The Rise and Unraveling of America
by Dr. Daniel Bohannon
Morning Service
Ukiah Bible Church
Ukiah, Ca.
Introduction
This morning I am going to do something different from what I normally do for you on Sundays. The pulpit I stand behind is reserved for teaching the Bible and that was established from the beginning of this church. Our normal practice when we gather on Sundays is to go through a book of the Bible verse by verse but because it is the 4th of July weekend and we find our country in such a dire place today, I think it is imperative that I take the time I have to give you my perspective on our country at this present time.
To do that, I feel as though I am straddling two worlds, the sacred and secular. Yet I know, because of my biblical worldview all of life is sacred, therefore to speak to the things I wish to this morning I am on holy ground as I seek to use a Biblical lens to make my observations.
It is important for you to know that I am not coming to you this morning representing any particular political point of you. Frankly, I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, or independent, that has no bearing whatsoever on what I am seeking to say this morning. So, to the best of my ability, I will present an argument that is founded on Scripture and solutions that aline us with a Biblical Worldview.
The title of my talk this morning is The Rise and Unraveling of America. I have three questions I am going to ask and answer that will speak to this issue:
• How do nations rise and fall?
• How did the American idea come to be and why is it being abandoned?
• What can we do to preserve our American heritage?
1. How do nations rise and fall?
a. Human government was instituted by God (Gen. 9:4-6)
“Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God
He made man.”
b. Humanity was divided into nations by God (Gen. 10:5, 20, 31, 32; 11:8; Deut. 32:8)
Deut. 32:8 “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.”
c. God establishes nations and takes them down (Job 12:23; Ps. 22:28; Dan. 4:32; Acts 17:6; Rom. 9:17; Rom. 13:1)
Job 12:23 “He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.”
Ps. 22:28 “For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations.”
Dan. 4:31-32 “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, 32 and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”
Acts 17:6 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation”
Rom. 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
Rom. 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
The point is this, no nation comes into existence without the consent of God and for His purposes. This includes the United States of America.
2. How did the American idea come to be and why is it being abandoned?
a. It started with the Pilgrims’ and the Puritans’ worldview.
i. A definition of a worldview
A worldview is the way one sees the world and how they fit into it. Everyone has a worldview whether they know it or not. And it is from one’s worldview they make decisions as to how life ought to be. So, when it comes to nations, whatever the majority of the populous accepts as a worldview will determine things like, how that country will be governed, what rights the citizen will have, and how the country will see its place in the world.
Worldviews come in all sorts of shapes. In general, today, we can identify the peoples most prolific worldviews into six categories:
• Secular Humanistic worldview — Its basis is rationalism that came out of the French Revolution and overtook Europe and has overtaken America.
• Marxism / Leninism worldview — Came out the writings of Karl Marx, particularly from his works entitled, The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Vladimir Lenin picked up on Marx’s ideas and managed a coup to take over Russia in the 1917 revolution. This worldview is prevalent today in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, some South American countries and African nations.
• Postmodern worldview — This worldview believes that ultimate reality is not attainable and that all knowledge is a social construct and truth claims are political power plays. Many young people today see the world through this lens.
• New Ageism (New Spirituality) worldview — This is a belief that teaches that everything and everyone is connected through a divine consciousness. This worldview is most prevalent in eastern countries, and has made its way to the west through popular personalities in the late 60’s and 70’s, such as the Beatles and has made its way into some churches.
• Islamic worldview — The teaching of this world view comes from prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, who lived from 570 and 632 A.D. Today 1.8 billion people ascribe to this worldview, which covers almost all of the Middle East, North and Eastern Africa, South East Asia and is in the process of taking over many European countries through attrition.
• Biblical worldview (Christian) — Derives its beginnings from the Old Testament scriptures as God worked to build the nation of Israel. It finds its modern day understanding through the New Testament and the Reformation, which came about through Martin Luther’s stand against Catholic dogma during the dark ages. A few decades later, Luther’s ideas were developed into a systematic theology by John Calvin that he developed into a worldview. As Calvin saw it, the Bible was to be integrated into every aspect of a Christian’s life; his personal, home and public life. This became the dominant worldview, particularly among protestants. And this is the worldview that shaped what is known today as Western culture and is the worldview that has advanced mankind more than any other worldview.
ii. The worldview of the Pilgrims and the Puritans was a Biblical Worldview.
If we fast forward from the Reformers to the Pilgrims and the Puritans, we discover their worldview to be a Biblical worldview that they brought with them to America.
Today when we think of the Pilgrims and the Puritans most people think these titles represent the same group of people but that is not exactly the case. When we look at these groups, we discover that the Pilgrims were known as separatists. They believed the only way to live their lives was by the authority of the Bible, not the Church of England. Thus, they separated from the Church of England and landed in America in 1620. The Puritans were non-separatists. They agreed with the Pilgrims’ view of living according to Biblical precepts as well as the form of worship and self-organization but they didn’t want to leave the Church of England as they sought to reform it from within. The Puritans arrived in America 1630.
During the days of the colonies, denominationalism existed but there was an agreement among the churches as to the essential doctrines of scripture. Namely, an agreement as to authority of the Bible as the word of God, the holy nature of God, the triune nature of God, the sin nature of man, man’s need of a Savior, Jesus Christ being the Savior of the world and man’s need to trust Christ alone for salvation. In the early days of the colonies, you could attend most any church and find agreement on these things. An example of this is seen in the revival called the First Great Awakening which swept across North America in the mid to late 1700’s. It began with a book that was published by Jonathan Edwards entitled, A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of all God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer For the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom. “Some years later this theme was picked up by a Baptist minister named Isaac Bacchus. Bacchus sent out a plea for prayer to ministers throughout the United States, and churches across the country responded by setting aside the first Monday of each month to pray for revival, which broke out in Connecticut, spread to Massachusetts, moved to Kentucky and Tennessee, then North and South Carolina and then made its way across the frontier.”[1] How do you explain the churches joining themselves in prayer? They had the same Biblical Worldview that flowed out of their essential doctrinal agreements. The denominational landscape today is very different.
b. From the Pilgrims and Puritans to our Revolutionary Forefathers
The prevalent worldview of the colonies was a Biblical Worldview and it was taught through the educational system of the day. The education of children was so important to the colonists that they opened their first school in Boston in 1635, and the first college in America was established a year later in 1636, which became Harvard College. It was established by a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Harvard College was named after a pastor; John Harvard. Upon his death in 1638 the school inherited his extensive library and half his estate. Now keep in mind the Pilgrims had only landed on the shores of America 15 years prior to starting a school in Boston and a year later they started the first college in America. This demonstrates the priority of education of our founders. Some people today are under the impression that people in those days were not as educated and sophisticated as we are today, but that is not true. I am told that to be qualified to enter Harvard College, one had to read, write, and speak Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. Many of our forefathers were highly educated.
