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

a painting of children sitting at desks in a classroom with books on the table

America is now facing a crisis of educational insanity that is literally threatening the survival of the nation itself. Before the ‘mountain’ of education was overtaken by bureaucrats of the federal government, Americans grew up with a high-quality education. It was either delivered at home or at locally run community or private schools supported by parents, philanthropists, and churches.

I’ve drawn much of today’s Reclaiming Your Legacy episode from my friend, Alex Newman, editor-in-chief for the New American Magazine. He’s a leading advocate for private and home-based education, and he has written many publications, including one that deserves your consideration to get bulk copies to send to friends. It’s called Rescuing Our Children. You can download a free pdf copy, at this link… perfect for sharing with others about this vital issue:

https://thenewamerican.com/rescuing-our-children-special-report-pdf-download/

In 1955 Rudolph Flesch wrote his best-selling book, “Why Johnny Can’t Read.”  He said, “The teaching of reading — all over the United States, in all the schools, and in all the textbooks — is totally wrong and flies in the face of all logic and common sense.”  How could the abandonment of intensive phonics (teaching reading on the basis of sounds) in favor of the “whole word” method (as if each word was a whole symbol) not cause the deterioration in reading skills that followed?  

In 1981, Flesch wrote a sequel to his classic, entitled Why Johnny Still Can’t Read. President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education wrote: “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

They explained it this way: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

Since then, it’s gotten much, much worse. And a growing number of Americans have come to realize that far too many Johnnies not only do not know how to read — or write — with any degree of proficiency, but also are handicapped in terms of their ability to add and subtract, or even to apply their minds and think critically.

Where We Came From

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.

Did you know that Philadelphia, by 1776, had become second, only to London, as the chief

city in the British Empire? Dr. Robert Peterson, in an excellent overview of colonial education published by the Foundation for Economic Education, explained that Quaker schools often allowed poor Quaker and non-Quaker children to attend without paying fees. “The Scottish Presbyterians, the Moravians, the Lutherans, and Anglicans all had their own schools. In addition to these church-related schools, private schoolmasters, [who were] entrepreneurs in their own right, established hundreds of schools. Historical records, which are by no means complete, reveal that over one hundred and twenty-five private schoolmasters advertised their services in Philadelphia newspapers between 1740 and 1776. Instruction was offered in Latin, Greek, mathematics, surveying, navigation, accounting, bookkeeping, science, English, and contemporary foreign languages.”

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Early education, then, was typically a family affair. The widespread circulation of simple, but highly effective reading primers, such as the New England Primer and the Blue-Backed Speller helped a great deal.

New England Primer 1762

From the solid foundation developed at home, young literate citizens could easily continue their own education if they desired, using libraries. These were typically funded and run by churches early on, and later, via membership fees and private donations. Early Americans could also join “mutual improvement societies” to further their own education.

It was an incredibly successful and effective non-system. In 1831, Frenchman Alexis de Toqueville, after traveling across America and studying it, commented on the education of the time in the northern regions.

“In New England, every citizen receives the elementary notions of human knowledge; he is moreover taught the doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution,” de Toqueville explained. “In the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts, it is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon.”

Consider that the products of this laissez-faire education produced the freest and wealthiest society in human history.

Founding Father and prolific inventor Benjamin Franklin, widely regarded as a genius among geniuses, was taught to read by his father before going on to study writing and arithmetic at a private school. Thomas Jefferson, meanwhile, studied Latin and Greek under a tutor, and later attended a classical academy run by a reverend.

Among the leading lights of American history, many were educated primarily at home, including President George Washington, widely regarded as the father of America. President John Quincy Adams never attended a formal school until he went to Harvard, which was a fervently Christian university then, in his early teens. And except for one year of formal schooling, Abraham Lincoln received virtually all of his education in his home. James Madison was taught to read and write at home before going to spend a few years at a private academy and then college.

The Founding Fathers were certainly learned and accomplished men, but their educational backgrounds were by no means unique. Even among everyday Americans, literacy was widespread. Founding Father John Adams noted in 1765 that “a native of America who cannot read or write is as rare an appearance as a comet or an earthquake.”

According to National Education in the United States of America by DuPont Nemours, published in 1812, literacy was practically universal back then. He found that “Most young Americans … can read, write and cipher. Not more than four in a thousand are unable to write legibly – even neatly,”. Many other sources support his findings. And consider that today, government studies show almost half of Americans are either illiterate or so close to illiterate that they might as well be lumped in with them.

It wasn’t just basic reading skills that were universal before institutionalized government “schooling” took over.  Early Americans could think and comprehend, too. As The New American’s editor-in-Chief, Gary Benoit, explained in a 1997 piece, headlined “Before the Public Schools,” the Federalist Papers published in the late 1780s provide ample evidence of the high literacy and phenomenal education that was ubiquitous in those times. In fact, those newspaper columns about the newly drafted U.S. Constitution were aimed at the common American man — the farmer, the merchant, the laborer. Today, many college graduates struggle to understand those documents — and many would undoubtedly struggle even if the documents were presented in modernized English.

