Thursday, October 29, 2009

Propoganda and the Media

We really must teach our children how to think critically, so they won't fall for the propoganda that the media puts out there.



Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I AM DANGEROUS!

by Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies
Exodus 1:12, "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel."

The first chapter of Exodus tells us about the children of Israel living down in Egypt. Verse 7 says, "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." They were fulfilling the first commandment that God gave to man. Something powerful always happens when we obey God's commandments. They are not ordinary words to be discarded; they are life-giving decrees.

What happened in Egypt? The children of Israel became "more and mightier" than the Egyptians. (v. 9). They became a threat to them. And the Egyptians were grieved. The word grieved is the Hebrew word qutsand it means "disgusted, abhorred, horrified, afraid--actually vomiting is the primary understanding of the word."

This same Hebrew word is used in another passage where the children of Israel became a threat. In Numbers 22:3 it tells us, "Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many and Moab was distressed (quts) because of the children of Israel." Why was Moab so very afraid? Because the Israelites were multiplying! When a people multiply, they become scary. When they multiply, they take dominion.

Now here's the question. Are we, the people of God, a threat to the enemy in our nation today? Sadly, we have to answer no. For the last seven or eight decades, instead of multiplying, God's people have been diminishing. They have turned away from the infallible, immutable Word of God and followed their own desires. They have limited their number of children to the worldly 1.6 average. They have sacrificed bringing God's children into the world on the altar of careerism and modern culture-ism. And now the humanists and socialists are taking over.

There are thousands and millions of precious godly offspring who are not here! God has been deprived of His intentions. The world has been deprived of the godly offspring who fill the nation with His love, righteousness. truth, salvation, wisdom and justice. And of course, although many do not realize it, the parents themselves have been deprived.

But all is not lost. There are a growing number of families who are listening to the heartbeat of God. They are hearing His desire for family and for children. They are turning from their deceptions and opening their hearts to the children that He has destined for them to have, whether it is one or ten! As they obey God's first commandment something amazing is happening. The liberalists are starting to get scared! They are so horrified, they want to vomit!

Very recently a book was published by a radical feminist and published by Beacon Press, which promotes homosexuality and anti-Christian dogma. She wrote this book to expose Biblical patriarchy and fruitfulmotherhood. In this book she states that the parents who embrace children are "a movement we ignore at our peril." In a message to Barack Obama, she writes, "Fearless Leader--forget the fundamentalists in Iraq; these prolific Christians are the real bad guys!" In other words, fruitful mothers, embracing the children God wants them to have are dangerous! They are scaring the feminists!

The enemy, who hates life, who comes "to rob, kill and destroy" is scared of the godly seed! Mothers who are not deceived by the delusions of Satan, the robber of life, and who still believe in God's very first mandate to mankind are dangerous people! Isn't that exciting? You may think you are insignificant as you care for your children in your home each day, but mother, lift up your eyes! You are doing a powerful work. You are doing God's work. You are dangerous to the enemy. He is scared of you, because he is scared of the godly seed coming into this world who will hate evil and love righteousness, who will destroy the works of the devil and lift up the name of Jesus. And those who walk in deception and follow the devil's ways are scared of you too!

Don't you love being dangerous? Look out! Here we come--holding on to the Word of Life, walking in God's commandments, embracing the Godly seed and training them to be mighty warriors for God who will impact this world and fill it with His glory. Never forget--the more children a godly mother brings into this world...
The more scared the liberalists will become!
The more evil will be defeated in the land!
The more the kingdom of God will be advanced!
The more the gospel will be spread across the earth!
The more the image of God will be revealed in the earth!
The more the economy will boom in the land!
The more righteousness and morality will pervade the land!
The more righteous leaders will arise in the nation!
The more justice, honesty and truth will flood the land!
The more God will be glorified in the earth!
The more the nation will prosper and be blessed!
The more dangerous she will be!
And the more the statists will fear and tremble! Keep being dangerous!

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL, ABOVE RUBIES

PRAYER: "Oh God, please help me to see clearly. Help me to realize the power of motherhood and the power of every child you give me to fulfill your plans in this world. Save me from holding back children whom you have destined to accomplish your mighty works. Amen."

AFFIRMATION: I am a dangerous woman!

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Here is a simple but powerful message in song.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Another day...three more fish!!!

We had another great morning of fishing. There were a lot of them jumping and swimming by and we were able to catch three of them.

Alicia was finally able to catch one. Her's is 24 inches long.

