if Babylon is never to be rebuilt, why are two entire chapters of the book of Revelation devoted to the destruction of Babylon? And why is the destruction of Babylon clearly described as occurring at the time of Armageddon?

The Babylon described in Revelation is called “Mystery Babylon.” The prophecy of Mystery Babylon is found in Revelation 17:3-5.

“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

Who is Mystery Babylon?—4 clues

A mystery is something secret or hidden— a thing that some understand while others do not. In Revelation 17, there are several clues given to the identity of Mystery Babylon. We will discuss four of them here.

Clue #1—Mystery Babylon is a city

Notice in the above prophecy that a woman is used to symbolize Mystery Babylon. Verse 18 of the chapter tells us that the woman is a city. “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

Clue #2—Mystery Babylon presides over a vast international system

In verse 1, we are told that the woman sits on many waters. Verse 15 explains the meaning of the waters. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

Not only is this woman a city, but the city is apparently the headquarters over a vast international system.

Clue #3—The city sits on 7 hills

In verse 3, we are told that the woman rides on a beast with 7 heads. Verse 9 reveals the meaning of the heads. “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”

Remember, we’ve already learned that the woman is a city. This passage tells us that the city sits on seven mountains. There is a city on earth that is known as “The City of Seven Hills.” It’s the city of Rome.

But is Rome the headquarters for an international power that rules over “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues?”

The Vatican claims to rule over one billion Roman Catholics worldwide. Remember, this prophecy was written long before the Catholic Church existed and long before Rome became her headquarters.

Clue #4—She is clothed in purple and red

Revelation 17:4 “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:”

There are two ruling bodies in the Roman Catholic Church: The College of Cardinals and the College of Bishops and Archbishops. These two bodies are somewhat like the Senate and the House of Representatives here in the U.S.

An article appeared in The Criterion, a Roman Catholic publication, July 1, 1988. The article was entitled, “More than You Want to Know About Cardinals.” It stated, “Cardinals wear red, while non-Cardinal Bishops and Archbishops wear purple.”

So let’s review. Mystery Babylon is a city that sits on seven hills. Rome is known worldwide as “The City of Seven Hills.”

Mystery Babylon is to “sit” on peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.” Rome is headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church, claiming one billion members worldwide.

Mystery Babylon is described as being clothed in purple and red. The official colors of the two ruling bodies of the Roman Church are purple and red.

One other factor should be understood. In Revelation 17, God chose to use a woman—a whore—to symbolize the Roman Catholic Church. Why?

It’s really very simple. In scripture, God always used a woman to symbolize a church. He used a virgin to represent His true church (II Corinthians 11:2), and He used a harlot to represent a false church— as he did in Revelation 17-19.

There can be only one conclusion: The Vatican is the Mystery Babylon of Revelation. And it is this false religious system that has deceived the people of the world that will be destroyed at the time of Armageddon.

What then is the war in Iraq?

If the destruction of physical Babylon is past and the destruction of spiritual Babylon is future, what role will the war with Iraq play in Bible prophecy?

Revelation 9:13-16 prophesies a war that will kill one-third of mankind—two billion people. It states that this war will begin in the area of the Euphrates River. Most of the Euphrates River is in Iraq— the nation with which the U.S. currently has 100,000 troops along the Euphrates River.

If this war with Iraq is indeed the one prophesied in Revelation 9:13-16, the face of the world will be changed forever. The cry for peace and security will give birth to a system of global law that will throw the planet into one-world government. The horrible carnage of two billion dead and the aftermath of nuclear war will create the perfect scenario for the ascent of the Antichrist into power.

This unprecedented disaster will also accelerate the Peace plan the the the International Community has been working on night and day between Israel and the Palestinians. It appears that the anticipated Middle East agreement will be the confirmation of the covenant, which triggers the final seven years to Armageddon.

The coming war with Iraq will not be the end of the world. It will not be Armageddon. And it will not be the prophesied destruction of Mystery Babylon.

But it will be the deadliest war the planet has ever seen!

