Teach it to your children…

Family and marriage are institutions designed by God–they are not man-made.  Perhaps then, we shouldn’t be surprised that the family is becoming an enemy. Who would have ever believed there would come a time when society would be hostile to what has always been considered the basic unit of its existence?  It is why I think feminism has had the most damaging impact on our culture…because at the core, it seeks to separate family…with destruction as a result.

We have slid down a slippery slope and arrived at the belief that the basic unit of society is the INDIVIDUAL.  (Think about it for a minute…look at all the ways families are divided and the expectations that is should be so…even within the church.)  And when that is believed, the individual is very quickly lost in the state.

“Dr. Carle C. Zimmerman, Harvard University spent his life studying the history of the family.  He has pointed out the family’s significance:  that whenever the atomistic (separate, unrelated members) family develops, in which the authority of the father is no longer paramount, then there is a very quick disintegration of society, the total state takes over, and there is a radical collapse of civilization…..

With the development of the atomistic family–which is really no family at all–the home is simply a place to room and board while the state takes over the role as father–to take care of the family in its every need, providing for the children and the parents; the family no longer cares for itself; civilization collapses. ” -R.J. Rushdoony

(By the way, this paradigm does not exclude the rare single men and women not called to marriage;  all still belong to a family and have a major importance in that role.)

Listen to  Zimmerman’s conclusions:

He believed…

“..that a fundamental purpose of civilization is the empowerment and enabling of the family — and is absolutely key to the health of any civilization. … Nobody undertakes to have a large family because it’s fun, or, in advanced societies, because it’s economically beneficial. They do it because they believe that’s what people do. In other words, they believe that children are a blessing from God, and that we humans are participating in the divine will by begetting children and raising them up to carry on our civilization….

Mankind has consumed not only the crop, but the seed for the next planting as well. Whatever may be our Pollyanna inclination, this fact cannot be avoided. Under any assumptions, the implications will be far-reaching for the future not only of the family but of our civilization as well. The question is no longer a moral one; it is social.”

Building the family is the only option for surviving–slice it any way you like, our ideals and personal opinions won’t erase factual reality.

Our nation stands on the brink of becoming something entirely different than we’ve ever known.  I found the following article quite timely in regard to the topic at hand:

“In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I was taught to believe individual pursuits are selfish and sacrificing for the collective good is noble. In kindergarten we sang songs about Lenin, the leader of the Socialist Revolution.

In school we learned about the beautiful socialist system, where everybody is equal and everything is fair; about ugly capitalism, where people are exploited and treat each other like wolves in the wilderness.

Life in the USSR modeled the socialist ideal. God-based religion was suppressed and replaced with cultlike adoration for political figures.”

Read the rest of Perspectives on Communism from a Russian Immigrant

“You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.”

Interesting…a reader sent me this quote:

Kevin Jennings, radical gay activist, has been appointed to the Department of Education, in charge of the “Safe Schools” program.

If you are a Christian and have children in public school, make sure you read this…

(I might as well state the disclaimer right up front…this is a Christian blog.  And as such, I firmly believe that homosexuality is an abomination to God.  That does NOT mean I hate homosexuals or promote hatred for them.  I am no more anti-gay than I am anti-cohabitation.  I’m anti-immorality, whatever form it takes.  So if you comment to blast me for “hating”, don’t.  I’ll delete the comment because you’re incorrect.  This is not the place to try to convince me that immorality should be accepted and taught to our children.  You won’t.)

I wanted to offer yet another reason Christians must strongly consider whether it is acceptable to allow our children to be taught by the state.  And let me prod you to think about this…if we truly uphold all lifestyles of sin as sin, making no distinction about “levels”, why are we so easily outraged about a homosexual agenda being taught to our children, but we’re not bothered by the humanist agenda?  Or by the immorality being taught in the health classes under the guise of  “sex education”?  Or by the other teachings that oppose what we believe about God and truth?   Let’s give no allowance to be called hypocrites.  In my opinion, this is not a better reason to remove our children fro public schools; it’s just another one.

Obama has appointed Kevin Jennings as Assistant Deputy Secretary at the Department of Education.  Kevin Jennings is the founder and head of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).  He is operating under the guise of promoting “safe schools”, where he claims his agenda is to protect children from harassment regardless of their sexual orientation.