Ralph caught a beautiful one that was 21 inches long.
I also caught another fish, it was 19 inches long. Here it is still trying to get away.

Thank you, God for blessing us with a fruitful morning.


Washington Crossing the Delaware


Our son sent us this beautiful painting from Philadelphia.
Our dog was really impressed with it too, she sat right in front of it like she was posing for a picture.

Thank you, Christopher, we REALLY like the picture. It will be one of our family's most enjoyed pictures

Friday, October 23, 2009

Is What I Write Honoring to God, My Husband & My Family?

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks."

"Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless."

--Ephesians 5:1-4, 22-27

When I began to blog, almost a year and a half ago, I did so to let my family and friends see what was going on in our lives and to sometimes put my own thoughts out there and share articles that I found interesting. One thing that is important to me though, is to make sure that what I say honors God and doesn't give people the wrong impression about Him. I also want to make sure I don't embarrass my husband or disparage his name, for he is my head and the leader of our home. I also want to make sure that my children will be able to look back and see what I have written and not be embarrassed or surprised about what their mother wrote about. I find the first four verses in Ephesians 5 very inspiring, as well as the verses in Philippians I shared the other day. I want to try to be as positive and uplifting as possible, at the same time speaking truth. So I hope that you find this blog a safe place to come and a place where you can enjoy what is written.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Pray for Noah

Please click on the link on the side of the blog entitled pray for Noah, so you can see how to pray for him. He is in pretty bad shape.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Philippians 4:6-8

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."--Philippians 4:6-8



Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Friends for Our children

by Steve Maxwell of Titus2.com

"How do we teach our children to love others who choose a worldly path, but not embrace what they are doing and not condemn them?"

Every dad who understands the need to love others and yet has purposed to raise his children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4) should be concerned about this. We want to show the love of Christ to all we come in contact with and teach our children to do the same. We should teach our children to shun what Scripture says is wrong and worldly but to embrace what is of the Lord. In doing so, our children will view others through our grid of teaching and deem their conduct, activities and dress as good, bad, or in between. It is a very difficult challenge for our children to choose to live for the Lord Jesus, but not be influenced by other's lifestyles and also not condemn them. "

To finish reading this article, go here.



Walking In The Light

by Teri Maxwell

"One of the most frequent problems we hear of from families is their feeling of being different. Certainly they are different from the world, but most generally they are also different from other Christians."

"What I would like to say concerning the encouragement of our hearts when we are different from others around us will apply to women who are single as well as moms who have husbands. Those of us who face our uniqueness in raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4) as a husband and wife team will struggle with the peer pressure of other Christians. For the single mom, it will be even harder because she doesn't have the benefit of having a husband who will lead and support her."

To read the article in its entirety, go here, to Titus 2.com




Monday, October 19, 2009

Is Obama Poised to Cede US Sovereignty



Here is an interview that Glenn Beck had with Lord Monckton today.

Silent Monks Singing the Hallelujah Chorus



Who Said This?

“My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians—whether in the office or on the battlefield,” You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”

Go here to find out who said this and to read the rest of the article.

Orange Peels

Here is another frugal tip for my Frugal Sisters.

This time of the year you are always encouraged to take lots of vitamin C, but of course, it can be very expensive buying it for the whole family. So here is a great way to use up your orange peels. Peel your oranges and put the peels aside. Make sure the peels can lay flat, you might have to cut them into small pieces. Put them in your dehydrator and dry them until they are brittle. Then put them into your food processor or mortal and pestle and grind it until it becomes a powder. And there you have it, homemade Vitamin C powder.

Ready for the dehydrator

Not quite dry enough

Proof that God Exists

"Rabbi, when did You get here?" Jn 6:25. Jesus is present and working at times before we are aware of Him. He arrives before we think of going. Look around. Do you see Him? He's here and He arrived first."--Ralph Noa




Who Do You Follow-The Crowd or the Cross



Sunday, October 18, 2009

Isaiah 55:10-11

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."


We think we know what we want to be said when we use God's Word, but here in Isaiah 55:10-11, God shows that His Word will accomplish what He desires for it to accomplish for the purpose in which He sends it out.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

I Will Worship You, by Matthew Ward

Here is a beautiful worship song. Worship God as you enjoy the splendor of His Creation.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Fire of God pt.2

Nancy Campbell of Above Rubies

Revelation 1:13-14, "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire..."
We continue to talk about God's baptism of fire in our lives. As we read the vision of Christ we read that His eyes are a flame of fire. Our eyes also should not be dull, but flaming with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Other ways the fire moves in our lives are...

