T is for Transformers

Jeremy Walker (00:04):

And welcome back to another episode of Preschool Pioneers. I am your host, Jeremy Walker. You can follow us on our parent network, CR101 Radio, on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Gab, and YouTube. You can subscribe to this podcast in your preferred platform so you never miss an episode. Visit cr101radio.com for these links. Okay, well welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back, everybody. Preschool Pioneers. This episode is entitled, T is for Transformers, how education is used to transform individuals and cultures, and how that transformation affects the future. Well, here on Preschool Pioneers, we like to discuss that question, which is all so important, Why Christians should become teachers. And the main point to that is that because teachers and education influences the future. Absolutely it does. And our message, the gospel message, is about a mandate to evangelize the world, to teach all nations to follow God and everything he has taught us to do.

(01:30):

So it has a transformative effect. And right now throughout our world, the concept of transformation has gone beyond the concept of educational, which it very much is, but also now has gone to that for the physical realm. And a lot of misinformation or disinformation or miseducation is now being called information and education, when it's really not. Lies are being told in the place of the truth, and Christians, lack of a better term in a lot of ways, are just sitting this one out. Christian parents are failing to do their jobs. Christian teachers are sitting back on their hands, when the face of evil, they're shirking away and running into the dark, as if somehow they can't win against such reckless hate. Yes we can, because we have the shield of faith and all the fiery darts of evil cannot overcome Christ and his power. He's given you a job to do.

(02:33):

Stop being a pathetic, whiny parent that's blaming everybody else in the world about why your child's turning out the way they are. Stop blaming the world, social media, TV, tablets, about why children are not being educated in schools. How about you're just a loser of a teacher, you're a terrible teacher, you are refusing to do your job. You are negligent, and therefore you cannot have the power to transform your students. See, education starts from premises that are educational. There are things that we say with words, which then start to take root. We then start to control the conduct of people, what we positively reward, what do we negatively punish for actions. We start to train like you would train an animal, but we're training people instead. And this happens in every area. That can be in the home, certainly is in the school, it's definitely in society, it's on social media, it's everywhere.

(03:39):

It starts with words, and that's why, number one, people want to control, what we call in America, free speech. Now, there are certain things that you're not supposed to say. Even Christians don't believe in complete free speech. Of course we don't. But there's a certain degree which we do have to accept, if we want to live in a world that is going to be a conglomerate of various peoples, you're going to have to go, you can say certain things and I can say certain things, we might disagree, but I want you, even though I disagree with you, to be able to say that you disagree with me, and I want to be able to disagree with you, even though you know that I disagree with you. I don't want to throw you in jail just because you disagree with me and I don't want to be thrown in jail.

(04:24):

So how about you say what you want and teach what you want, I'll say what I want and I'll teach what I want, and in the middle we'll see who wins. Now, if that was the case, 110%, it is unfair grounds. Christians have an unfair advantage all the way because the Christian message is powerful. What we are utilizing, the word of God, is a two-edged sword which cuts to the insides, to the marrow of each and every individual, to their very soul. So when you teach, it's not just some empty words and knowledge. Now I know parent, I know teacher, you think that somehow it's a repetitious thing, it's a boring thing. I've said it a thousand times. It doesn't matter, it's just as potent the first time that you said it, as in the hundred and 10th time that you've said it. The only problem here is that you yourself, for some reason, have lacked the confidence and faith that that message is a nuclear bomb to this world.

(05:29):

It is dynamite. In fact, I was listening to a lecture series by RJ Rushdoony, and if you wanted to get more of RJ Rushdoony, absolutely suggest, that as a parent or teacher you will get the best education you could ever get. You can go to our website, cr101radio.com and look for Rushdoony's stuff, or to go the short way, there's a link rushdoonyiradio.org or .com and you'll go to the same link. Anyways, he was talking about the power of the resurrection. And in the original languages, that concept, that terminology, the definition for it, same thing we get from the word dynamite, a explosion. Whenever we bring the gospel into the classroom, whenever we bring the word of God into our homes, it causes an explosion. And if somebody lit a stick of dynamite in a classroom, you're going to notice. If you bring dynamite into your home, you're going to notice.