But their priority was not just to fill young people’s minds with a variety of ideas; they had one view of the world and it was a biblical worldview they taught their children. This is seen in the fact that Harvard College was explicitly started for the education of ministers. What people recognized in those days was that if they didn’t educate future ministers they would run out of educated men in the pulpit. So, they had one of three choices: let uneducated men into the pulpits, send men back to England to be educated, or start their own college in America and they chose the latter.
For the next 167 years, education in America was a Christian education, that is to say that it was a Christ centered education that taught a Biblical Worldview of life. This was the dominate worldview accepted and lived out by America as it was being birthed.
A Christian Worldview was embedded in our forefathers when they were debating in the House of Burgesses to the matter of going to war with England. Their logic for entering a war with England flowed from a Biblical Worldview and caused men like Patrick Henry to pen and deliver words like these.
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
The greatness of our revolutionary fathers is found in the foundation of their biblical worldview. All we have to do is look at how Patrick Henry’s rationale for going to war is connected to his Biblical understanding of God and nature. His argument is not driven by feelings but by the facts as they flow out of a Biblical worldview. What make such heroes to me was their commitment to their principles even to the point of death if necessary. From the record of our revolutionary founders, we can say at least three things:
• They viewed America as a Christian nation, despite their denominational differences.
• They believed it was imperative for the leaders of the nation as well as the general public, but especially that the leaders should have the kind of character that comes from a Biblical Worldview.
• They believed they could not build a nation nor keep it without the help of the God of the Bible on their side, as noted by 81 year old Benjamin Franklin when he quoted from Psalm 127 to bring a consensus in regards to the constitution, “In this situation of this assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard — and they were graciously answered. All of us, who were engaged in the struggle, must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend?… I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men! And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: we shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach… I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business; and that one or more of the clergy of the city be requested to officiate in that service.”
Here is the point I am making this morning: the way our revolutionary forefathers thought about life was specifically due to the Christian Worldview education they received in America, and this should not be down played or ignored today. Because when we trace American education from the pilgrims to the present day, we find some terrible things have taken place in America.
c. From our forefathers to the present day
i. 1805
One hundred and sixty-nine years after Harvard College was established, it made a shift in theology to Unitarianism. Unitarianism rejects the biblical view of the Trinity and contends that Christ was not God. This was the beginning of secularization of the college, and the way it happened was through private societies and institutions that met together to develop a cultural and political coup of the college. Little by little the Unitarians won positions and places of authorities that eventually allowed them to move completely away from Harvard's roots, which was a Christ centered Biblical Worldview.
ii. 1837
A man stepped on the scene who was a key individual in public education; his name was Horace Mann. Mann was appointed secretary of the newly created board of education of Massachusetts, which was the first such position in the United States. At the time Mann was appointed to this new position, he had no special interest in education. He was only encouraged to take the job because it was a paid office established by the legislature. He threw himself into his duties as secretary of the board and this led him to become the most prominent national spokesman for public education. It was through Mann’s efforts that he held teachers’ conventions, delivered numerous lectures, carried on an extensive correspondence, and introduced numerous reforms. Mann personally visited every school in the state of Massachusetts so he could physically examine each school ground. Because of his tireless work, Horace Mann is responsible for the establishment of the public school system in our country.
Mann himself was a graduate from Brown University, which had shifted away from Christianity to Unitarianism. At Brown he was taught Greek and Latin from Samuel Barrett, who later became a famous Unitarian minister. With this influence, coupled with his work on the Board of Education, he moved public education one notch away from a Christian Worldview toward a Unitarian Worldview. What our country was beginning to experience was that men trained at universities like Harvard, were making their way into society and bringing their new worldview with them.
Frances Schaeffer, arguable one of the two greatest Christian philosophers of the twenty century, C. S. Lewis being the other, believed that it took seventy years for an idea to be developed and worked into the mass population as accepted truth. The process is as follows:
Academia (Researchers / Seminarians)
Social Elite (Professionals)
Business World (Titans of Industry)
White Collar (Management)
Blue Collar (Masses)
In today’s world of the internet, it takes a lot less time to see ideas accepted by the masses. Many ideas are developed and accepted out of short multi-media visual clips. So often little time is given to facts and reflection, which are vital in developing good ideas. Never the less, as we come back to public education today, Horace Mann would be shocked to see where it has gone. Mann believed that children should know their Bibles, they should know about Christ, the apostles, and the doctrines of the Bible. But the shifts in cultural worldviews are made one small step at a time and in the end, they have huge ramifications.
iii. 1930
Another man stepped on the scene of public education, by the name of John Dewey. He is arguably the most influential man of the twentieth century. Dewey was famous for the Dewey decimal system which libraries use to catalog their books.
John Dewey believed that truth was based on experience, which was a product of the Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard’s existentialism, a philosophy that says that there is no external abiding truth. That is to say, truth is subjective; it has to touch one’s feelings to be real.