Poster Child

"Come to the USA"

saw this on FB this morning and had to share

Happy Memorial Day

image from

http://www.honoringheroesusa.com/assets/salute_american_flag.jpg

In honor of those who lost their lives while serving our country, we would like to share with you President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Memorial Day remarks at Arlington National Cemetery:



Today is the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will ever have to die for us again. It’s a day of thanks for the valor of others, a day to remember the splendor of America and those of her children who rest in this cemetery and others. It’s a day to be with the family and remember.



I was thinking this morning that across the country children and their parents will be going to the town parade and the young ones will sit on the sidewalks and wave their flags as the band goes by. Later, maybe, they’ll have a cookout or a day at the beach. And that’s good, because today is a day to be with the family and to remember.



Arlington, this place of so many memories, is a fitting place for some remembering. So many wonderful men and women rest here, men and women who led colorful, vivid, and passionate lives. There are the greats of the military: Bull Halsey and the Admirals Leahy, father and son; Black Jack Pershing; and the GI’s general, Omar Bradley. Great men all, military men. But there are others here known for other things.



Here in Arlington rests a sharecropper’s son who became a hero to a lonely people. Joe Louis came from nowhere, but he knew how to fight. And he galvanized a nation in the days after Pearl Harbor when he put on the uniform of his country and said, “I know we’ll win because we’re on God’s side.” Audie Murphy is here, Audie Murphy of the wild, wild courage. For what else would you call it when a man bounds to the top of a disabled tank, stops an enemy advance, saves lives, and rallies his men, and all of it single-handedly. When he radioed for artillery support and was asked how close the enemy was to his position, he said, “Wait a minute and I’ll let you speak to them.” [Laughter]



Michael Smith is here, and Dick Scobee, both of the space shuttle Challenger. Their courage wasn’t wild, but thoughtful, the mature and measured courage of career professionals who took prudent risks for great reward—in their case, to advance the sum total of knowledge in the world. They’re only the latest to rest here; they join other great explorers with names like Grissom and Chaffee.



Oliver Wendell Holmes is here, the great jurist and fighter for the right. A poet searching for an image of true majesty could not rest until he seized on “Holmes dissenting in a sordid age.” Young Holmes served in the Civil War. He might have been thinking of the crosses and stars of Arlington when he wrote: “At the grave of a hero we end, not with sorrow at the inevitable loss, but with the contagion of his courage; and with a kind of desperate joy we go back to the fight.”



All of these men were different, but they shared this in common: They loved America very much. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for her. And they loved with the sureness of the young. It’s hard not to think of the young in a place like this, for it’s the young who do the fighting and dying when a peace fails and a war begins. Not far from here is the statue of the three servicemen—the three fighting boys of Vietnam. It, too, has majesty and more. Perhaps you’ve seen it—three rough boys walking together, looking ahead with a steady gaze. There’s something wounded about them, a kind of resigned toughness. But there’s an unexpected tenderness, too. At first you don’t really notice, but then you see it. The three are touching each other, as if they’re supporting each other, helping each other on.



I know that many veterans of Vietnam will gather today, some of them perhaps by the wall. And they’re still helping each other on. They were quite a group, the boys of Vietnam—boys who fought a terrible and vicious war without enough support from home, boys who were dodging bullets while we debated the efficacy of the battle. It was often our poor who fought in that war; it was the unpampered boys of the working class who picked up the rifles and went on the march. They learned not to rely on us; they learned to rely on each other. And they were special in another way: They chose to be faithful. They chose to reject the fashionable skepticism of their time. They chose to believe and answer the call of duty. They had the wild, wild courage of youth. They seized certainty from the heart of an ambivalent age; they stood for something.



And we owe them something, those boys. We owe them first a promise: That just as they did not forget their missing comrades, neither, ever, will we. And there are other promises. We must always remember that peace is a fragile thing that needs constant vigilance. We owe them a promise to look at the world with a steady gaze and, perhaps, a resigned toughness, knowing that we have adversaries in the world and challenges and the only way to meet them and maintain the peace is by staying strong.



That, of course, is the lesson of this century, a lesson learned in the Sudetenland, in Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia, in Cambodia. If we really care about peace, we must stay strong. If we really care about peace, we must, through our strength, demonstrate our unwillingness to accept an ending of the peace. We must be strong enough to create peace where it does not exist and strong enough to protect it where it does. That’s the lesson of this century and, I think, of this day. And that’s all I wanted to say. The rest of my contribution is to leave this great place to its peace, a peace it has earned.



