Journey of Cross and Quill

Greg L. Bahnsen, in his book, By This Standard, writes “Will your life be founded upon the sure rock of God’s word or the ruinous sands of independent human opinion? Will your ethical decisions be crooked and inaccurate, following foolish and lawless standards, or will you wisely employ the yardstick of God’s revealed word?” [1] This is the antithesis governing every thought, every word, and every action of our lives. There is no neutrality, no straddling of the fence nor waiting by the sidelines. As Jesus Christ has said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” [2]

What then are we to say to one another when the fruit is not of the vine? We are careful to step lightly, to hold back judgment lest we offend. Are we not then colluding with the darkness? To say nothing is akin to giving approval. Scripture tells us we are to expose the deeds of darkness: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” [3]

The answer to every ill of society lies in the whole of the Bible. We cannot merely be New Testament Christians and leave the standards of God’s law to the ash heap of history. There is much wisdom in the beloved statutes of God. Bahnsen writes:

It is easy to see, then, that everything the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation has an ethical quality about it and carries ethical implications with it. There is no word from God which fails to tells us in some way what we are to believe about Him and what duty he requires of us. Paul put it this way: “Every scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, in order that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). If we disregard any portion of the Bible we will–to that extent–fail to be thoroughly furnished for every good work. If we ignore certain requirements laid down by the Lord in the Bible our instruction in righteousness wil be incomplete. Paul says that every single scripture is profitable for ethical living; every verse gives us direction for our lives. [4]

What Bahnsen is saying here is that the entirety of the Bible is applicable to our lives and by dimishing or completely disregarding one portion of scripture we are shortchanging ourselves and limiting the power of our shield which is used to extinguish the arrows of the evil one. He goes on:

The entire Bible is our ethical yardstick for every part of it is the word of the eternal, unchanging God; none of the Bible offers falliable or mistaken direction to us today. Not one of God’s stipulations is unjust, being too lenient or too harsh. And God does not unjustly have a double standard of morality, one standard of justice for some and another standard of justice for others. Every single dictate of God’s word, then, is intended to provide moral instruction for us today, so that we can demonstrate justice, holiness, and truth in our lives. [5]

What a power and relevant weapon we hold against the forces of darkness! We are fully equipped as the Bible speaks to every area of life, especially in areas of law, government, economics, and ethics! The sword of the Spirit, as described in Ephesians 6:17 is the Word of God. The Bible is not intended for inward piety only. It changes not only lives but cultures!

Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the hungry will be fed, and the naked clothed. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the stranger will be sheltered, the prisoners visited, and the sick ministered unto. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and Temperance will rest upon a surer basis than any mere private pledge or public statute. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the peace of the world will be secured by more substantial safeguards than either the mutual fear, or the reciprocal interests, of princes or of people. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the day will be hastened, as it can be hastened in no other way, when every yoke shall be loosened, and every bond broken, and when there shall be no more leading into captivity. [6]

Man’s opinion can hold no sway over the Word of God for against truth it cannot stand. Let us not then be afraid to speak up for what we know to be just and right, to expose the unfruitful deeds of the darkness, and to stand grounded in God’s Word against the masses of the ungodly. Our holy and righteous God stands before us, the war already won. Shirk not His commandments for we are more than conquerors.

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Endnotes

[1] Greg L. Bahsen, By This Standard, (Powder Springs, GA: The American Vision, Inc., 2008) 13.

[2] Matthew 12:30, ESV.

[3] Ephesians 5:11, ESV.

[4] Greg L. Bahsen, By This Standard, (Powder Springs, GA: The American Vision, Inc., 2008) 16-17.

[5] ibid. p. 17.

[6] Robert Charles Winthrop, Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions 1835-1851, (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1852) 16.