But if there are any doubts about how this agenda is promoted, in a nutshell, they try to inundate people (read in this case “students”) with the language, expressions and familiarity of the homosexual lifestyle to “break down barriers” placed by “prejudice and ignorance”.  That’s their version and Jennings admits that “the affirmation of the lifestyle equals ’safety’ “.

It should be noted, that in order to desensitize children to the homosexual lifestyle, they have to be desensitized to immorality altogether. You can’t convince children that homosexuality is OK, until you first convince them that sex–in any form–is OK (it’s happening in Britain schools).  Folks, in case you didn’t know, we are witnessing a time in history when you are called “ignorant” for teaching your children that sex before marriage is wrong.  Or that virtually anything is wrong, for that matter.  There is no wrong; only choices.  And the state plans to “set right” that ignorant brainwashing by teaching your children otherwise. I’m not being hyper, I promise.  Ultimately, the religion of tolerance (America’s religion of choice) forces the state to keep pushing back anything established as *wrong*.    After all, being wrong may hurt my feelings.

If you feel brave enough to investigate what kind of sick, disgusting things are being taught at the GLSEN conferences (the group Jennings heads up), it may help you to understand that I’m not being an alarmist.  But I will warn you that what I read from a Massachusetts’ conference (my audio didn’t work) is jaw-dropping explicit–bordering sadism.  The conferences receive federal funding, are supported by the Dept. of Education and have students as young as 14 in attendance.

Here are a few details about Jennings and his network:

” The group’s target has been to place these clubs (GLSEN) in all U.S. schools, K through 12.”

In a speech in a New York church in 2000…

“Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] over to our side. That’s really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, ‘[F—] ‘em!’ which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!” — Jennings speech to Marble Collegiate Church, March 20, 2000.

(How’s that for irony…one of his “safe schools” tactics was to declare a no-name-calling week.  He has been hired to promote respect and kindness for all. Do you really think that is his aim?)

At a GLSEN conference, Jennings told his fellow gay teachers that they must teach kids to accept homosexuality “before the children have a chance to be prejudiced by their parents and churches.”

“One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.”  While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education.  What’s the difference?  If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no.”

Read the rest of  The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare

Sunday, Joel McDurmon, with American Vision stated those sentiments more eloquently in a message he spoke at our church.  What’s better, he concluded with an encouraging word to believers:

“The sin-gripped heart lives and breathes in a cloud of its own delusion, in which it exhibits all the functions of the Image of God which it bears—it worships, it gets outraged over moral issues, it preaches, it evangelizes for its cause, it cares about knowledge and order—yet it directs these functions toward an untenable false god (some aspect of creation) instead of the true Creator. The worship of this false god—be it that of another religion, or man himself—consumes all that fallen man does, and in the end all the failures of that false god manifest as the failures of the sinners who followed it. That is, to the extent that men worship a corrupt god, to that extent their lives, families, and societies will grow corrupt. And the more they grow corrupt, the more they worship their idols, and the whole process compounds upon itself.

This process, of God abandoning sinners to fill up the measure of their own sinfulness, rarely gets talked about, but it appears all through Scripture. It is one of God’s specific ways of sending judgment upon a people: removing His restraints from a society and allowing that society to have the full measure of the sins they so badly lust for; and the ensuing self-destruction of that people as they devour one another and cannibalize themselves, stands as a testimony to God’s truth as the only salvation for mankind….

The sins of a people (even of individuals) become the method through which God judges that nation unto its own self-destruction. When a nation, even of many professing Christians, elects to educate its children through godless, unbiblical means, that very means becomes the method of driving that generation and its future inheritors further into destruction. When a culture adopts abortion and other family planning measures in order limit and even cancel the growth of families, God judges that nation through that medium and thus destroys its inheritance and continuance into the future….

When a culture denies just weights and measures, God will abandon them to that injustice, and that very tool will run their measures of food and shelter and meaningful work empty. When a culture looks to government to be its benefactor and savior, God will give them their government in all its glory and power to be their savior, and they will all go down together. When a culture attacks everything godly about families and freedom, God will abandon them to a rootless, loveless, tyrannical end.

As people who abhor these very idols, who pray for deliverance, who cry out about the evils around us, who do everything we can to preserve a godly family and society, and yet watch all of it slowly slip away around us due to the lusts of our countrymen and the heart-idols of many of our religious peers, we tend to lose heart….

