Commandment #1 – Education: You Don’t Have A Choice

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radio announcer: The Reconstructionist Radio Podcast Network presents, the Moral Foundations Podcast with Reverend Jeremy Walker, where you will learn to teach the Bible line upon line and precept upon precept, in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

Jeremy Walker: The Moral Foundations Podcast is brought to you by the GCS Apprenticeship program. For more information, visit http://www.gcsapprenticeship.com. You’re listening to the Moral Foundations Podcast, and I am your host Reverend Jeremy Walker.

We are continuing our study here with the First Commandment as we’re going through how to teach the Ten Commandments to your students and to your children. So far we’ve had three episodes here on the First Commandment, the first was covering the Creator’s authority and the family. The second was covering the importance of fearing God. The third was hateful love and loving hate; discussing the difference between what is love and what is hate as defined by God and the importance that God is the definer of what we love and what we hate.

Today on this episode we are on part four of our study on the First Commandment and how to teach that to your children and to your students. This one is all about education, and for parents this is very important and for teachers, because education is crucial in what we do for rearing our children and how we do that.

The title for this episode is called, Education: You don’t Have a Choice. Now, I understand that the normal person thinks that they have a choice in everything. In fact, most people think that they have a choice in every decision that happens in their lives. With God, when you have the Ten Commandments, when you’re teaching the Ten Commandments, you don’t have a choice. This is the person in charge, God, and when he says, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” It’s a statement of fact. He is sovereign, He is God, He gets to make the rules, He’s the one in authority. He gets to tell you what to do.

What that means kind of and very simply is, to a large degree, God does not care what you think. I know that sounds weird, but for the listener, for the parent, for the teacher, this is something you have to get your students and your children to understand; the Ten Commandments and God’s commandments. Don’t ask us what we think or what we want, because we’re not in charge. Just as a parent does not ask the child what time they think they should go to bed? The parent is going to set the time. The child might disagree, they might think from time to time they should stay up longer, but they don’t have a choice. The parent has spoken, the parent has decided and they have the authority, and therefore the child has to submit or listen to what the parent has said.

Now, because of this, this is really important as we move on in this study of Education: you don’t have a choice. Because the first point I want to make here is, when we’re teaching this Commandment, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” We’re going to start with a passage of scripture, but the first part of what we want to learn here is education reveals us to be either monotheistic or polytheistic.

Now, I understand that for some people that might be a difficult terminology, you may not be familiar with it. Monotheistic just means one God, polytheistic means multiple gods. Now, that comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, and that’s where we’re going to start this lesson. Deuteronomy 6:4-5, it says, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

Now, the reason why education reveals us to be either monotheistic or polytheistic or one God, or having multiple gods, is because whenever we’re discussing this subject along with what I just quoted here in Deuteronomy 6, is that one God means one law or one loyalty. This is the person you’re going to listen to, these are the rules you’re going to follow, this is the person you’re loyal to.

Now, we’ve already gone through the concept that people like their God to be themselves, so the only person that they view as God is themselves. The only law they have is their own, and the only person that they’re loyal to is themselves, which ties in to the last episode we talked about sacrifice. Because they don’t want to, the natural man, does not want to sacrifice anything for someone else, because they don’t have any other loyalties to anyone or anything besides themselves.

To be monotheistic means to have one law, one God, one loyalty. To be polytheistic means you have multiple gods, multiple laws, and you can have multiple loyalties that play out in different ways, at different times, in different circumstances.

Now, in education that means that if you’re going to educate your children, it means you educate them to love God, the one God. The God of the Bible. It means that you have … you’re educating your children to know the law or the rules or the morality of the God of the Bible, and your only loyalty is to that God.

Now, in the concept of education as a polytheistic type of idea, this means that maybe at church, whenever you have parents, they bring you to church and at church they teach the God of the Bible perhaps, maybe not, depending on what church you go to. Then perhaps then that God is the God of the Bible, has the laws found in the Bible, and those are the laws you’re taught on Sunday or Wednesday, maybe on Monday night, depending on what you’re doing. Your loyalties are supposed to be taught and encouraged on these days to the God of the Bible.

In education, if you attend a school, if you have a teacher that is non-Christian, now, all of a sudden this teacher is teaching a different god. Maybe if you were in a governmental school, maybe it’s the god of the state. The state is god. The state makes the rules. The state makes the laws. The state is what you’re supposed to be loyal to. When God says, “Thou shall not commit adultery,” on Sunday that’s true, but on Wednesday, on Tuesday, on Thursday, on whatever day, that’s not true if you’re in a maybe governmental school. Because the god of that school says that adultery and fornication is okay as long as you’re not … perhaps if you’re age 15 to 17, maybe you’re not having fornication with someone who is now 18, or maybe someone who is 12 or five years old, or 30 years old.

