Restoration Ministries International
Restoring the Hebraic Foundations of the Earliest
Church
Preparing the Family of Jesus to Be Light in Darkness
Mishpachah Yeshua Newsletter A Newsletter To The Family Of Jesus From Restoration Ministries The Hebraic family is not simply an individual or private matter. [click here for a printable copy] August 2002 Topic: Restoring Covenant-based Communities—A warning and a call to action! Dear Friends,
Our last few newsletters have been
building on the way of life produced when you embrace the
Covenant offered by our heavenly Father (see March/April 2002, The Gospel of the Covenant is the Gospel of
Salvation). In this newsletter we
want to address the type of faith community that is generated
by the true Gospel. This is more critical at this time than
most imagine. This letter voices both a warning and a call to
action! We want to warn you about turning your children over to
the Humanism in control of the public education system, and the
apostasy that Hellenism has produced in the churches in the US.
What do you know about the daughter of
Hellenism, humanism? Did you know that humanism is the religion of public
education? In the lawsuit of Torcaso V. Watkins, 367 US 488
(1961), the US Supreme Court ruled that the “religion of
Secular Humanism” should be granted the same First
Amendment protection as other religions.
How does this impact your
children/grandchildren/ friends’ children? The majority
of public school educators graduate from secular universities
steeped in humanism, feminism, and paganism. This
indoctrination has become the foundation of their classroom
instruction.
HUMANIST MANIFESTO
John Dewey, recognized as the
“father of progressive education”, was the chief
designer of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto. In 1932 he was elected
honorary president of the National Education Ass’n.
Another honorary president of the NEA and signer of the
Manifesto, Charles F. Potter, wrote in his book Humanism: A New Religion, “Education is thus a most powerful ally of
Humanism, and every American public school is a school of
Humanism.”
In 1973, the American Humanist Association
updated their declaration, producing the Humanist Manifesto II
(HM II). As noted in the preface, not much has changed in their
intent:
“As in 1933, humanists still believe
that traditional theism, especially
faith in the prayer-hearing God,
assumed to live and care for persons, to hear and understand
their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith. Salvationism, based on mere affirmation, still
appears as harmful, diverting people with false
hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival.”
The following will familiarize you with
some of the basic tenets of the Humanist Manifest and their
updated corollaries (HM II):
Religious
humanists regard the universe as
self-existing and not created. HM
II adds, Rather, science affirms
that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces.
There is no
credible evidence that life survives the death of the body. We continue to exist in our progeny and in the
way that our lives have influenced others in our culture. (HM II)
Humanism asserts that the nature of
the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic
guarantees of human values.
We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence
of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the question of survival and fulfillment of the
human race. As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature
not deity.
Promises
of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both
illusory and harmful. They distract
humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from
rectifying social injustices. As HM
II continues, We can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. While there is much that we do
not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will
become. No deity will save us; we
must save ourselves.
We affirm
that moral values derive their source from human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational needing no theological or ideological sanction.
Ethics stems from human need and
interest. (HM II)
Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the
fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and direction of such associations and institutions with a
view to the enhancement of human life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly, religious...and
communal activities must be reconstituted as
rapidly as experience allows, in order to function effectively
in the modern world. [Note that the purpose and program of humanism is to transform and control any
expressions of religion other than their own viewpoint. The
“reconstitution” they mention translates into
removal of anything that would glorify God.]
In the
area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant
attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right
to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized. [Under
the guise of “toleration”, children are taught to
disregard the biblical concept of family, and to pursue
whatever “seems right in their own eyes.”]
We have
reached a turning point in human history where the best option
is to transcend the limits of national sovereignty and to move
toward the building of a world
community in which all sectors of
the human family can participate. Thus we look to the
development of a system of world law
and a world order based upon
transnational federal government. (HM II) [The world community touted here sounds suspiciously like the
one-world government/New World Order warned about by John in
his Revelation.]
Bible teacher Bill Gothard has listed
eight violations of God’s standards that have brought
these consequences upon us. To paraphrase his writings,
We have chosen to outsource our
children to schools steeped in the humanistic worldview.
Husbands have neglected their
spiritual responsibilities in their homes and have delegated
that leadership to their wives or church leaders.
