Monthly Meditation for November, 2009

     (Taken from the upcoming November, 2009, issue of Biblical Homeschooling, a free e-mail newsletter for Christians who homeschool: biblicalhomeschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biblicalhomeschooling/ ).

Monthly Meditation

1. "LET ALL THOSE WHO SEEK YOU REJOICE"

by Wayne S. Walker

     "Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let those who love Your salvation say continually, ‘Let God be magnified!’" (Psalm 70:4).  The heading of this Psalm reads, "To the Chief Musician.  A Psalm of David.  To bring to remembrance."  In the first three verses, David asks God to make haste and deliver him from those who seek his life, causing them to be turned back because of their shame.  However, David is not content to pray only for his own needs.  He asks that all who seek God would rejoice and be glad.  Certainly, it should be our desire that all who are in sin would "seek the LORD while He may be found" (Isaiah 55:6).  And we can especially be thankful that He has promised His children, "Seek, and you will find" concerning their prayers (Matthew 6:7, 11).

     Theologians have defined what they call "common grace."  While the Bible does not use the term, it does express the idea in various places.  Jesus said that God "makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).  Paul, speaking to idol-worshipping pagans, said that God "did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17).   The fact is that the more people seek to conform their lives to God’s ways, even if they do not fully obey the gospel and receive salvation from sin, the more God will bless them, at least in terms of the things of this life.

     Yes, like Paul, we pray for all who are lost "that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1).  Yet, we also pray "for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence" (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  And we may pray for friends and others who are not Christians that God will allow them to experience His "common grace" in hopes that His goodness would lead them to repentance (Romans 2:4).  A song that we have often sung asks that God will "Grant that ALL may seek and find Thee a God supremely kind; Heal the sick, the captive free, Let us all rejoice in Thee."  Again, the more people in general seek the Lord’s principles of righteousness and morality, the more those who love God’s salvation can magnify the Lord.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

one room schoolhouse, Adams County, Ohio

     This picture is of a one-room schoolhouse in Adams County, Ohio.  Adams County was established in 1799 and named for John Adams.  This was when Ohio was still part of the Northwest Territory even before it became a state in 1803.  So it was one of the original counties in Ohio.  It is the next county due south and east of Highland County, Ohio, where I grew up, and the seat of Adams County is West Union.  The county is situated on the Ohio River between Brown and Scioto Counties.  The photograph was evidently taken as part of a library project conducted by the Works Project Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Great Depression.  Unfortunately, the exact name, location, and current status of the school were not included with the photograph.

        Items in previous blogs told about a fossil nicknamed “Ida” which the popular press declared might prove to be the missing link.  Well, in an item headlined “Primate fossil called only a distant relative,” AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter, on Wed. Oct. 21, wrote the following.  Remember Ida, the fossil discovery announced last May with its own book and TV documentary? A publicity blitz called it "the link" that would reveal the earliest evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes and humans. Experts protested that Ida wasn’t even a close relative. And now a new analysis supports their reaction.  In fact, Ida is as far removed from the monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate could be, says Erik Seiffert of Stony Brook University in New York.  He and his colleagues compared 360 specific anatomical features of 117 living and extinct primate species to draw up a family tree. They report the results in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.  Ida is a skeleton of a 47 million-year-old cat-sized creature found in Germany. It starred in a book, "The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor."  Ida represents a previously unknown primate species called Darwinius. The scientists who formally announced the finding said they weren’t claiming Darwinius was a direct ancestor of monkeys, apes and humans. But they did argue that it belongs in the same major evolutionary grouping, and that it showed what an actual ancestor of that era might have looked like.  The new analysis says Darwinius does not belong in the same primate category as monkeys, apes and humans. Instead, the analysis concluded, it falls into the other major grouping, which includes lemurs.  Experts agreed.  (And so did creationists!)  Just goes to show that you can’t believe everything that you read hyped up in the media.

