As we get close to wrapping up this blog mini series, let's cover some final steps we can do in our "Jerusalem" mission endeavor. Last week we addressed that most Christian parents are not obediently working their first priority mission field— their own family. The facts are in and we are seeing the tragic results of parents abandoning or doing a very poor job with their own kids. Sending them away to public schools has been a big part of this downfall. By subjecting a child to a godless education for the majority of their formative years, the following three things will occur:

1. They will have nearly a 90% chance of falling away from the local church
2. Their worldviews will be radically altered to a Marxist/socialist view
3. They will knowingly or unknowingly convert to the anti-God religion of secular-humanism

I am not going into all of the other problems that occur to these young victims on a daily basis, such as being sucked into the "peer-dependency" traps, being deliberately "dumbed-down", being abused by their teachers, and on and on. Sending kids from Christian families to today's public schools is, in fact, decimating the next generation's mind, bodies and souls—period. Why is that? Public schools are "mission fields" of another kind, but their mission directly opposes what Christ has commanded us. Since public schools are in such opposition to Christ, it would be fair to say that public schools are "anti-Christ schools" that have an "anti-mission." Harsh words? Nope. Scripture makes it clear, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." (1 John 2:22). Can this be true? The great Bible commentator Matthew Henry wrote about 1700 years after John, "Let us not think it strange that there are deceivers and opposers of the Lord Christ’s name and dignity now, for there were such of old, even in the apostle’s times."

CH Spurgeon was hard on places and/or institutions that were inherently opposed to Christ when he wrote, "It should be the daily prayer of every believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory... because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though we loath and detest their dogmas..."

Folks public schools' dogmas are not neutral but actively in opposition to the Father and Son. A case can be easily made from Scripture that it is in fact a sin to send your kids to such anti-Christ places. Besides, look at the pathetic and godless by product of our disobedience. Our Lord told us, "...the tree is known by his fruit." (Matthew 12:33b)

If you are a homeschooler who is obediently working your own mission field and leaning on the Lord's strength, then you may be comforted to know that recent studies show that less than 4% of homeschooled children will disown their Christian faith.

Let me close by giving you some Biblical tools for your homeschooling tool-belt. Let's turn to Scripture and learn from our Savior.

And he (Jesus) led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. (Luke 24:50-53)

There are two important things that we can learn from this.

Number one: notice that Jesus' last actions towards His disciples was one of blessing them. Parents, are you blessing your children? What kind of words come out of your mouth? I want to park it here for a moment and be real transparent with you. As a father, I discovered about 8 or so years ago that blessing my children was a very powerful thing. I have been regularly doing it now since then and have so many powerful testimonies to share. Okay, I'll share just one.

One time at night, a little after bed time I was typing away on my laptop in our living room when I hear this voice coming from the top of the stairs saying over and over again. "Papa bless me, Papa bless me."  My three year-old daughter standing at the top of the stairs calling out to me, asking her father to come up stairs and bless her. I ran to her, embraced her, and said, "May our Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you His peace." Yes, that was taken right from the Bible (Numbers 6:24-26), but those are the verses that I have been blessing them with for almost nine years. To this day, my almost 17 year-old daughter and 14 year-old son experience my laying hands on them and blessing them like they did when they were much younger. I am blessed as a father to still be able to do this with them. The key is to begin when they are young.

I stumbled across this idea of the family blessing when reading an old book titled "The Gift of the Blessing" by John Trent & Gary Smalley. Here is a little something from the introduction of the book, "A flower cannot grow unless it has the necessary elements of life. Every flower needs soil, air, water, light, and a secure place to grow (one where its roots are not constantly being pulled out). When these five basic ingredients are present, it is almost impossible to keep a flower from growing. The same thing is true of the basic elements of the blessing. Like the flower's basic needs, the blessing has five key elements. These five elements, blended together, can cause personal acceptance to blossom and grow in our homes today. Each individual part provides a unique contribution...A family blessing begins with meaningful touching. It continues with a spoken message of high value, a message that pictures a special future for the individual being blessed, and one that is based on an active commitment to see the blessing come to pass."

This book hit me hard as a Christian man because I tend to be rough around the edges and would use this as an excuse to be...let's say, "verbally rough" with others. To make a long story shorter, I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit and compelled by Scripture to immediately begin verbally and physically blessing my children on a daily basis.

Parents, this fallen world is indeed a rough place and has plenty of curses and vices to offer everyone. Let us train up our children and teach them to live virtuous lives for God's glory. One of the key things we can do is learn from our Lord and physically and verbally bless our children.

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

Next week we conclude with worshipping in Jerusalem...
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—David d'Escoto is a teaching elder, the co-author of "The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool" and its companion Bible study, he also co-hosted the former radio program "Homeschooling for Life." He and his wife, Kim, have homeschooled their five children for over 10 years. Visit their website to sign-up for their free webinars and newsletters at http://dexios.info.

- Home Where They Belong

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