(06:29):

And the same thing happens when you teach the word of God. You read it for yourself. You're not going to come out unchanged. The word of God is going to change you for the better. It's going to destroy the evil and it's going to promote the good. We need to understand that we are transforming our students with every word we speak. Now, one thing I think is interesting about transformations, which I do want to touch on briefly, is educating children about who they are, because this is important. The Bible talks about how teaching the commandments of God brings people, the listener, to faith, because, of course, they see their sin, they see how they've broken God's commandments, and they see how they don't measure up. And then they would ask, "Well, I know I don't measure up, so how do I make myself right with God?"

(07:25):

And the answer of course is not, "Well do a better job of keeping the commandments." The answer is "You have to go to Christ, you have to go to God in forgiveness." Because his righteousness is the only righteousness that can make you right with God. There is no way you could ever be good enough. You've already broken them. You love breaking the commandments. You need a new nature. And only God can give that. Now, the interesting thing about what our limitations are, as parents and teachers, which some people miss, is you cannot give faith. We are not faith transmitters. You can restrain. Let's say, in a classroom you have two different children or even [inaudible 00:08:08] your own personal children as a parent, two different children. You teach the same things to both of them, and to one, it cuts to their inner soul and they feel convicted.

(08:19):

Why do they feel convicted? Why are they changed? And then this change brings forth fruit. And it remains. Why is that? Well, the reason for that is because this child has had their heart cultivated by God. They're now the good ground. They're now the good ground. And then they are going to grow because of the seed, the Word of God that was sown into their heart. And this is going to then bring them to newness of life, and it's going to change their actions, and their whole life will be transformed. The other child, through positive and negative and family situations and all the rest, they can temporarily be convinced, in some ways, that they like the idea of being a Christian or they want to be a Christian or whatever. But eventually over time, and these are the four different types of grounds, there's one child who would just never listen.

(09:11):

They immediately become rebellious and they never claim faith. They're just immediately rebellious and they're gone. Then you got the other one who will claim faith, but maybe as they get older and start seeing friends and become a teenager or an adult, they get around other people that they like and these people are not Christians, they don't act Christians, and they're ashamed of the faith that they claimed to have had, their upbringing, and then they walk away because they are ashamed of that faith, and it's not rooted in them. It's just something that was on the surface level. But it didn't ever take root. And this would be the ground that was scorched up, the wayside as it were. It never took full root. And so this would be, you would see temporary temporary gains in a child who's not actually a Christian, but eventually it will come to full fruition that they will walk away.

(10:07):

And a lot of times what happens in that case, I listened to a lot of atheists where that was their case. They grew up in a Christian family, eventually realized that no, they don't have this faith. And then they were upset because now they wanted to sin. Now they realize that they didn't have to be restrained this whole time, and now they can't sin as much as they wanted to because their conscience has been pricked to such an extent from the upbringing that their family gave them, that they just can't do it. They try, but the guilt gets them and they just can't sin. They just can't be as evil as they would like to be. I've heard many people talking about that and cursing their family for it. And the interesting thing is that even though that teaching, that education, did not bring faith in a child because at camp it did restrain them, which is an interesting thing, which has an impact on everyone around that person.

(10:56):

So this person's influence, though not to faith, was where it was beneficial to even themselves. Bible even tells us that those who are even in hell, there will be levels of punishment. Many and few. So it's even beneficial there, even not ultimately perhaps. Then there's another one where your child, if they're not good ground, one of the third types, is the thorny ground. And that type of child will grow up, it looks like they have faith, but eventually they'll be going, "Well, if I'm going to get ahead in business, then I'm going to have to cut corners. I'm going to have to lie. I'm going to have to cheat. I'm going to have to this, I'm going to have to that. I want to be impressed that I want this person to like me, so I'm going to have to sleep with this person.

(11:40):

I can't have the restrictions that a Christian would have in order to get what I want." And because of the desires of the world, because of the pride of the world, because of all this stuff, they then walk away. It's different than just being ashamed, it's actually a more proactive thing that they want to go after something. So they do that. And this type of personality here may not be as restrained as the other one, where it was more of an ashamed thing and therefore they just realized they weren't a Christian. This one however goes full-blown to sin, and it did not even hold that factor of holding them back. This is another type, because Christians, we do not transform the child. We can influence the child. And it'll be hard for them to walk away. That's why the Bible talks about that. It says, "If you train them up, they will not walk away from it."

