Public Schools: What should the Christian Do? – Part 2

The biggest concern is whether government school is solely a place for education or indoctrination.  If it is the former, then the Christian has no need for concern.  However, if the school is for indoctrination, then what is it indoctrinating our children with, especially when Christianity has successfully been taking out of government school.  It all boils down to the issue of world-view. 

Listen to what some prominent Christians are saying regarding the crises we have with government run education.  Dr. Tim LaHaye states, “One of the big problems we have today, I think is the Church…. The church is facing a serious problem of losing its young people to the world by the time they graduate from high school, and what is the reason?  Twelve thousand hours of secular humanist brainwashing….It is time we parents get our kids out of the public school.”[i]  Dr. LaHaye may not have known this but the most recent of research supports his main thesis in his statement.

Dr. Charles Stanley argues, “When you send that child off to school today, you’re sending them into a pagan society because…the school system is not going to teach them to believe God-not going to teach them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ-or to honor Him.  But they’re going to, by the way they teach, little by little, do what?… Attack their faith…teaching them ethics that are unethical according to Scripture, teaching them to  be willing to participate in immoral, ungodly, sensual practices that are acceptable to the world but condemned by Almighty God…”[ii]  He continues to comment that they may not acknowledge that it is what is happening but it is not what they say but what they do. 

The late Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote, “Of course, one of the most important concepts to remember is that God gave the job of rearing godly children to parents, not to the state or the National Education Association….The ones who will eventually pay the heaviest price are the children who are left to be trained solely by a false and empty humanistic education system which not only fails to educate, but fails to prepare them to become the moral leaders God intended them to be!”[iii]

If these men are not enough, consider Charlotte Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, US Department of Education.  She was also a local school board member and is the author of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.  She described our governmental school system as follows:

You think the purpose of education is reading, writing and arithmetic?  The purpose of education is to change the thoughts, actions, and feelings of students.  Hitler wanted to control the educational system in Germany, Stalin did in Russia, Mao Zedong in China.  You have to get a hold of the minds of the young, where you break the person’s values; you break their understanding of their individuality.  You bring them to a consensus with the group; they become a member of the collective.  It’s Soviet education, basically-might as well say it- it’s Soviet education.  You cannot expect to have a smoothly running, world socialist system if you have people out there who are going to object to what you’re trying to do, so you have to brainwash them.[iv]

The sad truth is that all the information, the facts, leads to the conclusion that the US educational system is more interested in indoctrinating our children into secular, immoral, and godless ways of thinking and behaving than truly educating them.  Granted, there are Christian teachers in the government school system, and I would encourage them to continue teaching.  However, neither you nor I can be guaranteed that every teacher our child will be under will be of the same worldview. 

Unmistakably, we Christian parents are aghast when we see the problems, from the local bullying at the high school to diminished patriotism to a lack of moral standards.  Yet, we are as much the problem as the answer.  We just continue to give our government schools our kids, literally authorizing them, telling them that it is fine with us that you teach them secular humanism, that God is dead.  According to one study, more than 85% of Christian parents apparently believe their children are safe under the tutelage of public school.  We believe that since we turned out “okay” then they will too.  

It is time though for each Christian to examine the Scriptures.  Before we send our children to the school down the street, we need to step back and take the time to weigh the pro’s and con’s of this important decision.  There are other options available today for the Christian parent.  Government school no longer holds the monopoly in regard to equipping our children.  There is the private school, co-op’s, home schooling, and probably something in-between that no one has yet dreamt.  We are responsible for the training of our children.  It is time we take this responsibility seriously. 

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[i] Interviewed on DVD Education in Today’s Culture: A Biblical Perspective 2004

[ii] Dr. Charles Stanley, “A Mother’s Greatest Gift,” Part 2 (DVD), In Touch Ministries 2007

[iii] Dr. D. James Kennedy, Truth in Education, Coral Ridge Ministries Media, Inc. 1996

[iv] Charlotte Iserbyt, as quoted in One Nation Under Siege, a William Lewis film, 2006

Public Schools: What should the Christian Do?

This topic has been heavily blogged and debated to the point one would wonder why I might try to bring this subject up.  Sadly, this subject has even see churches split.  One wonders why this subject is hotly contested for no one argues that the public school system is broke and in need of repair.  We all see the news stories about how our schools seem to be failing at ever step, that we are not as competitive in the world.  Generally,
Christians agree that the public school system has rejected God and is now a source for human naturalism, just ask why creation is no longer taught at your local high school or middle school.   Yet, we insist on fighting a fight that seems to be hinging on the incredulous. 

“Some of us think that all cannot be too bad.”  “Such a thing might be happening, but it is not happening at our schools.”  “My spouse though works as the school.”  “My pastor is on the school board.”  Though I comprehend these thoughts, these statements are missing the bigger picture.  The problem of government schools is to big for the band-aid response from the Christian community.  The sad reality is that many brothers and sisters in Christ have not thought through this biblically or theologically prior to sending their children to the government run school system.  The quick response when question is that hey it was okay for me so it should be okay for them. 