Aside from being a non-government education, the classical education of the Founders, and many of their contemporaries, was much different than what passes for schooling today. The three schools that trained more of America’s Founders than any others were Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Interestingly, though, all of them were actually founded to train ministers of the Gospel. The Bible was central to all the education provided at each of those universities.

With the Bible at the heart of schooling, early Americans understood the role of government to be a simple one: protect from evildoers the God-given rights to life, liberty, and property. And they understood the role of education as coming to know God and the scriptures, gaining knowledge about creation, learning what was needed for a productive life, and learning to live right by God. As John Milton famously put it, “The end of learning is to repair the ruin of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him.” Such views were dominant back then, when Americans were far more educated.

Government Becomes the “Educator”

Officially, the history of “government” laws about education began with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1647. Their very first public act on education and schooling was called: the Old Deluder Satan Act.  The preamble to the law said…

“It being one chief project of the old deluder Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scripture …, to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors … it is therefore ordered … [to] appoint One, within their town, to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid, either by the parents or masters of such children or by the inhabitants in general.”

The primary purpose of the Puritan era schools, was to ensure a knowledge of the Bible. But their schools were hardly the institutionalized government propaganda centers of today. Even in Boston in the late 1600s, there were only one or two “public” schools, and virtually all students starting there already knew how to read. Many knew more than just reading, having learned much from their families at home.

It’s worth noting that the Puritans in Massachusetts were an anomaly in America regarding government laws touching education. The experience of the other Colonies showed clearly that a law mandating reading instruction in larger towns wasn’t needed at all. In fact, Americans were so zealous for education, they didn’t need government to provide it for them in order to obtain it.

The first giant step away from traditional, classical, Christian education toward socialistic and humanistic indoctrination and the dumbing down of education… began under Horace Mann. In 1837, in Massachusetts, Horace Mann was appointed as the first-ever “Education Secretary” of an American state. And as a unitarian who rejected the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, Mann had big ideas about reforming the highly successful educational system that existed at the time.

Mann went to Prussia in 1843 and was very impressed with what came to be known as the Prussian Model. It was essentially the first systematic effort by a Western government to seize total control over education. Under that European model, government schooling became compulsory. Statism and unquestioning obedience to government was instilled in all children. Indeed, teachers were themselves trained by the state, ensuring that the teachers taught what the state wanted. And unlike in America, children were segregated based on age.

One of Mann’s key goals for the education system he imported from Prussia, was to “equalize the conditions of men.” This was a socialistic view, believing that everyone would be more equal if everyone received the same education. This approach, which manifests itself today in the form of Common Core, achieves mediocrity, not excellence. As much as politically possible in his day, Mann worked to ensure that religious instruction was purged from education, too. While it was done under the guise of combating sectarianism among the different Christian denominations, the real goal was to remove the Bible, which until that time had been an inseparable part of America society and its education. Mann was so passionate about institutionalized government schooling based on the Prussian model that he traveled across the country promoting it. By the mid-1800s, compulsory attendance laws and government schools were popping up across the northern United States. After Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut joined in the movement. By 1900, despite major resistance from some segments of the populations and many parents, dozens of states had imposed similar Prussian-style systems with compulsory attendance laws.

John Dewey Picks Up the Baton

After Mann came the notable humanist, John Dewey. An anti-Christian socialist, Dewey was fanatical in his zeal to reform humanity to fit his atheistic, collectivist vision. After visiting Lenin’s Soviet Russia, he returned to write openly of the mass-murdering regime, praising its creation of a “collectivist mentality” through education and propaganda.

He wrote: “The only form of enduring social organization that’s now possible is one in which the new forces of productivity are cooperatively controlled.”

“Organized social planning … is now the sole method of social action by which liberalism can realize its professed aims.” Dewey frequently pointed to an 1888 novel, Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy. It envisioned a communist America with no private property in the year 2000. Bellamy’s radical vision, animated Dewey and his supporters in their quest to re-shape America by re-shaping its children by re-shaping their education.

Dewey’s radical beliefs are well defined in the 1933 Humanist Manifesto, whichhehelped develop. It’s a complete rejection of freedom and the Creator.  It’s also a rejection of the unalienable rights given to individuals by their Creator, as written in the Declaration of Independence.

“FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.”  Dewey and his fellow signers of that document shamelessly denied the very first sentence of the Bible. It was a frontal assault on the very foundation of Christianity, Western civilization, America, morality, and individual liberty.

Forty years after Dewey’s original Humanist Manifesto, his comrades were even bolder. In Humanist Manifesto II, they openly called for one world government. “We deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic grounds,” the document declares. “We have reached a turning point in human history where the best option is to transcend the limits of national sovereignty and to move toward the building of a world community in which all sectors of the human family can participate. Thus, we look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal government.”

The original Humanist Manifesto also attacked free enterprise. Arguing for collectivization of the means of production, they insisted,

“The humanists are firmly convinced that existing … profit-motivated society has shown itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls, and motives must be instituted.  The goal of humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily and intelligently cooperate for the common good.”