Jobs, church responsibilities, and
recreational pursuits have superceded our responsibility to our
families to train them according to God’s ways. Our
children have ceased to be a priority, as evidenced by the time
spent away from them.
Faith communities have failed to
encourage parents to train their children in their homes.
Single mothers have been pushed out the door to work because
they have no faith community to come alongside them and assist
them in developing income opportunities in their own homes.
Fragmented families have resulted
in minimal meaningful contact between the generations.
Desensitization to violence and
pornography in the home (TV, music, magazines, Internet)
has resulted in rebellion and immorality in our children.
Marriage has ceased to be regarded
as a lifelong covenant. As Jesus warned, divorce for any and
all reasons has violated God’s intent to bring forth
godly generations, and has sanctioned self-gratification over
righteousness.
Our children are making grievous
choices because they have not been trained to consider the
outcome of their decisions. The world’s standards are
their measure rather than the truth of God’s Word.
“‘Both prophet and priest are
godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,"
declares the Lord” (Jer. 23:11).
“Her prophets are arrogant; they are
treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary and do
violence to the law” (Zeph.
3:4).
“The prophets prophesy lies, the
priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this
way. But what will you do in the end?” (Jer. 5:31).
I want to share with you some comments
made over 10 years ago by Peter Drucker, America’s guru
on management. If you attend a faith community in which whoever
“pastors” it does not have a personal relationship
with you, what we are addressing is meant for you also. Drucker
commends the church for its shrewd marketing strategy:
“[People] were bored with
traditional churches and increasingly stayed at home...[Leaders
of today’s mega-churches] saw attendees as
“potential customers.” They asked what the
customers need and want in a church. They focus, as a result,
on the individual's need...And they try to satisfy the desire
of the affluent younger people...
“Fifteen years ago there were few
such churches around, and most were quite small. Today there
are some 20,000 large mega-churches, each with a membership of
2,000 people or more—and some 5,000 of them have
congregations in excess of 4,000 or 5,000.”
Drucker’s main point is that these
churches, rather than serving God, serve
the people. They rely on good
market analysis and go out and compete for people. With men of
entrepreneurial ability at the helm, little “papacies” or “corporate empires” are being established all over the US. Sadly,
when the leadership of the mega-churches are questioned about
the biblical basis for their methods, no biblical foundation
can be found to support them. Size and popularity
—“nickels and noses”—mean they are
successful.
Although the mega-churches have become the
prevailing model of success, there are over 375,000 small faith
communities in the US, and half have fewer than 75 people who
gather for worship. Smaller faith communities don’t get
heard in the market-based church culture of today. But they
survive because they are built around family-style relationships.
“Not many of you should presume to be
teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will
be judged more strictly” (James 3:1).
Sue came home the other day distraught
after listening to the car radio. THE maker and shaker in the
mega-church movement was telling everyone they didn’t
need to repent for their sins. Their sins were already
forgiven, and what they really had were “mistakes.”
The speaker espoused the Hellenist dualist concept of life:
“Your spirit is righteous even if your actions are
wrong.” This one man has more influence on Protestant
clergy than any person alive. We find so many other clergy and
ministries being influenced away from preaching repentance.
They claim that Jesus already forgave your sins, so there is no
need to repent. What hurts is that his denomination is probably
the furthest from the Gospel of the early church and has a
divorce rate 50% higher than those who do not attend church.
“I warn everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book:
If anyone adds anything to them,
God will add to him
the plagues described in this book”
(Rev. 22:18; see also Deu. 4:2, 12:32).
I wish I could inspire everyone who reads
this letter to become People of the Word—people who know and apply the
Word of God to their lives. The apostasy now rampant in the
church has opened the door for the lawless to do whatever they
want to His Word. For example: A very popular Bible translation
recently appeared entitled “The Message.” Many key
Christian leaders quote from it, but sadly, it erases
Jesus’s pattern of dealing with unrepentant sinners. Read
Matthew 18:15-20 in another version before you read the
following excerpt: “If a
fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him, work it out between
the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If
he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the
presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again.