Christians who still doubt the evil agendas of the government (public) schools need to take heed of the insights of Christian organizations:  American Family Association (AFA), Liberty Counsel, Concerned Women for America (CWA), and others. 

AFA has done a documentary entitled, Speechless: Silencing the Christians.  One segment tells the story of a mostly conservative, tight-knit community in Kentucky whose schools have not escaped the reach of the homosexual lobby.  Regarding a video that promoted homosexual lifestyle, “Students were told that they could not make any comments that disagreed with this idea, and they were not allowed to object on religious
grounds…. There was also no provision for parents to opt their children out of the program.”  A mother responds to the school in the film, “You’re telling me that my child is no longer mine as long as he’s on school property? And they [school officials] said, ‘That is correct.’”[1]

Now some of us may quickly think that this is will never happen in our schools.  The NEA (National Education Association), the largest teacher’s union, would disagree.  Matt Barber, director of
Cultural Affairs for Liberty Counsel, explains, “The National Education Association is on board a hundred percent with the homosexual lobby’s wish list – with their goals – so they have an ‘in’ to our system of public
education.  Groups like GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, they provide the curriculum that is being taught in our Sex Ed classes throughout schools – and civic classes and elsewhere – they provide the curriculum.”[2]

Concerned Women for America doing their research remarks, “I’ve warned about this before, but now the evidence is beyond dispute: there is an evil scheme aimed at destroying our children.  The attack comes on many fronts…These reports confirm my worse fears about this scheme.  Radical homosexual activists have long said, “Whoever controls the schools controls the future.”  If they can convince the next generation
that homosexuality is “just another lifestyle,” there will be no stopping them.”[3]

One may start to be wondering, where are you going with this?  Sadly, I am out of room for this post.  My next post will look at what some Christian leaders state regarding public schools and hopefully encourage fellow parents to engage Biblically and come to a theological solution for their children.

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[1] Speechless: Silencing the Christians,  produced by AFA; hosted and narrated by Janet Parshall.  The film may be viewed at www.silencingchristians.com

[2] Ibid.

[3] “Jesse’s Dream Skirt, New Tactics Revealed to Lure Our Children,” 2005 Newsletter #451, Jesse’s Dream Skirt Ver. B1, Concerned Women for America, August 8, 2005.

Health care - Are there any options

As we struggle with the new law, Christians have some struggles with the idea of allowing our money to go directly to abortion amongst other things. With this in mind, there are many Christians asking what can be done. One such question was asked of Voddie Baucham, a prolific Bible teach. Below is that question and his response.

I remembered reading a blog of yours some time ago that you used Samaritan Ministries instead of regular insurance. My family is having a hard time with health insurance (and NOT wanting Obamacare!) so we are checking into Samaritan. We wanted to ask a family that has it if they are pleased and would recommend it to others.


This question is very important in light of the recent passage of Obamacare. We are in the midst of a Constitutional crisis the magnitude of which most Americans cannot fathom. Even if the Republican party takes power again, they are likely to treat this issue like that of Social Security or Medicaid (two other socialist programs that were instituted under the "New Deal," and are now Sacred Cows that even the staunchest conservatives choose to ignore even though the programs are bankrupt both financially and ethically).

Socialized medicine, in one form or another, is probably here to stay. In the meantime, Samaritan Ministries (and other health care cost sharing programs) is a viable alternative. We chose Samaritan for several reasons:

1) We do not want to pay for procedures we find morally repugnant

Samaritan Ministries is committed to biblical truth. The members of Samaritan have to sign a statement of faith, and have a pastoral recommendation to join. While this is not "foolproof," it is an important safeguard. On the other end of the equation, we know that claims are examined based on the aforementioned standards. I don't have to worry about funding an abortion through Samaritans.

2) We do not want to participate in an unconstitutional, immoral, unethical program if we don't have to.

The current health care bill is a constitutional nightmare in more ways than one. Not only is it unconstitutional for government to mandate the purchase of any product or service, there is also the issue of the unconstitutional measures employed to secure the passage of the bill. Not to mention the myriad other aspects of this legislation that cross the bounds of both Constitutional legality and ethics. If there is any way not to participate in this system, we will find it (by the way, I opted out of Social Security for the same reason).

3) We want to be able to negotiate directly with our doctors for the best price

One of the reasons health care costs have skyrocketed is the existence of multiple middle-men. When we show up at the doctor's office and tell them we're with Samaritans, and will be paying them directly, we almost always get a significant discount. This is both encouraging and sad. Encouraging in that we save money, and sad in that it demonstrates the amount of waste inherent in the current system.

4) We want to be a part of something that has the potential to bring about change

Because of the loophole in the bill, Samaritan is a safe haven for Christians who want to escape the government takeover of health care. However, it also has the potential to open the floodgates for more programs like it. I am encouraged by the number of people who have asked me about Samaritan Ministries. A number of them have joined, and are now part of this important network. Others still have questions.

We are proud both to belong to and recommend Samaritan Ministries.

If you have more questions, click here, or contact Samaritan Ministries at 888.268.4377, or email them at smchcn@smchcn.net

What are your thoughts on this? What should we as Christians do?

PuritanD