In 1904, Dewey became the chairman of education at Columbia University, which gave him great influence and opened doors into the American educational system. Because of Dewey’s reputation through his prolific writings, the Columbia Teachers’ College became a training center for teachers from around the world, which spread Dewey’s educational philosophy. Dewey believed the public school system should be the place to promote social change. Because of his deeply held beliefs in Secular Humanism, Dewey’s influence moved public education from Unitarianism to the religion of Secular Humanism.
iv. 1961-62
Thirty years after John Dewey’s retirement from Columbia University, the reality of his philosophy of humanistic education begins to bear real fruit for the Secular Humanist, when the Supreme Court denied prayer in public schools.
v. 1963
The Bible was banned from the public school system as a text book.
vi. 1980
The Supreme Court declared the Ten Commandments unconstitutional. The state of Kentucky was forced to remove the Ten Commandments from public schools. In that decision, the court said that if the Ten Commandments were posted in the public school a child might read them and believe them.
1) You shall have no other Gods before me
2) You shall not make for yourselves an idol
3) You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God
4) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
5) Honor your father and your mother
6) You shall not murder
7) You shall not commit adultery
8) You shall not steal
9) You shall not give false testimony
10) You shall not covet
vii. 1987
The Courts banned God from the public high school graduation. In most schools the administration must approve all speeches and Baccalaureate services (a religious ceremony to send young adults off to the rest of their lives) are forgotten things of the past.
viii. 1991
There was an article in the Washington Times (May 13, 1991), with a headline that read as followed, “Clergy are muzzled at graduation until high court rules on prayer.” The clergy were allowed to come to the podium but they were forbidden to mention the Word of God.
ix. 1999
The Columbine High School massacre occurred. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went to their high school and killed 12 students and one teacher. They also injured 21 others students with three more people injured while attempting to escape.
d. Personal examples of the problems facing public education:
i. Cassie H.
Holds a Masters degree in English and teaches at a public high school in Southern California. This school was her alma mater, where she was a cheerleader. She came back to the school, as a cheerleading coach. She quit her teaching job this year, due to how utterly out of control the students are and how dangerous it is for her to teach, with no support from the administration. She was forced to address the children with whatever pronoun they chose for the day. Out of a class of 25, she told me that only about six to eight students are there to learn. She has moved to another a state that takes a more conservative view of education.
ii. Jordan R.
Jr. high vice principal leaving his position to open a cabinet shop.
iii. Doug D.
Recently, a friend of mine living in the Lakeport area reported to me the difficulties they are having at the local high school. Listen to what he said;
· Their longtime football coach was basically forced out after many years and took another teaching position. As a coach, he was no longer allowed to bench players or suspend them. The administration had taken most or all of his authority to be effective in molding the lives of his players.
• A teacher after 40 years retired this year and she advised her daughter who had just been credentialed, not to go into the field of teaching in the public school system.
• Superintendent and administration are telling teachers to stop suspending students because the ratio is too high for suspensions which impacts funding for the school.
• Often, children using filthy language are responded to by teachers who yell and curse the students.
• The school can’t find qualified teachers so they hire uncredentialed people with no experience.
• Many experienced teachers are abandoning the profession.
Someone might say I am really bashing the public school system, but I would say I am not, I am just reporting what I am told and what I know. We need to keep in mind that there are godly teachers and administrators in our public school system, who would like to see changes in the approach to education. But there is a systemic problem in public education and it is that the pervading worldviews taught are a secular humanistic worldview and a Marx’s / Leninism worldview. And in that atmosphere, there is no room for any other competing worldview. One has to ask; how did we arrive at this place in our public education? It started with a shift in theology, which is the queen of all disciplines. Every other discipline such as; philosophy, psychology, economics, politics, ethics, education, etc. is connected to theology. What you believe about theology will influence your ideas in all other disciplines. This is why teaching our children a Biblical worldview is so important to us.
Today, so many of us can see the unraveling of America is moving at an exponential rate and it is disconcerting to us. So many people are asking how we got to this point, the answer is complicated on one hand and very simple on the other. The United States of America slowly exchanged its Biblical worldview for other worldviews in educating our people. In doing so, we now are reaping the fruit of worldviews that strip men of their God -given liberties and enslave them to tyrannical leaders and regimes.
As I see it, the unraveling of America has a direct connection to Exodus 20:1-6. These verses are the opening preamble to Israel’s law as given by God; We call them the Ten Commandments. As Israel was being birthed as a nation, God commanded them to have no other gods before Him. He also expressly forbade the making, worshiping or serving of any kind of idol. God warned them that if they did, He would visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations. Furthermore, at the end of verse five, God equated the sin of idolatry as hatred for Him. Now the use of the word “fathers” in this passage is not referring to individual fathers of families but the fathers who are leading the nation. We know from other passages that God does not hold children responsible for the sin of their biological fathers and fathers are not responsible for the sin of the children (Ez. 18:20). In the second commandment, God was warning the nation that if its national leaders walked away from Him, multiple generations would suffer the consequence of their fathers’ (national leaders) sin. The principles found in the first and second commands, of the Ten Commandments can apply to any nation. If the leadership of a nation rejects God for idolatry, then the subsequent generations that follow will suffer the consequences of their fathers’ (national leaders) sin. Thus, in the case of America, she is consumed with idolatry (Col. 3:5-6) because she has abandoned her Biblical Worldview and as a result, we are seeing the third and fourth generations since Dewey replaced God with hedonism.
3. What can we do to help ourselves and preserve our American heritage?
✓ First, recognize and live with the fact that no nation will last forever and that God is sovereignly raising and taking down nations for His own purposes.
As Christians we are not first Americans, we are first, citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) and ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). And as such, our first loyalty and greatest efforts should go towards building the church by spreading the gospel. If Christians would talk about Christ as much as they do about politics and the state of affairs in America and around the world, we would all have a lot more hope.
We may be living on the downside of a great nation but we don’t know what the future holds. But if we have come to the limits of God’s grace and the collapse of America as we have known it, we are not the first Christians to have lived through such times. Great nations come and go and depending on where one is in that cycle of rise and fall, God has a purpose for each of us as His ambassador. We must always try to view our presence in the world from heaven, not earth, to keep a proper perspective of things.