Curiously, Dewey and all his 30+ co-signers acknowledged their beliefs were essentially religious. Darwinian evolution was at the heart of their new religion. Without a Creator, there can be no God-given rights. And without God-given rights, there can be no objective reason for protecting individual rights at all, much less for limiting the power and scope of government.

Like so many socialists, Dewey saw education as the key to change society. In his book Democracy and Education, Dewey argued that education is “the process through which the needed transformation may be accomplished.” With millions from the Rockefeller dynasty, Dewey and his allies had all they needed.

However, they knew that if parents or teachers understood what was happening, they’d rebel. So, Dewey argued in his essay, The Primary Education Fetich (sic), that deception and stealth would be required. “Change must come gradually,” Dewey wrote. “To force it unduly would compromise its final success by favoring a violent reaction.”

In their ultimately successful plan to hijack and weaponize government schools, those lunatics used many strategies, to quietly take over the most important teaching colleges – especially the University of Chicago and Teachers College at Columbia University — so future educators were trained to do their bidding. Rockefeller’s funding paid for an “experimental school” to test and refine their ideas.

One of the most diabolical aspects of the Dewey scheme was the resurrection of the discredited “whole word” reading method first pioneered by Mann in the 1840s. Like ‘tares’ their reading primers were planted in schools throughout America, leading to a national illiteracy crisis that persists to this day, with “sight words” still mandated by “Common Core” starting in kindergarten. That’s a big part of why almost two-thirds of high-school seniors today are not even proficient in reading.

Ramping Up Federal Control: Common Core and ESSA

With the success of Dewey and his allies indoctrinating generations of Americans through public schools, it was time for the rogue federal government to formalize it all. In 1962, the Supreme Court unlawfully banned prayer in school. Prior to that, states like New York, had officially encouraged students to begin their school day with the simple prayer:

 “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.”

But the Supreme Court, apparently unwilling to read the plain text of the First Amendment, prohibiting Congress from establishing a religion or prohibiting the “free exercise thereof,” ruled prayer illegal. In 1963, Chief Justice Earl Warren led the increasingly bold high Court to ban Bible reading in school. Justice Potter Stewart was one member of the court who understood what was happening. As the only dissenting voice in the Abington v. Schempp case banning Bible reading, Stewart slammed the ruling, writing: “It led not to true neutrality with respect to religion, but to the establishment of a religion of secularism.”  And that’s exactly what it did. Dewey’s dictatorial humanist religion is now the official state religion…  mandated to be fed to all children in all government schools, at taxpayer expense. Let that sink in.

Data compiled by the Nehemiah Institute shows the overwhelming majority of public-school children from Christian homes will leave their church and end up with a secular worldview.

Two years after banning Bible reading in schools, the government ditched the Constitution’s constraints on its power as Congress formally began seizing control of public education. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed, opening the floodgates of federal funding.

Less than 15 years later, Congress and Jimmy Carter unleashed the U.S. Department of Education on America. It didn’t take long for the feds to demand more control, so the Obama administration finally came out and openly nationalized education standards using Common Core. Now, education is being globalized, with the United Nations and the U.S. Department of Education leading the way.

Alex Newman, concludes his astute essay, writing that… by the time the federal government began openly hijacking control of education from the states and local communities, America had already undergone a fundamental transformation via education. Norman Dodd, who led an investigation by Congress’ Select Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations, explained that entities like the Rockefeller Foundation,

which funded Dewey and others, had orchestrated drastic changes that were so serious they constituted a “revolution.” However, this “could not have occurred peacefully, or with the consent of the majority, unless education in the U.S. had been prepared in advance to endorse it.”

In a few centuries, America went from being the best-educated society in all human history — a moral and intellectual superpower — to being a dumbed-down, ignorant, and increasingly immoral nation on the brink of destruction. But it was not by accident. In fact, it was all a deliberate plan, as Alex Newman and Dr. Blumenfeld showed in Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children. This incredible transformation was brought about by seizing control of education and weaponizing it. The only viable solution to this catastrophic problem is to deliberately neutralize that weapon by protecting America’s children from it and restoring true education.

We might not all see the possibility of restoring God-honoring education for the whole country. We might not even have the faith to believe we can honestly pray for that. But as I read my Bible with spiritual eyes, it’s clear that our God has a sizeable record of turning impossible situations around. The demonic enemies of righteousness and the kingdom of God may seem to have the upper hand in our world for now, but isn’t that just the very kind of environment in which God raised up David to slay Goliath and Esther to defeat the plans of evil Haman?

We’re not all called to be a Moses or a Daniel or a Nehemiah, but we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). And He has written all these accounts of His intervention in the lives of His called-out people of the past for our instruction that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we can have hope (Ro. 15:4).

We can’t do everything there is to do, but I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me for what I’m called to do! (Phil. 4:13). Listening to His Holy Spirit for guidance, let’s not forget to use whatever abilities and resources He puts in our trust to enlighten others with His transforming word.

