Click here to watch an invitation to Renewing the Mind course.
It starts October 13th, from 6:30-8 pm and runs for ten weeks. It is FREE! We will study how the Founders used the “Principle Approach” method of teaching and learning.
Fall in Love with Teaching Again! This course is for YOU—the parent teacher or classroom teacher—to equip you with the elements of a dynamic approach to education. During the 10-week Renewing the Mind for Teaching and Learning Course you will find a new paradigm to inspire you and release you from the drudgery of “canned” approaches to educating children, bringing a joy that is limitless, fresh every day and restores a love of learning.
A Biblical philosophy of education begets a fresh approach to both curriculum and method. The Renewing The Mind Course is the first step in the process of restoring true Biblical education, the source of liberty and Christian self-government.
Renewing the Mind for Teaching and Learning Course is a free online study in the Principle Approach, a new way of thinking by today’s standards that views all life and learning through a Biblical lens. The only resource you will need for this course is the Renewing The Mind for Teaching and Learning Study Guide which can be purchased here.
Register for this FREE Course Here. In this course you will learn how to: ~ Teach using a time-tested method of successful education ~ Master the joy and spirit of subject material—vocabulary, principles and leading ideas ~ Establish the purpose of learning—overviews, timelines, maps, goals ~ Construct a solid Biblical and academic curriculum ~ Create an appealing learning environment providing the right tools ~ Consistently uphold the standards of Christian scholarship and character ~ Celebrate learning by incorporating music, art, drama, pageantry, performance and all the arts
Dr. Brenda MacMenaminwill be your online instructor for the Renewing The Mind Course. She is a seasoned Principle Approach Master Teacher with over 30 years of experience in learning and teaching American Christian history. Now, she looks forward to introducing the Principle Approach to you through this Renewing the Mind study group.
The Renewing The Mindstudy is a FREE 10-week course starting October 13 and will be held each Wednesday evening from 6:30-8:00 PM EST through December 15*. All you will need for the course is the Renewing The Mind Study Guide. Just click the link below to register and you will receive more information and the Zoom link to log on and start loving teaching again. Register for this FREE Course Here.
“…they will teach their children to fear me also…” ~ Deuteronomy 4:10
Remember in Deuteronomy 4, how the Lord urged Israel to obey Him so that He could fully bless them? He talked to them about how He just destroyed their enemies (His and theirs – the ones that sacrificed their children to idols.) Then He instructs them how He wants them to enter and occupy the Promised Land.
What is your Promised Land? Is it maybe where you are free to worship the Lord, where there is Peace, Joy and Righteousness? This is each of our homes, as we raise our little ones up in the Lord. Look how the Lord warns them as a loving Father does:
“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.…” ~ Deuteronomy 4:9 NLT
As we seek Him to do this, surely we will create a place where our children can hear about Him, learn to read and love His Word. As they grow older understanding comes and application.
Application of His Word is quite an adventure that brings success in all we do. As the Lord encourages Joshua in Joshua 1:8, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”
I wonder how we can ever do this if we send our children to a school that does not let our children bring in the Book about Him…
Proverbs 22:6 in the 1599 Geneva Bible promises that if we “Teach a child in the trade of his way, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.”
What does “in the trade of his way” mean? Well, each child is unique and has gifts from the Lord. He has a Way for him to go. This is the joy of parenthood to see each child’s uniqueness and encourage each one of our children to develop his gifts and bless people.
Home is where this happens best. Parents, have fun with it! You are awesome.
Parent, do you know how “qualified” you are to teach your own children? Many people will make you feel not qualified while they explain away the public schools’ failure to teach children even the basics of education. I love this quote that is attributed to one of the former students of James A. Garfield:
“The ideal college is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other.”
Hopkins was well known and loved for his simplicity in education. The Bible makes it even more simple:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” ~ Deuteronomy 6:5-9 NKJV
Doesn’t this sound like anywhere, anytime? Or better yet: Everywhere. All the time.
Parents, you can do it! Everywhere. All the time! Just fall in love with God again and teach your children to do the same. Every thing will flow from there.
We’ve been discussing the way that the colonists learned and how they taught their children. Instead of the 3 R’s, they used the 4 R’s:
Research
Reason
Relate
Record
Today we are talking about recording. (See previous posts for the first three.) This would usually mean having the students write essays, instead of giving them short answer tests such as T/F, fill-in-the-blanks or matching. These types of tests are certainly easier for the teacher to grade, but they do not require the students to think through what they have been taught and what they have learned.