The Health Care Bill and Abortion (again)

        On October 20, 2009, American Family Association reported that even the Associated Press (NOT an alleged "right-wing" news source like Fox News, World Net Daily, or One News Now) admits that the government takeover of health care will, despite what the president has told you, involve the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions.  The AP says flatly, "The proposed legislation would permit government-sponsored health plans, open to non-Medicaid patients, to cover abortions."  So when the president or members of Congress say abortions aren’t covered in health care reform, they aren’t telling you the truth. And when the president’s spokesman says that federal law would prevent taxpayer funding of abortions in the health care plan, he’s not telling you the truth either.  The Hyde Amendment prevents Medicaid funds – and Medicaid funds only – from being used for abortions, but that restriction wouldn’t apply to the government takeover of health care.  In fact, under the Capps Amendment in the House bill, the public option would be required to offer abortion services, and every American would have to have access to at least one health care plan that included abortion.  The full Senate will soon be debating its huge health care bill. AFA urges all people to contact both of theire senators and tell them firmly but politely that they can’t "Hyde" any longer, that abortion is not health care, and that they must remove abortion from any health care reform bill they consider.

     John Clayton of Does God Exist? reported the following.  “Pigs, chickens and fish have more signs of consciousness and rationality—and, consequently, a greater claim to rights—than do fetuses, newborn infants, and people with mental disabilities….The calf, pig, and the much derided chicken come out well ahead of the fetus at any stage of pregnancy.”  This statement by Peter Singer is typical of atheists minimizing the value of human life.  Singer builds on the work of the atheist philosopher [Friedrich] Nietzsche who coined the phrase “transvaluation of values.”  The argument is that we are not creations of God, but rather mere Darwinian primates.  Singer says, “We must remove Homo sapiens from his privileged position and restore the natural order.”  Singer would protect apes but allow unwanted children, people with mental disabilities, and noncontributing elderly to be euthanized.  Atheists will not like to see Singer’s atheist views presented as what all atheists believe, but in reality, if God is removed from the picture it is difficult to avoid the conclusion.  Dinesh D’Souza has more on this in his article “Staring into the Abyss” available online at www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/march/22.60.html .  [Shades of Nazi Germany!  WSW.]

What Our Kids Are Missing Out On Dept.

     Barb Frank of The Imperfect Homeschooler recently wrote, “We’ve always been happy to teach our son with Down syndrome at home because if he were in school and someone abused him, he might not be able to tell us what happened. It never occurred to us that the school nurse might steal his medications and replace them with vitamins, which happened to at least one special needs child at this school!”  She then cited an item headlined “School nurse accused of stealing student’s pills” by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. for WCNC-TV in Charlotte, NC, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, which reported that Teresa Sue Kennedy, 52, was arrested the previous Friday and charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery and embezzlement by an employee. She had been employed by the district for 15 years and worked at the Metro School, which serves cognitively disabled students.  The victim is a 19-year-old handicapped student who attends Metro School. Kennedy was his school nurse, and was supposed to administer and keep track of his Adderall, a drug used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder.  Police said another nurse in the school noticed the medication didn’t resemble the pills the student should have been taking.  SBI agents and police worked on the case for months before charging Kennedy last Friday. The nursing board pulled her license in March.  (The Imperfect Homeschooler e-newsletter is published by Cardamom Publishers, PO Box 2146, Janesville, WI 53547. To learn more about homeschooling, or for homeschool encouragement, visit http://barbarafrankonline.com .)