3. THE FIRE MOVES UPWARD
The flames of fire always move upward. The fire of the Holy Spirit will lead our hearts and souls upwards toward God. We will be less concerned about the things of this earthly life and more drawn to the heavenly. And we will lead my husband and children toward the heavenly. Colossians 3:1-2 says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."

PRAY WITH ME:
"Lord, keep my heart from being taken up with the fleshly things of this life. Draw my heart more and more to you, to your thoughts and to your ways. Amen."

4. THE FIRE GIVES ILLUMINATION
Fire lightens up the dark night and the fire of the Holy Spirit lightens our dark minds. Without the illumination of the Holy Spirit we can stay in the rut of our deceptive thinking. But there is nothing more thrilling than the revelation of truth to our souls as the Holy Spirit comes and enlightens the Word of God. Convicting or encouraging, it lights up the darkness in our hearts. Do you remember how the disciples confessed to one another? "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke 24:32)

We cannot be baptized in the Holy Spirit's fire and still think humanistically. If we are baptized in the Holy Spirit's fire we will think God's thoughts for the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. (Read Isaiah 55: 8-9; John 14:26; 15:26 and 16:13). If we are listening to Him, He will continually expose our deceptions as He leads us more and more to the light. And consequently, we will fill our homes with His light.

PRAY WITH ME:
"Oh God, please illuminate me with the revelation of your truth. I don't want a tiny bit of the Holy Spirit's fire in my life. I want to be totally immersed in the Holy Spirit. I want to be dripping with the revelation of God's heart and truth. I want to be cleansed from all earthly, humanistic thinking. I want you to baptize my mind so fully that I will constantly be enlightened by God's timeless truths. Thank you, Lord. Amen."

5. THE FIRE MAKES EVERYTHING LIKE ITSELF
Fire burns up everything consumable and it becomes the fire. When Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit's fire, He makes us to be like Jesus. The more sin and dross that is burned up in our lives, the more we will become like Him. Romans 8:29 tells us that God's agenda is to conform us to the image of His Son. (Read also 2 Corinthians 3:18)


PRAY WITH ME:
"Lord, I want to become more and more like you, until people can look in the flames and see Jesus in me--just as King Nebuchadnezzar looked in the fire and saw one "like the Son of God." (Daniel 3:24-25)

6. THE FIRE BEGETS FIRE
Unless you use means to put it out, fire always spreads. The fire of God in our lives will extend to others. It will influence our husband and children. They will also be enveloped by the fire. They may run from the fire but the fire will affect them one way or another.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit will makes us witnesses for Jesus and His truth. Acts 1:8 reads, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

PRAY WITH ME:
"Oh Lord, please let everyone around me catch the fire. Baptize me with your Holy Spirit so that I will be a witness in my home and to all I meet. Amen."

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Apple Peels

To all my frugal Sisters. Have you ever wondered what you could do with all those apple peels once you have peeled all your apples for sauce and pies and dried apples? Well, I never did either. I just threw them in the compost. Well, I have found a wonderful thing to do with them. Take your apples peels and put them in your food processor (a juicer would work great too, but I don't have one of those), chop and grind them until they are very fine. Over a large pot, put a piece of cheese cloth or a flour sack towel and pour the chopped peels on the top (it would help to have at least two people to do this, one holding the towel and one pouring), pull the four corners together and squeeze the juice out of it. I was able to squeeze a gallon of juice out of 4 boxes worth of apple peels. We put the juice, Sucanet, cinnamon and cloves (in a bag) in the oven on about 200 and left it in there over night. It thickens nicely into apple butter. It cooked down to about 1 quart. It was a little work, but it was well worth it, for some great tasting apple butter. Our worms loved what was left over of the apple peels too.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Mysterious Islands


Go to this website The Mysterious Islands and view a trailer for an upcoming video filmed on location on the Galapagos Islands. It is stunning.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Atheism

Here is a poster I saw on Face book from the Creation Science Academy.



The Fire of God

by Nancy Campbell

"I rose early Sunday morning. It was 5.00 am and I put the beans, which had been soaking over night, on the stove to cook. They needed time to cook in order for me to prepare the food for Fellowship Meal after church. After putting on the beans I went downstairs to the office, thinking that I'd go back up to turn the element down in a few moments.

