Friday, February 24, 2012

What Might God's Judgment For A Sinful Nation Look Like?




A distorted image of God has evolved in the minds of modern Americans. It's no longer acceptable to believe that God hates sin and that his justice demands sin be punished.  We eagerly embrace a God who created heaven but we soundly reject a God who warns of impending hell for the disobedient and rebellious.

God is love.  He is also a God of wrath.  A.W. Pink addressed this issue:   “The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin.” Put even more simply, Divine wrath is God’s righteous anger and punishment, provoked by sin.

God loves purity and hates sin.  There is a marvelous balance between his mercy and his justice, his compassion and his wrath.  “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” – Exodus 34:6-7

The wrath of God is measured in proportion to the sin that provokes it.  The wrath of God is a demonstration of his holiness, his sinlessness, his intense hatred for all things evil.  We, too, should hate sin as God hates sin.  As it is a stench in his nostrils so should it be in ours.  As it breaks his heart and stirs his anger so should it also break our hearts and stir our anger. 

In this post-modern age it’s just not cool to speak of God’s wrath.  It is the one attribute of God that we seem to be ashamed of.  We cover our lips and whisper of his wrath as if it is a character flaw.  We act like the children of a father with a gambling problem or a father who spends his weekends tipping the bottle and ignoring his family.  The truth is that the wrath of God affirms his holiness.  He would not be holy if he was incapable of love, nor would he be holy if he failed to demonstrate his hatred for all that is sinful and unholy. 

He demonstrates his love for us by sending his only begotten Son to hang on the cross and become a target for the wrath of the Father.  When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching he said to his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)  While Jesus hung on the cross with the weight of the world’s sin on his shoulders, he was pummeled by the severe wrath of God.  Christ, in his humanity, was feeling the weight of the Father's wrath when he cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46)  

God is merciful and loving but even God’s rope has an end.  It’s not as if he boils with anger until he finally has a temper tantrum and explodes like a volcano.  God is never ‘out of control’ in his anger.  The Psalmist spoke of the endurance of God's mercy by indicating that it lasts all day long.  But at the end of the day God must be true to his nature.  He ceases to be God if he is all mercy and no justice or if he is all justice and no mercy.  God’s children, who rejoice in his love, may also rejoice in his wrath because it has provided us with salvation fro and it promises to place us beyond the reach of sin in the eternity to come.

What will God’s wrath for the sins of America look like?  Our culture has become more and more sinful and we have become a nation that has forgotten God.  Not content to lie in our own bed of corruption, we have provided a means for others to share in our sinfulness.  America used to export steel and textiles, now we export abortion and pornography.  There is a word in the book of Revelation for nations that do such things:  “"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." (Revelation 14:8)  There is no good ending for a nation that is proud and haughty, a nation arrogant enough to lift her fist to the face of God.  If only we would humble ourselves and pray and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways, then he would hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Must we also “drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath” (Revelation 14:10) or shall we “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent?” (Revelation 3:3)

Millions are praying that America repent and turn its heart back to God.  But if we harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:8) as the Israelites did during their desert journey we, too, will invite the wrath of God.  What might the wrath of God look like?  In what ways could God bring a judgment that would turn our hearts toward him?

God might demonstrate judgment on a rebellious nation by allowing us to default on our debt.  Some of our Congressmen think default could be as near as five to ten years.  What would a bankrupt America look like?  Would it be Greece II?  Would suicides increase as people lose jobs and retirements they have worked for all their lives?  Will the next generation live by a lower standard of living because we have spent their future?  Will there be violence in the streets as lines form for the unemployed and the hungry? 

During a nationally televised debate presidential candidate Newt Gingrich declared an EMP attack “would literally destroy the country’s capacity to function.” (WND, Nov. 2011)  Electric Magnetic Pulse is generated by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere.  The pulse generated by the explosion can fry electrical grids and cut off energy to millions in our densely populated cities.  It may take months or years to rebuild and recover.  Economic activity would grind to a halt.  With no electricity the internet would shut down.  Cell phones could not be recharged.  Food would spoil and gas would lie useless in underground tanks.  During the darkest nights imaginable, crime would skyrocket.  The grocery shelves would empty in hours and chaos would reign.  The angel of death would sweep through the streets of our largest cities.

  God could demonstrate his wrath for our impenitence by allowing us to be victimized by nuclear or biological weapons.  If an illegal immigrant can so easily cross our southern border carrying a knap sack, a terrorist can cross the same border carrying a nuclear device in a brief case.  Our world will become more and more unstable if Iran gets a nuclear weapon.  Their success in doing so will only motivate Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to acquire nuclear weapons.  Imagine a successful terrorist plan to detonate nuclear weapons simultaneously in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. 

The Black Death destroyed 1/3 of the population of Europe during the Middle Ages.  In the early 1900’s the Spanish flu may have killed as many as 100 million people.  There are at least 20 nations who now belong to the biological weapons club.  (Federation of America Scientists Intelligence Resource Program)  Many of these nations are hostile and are capable of causing the death of millions.

God doesn’t cast missiles and release viruses on the disobedient masses.  He simply lifts his canopy of protection and allows the evil hearts of men to plan destruction for their enemies.   He allows us to realize the consequences of our own sin and disobedience. 

We must pray as Abraham Lincoln prayed for a nation in peril during the Civil War; “Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”  


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

We Have Forgotten God




American's seem so obsessed with celebrity.  We have applied the slang term 'tinsel town' to Hollywood, the cradle of American culture.  The word 'tinsel' has been used since the 1600's to allude to the fact that where there may be name recognition or much personality, there may be a total deficit of substance.  "All that glitters isn't gold." That cliché actually originated from Shakespeare's play, Merchant of Venice: "All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told".  The apostle Paul alluded to the impotence of a loveless man's influence by comparing his words to "a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Cor. 13:1)  In the more modern vernacular we refer to someone who is puffed up with certainty of his own importance as an 'empty suit'. In reality he is lacking in substance and his influence is mostly imaginary.

