Homeschool News & Views

Issue 97, December 7, 2008

From Homeschool Helpers

In association with Pass It On Ministries

By Dan L. White

We must not underestimate the power of God’s spirit to influence us.

Look at the history of the United States of America, an outwardly Christian nation. The Christianity that this nation practiced was a far cry from that of the earliest New Testament assembly of believers. Someone made a study of weddings in Puritan New England in the 1600’s. They compared the wedding dates with the date of birth of the first child. Normally they should be at least 9 months apart. Guess what? A notable portion of the time, those babies came early. Even in Puritan New England!

However, that being said, the United States did have a basic belief in the Bible. Even when they did wrong, they knew what was wrong and what was right, because they had a basic knowledge of the Bible. That limited amount of God’s influence brought forth tremendous blessings on the country through the first 400 years of its history.

The first three kings of Israel were Saul, David, and Solomon. Saul was bad, David was good, and Solomon was good and then bad. Solomon shows how powerful the influence of evil is. He married pagan wives, pagan meaning they were not Yahweh worshipers. Those pagan wives led Solomon to introduce paganism into Israel. Because of that Yahweh took ten tribes away from Solomon’s son Rehoboam, and left him with only Judah to reign over. Further, surely because of the evil influence of paganism, Rehoboam was not a good king over Judah. His mother was not a God fearing Israelite, but a pagan Ammonite. Rehoboam’s son Abijam was also a bad king.

Finally a good king, Asa, came along in Judah.

1Ki 15:8-14 World English Bible

(8) Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his place.

(9) In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Asa to reign over Judah.

(10) Forty-one years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.

(11) Asa did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as did David his father.

(12) He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

(13) Also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

(14) But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahweh all his days.

Ancient Judah had open sodomy either in Solomon’s rule or certainly that of his son Rehoboam. David was a great king, a man after God’s own heart, yet by the time of his son or at least his grandson, Judah had open sodomy. In the United States, however, it took nearly 400 years before we reached that pinnacle of perversion, when Bill Clinton took office and immediately welcomed the homosexuals into the White House.

That’s how great the influence of God’s spirit was in America, even though it was only weakly sought.

America began her common schools to teach young people to read so they could read the Bible. The schools often began each day by looking to God.

In Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about the teacher beginning the school day:

“The school will come to attention,” she said. She opened her Bible. “This morning I will read the twenty-third Psalm.”

Laura knew the Psalms by heart, of course, but she loved to hear again every word of the twenty-third, from “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want,’ ” to “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Then Teacher closed the Bible and on all the desks the pupils opened their textbooks. School work had begun.”

This was a typical American school, starting the school day with the most important subject – the Bible. Notice that Laura said that she knew the Psalms by heart. Not just the twenty-third Psalm, but the Psalms, 150 of them.

Laura Ingalls was a Bible student all her life, and she loved to hear the teacher read the Bible at the start of each school day. But what about most of the students in the classrooms of America? What did they do when the school day was begun with scripture and a prayer?

They probably glazed right through it. They fiddled with their inkwells, looked out the window, scratched their ears and rubbed their sleepy eyes. Right?

The fact is, though, that when God was in the American schools, however little that was, those schools were a thousand times better off than they are now, when He can’t be read about, can’t be prayed to, and when the teachers teach that He doesn’t even exist.

Here is the well known comparison of what public school teachers listed as their biggest problems in school, first from 1940, then about a half century later:

1940 1990

1. talking out of turn drug abuse

2. chewing gum alcohol abuse

3. making noise pregnancy

4. running in the halls suicide

5. getting out of line rape

6. improper clothing robbery

7. not putting paper in wastebasket assault

That’s how much of a difference that little bit of God made in the American public schools.

That helps us appreciate the good influence that God can have on a marriage, a family, a young person, or a nation.

In our extensive dealings with Christian homeschloolers and graduates for over three decades now, we have seen the public school trend reversed. All those things which the teachers mentioned as their biggest problems in the Godless public schools are not prevailing problems among Christian homeschoolers.

George Barna, the Christian pollster, says that only about ten percent of the most dedicated Christians seek God outside of a church. They go to church, as if it’s their duty, and ignore God in their own private lives. They have no clue as to how much the spirit of God can influence their own lives, if they seek Him, so they don’t.

Likewise, when people think of the public schools and Christian homeschooling, they usually think only of math and science and such. A Christian homeschool that is based on God is about much more than math and science. It is about avoiding drugs, drunkenness, teen pregnancies, suicides, and violence among your children. It is about God having an influence in their lives.

Christian homeschool families will vary in how much they seek God. Seeking God is not a duty. It’s a delight. It’s the way to turn such problems as drugs and suicides into chewing gum problems. Remember that America, even though she was a far cry from the New Testament group, avoided open sodomy for about four centuries, because she had a basic belief in the Bible. How much can God bless you and your family? How much will we seek Him? How many hours each week do we spend doting on devotions? Will we fast weekly, or only once a month? When we fall asleep at night, will we be like David, with our heads so full of God that we think about Him at midnight?

We must not underestimate the power of God’s spirit to influence us, however much we may seek it. The wise will seek it much.