I opened the Word of God and began to meditate. I became so absorbed that I forgot all about the beans--until I smelt something burning! Where could it be coming from? I then remembered the beans on the stove! Help! I rushed upstairs to find the whole house full of smoke! It took a day or more to get rid of the smell of smoke from the house!

And what was I meditating on? Fire! Can you believe it?"

Finish reading this wonderful devotional by Nancy Campbell at Above Rubies.



Thursday, October 8, 2009

Bringing Up Teenage Boys

Straight Talk to Moms and Dads

Says Gatto in his book Dumbing Us Down (1992; reprinted, New Society Publishers, 2005):

Around the year 1850 all the free-form, casual schooling that made our nation of farmers far and away the best-educated the world had ever seen was done away with in a series of strokes of the legislative pen.

In the 1860s, Herbert Spencer . . . pronounced government schooling a preposterous endeavour doomed to failure. He said that this would happen because it deprived children of raw experience and responsibility precisely at the moment their natural development demanded it, and that this experience and responsibility could not be made up for later.

“I feel ashamed,” states Gatto, “that so many of us cannot imagine a better way to do things than locking children up all day in cells instead of letting them grow up knowing their families, mingling with the world, assuming real obligations, striving to be independent and self-reliant and free.”

My purpose here is to help us imagine and pursue a better way.

A Message for Mothers

One of the inherent weaknesses in the modern home-education movement is maternal dominance in the raising of sons. Mom does the hard work because Dad is not around. Sons spend more time with Mom than they do with Dad. In most cases, this is because Dad must leave home to be the breadwinner. In other cases, the father is relatively disinterested in the training process or too exhausted from work to take a deep interest in what’s going on in a son’s development. Where does this leave a boy when he is no longer young? He will be disadvantaged unless you, Mom, are especially sensitive to three things.

• Your son’s need for freedom
• Your son’s need for male mentoring
• Your son’s need for a multigenerational vision

Please note that “disadvantaged” is a relative term. Many young men who suffer the disadvantages of maternal dominance are still much better off than young men who suffer real dangers in state-dominated education environments.

Freedom

One of the inherent strengths in the home-education process is the freedom parents give boys to learn at their own pace outside the stunting confines of an anti-masculine institution. American mothers feel pressure to put an end to this freedom when their sons reach thirteen or fourteen years old. Moms may feel inadequate to teach further. They may feel that their sons need a credential the school promises to provide, or they may feel that the son needs worldly companionship. None of these are valid reasons to abandon the education alternative for which you have sacrificed much. The issue in real education is discipleship. Parents will do a better job of discipling their sons, especially in the teen years.

Regardless of the content schools teach, the very structure of the classroom frustrates, demoralizes, and goes against the way God wired boys. The “bell,” the bullying, the pressure to be politically correct, the enforced emphasis on non-academic conformity, the twisted emphasis on subject material that has no real-life relevance, the forced age segregation—all these conditions compromise the natural masculine traits that can turn boys into responsible protectors, providers, and nurturers.

A boy’s teen years are the most vital in determining his interests, his bearings in life, his relationship to responsibility, and his ideas of manhood. Freedom from an artificial, institutionalized world is essential for healthy development. Some observers would go so far as to say the modern school environment ruins a boy’s chances of becoming a good father by teaching the wrong worldview about family life. Home education can continue to provide freedom, protection, and an uncompromising road to manhood.

Male Mentoring

Four decades ago, when NASA began recruiting confident leaders for a manned space program, they discovered that boys who worked on farms with their fathers had the best advantages in coming of age, the best traits for adventurous leadership, and the strongest character traits.

Boys learn about manhood daily from doing hard work and facing challenging problems with their fathers. If such an arrangement is impossible, moms can help boys look for work or study situations that provide mentoring opportunities. Apprentice-like relationships between boys and businessmen can positively change lives. Boys learn much by watching, and their bosses can teach much by coaching. If a boy cannot work with his father, find a man your husband trusts who can take your boy under his wing for periodic or part-time labor, preferably in a field in which your son shows an interest. Age thirteen may not be too early. Manual labor is especially valuable, but a disciplined office environment can be just as valuable if your son’s supervisors are sufficiently strict and attentive.

In a mentoring environment, it is not the work that necessarily improves the boy’s character and knowledge but the direct interaction with his mentor. Good mentors should have character, integrity, and a plan to impart a certain body of knowledge to your son. Consult with the mentor to know what that knowledge is and how you can assess your boy’s progress in learning it.

In the right environment, your son will learn the proper professional conduct, which will serve him in continuing down the path of self-learning on which you have pointed him.

