RenewaNation

In my recent posts, I have been asking some important questions related to the education of future generations.  As another school year comes to an end, we need to think about the important role that one’s philosophy of education plays in the education we give our children and grandchildren.

There seems to be less emphasis placed on the philosophy behind all educational efforts over the past several decades than what I experienced when I first entered Christian education.  This trend toward focusing on the process rather than the foundational philosophy of education has paralleled a similar trend in today’s church.

Experiential worship has replaced biblical doctrine in many churches today. This has led to a shallow understanding of who God is and what the Christian life is really all about.  Many years ago, A. W. Tozer predicted what would happen if experience replaced doctrine as the driving force in the church.

He believed that it would lead to what he referred to as a “gold-calf Christianity.”  This shallow form of Christianity would be defended by focusing on numbers of people in our churches rather than on what changes are actually taking place in their everyday lives.

Any objection to the carryings on of our present gold-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, “But we are winning them!”  And winning them to what?  To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a disposing of the world’s treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total committal to Christ? Of course the answer to all these questions is no.

The same can be true of Christian education when a strong biblical philosophy of education is not foundational to all that takes place in the educational process.  We can believe that we are successful because our numbers are strong, our teachers are highly qualified, our accreditation is in place, our programs are expanding, and our graduates are being accepted at prestigious college and universities.

Like Tozer said, We are winning them!  But we must ask the question, what are we winning them to?  Are they strong in their commitment to absolute truth?  Do they think biblically about all of life?  Have they come to know God’s call on their lives?  Have they abandoned their desires for their lives to fully obey God’s will for them?  Do they know God or just know a lot about Him?

If the education that they have received at home, church and school has not been presented from a strong biblical worldview and a biblical philosophy of education, the answer to all these questions may well be a no.  We must once again get back to knowing, understanding and committing ourselves to a biblical philosophy of education — to Kingdom Education™.

This will become a reality when parents, church leaders and Christian educators fully embrace the absolute truths found in God’s Word about how He wants us to educate future generations.  Sixteenth century theologian, John Owen, said it best.

Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice, right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers.

This is why God directed me to conduct a Kingdom Education™ Summit for parents, church leaders and Christian educators.  At the Summit, we will be dissecting every aspect of education in an attempt to know the absolutes [about education] revealed from without by God Himself.

The one thing about education that we must fully embrace is what does God think and say about it.  Again, I am challenged by the words of Tozer.

A Christian’s one question in any set of circumstances [education] is What does God think of this?  What the current popular attitude may be is of no importance.  He will approve or disapprove altogether as the written Word and the indwelling Spirit indicate.

I pray you will consider joining more than 100 church and school leaders by registering for the Kingdom Education™ Summit today.  Together we will dig deep into God’s Word to find what God thinks about education. Then, we will develop strategies for the home, church and school so that these institutions can unite together and educate our children and grandchildren from a solid biblical philosophy of education.

We must never forget that the philosophy of education we hold is the foundation on which our children’s lives will be built.  G. K. Chesterton was right when he wrote,

Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere.

Let’s make sure we teach our children and youth a Kingdom Education™ philosophy.  Together we can make sure that the answers to the questions asked above are a resounding YES!!!

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THE KINGDOM EDUCATION™ SUMMIT!

There is no doubt about it.  One’s worldview impacts a child’s education.  As Christians, we should strive to make sure that a biblical worldview informs the education we give our children and youth.  Everything we teach our children and youth, whether it is at home, church or school, must be done in the context of a biblical worldview.

Over the past several months I have attempted to identify some essential truths of a biblical worldview.  Through my study of Scripture, I have found Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview.  These Essential Truths fall into the three components of a biblical worldview: Creation, the Fall, and Redemption.  These truths are as follows:

Understanding Creation:

• Essential Truth #1 — God is eternal both in His person and nature
• Essential Truth #2 — God’s creation is an expression of who He is and exists for His glory
• Essential Truth #3 — Man was created in God’s image to know God, multiply His image and perform a work for His glory

Understanding the Fall:

• Essential Truth #4 — Sin entered the world and man no longer would know God and give Him glory by studying what He had made. Man lost his purpose!

Understanding Redemption:

• Essential Truth #5 — Eternal life restores man’s purpose to know God and give Him glory
• Essential Truth #6 — To glorify God, one must live in such a way that His character is displayed and His praise is increased.