There is a common deception prevalent among Americans today. The obsession with personality over substance indicates a misplacement of proper priorities.  Many are convinced that the economic, political and social problems of America can be solved by a person.  All that is necessary to successfully climb out of this dark hole of despair is to find the right person to occupy the White House.  Politicians and candidates seem to spend 90% of their time defending their past and 10% of their time casting a vision for the future of a struggling country.  Substance plays second fiddle to persona.

Another cancerous deception eating away at the soul of America is the idea that our primary problem is political or economic in nature.  The reality is that America has a spiritual problem that will require spiritual solutions.  John Adams summed it up very nicely, "Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  A suit custom-made fits you well.  The same suit won't fit the guy sitting next to you.  Our government was custom-made for a God-fearing Christian people.  Trying to force a godless people into the same suit only reaps disastrous results. 

Perhaps John Adams was echoing George Washington who made a similar statement:  "We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained…" What was President Washington saying in a nutshell?  God will only bless us in our obedience.  Rebellion and defiance will merit God's judgment, not his blessing.

America's success wasn't a freak accident of nature in spite of what the political or social evolutionists might want you to believe.  America has been blessed of God.  Now, it seems we have forgotten God.  There are dire consequences for the individual or the nation that forgets God.  "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."  (Psalm 9:17)  I'll receive a ream of hate mail for making such a bold statement.  It is interesting how times have changed.

Abraham Lincoln struggled to find a reason for a war that divided the nation he loved so dearly:  "It is the duty of nations…to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins…with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy…The awful calamity of civil war…may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins."  He is insinuating that the Civil War was God's judgment for a nation's sin of slavery. What might God's judgment be for a nation's sin of infanticide, evidenced by the murder of 53 million unborn infants since 1973?

President Lincoln continued his call for a National Day of Fasting and Prayer:  "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven…We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God."  If Americans had forgotten God 150 years ago, how much more have we forgotten God now?

When national or natural calamities occur we always ask the same question.  "Where is our God"?  Where was God during 9/11?  Where was God during Katrina?  Why do we expect him to be anywhere near?  We didn't invite him to the party.  He isn't on our guest list anymore.  We no longer allow our children to study his love letter to them in government schools.  They can no longer whisper his name before they partake of their meals.  We have ripped down his formula for living together in peace and harmony from our courthouse walls.  We applaud the empty suits of tinsel town who have become millionaires by making a profession of mocking God. 

We seem determined to fill the cup of God's wrath.  It is one thing to invite corruption into one's own soul, it is quite another to attempt to corrupt the souls of others.  Nothing stirs the anger of God more.  We have rejected Christianity in our education system and have replaced it with a pagan secularism.  We charge children for their school lunch but the condoms are free.  We are stirring the pot of God's wrath by exporting pornography, abortion and homosexuality to other nations and other cultures.

Do we expect God to shrug his shoulders and slump away?  How will God react to American's rejecting him?  That question can be answered because God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.  He never changes.  He will react to us just as he did to other nations that rejected him.  The pattern can be observed, especially by studying the history of Israel.  Israel and America have a stark commonality.  They were both founded upon the precepts of God for the purpose of being that "light upon a hill", the salt of the earth, examples to other nations of what a God-fearing country might become and accomplish.

America has followed the pattern of ancient Israel.  First there comes a serious departure from God.  America's divorce with God has gradually been realized over the last fifty years.  Divorce is following by a warning to get back on course.  The events of 9/11 and the economic collapse of 2008 may very well have been warnings to Americans of impending judgment on the impenitent.  The failure to submit is evidenced by a spirit of arrogance, a fist in the face of God.  When a people choose rebellion and revolt rather than repentance, multiple warnings are finally followed by greater calamity.

This calamity can be avoided.  God's anger can be assuaged.  The solution is to follow the formula provided in 2 Chronicles 7:14  "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  Americans are busy seeking but they are not seeking the face of God.  They are seeking wealth, comfort, pleasure, fame, and satisfaction of their own desires. 

Storm clouds are gathering on the American horizon but let us be reminded that revival never comes during times of comfort and prosperity, revival comes through the hand of God in judgment.  The pearl hidden deep in the difficult times ahead may very well be a revival that will stir the hearts of Americans to return to the God of their fathers. 

Let those of us who are Christian vow to let our voices be heard.  "I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call upon the Lord, give yourselves no rest."  (Isaiah 62:6)


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Is God Warning America?