The question is not whether we can stop it; the question is whether we can be the Ezekiel and the faithful that shall remain after it dies and decays away. Because the ultimate goal of such judgments is to separate the sheep from the goats. To destroy the deluded and gather God’s people unto Him. This is how Ezekiel concludes in verse 11: he intends to punish the false prophets and idolatrous in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God.

It’s a good time to have babies, to join together in churches that support godly causes. It’s a good time to be productive and wise. If you can’t have a big family, the church is your big family; support it in every way you can, and defend her purity and peace. These are basic, simple measures that will keep us gathered to God as the God Delusion leads his enemies to cannibalize themselves; and the meek shall inherit the earth, and the righteous shall have the kingdom of heaven. “

“Humanism is the second oldest religion known to man.  It goes back to the Garden of Eden…It’s first article of faith is the belief that all things, including every word from God, must be put to the test of man’s reason and experience:  ‘Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ “  R.J. Rushdoony

Humanism is the belief that all things exist for man’s good and betterment, and therefore man determines right and wrong; Christianity is the belief that man exists for God and as such, He knows what is best for us.  (The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.)

The two are antagonistic in nature.  But there is a MAJOR problem…many Christians have unknowingly begun to follow the doctrine of humanism wounding the body of Christ, rendering themselves impotent and even worse, party to man’s destruction.

Satan tempted Eve with the power to “be as gods, knowing good and evil”.  Never has the church been so divided about truth, and more and more pastors are falsely teaching that truth is relative and we can determine for ourselves what constitutes good and evil, rather than looking to the laws of God given to us for instruction and life.

It’s difficult to just make a list of how humanism has infected us; we may be tempted to point the finger at others–you know, the biggies like the churches who have ordained homosexual pastors, and recognize the humanism there.  But if we look closely, we may see it in our own lives, if we are willing.

“Humanism in the church sees Christ as our great fire and life insurance agent, not as the Lord.”  -Rushdoony

We want everyone to get saved, pour all of our resources into that mission (which we falsely believe we control) and then we breathe a big sigh of relief and don’t dare tell the new convert “Thus saith the Lord” in case we might offend him and he leave the church (would a real convert leave in such a case?)

We don’t live our theology out of our fingertips (nor are we taught to); our lives often do not reflect the reign of the sovereignty of God in every area.  And when they don’t, we serve the religion of humanism, deciding for ourselves “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We see it in our view of children (being anti-abortion does not make one pro-life), our view of marriage (reduced to self-fulfillment), our view of education (giving authority to the state which usurps the family’s), and on it goes, each area adversely affecting another.

That the Lord desires to rule in the hearts of His children because it brings them LIFE is a fact to be reckoned with.  But He will not barge in and take control.  He wants submission to the authority of His lordship.  And those who refuse that submission will self-destruct by the very nature of God and the laws He set forth from Creation.

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;  In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land… I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy descendants  may live…”  Deuteronomy. 30:  15-19

And when it comes to strong societies–family, family, family.

I almost get sick to my stomach when I hear Christians tsk other Christians for “making too much of the family”.  I suppose there could be such a thing, but I think we make a grave mistake assuming one can be “too concerned” about the health of the family.

R.J. Rushdoony writes:

“The growth of statist power in health, education, and welfare has been marked by a retreat of Christians from those sectors.  This has enabled the state to enter by default into society’s key area of power, the family.  Control of the family means control over all of society.  The church cannot be strong where the family is weak.  The decay of family and church is the decay of society.”

And can’t you see it?  The devastating results of “too little emphasis” on the family?  When we stop investing in our families, they make an easy, open target for attack.

We live in an era where even the church elevates the individual, often to the demise of the family.  Throughout Scripture we see where God worked through families, and largely even through nations and generations to fulfill His purposes.  He is a far-sighted, generationally-reaching God, and we are to be too.

Which is why we have to pay such careful attention to our health as a family.  It is why divorce among believers should make us weep; it’s why we must invest every ounce of our being into nurturing the souls of our children; it’s why we should help them approach marriage with a gravity and preparation unheard of among pop-culture.  It’s why we must see ourselves as one force, worthy of defense, united in purpose and vision.

And ultimately, why we should be seeking to share this vision with other families, taking them under our wings and encouraging them to fight the good fight and march under the banner of Christ.