All subjects should be taught within the context of these Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview.  But what does this actually look like in everyday teaching?  Allow me to share with you something I have been working on recently.  When this blog posts, I will have begun teaching four classes in history to middle school students.  Last year, I had the privilege of teaching high school biology, chemistry and physics at our local Christian school.  Now I have the opportunity to fill in for a teacher vacancy at this school in these middle school subjects.

I have had to ask myself a simple question.  How should these Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview inform the history classes that I will teaching until the end of the school year?  The first question I had to answer was this.   Where should all history begin in light of a biblical worldview?  The answer is found in Essential Truths #1-3.

To fully understand history, one must start at the beginning.  Understanding history must begin with students learning that an eternal, self-existing God spoke the world into existence in six days.  Students must also understand the “why” behind creation which will, in turn, lead students to learn that God started time (history) for His glory.

Students must also realize that the history of the human race began with God forming Adam out of the dust of the ground.  Then man became a living soul when God breathed His breath into man.  Thus, history began with creation and it is only understood when one understands these three Essential Truths.

If students studied history only through the lens of creation, they would be puzzled as to why there is so much evil taking place throughout all of human history.  That is why Essential Truth #4 must also be grasped in order for students to fully understand and learn about history.

The Fall was the result of a cosmic battle between good and evil, God and Satan.  Therefore, all of human history must be viewed within the context of this cosmic battle that is always taking place behind the scenes.

Ever since the terrible day in the Garden when sin entered the world, history is rife with evil and hurt.  This is because history is the recording of man’s actions based on one’s beliefs or worldview.  Since every one of us is born in sin, we all do bad things.  We sometimes ignore certain realities in history that show the sinfulness of all people, even with those who were strong Christians.

When God gives us a history lesson in His Word, He doesn’t spare the reality of sin.  Reading about the lives of Abraham, Jacob, David, Peter, Paul and others, God presents the good, the bad and the ugly sides of these godly saints.  True history is a reminder that the entire creation groans under the curse of sin.

Finally, history must include the truths about redemption.  Yes, we live in a fallen world and we are all sinners by nature.  However, God has not forsaken His creation, including mankind.  God does not want any one to die in their sins and enter into eternal damnation.  Therefore, God sent His Son to shed His blood for our sins.

This is why any history we teach our children must be grounded in Essential Truths #5-6.  Eternal life restores our God-given purpose of knowing and glorifying Him in all of life.  These Essential Truths should shape any and all history that we teach to our children and youth.

However, these Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview must be applied to all education.  As you contemplate the depth of these truths, how will they shape your thinking and your teaching?  Kingdom Education™ requires that a biblical worldview undergirds and informs the entire educational process.

 

 

I have heard more and more people talk about how the world seems to be spiraling out of control.  The reality is that God is in total control and is working His plan for mankind to perfection.  However, with all the craziness that is taking place, I have found myself becoming increasingly concerned about what is happening in the country, our homes, churches and Christian schools.

As a result of spending time in the Word and much prayer, I am excited to make two very important announcements about the future of Kingdom Education Ministries.  The first announcement is in regard to what God has shown me about Kingdom Education™ ever since my book was first published in 1998.

In my efforts to more fully understand God’s plan for educating future generations, He has shown me so many truths from His Word.  As I have presented some new concepts related to Kingdom Education™, I have been asked one question over and over again.  Am I going to update the book?

Well, I can now answer that question with a resounding yes!  A two-volume series titled, Understanding Kingdom Education™, has been written and is now at the publishers.  These two new resources will not replace Kingdom Education™: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations.  They will serve as companion books that build on the foundation laid in my first book.

The first book in this new series is Understanding Kingdom Education™: A Challenge to the Home, Church and School.  This book presents several new concepts that I have learned over the past 20 years about how God wants us to educate future generations.  I have attempted to bring greater clarity to the principles found in God’s Word that are the foundation to my first book, Kingdom Education™.

The second book is Understanding Kingdom Education™: Following God’s Instructions for Educating Future Generations.  In this book, I do a deep dive in fourteen biblical principles related to educating future generations.  These principles provide parents, church and school leaders with the essential elements of a true biblical philosophy of education.  The book is designed to be used in homes, churches and schools to develop strategies for fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.  It includes discussion questions that will guide parents, pastors and Christian educators in developing strategies to implement a comprehensive, intentional plan to follow God’s instructions about how to educate our children and youth.