If you’re 18 years old, now you can have fornication with anybody who is of equal age, maybe 18, all the way up through 100, because you’re now of the age of consent. If you have any … what’s considered to be consensual sexual relations with anyone under that age, now all of a sudden, you’re an immoral person who deserves to go to jail. What you see here is the difference between a monotheistic and a polytheistic view, and in education this is very important. Because our entire concept here is Education: you don’t have a choice, but people think they do.

The education people have on Sunday or at church, for most Christians, because they attend governmental schools or otherwise, is not the same education, is not the same god, is not the same law, and is not the same loyalties that they’re taught at their school. The majority of people who claim to be Christians are not actually monotheistic, they don’t have one God, who is one Lord. They don’t love this God with all their heart, all their soul and all their might.

They love this God and they learn about this God a few days of the week, but all the other days they learn about different gods. The majority of Christians today are not monotheistic in their education, of themselves or their children. The majority of them are polytheistic, they really don’t believe in one God, they really believe in multiple gods. Or on Sunday, we’re going to act a certain way, at church we’re going to act a certain way around some of these friends, around our church people, the people we know. When we go to our school, when we’re at the home of our friends, we act a different way, because this is the realm of a different god.

The same rules, the same laws, the same government is not enforced in every realm. In other words, at church there is one God, with one law, and I am going to be benefited by following certain laws and certain commands, but when I’m someplace else I can follow different laws, different commands, and that’s how I’m going to be blessed.

Sadly, a majority of people today that are professing Christians, they go to church every Sunday, every Wednesday, whatever it might be, prayer services and all the rest, these people as the vast majority of people are polytheistic in their views. Because when there comes to the concept of education, they are not insistent that their children receive what is considered to be a Christian education, but they will give their children the people who will teach them against their God.

In the case of the governmental schools in America today, this is overt. They are purposefully and overtly antichristian. They’ll even tell you so. It’s not even a question, it’s purposeful and all the rest. When people take their children and place them in these schools, they are being polytheistic. On Sunday we have one God, but one Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, different god. Maybe even on Wednesday, during the school day you have one God, but on Wednesday night when we go to church, there is a different god, different rules.

Number one, education reveals if we are monotheistic or polytheistic based on how we educate our children, what we teach them, who we allow to teach them.

Moving on, point number two, for education you don’t have a choice. The commandments are offensive. Now, the commandments are offensive on purpose because it’s some very modern thing that parents don’t want their children to dislike them, but in the case of God, He is our father, but He does not care if you like Him or not. He would like you to love Him with your heart, mind, and soul, and strength. If you don’t, that’s okay too. He’s still in charge, He loves you because He might discipline. You might not like it all the time, because you might be disciplined by your father, but He does so because He loves you. In this case, God really doesn’t care what we think and He doesn’t care if we’re upset when He tells us not to do something.

This is very important for parents to understand, is that when the concept of education comes up, God’s not asking you what you think about it. He’s just going to tell you about it. He’s the creator. He’s the authority. He tells you what to do.

All the men, they just don’t like to be told what to do, even when people are converted, even after they’re Christians, they’re not fully sanctified yet they still find being told what to do offensive. If you don’t think this is the case, all you have to do, go on social media, test it out. Start up a conversation on the concept of how to educate your children, and boom, you’re going to find it. Offenses are everywhere, everybody gets upset, nobody can come to an agreement, because, once again, people are either monotheistic or polytheistic, but the majority of people that you’re going to find out there, especially if you patrol the social media webs and people like that, they claim to be Christians, they’re all polytheistic.

Because on Sunday they teach their kids one thing, but on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the rest of the week, they allow someone else to teach their children contrary to everything they just tried to teach their child on Sundays and Wednesdays. This means that though they’re professing to be monotheistic, they’re actually polytheistic in practice, or they don’t really believe in one god, they believe there are multiples.

Number three, as we move on, education is mandatory. Absolutely mandatory, there isn’t a question about if it’s something that you have to do or not. We’re going to go ahead and read some passages here, and I don’t really want to get into argumentation with people. I don’t really want people to say, “Well, that’s … you know, that’s just your point of view. That’s something that you think but it’s not really what is true.” I really hesitate even to bring up scripture here because sadly, for most people, scripture doesn’t mean anything. You can bring up the Bible, or you can bring up Bible verses, but I learned this a long time ago, when I was even the age of 17, newly converted. Bible verses don’t mean anything to a person who is considered to be what I would say, polytheistic.