More news about homeschooling in Germany

     In an item headlined “Judge leaves teen in parents’ custody:  Decision is temporary victory in homeschool battle on September 25, 2009, Bob Unruh of WorldNetDaily reported that a judge in Germany has left a teen in the custody of his parents – for now – in what homeschooling advocates are describing as a big win in their ongoing war with authorities over the legitimacy of home education practices.  The decision this week came in the case of Aaron Schmidt, the son of Hans and Petra Schmidt, who live in Southern Bavaria, according to a report from Joel Thornton of the International Human Rights Group.   Thornton has been working on the case and was in Germany for the hearing, even though he was banned from the courtroom because of objections from the local German Youth Welfare Office [editor’s note: sounds like a holdover from Nazi days, WSW].  The Schmidts have taught their children, Josua and Aaron, at home for nine years. Josua, 16, recently finished tests documenting his completion of all the requirements of the school system. But the fight remains over future schooling for Aaron, 14, who has been tested as performing at high academic levels.  Thornton reported the judge’s final decision "was that the local school should give Aaron a test to see if he is academically okay. Pending the results of that test all the attorneys agree that the court will leave custody with the parents – instead of transferring custody to the state."   "This is a big partial victory," Thornton told WND. "This is not the first time it has happened, but it is rare, that the court has not ruled that homeschooling is against the law and therefore nothing further needed to be done other than putting the child in school.  "This is one of the first times that a German court has intimated that they would not stop the homeschooling as long as the child was being educated properly," he explained. "This is a huge victory in the making. If we can get this court to continue and more courts to agree that homeschooling is not, in itself, harmful, then we can begin to make a dent in the legal system that is currently punishing parents for exercising their legal right to control the education of their children."

Fear grows among pro-life activists

      I know that not all homeschoolers are “pro-life” (i.e., anti-abortion) but many of us are, so this item reported by Charlie Butts of OneNewsNow on 9/26/2009 should be interesting.  Is a double standard being applied to those in the public debate on abortion?  In the aftermath of the shooting death of pro-life demonstrator Jim Pouillon in Michigan, some members of the movement are hesitant to picket. Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League believes that should stop no one from expressing a pro-life view.  "It’s extremely rare for violence to enter into the abortion battle on either side, and there’s no reason to be afraid to go out there on the street," he contends.  But Scheidler does wonder if there is a double standard in Washington.  "After George Tiller was shot by a lone goofball up there in Kansas, Barack Obama immediately deplored the event and sent out federal marshals. But it took him three days to finally get around to responding to the killing in Michigan of the pro-life activist," he notes. And that response, he adds, did not involve sending marshals to protect pro-life organizations.  Scheidler, while conducting a demonstration recently in Naples, Florida, said it was ironic that a federal agent had been dispatched to the abortion center to watch their peaceful pickets.

New York Magazine links WorldNetDaily, Rush, Savage, and Bachmann to murder!

      On September 24, 2009, New York Magazine implicated WorldNetDaily, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Rep. Michele Bachmann in the murder of a Census worker in Kentucky. "Twelve days ago, in a Kentucky cemetery, a the (sic) body of a census worker was found hanging from a tree," the magazine reported. "Scrawled across his chest was the word ‘fed.’ Though it’s too early to conclude that the man, 51-year-old Bill Sparkman, was targeted in an act of anti-government violence, that is an angle that authorities are currently looking into. And if that turns out to be the case, it wouldn’t be all that surprising, considering the sheer volume of vitriol directed at the federal government and the Obama administration these days by conservative media personalities, websites, and even members of Congress." Bachmann’s pointed comment that she would not participate in what she views as an overly intrusive Census this year is what landed her on the suspect list. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi apparently agrees with the indictment.   "In addition to this specific case of [Bachman’s] census-related fearmongering, you can add in the conspiracy theories about FEMA internment camps, long a mainstay of the Internet but recently stoked anew by the likes of conservative website World Net Daily and radio host Michael Savage," the New York Magazine article continued. "Then throw in everyone comparing Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and health-care reform to Hitler and Nazi Germany – like Rush Limbaugh, to take but one example. And death panels, and socialism, and birth certificates, and ‘trampling on the Constitution.’ It’s this toxic stew of fear and anger and paranoia that Nancy Pelosi recently worried could compel someone to lash out. ‘I saw this myself in the late seventies in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was very frightening and it gave — it created a climate in which violence took place,’ she warned."   My question is, do these people not remember (or do they just choose to forget) all the rhetoric from the left that George W. Bush was a liar, a fascist, a Nazi, worse than Hitler, etc., etc., etc., etc.?