This leads me to the second announcement I am very excited to make.  I will be launching the first ever Kingdom Education™ Summit this summer.  I have mentioned the Summit in a couple of earlier blogs.  Registration is now open and several ministries have already signed up to attend.  The Summit is the most important event that I have ever been a part of in my 50+ years of teaching.  Here is the reason why I make such a bold statement.

I have been burdened about two articles that I read which were written in 1993.  The first article was written by Joel Belz in World Magazine and was titled, Too Little, Too Late.  In the article’s summary, he wrote,

Christian schools will be found overall to have done a very good job in terms of general education, but will be disappointed in terms of instilling a profound sense of Christian discipleship.   On basic skill tests, SAT scores, and other standardized measurements, Christian school graduates will increasingly outperform their counterparts from public education.  But in terms of radical adoption of a Christian perspective on life, the differences – while definitely present – will be disappointing…where Christian schools are weak, they are weak because they have done little more than produce upgraded carbon copies of the public schools they seek to replace.

In that same year, I was given a small booklet produced by Development Marketing Associates.  This booklet presented the results of the Comprehensive Development Assessment that over 500 Christian schools participated in.  Two startling findings resulted from these assessments.

• Less than half of the parents who had students enrolled in these schools understood and could articulate the mission of Christian education.
• Almost exactly the same percentage of Christian school teachers could articulate the philosophy and mission of Christian education.

I just spoke at a Worldview Conference that Precept Marketing and BJ Press held at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.  I asked the delegates if the above percentages of these two groups of people has increased, decreased or stayed the same concerning a biblical philosophy of education.  Every single person indicated that the percentage of parents and teachers who could articulate the philosophy and mission of Christian education has diminished over recent years.

At this same conference, Dr. George Barna shared recent findings of a major study conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.  Here is a summary of what was found to be the worldview incidence in the United States in 2021.

• Eastern Mysticism — <1/2 of 1%
• Marxism — <1/2 of 1%
• Nihilism — 1%
• Moralistic Therapeutic Deism — 1%
• Postmodernism — 1%
• Secular Humanism — 2%
• Biblical — 6%
• No Strong Worldview — 88%s

Even though Christian education is making somewhat of a difference in the intellectual and spiritual lives of students, we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the next generation.  As individuals develop a worldview, their worldview always results in behavior that develops culture.  This means that when you and I observe culture, whether it is in society, the home, church or school, we are observing the predominant worldview that is held by the majority of the people.

Something must change!  The Body of Christ must address the issue of education biblically!  This is the sole purpose of the Kingdom Education ™ Summit.  Participants will answer such questions as:

• What is education?
• Is education and schooling the same thing?
• What is Kingdom Education™?
• What are the main things that every child must know in order to survive and thrive in today’s world?
• What are the Six Essential Truths of a Biblical Worldview?
• What are the 14 Essential Principles of a Biblical Philosophy of Education?
• How do these Essential Truths and Essential Principles provide a biblical framework for educating future generations?
• What strategies must be developed and practiced in the home, church and school in order to guide our children and youth to become disciples of Jesus Christ?

I am urging every person reading this blog to prayerfully consider attending this summer’s Kingdom Education™ Summit!  I need your voice to be at the table as we tackle these extremely important and vital issues.  Early bird registration ends May 1st.  Schools that are members of the National Alliance of Christian Schools (formerly SBACS) are eligible to receive grant monies to help with the costs for attending the Summit.  Kingdom Education™ Prime Members are also eligible for a discounted registration fee.

 

Finally, we are planning on releasing my two new books, Understanding Kingdom Education™, in conjunction with the Summit.  All attendees will get a complimentary copy of each book!

For more information about the Summit click HERE!  Remember God is in total control. However,  we must obey His Word and provide every child with a biblical education.  To accomplish this task, individuals must be restored, homes must be empowered, churches must be engaged and schools must be transformed through Kingdom Education™.  It is not too late but it must begin NOW!

There was a time in my life when I, like the majority of Christians, thought that there were some aspects of education that were spiritually neutral.  That has changed!  After being in professional education for over 52 years, I now know that there isn’t the smallest part of education that is spiritually neutral.  If fact, all education is religious.  This is true whether it takes place at home, church or school.