In other words, sometimes God speaks. Sometimes I have to listen to God, but if I don’t agree with Him, I don’t have to agree with Him, I can do what I want. Now, that is automatically polytheistic, and the other god is yourself. I’ll listen to God when I agree with Him, but if I don’t agree with Him, well, I can just do what I want and I can push aside what He wants and I’ll just take over this realm.

Let’s jump into education is mandatory. I’m going to read some passages, hopefully you can bear with me as we go through these, but I think that … just kind of lay it out for you here, because it’s really not for me a subject that is up for argumentation. I’ve had discussions with people before, but I since come to the conclusion that people believe that they can decide what they want to do for their children, and God really doesn’t have anything to say about it. These people no matter how much scripture you put in front of them, aren’t going to see it. The reason is, they’re polytheistic.

If you’ve questioned yourself, why is it that if I have this question people don’t listen to me. This is why, because the god they’ll listen to is themselves, so you can present all the scripture you want, but if they disagree with it, it doesn’t matter what you do.

Let’s just go ahead and jump in, let’s assume for a second here that you as the parent, you as the teacher are actually open to what the Bible says about education being mandatory. Let’s go ahead and start Deuteronomy 4 … there’s a lot of scriptures here actually, but Deuteronomy 4:1-26, let’s read through them. “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.”

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as this law, which I’ve set before you this day?”

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.”

I’m going to stop there for just a second. Here is the mandate for education, teach these things, don’t forget them, teach them to your children, to your children’s children, and their children.

Picking back up on Verse 10, “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” That’s Verse 10, we’re going to stop there. We just covered this earlier about the importance of fearing God, not only does God want you to fear God, so that you can be blessed and keep the commandments, but He wants you to teach your children that type of fear so that they can also be blessed as well. Teaching your kids is mandatory by God.

Picking up in Verse 11, “And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and the thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon the tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it.”

“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and to serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.”

“Furthermore, the Lord was angry with you for your sakes, and sware that I should not go ov-, over Jordan, that I should not go into that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, of any likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

“When thou beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed.”

Now, if you were paying attention, once again, there was 26 verses. I want people to understand that when God speaks he speaks with authority. It’s not somebody idea about education, it’s not somebody saying, you don’t have a choice. It’s God saying you don’t have a choice. He’s saying I was in the mountain, I burned it, I shook it, I want you to fear me, I don’t want you to be a person who’s going to break my commandments. I don’t want to have to punish you but, but if you forget me, if your children forget me, if they fail to do what I have told them to do. If you fail to do what I have told you to do, you will not prosper, God is going to instead … he’s not going to prosper them, he’s going to curse them. He’s going to crush them instead.

These are wonderful promises, and they’re also very stark warnings about how we educate our children. Our purpose and our goal is to ensure that our children understand the fear of God, understand the commandments of God, know them, believe them, and live according to them.

Now, you can’t do that if you’re giving your children to somebody else, who is teaching them contrary to these commandments. If you’re trying to on Sunday teach them to fear God and throughout the rest of the week people are telling you there is no God. If you’re trying to teach them the commandments on Sunday, on Wednesday, and then throughout the week at your school, they’re teaching them other commandments, not God’s commandments. Then you’re absolutely going contrary to this. You’re purposefully disobeying God.

Now, this isn’t somebody just saying you’re disobeying God, you are. God’s saying you have to diligently do this, make sure you teach your children, and not just your children, your children’s children’s children’s. Now, that’s a whole lot of grandkids that your great, great grandkids, this is what God says is important. You’re supposed to educate your children to fear God in the obedience of the commandments.

Well, let’s continue. Some people may not be convinced. Some people might say, “Well, that wasn’t enough, 26 verses, okay fine. Maybe I need some more.” So, if a person’s paying attention, let’s give them some more.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9, here we go. “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy sons, and thy son’s sons, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest increase mightily, as the Lord thy God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.”

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

Now, Deuteronomy 6:1-9, is once again, a lengthy passage but I’m just using a lengthy passage because I want you to understand what God is saying here. He wants you not just to … yourself to obey God’s commandments, he wants you to teach them diligently to your children and their children’s children’s children. He wants to get this across. God is pleading really with his people, he really is. He is pleading with them.