Visit ReclaimingYourLegacy.com to see all the notes and the links for today’s show, and while there, I invite you to help us as you’re able. It’s my blessing to share this message with you today, and I trust it equips you to bring light to others.  

Bonus Segment

Dr. Everett Piper wrote an article for the American Renewal Project (October 11, 2023) on how Higher education in the U.S. has lost its moral boundaries.  He said:

“It may be a surprise to the elites in the media, but American higher education, from its inception in the 1600s until the end of the 19th century, operated within the context of a Christian ethos. The guiding philosophy was to propagate knowledge and to prepare upright leadership within a Christian society.”

He spoke about the formal educational institutions as the “ACADEMY”… saying:

The academy’s mission at that time was to promote moral development and civic responsibility. Theoretically and ideally, higher education was considered critical in maintaining our country’s moral order.”

Did you get that?  The mission of ‘higher education’ in previous generations was all about preserving MORAL ORDER in society.  He continued, saying:

“Seven of the eight Ivy League institutions were founded in like manner. Dartmouth’s purpose was to ‘Christianize’ the American Indian tribes, and its motto, even to this day, is Vox clamantis in deserto: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness’. The University of Pennsylvania’s motto was Leges Sine Moribus Vanae: ‘Laws without morals are useless’.”

There’s no doubt that the lofty goals of America’s Founders’ included Christian community, Biblical teaching, and moral education.  We all know where that came from. Proverbs 1:7 is worth repeating often in today’s ‘Christian communities.’ 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Five centuries before Solomon wrote those words, what did Moses tell God’s people… those who survived the Exodus out of Egypt and 40 years of camping out in the desert, just before their 7-year mission to displace the irredeemably wicked Canaanites?

Quoting from Deut 6:2, Moses told the Israelites vital instructions needed for their very survival… “that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and (so) that your days may be prolonged.”

Then comes the transgenerational assignment to parents in Deut. 6:5-9: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”

We grew up memorizing certain important things “by heart,” right? That’s what it means to keep God’s words “in your heart.”

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

As young parents we meditated on this passage much… and we thought of good ways to apply the next part…

“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (forearm), and they shall be used as bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead.”

This is the Word of the Living God he’s talking about. His laws… His precepts… His principles… His wise insights… His directions for the everyday life use of your hands and your head.  It’s not hard to see the implications of that, is it? And then, Moses writes…

“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Even as a young adult believer, before I was married, I discovered the refreshing strength of posting Scripture verses on the bathroom mirror and the walls of the house. Posting the promises of God is an especially encouraging practice when going through difficult times. But even seeing the Ten Commandments – and reading them – is a great reminder of what will keep us from the sin-filled distractions of a dark and confusing world.

Students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance while saluting the U.S. flag (1899).

Today’s generation can hardly imagine what it was like in schools of our nation’s past. Before the dawning of the “age of Aquarius” and the secular plundering of public education, American society once considered it normal to focus on the development of the inner man and personal integrity. Morality in culture was highly esteemed, along with an intense pursuit of Scriptural wisdom.  Early American educational prioritized those concepts.  At its core, education held the premise that virtue is absolutely essential to freedom.

We don’t inherit spiritual wisdom. It’s not written into our DNA. It must be acquired from people who value spiritual wisdom.

 “Prize her,” urged Solomon to his sons in Proverbs 4:8, “and she will exalt you. Indeed, if you embrace her, she will honor you.” Proverbs 8:15 informs us that exalting spiritual wisdom, along with its virtues of knowledge, shrewdness, discretion, counsel, and resourcefulness, equips “kings to reign and rulers to decree justice.

Unfortunately, in modern America this is no longer the case. Our entire educational enterprise has, in the light of Scripture, “cast off all sensible restraint.”  Not only have moral boundaries been thrown to the wind, common sense, discussion of natural law, and even intellectual sanity seem to have disappeared from many typical academic classrooms.

The idea that biological boys would be allowed to compete against girls at state track and swimming events was utterly impossible a decade or two ago. Now, the federal Washington DC education bureaucrats boast in their liberation to mandate such madness. They publicly give pompous precedence to the sinister staples of cultural Marxism, including embittering America’s youth with Critical Race Theory, hailing homosexual and gender dysphoria, fomenting race division, and instilling into children hate of America and for each other.

If anyone takes a good look at the current condition of most public education in America, they’ll discover that the huge influence of the National Education Association (the NEA) is driven by an unbelievably malicious quest to implant savage values into the nation’s future by corrupting its youth. That process has been likened to the legendary strategy known as the “Trojan Horse” of ancient Greece. Now, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or hoax that causes a vulnerable unwary target to invite an enemy into a securely protected stronghold like your home or community. In computing, a trojan horse (or simply trojan) is a kind of malware that misleads users as to its true intent by disguising itself as a normal program.