What is the secret of America’s great success?  America’s freedom and prosperity didn’t happen by chance.   We are a nation blessed by God.  We have been blessed beyond any nation in history but now we have forgotten God.  Psalm 9:17 "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."  We continue to fill the cup of God’s wrath with our corruption.  God is saddened when a man seems content to live in the filth of his own corruption.  A man should tremble at the wrath he stirs in the heart of God when he attempts to destroy the hearts of others, especially the young and innocent, with his corruption.  As a nation we have awakened the wrath of God by exporting our corruption to other nations.  We use to export steel, textiles and technology.  Now we export pornography, abortion and homosexual rights.
We have banned the Bible, prayer and the Ten Commandments from our schools and institutions.  We have banned the very mention of God’s name.  Do we expect God to slump his shoulders and walk away?  What is God’s reaction to America’s rejection of him?  Because he is the same yesterday, today and forever and he never changes, we can learn how God will react to America today by looking historically at how he reacted to countries of the past that committed such sins. 
What do Israel and America have in common?  They are the only two nations in history that were founded upon God from their very inception.  America was called to be a light to the nations just as ancient Israel was.  God’s plan for countries that he has chosen to be light and salt is that if we continue to follow him we will be blessed but if we turn our backs on him and forget him we shall be removed. 
Dr. Luke recorded these words of Jesus; “…to whom much is given, of him shall much be required."  (Luke 12:48)  We were established on the foundations of the very word of God and he blessed us for our efforts, for our obedience.  We became the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth.  We were blessed with resources, we were blessed with ingenuity and innovations and a standard of living that other nations could only dream of. 
Israel experienced similar blessings over 2500 years ago.  Israel was chosen of God to be that “city upon a hill”, that nation that would be the flag ship for all other nations, pointing them toward God.  But Israel was influenced by the pagan practices of neighboring nations.  They lost their hunger for God and they began to yearn for frivolous things that would temporarily satisfy the lusts of their hearts.  They began to live for the moment rather than for eternity.
God allowed Israel to suffer an attack from Assyria from the north.  This was a wakeup call.  But rather than respond to this warning from the Almighty, Israel continued in her waywardness.  When God spoke against the sons of Jacob and his judgment fell on Israel they said, “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” (Isaiah 9:10
God removed the umbrella of protection from Israel.  He meant this attack form Assyria to be a warning.  It was a wake-up call.  He was pleading with his chosen:  “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)  But they were a rebellious people, they had “eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear.” (Ezekiel 12:2)
The attack of the Assyrians didn’t move them to repent, rather, it revealed their arrogance.  “We will replace the damaged bricks with dressed stone.  We will replace the fallen sycamores with tall and noble cedars,” they said.  The first stage of judgment was completed and it resulted in no conversion.  Therefore, God will try again to awaken the hardened, sleeping hearts of the Israelites.  What is more serious than to lift one’s fist to the face of God and refuse his call to repentance?  God could not ignore this blatant rebellion.
When God smites he means to humble us and turn us back to him.  When the reaction is pride instead of humility we are setting ourselves up for a greater smiting.  Matthew Henry says of this verse:  (Isaiah 9:10) “The people turn not to Him who smites them, therefore he continues to smite: for when God judges, he will overcome; and the proudest, stoutest sinner shall either bend or break.” 
Messianic Rabbi Jonathon Cahn identifies 8 harbingers in this verse. (The Harbinger, Jonathon Cahn)  A harbinger is anything that foreshadows a future event.  Cahn makes a convincing comparison between God’s treatment of Israel and God’s treatment of America. 
The first harbinger was “the bricks have fallen.”  This bricks were weak, sun dried and easy to destroy.  There was damage but it was limited.
The second harbinger; “but we will rebuild.”  God is encouraging repentance but they are defying this and choose instead to display their arrogance.  They will apply human effort to undo the judgment of God.
The third harbinger:  “we will rebuild stronger.”  “If you destroy our bricks we will replace them with strong and ornate stone.  If you destroy our sycamore trees, trees of little value, we will replant great cedars.  We will make what you destroyed greater than it was before,” they said.
The fourth harbinger:  “the hewn stone”.  “The bricks have been destroyed but we will rebuild with hewn stone.”  The weak bricks made of clay will be replaced by stone hewn and cut from the mountain.  They shook their fist in the face of God and said, “You destroyed us in our weakness, we will come back stronger than ever.”
The fifth harbinger:  The spirit of defiance.  God recognizes this attitude and he is trying to purge them of this sin.
The sixth harbinger:  “The sycamore has been cut down.”  This tree was a type of fig mulberry tree.  They were common, they were weak.  The Assyrians cut them down when they attacked.
The seventh harbinger:  The strong Cedar tree.  “We will replace the weak sycamore with the strong cedar.  You sent the Assyrians to attack us.  You thought it would weaken us and turn us to repentance.  Instead, the weak will be made strong and we will do this by our own effort with no help from God.”
The eight harbinger:  The leaders of the nation say that they will rebuild.  “We will be stronger yet.”  They failed to humble themselves in the eyes of God and because of their arrogant reaction, “his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.” (Isaiah 9:21)
Cahn compares this first judgment of God on the Israelites with America’s 9/11 experience.  What was 9/11?  It cast our country into shock.  Seven years later our economy came crashing down.  Was this God sending a warning across the bow? 
The Rabbi draws our attention to the next chapter in Isaiah:  “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!”  (Isaiah10:5)  God is using the Assyrians to warn the Israelis of judgment yet to come.  He then says that after he is finished with this ‘rod’ he will “…punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.”  (Isaiah 10:12)
As God allowed the Assyrians to wake up the Israelis, has he not allowed the terrorist of 9/11 to wake up America?  Are we going to humble ourselves and repent or are we going to be arrogant and ignore his judgment?

The Harbinger, Jonathon Cahn
The Harbinger, Issues in Education, Bob and Geri Boyd
Matthew Henry’s Commentary – Isaiah Chapter 9


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Fall of Rome = Fall of U.S. (similarities)



Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to:

1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.

2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace.
...
3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.

4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.

5. The decay of religion -- faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.

If this sounds familiar to you, its because we are living this in the U.S.
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Christian Teacher: My Mission



As a teacher in a local Christian school, I am not only teaching history, I am recruiting warriors to participate in a cultural war for the soul of America. We need young warriors who will defend the Christian worldview and save America from worship of false gods like multiculturalism, political correctness and secularism. "I searched for a man among them who would rebuild the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land..." Ezekiel 32:20





Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The Social Issues ARE the Economic Issues



You've heard the political pundits say that this election is entirely about the economy. They say we should set aside social issues and vote on the economic issues. This is a false dichotomy. America's economic and social issues are firmly linked. The breakdown in the family has cost $6 billion/yr. Abortion claims 1 million future producers, consumers and inventors. The billions cannot be measured. Planned Parenthood claims $330 million alone. We spend $70 + billion on failing public schools and lower achievement is taking us out of global economic competition. There is a direct correlation between the decline of morals and the decline of the economy. Conservatives must keep the social issues in the forefront of this election.



Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Obama: The Things We Don’t Know About Him




He was born in Honolulu but there is great controversy over the authenticity of his birth certificate.  He went to school at Occidental, Columbia University and Harvard but hardly anyone has stepped forward with any memories of him.  There is a claim that Barack Obama, Sr. is his father but many speculate that perhaps this isn’t so, a justification for not revealing his actual birth certificate.  Barack took the name of his step-father and was known as Barry Soetoro for a period of time.  He attended Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School in Jakarta but no former teachers or former classmates have come forward to brag about chumming with the President of the United States during their childhood.

Facebook is a modern marvel.  I grew up in Meadville, a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania but I’ve lived most of my adult life in Columbus, Georgia.  I  attended Neason Hill Elementary School in Meadville 45 years ago.  I remember all of my teacher’s names from first through sixth grade and most of my classmates.  Recently, I logged into the ‘Meadville’ Facebook page and reconnected with many grade school friends.  I wrote to one in particular and began my notification like this, “I know you probably don’t remember me but…”  He wrote back and said, “Oh yes, of course I remember you…”  We both had a clear remembrance of each other from 45 years ago.

Why hasn’t anyone from Besuki or St. Francis of Assisi School stepped forward to tell tales of their relationship with Barry Soetoro?  Barack attended Punahou School, a college preparatory school in 1971.  No one seems to have remembered him.  Obama openly admits that he used tobacco, alcohol and cocaine to “push questions of who I was out of my mind.”  (Boston  Globe, Nov.  2007)  If Obama took drugs to forget who he was, did all of his friends take drugs to forget who he was also?  No one, no one remembers him.

We know so much about our presidents.  We collect facts and trivia about them.  We are fascinated when we find common facts about extraordinary men.  We know that Abraham Lincoln was 6’4”. We know James Madison was only 5’4”.   We know that George Washington wore dentures made of animal teeth.  We know a 332 pound Howard Taft got stuck in the White House bath tub the first time he used it.  Very few people even know the 21st president named Chester A. Arthur.  He once declared, “I may be President of the United States, but my private life is my own d_____  business."  This seems to be the ongoing motto of Barack Obama.  We know so little about him that it ceases to be simply unusual, it borders on being just plain weird.

If you look hard enough you will find a picture of Michelle and Barack’s wedding.  But you won’t find any male friends accompanying the groom.  His best man was Malik Obama, a half-brother from Kenya.  Why are there no pictures or recollections of male buddies at his wedding?  Did he have any friends?

Having attended Occidental, Columbia University and Harvard, why are there no professors stepping forward to reminisce about having Barack in class?  The Wall Street Journal reported that  “Fox News contacted some 400 of his classmates and found no one who remembered him.” (WSJ, Obama’s Lost Years, Sept. 11, 2008)  Matt Welch, of Reason.com,  interviewed Wayne Allyn Root, a former ‘classmate’ of Obama at Columbia University back in the 1980’s;
         Matt Welch: “So tell us what we should know about Barack Obama that we don't?”
         Wayne Allyn Root: “I think the most dangerous thing you should know about Barack Obama is that I don't know a single person at Columbia that knows him, and they all know me. I don't have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia. Ever!”

Obama has spent nearly $2 million to cover up records from his past.  We have no birth certificate, no grades from colleges and universities attended, no papers written, no speeches given.  What is he trying so hard to cover up?  Did his papers indicate his true colors?  Was he aligned with Black Panther-like radicals?  Would his papers reveal ananti-Americanism or a radicalism that would categorize him more in line with a die-hard communist rather than simply a socialist?  Is he hiding these things because he is an extremely private person and doesn’t care for the limelight (I can’t even keep a straight face while writing those words) or does Barack Obama have a background that must be hidden from the American people in order to fulfill the necessary deception to get him elected and maybe reelected?

There is mystery surrounding the law licenses of both Barack and Michelle Obama.  Were they revoked?  Did they voluntarily submit for the suspension of their licenses?  Does a lawyer volunteer their license shortly before they are about to be accused of wrong doing?  Is it like a coach resigning from his team just hours before he knows he is about to be fired?  Did they request their licenses be made inactive only to be activated at a later date or did they surrender their licenses permanently? 

Jack Caskill writes for Worldnetdaily.  He has written a book entitled “Deconstructing Obama.”  Caskill was flummoxed by the reports of a bogus social security number used by Barack Obama between 1977 and 1979. (Another Look at Obama’s Social Security Number, WND, March 17, 2011)  The number was issued in Connecticut.  Obama has never lived there nor has any family member.  Why would he get a social security card from Connecticut? 

Caskill contacted Susan Daniels, a licensed investigator from Ohio who is very well qualified to research assets for law firms.  She lives in the world of data basis and has access to many records that public commoners have no access to.  Daniels began her own investigation of Barack Obama in 2009 and discovered the dilemma regarding his social security number.  “All I can say,” says Daniels of 042-68-4425, “is that it’s phony and [Obama] has been using it, with it first appearing on his selective service document in 1980.” Daniels discovered that the applicant for 042-68-4424,Thomas Wood,  died at age 19 and lived in Connecticut.  Barack Obama applied for 042-68-4425 when he was sixteen years of age living in Hawaii.  Why won’t Barack Obama step forward and explain this mystery? 

Alan Keyes expressed his concern about this issue:  ““Is it incompetence? Is it cowardice?” he asks rhetorically. “Is it just indifference and nonchalance of this elite in the courts and in politics, in the Congress and elsewhere?” (Obama Social Security Number to become issue in 2012 race?, Joe Kovacs, WND, 8/11/2011)

Politicians are vulnerable when it comes to the women they have dated or even had casual contact with over the years, just ask Bill Clinton, Herman Cain or Anthony Weiner.  But where are the girlfriends of Barack Obama?  Is there not one single female in his past who would step forward and claim to have dated him or at least known him in even a superficially intimate way?  None.  Not a single female claims to have known him in that way.  Barack was 31 years old when he married.  He attended several colleges and universities.  He lived in many different parts of the country.  Not a single female has stepped forward saying, “Oh yes, I knew Barack.  We dated for awhile.” 