I want you to know my commandments, I want you to obey my commandments, and I want to bless you. I want to bless your kids, I want to bless your grandkids, I want to bless your great grandkids, but you have to do this in order for me to do it. This passage; diligently, when you rise up, when you lay down, it’s constant, all day. It’s an absolute, 100% Christian education where all throughout the day, every single person is reiterating to this child that there is a God, one God, and he has one law, and if you want to be blessed you have to obey this God, continually, continually, continually.

There is no room for a second guessing here. There is no, “Well, maybe God puts it up to me. Maybe God lets me decide how I want to teach my kids, well, you can’t tell me what to …” Yes, God is telling you what to do. No, you don’t have a choice here, God is saying you have to teach me as God. There are schools out there that purposely teach that there is no God. They purposely teach that man is not created, man is a cosmic accident. You’re going to put your children in this school, to be taught by these people and claim … you’re going to claim for half a second that you are obeying God.

After I’ve just read these two passages here, can you really, honestly say that? No, you can’t. Now, you can try, but God is very clear, consistently, diligently, all day every day. It doesn’t say that some people can try to come in and contradict you, to undermine you, subvert you. No, no, no, this is diligently. God is giving the parents a command.

Anyways, let’s continue, some people still may not be convinced. If that’s you, here’s a couple more verses for you. Deuteronomy 6, the same chapter we’re on, 20 through 25.

“And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.”

Here is God, just at the end of Chapter 6, saying your kids are going to grow up. Your kids who don’t know me, and they’re going to say, “Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this?” Now, the question is this, the kids are going to go, “Why are you sending me to a school? Why are you sending me to a school that’s telling me there is no God, five days a week, but … then on Sunday and on Wednesday you’re trying to take me to a place for one hour a day who is trying to tell me there is a God. Why five days a week you’re telling me that I have teachers who are telling me that God’s commandments are not the real commandments, but there are other commandments. But on Sunday and Wednesday we have God’s commandments all of a sudden.”

You see, the children see through it. They see polytheism, which is why we have here, God says, when your kids get old enough to ask questions, you are supposed to educate them that God wants them to be taught to keep the commandments, to fear God, and only for their good. He wants to preserve them alive, he wants to bless them, but five days a week you’re going to educate your kids contrary to all these things? Purposefully, you’re going to give your kids to somebody who will purposefully, deliberately teach them everything that’s contrary to what God just said, and then claim … hold on a minute, then claim that you have the right to educate your child however you want and think that God doesn’t care?

Now, if these passages here haven’t convinced you otherwise, I’m not quite sure what else to tell you. I can tell you, is that there are people who that is the case, that even though we have scriptures, even though we put them out plainly, even though we lay them out, describe them, talk about them, still has not an effect. For those people who are listening, let’s give a few more passages.

Mark 9 is another good place to go, and here we are, Mark 9:38-42, just a few verses here. “And John answered, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, and can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.”

Here you have a warning. Here you have something to be frightened of. First of all, there’s two different parts here, the first part is about the disciples who said that somebody wasn’t following them but was using Jesus’ name to cast out devils. Jesus says, “Hey, leave him alone, if, uh, he’s not against us he’s with us.” Hold on a minute, then if there are people who are purposefully against God, and they’re not with him, and that means that they’re his enemy. It means that they’re purposefully attempting to teach people contrary to the truth, that there is a God, that there are commandments, and that that is the way to bless him.

Yet as parents you think that you can give your children to these people who are purposefully and openly against Jesus, against the Bible, against God, and God doesn’t care. There’s something that you should think about, God does care. Because here it says, whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believes in me. To offend them doesn’t mean to make them upset, to offend them means to tell them that they can prosper outside of teaching the commandments. That there is no God, that they can make up their own laws. So the majority of education is offending little children, offending those people that might belong to Christ.

If you do that, he is giving a staunch warning. It would be better for somebody to tie a big, giant brick around your neck and throw you into the water and drowned you, than it would be to do this. Parents don’t stop and think for two seconds, they have to stop and say, “Am I offending my child? Am I appointing them to break the commandments? I’m giving them to somebody who’s gonna teach them that there is no God. That there is no law. And that the way of blessing is not to keep the commandments at all of God, but to do what they want.”

This is what it means to offend somebody. This commandment here, this biblical passage is one that people should really pay attention to, because they don’t. As parents, and as teachers, it is your responsibility not to offend those that belong to Christ. It is your responsibility to uplift them and to help them, to teach them as we’ve been discussing already.

