“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help…” Isaiah 31: 1. A pastor made this warning to his people: If I had my life as a father to live over again, I would make whatever financial sacrifices would be necessary in order to teach each of my childrenfrom kindergarten to the end of college. If I had my life as a pastor to live over again, I would warn my people constantly about the dangers of the American public school system. Over a period of thirty years, I have watched with a heavy heart the devastating effects of the public schools, both on my own children and on those of many of my congregation.
Virtually all theistic religion of any kind has been removed from our schools, along with the original concept of the American philosophy of life. It has been replaced with a humanistic religion that says that “traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to the human species. NO deity will save us, we must save ourselves. Second: Promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices. Modern science discredits such historic concepts as the ‘ghost in the machine’ and the ‘separable soul’.” (Human Manifests II, p.2, signed by John Dewey, A.J. Ayer in Philosophy, Erich Fromm, A.H. Marlow, Carl Rogers, and B.F. Skinner in Psychology among others.)]
The backlash of the humanistic (Mr. Webster, 1959, defines Humanitarian as “The distinctive tenant denying the divinity of Christ; also the system of doctrine based on this view of Christ”.) approach to education has resulted in a society of young people many of whom seem to feel that religion, patriotism, discipline, and orality are nasty words. It restricts their “freedom”, “individuality”, and “creativity”; they can’t do “their thing”.
Today less than 50 percent of American attend church and 65 percent of our teenagers drop out of Sunday school and church before the age of twenty. But WHY? Two thousand years ago one man, whom I have given my life to, called Himself the Son of God. His claims were spread around the world. Today millions of people all over the world have given all to Him for His glory and satisfaction. Yet, we are facing the worst crisis since the Roman Empire.
Godly men stand from two to eight hours each week and proclaim the truth based on the person of Jesus Christ. From the training and dedication of these men, you would expect the world to be converted in the next twelve months. Instead, we are standing on the brink of a major crisis. A few churches here and there are growing and rejoicing with songs of victory, but that is not the general condition of the church. In recent years, satanic writings and occult writings, including the writings of Lenin, have surpassed those of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If we really want to know the truth, let us learn from the Roman Empire, and we will have the secret to the problem we are facing in Christendom. Rome had almost conquered every man on earth. She had servants sent in from all parts of the world to meet her every need. She became so involved in ways to pass the time of boredom that it took hundreds of servants to please the whims and fancies of some of her large families. But they stood firm for a number of years because of her military might.
What caused her to fail? Was it immorality? — NO! Was it paganism? — NO! Was it laxity? NO! Was it evil government? — NO! Was it poverty?– NO! Was it wealth? — NO! Was it hunger? — NO! Was it a false religion? — NO! Was it inflation? — NO! Was it forced on her? — NO! No other country set out to conquer Rome. No group small or large planned her downfall.
WHY??? At that time, the fathers and mothers of Rome had Greek tutors and philosophers sent over to teach and train her children; and in a few years, Rome had a nation filled with Roman youth and young adults who were Roman citizens but were filled with ideas and ways of Greece. Their ways were immoral, pagan, lax, evil, false, and before the second generation of half-Roman, half-Greek young people were grown…down came Rome. The Greek teachers didn’t plan to crush their masters. They just taught what they believed and lived what they thought, and the little Romans became like their tutors.
The Roman parents were too involved with everything but the training of their children, which they turned over to the Greek teachers and philosophers, and history recorded Rome as the city-nation that fell; and its fall was great.
For six generations, Christendom has turned her children over to the world to train. We stand on the brink of a greater fall than that of Rome, and we are too blind to see the condition. The thing that breaks my heart is that Christian people are completely irrational about the problem. For example: We claim to be Bible believers; but when we are faced with Scripture, outside of a few verses that deal with salvation, we revert to worldly reasoning. The same Bible that teaches John 3:3 and John 3:16 also teaches Proverbs 22:6 which instructs us to teach our own children. Isaiah 31:1 says, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help…” In college, I was taught that Egypt is the type for the world.
Israel was instructed ALWAYS to instruct her own. No disrespect for preaching, but the word teach (and train) is found many more times in the Bible than preach. No disrespect to the Sunday school, but you cannot undo in 45 minutes on Sunday what is done in 30 hours each week. The average parent would be horrified if he really knew what is going on. I don’t believe that the public school teachers have set out to crush Christendom. They just teach what they believe and live what they think. The little children from Christian homes copy their tutors, and we have a generation (almost two) of youth that are growing up to be just like their teachers.
The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 clearly states that only the seed that falls into GOOD ground will come up and produce. If I want to grow a prize rose, I don’t go into a weed bed and plant the seed there hoping it might take hold and come up. It will be choked to death before it even has a chance. I will put it in a protected area, water it carefully, guard how much sun it gets, spray it, and care for it.
If my son wants to prepare for the ministry, I will recommend to him the most fundamental Bible school and seminary I know. I won’t recommend to him the most liberal seminary I know, so he can witness to his teachers and his classmates. He goes to school to learn and study under a man (men) and their philosophies and not to witness. Now, if this is logical on the college level, by what rationale is it wrong on the elementary and secondary levels where children are the most impressionable and defenseless? If Christian education is valid at one level of education, it is valid at all levels.
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help…” (Isaiah 31:1). John 15:5 says “…For without me ye can do NOTHING.” Colossians 3:17 says “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Can we send our children to public schools IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS? Rome fell when she let the Greeks teach her children. Christendom is ready to fall, because we are sending out children to the world for training.
Dr. Paul Cates