I am absolutely astounded that Christians will still put their children in secular schools when one considers the indoctrination that is taking place in these schools today.  I know; I have heard it over and over again.  “Our schools are good.”  Usually the person saying that is defining good by the level of academics, fine arts, technology or extra curricular activities offered by a school.  However, there is still an underlying “religious” worldview that permeates every school.  It is the worldview that will end up shaping the hearts and minds of the children and youth who attend there.

Education has always been a tool that has been used to shape society.  This was true when Nebuchadnezzer tried to educate the Hebrew young men that he had captured.  It is also seen in how Marx and Hitler viewed education as a means to control the populace.  Hitler once said, He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.

There are some common threads that were behind past government’s efforts to shape the minds of its youth and what we see happening before our very eyes today.  First, there is always an attack on the family.  Both Marx and Hitler knew that the key to controlling the future was to weaken or destroy the home.  Erwin Lutzer points out that this was because these men knew that children without family roots can be more easily directed toward secular values and state benefits.

Second, there is always an effort to control what is taught to the children.  Chuck Colson made this clear when he wrote,

One of the first actions taken by revolutionary governments is to place all educational agencies under the direct control of the state, giving schools a central hand in building a new society.

When the home is weakened and the government controls the education of the majority of the children, then future generations will become disciples of the society’s worldview.  Again, read carefully the words of Hitler,

The most striking success of a revolution will always have been achieved when the new philosophy of life as far as possible has been taught to all men, and, if necessary, later forced  upon them.

He explained this further in a replying to an opponent of his ideology.

When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side’, I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to us already… What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.”

William Foster (1881-1961) was an American Communist leader who wrote, Toward Soviet America.  In this book, he predicted how socialism would take over the country with these words.

 Schools, colleges and universities will be coordinated and grouped under the National Department of Education…The studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic and other features of the bourgeois ideology.

Today, we are seeing how the education of our children and youth is reshaping our country in dramatic ways.  Dr. Everett Piper recently asked and answered a very thought provoking question.   Wondering why our country is collapsing before your very eyes?  Answer:  What’s taught today in our classrooms will be practiced tomorrow in our culture.  Toby Sumpter recently tweeted, If religion is primarily about making disciples, government schools are the established religion of America.

Unfortunately, many parents today are not aware, or not interested in, what is being taught in secular schools today.  Even when the consequences of this indoctrination hits, many seem to simply shrug their shoulders and go on with their daily routines.  Here are just a few of the examples that have come across my desk in a matter of a couple of weeks.

• In 2002, Canadian Pastor Mark Harding was found guilty because he opposed the promotion of Islam in the schools in his district, a privilege not given to Christianity, Hinduism, or Buddhism. His punishment was two years of probation, and he was subjected to more than three hundred hours of indoctrination by an imam as punishment.
• In 2015, TN middle school students were required to write, “There is no god but Allah; and Muhammed is his prophet.”
• In one sex education program, children as young as four or five are taught that parts of their bodies feel good when touched…this is called masturbation and they should always masturbate in private…By the second grade, they learn that the same act can be performed with a partner.
• It has been reported that requiring students to use correct grammar when writing and/or speaking is oppressive and needs to stop.
• Teachers have reported that they have been told to refer to students by their preferred gender names unless talking to parents when they are to use the students’ biological names.
• A teacher in one public school asked those who were in favor of same-sex marriage to line up on one side of the room, and those who were opposed were to line up on the other side of the room.
• A NC school system conducted teacher training on equity where they were told that the district’s “whitewashed curriculum was doing real harm to our students and educators.”  Teachers reported that parents should be considered impediment to social justice and teachers have an obligation to subvert parental wishes and beliefs.
• Kindergarten students in a public school system in Western NY had to participate in a  lesson on “racist police and state-sanctioned violence.”
• The Oregon Department of Education encouraged teachers to get training that was designed to “dismantling racism in mathematics.”  In this training a list of ways that “white supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms” included “the focus on getting ‘right’ answers and students being reared to ‘show their work’.”
• A Canadian father was recently arrested for protesting his daughter being given testosterone.  The daughter was advised by a school official to do so without informing the parents.
• A group of current and former teachers in a Virginia school system compiled a list of parents suspected of disagreeing with the system’s controversial CRT teaching with the purpose to “infiltrate” them in an effort to silence these parents.
• A NYC school encouraged students to stop saying ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’.
• A proposed ‘ethnic studies’ curriculum in CA urges students to chant to an Aztec Deity of Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism and engineer a ‘counter-genocide’ against whites.
• A 2008 report by The American Textbook Council showed ten of the most widely used middle school and high school social studies textbooks “present an incomplete and confected [falsely constructed] view of Islam that misrepresents its foundations…in a 7th grade text “Islam is featured as a model of interfaith tolerance; Christians wage wars of aggression and kill Jews.  Islam provides models of harmony and civilization.”