✓ Secondly, be careful to not read too much into what is reported to you through the media.
We certainly want to be informed but what we get today is not as much news as it is propaganda from both the right and the left. If we spend all of our time in one of those camps watching and listening to what they say, pretty soon we will become very pessimistic and develop a sense of agitation, anger, fear, and hopelessness. These things are uncharacteristic for one who has been born again according to Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” If you are obsessing over the news, you cannot be walking in the Spirit.
✓ Third, the church must pray for revival.
Earlier when I described the Biblical Worldview of our founders, it may have sounded as if I was implying the country was so much better off in those days but that was not the case. Listen to how Dr. J. Edwin Orr, a historian on church revivals described the condition just prior to the American revolution. “In the wake of the American revolution the country was in a moral slump. Out of a population of 5 million, 300,000 were confirmed drunkards. Women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence. A poll at Harvard revealed not one believer in the whole student body. The largest denomination—Methodist—were losing more members than they were gaining. Chief justice of the United States, John Marshall said "the church is too far gone ever to be redeemed."
God changed that situation through the concert of prayer. A Scottish Presbyterian minister in Edinburg wrote a “Memorial,” as he called it, pleading with the people of Scotland and elsewhere to unite in prayer for a revival of religion. He sent a copy to Jonathan Edwards in New England. That great theologian was so moved that he wrote a response which was published as a book entitled A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of all Gods People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ Kingdom. And of course, you know the rest of the story as mentioned[2] earlier.
The point is simply this, if we in the church do not pray for revival then who will? And if we do not pray, how can we expect a change of course in America. History and our Bibles teach us that when God’s people pray, He hears them and comes to their rescue. What our country needs is a concert of prayer from God’s people to aline us with His plans and will. If this would happen, then we could expect the reverse of the principle I mentioned out of Exodus 20. There, in those same verses, God promises that He will show loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Him and keep His commandments (Ex. 20:6).
✓ Fourth, educate yourself with great resources.
There are many resources I could recommend but I will only give three this morning.
➡ A book to read or listen to in regards to the subject I have addressed today is The Battle for the American Mind by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin. In this book the authors not only speak to what has happened to public education but gives a guide as to how to restructure education in America to straighten our bearings.
➡ Read or listen via YouTube to everything you can by Dr. Thomas Sowell. Thomas Sowell is an American economist, historian, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is a National Humanities Medal recipient for innovative scholarship which incorporated history, economics, and political science.
Thomas Sowell is 92 years old. He started out with a Marxist worldview and has changed his views. When asked why he said, “The facts.” This man is one of the greatest living Americans this country has ever produced. His face should be chiseled into the stone of Mount Rushmore, next to Abraham Lincoln. He sees life as it really is and fearlessly calls it out for what it is. His work covers the span of economics, welfarism, racism, education and global politics. He has traveled the world and photographed much of it and has a tremendous insight into the nature of man and the culture we live in today.
➡ Read Dr. David Nobel’s book, Understanding the Times. This single work will help you to understand the major competing worldviews today as it considers each of them in ten different disciplines. By the time you are finished with this book it will be clear as to which worldview makes the most sense out of life and it will clarify and crystallize your own biblical worldview.
✓ Fifth, home school your children if possible or send them to a private classical Christian school.
In my estimation, our nations greater hope for the future is in the home school movement and private Christian schools. If your children are grown and you have grandchildren, do whatever you can to help your grandchildren to be homeschooled or put into a private classical Christian school.
As Christians, we must teach our children and grandchildren a Biblical Worldview while they are growing up. This precept was embedded in the nation of Israel when God gave them His law, He said “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall 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 up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” It was the parents’ responsibility to teach their children a Biblical worldview of life. We have been trained to believe that we can drop our children off at the public school and they will teach them the same worldview as we have and that is not the case.
And don’t believe for a moment that you can take your kids to Sunday School, AWANA or Youth Group and expect that they are going to develop a Biblical Worldview that will stick with them through life. The little amount of time that children spend in church cannot compete with the endless hours they spend under Secular / Marxist worldviews in the public school system. Statistically, it is proven that young people who professed to be Christians while they lived at home and who went off to college, came back home rejecting Christianity and leaned towards a Secular Humanistic / Marx’s worldview. A few years ago, I got a phone call from a friend of mine who lived in San Diego. He called me and wanted to know what I thought about a situation that happened to his daughter who had just entered college at San Diego State. He said on the first day of her psychology class she said there was 200 students. And as she entered the auditorium on a huge screen there was a slide that read "There is no God.” When class began the instructor came to the podium and drew the class’s attention to the gigantic slide behind him and said to the class, “Do you see what's on the slide? By the time this class is over you will not only believe it but you will teach others.” Fortunately, my friend was very well-versed in the subject of worldviews, and he and his wife were diligent to teach their daughters a Biblical Worldview as they were growing up. So, by the time his daughter went to college she could spot the lie and not be persuaded to follow it. But unfortunately, most children are never taught a biblical worldview because their parents have no idea what their own worldview is. They just assumed their children would take up their values when they went into the world.
A Biblical worldview must be taught and practiced in the home to shape the heart of children and prepare them for the real world. If parents leave the education of their children to others, then they should not be surprised when their children grow up and hold a competing worldview from their parents.
At this present time America is in a cultural war for the minds and hearts of our children. And whatever worldview prevails will determine the kind of life future generations will live. It will either be a life of tyranny and oppression that naturally flows out of worldviews such as a Secular / Marx’s worldview or we can get back to a Biblical Worldview that will pave the way for liberty and justice for all.
I don’t know what others think, but as for me and my house, give me liberty or give me death, for we will follow the LORD!
[1] Orr, J. Edwin, ABWE Message (magazine), Summer 1997, Vol. 49, NO. 2, strive together with me in, Romans 15:30, p.3
[2] Orr, J. Edwin ABWE Message (magazine), Summer 1997, Vol. 49, NO. 2, strive together with me in Romans 15:30, p.3
by Dr. Daniel Bohannon
Morning Service
Ukiah Bible Church
Ukiah, Ca.
