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by the Rev. Dr. Joe Renfro, Ed.D.
The alphabet, the ABCs, are basic in our culture for the learning process. As well, in the history of western education, we have been very strongly influenced by our Judeo-Christian heritage, whereas now there are strong influences seeking to alter our culture under the categorization of what is called “Progressivism.” This is like setting up our language without the alphabet.
The Ten Commandments are basic in the Judeo-Christian world view and are for the welfare of human-kind. They teach the great value of tying ultimacy into our lives, delivering us from commitment to what is not ultimate and to be drawn to the One who creates all existence, teaching us to reverence this One, so as to not profane his name. They are the call to realize the great value in a day of worship and to realize our true worth from God. They teach the value of honoring our parents, the value of honoring life, the call to sexual purity and support for the nuclear family. Then there is the teaching to avoid covetousness, which is basic to the socialistic world view—getting and not giving. It would seem all of this points to true positive living, and all of these are basically rejected by the liberal world-views.
Progressive thinking is a move to go past our traditions and to move in the name of progress to build our culture back better, not on traditional morality, but on that of the so-called value of “equity.” In primary and secondary education much of the focus is on civil rights to the exclusion of what is right. The basic avenue for this is being made by changing the history that has been passed down from generation to generation in our society in order that we can reach the goal of the promised land as dogmatized by the liberal elitists. It is a reversal of true history!
Without question there is progressive indoctrination being instilled by our schools into our youth to reject our past heritage and to develop a revolution toward what the supposed elites classify as the quest for “equity.” The term is confusing, because very often “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and equity is such a term. What is really meant by “equity”? That remains a question.
The Bible says in Proverbs 24:3-4 “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches”.
Numerous scriptures link knowledge, understanding, and wisdom together. From Psalms to Proverbs, Old Testament to New, God’s word emphasizes the need for understanding and wisdom; wisdom being the ultimate goal.
You see, it is understanding that shows us how to take knowledge and apply it correctly, producing wisdom. This means we cannot achieve our highest goal- wisdom- without understanding. The beauty of the Christian message is that it all comes together in a responsible freedom.
However, faith in equity can be dangerous and demonic, and we who adhere to basic principles that true history tells us need to speak up. One of the sad facts of history is that people never seem to learn from history. The responsible call to liberty is the product of our Judeo-Christian culture, and we need to stand up against this subtle movement that seeks to undermine what made our democracy work. Liberal thinking “promises liberty, but really is a slave to corruption,” as 2 Peter 2:19 states. America needs to wake up before it is too late.
Steve McCann in a May 11, 2021 article, ‘Woke’ Follies, in the American Thinker observed that:
“It was thanks to the Judeo-Christian underpinning in the founding of this nation, that every generation of American society since the nation’s founding up to the 1960’s has been swept up in one of three indispensable national movements — the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and the elimination of systemic or government sanctioned racism. The ultimate success of these movements also had their basis in Christian dogma and practice.
“Not understanding the Judeo-Christian basis of previous movements, many self-styled elites and liberals, having turned their backs on God and organized religion, are obliviously falling prey to espousing new and hither to unheard of “rights” as a substitute religion. However, virtually all of these “rights” have been made up by the radical left out of whole cloth. Additionally, these same radicals, not letting an opportunity to exploit gullibility go to waste, recast previously resolved issues, such as so-called “systemic racism” as insoluble.”
McCann went on to say that true belief in Marxism/socialism rests on the idea that the United States, based on its founding, is an irredeemable nation that must be transformed by a one-party socialist oligarchy, as stated below:
“Many are choosing to be identified and defined by what they do in their bedroom… This nation and its government, in order to ensure gender equity, must ratify that there are categorically no differences between men and women. What for centuries has been considered to be a treatable mental illness, transgenderism, (or gender dysphoria), must be now recast as…normal behavior…” “All white people are privileged citizens due to their skin color, even those living in squalor in Appalachia or the inner cities…because of their inbred racism…Government sanctioned racism against the right people is, therefore, the equivalent of an immutable civil right…The basis of the founding of the nation — the pursuit of equality or equal opportunity — must be replaced by a new civil right: the guarantee of equity or equal outcomes.”
The Declaration of Independence says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, including the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…” Here is the basis for our liberty.
What much of this progressive thinking promotes is a leveling of society by race, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, etc. Yet, when you really analyze this ideological new culture, it is the quest for more authoritarianism from the so-called cultural elites who wish to take away the freedom that made America great and to replace it with totalitarianism, ruled not by the directives of the Ten Commandments, that has been basic to the laws of our land, but by the hedonistic whelms of the self-styled politically correct thinkers. Ronald Reagan well warned back in 1987 that this progressive thinking “One day will restrict your freedoms, restrict your history and restrict your safety. All in the name of professional victims that don’t understand the consequences of their ignorance.”
