LAST LESSONS #113 – LAST THINGS – PART 2

       
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”  Proverbs 22:6

Aging prompts me to think less of myself and more about the next generation. It is said that I was part of the “Great Generation.” What advice can I give to the next generation to make them even greater? 

One thing that comes to mind is schools. My generation went to school and learned how to read (remember “Dick and Jane”?). We learned cursive writing (it is quicker than printing!), and we learned to add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a calculator. And we didn’t need a cellphone to figure out how much a tip should be. We actually had to memorize the multiplication tables up to twelve times twelve! People today can’t believe how handy that is when shopping, banking, or keeping score at games. 

But public schools today are no longer teaching the important things that children need to learn. CRT is not what children need to hear. Besides the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, they need to learn the true history of this country. And they need to learn geography, world history, science, art, good music, and yes, computers!

But most of all, they need to learn who God is and who they are in relation to him. They will not learn this in public schools today.

Therefore, my advice is to send young children to Christian (classical, if possible) schools or homeschool them. There are co-op home schools. No matter what it costs you, do not send four-year-old to seven-year-olds to public school. At these ages, children are most impressionable so do whatever is necessary to keep them from public schools where their minds can be indoctrinated with wrong things. Check with churches in your area to see if they have early childhood schools. Many do.

If there is no Christian classical school in the area, maybe God wants you to start one! Call or write Karen Elliott (Executive Director of Rafiki) and ask her how to start a school. You can reach Karen at www.rafikifoundation.org. She will help you because she and a couple of us are starting a Christian classical school in Eustis, FL, where we live. We will be starting with four to seven-year-old children. We will use the facilities of a local church since they are not in use during the week. This is a win-win situation since it helps the church, and it helps local children. You can do it! PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
It’s more difficult when it comes to teenagers. Christian middle and high schools are expensive. But if you can possibly afford it, PLEASE send your children to a private Christian school where they will learn the Bible and receive a good education. You can find Christian classical schools by checking out The Association of Classical Christian Schools. The ACCS is the largest advocacy organization for K-12 classical Christian education in the US. (https://classicalchristian.org).

For sure, you do not want your children being taught CRT or associating with friends who don’t even know what gender they are.

A close friend of mine (well qualified with a master’s degree) visited me last week and told me that she had resigned from the teaching job she had because two of the teenage girls she taught told her that she must call them by their preferred gender “she-her” or “he-him”! They said they would report her if she did not. She didn’t wait to be reported. She resigned from teaching in public school and got a good secular job. How sad!

If you cannot afford to send teenagers to private schools, then at least get involved in their public schools. Get on the board and make sure you know what your children are learning and what they are reading! Furthermore, take them to Sunday school and conduct devotions in your home. Invite their school friends to your house to influence them. My granddaughter has a Bible study for teenagers in her home every week—and of course, she always serves refreshments!

As far as college is concerned, the same goes. If at all possible, send college-age students to Christian colleges. Christian colleges are a thousand times better than secular schools even if Christian colleges are less prestigious. If a state school is your only option, then make sure your students join a Christian group on campus like RUF (Reformed University Fellowship). I highly recommend RUF because it had a wonderful influence on one of my grandsons. After college, he went to seminary and became a minister.

Finally, a good education is essential. Do whatever you can to keep your children from secular schools. If that is not possible, I have one more suggestion: send your child to school as a missionary! We sent our three teenage daughters to a public school out of necessity. But we told them that because they were Christians, they would be sent to that school to tell their friends about Christ. That was their mission. Then every evening at home we would talk about what was happening in school and the people they talked to about Jesus. By God’s grace, there are some people (mostly boys!) who are Christians today because God used my daughters in a public school as missionaries.

LAST LESSONS #112 – LAST THINGS – PART 1

 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

As my life shortens, I realize that I have not finished everything that God has planned for me. If I had finished God’s plans for me, he would have taken me home! Since he hasn’t, apparently there are some last words I should say, some last work for me to complete, some last things I need to do, some last advice I could give, and even some thoughts I should be thinking as my life closes. 

Last week I wrote you about one of the “works” I want to complete—that is to send thousands of Bible commentaries to Africa.

This week, it’s “advice” about the upcoming election. Obviously, we all need to vote in this mid-term election. Not to vote is to give non-qualified candidates the chance to determine our political future. Therefore, we Christians need to make our voices heard. That’s the first thing.

But who we vote for should be extremely important to Christians. Because I am a pretty simple person, I narrow my decision on which candidates to vote for to those who stand for the two issues that the Bible speaks about quite clearly—the issue of abortion and the issue of homosexuality. Both of these moral issues will be on the ballot because all the candidates have made a stand on them one way or another. If you do not know what individual candidates believe about abortion or same-sex marriage, it is important to find out before you go to the polls. That’s not to say that the economy is not important, or the problem at our southern border, or school choice. But the Bible doesn’t speak to those things. If we are honest, we admit that we cast our ballot about those less important issues depending on how they affect us personally at the time. Not so the issues of abortion and homosexuality. These reflect not only our worldview but our religious beliefs. It separates Christians from non-Christians. It separates those who know what the Bible says and want to obey it from those who either don’t know what the Bible says or don’t want to obey it. 