If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he
won’t listen to the church, you will have to start over
from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and
offer God’s forgiving love.” What is your verdict? We burned our copy of The
Message.
I believe that so many of these
“Christians” who are marketing a false gospel, who
have the audacity to alter God’s Word, and who have used
the best marketing strategies to attract
“customers” have achieved their goal. They have
defined God in their own image, they have told Him what He
should have written, and they are showing Him their better plan
for “church growth.” Consider the real fruit of
their unbiblical approach:
The #1 evangelism crusade ministry
found fewer than 4% of those who have gone forward at their
crusades walking with Christ 10 years later.
One of the most popular campus
ministries noted that less than 5% of their active
students continue with Jesus after they graduate.
Youth work in this country is less
than 3% effective.
The divorce rate among Christians
in the “Bible Belt” is 50% higher than the national
average.
Clergy are among the top two
occupations in the country to lead in divorce.
“Say to the captives, ‘Come
out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be
free!”’ (Isa. 49:
9a).
“For it is time for Judgment to begin
with the family of God” (1
Peter 4:17a).
Our Lord has not been caught by surprise
by the apostasy in the midst of much of the church in the US.
The Apostle Paul foretold these days when man would have an
abhorrence to God’s law. Read 2 Thess. 2:1-12 for
yourself. Here are excerpts, with emphasis added:
“Don’t let anyone deceive you
in any way, for [the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ] will not
come until the rebellion occurs and the
man of lawlessness is revealed, the
man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt
himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so
that he sets himself up in
God’s temple, proclaiming
himself to be God.
The coming of the lawless one will be in
accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those
who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God
sends them a powerful delusion so
that they will believe the lie and so that all will be
condemned who have not believed the
truth but have delighted in
wickedness” (excerpts: vv.
3,4,9-12).
The spirit of lawlessness has produced
indicators you see embraced in churches today: practices not
based on the Word of God, counterfeits “signs and
wonders” with people traveling all over to see
them, and people so deluded and reprobate in their religious
practice that condemnation awaits them if they fail to repent.
If you are as grieved by all of this as we
are, PRAY! In a short while God will test everything that
claims to be His to discern between who has built on the ROCK
and who is sinking in sand. Pray for a spirit of repentance on
all those living in this Hellenistic delusion!
A Message That Demands a Verdict
“We also thank God continually
because, when you received the word of God, which you heard
from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it
actually is, the word of God,
which is at work in you who trust”
(1Thess. 2:13).
As Sue and I share the Hebraic
foundations, we encounter many people whose focus on Jesus is
so full of determination that what we share only further
encourages them. There are others who have been entrenched in
Hellenist philosophy and Roman organization for so long that it
is difficult to get them to even question the unbiblical
precepts upon which their faith practice is based.
I want to share with you the challenge the
Holy Spirit gave us to share: “Either
Sue and I are great liars, or our Father has recruited us, as
He has many others, to share His restoration of the
Hebraic foundations of the early Church. Ask Him for yourself.
Those who have asked and discovered for
themselves that our Father’s restoration is true have
found themselves led away from the clutches of Hellenism to
discover how wonderfully sufficient He really is. We wrote
about this determination to press forward in our June/July 1999
newsletter, “Crossing the
Jordan.”
Covenant-based Faith Communities
Communally Preparing the Generations to
Come to Serve and Bring Glory to Our Father
As I was eating breakfast this morning I
studied the back cover of the December 2001 Reader’s
Digest. It pictured a couple surrounded by 15 children. The
caption read, “Possum Trot, Texas. If one unwanted child
could find a home, then why not 81...or more? Donna and W.C.
Martin challenged their town to open its arms.” What a
response of love that surpassed mere sympathy! This is what our
Lord Jesus needs from all of us, people willing to extend
themselves to help others.
A Hebraic faith community is made up of
people who are deeply devoted to the Lord, intergenerational if
possible, with communal responsibility for raising up the next
generation in their midst. The slogan above paraphrases
God’s purpose in choosing Abraham in Genesis 18:19. He
was chosen by God because he would be found faithful to direct
his children after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing
what was right and just. Think about it. Does this sound like a
goal our Father could bless for each generation? Yes, it is!