Let’s go ahead and jump into a few more, this is in Mark. We can jump into of course Mathew, and I like Mathew because Mathew is the great commission. In the great commission, it’s all about education if you didn’t know. We’re going to jump into Mathew 28:18-20, because we’re talking about education. It says this, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

The great commission that the church has been given, all Christians have been given, are to teach the nations to baptize them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost, and to observe all the things that God has commanded; keeping the commandments. You’re going to take your children and you’re going to give them to someone who would do the absolute opposite of what the church’s calling is, and you think that God’s not going to be concerned about it.

You think that you’re not going to have any repercussions. Not only you’re not teaching other people, because that’s the great commission, going out and teaching other people. You’re not even going to take care of your own kids, as God has already overly and abundantly told you is your responsibility as the parent, but you’re not going to do that? You’re going to go contrary to this, you’re going to allow someone not to teach them all things that God has said, but to teach contrary to what Christ has said.

No, Christian education is mandatory, specifically of your children. If you’re the teacher, your job is to teach people the truth. Now, that comes with an interesting question, doesn’t it? Can a Christian be employed by a school that purposefully wants them to teach lies, or in the face of lies, remain silent? In the case of governmental schools, that’s the majority of them. A lot of Christians take up employment at the government schools, but are they doing this? Are they teaching all things to their students? Or are they allowing their students to become indoctrinated, to be polytheists where they themselves are God. Something to think about.

Let’s go ahead and move on, I think we spent a lot of time already on these things. Only a few other things I’d like to touch on, and then I think we can close up. I think the reason why I would like to touch on a few more things is because we’ve already discussed quite a bit and extensively, the subject about teaching. Now, let’s go ahead and touch on a few other things about we’re not to learn about the things of evil men. Now, because once again, one is a positive, one is a negative, let’s jump on the negative about not learning things.

Deuteronomy 18:9 says this, “When thou art come into the land with … which the lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.” It means that whenever God was going to send people somewhere including us where we’re at today, our children, they’re not supposed to learn to do what non-Christian people are doing, not to act like them, not to imitate them. Whenever you don’t educate your children properly, if you give them over to a school to be taught differently, they’re going to be taught to imitate people who are not Christian.

Jeremiah 10:2, once again, says simple, “Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven for the heathen are dismayed at them.” It goes on forth, and so forth, and so on. Once again, just a reiteration, you’re not supposed to learn the way of the heathen. You’re not supposed to learn to act like other people. Christians are supposed to act differently.

Let’s jump into some Proverbs, because Proverbs are great. I love the Proverbs. Proverbs 13:20, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” There is nothing more foolish than those people who have been taught there is no God, there is no law that comes from God, and you can do what you want. That is the height of being a fool, except, I think in fact in Proverbs also it says, the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

When you send your children to schools to be educated against God’s commandments, that’s specifically what you’re doing. You’re giving them over to be the companion of fools and they’re going to be destroyed, and you as a parent have to think about that.

Jumping into Proverbs 14:7, “Go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceiveth not in him the lips of knowledge.” Knowledge of course is those things that equate themselves with the Bible, with God’s commandments, with what God says. It specifically says to go from their presence. You can’t give your children over to somebody who you know is teaching them contrary to God’s commandments. Just in Proverbs here it’s specifically saying to go away from them. Leave these people, don’t learn from these people. Don’t listen to these people, they’re going to draw you away from God.

Now, the next one is a bit a longer, we’re closing up here so hopefully you can bear with me. Hopefully you can bear with me for a few minutes here. Psalms 26:1-12, goes along these lines. “Judge me, O lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth. I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.”

“I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of thy wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth. Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: In whose hands is mischief, and their right hands is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the Lord.”

This is Psalms 26, but just very important, you’re not … you hate the congregation of the evil doers and will not sit with the wicked. These things are just so blatant, open that you’re going to sit there and you’re going to speak of God’s wondrous works. If you take your children and you give them to people who are teaching contrary to God’s commandments, you’re teaching them to do the absolute opposite of this. You’re giving them over to vain persons, to dissemblers, to people who are purposefully teaching them against God and his commandments.

You’re teaching them to be gathered, not to go away from these sinners and the bloody men. People who run to mischief, and so, read over this passage again when you get time.

Let’s go over another one. This is one of my favorite, it’s actually one I had to memorize when I was a kid, Psalms 1, I was in school, but I’m just going to run through. It’s just six verses, I’m going to run through real quick. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff, which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

This passage, this goes right along with what … we’re talking about education, about the importance of it, about not walking in the counsel of the ungodly. The counsel of the ungodly is education. I mean, people say that education is not in the Bible, God doesn’t say anything about education, he doesn’t tell us how to school our children.