It’s not hard for most morally centered adults to see the obvious result. The morally corrupted “spirit” of religious secularism took possession of the now idolatrous institution of “education” and brought with it “seven spirits more vile and wicked than itself” (Luke 11:26).  How else can you describe public education that defines sexual perversions, too disgusting for me to mention on this broadcast being taught to 13 and 14-year-olds as equal to saying ‘I like you?’

At what point is enough enough?

American people, as a society, are daily at a crossroads of deciding their future.  And it starts with each of us. Will we strive to apply God’s wisdom along with knowledge, discernment, and compassion… to every policy-making decision? That’s what will be required if we honestly expect to sustain freedom for our children and grandchildren. The opposition will always continue its intensity. Only those who learn from the failure of American Christians over the last 100 years can prevail. They shirked their responsibility and ignored Christ’s assignment found in Matthew 18:19-20, “Make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”

References

Higher education in the U.S. has lost its moral boundaries. By Dr. Everett Piper in American Renewal Project Newsletter OCTOBER 11, 2023 as published in: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/oct/14/what-happens-in-israel-will-not-stay-in-israel/

Using Public “Education,” Godless Elitists Transformed Americans’ Worldview by Alex Newman in  The New American  https://www.brighteon.com/47519dca-407a-47ae-aa5b-bd82efcf1358

The fundamental transformation taking place in the United States is the direct result of the radical changes in Americans’ worldview brought about by godless elitists using government schools, explained The New American magazine’s Alex Newman in this episode of Behind The Deep State. For centuries, Americans possessed a biblical worldview. In other words, they saw the world and life through the lens of the Bible. However, when communists such as John Dewey teamed up with super-capitalists like the Rockefeller dynasty to brainwash and dumb down Americans using government “education,” that all changed.

From Educational Excellence to Mediocrity by Alex Newman in Rescuing Our Children  from The New American Magazine ; download free pdf at: https://thenewamerican.com/rescuing-our-children-special-report-pdf-download/

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

People all over the world are rediscovering many of the realities of the long chain of events that precipitated the unanimous declaration of some of the bravest honorable men who ever lived.

When those 56 very somber leaders of the American colonists gathered together in Philadelphia to sign the document they had crafted, the extreme hardship of revolution that they faced could only have been sustained because of the deep conviction and confidence they had in their Creator whom they often referred to as “Providence.” 

Over the course of their relatively young lives, their experience of dependency on their Creator reflected the profound knowledge that they had of the Bible and the principles of the God who is “at work in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” They intimately relied on the Sovereign of the Universe who “works all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11),” and “works all things together for good to those who love God and …are called according to His purpose (Ro 8:28).”

As we review the preamble to that declaration, perhaps we can refresh our own need to make a renewed declaration of commitment to God’s purposes in the unfolding story of God’s development of this generation’s determination – determination to be a people – indeed, a family and community – whose God is the Lord.

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Ask the Beasts and Learn about God

Have you sometimes wondered how you could engage someone in a conversation that could help them personally think about their relationship with their Creator?

Since 1975, (50 years) I’ve taught many seminars on the Biblical theme of my book, Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation.  It began as a Bible college course I created for the Canadian Bible College that I attended. That’s where I met the woman, prepared by the Lord to be my life-partner.

Since 2010, I’ve hosted a weekly Radio show and podcast broadcast in Sacramento, CA called RECLAIMING YOUR LEGACY.  You can hear and read all the content for past episodes at ReclaimYourLegacy.com.

Several psalms in the Bible encourage God’s people to look to God’s creation as a catalyst to bringing our praises to our Creator. Psalm 148:7-13 is one of those passages.

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How can so many people be so easily deceived?

By Dennis Petersen

Have you been amazed at how so many people can be so easily deceived?  Even people who seem to be fairly even-tempered and practice common sense are surprising some of us when they reveal that they have bought into various common lies in today’s culture. It seems sometimes that many people have completely lost their minds. They’ve lost their ability to think… to reason… to discern what’s really true. So consequently, confusion prevails. And where confusion prevails you inevitably have a pandemic of fear. And when people are prone to fear they tend to make hasty and bad choices. And that only leads to more confusion plus a flood of hopelessness. They are set up to bow to a false authority, promising them deliverance and unable to deliver it, or they are prepared to hear good news that can change their lives for eternity.

Jesus predicted in two of the gospel accounts that “false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24, and Mark 13:22). When we see how effective the main stream media has been at persuading half the population of the entire world into the most spectacular deception in history, perhaps we can be more discerning.

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Reclaim the Virtue that Fought for Freedom

by Dennis Petersen

 What can we do to reclaim the virtue that fought for freedom?

You’ve probably heard it said that “If you Want Change, Change Begins with YOU.”

Do you remember hearing this famous quote by one of America’s most eminent founding fathers?

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

Benjamin Franklin’s wise insights used to be a regular part in the lives of American children, growing up in the freest nation ever to exist on Earth. Franklin’s autobiography and the biographies of other notable founders were a deliberate part of education in a culture that understood the value of ‘common sense.’