After teaching students how to research using original and first source documents, how to reason through what they are researching and how to relate this information to the subject/project at hand, we then teach our students how to record this information. You can read references to “blank books” or notebooks from George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Nathaniel Bowditch among so many others.
But it does not always have to be in essay form, and this is where learning can be a LOT of fun! “Recording” can be debates, spelling bees, History or Science Fairs, on-the-job training or apprenticing, plays or skits. You can see that the variety is limited only by the teachers’ and classes’ imagination.
Think of all the inspiring autobiographies or biographies that you have read. Can you imagine if no one took the time to record that for you!
I was enjoying a letter from John Quincy Adams in the “Education of John Quincy Adams” this week:
“When our fathers abjured the name of Britons, and ‘assumed among the nations of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitled them,’ they tacitly contracted the engagement for themselves, and above all for their posterity, to contribute, in their corporate and national capacity, their full share, ay, and more than their full share, of the virtues that elevate and of the graces that adorn the character of civilized man. They announced themselves as reformers of the institution of civil society. They spoke of the laws of nature, and in the name of nature’s God; and by that sacred adjuration they pledged us, their children, to labor with united and concerted energy, from the cradle to the grave, to purge the earth of all slavery; to restore the race of man to the full enjoyment of those rights which the God of nature had bestowed upon him at his birth; to disenthrall his limbs from chains, to break the fetters from his feet and the manacles from his hands, and set him free for the use of all his physical powers for the improvement of his own condition. The God in whose name they spoke had taught them, in the revelation of the Gospel, that the only way in which man can discharge his duty to Him is by loving his neighbor as himself, and doing with him as he would be done by; respecting his rights while enjoying his own, and applying all his emancipated powers of body and of mind to self-improvement and the improvement of his race.”
Doesn’t this refute the accusation that our Founders were racist? And what a treasure to share with our children to encourage them to “labor with united and concerted energy, from the cradle to the grave, to purge the earth of all slavery.” (or abortion!)
In Joshua 4 we read that the Lord had the leaders of Israel leave stones from the bottom of the Jordan in a heap so that their children would ask what they mean. Isn’t this what we are doing, when we record what God has done in our lives? Then, we can too can say,
“He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.” ( Joshua 4:24)
And that, my friend is what we want to instill into our children, above all. As it says in Psalm 78: 4-7:
We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about His power and His mighty wonders. For He issued His laws to Jacob; He gave His instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them
— even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles and obeying His commands.
Psalm 78:4-7
Renewing our minds is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
Can we relate the Bible to real life and living? Where do you get direction for your marriage, parenting, finances, etc.? Does the Bible have anything to say about these most critical topics?
My husband and I were saved about the same time. We had a pastor who spent a lot of time and money to teach us Biblical principles concerning our marriage. He would have special speakers in to teach and train us. Then there was a season where we focused on our finances. They actually taught us how to set up a budget. They had other people come in to teach us about child training from a Biblical perspective. What a difference it made to our young family to have this foundation in the Word of God. No wonder my husband and I have been so blessed. We were taught how to relate Biblical principles to life and living.
Could we do the same with everything that we want to embark on? If we can research and reason from the Word, can we then relate what we learn to the task at hand?
From the 1828 Dictionary: RELA’TE, v.i. To have reference or respect; to regard.
Do we even have respect for the Word of God, if we do not relate it to our lives?
What is beautiful is that God Almighty has so many promises and blessings for us as we seek His Word, His Will and His Way. As it says in Jeremiah 6:16,
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.’
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”
I say, “Father! Help us walk in Your Way! We want to know Your Word and apply it to our lives. We want to find these ‘old paths, where the good way is…’”
From The “Eliot Tracts” – John Elliot was known as the “Apostle to the Indians.” (From Teaching and Learning available at face.net.)
Here we see this desire in the first Americans, in their dedication of their first college, Harvard. Their second rule and precept to be observed in the college was:
Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisedome, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seeke it of him (Prov. 2:3).
And there in the wilderness of a new land God forged a covenant people who sought His Word for Truth, for how to start teaching their little ones. They dedicated this nation to the Lord and forged governmental documents upon His Word that gave us Liberty for hundreds of years.