To achieve this type of inter-generational, communal commitment requires that we who follow Jesus put our
love into action. To fulfill our Lord’s commands requires
a heart of sacrificial love. For the love of God you have to go
outside your comfort zone!
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother
and sister and mother”
(Matt.12:49,50).
The word family was filled with such a clear
understanding for Jesus’ listeners. The prayer taught by
Jesus as an acceptable response to God in personal relationship
begins with the words “Our
Father.” The “our” connotes communal relationship with others who also come to Him
in trust. “Father” indicates that those who come to Him
through the atonement of Jesus are children — brothers
and sisters in a family with responsibilities to one another as
demanded by that privilege.
The intensity of responsibility for the
generations to train up our children in the way of our Lord is
captured in the following passage:
“Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
These command that I give you today
are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at
home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and
when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands
and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of
your houses and on your gates” (Deu. 6:5-9).
This passage assumes the help of extended
family— an assumption that is clear to most cultures
around the world but not to the atomistic US.
Remember the Restoration Diagram? In the
Hebraic perspective, the home is the basic building block for
spiritual development and training. All other relationships
support the home for spiritual development. The extended
faith-community family is committed to help produce “godly offspring”. (Mal. 2:15).
Flee Apostasy! Flee Humanism!
Not to beat around the bush: We are
encouraging each of you with children to teach your children
the way of the Lord at home. Don’t outsource them into
Humanism and expect that you can counter its effects. You will
be battling a principality of great magnitude for the soul of
your child.
The greatest proportion of people who
educate their children at home are going at it alone with
little or no support from their faith community. Our experience
has been that fewer than half of the ‘go it alone’
home schooling families hang in there. Some are in home school
cooperatives, but the families are in different faith
communities.
Faith communities that truly support home
schoolers are rare. Home schoolers are among the most
determined of all family units to obey God, but are perhaps the
least supported from most pulpits. Some of the leaders in the
beginning of the home school movement discouraged home
schoolers from fellowshipping together because they feared the
reprisal of clergy who viewed home schooling as a
“parachurch” activity than as a responsibility of
their church community. This separation of church body support
and home school families still exists in many faith
communities.
“Whether you turn to the right or to
the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,
‘This is the way; walk in it”’ (Isa. 30:21).
This verse was given to us prophetically
by our spiritual father, Frank Murray, a few weeks after we had
arrived back from Israel. Frank was born in Jerusalem in 1908.
His parents had gone there to intercede for the Lord to restore
the Israelites back to their Land. We believe the fulfillment
of this passage for us came during our recent trip to Lubbock,
Texas. Below are excerpts from a letter we sent out to close
friends shortly after we arrived home:
“This past week for Sue and me has
been a whirlwind of trying to understand what our Lord was
showing us. Several weeks ago, Tom Woodruff called to ask if we
would like to have him edit some digital video that had been
shot at our seminar in June, 2000 at the Southwest Indian
School in Peoria, AZ. We had met Tom at our workshop in his
hometown of Lubbock, Texas in the spring of 1998.
Tom’s phone call came moments after
our Lord impressed on us that we were to begin to equip people
through illustrating our research with stories and parables.
The purposes of Restoration Ministries are: 1. Awareness, and
2. Equipping. These past eight years have found us
concentrating on awareness—introducing people to what our
Father is restoring.
The day Tom called we felt a mighty
prompting that our future was going to be significantly
changed. We canceled all other scheduled activities for that
time frame and focused only on our trip to Lubbock, Texas, to
meet with Tom. Before we left on our trip James Skeet called
with a prophetic word: “When
you finish your week in Lubbock you’ll understand only
three-fourths of why God brought you there.”
It didn’t take long after we arrived
at Tom’s to realize that we were with him for far more
than editing video. I asked Tom during our stay about his
spiritual contribution to the Kingdom. He said that he is a
resource locator. After spending time with him you come to
realize that he is a lot more than that! We began to envision
interactive CD’s through which we could simulate and
illustrate through role play the truths we wanted to convey.
The Hebraic method of training relies on “direct
experience” in which the mentor/teacher shows the student
‘how to’; the student demonstrates the skill, and
then goes forth to teach others. If ‘direct
experience’ can’t be used, then simulation and
illustration are used as alternatives. As we discussed who our
primary audience would be, Tom, who had been a home-schooling
parent himself, and I both felt that the Lord wanted us to focus on home-schooling families.