As we look at our national society today, you get the feeling that we’re living in enemy territory, don’t you? Just look at the evidences of corruption and vicious behavior; behavior that Ben Franklin observed to result in increasing “masters.”  But to make matters worse, it’s becoming increasingly obvious to all… that many of our generation’s “masters” are more corrupt and diabolically vicious than any of the everyday gang members on the streets of America’s cities. Do I really mean that? 

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Does the 2024 Solar Eclipse have special meaning for America? #329

After seeing a mighty sign, how are we to think and plan our way?

Be sure to see and hear the episode #328 on ReclaimYourLegacy.com about the 2024 Solar Eclipse.

Have you thought about the real (Bible) purposes of the luminaries in the heaven?

 Genesis 1:14 says that God created the luminaries and that they have specific purposes. They were for signs and seasons. The words actually mean something. And the word ‘seasons’ does not mean the climate changes of Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall, the way we are inclined to think. The seasons referred to there are the “moedim” which are the special appointed times within the Hebrew calendar that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai.  In our culture we’ve not been accustomed to consider these meaningful times that God appointed. We’ve replace the Feast of Tabernacles with Thanksgiving and the Feast of Passover with Easter.

The Bible is speaking to its audience at the time it was written. The words we read in our Bibles typically have much deeper and more profound meanings than we are inclined to think about in our generation.

Does it seem natural to associate a giant X over a single nation with some kind of omen?

Many people around us might be inclined to see things like this and wonder what God might have to say about that. People have many ideas. We need to have answers.

Remember 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:”

Our hope is in Jesus… in His redemption… His salvation… in the expectation of his coming. Our hope is totally wrapped up in our confidence in Him and in His word.

Discovering that the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a mark meaning signature – the letter X – does it seem plausible that the one making the sign might be the Creator, especially when you’re making a giant sign over the entire country?  

Remember that this solar eclipse, just like the one in 2017, is singularly marked over the region and nation that we call the United States. Solar eclipses happen only over a certain region. This time (April 2024) it starts in Mexico… passes over a big swath of the USA… and then ends over the eastern portion of Canada. In 2017 the solar eclipse went over ONLY the United States. So, does that have any significance?

The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the letter X

– actually it’s the letter TAV – which is very interesting. It’s in the shape of a tilted cross, like an X.

Did you know that the law of first mention is a very important principle of interpreting the Scriptures?

How many people you know have any idea that the first time in the Bible in which the word “sign” appears is Genesis 1:14?  That’s where Creator Yahweh describes that the heavenly luminaries shall be for ‘signs.’  And the word signs there has special significance.  It’s the Hebrew word “Oth.”  How is it spelled in Hebrew?  Aleph-Vav-Tav … The connector “And” (Vav) joins the first letter Aleph with the last letter Tav.

The Word for “SIGN” in Hebrew is made of the letters representing “the FIRST and the LAST”

Thus: the Hebrew word for “sign” literally is represented by the signs for “the first and the last”… What does that remind you of?  Besides representing the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, these signs specifically represent whatever might be meant by “the first and the last.”

Jesus referred to Himself three times in the book of Revelation as “the first and the last.”

Do you think it’s significant that about 6 months before the 2024 Solar Eclipse, another sign was the Annular Eclipse of October 2023?  Why? It just happens to make its path connecting the 2017 Solar Eclipse with the 2024 Solar Eclipse.  And what do the three paths together signify?  They make the form of a giant Aleph – the first letter of the ancient Hebrew Alphabet.

What did Jesus say to John …3 times… in his vision when receiving the words of the book of Revelation?

We read it in English as translated from Greek, but John, hearing Jesus speak in his native tongue – Aramaic – a dialect of Hebrew – actually heard Jesus saying: “I am the Aleph and the Tav”

“I am the Alpha and the Omegathe beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” Rev 1:8

And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omegathe Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. Rev 21:6

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Rev 22:13

This message brings to the attention of any Judean man, raised in a devout Jewish first Century home, the familiar verse from Isaiah 44:6.  He wrote …

“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”

Who is the king of Israel? Who is his Redeemer?  Who is the LORD of hosts – (Yahweh Sabaoth – the I AM of angel armies)?

But the passage continues with some very profound declarations… Read Isaiah 44:7-8

‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation (people). And let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.’”

If Jesus were to speak to us in our generation/nation (people group), does this declaration have a sobering challenge and comfort to those who are listening in the midst of a wicked generation filled with idolatry?

What do Aleph & Tav together in Scriptures mean as a sign?