Thank all of you, and God bless you, and have a day full of memories.

Top Five Reasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Govt. School

from Voddie Baucham Ministries

Anyone who has kept up with my blog knows that I am no fan of government education. I have made it a point to carry The Continuing Collapse on a regular basis, and I try to make biblical, philosophical and theological arguments in favor of Christian education as often as possible. However, I recognize the obstacles those of us on my side of the street face. As many as eighty-five to ninety percent of professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. That is simply an astonishing figure considering the fact that the Christian community fought mandatory government education tooth-and-nail for it’s first fifty years of existence. Since then we have gone from fighting against government schools to fighting for them and implying that those who fight against them are fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and racists.


In the meantime, our schools grow progressively worse. Well, as we begin this summer, I want to appeal to those of you with children in government schools. Please don’t send them back! I beg you to consider what you are doing. As Dave Black has written:


No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken (emphasis added, see: http://daveblackonline.com/our.htm).


With that, here are the top five reasons not to send your kids back to government school next year:


5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO


This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people ask home educators the “authority” questions (i.e., to whom do your report? who approves your curriculum?). These questions are the byproduct of statism. The Gramscian, neo-Marxist influence is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t even recognize it anymore. We actually believe that children are wards of the state when in fact they are not. As a result, some people have a hard time believing that they have the right to educate their children in a manner of their choosing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are free. Your children are yours. They do not belong to Caesar. You don’t have to take them back to the local government indoctrination center next semester. And in some states (thank God for Texas), you don’t even have to tell them you’re not coming back!


4. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE WORST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD


One of the issues that many Christians seem willing to ignore is the fact that sending children to American schools represents extremely poor stewardship. American students continually rank at the bottom in math, science and reading compared to other industrialized nations (see here). That’s right, our educational system is among the world’s worst! Of course everyone says, “Our schools are different.” News flash... that’s a lie!


One of our elders taught honors math at one of the “best schools” in one of the “best school districts” in Texas (you know, one of those schools people lie and cheat to get their children into so that they can get a better education). His advanced geometry class was filled with a bunch of imbeciles who could barely do basic arithmetic. As a result, most of them failed their first major test. You know what happened next. That’s right, the principal called him into the office and told him to make things right. One of the things he was told to employ was a grading technique called “Square root times ten.” Thus, a student who made a 49 on a test ended up with a 70 in the grade book (for those of you who went to government schools like me, that’s the square root of 49 times ten).


This is what’s happening at our “best” schools. Don’t believe me? ask a college admissions worker how many students coming from our “best” schools with grade point averages hovering near 4.0 need remediation when they get to college. It’s an absolute joke. The overwhelming majority of children in our schools have a B average or above (mostly for self esteem reasons), which serves to give them and their parents a false sense of achievement. It also results in people who ‘feel really good’ about their schools.


Please don’t buy the lie. Your child’s school is probably terrible. If you really care about the stewardship of you child’s mind, don’t send them back to the worst schools in the industrialized world next year.


3. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE MORALLY REPUGNANT


The headlines speak for themselves. Student-teacher sex scandals, student-student sex, immodesty, foul language, drugs, alcohol, radical homosexual agendas, teachers taking students for abortions, “sexting” leading to suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, brutal beatings, and school shootings (see here). These are just some of the headlines that have become the norm. And that does not include things like cheating, disrespect for authority, impropriety towards the opposite sex, and other moral behaviors children learn regularly and repeatedly in school. Van Til said it better than I ever could:


“Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum…. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality because it alone gives the child air and food…. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism?…. No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools.”


Moreover, the system itself is funded by virtual theft. Homeowners are forced under threat of the loss of their property to pay for the education of other people’s children. How is that appropriate? The government tells everyone that they have to send their children to school, then tells homeowners that they are going to be the ones to foot the bill whether they like it or not. Not only is this a form of welfare, it is also a form of theft.