Proverbs 16:21 says that: “The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction.”
The education of our youth is basic, and leftist thinking, a thinking very much dominant in our colleges of education, is fully committed to the implantation of socialism and woke-ism both which are very dominant in leftist ideology!
Dr. Ben Carson in a recent survey listed eight questions, six of which relate very much to the topic of this essay. They are:
In an article from the America’s Freedom Fighters, December 30, 2021 entitled, “Get Out Of My Class And LEAVE AMERICA!”… “College Professor’s EPIC Intro to Class GOES VIRAL” the article brings out how one teacher stood up against the liberal establishment in education.
The article states that “Liberals and so called ‘progressives’ are destroying the educational system. We have seen time and time again that there is a major assault on Christianity, Southern heritage, support for our military, and our very own American flag. Also, they have managed to convey the message that this generation has THE RIGHT NOT TO BE OFFENDED.”
Mike Adams, the criminology professor at UNC-Wilmington, said to his class at the beginning of the term:
One of my grandfathers served in World War I. My step-grandfather served in World War II. My sixth great grandfather enlisted in the American Revolution when he was only thirteen. These great men did not fight so we could simply relinquish our rights to the enemy within our borders. That enemy is the Marxists who run our public universities. If you are a Marxist and I just offended you, well, that’s tough. I guess they don’t make communists like they used to.
So, who exactly deems what type of free speech is considered ‘respectful?’ Only the extreme leftist? Only a liberal moron that insists that you believe what THEY believe? And if you disagree with their warped point of view, you are VIOLATING their so called “speech code?”
Adams went on to recount a story about a time when he was explaining the Declaration of Independence and a student whined and complained about his mentioning “God” and a “Creator” as being a violation of church and state, totally proving beyond a shadow of a doubt they have NO CLUE what that concept really means.
Adams said, “Unbelievably, a student once complained to the Department chairwoman that my mention of God and a Creator was a violation of Separation of Church and State. Let me be as clear as I possibly can: If any of you actually think that my decision to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence in the course syllabus is unconstitutional then you suffer from severe intellectual hernia.”
This professor took at stand, and all educators who have realized the truth and power of the gospel need to have the wisdom to do likewise.
Proverbs 2:10-11 says: “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.” To have discretion is not to have prejudice, but it is to have wisdom. Knowledge without the wisdom and capacity to use it properly leads to destruction.
I, as a retired educator, having taught grades 3-8 and psychology in college, in answering Dr. Carson’s survey believe we should faithfully seek the proper teaching of American history. Teach America’s founding principles. See America’s founding fathers as heroes. See the importance of “One nation under God”. See the value of the gifted and talented programs although fewer black and Latino students might be in these classes. See the danger of seeking to divide the races in our land along socioeconomic lines or any other way, for we are one human race. I was able to speak this truth by the providence of God from the pulpit of Martin Luther King’s church the night after his terrible murder in 1968.
In a January article in America’s Freedom Fighters, entitled “BREAKING: Ben Carson Issues DIRE Warning To America After He Lets Loose SECRET And Destroys Critical Race Theory Indoctrination!” It says:
Critical Race Theory has been spreading across our nation and dividing people through racial Marxism. This is not by accident; it is by design and the left extremists know exactly what they are doing.
This is not going to simply go away nor will the left let up off of the gas pedal when it comes to spreading their hate and racism, using mainstream media to push their propaganda to indoctrinate people of all ages.
Breitbart Report: Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson slammed the teaching of Critical Race Theory to children during a speech at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit on Sunday.
“Critical race theory, the 1619 Project, what is that really about? It’s about dividing people. It’s about creating the kind of division and strife that allows control. We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘divide and conquer.’ That’s what it’s about,” he said.
He said kids should be taught that slavery was not unique to the United States but that the U.S. is unique in that it fought a civil war to end it.
“Slavery is not unique to the United States of America,” he said. “There’s been slavery since there’s been societies in the world and today there are more slaves in the world than there were in 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation was put forth.”
“It was a horrible, horrible institution, but we are not unique in that sense. We were unique in another sense — we were willing to fight a civil war to stop it. That makes us very unique. And that’s what we should be teaching our children,” he said.
A tree needs roots for a foundation, and cancelling our culture to set up a new one of woke-ism and socialism won’t do the job. History has not shown yet what woke-ism might do, but it certainly has in regards to socialism, and woke-ism is even worse, so we as a nation need to wake up and stand against these ideologies that are so rampant in our educational institutions. Both Progressivism and Woke-ism project a perversion of history!
Proverbs 9:10 says that: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” This should be our guideline to stand up against the perversion of history by Progressivism and the destructive sprout from it called ‘Woke-ism.”
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