Return us, O God, to the covenant that our Fathers made with You when they dedicated themselves and their little ones to You. Help us to dedicate ourselves and our little ones to You once again!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Renewing our minds is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
Last week we talked about the “4R’s” of education that the Founders used to Learn and to Teach that produced brilliant thinker and writers. They are:
Research
Reason
Relate
Record
We covered how important it is to start every project and learning endeavor in the Word of God and how the Bible is up to the task to give wisdom and to make us prosper.
The second R is Reason. I actually thought that reasoning was opposed to faith when I first got saved and so I was under the impression that we were NOT supposed to reason. But the Bible says:
Isaiah 1:18, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’”
Acts 17:2, “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,”
Acts 24:25, “Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.’”
I Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
When we search the Word for the Lord’s Will and Way and then reason with Him how to walk this out in our lives, a wonderful blessing comes upon us. As the Lord promises Joshua in Joshua 1:8&9,
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
What a wonderful blessing! Do our children deserve less? Is it worth taking time to renew our minds so that we can pass such a wonderful heritage to our children!
Look at Psalm 78:4, 6, 7 GNV:
“We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done… That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments…”
If there were any time that we needed to reason with our children to know the character of God and to urge them to trust Him in our current circumstances, isn’t it now? If we cannot reason from scripture, why read it? Conversely, maybe people aren’t reading the Bible because they are not hearing Christians that do reason from His precious Word.
Let’s be the people who do. Let’s ask God Almighty to help us so that we can help others, much like Jesus asked His Father to glorify Him so that He could glorify the Father! (John 17:1)
May we be like the nation of Israel when they found the Law after not following it for years. This is Nehemiah 8:8-10
“So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.’ For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.
“Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’”
Father, will You open the Heavens for us? Will You give us revelation? Will You help us to read Your Word afresh and anew. Help us to receive fresh manna from You. We need You so desperately, so we ask in faith, believing that You hear our prayer and will not give us a stone, but the Holy Spirit.
Thank You, Abba Father!
Renewing our minds is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
Rosalie Slater, author of “Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History” studied the way that the Founders learned and taught and sums up their method with 4R’s: Research, Reason, Relate and Record. This is supported and taught by face.net as the Principle Approach where every subject begins in the Bible and is recorded in notebooks instead of taking short answer tests.
This “new” system is actually a renewing of our minds to use the Bible as the foundation of all learning and is a fascinating concept. For those of us who believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, it opens the door for us to know Him deeper and welcomes us into His world. Are you ready?
1887 Family Bible
Let’s study a few scriptures that encourage us that the Bible is actually up to the task to enlighten us in all aspects of life and living! We can start our research in the Word of God.
Research–
2 Tim 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Tim. 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
If there were ever a time when parents needed a place to be equipped for “every good work” it is now. Here is our guide, the very Word of God Almighty.
With all the misinformation swirling about us, it is time, especially for those of us who love Christ, to come to Him afresh, let go of our old thinking and learn how to rightly divide this word of truth.
Research would also include original sources documents such as history written before the 1900’s when our history was re-written by progressives. This true history from biographies, autobiographies and documents contemporary with events studied brings His Story alive and is a fascinating way to teach and learn! America is a rich treasure of heroes and patriots who stood for Truth and believed God Almighty to bless them through courageous stands for Convictions, Conscience, and Virtue- words that need to be revived today to help our young adults navigate successfully through the swamp as it is being drained.
So take courage my friends. I will talk about the second R next week. Stay tuned and sign up for the email to make sure that you do not miss the second part in this series.
Renewing our minds is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
Teaching Techniques of Jesus by Herman Harrell Horne is a life changing book for me. I never thought of reading the Bible in terms of studying how Jesus taught. This book makes me want to start in the New Testament and leisurely read from Matthew to Revelation with this idea in mind!
The chapter on “His Attitude Toward Children” should be required reading for every parent and educator, especially those in the Kingdom of God. I agree with his statement, “… the attitude of Jesus toward children is the best we know in education today.” He brought out these scriptures in this chapter:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” ~ Matthew 23:37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” ~ Luke 13:34
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” ~ Mark 9:42
“Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” ~ Mark 9:37
“Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” ~ Mat 18:14
“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” ~ Mat 18:10
I’ve always loved how Jesus treats children, in direct opposition to his disciples who remind me of how easy it is to be “Type A” in the Lord’s work and ignore His very heart.