While addressing the owner of a retreat
facility during a workshop we conducted on our last day, I
found myself referring back to the “community
building” aspects we had incorporated at the retreat we
had administrated in Connecticut for over 10 years. As I
shared, a fire, much like that when the Space Shuttle is
launched, began to burn inside me. I really wanted to find a
training base where Sue and I could both write and train
people.
When we first arrived at Tom’s, I
had felt we had just stepped up on a diving board. As we left
to return to Gallup, NM to stay with the Skeets, I felt we had
come to the jumping-off end of the board, but we hadn’t
leaped yet. Throughout our stay we were in phone communication
with our close friends, Griff & Reva Griffith, James &
Joyce Skeet, Chad & Chris Parlier, and Matt Kowlsen. Our halakhah for seeking
God’s guidance is, “Plans
fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they
succeed” (Pro. 15:22).
Early Morning at the Skeets
“Expect great things from God,
attempt great things for God.”
As soon as we finished our workshop in
Lubbock I sensed the Lord wanted us to leave immediately and
drive six hours to the Skeets—arriving just in time to
share a short talk and sleep. Early the next morning I got up
before everyone else. My morning reading included
“Extreme Devotion” produced by Voice of the
Martyrs—stories about modern-day believers who gave their
all for Jesus. I began to read the story of William Carey,
missionary to India. He fought for years against the practice
of burning wives alive with their dead husbands, eventually
succeeding in getting the custom banned. The devotional stated, “Carey spent his life as an
innovator for Christ, facing hardship to make a difference. And
he was known for encouraging others to ‘Expect great
things from God, attempt great things for
God.’”
At the end of the devotion for that day
was a challenge:
“Most people fall into the following
categories when it comes to sharing their faith: go-go,
slow-go, and no-go. When Jesus calls people to go into the
world, some respond with great fervor. Like William Carey they
go and go for the gospel. Still others respond, but only
half-heartedly, slowing down with age or the busyness of their
schedule. Sadly, many believers are no-go Christians. They hear
the command but they figure that someone else will do it. Which
category best describes your response to Jesus’ call to
evangelism? Ask God to renew a desire to share your faith with
others. If you are expecting great things from his answer, then
be prepared to attempt great things in his name.”
Sue awoke to find me on my knees repenting
of becoming slow-go. The tremendous rejection we have received
in the eight years of sharing the Hebraic foundations had
slowly been dampening my fervor. That morning I asked God to
renew my desire to share. Something happened!!! What I am about
to share found Sue and me worshipping God the whole 200 miles
from Gallup to Parks.
We went out to breakfast with the Skeet
family, and Joyce asked my thoughts on “cottage
home-schools.” In a cottage home school, several families
cooperate together for the education and training of their
children. I replied that I was even more thrilled with that
concept than the single family home school. We had home
schooled our son Mike during the early days when it was more an
individual family thing, but support for educating a teenager
at home was rare. Home schooling is probably the largest single
family commitment for Christians in this country.
In the restaurant with the Skeets I think
we jumped off the diving board. Later, Sue commented the last
1/4 of our answer from God has been added. We began to see the
beauty of how groups of families taking on God’s purposes
for their children collectively could be more effective in
reaching a culture for Christ. Through home-school based faith
communities we can establish the ability for subsequent
generations to succeed in passing along the faith to those who
follow.
As we talked, James commented that home
schooling could aid mission agencies that are trying to help
the children in different cultures. Education in homes brings
inter-generational faith-based family units together to fulfill
the purpose for which God chose Abraham: “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct
his children and his household after him to keep the way of the
Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will
bring about for Abraham what he has promised him” (Genesis 18:19). This method helps to halt the
outsourcing of children to Humanistic institutions. Each home
school group is a faith community. We even envisioned the
potential for home-based industry within the faith community.
Not only could skills be taught to the children, but also
businesses supporting the whole community could be established.
Back in Parks, Arizona
“[Jesus] said to them,
‘Therefore every teacher who has been instructed about
the
kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a
house who brings out of his storeroom new
treasures as well as old’” (Matt. 13:52).
