Education without virtue ruins its home culture with seeds of inevitable destruction

For the first two centuries of America’s existence, almost everyone could read and ‘cipher’ (do basic math)… and they did it without ANY public schools, as they’re known in our time. The institutionalized indoctrination centers of today were unthinkable to early Americans. Past generations of Americans had high value for the education of their children — much more than Americans of today. What was the difference? A lot! But rather than handing over their children to the state to be “educated” by the state, and for the goals of the state, almost all education then was handled by families, religious organizations, tutors, community-run and private schools. And it was done within a free and open market mentality, without top-down controls from a faraway bureaucracy.

Reclaiming Your Legacy is A Mission to Plant God’s Ways in the Next Generation

It’s easy to realize that we all live in a very broken world … filled with broken people … suffering varying degrees of brokenness and dysfunction. Few of us have the rare privilege of being coached from birth by a mother AND a father who also grew up in a God-fearing family who lived close to God’s earth, watching how His natural creation worked – learning what was once called common sense, humane decency, and the grace and peace of the Master Teacher of Divine Righteousness and Eternal Truth… Jesus our Lord.

That’s why Reclaiming our Legacy is a righteous goal. And, of course we’re talking about a righteous legacy… one that was ultimately received by any of our early ancestors who discovered God’s Kingdom and surrendered their lives to our Redeemer, God’s Son, Jesus, the Messiah. We acknowledge that our generation is in a mess. But we have a truly heavenly roadmap… and it’s filled with hope. It’s more like a blueprint to guide us in the rebuilding of a lost masterplan for life… life as it was meant… by Our Creator…  to be lived. And that’s because it was His idea to have a family… a family of sons and daughters… And those children are designed uniquely to be eager to discover and learn all the wonderful insights that would give them the wisdom and skills to train up families of their own.  And then, those families would grow in the Master Designer’s love and understanding just how life was meant by the Creator to be lived.

Awakening to the Reality of Spiritual Warfare

As Abraham was blessed to be a blessing, God’s signal blessings on America are a vivid testimony of our legacy to bless the entire world. We’re part of God’s providential strategy to redeem our sin-sick planet. Abraham’s righteous descendants gave us the Messiah, who redeemed us all by God’s grace. America’s calling is to advance the good news of our Messiah’s finished work to the forgotten people groups throughout the world. Nothing is hated by the Devil and hell’s demons more that this.

Our Ambassador Assignment to Stand Strong in the Culture War

Secularism and paganism permeate every influential part of society: Science, Education, religion, Medicine, Industry, The Marketplace, Entertainment and journalism. Unfortunately, most of the soldiers on the traditional Biblical side of the war are AWOL – absent without leave. Many of them don’t even recognize there’s a war on. And most of them have no idea what the enemy is doing to effectively anesthetize them and win the prize of this war. What is the prize?

How can God’s People be a Calming Influence in a Society filled with Fear? #361

Are you a listening reader – a reader who spends time searching the Scriptures for insight and wisdom? Are you being careful not to waste time listening to proven dispensaries of deception (like the MSM)? Are you investing your life in discovering the truth about the world and the times that you’re living in? Then you are no doubt troubled by the tragic ignorance in our culture today. It’s no surprise that the great spheres of influence in society are rotting in confusion and corruption.

Daniel’s prophecy about the time of the end (Daniel 12:4 ), when he was told that many people will travel to and fro and knowledge would increase… it helps us understand some things. But there’s a paradox. While modern humans have more knowledge at their fingertips than any humans in the history of the world, it’s clear that the vast masses of people are abysmally swimming in a sea of delusion and lost in willful ignorance. They don’t know history. They don’t know logic. Even Christians are at an historic low in their knowledge of God’s Word, the Bible. Most people you pass on the streets, especially those from a lifetime of public education, don’t even seem to know common horse-sense.

Proverbs 15:14 tells us:
“The heart of him that hath understanding seeks knowledge: but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.”

Does that tell you something? Is effort required to seek knowledge over pleasure and entertainment? Did it say that the search begins with “a heart of understanding?” How do you get that? Do you think it depends on parents and mentors and the encouragement to press in to finding the treasures that lazy people will never discover?
It’s no wonder that whole societies world-wide today seem to have lost their senses. It’s like they have no ability to discern what’s true, what’s right, what’s sensible.