Some of you have truly been brought by God to believe in Jesus. Yet you have no abiding peace, and very little growth in holiness. Why is this? It is because your eye is fixed anywhere but on Christ. You are so busy looking at books, or looking at men, or looking at the world, that you have no time, no heart, for looking at Christ. No wonder you have little peace and joy in believing. No wonder you live so inconsistent and unholy a life. Change your plan. Consider the greatness and glory of Christ, who has undertaken all in the stead of sinners, and you would find it quite impossible to walk in darkness, or to walk in sin. Oh, what low, despicable thoughts you have of the glorious Immanuel! Lift your eyes from your own bosom, downcast believer - look upon Jesus. It is good to consider your ways, but it is far better to consider Jesus. Oh, believer, consider Jesus. Meditate on these things. Look and look again, until your peace flows like a river.

It is better to trust in the Lord, than to have confidence in man.
Psalm 118:8

Romans 13:1: God establishes all government and authority.

Proverbs 21:1: God directs kings and rulers.

Daniel 2:21: God both places and disposes of all rulers and controls the times.

Acts 17:26: God determines national borders and the times set for nations.

Psalm 147:8, 15-18: God controls the weather.

Isaiah 45:7: God creates disaster and prosperity.

Proverbs 21:31: God determines the outcomes of wars.

Hosea 4:6 laments that Israel, God’s chosen people, are destroyed for lack of knowledge–for neglecting God’s law. How true this principle remains today. We are a people ignorant of church history, ignorant of America’s Christian heritage, and most importantly ignorant of God. We attend our churches once or twice a week, work hard, and strive to live an exemplary life of kindness and good morals. In this we pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves on our mediocre and shallow lives. In moments of hypocritical clarity we who call ourselves Christians band together to stand against government spending or homosexuality and are satisfied with our rebellion against the man impervious to the fact we are completely entrenched in the culture at war with God. We are a people of flavorless salt and completely indistinguishable from the world.

A little more than two years ago I identified with the above description and although my soul remained dissastified I remained on the sidelines, going about my life with nary a thought of furthering the Kingdom of God. In my pursuit of higher education I was enrolled in a class on Western Civilization which immediately put me on the defensive. Whenever Christianity was demeaned I was there to stand for the truth and this precious spark has since engulfed my entire being with a burning to bring to light the truth of God’s Kingdom. For my class research paper I wrote on “The Influence of Christianity on Western Civilization” which essentially opened my eyes and led me down the path to the Reformation. God used a secular class to work as my saving grace, feet firmly planted on only one side of the fence. I have taken a stand.

As a writer I cannot stand idly by while God’s people huddle in dark masses. I am but one Daughter of Eve but if I can likewise lead another to knowledge of our great Christian heritage, I am a spark in God’s Kingdom. What can one weak sinner saved by the grace of God do to further this Kingdom? Ask Martin Luther or John Calvin.

At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
There came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
That, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
Like a low inspiration, do the next thing.

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance, be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons, do the next thing.

Author Unknown

Behind every source of law there is a god. To find the god in any system, look for the source of law in that system. If the source of law is the individual, then the individual is the god of that system. If the source of law is the people, or the dictatorship of the proletariat, then these things are gods of those systems. If our source of law is court, then court is our god. If there is no higher law beyond man, then man is his own god, or else his creatures, the institutions he has made, have become his gods. When you choose your authority, you choose your god, and where you look for your law, there is your god.

~ R. J. Rushdoony, Law and Liberty (Fairfax, Virginia: Thoburn Press, 1971). p.33.

O GOD with goodness all thy own
In mercy cause thy face to shine;
So shall thy ways on earth be known,
Thy saving health and power divine:
O let the gladdening nations sing,
And praise thy name with hallowed mirth,
For thou of righteousness art King,
And rulest all the subject earth.

O let the people praise the Lord;
The people all thy praise express;
And earth her plenty shall afford,
And God yea, our own God, shall bless;
Our God his blessing shall bestow;
His power, his goodness, shall appear;
And all the ends of earth shall know
And worship him with holy fear.