Introduction
This morning I am going to do something different from what I normally do for you on Sundays. The pulpit I stand behind is reserved for teaching the Bible and that was established from the beginning of this church. Our normal practice when we gather on Sundays is to go through a book of the Bible verse by verse but because it is the 4th of July weekend and we find our country in such a dire place today, I think it is imperative that I take the time I have to give you my perspective on our country at this present time.
To do that, I feel as though I am straddling two worlds, the sacred and secular. Yet I know, because of my biblical worldview all of life is sacred, therefore to speak to the things I wish to this morning I am on holy ground as I seek to use a Biblical lens to make my observations.
It is important for you to know that I am not coming to you this morning representing any particular political point of you. Frankly, I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, or independent, that has no bearing whatsoever on what I am seeking to say this morning. So, to the best of my ability, I will present an argument that is founded on Scripture and solutions that aline us with a Biblical Worldview.
The title of my talk this morning is The Rise and Unraveling of America. I have three questions I am going to ask and answer that will speak to this issue:
• How do nations rise and fall?
• How did the American idea come to be and why is it being abandoned?
• What can we do to preserve our American heritage?
1. How do nations rise and fall?
a. Human government was instituted by God (Gen. 9:4-6)
“Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God
He made man.”
b. Humanity was divided into nations by God (Gen. 10:5, 20, 31, 32; 11:8; Deut. 32:8)
Deut. 32:8 “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.”
c. God establishes nations and takes them down (Job 12:23; Ps. 22:28; Dan. 4:32; Acts 17:6; Rom. 9:17; Rom. 13:1)
Job 12:23 “He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.”
Ps. 22:28 “For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations.”
Dan. 4:31-32 “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, 32 and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”
Acts 17:6 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation”
Rom. 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
Rom. 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
The point is this, no nation comes into existence without the consent of God and for His purposes. This includes the United States of America.
2. How did the American idea come to be and why is it being abandoned?
a. It started with the Pilgrims’ and the Puritans’ worldview.
i. A definition of a worldview
A worldview is the way one sees the world and how they fit into it. Everyone has a worldview whether they know it or not. And it is from one’s worldview they make decisions as to how life ought to be. So, when it comes to nations, whatever the majority of the populous accepts as a worldview will determine things like, how that country will be governed, what rights the citizen will have, and how the country will see its place in the world.
Worldviews come in all sorts of shapes. In general, today, we can identify the peoples most prolific worldviews into six categories:
• Secular Humanistic worldview — Its basis is rationalism that came out of the French Revolution and overtook Europe and has overtaken America.
• Marxism / Leninism worldview — Came out the writings of Karl Marx, particularly from his works entitled, The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Vladimir Lenin picked up on Marx’s ideas and managed a coup to take over Russia in the 1917 revolution. This worldview is prevalent today in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, some South American countries and African nations.
• Postmodern worldview — This worldview believes that ultimate reality is not attainable and that all knowledge is a social construct and truth claims are political power plays. Many young people today see the world through this lens.
• New Ageism (New Spirituality) worldview — This is a belief that teaches that everything and everyone is connected through a divine consciousness. This worldview is most prevalent in eastern countries, and has made its way to the west through popular personalities in the late 60’s and 70’s, such as the Beatles and has made its way into some churches.
• Islamic worldview — The teaching of this world view comes from prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, who lived from 570 and 632 A.D. Today 1.8 billion people ascribe to this worldview, which covers almost all of the Middle East, North and Eastern Africa, South East Asia and is in the process of taking over many European countries through attrition.
• Biblical worldview (Christian) — Derives its beginnings from the Old Testament scriptures as God worked to build the nation of Israel. It finds its modern day understanding through the New Testament and the Reformation, which came about through Martin Luther’s stand against Catholic dogma during the dark ages. A few decades later, Luther’s ideas were developed into a systematic theology by John Calvin that he developed into a worldview. As Calvin saw it, the Bible was to be integrated into every aspect of a Christian’s life; his personal, home and public life. This became the dominant worldview, particularly among protestants. And this is the worldview that shaped what is known today as Western culture and is the worldview that has advanced mankind more than any other worldview.
ii. The worldview of the Pilgrims and the Puritans was a Biblical Worldview.
If we fast forward from the Reformers to the Pilgrims and the Puritans, we discover their worldview to be a Biblical worldview that they brought with them to America.
Today when we think of the Pilgrims and the Puritans most people think these titles represent the same group of people but that is not exactly the case. When we look at these groups, we discover that the Pilgrims were known as separatists. They believed the only way to live their lives was by the authority of the Bible, not the Church of England. Thus, they separated from the Church of England and landed in America in 1620. The Puritans were non-separatists. They agreed with the Pilgrims’ view of living according to Biblical precepts as well as the form of worship and self-organization but they didn’t want to leave the Church of England as they sought to reform it from within. The Puritans arrived in America 1630.
During the days of the colonies, denominationalism existed but there was an agreement among the churches as to the essential doctrines of scripture. Namely, an agreement as to authority of the Bible as the word of God, the holy nature of God, the triune nature of God, the sin nature of man, man’s need of a Savior, Jesus Christ being the Savior of the world and man’s need to trust Christ alone for salvation. In the early days of the colonies, you could attend most any church and find agreement on these things. An example of this is seen in the revival called the First Great Awakening which swept across North America in the mid to late 1700’s. It began with a book that was published by Jonathan Edwards entitled, A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of all God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer For the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom. “Some years later this theme was picked up by a Baptist minister named Isaac Bacchus. Bacchus sent out a plea for prayer to ministers throughout the United States, and churches across the country responded by setting aside the first Monday of each month to pray for revival, which broke out in Connecticut, spread to Massachusetts, moved to Kentucky and Tennessee, then North and South Carolina and then made its way across the frontier.”[1] How do you explain the churches joining themselves in prayer? They had the same Biblical Worldview that flowed out of their essential doctrinal agreements. The denominational landscape today is very different.
b. From the Pilgrims and Puritans to our Revolutionary Forefathers
The prevalent worldview of the colonies was a Biblical Worldview and it was taught through the educational system of the day. The education of children was so important to the colonists that they opened their first school in Boston in 1635, and the first college in America was established a year later in 1636, which became Harvard College. It was established by a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Harvard College was named after a pastor; John Harvard. Upon his death in 1638 the school inherited his extensive library and half his estate. Now keep in mind the Pilgrims had only landed on the shores of America 15 years prior to starting a school in Boston and a year later they started the first college in America. This demonstrates the priority of education of our founders. Some people today are under the impression that people in those days were not as educated and sophisticated as we are today, but that is not true. I am told that to be qualified to enter Harvard College, one had to read, write, and speak Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. Many of our forefathers were highly educated.