(12:26):

It's very difficult to walk away from your child-rearing. This is why Christians are so important because we do make an impact. It's also the danger. Also, the danger. Take a good Christian that is a child who is a Christian, eventually will be one or doesn't know they're one yet, one of God's and the parents don't do their job. They put them in maybe say the government school, they're government-influenced. They don't teach the child at home God's commandments. And so they are raised to thinking that... They went to church, maybe, but that's not really their religion. Their religion is really humanism. All their friends are good humanists. They weren't really Christians. And so their whole life they were sinning. Their whole life they were sinning, was okay, maybe you go to church and confess your sins a little bit, or you have sex but don't get pregnant kind of a thing.

(13:13):

In most Christian circles, that's acceptable. Just don't do it. Or be sexually promiscuous, but don't talk about it. As long as you don't cause shame to the family or the church, nobody really cares. But these types of things... And then a person is or finds out that they are a Christian. Eventually God pricks that soul. And we would call converted at this point. Now you take this person who has lived this life of sin by permission, without restraint from parents or even the church, and they realize finally they are a Christian, but they now have these sins of their past. They are now converted. They now see it. They're fully repentant of such things. They do not want to go near such things. But there are scars. There are scars that are there. These things don't just go away because they've realized what they were the whole time, but never had the training to be a Christian.

(14:11):

They were just one who was allowed to sin, which was the inverse of the other. And now they became upset that this whole time I was doing these things and somebody should have stopped me. I wish they had stopped me, but they never did. And then of course you have children who get the right education, who are Christians, as we mentioned at the beginning, who are taught how to be Christians restrained properly, and they're thankful for that, so thankful for that, because God kept them away from that. They realize who they are, and they're so thankful for what God gave them. They try to give that to their children as well. This is the kind of transformation, and these are the results of either being a good Christian, teacher and parent or not. And it does have effects on people.

(14:52):

Now, the ultimate salvation of a person, the faith cannot be embedded in somebody. And you as a parent or as a teacher, you are going to be judged on what you do. Teaching God's commandments or not. Training and disciplining in God's commandments or not. Or allowing your child to be disciplined in evil. And that's what it really is. If you are in the government school, your child is being disciplined in how to do evil. There is no qualms about it. They will openly say it themselves. It's just not some Christian who's leveling an accusation at said people, this is what they will tell you openly. So when you go and you give your children to them, do you think you're blameless? Don't be upset whenever your children grow up and they hate you and they hate God. I mean eventually that child might turn back to God by God's obviously predestination and providence and election and all the other theological terms we'd like to throw at it, but then they're going to be quite upset and rightfully so. "Why would you let me be like this whole time?

(15:58):

I should never have been allowed to do such things." And then of course, hopefully it's not any hatred there towards parents and shortcomings, because we're all going to have them, but maybe they'll learn but not to do themselves. "This happened to me, but I won't have it happen to my children. I will be a godly Christian soldier, parent and teacher. I will teach my children how to obey God and let the rest be in God's hands." Part of us educating our children is teaching a couple different stages of transformation. Because everybody loves the word trans right now and it comes from the word transformation, and it's interesting,. I'll touch on this in a second. Let's go through these stages here. When you're teaching children, it is important that they do have a proper education about who they are. And it usually starts with the creation story, and if you're doing Bible time at home or school, this would normally happen because it's part of the story itself. You can't help but teach the varying stages. But there are four varying stages of mankind. First you have the man's formation.

(17:04):

This is the man's created state where he was created perfect under God, no sin. This was the perfect man and woman. They were perfect, they were sinless, they were excellent. Then there was the deformation. So you had formation, now you have the deformation. And this is man's fallen or cursed state, where God cursed man when he disobeyed in the garden, and all of his children after him carried said curse. Man is now deformed, right? Formation and then deformation. All people, all children are born spiritually deformed. It doesn't matter how perfect their skin looks, they are born spiritually deformed and at war with God and under a death sentence. Then comes transformation. God's new or recreated man, the new creation in mankind. These are the children of God that are born again, is the common statement. They are now transformed. From being deformed, they're now transformed into the children of God.