Poems of Religion and Society by John Quincy Adams

It is firstly required that they have a principle of moral honesty in them … that they “love righteousness and hate iniquity,” that they be “men of truth,” Exod. 18:21, for every man will act in his relation, according to the principle that rules in him: so that an unrighteous man will be an unrighteous ruler, so far as he hath an opportunity.

They must also be acquainted with the rules of righteousness; they must know what is just and what is unjust, be “able men,” Exod. 18:21. For, though men may know and not do, yet “without knowledge the mind cannot be good.” Ignorance is a foundation for error, and will likely produce it, when the man applies himself to act; and if he do right at any time it is but by guess, which is a very poor commendation.

Again, he must be one that respects the cause, and not the persons, in all his administrations, Deut. 1:17: “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment,” etc. If his affections over sway his judgment at any time, they will be a crooked bias, that will turn him out of the way, and that shall be justice in one man’s case, which will not be so in another.

Furthermore, he must be one whom neither flattery nor bribery may be able to remove out of his way, Deut. 16:19: “Thou shalt not wrest judgment, thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift;” and hence he must be one who hates both ambition and covetousness; Exod. 18:21, “Hating covetousness,” which word signifies, a greedy desire . . . for if these rule him, he will never be a just ruler.

Finally, he must be one who prefers the public benefit above all private and separate interests whatsoever. Every man in his place owes himself to the good of the whole, and if he doth not so devote himself, he is unjust; and he who either to advance himself, or to be revenged on another, will push on injurious laws . . .

Nor is this justice to be looked upon as separate from the fear of God, but as influenced and maintained by it. He therefore that “ruleth in the fear of God,” is one who acknowledgeth God to be his sovereign, and carries in his heart an awful fear of him; who owns his commission to be from him, and expects ere long to be called to give in an account of his managing of it; which maketh him to study in all things to please him, and to be afraid of doing any thing that will provoke him.

Samuel Willard*, The Character of a Good Ruler, 1694 in A Library of American Literature from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, eds., Edmund Clarence Stedman and Ellen Mackay Hutchinson, New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1888-1890, 1: 74-75.[1]

There is a phrase in Francis Schaeffer’s book, The Great Evangelical Disaster, that I believe succinctly addresses the heart of the matter of which I am about to write: “Truth carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation: loving confrontation, but confrontation nonetheless. If our reflex action is always accommodation regardless of the centrality of truth involved, there is something wrong.”[1]

I am often hesitant in my everyday conversations to delve into the real reasons my husband and I have chosen to forgo public schooling and educate our children at home. The conversation generally goes like this:

“How are your children doing in school?”

“Good. We home school.”

“How’s that going?”

“Good.”

I then nod politely as the other person tells me that their children attend public school and are doing this or that and soon we move on to another topic. By my nondescript response it would not appear that my convictions on the matter of education were of any consequence. However my lukewarm engagements stand contrary to the beliefs saturated within every fiber of my being and inwardly I struggle to reconcile the disconnect between my faith and actions.

That being said I have come to the point where I know for certain that neutrality is a myth and I can no longer stand on the wayside feigning indifference. The words of Proverbs 24:11-12 apply as much to this situation as to any other regarding obedience to God’s Word:

Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

If you say, “But we knew nothing of this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

With this in mind I would like to specifically address those of the Christian faith who have placed the responsibility of the education of their children with the State. I am not here to personally insult or degrade any of you and by no means do I purport to be any more righteous merely because I home educate my children. I come to you, instead, pleading for you to remove your children from the public school system.

Voddie Baucham, in his message, The Children of Caesar: He Who Controls the Schools Controls the World, lays out a strong case for Christian education. An astonishing ninety percent of professing born-again Christians sends their children to public schools. What, then, is especially alarming is the number of those who have shed their religious beliefs by the end of their freshman year of college. That number lies between seventy and eighty-eight percent. Dr. Bachaum reiterates, “If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.” The truth is harsh

Luke 6:40 tells us that “a student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” A teacher is a discipler. There is no separating education and discipling. Dr. Baucham makes this clear in his talk. From kindergarten through twelfth grade a student will be discipled by the State for 14,000 seat hours. [2]14,000!