Herman Cain said that the American people are “sick and tired of the deception coming from this president and this administration.”  Paul told the Corinthians, “Don’t let anyone deceive you.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)  Thomas Gray wrote in his poem, Ode to a Distant Prospect of Eton College,  "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."  Are Americans tired of being deceived or are they satisfied in their ignorance?  We will find out on November 6, 2012.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Monday, February 13, 2012

American Infanticide

American Infanticide





53 million unborn babies have been murdered since Roe vs. Wade was decided in 1973. This mass murder of the innocents places America in peril of God's judgment. The very nature of God refuses to allow him to wink at such evil. Either he must answer the calls for justice by the innocents or he must cease to be the God he claims to be. He is just and he is eternal and he is unchangeable in his attributes. He will avenge the murder of 53 million babies. Only a fool would believe God would ignore this atrocity or that he would not respond to this horrendous injustice.

Please note the following facts regarding the holocaust of infanticide that has plagued our culture for forty years:


#1 There have been more than 53 million abortions performed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided back in 1973.

#2 When you total up all forms of abortion, including those caused by the abortion drug RU 486, the grand total comes to more than a million abortions performed in the United States every single year.

#3 The number of American babies killed by abortion each year is roughly equal to the number of U.S. military deaths that have occurred in all of the wars that the United States has ever been involved in combined.

#4 Approximately 3,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. Every single day, more than 3,000 American babies are killed by abortion.

#5 It has been reported that a staggering 41 percent of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion.

#6 According to Pastor Clenard Childress, approximately 52 percent of all African-American pregnancies now end in abortion.

#7 One very shocking study found that 86 percent of all abortions are done for the sake of convenience.

#8 According to the Guttmacher Institute, the average cost of a first trimester abortion at the ten week mark is $451.

#9 The average cost of a vaginal birth with no complications in the United States is now over $9,000.

#10 A Department of Homeland Security report that was released in January 2012 says that if you are "anti-abortion", you are a potential terrorist. Unfortunately, there have also been other government reports that have also identified "anti-abortion" protesters as potential threats.

#11 A while back one Philadelphia abortionist was charged with killing seven babies that were born alive, but witnesses claim that he actually slaughtered hundreds "of living, breathing newborn children by severing their spinal cords or slitting their necks."

#12 Some abortion clinics have been caught selling aborted baby parts to medical researchers.

#13 Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger once said the following....

"The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."

#14 In a 1922 book entitled "Woman, Morality, and Birth Control", Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger wrote the following....

"Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race."

#15 Planned Parenthood performs more than 300,000 abortions every single year.

#16 Planned Parenthood specifically targets the poor. A staggering 72 percent of Planned Parenthood's "customers" have incomes that are either equal to or beneath 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

#17 There are 30 Planned Parenthood executives that make more than $200,000 a year. A few of them make more than $300,000 a year.

#18 Planned Parenthood received more than 487 million dollars from the federal government during 2010.




#19 The following is one description of the five steps of a partial birth abortion....

1) Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's legs with forceps.

2) The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.

3) The abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head.

4) The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull.

5) The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

The previous 19 facts were lifted from the following website:

EndoftheAmericanDream.com

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/19-facts-about-abortion-in-america-that-should-make-you-very-sick


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

America in Economic Decline: Explanation

Bill Whittle explains where the money comes from and where it goes and how much pain will be required to fix it.

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Moral and Logical Deficits in California’s Ninth Circuit






If you are have forgotten or are unaware of what all the talk of Proposition 8 is about, be reminded that this California law was passed in 2008 to satisfy the will of the majority who wanted to define  marriage as a covenant relationship between one man and one woman.  On February 7th of 2012, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to strike down Proposition 8 by declaring it unconstitutional. 

The rulings against Proposition 8 are characterized by the biased presuppositions of activist judges.  The function of these judges should be to simply interpret existing law and determine if concurs with the constitution.  Unfortunately, most judges, even and perhaps especially Supreme Court Justices, are willing to prostitute their positions to advance their own personal political and social agendas.  Was this not blatantly obvious when Judge Vaughn Walker, who is openly homosexual and sports a homosexual partner, ruled against Proposition 8 in his “love letter to homosexuals” where he declared that the proposition “unconstitutionally burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to marry and creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation” in a lower district court in 2010?

The Judges of the 9th District Court had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with any justification to oppose Proposition 8.  The best they could do was voiced by Judge Stephen Reinhart, “Absent any legitimate purpose for Proposition 8, we are left with ‘the inevitable inference that the disadvantage imposed is born of animosity toward,’ or as is more likely with respect to Californians who voted for the proposition, mere disapproval of, ‘the class of persons affected.’”  This judge effectively spit in the face of California voters who voted Proposition 8 into existence by declaring that their desire to sustain the definition of marriage that has worked so well for millenniums previous and their desire to preserve an institution that preserves opportunities for procreation are illegitimate desires concocted to cover up a bigoted hatred for homosexuals.

Bobble heads have emerged to offer their two cents and shamelessly promote themselves and their irreverent agenda.  Ted Olson, the U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, represents the plaintiffs in Proposition 8.  He declared the recent decision to be a first step in ending discrimination. "Today we are more American because of this decision".  May we request a definition for ‘American’?
Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential candidate spoke for conservatives when he promised to appoint judges who would oppose same-sex marriages, Today, unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of California who voted to protect traditional marriage.”  Please notice he also put a negative slant on the fact that these judges were not elected, but appointed, and then promised to do more of the same.

President Obama played his typical part as a non-player too weak and timid to choose sides.  He declared that his opinion on the issue is still “evolving”. 