Indeed we see that nurturing and training the next generation is the very essence of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Yet our culture has convinced parents across our nation that they are not “qualified” or anointed for this work. They believe that it takes experts and a Village instead the heart and blessing of Almighty God.
He says in the chapter, “Jesus in Educational History” that “the place of Jesus in educational history is central and greatest, on the basis not of personal loyalty, but objective fact because… He taught the highest moral and spiritual truths: God is father, man is brother, the will is free, the soul is immortal, the ideal social order is to come on earth, women and children are to be honored, the life of sacrificial love is supreme.”
Herman Harrell Horne asks us, in closing one chapter, “In what respects do we commonly fail to exemplify love, truth and freedom in our attitude toward our children?”
I would offer that the way that we would fail the most is to send them to a place where they are separated from His love, truth and freedom, that is, in the public/government schools.
May God Almighty continue to anoint us to rescue parents and children from indoctrination away from Him. Then we can seek Him as to how to restore America’s Biblical heritage. Parents and children can sit at His feet together and say, as His followers of old did, “We know that Thou art a teacher come from God” and “Thou hast the words of eternal life!”
Learning, in Him,
Bren
Renewing our minds is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
Pilgrims onshore at Plymouth, from “Of Plymouth Plantation”
If you knew that our history has been re-written in the early 1900’s would it matter to you? Does Truth Matter?
Recently a friend mentioned that the Pilgrims tried communism and that it failed for them. This is true, but what some do not realize is that this communal life was forced upon them. They had sold all that they had in Holland to venture to America. As the Pilgrims were closing their deal with the Virginia Company, Robert Cushman changed the original agreement, whose terms were broad and vague but were understood to be free enterprise. Among the “new conditions” were:
#3 said that “all profits and benefits… shall remain in the common stock until division.”
#5 “… the capital and profits… shall be equally divided…”
#10 “That all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their food, drink, clothing, and all provisions, out of the common stock and goods of the said colony.”
The Pilgrims appealed to the Virginia Company. They sent back letters stating their concern about the new conditions, “which all are against.” But at this point, they had nothing to go back to and had the vision to go to America.
“… having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia…” ~ Mayflower Compact
Of course we know that having lost valuable time and resources in waiting for the Virginia Company to finally send them, they arrived late in winter. Half of them passed away within 3 months from inadequate food, sickness and harsh weather. The Lord did send the miracle of Samoset and Squanto (which is another delightful story!)
But they could not prosper living under the communism forced on them by the Virginia company. Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation” shares his perspective:
All this whille no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expecte any. So they begane to thinke how they might raise as much corne as they could, and obtaine a beter crope then they had done, that they might not still thus languish in miserie. At length, after much debate of things, the Govr (with ye advise of ye cheefest amongest them) gave way that they should set corne every man for his owne perticuler, and in that regard trust to them selves; in all other things to goe on in ye generall way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcell of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end, only for present use (but made no devission for inheritance), and ranged all boys & youth under some familie. This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne was planted then other waise would have bene by any means ye Govr or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave farr better contente. The women now wente willingly into ye feild, and tooke their litle-ons with them to set corne, which before would aledg weaknes, and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.
The experience that was had in this com̅one course and condition, tried sundrie years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanitie of that conceite of Platos & other ancients, applauded by some of later times;—that ye taking away of propertie, and bringing in com̅unitie into a comone wealth, would make them happy and florishing; as if they were wiser then God. For this comunitie (so farr as it was) was found to breed much confusion & discontent, and retard much imploymēt that would have been to their benefite and comforte. For ye yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour & service did repine that they should spend their time & streingth to worke for other mens wives and children, with out any recompence. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in devission of victails & cloaths, then he that was weake and not able to doe a quarter ye other could; this was thought injuestice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalised in labours, and victails, cloaths, &c., with ye meaner & yonger sorte, thought it some indignite & disrespect unto them. And for mens wives to be commanded to doe servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloaths, &c., they deemd it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well brooke it. Upon ye poynte all being to have alike, and all to doe alike, they thought them selves in ye like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut of those [164]relations that God hath set amongest men, yet it did at least much diminish and take of ye mutuall respects that should be preserved amongst them. And would have bene worse if they had been men of another condition. Let none objecte this is men's corruption, and nothing to ye course it selfe. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdome saw another course fiter for them.” (Emphasis mine)
Well this was obviously before the Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary! But you can see, that they were suffering under communism. They did not choose it but they had signed an agreement and were trying to honor that agreement. If communism could have worked, wouldn’t it have worked for this hardworking, God-fearing people? But Bradford says that as soon as they required each man to work “for his owne particular”, that “it made all hands very industrious… whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.”