An Intergenerational Vision

Even boys who have every advantage in life may reach age twenty without a vision of who they are, where they’re headed, or what they should do. It is not essential that they know precisely what they will be doing at age thirty and age forty, but it is essential that every young man is productive in the meantime. His labor in productive pursuits will help direct him into his calling.

One of the most vital things you will ever give your boy in his education is the intellectual framework from which to make his most important life decisions about his vocation, his estate, his marriage, and his fields of study. This intellectual framework is not the academic stuff; the worldview stuff is what encompasses the past, the present, and a long-term future.

Because the big decisions bear down on him in his teens, he needs more direction in his teen years than at any other time of life. Without a long-term vision that includes his own children and grandchildren, he will not make good plans or decisions.

It is most appropriate for this framework to come from his father, so perhaps you should respectfully ask your husband to read the rest of this article with you.

A Message for Dads

If a father is the product of a forced government education, he can admit to himself that he has a disadvantage because of the ideas forced upon him. This attitude takes introspection and humility. He must then work all the harder to protect his sons from the same misleading life views that are rife in our culture.

The most compromising ideas picked up in school twist the concepts of family, education, and work. According to the approved statist view, families provide children for the state, which schools them according to an approved curriculum until the state declares them “educated” and fit for lifetime employment in state-approved positions.

Because many fathers apply this flawed concept to homeschool situations, it is not surprising that they view mom as the party who teaches the approved curriculum and their son as the state asset who sits at a desk until he is approved to be another state asset’s employee. In this scenario, why does the family need Dad at home? Isn’t his first obligation to be an employed state asset himself?

Indeed, dads who apply this worldview logically will come to view home education as detrimental to a son’s success, because the new definition of success, according to Maxim Institute researcher Paul Henderson, “is to be the state’s sycophant.” How can a young man become a success if he doesn’t become as familiar as possible with the state’s wishes, the state’s agents, and the state’s most faithful followers? Thus, it is not surprising that many fathers are eager for sons to bail out of home education as soon as possible and get into a government school environment. As many moms are nervously aware, this is a road to disaster.

Before Dad gets properly involved in the home-education process, he needs to reject this corrupted worldview and embrace a better one.

Patriarchal Influence

Dad should have learned some things from Great-granddad, but he didn’t. The main causes of dysfunction in modern society are the disappearance of patriarchal influence and lack of teaching the sons how to protect their fathers’ multigenerational vision. Before the advent of forced, collectivist schooling in the mid-nineteenth century, fathers and mothers had a healthy understanding of what comprised an educated man. The academic framework of the three Rs was only a small part of a boy’s education. The bigger part was a real-life intellectual and moral framework. The priorities that guided a father’s nurturing were business and law. One populist saying summed up this worldview. “If you do not teach your son the law and a trade, you train him to be a thief and a fool.”

Fathers were the dominant and guiding influence in a boy’s education. “Business” education was primarily character related: professionalism, contracts, and ethics instruction. The law simply meant biblical law as represented in the case laws of the Old Testament, without which we cannot maintain a civil society. The three Rs were the tools required to maintain one’s estate and one’s society. These were essential but minor elements in the overall educational picture. Parents and operators of charity schools knew they could teach academics to a sophisticated level (considered a university level today) by age fourteen with only part-time schooling, which was often done only during winter.

Families understood that all fathers were teachers of one sort or another. Either they were conscientious, devoted mentors, or by their neglect, they trained their sons to be similarly careless and neglectful of duty.

Bringing up Teenage Men

Before statist governments seized complete control of education and family life, men passed on a healthy educational worldview to their sons. Two important and powerful concepts were that a boy has duties that span several generations and that a boy becomes a man at age thirteen. Western civilization probably absorbed this idea from the Jewish practice of recognizing well-trained boys as “sons of the law” at age thirteen. Orthodox Jewish families still practice this custom, which requires, among other accomplishments, that boys memorize the first five books of the Bible before age thirteen.

Thus, during a boy’s earliest years, Western men were once strongly motivated to be intimately involved in the spiritual and mental training of their boys. If society saw a boy as a child at age thirteen, that boy was a public manifestation of his father’s shortcomings. The acceptance of this idea was universal in Western culture. Families held to the concept with life-and-death seriousness—and for good reason.