Check www.alephtavscriptures.com

  • Aleph-Tav signs appear throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (Torah)
  • King James translators assume they were simply direct object pointers in Hebrew grammar, so they were never translated into English, or other languages.
  • William Sanford did a thorough study of the use of AlephTav signs in the Scriptures and came to the conclusion that they have specific meanings as a divine mark or sign, identifying Jesus/Yeshua’s presence and divinity. There are also many examples of the AlephTav sign being placed where it pertains to the importance of ‘subject matter’ regarding covenant relationship with the Father, regarding people, persons, places, or things, and even rendering judgments concerning curses or blessings.
  • William published the Messianic Aleph Tav Interlinear Scriptures documents. He has a website explaining in detail the meaning of these covenant markers: https://alephtavscriptures.com
  • Videos on AlephTav https://youtu.be/pBV1cql-Zk0?si=DQigfCfn-79nvtjA ; https://youtu.be/yG-E0nH9qms?si=yGR2XxUoues3HSUm

Solar Eclipses marked the destruction of Ancient Northern Kingdom of Israel AND the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

Amos 8:2,3&9 prophesied to the Northern Kingdom of Israel: ‘And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me: ​​“The end has come upon My people Israel; ​​I will not pass by them anymore. 3 ​​And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD—​​“Many dead bodies everywhere, ​they shall be thrown out in silence.” … 9 ​​“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD, ​​“That I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight;

Jeremiah 15:4,8&9 prophesied to the southern Kingdom of Judah: ‘I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.​  8 ​​Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; ​​I will bring against them, against the mother of the young men, a plunderer at noonday; ​​I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly. 9 ​​“She languishes who has borne seven; she has breathed her last; her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she has been ashamed and confounded. ​​And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies,” says the LORD.’

Why would God be marking Hebrew signs across the United States of America?

The Nation of Israel’s History – see https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-two-kingdoms-of-israel

. God gave the name “Israel” to Abraham’s grandson Jacob (Genesis 32:2835:10). Jacob had 12 sons: Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Judah, Levi, Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin.

. The name of Israel and birthright were passed on by Jacob only to Joseph’s sons Ephraim & Manasseh, who Jacob adopted as his own and moved them ahead of Reuben and Simeon (Genesis 48::5, 16).

. the 13 tribes (Ephraim replaced Joseph, & Manasseh became the 13th tribe (Rev 7:6,8) were a United Kingdom of Israel under Kings Saul, David & Solomon (2 Samuel 5:1-51 Chronicles 29:23).

. After King Solomon’s death, the United Kingdom split into 2 kingdoms: 1) The Southern Kingdom (House) of Judah, headed by King Rehoboam of the House of David, which included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levites (plus a small remnant of Israelites that left the Northern Kingdom) were known as the Judean “Jews,” and 2) the Northern Kingdom (House) of Israel, headed by King Jeroboam, which consisted of the remaining 10 tribes, led by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (1 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 11:12-14.

. God sent the Assyrians to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, because of their idolatry. Amos describes their worship of Baal, immorality, sorceries, divination, lawlessness and child sacrifice to Moloch in his book. The House of Israel was scattered throughout the world (2 Kings 17:5-610-18Jeremiah 31:9), never to be restored. The Region was later reinhabited by Assyrians who adapted a modified Yahweh worship as the people called Samaritans.

. The Kingdom of Judah also forsook Yahweh in idolatry, immorality, and lawlessness. It was destroyed in 586 by God through Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem was conquered and its walls and palaces, as well as the temple, were destroyed, and the inhabitants were carried away into exile for 70 years (2 Kings 24:1824:1-272 Chronicles 36:11-23Jeremiah 29:1052:1-11).

Does the city name of Salem have significance to America’s history or future?

. The August 2017 total solar eclipse started in Salem, Oregon. It then proceeded to cross the entire country, passing over exactly 7 towns named Salem in 7 different states.

. The October 2023 Annular solar eclipse started by crossing over Salem, Oregon again. This time its path dipped southward, crossing over Texas, passing just north of Eagle Pass, where all the nation’s attention is drawn to the alien invasion. Finally, the eclipse left the country, passing right over… Corpus Cristi (which means ‘the body of Christ).

People are naturally asking, “does all this have meaning?” What they’re really asking is ultimately, does God use the creations he made in the heavens to convey divine messages to His children on Earth?

. Salem is the ancient name for JeruSALEM, the city God established for the home of his Tabernacle when He chose to have His glory dwell in the place that became identified as Zion (Psalm 76:2) “In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.”

. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was ruled from Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 11:5).

. 36 cities are named Salem in the USA

Many theories abound on the Internet, declaring the meaning of the 2024 Solar Eclipse, especially because of the giant X it made in crossing over the path of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.

Does it mean the end …of America?

…judgment on the spirit of idolatry – Mystery Babylon – that is easily associated with modern America’s depraved culture?

…the judgment of all those who have gone along with or merely cowered in silence in the face of evil?

…God’s justice upon His enemies who have brought so much carnage to God’s inheritance in the nations? (Psalm 2:8)

How are we preparing our families for the uncertain and challenging times ahead?

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it is vital before a storm to prepare for it.

Proverbs 22:3 & 27:12 – “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.”

Those preparations in light of today’s grievous attacks of evil ones, creating havoc over the nations are many.

  • Shelter
  • Food and water
  • Safety
  • Defense
  • Provision (cash and cash flow – business) Luke 19:13 “Calling ten of his servants [bondservants], he gave them ten minas [3-months wages], and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’”

ResiliantPrepping.com  https://www.resilientprepping.com  

But most importantly…

Are we showing our family how to search the Scriptures like Bereans, to know the ways of God in every day life’s challenges as well as in serious difficulties?

