Homeschool News & Views

Issue 82, August 17, 2008

From Homeschool Helpers

In association with Pass It On Ministries

By Dan L. White

Listen to this article.

Yesterday we heard from a man who was on Schindler’s list.

Many people know about Schindler’s list from the movie of that name. Oskar Schindler was a German entrepreneur during World War II. He went to Poland and set up factories to supply everyday items to the German war effort. He was able to talk the German military into letting him use Jewish concentration camp inmates as his employees. In doing that, Oskar was able to make a lot of money and save Jewish lives from the gas chambers.

Zev Kedem was 5 years old when Germany invaded his home in Poland in 1939, and his life was saved by working in Schindler’s factory, even though he was too young to officially be there. He was 8 at the time he was making brushes in Oskar’s factory.

In his talk to us, Lev brought out that holocausts happen repeatedly, not just to the Jews under Hitler. He cited the more recent examples of Cambodia, Uganda and Rwanda. These periods of perverse persecution are made possible by highly centralized governments, where power is concentrated.

The history of the Jews is a pattern of being attacked by tyrants in centralized governments. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon carried the Jews captive in 586 BC. Antiochus Epiphanes and the Greeks wrought great persecution of the Jews during the time of the Maccabees. Vespasian and Titus of the Roman Empire burned the second temple and kicked the Jews out of Israel in 70 AD, and Rome finished the job during the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135. Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492. And Der Fuhrer vented his fury on the Jews from 1939 to 1945.

All those attacks were carried out by centralized governments. Often persecutions are carried out by centralized governments against their own citizens, as in socialist Russia and China.

The United States government was set up specifically to avoid such concentration of power.

The power of the US federal government was separated into three branches so that no one branch could be all powerful. The United States judiciary has increased its power in the last century and tends to rule as a king, handing out decisions by decree, regardless of the will of the people.

There was also a division of power between the federal government and the states. The federal government has constantly increased its power, mostly eliminating this division of power. Some legislators, particularly senators, are elected practically for life, such as Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who was the prime factor in Bill Clinton’s impeachment acquittal. Senator Jay Rockefeller officially moved from New York to the Mountain State, made the necessary switch from the Republican to the Democrat Party, and bought himself a position for life. The US Congress has become somewhat like a house of lords, blueblooded ingrates who can hardly be removed.

The federal government uses its power of taxation to control the states. If a state does not follow the will of the federal government in a certain area, then they will not receive federal funds.

The federal government, both through the judiciary and government departments, has taken almost total control of the public schools. Local school boards only hire teachers. They do not set overall school policies.

The federal government now controls churches through the power of taxation. The Constitution does not allow the government to tax churches. However, the government has taken to itself the power to declare that a church is not a church, if it speaks out against some in that government, thereby giving itself the forbidden power to tax churches. This power over churches was first put in place by Senator Lyndon Johnson in 1954 by giving churches an IRS 501 tax free category. By saying that the government had the power to give churches tax free status, it was also saying that it had the power to take that away from them. With the recent McCain-Feingold Act, this power was increased enormously.

When the US government was formed, its founders realized from history that the greatest chance of oppression in America was from its own government, so they decentralized that government. Later Lincoln said it was a government of the people, by the people, for the people. After two centuries, there is now a tidal wave trend to centralize government power. This is the most dangerous enemy America has ever faced.

The government schools are perhaps the prime instrument in centralizing this government power, by teaching the population to accept it.

There has been a recent trend to try to put a little God back in the public schools. Texas passed a law approving a Bible course in Texas public schools. The Austin American-Statesman newspaper said, “In a 10-5 vote, the board approved standards that largely mirror the required knowledge and skills now used for developing independent studies courses in social studies or English. They are not specific to teaching the high school elective course aimed at using the Bible to understand literature and culture, which the Legislature approved last year.”

Apparently the Bible is not to be presented there as the absolute true word of God, but as just another example of literature. The paper goes on, “In 2007, the Legislature approved the high school elective course aimed at using the Bible to understand literature, history, policy and more. The material must be presented in a neutral manner without proselytizing.”

This brings up these questions.

If the Bible is presented not as the word of God, but as just another literature book, is that a good thing?

If Christ is presented not as the way to life, but as a quasi-historical figure who is hardly mentioned in history outside the Bible, does that save the young people from a life of destruction?

Of course not. If you teach about the Bible, and the basis of your teaching is that the Bible is not the absolute true word of God, then you are calling God a liar. The Bible is not just another book. To say that it is such is an absolute lie. Yahweh the God of the Bible is not just another cultural tradition, like Buddha or Baal. To present Him in that way is just as much of a sin as not teaching Him at all.