You were not paying attention, and you’re purposefully not paying attention. Now, I don’t want anyone who listens to this, like I said, anybody who listens to this, I want them to understand one thing, is that we’re hoping to attempt to help people to teach them what the Bible says about things. This whole podcast is about education. It’s about helping people be better parents and better teachers, and how to educate their kids.

Education is very important, and you don’t have a choice. You’re not allowed to have your children and give them over to ungodly people, so they can learn to walk after them. There’s not many more verses I think I can pull out, there are so many, again and again. I think I’ve made my point, at least I think I hope I have at this point. We’re going a little bit longer than I expected to at this point.

Let’s jump into the last part, and I’ll have to end with this because it’s gone a little bit longer than expected. It’s an important subject, and people really get the idea that education is something that they have a choice in, that somehow they can decide who can teach their kids and how, in other essence where they won’t hurt my kids to be … having a teacher who is non-Christian. It won’t hurt my kids to be taught that there is no God. It won’t hurt my kids to be taught that God’s law isn’t important.

Yes, it does, yes, it will. Over and over, I hope you have paid attention to these verses because it says, they’re going to be destroyed. They’re going to be destroyed. As a parent you have the responsibility to protect them from themselves. Education is where we start.

Now, I’m going to go back to Proverbs, and I’m just going to go back to Proverbs and end with Proverbs because if you haven’t read Proverbs you should. It’s got the most practical application, direct commentary you can possibly get. I think we’re going to end up here with this, end with this. It says, “Parents set their children either on the path of life and blessing or on the path of death and punishment.”

I’m going to read this last one and I’m going to end with this, and I hope you’ve gotten a lot out of this episode, or at least if you came to this episode not necessarily thinking education was important, you get it now. Because you as the parent, you as the teacher have an obligation and duty to point your children or your students towards God or away. You cannot, you cannot … I’m going to say it again, you cannot give you children to somebody who are going to point them away from God on purpose. You know what they’re doing. You know what they’re going to teach your kids, and you say it’s not going to bother them.

Yes, it is. God does not give you a choice, you don’t have the choice to say they’re going to be okay. God says, “You are going to teach them my commandments. You’re going to teach them not to your kids, but to your grandkids, and your great grandkids, and you’re going to do this because I want to bless them.” God tells you, if you don’t do it, they’re going to forget God.

Just before we end here, before we finish this final passage in Proverbs. Look at the fruit of modern education that is non-Christian, and you will see people who have forgotten God. You will see that God is absolutely, 100% true. They have learned and believed there is no God and there is no Law. They live like it. Then we complain about it. Don’t need to complain. You can’t complain about something that you did.

So when you stop complaining, we need to be preemptive, we need to take our kids and be serious, take serious what God says about our children, and about our duties also to evangelize the nations, but primarily our own children.

Let’s go ahead and end with this. I’m sorry this took so long but education is a very important subject. Proverbs 4, and I’ll end with these 16 verses, if you can bear with me. “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.”

“Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace and a crown of glory shall she deliver thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.”

“Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.”

We’re going to stop there. This is a father talking to his children, and he’s saying, “I did my job. I taught you good things. I taught you right things, please listen to what I’ve taught you.”

Now, as the parent, as the teacher, can you say that? Can you say I taught my kids correctly? Now, you have to be careful when you answer this, because if you give your children to somebody to teach contrary to what you’re teaching, you can’t say this. The vast majority of professing Christians have failed to teach their children the right things and the right path.

Hopefully this has given you a lot to think about. If you run into people who won’t listen to you, be patient with them, there’s nothing you can do to change their mind. If you are a person who has been on the fence about education or what to do with your children, I hope this has helped you.

If you have any questions you can always visit our website at gcsapprenticeship.com, for more information. As always, this website, this podcast, The Moral Foundations Podcast is brought to you by the GCS Apprenticeship program, for more information visit, gcsapprenticeship.com. The GCS Apprenticeship program attempts and desires to find young men and women that desire to become a successful Christian, school teachers, or to learn how to operate and own their own Christian school, which of course goes right along with education that we’ve been talking about.

If that’s something you’re interested in or might be interested in, or you know somebody that might be interested in that, visit the website, gcsapprenticeship.com to get in touch with us.

We do thank you for listening and joining us today.

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