But their priority was not just to fill young people’s minds with a variety of ideas; they had one view of the world and it was a biblical worldview they taught their children. This is seen in the fact that Harvard College was explicitly started for the education of ministers. What people recognized in those days was that if they didn’t educate future ministers they would run out of educated men in the pulpit. So, they had one of three choices: let uneducated men into the pulpits, send men back to England to be educated, or start their own college in America and they chose the latter.
For the next 167 years, education in America was a Christian education, that is to say that it was a Christ centered education that taught a Biblical Worldview of life. This was the dominate worldview accepted and lived out by America as it was being birthed.
A Christian Worldview was embedded in our forefathers when they were debating in the House of Burgesses to the matter of going to war with England. Their logic for entering a war with England flowed from a Biblical Worldview and caused men like Patrick Henry to pen and deliver words like these.
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
The greatness of our revolutionary fathers is found in the foundation of their biblical worldview. All we have to do is look at how Patrick Henry’s rationale for going to war is connected to his Biblical understanding of God and nature. His argument is not driven by feelings but by the facts as they flow out of a Biblical worldview. What make such heroes to me was their commitment to their principles even to the point of death if necessary. From the record of our revolutionary founders, we can say at least three things:
• They viewed America as a Christian nation, despite their denominational differences.
• They believed it was imperative for the leaders of the nation as well as the general public, but especially that the leaders should have the kind of character that comes from a Biblical Worldview.
• They believed they could not build a nation nor keep it without the help of the God of the Bible on their side, as noted by 81 year old Benjamin Franklin when he quoted from Psalm 127 to bring a consensus in regards to the constitution, “In this situation of this assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard — and they were graciously answered. All of us, who were engaged in the struggle, must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend?… I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men! And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: we shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach… I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business; and that one or more of the clergy of the city be requested to officiate in that service.”
Here is the point I am making this morning: the way our revolutionary forefathers thought about life was specifically due to the Christian Worldview education they received in America, and this should not be down played or ignored today. Because when we trace American education from the pilgrims to the present day, we find some terrible things have taken place in America.
c. From our forefathers to the present day
i. 1805
One hundred and sixty-nine years after Harvard College was established, it made a shift in theology to Unitarianism. Unitarianism rejects the biblical view of the Trinity and contends that Christ was not God. This was the beginning of secularization of the college, and the way it happened was through private societies and institutions that met together to develop a cultural and political coup of the college. Little by little the Unitarians won positions and places of authorities that eventually allowed them to move completely away from Harvard's roots, which was a Christ centered Biblical Worldview.
ii. 1837
A man stepped on the scene who was a key individual in public education; his name was Horace Mann. Mann was appointed secretary of the newly created board of education of Massachusetts, which was the first such position in the United States. At the time Mann was appointed to this new position, he had no special interest in education. He was only encouraged to take the job because it was a paid office established by the legislature. He threw himself into his duties as secretary of the board and this led him to become the most prominent national spokesman for public education. It was through Mann’s efforts that he held teachers’ conventions, delivered numerous lectures, carried on an extensive correspondence, and introduced numerous reforms. Mann personally visited every school in the state of Massachusetts so he could physically examine each school ground. Because of his tireless work, Horace Mann is responsible for the establishment of the public school system in our country.
Mann himself was a graduate from Brown University, which had shifted away from Christianity to Unitarianism. At Brown he was taught Greek and Latin from Samuel Barrett, who later became a famous Unitarian minister. With this influence, coupled with his work on the Board of Education, he moved public education one notch away from a Christian Worldview toward a Unitarian Worldview. What our country was beginning to experience was that men trained at universities like Harvard, were making their way into society and bringing their new worldview with them.
Frances Schaeffer, arguable one of the two greatest Christian philosophers of the twenty century, C. S. Lewis being the other, believed that it took seventy years for an idea to be developed and worked into the mass population as accepted truth. The process is as follows:
Academia (Researchers / Seminarians)
Social Elite (Professionals)
Business World (Titans of Industry)
White Collar (Management)
Blue Collar (Masses)
In today’s world of the internet, it takes a lot less time to see ideas accepted by the masses. Many ideas are developed and accepted out of short multi-media visual clips. So often little time is given to facts and reflection, which are vital in developing good ideas. Never the less, as we come back to public education today, Horace Mann would be shocked to see where it has gone. Mann believed that children should know their Bibles, they should know about Christ, the apostles, and the doctrines of the Bible. But the shifts in cultural worldviews are made one small step at a time and in the end, they have huge ramifications.
iii. 1930
Another man stepped on the scene of public education, by the name of John Dewey. He is arguably the most influential man of the twentieth century. Dewey was famous for the Dewey decimal system which libraries use to catalog their books.
John Dewey believed that truth was based on experience, which was a product of the Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard’s existentialism, a philosophy that says that there is no external abiding truth. That is to say, truth is subjective; it has to touch one’s feelings to be real.