James contacted a mission group the Skeets
and Sue and I had addressed last year to share what we felt led
to do. They have a retreat facility in Flagstaff, AZ. Many
Native people come into Flagstaff from the reservations. James
called to tell us that they were willing to consider our use of
the facility, Sue and I were ecstatic. We feel the verse above
may become reality: Our retreat
center experience and our days of sharing the Hebraic
foundations are coming together in conjunction with the skills
and experience of others.
Below is part of our Proposal to the
mission.
Needed Resources to Start
1. Location
Enable groups to come together to:
Collaborate on culturally-relevant
curriculum
Train small faith communities and
those who would work trans-culturally to establish
Covenant-based faith communities.
The training facilities should be
conducive to support the role modeling needed in the
relationship-building activities. For instance, there should be
a kitchen where the faith community can prepare its own meals.
Dining room seating and food service should be family-style. In
the Hebraic perspective, the environment in which a truth is
learned is the environment in which it will most likely be
used.
Home-style accommodations rather than
dormitories should be used when available. Between training
sessions, family heads and heads of small faith communities
should be given opportunity and space for personal interaction
with their family or community, respectively. Collective
commitment and mutual responsibility are essential for success.
The facilities should be in close
proximity to Native people. This makes it convenient for
members of the faith community to routinely utilize the
facility to further the purposes of their community, and
simplifies visits of the Hebraic facilitators to the community.
Relational interconnectedness is vital, paralleling
Paul’s commitment to the faith communities he
established.
Given the mandate in Scripture to extend
the Kingdom of God to others, the facilities should also be
available to train those who will carry the goals and
curriculum to other people groups.
2. Recruit
Qualified People
Qualified people are needed who understand:
The varied facets of Hebraic-based
faith communities
The covenant foundations required
for relational load-bearing
Community-based education for the
generations to come.
Besides people related to the education of
the children, there would be those who can mentor the children
in skills and/or help the community in starting cottage
industries so that the community may be self-supporting. This
is the crucial pattern of Christian caring in the early church
— helping people to maintain dignity through
self-support. Justice grounded in love is summed up in this
framework: “So in everything,
do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums
up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew
7:12). The dignity of a human being and a culture is enhanced
when they are helped to be self-supporting. Present and future
generations need not be imprisoned by reliance on charity.
Charity at best solves the immediate need but does little to
solve the chronic cross-cultural dependence.
Older retired people could be recruited,
preferably from the culture to be reached, or from another
culture. For those receiving retirement income, little or no
financial support would be needed to use them as resources in
this endeavor. Senior citizens help fulfill two roles:
1. Provide the needed eldership in the
family-style faith community.
2. Impart practical wisdom and possibly
business acumen.
Individuals should be trained as part of
the group with whom they will minister, simulating the issues
that face the formation of a faith community. Older married
couples, then younger married couples are of vital importance
to community foundation. Singles, as part of a training
community, may accompany the married couples, but never should
they be sent out without the married couples. Role modeling of
the marriage covenant is a vital building block for passing
along strong, Christ-centered family values.
Sue and I feel like newlyweds. We are
committed to help establish home schools within Hebraic home
fellowships. Too many children of godly parents are ending up
confused by the mixed messages they are receiving in the
humanistic, Hellenistic school systems. All these years we
carried the Hebraic message, all the rejection by the Hellenist
system, has been more than worth it. When we home schooled our
own son in the 80’s, conditions were not conducive. The
State of Connecticut was militant against home schooling. We
had friends hiding a family from Massachusetts because the
father had been jailed for teaching his children at home.
Fortunately, the climate has improved in many areas, and many
wonderful books and curricula have been produced to help home
schooling families.
The two of us, along with our friends the
Skeets and Parliers (both home schooling families), have
embarked on pulling together the best of home schooling
materials that address both Christlike character development
and academic training. We are open to input and suggestions.
Please contact us by email or phone to discuss this with us.
And if you know of any available facilities that would fulfill
these needs, please let us know!
Our love,
Mike & Sue
“Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his
power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and
ever! Amen” (Eph. 3:20).
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