Our Creator God of Genesis is Completely Set Apart from Pagan gods

In today’s world ‘captivity’ can easily be seen in the darkness and agony of those trapped in human trafficking as well as those trapped in undeniably pain-filled evils of addictions and self-destructive behaviors of all kinds.  But captivity is a reality by which even the most highly esteemed among us can be endangered.  Afterall, we’re surrounded by a society, overwhelmed by a vast typhoon of voices. Many of those voices are deliberately mesmerizing us into endless temptations to fear men and what they can do to us, rather than to fear God and accept His mercy. Inevitably, all of us are in danger of captivity because we lack knowledge! …particularly the knowledge of God.

Unfortunately, many have become so damaged, so jaded, so disconnected from the true and living God of Creation, that they’ve become hopeless. Their hurt, often turned to scars by people and events often which were beyond their control, has sadly worsened into a burdening ‘callous’ of cynicism, bitterness, and vulgarity. They need the saving grace and perfect peace of The Savior as much as anybody does.

Here’s where the realities of the truths of the Bible need to be presented as an anvil that can withstand the blows of doubt and criticism that imperfect humans have leveled at it for centuries. And, as much as many of us would like to start with Jesus and His gospel of the kingdom of God, when it comes to the challenge of speaking truth into the lives of an unbelievably twisted and warped generation, it’s not a bad idea to begin… with the beginning – Genesis. And that’s just what the word “genesis” means… ‘beginning.’

The Truth About America’s Founding Fathers

As a lifelong student of the fascinating stories of America’s legendary heroes, from the Pilgrims to the Patriots, I discovered an interesting intersection with Holy Scripture. Just as the Bible has its notable heroes of faith and God-given courage in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews in the Bible, so also does the history of America have its heroes of courage and faith in its God-given deliverance from tyranny. And both have had their detractors and skeptics. They continually try to steer generations of young students away from confidence in the truthful place of those heros in the record of Almighty God’s providence in His redemption of the human race.

Accusations to disparage the Founding Fathers are common in the world of fallen mankind. You’ve likely heard slanderous assertions that the Founding Fathers were a bunch of atheists, agnostics, and deists wanting a strict separation of church and state – nothing less than a secular government and a secular public with barely any Biblical values. While their charges are shamefully false, no one is suggesting that all the early American leaders were devoted Christians (though most of them were). The vast majority of Founding Fathers wrote openly, and often, about the influence of Christianity, the Bible and Jesus on their personal lives. You can learn more of the faith journey of the people we’re talking about in the resources noted in the transcript for today’s podcast, but let’s hear some actual quotes to get a glimpse of the thinking of these men.

Americas 250 years of Divine Providence – Celebrated in a time of Conflict and Reflection

It’s now been over 250 years that the people of the American republic have enjoyed the blessings of being a free and self-governing nation. And it all began with the convictions of the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence. Have you heard those words lately? They were deeply believed by every single patriotic American in 1776. But, no matter how patriotic each one of us might sincerely think we are today, I have to humbly admit that there’s almost no way any of us today can fully grasp the sobering reality and risk those men faced.

Knowing what was written in that document, about to be made public the next day, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail that the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 would become the most memorable date in American history. He expected it to be celebrated annually by future generations as a great anniversary festival and day of deliverance. He believed the holiday should be marked by solemn devotion to God and public festivities including pomp and parade, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations across the continent from this time forward forever more.

The devoutly Christian John Adams deeply believed that the founding generation of America sacrificed their prosperity, safety, and peace of mind deliberately for the purpose of establishing liberty in their land. Doing that was unquestionably a God-given blessing to his generation. But he also had a deep sense that there was a significant risk that unborn generations would take these privileges for granted. Adams feared that without a deep appreciation for the moral burden and hardships endured by his contemporaries, future Americans might fail to uphold the Constitution and the republican values they secured. He made it very clear that this sacrifice was not for any personal gain for any of the Founders. It was only to ensure that their sons and their descendants would have the liberty to pursue useful understanding of things like mathematics, philosophy, and the arts without the constant burden of war and political strife.

Created for Purpose – a life of unfolding Providence

Many reach middle age, watch their children grow up, welcome grandchildren into the world, and quietly wonder, “Have I already done the important part of my life—and now I’m just coasting?” Scripture offers a very different picture. It tells us that from the very beginning, God has been a God of purpose—He creates intentionally, He calls personally, and He uses His people meaningfully in every generation and in every season.

God-orchestrated courage produced the Declaration of Independence – it is producing New Awakening

All 56 patriots who signed the Declaration took their duties so seriously to the people of the new nation that they made a promise “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” They signed the Declaration of Independence knowing that the penalty would be death if they were captured, and that pledge could literally cost them their lives and fortunes.