Bradley Heath, in his book, Millstones and Stumbling Blocks writes, “Education is both taught and caught; it is both content and context. [3] What, then, is the context purported by America’s public schools? God is irrelevant.

Is the Bible true? My science, health, and literature teachers said no. Is God providential in the affairs of men and nations? My history, social studies, and economics teachers said no. Is there design and purpose evident in creation? My biology, chemistry, and math teachers said no. Are there absolutes? My sex-education teacher said no and my friends said “cool.” Is God relevant to any subject taught in the public school? All of my teachers and all of my books said no. Consequently, every day for twelve years the content and context of my public schooling said there is no God, and even if there is, He does not matter. [4]

No, your school is not different. Talking things through with your child is not the equivalent of a complete Christian education and worldview. 14,000 seat hours! Yes, there may be a few outstanding Christian teachers in the public school system but due to the fact that the government and teachers unions are in control of the curriculum, a Christian teacher here and there does nothing to absolve the fact that public schools are inherently humanistic in nature. There is no such thing as neutrality. Education is not administered in a vacuum. Your children are not yet equipped to be sent into the camp of the enemy to be “salt and light.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7 commands us as parents:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”What is this passage telling us? We are responsible for the education of our children ALL THE TIME. We must do what the Bible commands. The Scriptures are replete with passages warning against conforming ourselves to the world. That our children are a gift and blessing from God should be enough for us to take care to nurture them and grow them in the ways of the Lord. How can we possibly do this if we send them to be trained by the enemy for 14,000 hours of their lives? Do we really think that a few hours a day is enough to wash them of the filth and mediocrity that is public education? I grieve to accept that this is what we have been conditioned to believe. Everything we have been taught about public education is wrong. I have not time or space to begin to delve into the history of modern public education but I wholeheartedly recommend the book The Underground History of American Public Education by John Taylor Gatto.

There are many reasons to be skeptical about public education and I could write article upon article on them and perhaps in the future I will. What I want to drive home right now is that God has entrusted us to disciple our children and we must not abdicate our responsibilities. Consider these quotes:

Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality, because it alone gives the child air and food. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and Theism? No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools. (Cornelius Van Til)

This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ, the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Charles Hodge)

No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of a child under the authority of the State. Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumb down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken. (David Alan Black)

I ask you to heartfully reconsider your decision to send your child to public school. Taking on the monumental responsibility of educating your child is no easy thing especially for parents who are on limited income or are going it alone. I understand the difficulty some of you have in which there are circumstances beyond your control which have drastic implications. However, you are not alone in this. There are many parents in similar circumstances who have made the choice to find an alternate choice to public schools. If you are convicted to make a change I guarantee you God will make a way. In this I call upon other families and churches to step up and provide support for those leaving the government system, as it should be. I, too, am available for support if you have questions or are looking for a way to make Christian education work. I realize many will be angry with my words and it is to those I would like to reassure you that I come not in judgment but rather with loving concern for our children, our heritage. God bless you all in your endeavors and may we all strive to unite under the banner of God.

This is the sanctification of your studies: when they are devoted to God and when He is the end, the object, and the life of them all. (Richard Baxter)

Endnotes

[1] Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1984), 64.
[2] Children of Caesar: He Who Controls the Schools Controls the World, perf. Voddie Baucham, DVD, The American Vision, 2007.
[3] Bradley Heath, Millstones and Stumbling Blocks (Tucson, AZ: Fenestra Books, 2006), 16.
[4] Bradley Heath, Millstones and Stumbling Blocks (Tucson, AZ: Fenestra Books, 2006), 17.