​https://youtu.be/R_GPAl_q2QQ

A kingdom divided,  

​not built on firm foundation,

will fall. 

​

Why so many labels, pronouns, and identities?

​And What is "Christian Nationalism?"
​

If you watch certain news organizations, you'd think it was a huge part of reality. America, and the world, has never been
so divided on what constitutes
​
perception, reality, and truth. 
​

Honestly, I don't know what that term even is- "Christian Nationalism." If it exists, it's -incredibly small- and being way over-represented in media. Much like anything else that is a tiny percentage being radically over-represented or over enforced, it -skews- the entire perception of the weight of the part -in relation- to the implications of the whole. People who don't truly understand Christianity, or grasp the truth, can mischaracterize and misjudge anything based off of radicalism. It's probably easy to want to find a solution by over focusing on the wrong thing.

I've never heard of anyone who's heard of anyone that knows what this is. And for whatever their beliefs may be, we should be able to accurately decipher what it is that is a threat to human prosperity. Many Are mislead on the truth. I've only recently heard of this term, only from Media sources that support specific political ideologies. Christianity is the most culturally and racially diverse, peaceful, prosperous and accepting movement to have ever existed among the human population. Slander never suited anyone well, and we've seen it many times throughout history. We can not say that Muslims are bad people because of a small radical group who are bad.

Violence is never okay, and should be equally denounced in any situation. Violence in one uprising shouldn't be overlooked in preference of another uprising- peacefully discussing why it's occurring and what policies best remedy it is the answer- not-  by canceling or shaming- which much worsens it. 

​What we really need to decipher is what is true, and what
truly threatens human prosperity.
What is the threat, and how much of a threat is it, and why? 


We need to be careful when we start labeling and creating division off of identity or politics. It's the same for any type of slander or bias in any direction. It distorts the correct interpretation. 

Christianiy is not about religion, identity, or politics. People who know the living God and acknowledge it to be true and are faithful to that, are what you can call Christians. That is our worldview. Ideology is not identity, and ideologies have value structures. Our value is in and from who God is, not who we are or man-made identity. We are more than this physical realm, and are faithful to that. We know the living God, his word, and uphold his laws- God is higher than government. 

This country was not founded on nationalism or Christianity in labeling terms,  I have no idea what "white nationalism" is and truly don't think it's more than a minuscule percentage of the population, certainly not what is truly threatening us. The danger lies in grouping people together based off race, religion, identity, or politics, and people who stand for truth have to acknowledge what is true. You can't judge anyone off of radicalism. The original problem with this began in 2015- when the media wasn't willing to respect or listen to all people and America dissented into cancel culture tactics to achieve ideological control, and that doesn't work. What we see in the media doesn't reflect reality or the vast majority. We saw the uprising of tactics used in cultural Marxism to insert control over speech and media. Freedom of speech can not be controlled. Just because someone doesn't like the truth, doesn't mean they can cancel the truth from being spoken. Truth never changes, only our understanding or interpretation of the truth does. 

If we don't debate truth, we can't wrestle over the best ideas. This is the tragedy in universities. If we don't have an equal right to speak the truth and pursue the truth, then we don't hear or know the truth, and we wander further from the truth. We unravel into destruction against the laws of nature. 


It's deceptive. 
​

That's when uprisings occur- people who are tired of "being polite" in their silence, are speaking up...

​and getting louder. 
​

Loving others and yourself, peace, prosperity, and being witness to and upholding the truth defines Christianity.

Government policies are not the focus, but they do reflect our ability to practice our Faith.

Religious freedom, freedom of speech, and separation of church and state are important for a functioning society predicated on
​mutual respect.

In America, we all have a right to public education and resources. We finance the government, we pay taxes for public education, not for political indoctrination in schools. Political indoctrination in education has never been this severe. Christianity is not in public education or government. Over the past decade, the government, media, cdc, Facebook, Twitter, school boards, academia, and even healthcare has far too overstepped it's authority, and the response to the pandemic further proved this. Gender ideology in media, government, children shows, and mainly public education is a violation to religious liberty, and it's being ignored by government. Accepting a small minority shouldn't result in altering the fundamental course of the majority. Government mandates, shutdowns, vaccines, pronouns, questionnaires, etc.. that is not working with followers of Christ and is pushing them out of public education and government. They are also the majority, and are either being unrepresented, wrongly represented, or just silenced and ignored. That is a deception of truth. 

​
People need to start listening to each other. If people had respect, they wouldn't feel the need to address the "name-game, shame-game" tactics that seem to be leading people astray from a truthful and prosperous society. 


We cant fix problems without identifying the cause. 

It wasn’t the pandemic; it was largely the response to it. 

Source, response

Cause, affect

Truth, perception

🙃

A lot of tragedies, in their own definition are horrific,  are trying to fix themselves with perceived remedies that 

...don’t produce actual remedy. 

The universe can only function off of acknowledging what is true, thats the reoccurring pattern- theres always rising universal consequences in building off of what is untrue. Thats why we seek the truth. Sources exist and are meant to be discovered. When certainity is reached, its known. 