  Parents—and I include most Christian parents—no longer raise their children. Rather,culture does.

These are just a few of what I have read about over the past few weeks.  Some others were so graphic that I couldn’t include them in this post.  Dr. Erwin Lutzer has summed this up with this warning.

The radical secularists demand that “schools must change their curricula to reflect this alternate view of society”…Parents—and I include most Christian parents—no longer raise their children.  Rather, culture does…Parents clothe their children, feed them, and send them to school, but the hearts of their kids are being stolen and molded by a world that many of us don’t understand.

These false religious worldviews are also creeping into Christian education.  Natasha Crain wrote an article for Cross Examined that challenges parents to be very careful about their choice of schools for their children. Crain had homeschooled her children for pre-K and then she enrolled them in a local Christian school.  She had decided to go back to homeschooling them when the middle school years arrived.

In this article, she wrote, Make no mistake: Curriculum is rarely worldview neutral. She went on to explain how the curriculum throughout secular schools is based on a humanistic, secular worldview.  Then she shared that in Christian schools “in many cases, they use secular textbooks and expect teachers to compensate in the class by talking about the subject from a Christian perspective.”

Then she said something that put a chill up my back.

Many teachers are simply not equipped themselves with this kind of understanding in order to fully counter what secular curricula teaches.  You end up with a tug of war between worldviews of the text and the teacher.

It is critical that all Christians address the issue of education biblically.  We must make some major changes if we are going to be able to stand against the onslaught of the radical secularists of today.  That is why I am encouraging schools to become a KEM Prime Member and provide your staff and parents with important worldview training.

It is also why I want to encourage school and church leaders to register for the Kingdom Education Summit this July.  This is one of the most important events that I have ever been a part of.  Register Today!!

It is well-known that words have power.  However, there is something more powerful than words when it comes to the education of children and youth.  What is more powerful than words?  It is the definition that one gives to words.

I have observed that many Christians do not give careful attention to the meanings of the words that they use in everyday communication.  This is especially true when they are teaching children and youth.  When one doesn’t carefully define terms when teaching others, the hearer can then define them as he wants to.

Dr. Albert Mohler explained how important language is to our everyday lives on his March 2, 2021 The Briefing.  He stated,

…we understand that language profoundly matters, at least a part of what it means to be human is to have the capacity of language. And we believe that is not unrelated to the image of God. We, as humans, are made in the image of God. God speaks to us. We pray to God. At least a part of what is required for human beings, according to God’s plan, is the ability to communicate. Language then becomes very important. And if you control the language, you do to a considerable extent control the culture.

Several years ago, Josh McDowell was making a presentation about how to relate to teenagers.  He told the audience that adults need to understand that there are two languages being spoken when they communicate with teenagers.  What he meant by this is that a word can be used but it may have two very different meanings depending on whether one is a teen or an adult.

To make his point, he used the word “tolerance” and explained how a teen will define this word versus how most adults define it.  As adults, we see tolerance as realizing that different people have different beliefs and values.  However, McDowell pointed it out that when a teen hears the word tolerance, he/she defines it this way.  People have different beliefs and values than what we might have.   However, tolerance requires that we consider the other person’s beliefs and values as being equally valid and, therefore, true.  To be tolerant to a teen might even require one to celebrate another person’s beliefs and values as being true even if they are contrary to Scripture.

I have found many Christians frequently use biblical terms without defining the true meaning of those terms.  Such is the case for words like faith, inspired, and the kingdom of God.  We use these words thinking that everyone knows what they mean.  In reality, many of us have never accurately defined these terms for ourselves.

Defining terms is extremely important in today’s educational world.  This is because the culture is defining words to fit its ideological worldview and, therefore, is winning the battle of ideas in everyday life.  For example, PETA recently posted the following statement (emphasis mine).