In 1904, Dewey became the chairman of education at Columbia University, which gave him great influence and opened doors into the American educational system. Because of Dewey’s reputation through his prolific writings, the Columbia Teachers’ College became a training center for teachers from around the world, which spread Dewey’s educational philosophy. Dewey believed the public school system should be the place to promote social change. Because of his deeply held beliefs in Secular Humanism, Dewey’s influence moved public education from Unitarianism to the religion of Secular Humanism.
iv. 1961-62
Thirty years after John Dewey’s retirement from Columbia University, the reality of his philosophy of humanistic education begins to bear real fruit for the Secular Humanist, when the Supreme Court denied prayer in public schools.
v. 1963
The Bible was banned from the public school system as a text book.
vi. 1980
The Supreme Court declared the Ten Commandments unconstitutional. The state of Kentucky was forced to remove the Ten Commandments from public schools. In that decision, the court said that if the Ten Commandments were posted in the public school a child might read them and believe them.
1) You shall have no other Gods before me
2) You shall not make for yourselves an idol
3) You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God
4) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
5) Honor your father and your mother
6) You shall not murder
7) You shall not commit adultery
8) You shall not steal
9) You shall not give false testimony
10) You shall not covet
vii. 1987
The Courts banned God from the public high school graduation. In most schools the administration must approve all speeches and Baccalaureate services (a religious ceremony to send young adults off to the rest of their lives) are forgotten things of the past.
viii. 1991
There was an article in the Washington Times (May 13, 1991), with a headline that read as followed, “Clergy are muzzled at graduation until high court rules on prayer.” The clergy were allowed to come to the podium but they were forbidden to mention the Word of God.
ix. 1999
The Columbine High School massacre occurred. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went to their high school and killed 12 students and one teacher. They also injured 21 others students with three more people injured while attempting to escape.
d. Personal examples of the problems facing public education:
i. Cassie H.
Holds a Masters degree in English and teaches at a public high school in Southern California. This school was her alma mater, where she was a cheerleader. She came back to the school, as a cheerleading coach. She quit her teaching job this year, due to how utterly out of control the students are and how dangerous it is for her to teach, with no support from the administration. She was forced to address the children with whatever pronoun they chose for the day. Out of a class of 25, she told me that only about six to eight students are there to learn. She has moved to another a state that takes a more conservative view of education.
ii. Jordan R.
Jr. high vice principal leaving his position to open a cabinet shop.
iii. Doug D.
Recently, a friend of mine living in the Lakeport area reported to me the difficulties they are having at the local high school. Listen to what he said;
· Their longtime football coach was basically forced out after many years and took another teaching position. As a coach, he was no longer allowed to bench players or suspend them. The administration had taken most or all of his authority to be effective in molding the lives of his players.
• A teacher after 40 years retired this year and she advised her daughter who had just been credentialed, not to go into the field of teaching in the public school system.
• Superintendent and administration are telling teachers to stop suspending students because the ratio is too high for suspensions which impacts funding for the school.
• Often, children using filthy language are responded to by teachers who yell and curse the students.
• The school can’t find qualified teachers so they hire uncredentialed people with no experience.
• Many experienced teachers are abandoning the profession.
Someone might say I am really bashing the public school system, but I would say I am not, I am just reporting what I am told and what I know. We need to keep in mind that there are godly teachers and administrators in our public school system, who would like to see changes in the approach to education. But there is a systemic problem in public education and it is that the pervading worldviews taught are a secular humanistic worldview and a Marx’s / Leninism worldview. And in that atmosphere, there is no room for any other competing worldview. One has to ask; how did we arrive at this place in our public education? It started with a shift in theology, which is the queen of all disciplines. Every other discipline such as; philosophy, psychology, economics, politics, ethics, education, etc. is connected to theology. What you believe about theology will influence your ideas in all other disciplines. This is why teaching our children a Biblical worldview is so important to us.
Today, so many of us can see the unraveling of America is moving at an exponential rate and it is disconcerting to us. So many people are asking how we got to this point, the answer is complicated on one hand and very simple on the other. The United States of America slowly exchanged its Biblical worldview for other worldviews in educating our people. In doing so, we now are reaping the fruit of worldviews that strip men of their God -given liberties and enslave them to tyrannical leaders and regimes.
As I see it, the unraveling of America has a direct connection to Exodus 20:1-6. These verses are the opening preamble to Israel’s law as given by God; We call them the Ten Commandments. As Israel was being birthed as a nation, God commanded them to have no other gods before Him. He also expressly forbade the making, worshiping or serving of any kind of idol. God warned them that if they did, He would visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations. Furthermore, at the end of verse five, God equated the sin of idolatry as hatred for Him. Now the use of the word “fathers” in this passage is not referring to individual fathers of families but the fathers who are leading the nation. We know from other passages that God does not hold children responsible for the sin of their biological fathers and fathers are not responsible for the sin of the children (Ez. 18:20). In the second commandment, God was warning the nation that if its national leaders walked away from Him, multiple generations would suffer the consequence of their fathers’ (national leaders) sin. The principles found in the first and second commands, of the Ten Commandments can apply to any nation. If the leadership of a nation rejects God for idolatry, then the subsequent generations that follow will suffer the consequences of their fathers’ (national leaders) sin. Thus, in the case of America, she is consumed with idolatry (Col. 3:5-6) because she has abandoned her Biblical Worldview and as a result, we are seeing the third and fourth generations since Dewey replaced God with hedonism.
3. What can we do to help ourselves and preserve our American heritage?
✓ First, recognize and live with the fact that no nation will last forever and that God is sovereignly raising and taking down nations for His own purposes.
As Christians we are not first Americans, we are first, citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) and ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). And as such, our first loyalty and greatest efforts should go towards building the church by spreading the gospel. If Christians would talk about Christ as much as they do about politics and the state of affairs in America and around the world, we would all have a lot more hope.
We may be living on the downside of a great nation but we don’t know what the future holds. But if we have come to the limits of God’s grace and the collapse of America as we have known it, we are not the first Christians to have lived through such times. Great nations come and go and depending on where one is in that cycle of rise and fall, God has a purpose for each of us as His ambassador. We must always try to view our presence in the world from heaven, not earth, to keep a proper perspective of things.