Society regarded thirteen-year-olds as men and expected them to be prepared to act like men. Maritime law, for example, reinforced this custom during life-threatening calamities. When the Titanic’s captain gave the order, “Abandon ship! Women and children first!” people expected thirteen-year-old men to be grown-ups. Western society viewed these youths as men who could bravely sacrifice their lives for those who were weaker. Boys responded accordingly and acted like men of mature faith, who manfully assisted women into lifeboats then calmly went down with the ship as Christian gentlemen. Many learned what a Christian gentleman is from watching their fathers.

Until the 1940s, many thirteen-year-olds carried these ideas of duty with them into fatherhood, preparing young sons then providing manly guidance to thirteen-year-old young men of their own. However, since the 1950s, an accepted culture of childishness, perpetuated by artificial schooling, has created a societal misfit called a “teenager” and has separated him from his father’s mentoring.

What Fathers Teach Best

For teen sons, fathers are in the best position to provide the link between the best lessons of the past, an understanding of the present, and a framework to plan for the future—a multigenerational vision. Elements of this framework must include character training (biblical obedience), theology (biblical literacy), history (biblical perspective), worldview (biblical relevance), statesmanship (biblical dominion), and the facts of life (long-term estate planning).

Armed with these rudiments, a young man can face adolescence and a complex world with confidence. He will know how to act and how to lead others. He will know the following:

• what to look for in a fiancée
• how to court her honorably
• how and why to develop his entrepreneurial instincts
• how to avoid dead-end employment
• how to plan a business and run it successfully
• how to save and invest his earnings
• how to respect the benefits of Christendom
• how to honor his parents and his heritage
• how to contribute to the health of the community
• how to disciple others
• how to provide emotionally and materially for his wife and children
• how to observe the legitimate demands of the state
• how to handle the illegitimate demands of the state
• how to understand and overcome the corruptions of the church
• how to serve God without falling into religious game playing
• how to leave a substantial estate to his descendants

Government schools do not teach these rudiments, and they regard them with contempt. Home classrooms do not lend themselves to ease of teaching these rudiments. Nevertheless, sons can learn these things as fathers mentor them in a real-life environment. For sons aged ten to fifteen, fathers should consider every sacrifice necessary to create the right father-son learning environment. Wise fathers sacrifice things important in a materialistic culture. This is the cost to become their sons’ primary teachers. Some sacrifices involve pay cuts, resignations from careers, or other economic risk taking, but this alone is a valuable lesson for a son. It says, “You are important. Our family relationship is important. Your education is significant, and we should be willing to sacrifice for that education. I admit that the risks are expensive and scary, but maybe we can overcome each obstacle by working together. Let’s prove to the world just how valuable and powerful families can be. Let’s see how our faith can grow and be the prized asset it is meant to be.”

Conclusion

The home-education movement is a phenomenon that could rescue what is left of Western culture. It yields superior results academically. It makes dysfunctional families functional again. It demolishes the so-called “generation gap.” It rediscovers the true meaning of education and academic freedom. It challenges the more dangerous claims of statism, including the claim that only the state can train a person to fit into society.

However, home education will never be all it can be without fathers becoming more involved, especially with their sons. It has been through sacrifice that home education has progressed this far. It will take more sacrifice to develop the next phase. Today, too many home-educated boys display symptoms of timidity or disorientation as they enter manhood. Their mothers have helped them excel academically, but that’s not enough to help them conquer the challenges of the times. It’s time for their fathers to help them excel, spiritually and materially, as men.

©2009 Homeschooling Today magazine, Nehemiah Four, LLC. All Rights Reserved.


Tuesday, October 6, 2009

1 Timothy 3.1-7, 12-16

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Are You A Christian?

I pray that you will watch this video prayfully, so you can know for certain whether you are truly saved. Search the scriptures and your own heart, allow God to speak to you from His Word.



When is a Fetus a Baby?: Twice-Born Macie


http://www.americanvision.org/article/when-is-a-fetus-a-baby-twice-born-macie/

Friday, October 2, 2009

Another Week, Another Fish

Our family went out fishing again today. We went to the Skykomish River. It was a beautiful site and there were LOTS of fish jumping and swimming all around us. Well, I am happy to say that it was my turn this time to catch one (with the help of my family, of course). Hannah helped me get it started reeling in until Ralph got there with the net to scoop it up. He was a good sized one too, 27 inches long. Ralph and Hannah both had fish up to shore, but they got off before we could net them. We love to be in the out of doors. We take nice hikes to get to our fishing spots. We are talking about taking some vacation time later this month so we can go during the week. We love to fish.