Words can create a more inclusive world, or perpetuate oppression.  Calling someone an animal as an insult reinforces the myth that humans are superior to other animals and justified in violating them.

There are some very serious implications to the words found in this statement.  PETA is stating that all human beings are merely one type of animal.  This is a direct attack on the truth that man was created in God’s image, apart from the animals.

Alisa Childers was recently a guest host for the Cross Examined podcast.  On this podcast, she quoted from Hillary Morgan Ferrer’s book, Mama Bear Apologetics.  Ferrer talks about linguistic theft or redefining words to get your way & avoid reality.  Ferrer defines linguistic theft this way.

Someone who purposely hijacks words, changes their definitions, and uses those same words as tools of propaganda.

We have witnessed this taking place in every area of life over the last few years.  The fact is that linguistic theft will eventually control society.  Again, read what Dr. Mohler warns us about on The Briefing.

If you’re redefining marriage, if you’re redefining parent and family, you are redefining civilization.

With these efforts by the world to control the culture by controlling language, Christians must be intentional in defining terms.  It doesn’t matter whether one is reading a book or magazine, studying a textbook in school, listening to a podcast or watching a movie or video.  We must define the terms correctly or else the world will do it for us.

There is another phenomenon that I have witnessed over the years.  Christians sometimes add to the confusion of language by not being consistent in their use of terms.  We actually use words and then give them different meanings in the same conversation.  Here are two cases to illustrate how this happens.

Defining “truth”

Christians believe that there is absolute truth that exists.  Truth is based on God’s unchanging character.  Jesus declared that He is the truth.  For something to be true, it must be absolute.  Noah Webster defined truth as,

Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.

This is in direct contrast to how truth is defined in today’s postmodern culture.  Today, truth is no longer absolute.  One definition of truth found in a dictionary today is a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true.  One may hear such things as your truth— meaning that each person defines truth for themselves, based on their own experiences.

Several years ago, I was asked to review the book, The Limitations of Scientific Truth: Why Science Can’t Answer Life’s Ultimate Questions.  The author was a committed Christian and scientist.  His basic premise was very strong.  He wrote how science was a process of searching for truth but it will never lead to discovering absolute truth — especially when it comes to life’s big questions.

Men like Dr. Norman Geisler endorsed the book.  As I read it, I found myself agreeing with the book’s basic tenets but, at the same time, confused by how the term “truth” was used.  I want to point out that the author makes a very sound case that science cannot lead to absolute truth.  But, consider the following statements.

If what is scientific truth today turns out to be scientific falsehoods tomorrow, then what will happen to the scientific truths of tomorrow? The truths of science are constantly being revised.

In the end, who was right—Ptolemy, Copernicus, or Newton—or did Einstein give us the final and absolute truth? Each model of the universe was created with only partial truths that were later replaced by better, more comprehensive truths—or simply different truths.

This growing flux in scientific truth is beginning to have an impact on science…Thomas Kuhn explained how scientific truth changes through time.

The primary obstacle to harmonizing religious truth with scientific truth is that scientific truth is constantly changing.

When a person reads the statements above, he/she may end up agreeing with the postmodernist who says that there is no such thing as absolute truth.  However, truth doesn’t change.  If it can, it isn’t truth.  What each of these statements is really saying is this.

Man’s perception of truth about the universe etc. has changed as science has advanced.

There is no question that scientific “theories” have changed over time.  However, truth never changes.  This is one example how Christians can cause confusion by not defining and using terms correctly.  Here is another one that is being discussed on a daily basis in our country today.

Defining “race”

I am not trying to address such topics as “racism” in this post.  There is no doubt about the fact that all men are sinners and the Bible is clear that anytime one respects one person over another it is sin.  I am only using this term to show how Christians use terms that can cause confusion.

According to Scripture, there is only one race of people—the human race.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV)

He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and boundaries of their dwellings.  Acts 17:26 (NKJV)

God has made every one of us from one man—Adam.  He has even predetermined when and where we would live on earth.  Bible-believing Christians claim to believe that there is only one race—the human race.  Christians also believe that every single person finds his/her value and worth in the fact that each person is created in God’s image.