Truth is knowable, truth is provable. Sources matter- otherwise our perception of truth isnt founded on truth. 

We are under the universal laws of the creator of this existence.

Its not human opinion or bias, It is just...   

​what is. 
​

Truth is probably offensive- but its unchangeable. Its truth. Cause and effect always reoccurs. We need to acknowledge the effect- whether thats offensive to us, sadly, doesn’t matter- because we dont create universal laws, and cant change them. 

We want to avoid the consequences of suffering, and it starts with the truth of any source in any circumstance. If it's not the truth, it won't work. Just as good parents warn their children about what is dangerous and wrong, truthfulness has implications as well.  The truth is that radical Islam is a radically more significant threat to global peace and prosperity than "radical Christianity."  To imply that to mean anything other than what it truly does has implications- totalitarianism, communism, recession and security are much larger threats to peace and prosperity than perceived Christian bias or conservatism, or perceived racism in America.  If we silence people for acknowledging the cause to a warranted outcome because we don't agree, the solution never comes but gets far worse.  The media isn't reflecting the truth, and there's global consequences to that. The media wants to create and inflate its own truth, and there's consequences to that as well. People can be respectful, fair, and disagree at the same time. What is just and noble always prevails over tyranny. ​If it's not fair, it eventually fails.. or we end up in a global communist surveillance state with no free will. 

We are reaping severe consequences and should decide if we are
​awake, or woke. 

Human perception may not align with existing truth, but truth still exists and continues on its course anyway- as always proven. Humans cant create or determine their own truth- the universe has a system, we need to pursue what that is to the best of our ability, and seek the truth until certainty, otherwise we create more chaos thats opposing the created order. 

This is exactly what America was founded on- the pursuit of truth and prosperity, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech. That is the American foundation that has crumbled. Those who defend the constitution defend those values, those values create the best chance for a peaceful and prosperous society. Until they're gone. Race and identity are irrelevant, so Americans would be wise to not misuse and mislabel terms such as "nationalism." 

Nothings perfect (other than God and his plan) no one is. We all have struggles and why we are handed different struggles is difficult to grapple with, but we are all equal in his eyes. We are equally imperfect (me first!). We need god. Thats why he created us and revealed himself to us- not just for our future forever home, but now- more specifically- because when times get worse- and they will- and they will continue to increase in frequency and intensity- its much easier to be prepared in knowledge of the truth and relationship with our living and coming savior, who delivers us from our sorrows during tribulation and tragedy. 

The labor pains are in the beginning stages, we are living in revelation, prophecies are fulfilling, and we are experiencing both global physical and spiritual battles. Just as he said. 


Whether we have a relationship with our creator Now in this existence, or after we cross this physical realm into a better age, we will all meet our creator.


God is real, God heals, and God is for everyone.


​
We are all invited into the glory of knowing our savior now. . ​
​
​
​
​Jesus is our living hope!

​
​Maranatha! 
​

​The military is struggling

mightily to meet their recruitment goals. In August, reports came in that the Army had only "recruited about 52% of its goal for fiscal year 2022 and is likely to wind up short by as many as 15,000 recruits." Significant shortages in personnel are also being reported by the Air Force and Navy.
Meanwhile, this presidential administration's
military leaders continue to flounder in
woke ideologies that are being pushed on service-members.

What cannot be ignored are the woke policies being forced onto our servicemembers by the current administration
which damage morale,
increase the number of troops voluntarily leaving,
and scare away potential recruits.

"Young Americans are observing what's happening
in our military services and
they don't like what they see,"
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin 

"They see a military that spends
far more time on being woke than on national security.
Furthermore, they see how the chain of command
treats people who have religious objections
to taking a vaccine that they do not want
and therefore should not be required to take."

This administration indeed continues to
refuse to back off of
their onerous requirements for all servicemembers
to receive the COVID-19 shot,
despite declaring on Sunday that
"the pandemic is over,"
and despite multiple court losses
after the mandate was challenged by troops. 

Still, even with massive recruiting shortfalls and a military that is being increasingly stretched thin across the U.S. and the globe,
this administration is on the verge of dismissing upwards of 60,000 troops (the actual number of unvaccinated troops
could be as high as 500,000, or a quarter of the military)

and seemingly not caring.

To make matters worse,
This administration's military leaders are also

failing

at taking care of
their service-members' most basic needs.

The Post Millennial reported on September 10 that the Army
is now advising military families to apply for food stamps
in the midst of rising inflation.

As the report pointed out, "Somehow, the $175 billion that the Army received in funding from taxpayers in the 2022 fiscal year
does not cover the costs of even feeding soldiers' families."

Yet- what about that student debt we are all paying for? The only reason why so many soldiers don't have student debt- is for this very reason, they sacrifice their own lives for all of us

With unprecedented shortfalls in recruiting numbers,
with servicemembers' families struggling to put food on the table,
with Russia mobilizing an additional 300,000 troops to Ukraine,
and with China breathing down the neck of Taiwan,

what is the Left's
biggest military concern?

Apparently, it's that 128 military bases around the country
are not sufficiently
"close enough to abortion facilities,"
as Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) helpfully pointed out on the
​House floor Tuesday.