Again from the Austin paper, “Southern Methodist University religious studies professor Mark Chancey said that his research has found legal problems with existing courses developed under essentially the same curriculum standards the state board adopted Friday.

Of the Bible courses offered in Texas public schools in the 2005-2006 school year, 22 out of 25 resembled courses that federal courts have ruled to be in violation of the First Amendment, Chancey said.”

Actually, the left wing ACLU types are letting some of these courses fly in the public schools. They want to stop the flow of Christians leaving their schools, because it is the public school Christians who give the liberals their power. Plus, the left realizes that teaching the Bible as just another book is what the Godless liberals want. That’s pluralism, accepting all gods, which is not to accept any as God.

The conservative organization Concerned Women for America recently sent out a letter about the need to raise millions of dollars to rescue the public schools.

Along the same line, the American Family Association Journal recently had an article about a book titled Keeping the Faith in Public Schools. That article quotes the author of that book: ““It is stunning to realize that the majority of Christian families send their children to public schools, but churches don’t have the resources to equip them to be Christian influences in their kids’ schools.” The article then says that “[The author] designed Keeping the Faith in the Public Schools to fill that gap.”

AFA then has a promotional sidebar, advertising that book for its publishers.

This whole approach of trying to save the institution of the public schools rather than just trying to save the kids in the public schools is just playing into the liberals’ hands.

That article said that it is stunning to realize that the majority of Christian families send their children to public schools, 85% I have read. It is more stunning to realize that almost all of those children from Christian families are growing up to be anti-Christian liberals, about four out of five. When Texas puts in a Bible course which teaches that the Bible is not the true word of God and that the God of the Bible is not God, will that change these results? Or if the book Keeping the Faith in the Public Schools does as it says and “equips parents to help teachers in the public schools gain the courage to honor students’ religious freedoms and teach about the importance of the Bible and America’s Christian heritage,” will that change the moral genocide of America’s youth?

It will not. First of all, almost all the parents will not gain the courage. Secondly, presenting the Bible as just a part of America’s heritage along with Indian ancestor worship will not teach the young people that Christ is the only way to life.

This whole approach is just a deception, to keep Christians in the public schools. If they can just sing Silent Night at Christmastime, then the public school Christians will be convinced they are serving God, and will continue sacrificing their children on the altar of Baal.

When the Titanic was sinking, the people onboard could have done two things. Everybody could have stayed on board and used all that manpower to try to patch the hole. Or as many as possible could have gotten into lifeboats and stayed alive. Which was more important: to rescue the boat, or to rescue the people?

The AFA news service also has this article.

“Is public school a socialist institution?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 8/13/2008 7:30:00 AM

The Friedman Foundation has a new co-chair of the board who is an expert on education.

Dr. Patrick Byrne contends the public education system is failing America's youth. "And where it's going wrong is that our government is running the school system, and we're getting socialist-style results," Byrne explains.

America now ranks about 25th among the top 30 industrialized nations. Organizations like the National Education Association keep clamoring for more money, but Byrne contends that is not the answer. Public education already costs about $10,000 per year per student, while most private schools are about $4,800.

…The Friedman Foundation does not take a stand on what will fix the problem, but Byrne suggests vouchers, charter schools, and tuition tax credits are part of the answer in that it returns the decision-making process to the parents. He believes public schools need the competition.”

If parents have a choice, then that decentralizes government power. The whole homeschool movement is humanly decentralized. It is not controlled by the government, by a political party or by a denomination. It is free enterprise education.

On the other hand, the public schools are all about centralizing government power.

The government schools are a socialistic monopoly. Everybody – friend and foe – has to pay for them. There is no choice. There is no educational freedom.

A socialist institution will teach socialism to all its pupils, not only by its teachings, but most of all by its example. It is big government taking care of everybody, making your choices and taking your money. Through years of conditioning, that’s what the students learn: centralization of government.

How effective is that socialism teaching?

It is so effective that even conservative organizations like CWA and AFA accept it. They do not call for freedom of education in America by ending the public school monopoly. They do not call for saving the children in that institution. They call for saving the institution.

Socialism puts the institution above the individual. And that’s what CWA, AFA and the book we mentioned are supporting. Don’t put the kids in a life boat and save them from drowning right now. Just try to get everybody to patch that un-patchable hole in the hull. Sacrifice the kids if you have to, but save the institution.

The public schools are all about centralizing power. The founding fathers realized that America’s greatest danger of oppression was from its own government. They tried to prevent the concentration of power, but that is now happening. And the public schools are the greatest tool in that concentration of power, because they teach people to accept it.