Even with this common belief, we cause confusion by talking about the need for the church to be multi-racial.  There is talk about how there must be racial reconciliation within the church.  Christians are saying how we must have racial diversity in our churches, schools and neighborhoods.  If there is only one race, multi-racial, racial reconciliation, and racial diversity become contradictory terms and, therefore, confusing.

Today’s cosmic war of worldviews may be won or lost by who defines the words used in the everyday battles of ideas.  As we educate future generations, we must not allow linguistic theft to control the narrative.  It is also absolutely necessary that we define terms correctly and use common language so that we don’t confuse our children and youth.

Words are powerful BUT the definitions we give words are even more powerful!

 

I grew up outside of Buffalo, NY.  Our home was on the Erie Canal.  As many people know, that area of the country is known for its brutal winters with frigid temperatures and LOTS of snow.

As kids we would always get excited when the temperatures dropped and the canal would freeze over.  I would grab my skates and head out the door for some skating fun and possibly a little hockey.  Before the door closed behind me, I would hear my mother warn me to be careful, you may be skating on thin ice.  It was understood that if I got out on thin ice and broke through, I would sink into dangerous, frigid waters.

That warning became a colloquialism that I often heard from either my father, mother or one of my teachers.  However, this warning had nothing to do with winter and skating.  It usually was said this way.  “Young man, you better straighten up because you are skating on thin ice.”  I knew that if I didn’t change my attitude or behavior, I would fall through the ice and some serious discipline would come my way.

As I have been prayerfully preparing for this post and the next couple of articles, I have heard a little voice in my mind warning me to be careful you may be skating on some thin ice.  I am well aware that the topics that need to be addressed are controversial and could possibly cause offense.  So, I am praying that they will be read in the same spirit in which I am writing them.

Over the past several decades, I have witnessed an attempt by a segment of society to try and silence the church.  Recently, this effort has increased in its boldness and intensity.  When I say the church, I am referring to both all born again believers and all local churches.  In an effort to clearly identify the segment of society that is mounting this attack on the church, I will yield to what Dr. Erwin Lutzer wrote in his book, We Will Not Be Silenced.

We are in a firestorm for the future of America…My preference, then, is to use the term ‘radical secularist’ [referring to those who are attacking us] or, another familiar term, humanists.

These attacks on Christianity will continue to intensify as the country becomes more and more secularized.  As I have attempted to understand how this has been allowed to take place, I find that the church has brought some of this on itself.  This is because many church leaders and lay Christians have embraced a false belief system that has opened the door to this firestorm.  This belief system is called a dualistic worldview or simply referred to as dualism.

Dualism is defined as the effort to divide life into separate compartments and making decisions in each compartment by different worldviews or sets of beliefs.  The most common compartmentalizing of life is into the secular and the sacred.  In her book, Total Truth, Nancey Pearcey explains how Christianity has been marginalized in society due to dualistic thinking.

The most potent way Christianity is marginalized in modern society is through the division of life into two separate spheres: a sacred realm of prayer, worship, and personal morality against a secular realm of politics, business, academia, and so on.

I have long seen dualism manifest itself in lives of Christians when it comes to the area of education.  For more than 100 years, the vast majority of Christians have viewed the education of children and youth from a dualistic worldview perspective. Christians have embraced the belief that the home and church are responsible to provide spiritual and moral training for their children while, at the same time, the state has been given the responsibility to educate their children in the “academic” areas.

The consequences of the church trying to operate from a dualistic worldview continues to cause me great concern.  Dualism doesn’t just impact the education that our children and youth receive.  It is now causing major confusion in other areas of life.

If I made a statement that started with these words, the left’s agenda… or the progressive’s agenda…, what would you most likely think I am getting ready to talk about?   The most common reaction to statements that begin with these words is that I am going to talk about politics.  Words like “left” and “progressive” are seen as political ideologies.

When the subject of politics comes up, one may commonly hear things like this from Christians.  There are two things I never talk about with friends—religion and politics. Or, Christians shouldn’t get involved in politics.  This isn’t what the church is about. Still other Christians will make statements such as, The answer to our problems won’t be solved by who resides in the White House or who gets elected to Congress.

Now, all of these statements have some truth to them.  However, statements like these are evidence that Christians have embraced a dualistic worldview.  And by doing this, they not only apply this compartmentalization of life to education but also to government and politics.  But, there is a problem when we do this.