Bradford asserts that the Virginia Company thought, “ye taking away of propertie, and bringing in com̅unitie into a comone wealth, would make them happy and florishing; as if they were wiser then God.”
Translated this means:
…the taking away of property, and bringing in community into a common wealth (communism), would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser then God.
WOW!!
He then closes this section with this glorious and instructive phrase:
I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdome saw another course fiter for them.”
Is this what we learned in high school? Probably not, although there have been some teachers teaching from original documents in every season. But very few are learning this now. Doesn’t learning this way bring His Story alive!
Will you be intentional in your child’s education? Will you determine now before God Almighty to learn and teach this way? Let’s ask for His help!
Father, we cry out to You, help us educate our little ones. Anoint us to teach the “Mighty Deeds of God” (Ps 78) to the next generation. Lead us by Your Spirit. You are our Waymaker. We thank You in advance for Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ glorious Name we pray… Amen!
Would you like to join me in this quest to Renew Your Mind? I am hosting an online “Renewing Your Mind” that starts this Monday! Please join us.
Renewing our minds is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
Can we reclaim our culture by reclaiming our language? Doesn’t that sound wonderfully simple? Think of a few words that we have lost:
Marriage
Education
History
Business
Government
Politics
If this concept of reclaiming words is unfamiliar to you, take a bit of time and compare and contrast these words by looking them up at dictionary.com vs the 1828 Dictionary. I love the 1828 Dictionary because Noah Webster produced this gem of a resource at the height of when America enjoyed a Christian culture. This was the fruit of the Great Awakening.
Let’s take the word “politics” for example. In dictionary.com, we read:
Politics [ pol-i-tiks ] noun (used with a singular or plural verb)
the science or art of political government.
the practice or profession of conducting political affairs.
political affairs: The advocated reforms have become embroiled in politics
political methods or maneuvers: We could not approve of his politics in winning passage of the bill.
political principles or opinions: We avoided discussion of religion and politics. His politics are his own affair.
use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc.
Who wants to get involved in politics unless they are willing to:
become embroiled
use intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control
tread on an opinion that is “his own affair”
Let’s compare this to “politics” in the 1828 Dictionary:
~ from the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
Should we, as Christians, be involved in:
ethics?
the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity?
defense of [our] existence and rights against foreign control or conquest?
Have you ever heard these worldly statements in Christian circles:
Politics are dirty
The Church is above politics
Politics are “worldly”
Let’s contrast these misunderstandings with the reformed attitude developed by our Founders. This was developed by intense reading of their beloved Bibles yearly, the Great Awakening and a Biblical worldview which steered them to believe:
“The Church must take right ground in regards to politics… The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics, or the Lord will curse them.… God cannot sustain this free and blessed country, which we love and pray for, unless the Church will take right ground. Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God… He will bless or curse this nation, according to the course they [Christians] take.” ~ Charles Finney
“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing … than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?” -George Washington
“Now, the ‘Lord’ I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit, and wherever He is Lord, there is freedom.” 2 Cor. 3:17 TPT
Can you feel a shift in your spirit from asking the Lord to “save America” to being willing [by His Grace!] to shoulder His Lordship as it says in Isaiah 9:6-7:
… Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
What great victory He longs to give us once we shoulder His government. [We ARE His body.] Then we could read this and truly understand that this is our portion and our Promised Land.
No matter how murky the waters or worldly our politics have become in our absence and in the vacuum that we have left, “God so loved the world, that He sent his only Son…” (John 3:16)
Surely Jesus will anoint us to possess this Land of Education, of Politics, of Government and of Business as we seek His face, read His Word and obey Him.
Do you want to join me in the first baby step in this adventure? Do you want to learn how to instruct, enlighten and guide precious, blood-bought sheep through the murky waters of current events to God’s promised green pastures through obedience to His Word?
As Romans 12:2 NKJV says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
It is a transforming process which begins right at our commitment to Christ’s salvation and Lordship of our lives. We receive His Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We then begin this wonderful journey to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We grow as we read His Word, begin to understand, know and practice it. What an adventure!