✓ Secondly, be careful to not read too much into what is reported to you through the media.
We certainly want to be informed but what we get today is not as much news as it is propaganda from both the right and the left. If we spend all of our time in one of those camps watching and listening to what they say, pretty soon we will become very pessimistic and develop a sense of agitation, anger, fear, and hopelessness. These things are uncharacteristic for one who has been born again according to Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” If you are obsessing over the news, you cannot be walking in the Spirit.
✓ Third, the church must pray for revival.
Earlier when I described the Biblical Worldview of our founders, it may have sounded as if I was implying the country was so much better off in those days but that was not the case. Listen to how Dr. J. Edwin Orr, a historian on church revivals described the condition just prior to the American revolution. “In the wake of the American revolution the country was in a moral slump. Out of a population of 5 million, 300,000 were confirmed drunkards. Women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence. A poll at Harvard revealed not one believer in the whole student body. The largest denomination—Methodist—were losing more members than they were gaining. Chief justice of the United States, John Marshall said "the church is too far gone ever to be redeemed."
God changed that situation through the concert of prayer. A Scottish Presbyterian minister in Edinburg wrote a “Memorial,” as he called it, pleading with the people of Scotland and elsewhere to unite in prayer for a revival of religion. He sent a copy to Jonathan Edwards in New England. That great theologian was so moved that he wrote a response which was published as a book entitled A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of all Gods People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ Kingdom. And of course, you know the rest of the story as mentioned[2] earlier.
The point is simply this, if we in the church do not pray for revival then who will? And if we do not pray, how can we expect a change of course in America. History and our Bibles teach us that when God’s people pray, He hears them and comes to their rescue. What our country needs is a concert of prayer from God’s people to aline us with His plans and will. If this would happen, then we could expect the reverse of the principle I mentioned out of Exodus 20. There, in those same verses, God promises that He will show loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Him and keep His commandments (Ex. 20:6).
✓ Fourth, educate yourself with great resources.
There are many resources I could recommend but I will only give three this morning.
➡ A book to read or listen to in regards to the subject I have addressed today is The Battle for the American Mind by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin. In this book the authors not only speak to what has happened to public education but gives a guide as to how to restructure education in America to straighten our bearings.
➡ Read or listen via YouTube to everything you can by Dr. Thomas Sowell. Thomas Sowell is an American economist, historian, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is a National Humanities Medal recipient for innovative scholarship which incorporated history, economics, and political science.
Thomas Sowell is 92 years old. He started out with a Marxist worldview and has changed his views. When asked why he said, “The facts.” This man is one of the greatest living Americans this country has ever produced. His face should be chiseled into the stone of Mount Rushmore, next to Abraham Lincoln. He sees life as it really is and fearlessly calls it out for what it is. His work covers the span of economics, welfarism, racism, education and global politics. He has traveled the world and photographed much of it and has a tremendous insight into the nature of man and the culture we live in today.
➡ Read Dr. David Nobel’s book, Understanding the Times. This single work will help you to understand the major competing worldviews today as it considers each of them in ten different disciplines. By the time you are finished with this book it will be clear as to which worldview makes the most sense out of life and it will clarify and crystallize your own biblical worldview.
✓ Fifth, home school your children if possible or send them to a private classical Christian school.
In my estimation, our nations greater hope for the future is in the home school movement and private Christian schools. If your children are grown and you have grandchildren, do whatever you can to help your grandchildren to be homeschooled or put into a private classical Christian school.
As Christians, we must teach our children and grandchildren a Biblical Worldview while they are growing up. This precept was embedded in the nation of Israel when God gave them His law, He said “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall 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 up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” It was the parents’ responsibility to teach their children a Biblical worldview of life. We have been trained to believe that we can drop our children off at the public school and they will teach them the same worldview as we have and that is not the case.
And don’t believe for a moment that you can take your kids to Sunday School, AWANA or Youth Group and expect that they are going to develop a Biblical Worldview that will stick with them through life. The little amount of time that children spend in church cannot compete with the endless hours they spend under Secular / Marxist worldviews in the public school system. Statistically, it is proven that young people who professed to be Christians while they lived at home and who went off to college, came back home rejecting Christianity and leaned towards a Secular Humanistic / Marx’s worldview. A few years ago, I got a phone call from a friend of mine who lived in San Diego. He called me and wanted to know what I thought about a situation that happened to his daughter who had just entered college at San Diego State. He said on the first day of her psychology class she said there was 200 students. And as she entered the auditorium on a huge screen there was a slide that read "There is no God.” When class began the instructor came to the podium and drew the class’s attention to the gigantic slide behind him and said to the class, “Do you see what's on the slide? By the time this class is over you will not only believe it but you will teach others.” Fortunately, my friend was very well-versed in the subject of worldviews, and he and his wife were diligent to teach their daughters a Biblical Worldview as they were growing up. So, by the time his daughter went to college she could spot the lie and not be persuaded to follow it. But unfortunately, most children are never taught a biblical worldview because their parents have no idea what their own worldview is. They just assumed their children would take up their values when they went into the world.
A Biblical worldview must be taught and practiced in the home to shape the heart of children and prepare them for the real world. If parents leave the education of their children to others, then they should not be surprised when their children grow up and hold a competing worldview from their parents.
At this present time America is in a cultural war for the minds and hearts of our children. And whatever worldview prevails will determine the kind of life future generations will live. It will either be a life of tyranny and oppression that naturally flows out of worldviews such as a Secular / Marx’s worldview or we can get back to a Biblical Worldview that will pave the way for liberty and justice for all.
I don’t know what others think, but as for me and my house, give me liberty or give me death, for we will follow the LORD!
[1] Orr, J. Edwin, ABWE Message (magazine), Summer 1997, Vol. 49, NO. 2, strive together with me in, Romans 15:30, p.3
[2] Orr, J. Edwin ABWE Message (magazine), Summer 1997, Vol. 49, NO. 2, strive together with me in Romans 15:30, p.3