The rationale of the court is that the state of California is violating the constitution by denying a right afforded to one group (heterosexuals) from another. (homosexuals)  It seems the real question here is what is the difference between a right and a privilege?  The constitution was written to protect our rights, not privileges.  In order for a certain thing to have a right that certain thing must be defined.  Opponents of marriage for homosexuals have defined marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman.  You cannot grant this same right to any couple other than one that meets the definition.  If the definition is corrupted there is no obligation to grant the right.  The claim from proponents of gay marriage that they are not trying to redefine marriage is absurd.  They must redefine it in order to qualify for the rights they demand.  There has been no definition of marriage forthcoming from that side of the aisle.

The fact is, they are not redefining marriage.  They are undefining it.  (See How to Win the Marriage Debate, Selwyn Duke) The practice of declaring undeserved rights has become all too common in our modern society.  Homosexuals in undefined relationships clamor for rights that are preserved for traditional married couples. Likewise, illegal immigrants expect to be treated as if they were legal, legitimate citizens of the U.S.  Our youthful, dead-beat dropouts expect to be treated in the same way as the hard working, non-partying college grad that chose a different and more difficult path.   There is a prevailing belief system that attempts to eliminate consequences for poor decisions and bad behavior.  The majority of pre-birth murders are committed in an attempt to escape consequences for a decision regretted.

If the left wing of this issue (gay marriage) cannot specifically define marriage, how can they specify what marriage “is not”?  If marriage IS between two people of the same gender, could marriage also not be between three people of the same gender?  Is marriage deemed legitimate if it is between a single person of one gender and multiple persons of another gender?  Is it necessary for marriage to include only human beings?  Do we really want to open that can of worms?  The 9th Circuit ruled on the ‘rights’ to marriage but did they even bother to define what it was they were supposedly protecting?  How can you grant rights to something undefined?

It is for this reason most reasonable citizens believe the movement to legalized gay marriage is actually an attempt to destroy the traditional, time-honored institution that was clearly sanctioned by God.  When men begin to devise their own plans as substitutes to God’s plan it doesn’t go well for man.  God’s plan was to “multiply and replenish” the earth.  His plan makes wonderful provision for the care of the elderly who are loved and cherished by their many offspring.  When we oppose this plan by reducing our number of offspring through abortion and homosexual unions we bring confusion, poverty and destruction upon society. 

God never sanctioned marriage between same gendered individuals.  In fact, he clearly condemned such a thing.  (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:26-27)  The absurdity of it all is that the 9th Circuit Court is trying to protect and preserve a ‘right’ to something that has not been defined and does not actually exist.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wake Up, America


There are some people who suffer from a rare sleeping disorder called Kleine-Levin Syndrome.  For whatever reason, they need excessive amounts of sleep, maybe up to twenty hours a day.  These people would be sleeping 140 hours a week and their wakeful hours would only total 28 hours.  It’s hard to imagine sleeping away 80% of your life unaware of what was happening around you.

Americans seem to be suffering from some sort of disorder.  We are either asleep or we just are not paying attention to what is going on around us.  Perhaps attention deficit is not the problem.   We are just not being attentive to the more important things.  We know who is still competing on American Idol.  We know that Kim Kardashian was only married for 72 days and we know the final score in the Super Bowl.  But do we know what is happening in Congress?  Do we know what kind of hope and change is being planned for the American people?

While America has been sleeping, or entertained by television, Facebook and the latest technology, their history is being rewritten by cultural rebels who have their own agenda to promote.  George W. Bush referred to them as ‘revisionists’.  These new authors of history will not let a few facts get in the way of their radical opinions regarding global warming, same sex marriage, promotion of socialism, etc.  It is now necessary for the student of history to learn to decipher the truth from a set of lies agreed upon.

While Americans satisfy their addictions by sitting bug eyed in front their televisions and computers, the wonks in Washington have been rewriting our constitution.  In some twisted way they have made it to say that the killing of the unborn is lawful.  They want to rewrite it so that the greatest government document ever authored by man approves a marriage between Bill and Bob, Jill and Pam.  The founding fathers clearly designated the Congress as the branch of government responsible for writing the law.  Now we have federal court lawyers and Supreme Court justices determined to write law rather than simply interpret it as the constitutional authors intended. Nine of the first ten amendments have been twisted almost beyond recognition while some Americans are still fighting tooth and toe-nail for the 2nd amendment right to bear arms.



We allowed them to write abortion into the constitution.  Now, forty years later we’ve killed fifty million of our own.  Auschwitz and Dachua pale in comparison.  God’s plan was that we would multiply and replenish the earth.  God’s earth is big and plush with enough resources to satisfy the needs of the masses.  But we ignored this truth and murdered our babies.  Replacement numbers were reduced dramatically.  The U.S. level for population replenishment is now a meager .9.  That means for every ten people who die 9 are born.  God’s plan provides for the care of the elderly by providing a multitude of able bodied laborers who care for the young as well as the old.  To sustain America’s social security system beyond 2050 we need a population replenishment rate of 120 births for every 10 deaths.  Our refusal to overturn Roe vs. Wade makes it necessary for us to open our borders and allow immigrants to shore up our dilapidated workforce.  (World Bank Development Report)

While Americans have been enthralled by the gladiators at the coliseum the American government has grown like Jack’s beanstalk.  Thomas Jefferson warned us of the dangers of behemoth government:  “Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.”  Big government erupted from Washington, D.C. like an explosive vomit under the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Roosevelt’s government was like a bull in a china shop, leaving nothing untouched and nearly everything overturned.  Few seemed to foresee the results of allowing the socialist camel to get its nose under the tent.  The gradual transformation of a democratic government to a socialist government was manipulated by Roosevelt’s economic cohorts, the ‘gods of the market place’, John P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller.