Christians must vote for candidates who are against abortion, because abortion is murder, plain and simple. Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:21; Romans 13:9; James 2:11

Christians must vote for candidates who are against same-sex marriage because sex between two people of the same gender is homosexuality, plain and simple. 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1Timothy 1:10; Romans 1:18-32.

My prayer is that we Christians will not be distracted by non-moral issues such as inflation and immigration that come and go and then forget the moral issues that count for eternity. If God thought murder and homosexuality were important enough for him to condemn in his Book, then we should be wise enough to vote on God’s side. 

As for me, I will make sure I find out what each candidate thinks regarding abortion and any LGBTQ+ issues. I will vote in person as early as possible. And I will thank God that I live in a country where I can still vote.

LAST LESSONS #111 – RJBF COMMENTARIES

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda (COU) Stephen Kazimba and Education Director Rev. Paul Kakooza. They visited Rafiki, and one evening Karen Elliott and I were able to take them to dinner. As we spoke, I was struck by the gratitude these men had for Rafiki and the Rosemary Jensen Bible Foundation (RJBF). The RJBF, with Rafiki providing the shipping, has given Uganda thousands of Bibles. Every COU school that uses the Rafiki curriculum receives a Bible for every student and every teacher. Seminary students and pastors have all been given Bibles by the RJBF. The men from Uganda could not thank us enough for the Bibles and their “attitude of gratitude” was humbling. I was most impressed that they did not ask for anything personally. Yet, when I asked them what they needed, they asked for more Sunday School (SS) lessons and commentaries to help them teach in their churches. We had already sent them 500 packets of the Rafiki Sunday School lessons on MATTHEW, and their churches loved them. A packet contains lessons for adults and four levels of children and a commentary. When I asked them how many churches they had, they told me 10,000! Yes, ten thousand conservative Anglican (COU) churches in Uganda with more than 12 million members! But they had no Sunday School material and no commentaries to enrich their SS teachers except for what we had sent them—500 for 10,000 churches.

So that’s what I want to do! I want to give thousands of commentaries to SS teachers in Africa to go along with the SS lessons provided by Rafiki. The pastors will probably use these commentaries for preaching too! I want to give not only to Uganda, but to all ten countries where Rafiki has a Village. Would you like to help me? The RJBF is able to get excellent commentaries at a good discount from several Christian publishing companies. If we send only 1,000 packets of SS lessons with commentaries for each country, we need 10,000 of each commentary. The RJBF has already purchased 10,000 commentaries for GENESIS, MATTHEW, ACTS, and ROMANS. I am asking God if he would supply the funds for six more. (JAMES, EXODUS, JOHN, J0SHUA, 1 CORINTHIANS, and 2 CORINTHIANS).

This number of SS lessons would last the churches for a little over three years.

I have learned that commentaries are a wonderful way to help me meditate on the “Law of the Lord” and thus “delight” in his Word. I have also learned that our God wants us to ask him for BIG things—like thousands of commentaries! I wish I could buy the commentaries myself, but I know I can’t because I won’t be here long enough to earn that much money! But I will give to the RJBF what I can now and send this “treasure” on ahead of me in the form of Bibles and Bible commentaries.

I do not normally ask for money in my blogs. This is the first (and last!) time. But if you want to join me in this special effort to get Sunday school lessons and accompanied Bible commentaries in the hands and hearts of hundreds of thousands of people who really want them, please send checks to:

RJBF
PO Box 488
Eustis, FL 32727.

Your gift is tax deductible, and you will receive a receipt by email.

PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.

LAST LESSONS #110 – REVIVAL – PART 3

 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:11-12 

I promised to send a suggested order of Bible books to study for those of you who have been leading RBS Groups but didn’t get it out last week because of Hurricane Ian. Now here is the list. But what I am including in the list is a suggested commentary for each Book to enhance your study. As I have been leading my Group of RBS Seniors, I have learned that they are willing to go deeper in their study and they will do so if they have the resources. One of my Group members said that she does her lesson with her Bible open, her questions in front of her, and the commentary alongside her. She said she also has her cell phone handy to look up on Google the words she does not know. She says that her mind is just exploding with the knowledge she is gaining from Scriptures. She is in her eighty’s. 

The commentary that I suggest for the Book studied is written by someone other than the writer of the lesson notes. That way, your Group members study the Bible five ways: reading the passage, answering the questions, participating in Group discussion, reading the commentary, and reading the lesson notes.  Now that’s the way to learn! 

Here is the short list with information on each study:

Studying beyond this list, I suggest that Groups alternate between the Old and New Testaments. We have all 66 Books done including a suggested commentary, so choose any book you like.
 
Here are some words from a leader of one Group: 

“My name is Carrie French and I have been hosting Rafiki Bible studies in my home for 3 years. This has been a blessing to me and those who attend. (Our group has changed over the years as people come and go.) The ladies tell me this is just the type of study they have been looking for! A Bible study they “can sink their teeth into” and go deep into God’s word. The notes are wonderful! Thank you for making this Bible study available to us.” 

Carrie’s words encourage me tremendously as I pray for revival. My prayer is that every Group will encourage at least one member to start another Group so that the number of Groups will be doubled. Currently there are more than 700 RBS Groups. Will you pray with me that by this January there will be at least 1400 Groups all studying IN DEPTH the world-changing Word of God?