For those of you ready to read me the riot act and yell and scream about paying for roads and bridges, hold on a minute. Why is it that we get all up-in-arms about our tax dollars being used to fund abortions (while our opponents make the roads and bridges argument), but we don’t see this one? Our schools are morally repugnant. They are also neo-Marxist, secular humanist indoctrination centers. Why should I as a Christian be forced to pay for children to have every vestige of Christianity beaten out of them? Americans are not forced to pay for Mormon schools, or Muslim schools; why should we be forced to pay for neo-Marxist schools (remember, all education is religious in nature)? And why should any Christian contribute to such a system by sending their children to such schools at the expense of others? And before you yell, “I’m just using the tax dollars I spent,” ask yourself if you’re willing to take advantage of all that abortion funding going to Planned Parenthood, or those tax dollars going toward fetal stem cell research.




2.

2.GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN


“I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”

-A.A. Hodge


Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective.


As Hodge pointed out, the result of non-Christian education is anti-Christian education. Government schools must be anti-Christian. They can be nothing else. Therefore, to send a child to a government school is to have them trained in an anti-Christian environment for 14,000 instructional hours. To get that much instruction from church a child would have to attend two hours a week for one hundred and forty years!


1. THE BIBLE COMMANDS CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION


“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian…. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

-Charles Hodge


I recognize that educational antinomianism is the norm in the modern American church. According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make... you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principially to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them. Though you won’t find the word ‘education’ in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, there are a number of passages that speak directly to the issue of training ourselves and our children intellectually, spiritually, philosophically and morally (See Deut. 6:6,7; Prov. 1:7; Eph. 6:4, etc). We also have numerous warnings against allowing others to influence us intellectually, spiritually, philosophically, and morally (Psalm 1; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 6:14ff; Col. 2:8, etc.).


Second, this line of reasoning smacks of mysticism. Instead of making an argument with an open Bible we dismiss all opposition with the flippant, trite, overused, and theologically problem-laden phrase, “we prayed about it and this is what the Lord told us to do.” The lord ‘has spoken’. (Heb. 1:1-2) We are not awaiting new revelation. Instead of doing what the Lord ‘told us’, Christians are commanded to do what the Lord ‘has told us’ in his Word. The London Baptist Confession speaks to this matter rather poignantly:


The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, faith and obedience; Although the light of Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable [sic.]; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment, and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.


The Cambridge Declaration states:


We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience [i.e., “the Lord told me”] can ever be a vehicle of revelation.


There’s enough here for an entire series of posts (so many posts... so little time), but for now let me simply say that the “the Lord told me” line of argumentation has serious theological problems. We must make our educational decisions with an open Bible. “The Lord told me” is no substitute for “the Bible says...” Please don’t make a decision about your child’s education without consulting (and obeying) the Scriptures.


This week the SBC hornet’s nest is being stirred up again over the education issue. The last time this happened I was beyond embarrassed as I listened to my esteemed colleagues make illogical, unscriptural, cowardly arguments for “not giving up on ‘our’ schools.” How I long for voices like Hodge, Van Til, and Machen (who called government education a “soul-killing system”) to be heard among my brethren. However, with over eighty-five percent of our children in the government schools and more government school teachers and administrators than any other “denomination”, it is highly unlikely that our side will prevail on this issue any time soon. One wonders what the schools will have to do to our children before we are willing to acknowledge the folly of our choices. In the meantime, I will continue to watch, fight, and pray, and try to convince as many of you as I can to liberate your children from Caesar’s indoctrination camps.


I have quoted John Wesley on this issue in previous posts. However, his words are far too pertinent for me to ignore on this issue:


“Let it be remembered, that I do not speak to the wild, giddy, thoughtless world, but to those that fear God. I ask, then, for what end do you send you children to school? “Why, that they may be fit to live in the world.” In which world do you mean, — this or the next? Perhaps you thought of this world only; and had forgot that there is a world to come; yea, and one that will last for ever! Pray take this into your account, and send them to such masters as will keep it always before their eyes. Otherwise, to send them to school (permit me to speak plainly) is little better than sending them to the devil. At all events, then, send your boys, if you have any concern for their souls, not to any of the large public schools, (for they are nurseries of all manner of wickedness,) but private school, kept by some pious man, who endeavours to instruct a small number of children in religion and learning together.”


I can’t help but wonder if people called Wesley divisive or extremist for making the aforementioned comments. Perhaps not. Perhaps they simply said, “That may be right for you, but it’s not what the Lord told us to do.”