Our modern presidents are far more efficient than those of previous eras.  President Obama has been able to do in four years what it took FDR twelve years to do.  While Americans lulled into passivity by excessive entertainment the Obama government has been snatching away the liberties Jefferson warned we would lose.  When they awaken they will discover that their healthcare has been taken over by a panel of unknown physicians just like the corporative board of General Motors was taken over by a panel of bureaucrats who know nothing of how to make a car.   Socialism a la Obama is provided and funded by George Soros and David Rockefeller.  One is obsessed by the prospect of a New World Order while the other rants an illusion of an overpopulated earth.  When Americans awaken they will discover these men were not contributing their millions because they were patriotic or because they were overwhelmed by a deep compassion for humanity, these ‘gods of the market place’ expect a kickback, a big kickback in the form of wealth and power.

Americans may finally be stirred to wakefulness when they feel the master’s whip slash their backs.  The hollow-minded will discover the truth about socialism.  It’s not really about equality after all.  The powerful elite have no intentions of giving away their power and wealth to satisfy an ideology that demands a level playing field.   Socialism is a power grab intent on proving the truth in the old cliché, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  The Lords of the middle ages would never think of sharing their power with the serfs.  The southern Planters of America’s 19th century would never have considered sharing their power with their slaves.  The modern elite have no intentions of sharing power with American serfs.  It’s not about enabling the serfs by giving them more, it’s about neutering the serfs by taking what they have.  If equality for the masses is the goal it won’t be attained by redistributing the wealth of the elite, it will be attained by stripping rights away from individuals.

Substituting God’s plan with the frail plan of man is never a good idea.  God warned us many times over about going our own way rather than his way.  The tower of Babel proved the incompetence and foolishness of man.  Little has changed.  We are still trying to build the tower.  God reveals his transcendence to mankind when he says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:9)  Unfortunately, sleeping ears don’t hear.  Jeremiah’s description fits modern America well:  “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.” (Jeremiah 5:21)

Sleeping serfs are no threat to the global elite determined to strip us of our liberties and possessions.  They have no fear until they see the peasants awake from their slumber and pick up their pitchforks.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super Bowl Sunday: Has Sport Become Our Idol?


I love the Superbowl.  I'll be there watching today as the Giants and the Patriots clash for supremacy.  But, I am reminded again and again that many have become so engrossed with their trip to the coliseum to watch the battle of the gladiators that they have forgotten God.





Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

And a College Education Costs How Much??



Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The Reason For America’s Decline (And What We Can Do About It)



There has been much discussion in recent months regarding the decline of America.  Some deny it.  Some seem to actually revel in the decline of America.  Still others will explain it away as an illusion.  It only appears we are declining because other countries like China and Brazil are experiencing an incline.  But these facts remain:  we are plagued by the fear of terrorism, we are rocked by corruption in our government and our economy teeters on the brink of total collapse.


There seems to be a natural law at work in all societies.  It is the law of atrophy.  It is truly phenomenal the structures men have built over the centuries.  But they all reach their peak and then began to decay.  We wage a constant battle to fight decay in our historical structures like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.  Other men have been builders of empires and institutions. All of them, without exception, have decayed and eventually died.  Multiple billions of people have lived productive lives throughout the ages and all have degenerated and finally died.

Ezra Pound once said, “Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance…poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from the music.”  Mothers keep their young near for fear of their getting lost and dying of hunger or being consumed by a predator.  If America is in decline it’s because she is getting further and further away from the truths and principles upon which she was founded.  We can expect a progressive atrophy of freedom and independence when we allow ourselves to float so far downstream from the original intent of our founding fathers.  When we twist the U.S. Constitution in such a way as to sanction the murder of the unborn, when we use the sacred scriptures to condone the sinful actions of mankind rather than condemn them we are in serious decline. 

We have replaced the absolute truths of God’s word (the Ten Commandments) with our own relativism (the ten suggestions).  We have asked God to change himself to suit our own nature and desires.  We don’t want to be accountable to a holy and just God.  When the unchanging, eternal God ignored our suggestions to change, we chiseled out our own God.  Our new god was proportionally distorted.  The god we created was filled so full of love there was no room for justice.  The god we created would never separate himself from those who hate and despise him.  The new god we worship has renounced his righteousness and purity in the name of inclusiveness.  Repentance and holiness are no longer requirements to enter the presence of a holy God.  He has opened up the doors of eternity to the impure and the impenitent.  It will be a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31) because he will be nothing like the god we envisioned.

Life is a constant battle against this natural law of decay.  We fight to protect our marriages from the numbing effects of living in the grind of routine.  We are constantly introducing new programs and agendas into our churches and institutions to stir new life.  Aging is like a slow descent into a miry quicksand.  We diet, we get surgeries, we frantically exercise to fight off this universal enemy.  We fight on valiantly even though no one ever wins this battle.  The life of America parallels the life of any person.  It arrived as an infant.  It struggled through its teen-age years.  It gloried in the strength of its youth and prime.  It then feels the atrophy of age and it will eventually find its rest under a tombstone in a graveyard of empires.    

The decline we are witnessing is simply the depravity of man bursting through the decaying dams we have built to contain it.  We are experiencing the consequences of our own choices.  We began to think badly about the time of the cultural revolution of the 1960’s.  Not only did we turn our face from God, we lifted our fist to him and declared ourselves wiser than he.  We replaced the “God of the Copyright Headings with the gods of the Market Place.”(Rudyard Kipling)  Divine truth and wisdom was replaced by humanism and materialism.  “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isa. 5:20)   We boldly declared the validity of our own truth and proclaimed that there were many ways to God and surely there was no hell and all were bound for heaven.  We attempted to tie ropes around the arms of God and live unaccountable lives.

Now we find our society in decline and in our foolishness we cry out, “Why, oh why!”  It is because he “lets all nations go their own way.” (Acts 14:16)  Lee Greenwood said, “I believe there is a decay that is eroding America, and as a result, God begins to disappear from our society.”  Our own depravity is constrained by the presence of the Spirit of God.  When he withdraws his presence from a “rebellious and a stiff necked people” (Deut. 31:27) the harness that holds back the beast is released.

