Education Nightmare
By Hal Lindsey
With school restarting across America, this seems like a good time to reexamine the fruit of our current educational efforts. Here are a few examples;
On Sunday August 12th, young people marched through the streets of Washington, DC. They said they were there to fight “hate.” As they marched, they chanted, “No border, no wall, no USA at all!”
I mentioned last week the newest member of the New York Times editorial board. Her words are those of an out-and-out racist — openly judging people based on the color of their skin. It’s apparently okay with the New York Times because she focuses her racial hate on white people. She has also advocated the killing of all men.
“Antifa” is supposed to be short for “anti-fascist.” Members of the antifa movement use violence to silence those they disagree with. They use physical intimidation to impose their views and values on others. In other words, the “anti-fascists” are themselves fascist. Their thinking is so skewed that they can’t seem to grasp this obvious fact.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old self-proclaimed socialist, recently won the democratic nomination to represent New York’s 14th congressional district in Congress. She sends fact-checkers into a frenzy with her many bizarre, almost laughable, theories and claims. Yet she has an economics degree from Boston University, where she graduated fourth in her class. That education probably cost about $75,000 a year. And she turned out to be a socialist.
History is full of repressive, socialist regimes directing the lives of millions of miserable people. But you don’t have to look deep in the past to see what socialism does to a country. Just look at Venezuela today. A few years ago, that nation was on top of the world. They have amazing natural resources, including a vast oil supply. But former President Hugo Chávez proudly led his nation in a “socialist revolution.”
Today, Venezuela is falling apart. This week, we learned about hospitals without running water. In fact, much of the nation is without running water. This formerly wealthy country is now full of malnourished people. The International Monetary Fund just predicted that inflation in Venezuela will soon hit 1,000,000%. Let me spell that out so it can really sink in. They are headed for an inflation rate of one million percent! With that, a lifetime of savings can be wiped out in days. But money doesn’t buy much anyway when store shelves are empty. A mass exodus from the country has left it bereft of teachers, doctors, engineers, and oil workers.
It seems obvious that the United States would not want to make the same mistakes. But Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this rising political star, wants the socialist model for America.
These things are shocking. But they shouldn’t be. They are the result of an education system run amok. Ocasio-Cortez advocates the socialism that her professors taught her. Antifa believes that it’s okay to use fascist intimidation tactics in the battle against “hate” groups because their schools taught them relativistic notions of right and wrong.
There are amazing teachers out there doing their best to stem this tide of destruction. Also, many local school boards are doing everything they can think of to protect our young people.
But an elite few inside a small number of universities write the textbooks, design the curricula, and set standards for accreditation throughout America’s schools. These elites don’t like America very much. And their feelings toward Christianity — especially Bible-based Christianity — are even worse.
Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” That “woe” firmly applies to this generation of Americans. Calling evil good and good evil is a cornerstone of education in the twenty-first century.
The best way to learn a language is to immerse oneself in a culture that speaks that language. It’s also true of moral languages. The moral language spoken by our culture has a name, though most people don’t realize it. It’s called Humanism. It is the exaltation of humanity and the rejection of God.
Humanism is taught on television shows for toddlers, in Broadway musicals, in books and textbooks, in pulpits, in popular songs, on the news, in film dramas and film comedies. It is the moral language of our culture. It is the context within which our children see the world. This is not a baptism by sprinkling. This is full immersion.
In his book, God’s Prophetic Voices to America, Dr. David Reagan goes to 2 Timothy 3 to show what this ultimately means. That chapter begins by saying, “In the last days perilous times will come.” Then it tells the characteristics of last days humanity that fill these times with peril. Dr. Reagan points out that those characteristics include three things that people will love above all else in the last days — self, money, and pleasure.
He writes, “The love of self is Humanism. The love of money is Materialism. The love of pleasure is Hedonism. These three go hand-in-hand. Whenever Humanism is your religion, your god will be money and your life-style will be given over to the pursuit of pleasure.”
Dr. Reagan goes on to say, “There is a fourth element in this equation. The inevitable product of the love of self, money, and pleasure is Nihilism. That is a fancy philosophical word for despair. And that is exactly where our nation is today.”
What is the answer to this seemingly overwhelming tide? Jesus Christ. Those of us who claim Him need to turn to Him with all that we have. We need to do the things we’ve been taught from the beginning. Study God’s word. Pray. Witness. Fellowship with one another. Engage the world in His love.
As the new school year begins, pray especially for the young. May our youth learn to receive the Lord Jesus as the One who died for our total forgiveness. May He guide you into eternity.