(18:16):

And then what happens after they're transformed? They're then lastly reformed, or there's a reformation, a reforming of man, new growth in his new state which will finally culminate in his new glorious body at the end of time. Now we see that new creation now. This new life is real right now. They have entered the kingdom of God now, and they are now being reformed into newness of life every day, growing. We call that sanctification. This just means growing in the power to love and obey God, versus in our deformed state, we hate God and we love to disobey God. And these are the two different types of people. And as you're teaching the commandments to your children or to your students, these four levels, it's important that they can see this and see where do they fit in it. Now on the human scene, men in their deformed state are trying to change themselves as well.

(19:22):

They are trying to transform themselves as well. It's not surprising that the term trans has been picked up, because this is a very theological concept. They are deforming themselves further. So in our deformed state, it is not a physical issue. You are not physically deformed because you're a sinner. Now they go the next step and say, "I know that I'm spiritually deformed, morally deformed, and now I'm going to physically deform myself." That can be also how they go into perversion sexually, and also trying to transform their bodies. And one of the things they do is try to change, we talked about this, we all know how this works in modern day, male to female, or into neither. And it was an interesting subject that I heard Rushdoony talking on the subject before, where there were men and they were trying to get above that of the physical means of a man.

(20:24):

They wanted to enter almost godhood status, so they had to get rid of everything that made them human, if it were. And one of the first things they did was they castrated themselves. Because to be a man was to have a sexual urge and drive. This is normal. People that do not have normal sex drives, as we call it, are deformed on another level beyond just the spiritual. They are so rebellious, like the man I'm talking about here, they wish even to get rid of that. Because this reminds them of being a creature. This reminds them of their deformed state before God, and their sin, and they want to get rid of even that. And so this is the root behind what we're seeing. These are religious topics taught in schools, on the government levels, being put into the books and under law. These are not mistakes.

(21:21):

These are not people who don't know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. The important part is not to rail against such things, stand against it, of course, but teaching the positive is our main goal. Teaching children say what their goals are, their responsibility, the four stages of formation, deformation, transformation, and reformation, and they can see where they're at in this. If they are a Christian, they can also gauge where they're at. And as you teach, you can help your students to grow. This is what they should be doing. This is what they should know. These are important factors. If they don't know this stuff, they won't have a barometer for life. They just won't know which direction to go. But as a Christian parent and as a Christian teacher, it is your job to make sure that they do. And they can grow in the knowledge of God. They can grow. They can be transformed, but not without God's help. Because everybody is seeking transformation.

(22:28):

They are seeking it. The only question is are they seeking it towards God or further away from God? And that, I think, is really important, that we focus on, as Christian parents and teachers, because people aren't talking about these subjects. They want to rail against such things and go, "Oh, what is a woman?" Let's just stop with this stupid question of what is a woman? It's not up for debate. There are only two types of people. There are males and females, and everything else is a physical deformation caused by the evil minds of men. But it's nothing more than that. It is kind of like the island of Doctor Moreau where they're trying to utilize vivisection to create a new creature.

(23:16):

That's what happened on the island of Doctor Moreau. He would basically torture and terrorize them. And these sad, poor people, who are deforming themselves deserve our pity and they deserve the truth, deserve the truth of us telling them that the problem is not a physical problem, it is a spiritual problem. You're trying to transform yourself on a physical level to solve a deformed, spiritual and moral problem. See now that is a different subject entirely. It gets out of the idea of this personal idea that we are going to talk about what you want and what's on the inside of you, and what you feel like and what she feels like and he feels like or they feel like or we feel like as they feel like. Leave people to their ridiculousness.

(24:05):

And what we need to do, as Christians, is teach the truth with love. Not telling people that they're right when they're wrong. Far from it. We are going to teach the fact of what God says about us. And we want to bless those people, to reach them with the truth and let God transform their hearts so that they can be reformed into the image of his Son. That is the goal of a Christian parent. That is the goal of a Christian teacher. Hopefully this will help you in your guidance of your children and your students. This is Jeremy Walker, again for Preschool Pioneer saying Thank you for joining me and God bless.