Are we prioritizing our time with God’s Holy Spirit daily treasuring His word in our hearts so that we may not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11)?

I discovered the delight of praying personally to God, many passages of Scripture, especially in the Psalms… like in 119:18

“Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Thy torah.”

And

“Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Thy torah, and keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Thy commandments, for I delight in it.” (119:33-35).

“May thy loving kindnesses also come to me O LORD, Thy salvation according to Thy word; so I shall have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Thy word.” (119:41-42)

Isaiah 26:3  “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in Thee”

Bonus Segment…

“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Thy statutes.” (Ps 119:71)

“If Thy Torah had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Thy precepts, for by them Thou has revived me.” (Ps 119:92-93)

Think about how God speaks to your spirit as you meditate on His word.

“I have more insight than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Thy precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Thy word.” (Ps 119:99-101)

“Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” (Ps 119:105)

Looking at those passages alone, helps all of us to recognize the importance of God’s word in our everyday life, maybe more than ever before. As we’re going into times that are very uncertain, those passages become very meaningful to us. And if we haven’t spent time in God’s word on a daily basis, meditating on His word, then they won’t be in our hearts so we can bring them to our minds again so we can draw comfort and rest for our anxious souls… giving us a reassurance of the hope we have in Him.

Isaiah 66:2 – “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Isaiah 26:3  “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in Thee”

We tend to gloss over passages about God’s judgment, but in a day when evil is openly flaunted and God’s people cry out for justice, our context amplifies the hope of Scripture. Read on in Isaiah 26.

Isaiah 26:7-12 The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous. 8 In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. 9 My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD. 11 O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. 12 O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,

So, how are God’s people to prepare when judgment is approaching a wicked nation?

Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.

God’s word has so much richness and depth to consider. It’s appropriate for the time in which we live – our day.  But we won’t know it if we don’t get into His word… so… Lord, may you draw each of us into your word, that we might praise you… exalt you… and look to you for our hope… in every day.

Here is a chart showing the ‘signs’ for each of the ‘letters’ in the ancient Hebrew alphabet.

Here are the times across the country when the Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024 reaches its complete TOTALITY. This time that totality lasts about four and a half minutes at any given point. It takes a little more than an hour for the eclipse pathway to be completed across this portion of the country.

For more eclipse information check out https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/

See what NASA has for you about solar eclipses at https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/

Thanksgiving for mid-course corrections on the Master’s Path for our life – Providence #290

Have you ever missed a turn on your road to somewhere and then had to make a mid-course correction?

Sometimes when you go too far down the wrong road, you can never completely retrace your path. You might even get blown off course through no fault of your own. Then you have to find a completely new course to your desired destination. We might not have felt particularly like giving thanks for those detours at the time we went through them. Maybe today we’ll discover some thoughts to help us reconsider – thanksgiving for mid-course correction on the master’s path for our life – the providence of God.

Proverbs 16:9 says “The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” This is called the Providence of God.  God guides his children and God provides for their way. It’s one of the key characteristics that all of our nation’s founding men and women knew about their Creator and Savior.

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Understanding the Culture with historian, Bill Federer – Part 3

Get Wisdom – Hate Every False Way

The Bible tells us, “From Your (God’s) precepts I get understanding; Therefore, I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:104)

Can there be any better advice than Proverbs 4:7?  “Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.”

Proverbs 16:16 reminds me, “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.”

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Understanding the Culture with historian, Bill Federer – Part 2

Isn’t it remarkable how the events recorded in God’s Word can often provide insight for the roots of discord that our generation faces even today?

After Gideon died in the book of Judges, the people of Shechem gave a wicked son of Gideon seventy pieces of silver … which he used to hire worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.

In his historical review of how wicked rulers of the past used identity politics and community organization tactics to gain power, Bill Federer explains at a recent series of presentations he did for Pastor Jack Hibbs some very eye-opening principles. Be sure to access the complete illustrated presentation at the link here – https://youtu.be/aOysMK5xK5c . Seeing how notable villains of history built a pattern for modern treachery helps us all identify some of the subtle schemes the devil is using to condition impressionable people to follow immoral, illegitimate elitists until God’s providence uses others to overthrow them. A big part of their strategy is to create discord.

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Understanding the Culture with historian, Bill Federer

Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 2:11 about being taken advantage of by Satan, saying that “we are not ignorant of his schemes.” Today we’ll unpack a treasure of insight of how our enemy has used his number one tool to devastate human lives down through history, and how he’s doing it now.

Historian William Federer is a friend I’ve appreciated for many years. He’s written many books and has a very busy ministry unwrapping the often-hidden details of history and how God has sovereignly guided the affairs of humanity since the beginning of creation. Nothing escapes His notice.  The words of Paul at Mars Hill in Athens in Acts 17 remind us that God “Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” And then he dares to declare that the Creator “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” … and get this… “having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation!” 

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