So, what must be done to stave this rush to destruction?  Americans still are not thinking well, even when it comes to devising a solution.  We think the solution is to find a Priest in Chief who will lead us to the moral high ground.  We ignore God’s laws and obsess over the laws of men.  We want a law against abortion, a law against sexual perversion, a law for this and a law for that.  The solution will not be found in adding laws to the books of men.  There is no dam built with the laws of men that can contain the depravity of man.  The real solution is to go to the source of the river.  The waters will not recede until we return to a genuine faith in God and embrace the truth of his word.   

I heard an older teacher once ask his students this question:  “How do you eat an elephant?”  A classroom of math students waited eagerly to hear his reply, “One bite at a time.”  How do we rebuild a Christian nation?  How does the Kingdom of God grow?  We allow ourselves to be used of God.  It will be done the same way Christ demonstrated two thousand years ago when he met the woman at the well, when he conversed with Nicodemus, when he confronted Saul:  one convert at a time.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Romney Addresses The Plight Of The Poor



Mitt Romney recently addressed the “plight of the poor”.  “We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it, but we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor.”

Is this going to be the Republican approach to solving the problem of poverty?  Are we going to do just more of the same?  Is this a Republican suggesting we shore up our broken, social welfare system? 
It reminds me of that old proverb that says:  “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”  Where is Romney’s compassionate conservatism?   The poor need to be valued.  They want to feel like they have some worth.  Giving them a handout is like feeding animals at the zoo.  They desire to be set free from the bondage of poverty.  They don’t need nor do most of them want a handout, they want a job.  They want to find a way to earn a living, care for their families and legitimately earn the respect of others by being productive citizens and making meaningful contributions.    

The Republicans need a candidate that is innovative, a candidate who will apply new ideas to solve age-old problems.  Instead of sewing new patches on old garments we need to replace failed systems with something that works.   We don’t need more empty suits in Washington, we need true statesmen who aren’t afraid to risk their political careers to build a better country.

I hope Mr. Romney will use his "poverty gaffe" to share some genuine ideas about how his team intends to address social welfare and poverty in American.  


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Why Not Abolish The Department Of Education?



Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution lists the Powers of the Congress.  There is no mention of education on the list.  Because education is not on the list it seems the 10th amendment applies:  "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."  The law of our Creator assigns the responsibility of educating our children to their parents and families.  Deuteronomy 6:5-9  " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments 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."

            Notice the first command is for parents to love God with all their heart, soul and strength.  That is the preparation phase for instructing your own children.  Then, parents are to teach children a biblical worldview.  The Department of Education has no constitutional or biblical grounds for mandating what our children should learn or by what methods they should be educated.   Government has trespassed into the family domain when it attempts to supersede our rights to educate, train and discipline our own children.

            The Catholics have a law called the Law of Subsidiarity.  This law declares that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization that could be done by a smaller and simpler organization.  In other words, the local government should do only those things individuals cannot do for themselves.  The state government should only do those things local governments cannot do and the federal government should only do those things the state governments cannot do.  When it comes to educating our children, the family should be the first option and the government should be the last resort.

            The intrusion of Big Brother in the area of education was spawned by the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957.  A paranoid fear of falling behind the Soviet Union in science and technology gripped the nation and the government jumped in.  The National Defense Education Act of 1958 was a reaction to the Soviet advances.

            A greater tool for intrusion was the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.  Brown vs. Board of Educational declares segregation in our schools to be unconstitutional.  There was very little disagreement that it was necessary for the government to intervene especially due to the southern resistance to desegregation.  A one time forceful attempt by the government to right a leaning ship was entirely justified but after constitutional law had been declared and enforced, the government refused to go away.

            Even more government intervention was forthcoming.  President Johnson declared his War on Poverty and he directed government to address black-white economic disparities in public schools.  The Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act were formed to level the playing field.

            The ugly duckling floating on this pond of government intrusion is the fact that test scores and academic achievement have decreased since Big Government rode into town.  Government may not necessarily be the cause of the decline but more government spending hasn't done one iota toward improving test scores.  The decline began in earnest after the decade of the '60's and it may have more to do with the new worldview embraced by that generation.  The passivity, 'do your own thing', Bart Simpson response to existing authority may have contributed greatly to the decline.

            Title 1 was a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  $1 billion ($7 billion in today's money) was provided to upgrade schools in poor neighborhoods.  Years later, George Bush sold out to big government advocates like Senator Edward Kennedy when he signed the No Child Left Behind Act which is a part of Title 1.  There is no evidence that this act has improved education performance among American children.  Try to find a politician who will even talk about the No Child Left Behind Act.  They blush at the very mention of it.  The stated goal of achieving reading and mathematical efficiency among all school children by 2014 is now only a foggy fantasy.  This mandate has failed in its objectives and, once again, our government is left unaccountable for flushing billions of dollars down a dark, mysterious hole.

            Parents should evaluate the benefit for investing so much money in their children's college education.  Because of the availability of easy, wimpy courses and the trivial academic requirements prevalent at nearly all institutions of higher learning a Bachelor's degree is now the equivalent of what a high school diploma used to be.  It's hard to get a good job without a BA.  The average cost of sending a student to a public college is $7,000/year not including the cost of meals, textbooks, and boarding. 

            The federal government submitted $125 billion in new loans in 2010.  35% of college students drop out before graduation.  There doesn't appear to be any correlation whatsoever between increased spending and student retention or academic achievement.  The U.S. government invests $200 million yearly to improve education.  That improvement is non-existent or too miniscule for detection. 

            Ending on a high note, there are some good things happening in education.  The homeschool and charter school movement is experiencing great growth and much success.  Government educators continue to be mystified by the high test scores of homeschooled children.

            We should credit government for addressing racial and economic disparities.  Once that mission was accomplished the government should have retreated but like the local drunk, once the government draws a draft from the keg of intrusion it never stops.  It becomes intoxicated with power and blinded to its own ineffectiveness.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.