Government/politics is a very real part of every Christian’s life.  When we fall into the trap of believing life can be divided up into a secular and a sacred compartments, we are actually rejecting what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33.  This is a very familiar verse to most Christians and it is the foundational truth undergirding Kingdom Education™.

Jesus simply said that every Christian is to seek God’s kingdom as his/her highest priority in life.  Seeking God’s kingdom means that each one of us needs to submit to God’s kingly rule in our lives.  God did not create us as dualistic individuals where He wants to have complete rule in the spiritual compartment of our lives but isn’t concerned about how we live out our secular compartment.  He wants to be Lord of our lives—PERIOD!

Since government/politics is a part of real life, God doesn’t want us to leave it to the world.  No, He wants to reign in our lives as we make decisions about issues relating to government and politics.

You may be asking yourself, what does all of this have to do with the efforts to silence the church?  I hope I can explain myself in an understandable way.

Behind everything that takes place in history is a cosmic battle between good and evil; God and Satan.  Satan engages in this battle through his world system.  It is my contention that Satan knows that the  majority of Christians have placed politics in the secular compartment of their lives.  Over the course of many years, Satan has influenced worldly leaders to make a subtle shift or pivot in how people view certain acts.

Actions such as abortion, homosexuality, prejudice, stewardship of God’s creation, etc. have historically been viewed, and should be, as spiritual and moral issues.  Slowly but surely the enemy has moved these issues from the spiritual compartment to the secular one by making them “political” issues.

Whereas, Christians saw these actions as being sinful and, therefore, the church must stand against them.  The secularists have now put them into the political bucket.  Therefore, Christians should be silent about them and stick to things that have to do with their “religion.”  Out of fear of ridicule, being called a racist, or being labelled as a homophobic intolerant person, the church (Christians) have become strangely silent.  In his book, We Will Not Be Silenced, Erwin Lutzer says this about the church. To our shame we are afraid of the secular left.

The enemy has intensified his effort to silence the church by creating a new label for Christians.  This label is applied to all Christians who stand up for the truths of Scripture, especially on biblical moral values.  Since many of these issues are now considered to be “political” in nature, when a Christian speaks out on them from a biblical perspective, they are accused of trying to legislate their morality on others and wanting to make the country Christian.  Thus, they are now called Christian Nationalists.

The plot continues to thicken because the secularists have successfully tied “Christian nationalism” to a person, President Trump and, most recently, to the events of January 6th at the Capitol.  Since these radical secularists have effectively labelled President Trump a “racist” and “white supremacist”, then all Christians who publicly proclaim such things as marriage should only be between a man and a woman, that abortion is the murder of innocent children, and that there are only two genders—male and female are de facto “Christian nationalists” and are, therefore by default, racists, homophobic, white supremacists, and even Nazis.  Now, I am not denying that there are extremists on every side of every issue.  However, the radical secularists make these charges against all Christians who stand up and support God and His Word.

What is the result of this?  Christians feel embarrassed about defending biblical marriage, the sanctity of human life, a biblical understanding of gender, and other moral issues—we have become silent!  Lutzer explains all of this by saying,

Many Christians will not be talked out of their faith, but they will be mocked out of it.  Shame will cause many Christians to retreat into silence.

The final step in trying to silence the church is taking place at this very moment.  First, biblical moral issues became merely political issues.  Now, the radical secularists are taking these “political” issues and enacting them into laws such as The Equality Act. Once laws, such as this, are passed, biblical moral values will not be merely political issues to debate. They will be laws we will be required to obey.  Again, I quote Lutzer,

In a revolution, dissident voices must be silenced…There are two ways culture attempts to intimidate Christians. One is to criminalize what they say or do, the other is to shame them.

We are already seeing what Lutzer warns us about happening in Canada.  A pastor has been sitting in jail for more than a week. His crime was holding church in violation of Covid restrictions.  At his hearing, he was told that he would be released if he agreed to not pastor, preach or enter his church until his trial.  He would not accept those conditions and his appeal was denied.  He will remain in jail until his trial in May.  He would not be silenced.  Will we have this same boldness?

Because of the effort to silence the church, we must be prepared to obey God rather than man.  This is going to be especially true as these attacks impact education.  That is why I am asking Christian school leaders, pastors and church leaders and individuals committed to giving children a biblical worldview education to join me at this summer’s Kingdom Education™ Summit.  Don’t Delay! Register Today!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!