Kirk Cameron bashed for Darwin campaign

     Every once in a while there is a movie or television star who does not bow down to the leftist idols, actually believes in something good, and stands up for what is right.  And such a person is usually savaged and trashed by the rest of the Hollywood elitists and the media.  A September 25, 2009, WorldNetDaily report said that a campaign by author Ray Comfort and actor Kirk Cameron to give away 100,000 copies of a special edition of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species on 100 university campuses in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the seminal book’s publication in November already is drawing a caustic reaction from media.   The special release of the book challenges the theory of evolution with a 50-page introduction that includes an overview of Darwin’s life and presents a case for a universe created by God through arguments such as the structure of DNA and the absence of species-to-species transitional forms.   Reacting to a video presentation of the campaign by Cameron, a television writer and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, David Wild, wrote in the Huffington Post that Cameron "seems like a really nice guy….Unfortunately, the Artist Formerly Known as Mike Seaver seems like a really nice guy who’s evolved into a willfully ignorant idiot," Wild wrote, alluding to Cameron’s role as a teen star in the 1980s TV sitcom Growing Pains.   The introduction to the special Origin of Species release, which can be read on Living Waters website, also shows how great scientists of the past such as Nikolas Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon and Albert Einstein, believed in God’s existence.  Meanwhile, a TMZ video parody features "the matchup of the century, Kirk Cameron versus Charles Darwin, who is dead….Yes, the former Growing Pains-star-turned-religious-fanatic is launching an all-out attack on Darwin’s theory of evolution."   The TMZ spoof says, "Kirk has decided to unbrainwash people by teaming up with fellow Bible-thumper Sonny Bono, er Ray Comfort, who literally rewrote Darwin’s Origin of Species."   Cameron is co-host with Comfort of The Way of the Master television show, produced by Comfort’s Bellflower, Calif.-based Living Waters ministry.   In his video presentation of the Darwin campaign, Cameron says, "An entire generation is being brainwashed by atheistic evolution without even hearing the alternative; and it’s radically changing the culture of our nation."   Cameron encourages providing students with an alternative view of life’s origin and letting them decide for themselves what to believe.   The Huffington Post published a brief item on the Darwin campaign, coupling Cameron’s video with a snarky "response" from a Slavic-accented YouTube user.   The YouTube video, with more than 444,000 views, is accompanied by a robust string of more than 8,800 comments, including, "Sorry, science teaches that people evolved. That means NO Adam and Eve. That means NO first sin, or fall from grace. That means NO need for Jesus to have died on a cross to save us."   Comfort previously told WND "atheists are going crazy" on Internet forums in response to the Origin of Species plan, saying, "How can we stop this? We’re going to have a book burning."   To critics of the campaign, Comfort points out his edition features the entire publication, with nothing removed, and his name will be on the cover.   "I think that the liberal media need to stand back for a moment, take deep breath and think about what they are saying," Comfort told WND in an e-mail.   He argued there have been more than 140 reprints of Origin of Species, most have had introductions or forewords, and some were critical of the theory of evolution.   Comfort contends he hasn’t attacked Darwin, "but simply looked objectively at his belief and asked if it’s scientific, and then left it up to the reader to make up his own mind…."What’s wrong with that?" he asked. "Charles Darwin, in his own Introduction in 1859, said, ‘A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.’"  Comfort notes a survey showed 61 percent of U.S. professors in biology or psychology said they were atheists or agnostics.   "Atheism has doubled in the last 20 years among 19 to 25 year olds. So young people are being brainwashed by this stuff," he said. "All we want to do is give an alternative."