Other top military concerns on the Left include
"diversity and inclusion" training,
which, as reported Thursday, includes the U.S. Air Force Academy
"instructing cadets to use words that 'include all genders' and
to refrain from saying things like ​ 'mom' and 'dad.'"

This was a bridge too far for Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Service's Strategic Forces Subcommittee, who sent a letter to the superintendent of the Air Force Academy on Tuesday,
echoing the sentiments of millions of Americans greatly troubled by the downward trajectory of the world's
​most powerful and important security force.

"The purpose of your institution is to make our future
Airmen and Guardians more lethal,
​
not more politically correct,"

Lamborn underscored.

"This is exactly the kind of woke virtue signaling that has undermined public confidence by
millions of Americans in our Armed Forces.


Military effectiveness depends on cohesion --

not division.

I ask that you seriously reconsider the military education
you are conferring onto our future service-members and vigilantly protect those under your watch from being

subjected to exaggerated diversity indoctrination

and woke political agendas."

​As if to drive home Lamborn's point, the Pentagon issued a 200-page report Thursday celebrating the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which is yet another example of the kinds of activities that the military
​is spending its time and tax dollars on instead of
​training for, fighting, and winning wars for the greater good. 

The United States Air Force Academy also recently circulated promotional information among its cadets for the Brooke Owens Fellowship,

which specifically bans 'cisgender men' from applying.

The email sent on September 14, encourages cadets to apply to the program, which states: 'If you are a cisgender woman, a transgender woman, non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, genderqueer, or another form of gender minority, this program is for you.

'If you are a cisgender man, this program isn't for you...

A concerned Air Force cadet shared the email because, 'It's a little worrying that we have more briefs about D&I than

briefs about foreign adversaries,
emerging technologies or
current events across the world.'

We must pray for the conversion of the This administration,
for our military leaders, and for fortitude for our fighting men and women


​who must endure such


misguided and reckless

​leadership.

​Without a doubt one of the most frequently asked questions is “Who was Jesus?”

​There is no doubt that Jesus has, by far, the highest name recognition throughout the world. Fully one-third of our world’s population—about 2.5 billion people—call themselves Christians. Islam, which comprises about 1.5 billion people, actually recognizes Jesus as the second greatest prophet after Mohammed. Of the remaining 3.2 billion people (roughly half the world’s population), most have either heard of the name of Jesus or know about Him. 

If one were to put together a summary of the life of Jesus from His birth to His death, it would be somewhat sparse. He was born of Jewish parents in Bethlehem, a small town south of Jerusalem, while the territory was under Roman occupation. His parents moved north to Nazareth, where He grew up; hence He was commonly known as “Jesus of Nazareth.” His father was a carpenter, so Jesus likely learned that trade in His early years. Around thirty years of age, He began a public ministry. He chose a dozen men of dubious reputation as His disciples and worked out of Capernaum, a large fishing village and trading center on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. From there He traveled and preached throughout the region of Galilee, often moving among neighboring Gentiles and Samaritans with intermittent journeys to Jerusalem. 

Jesus’ unusual teachings and methodology startled and troubled many. His revolutionary message, coupled with astonishing miracles and healings, garnered a huge following. His popularity among the populace grew rapidly, and, as a result, it was noticed by the well-entrenched leaders of the Jewish faith. Soon, these Jewish leaders became jealous and resentful of His success. Many of these leaders found His teachings offensive and felt that their established religious traditions and ceremonies were being jeopardized. They soon plotted with the Roman rulers to have Him killed. It was during this time that one of Jesus’ disciples betrayed Him to the Jewish leaders for a paltry sum of money. Shortly thereafter, they had Him arrested, engineered a hastily arranged series of mock trials, and summarily executed Him by crucifixion.

But unlike any other in history, Jesus’ death was not the end of His story; it was, in fact, the beginning. Christianity exists only because of what happened after Jesus died. Three days after His death, His disciples and many others began to claim that He had returned to life from the dead. His grave was found empty, the body gone, and numerous appearances were witnessed by many different groups of people, at different locations, and among dissimilar circumstances.

As a result of all this, people began to proclaim that Jesus was the Christ, or the Messiah. They claimed His resurrection validated the message of forgiveness of sin through His sacrifice. At first, they declared this good news, known as the gospel, in Jerusalem, the same city where He was put to death. This new following soon became known as the Way (see Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 24:22) and expanded rapidly. In a short period of time, this gospel message of faith spread even beyond the region, expanding as far as Rome as well as to the very outermost of its vast empire.

It was Dr. James Allan Francis who penned the following words that aptly describe the influence of Jesus through the history of mankind:

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

"He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. . . .

"While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth—His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

"Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

"I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life."

The late Wilbur Smith, respected Bible scholar of the last generation, once wrote, “The latest edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica gives twenty thousand words to this person, Jesus, and does not even hint that He did not exist—more words, by the way, than are given to Aristotle, Alexander, Cicero, Julius Caesar, or Napoleon Bonaparte.”

George Buttrick, recognized as one of the ten greatest preachers of the twentieth century, wrote: “Jesus gave history a new beginning. In every land he is at home. . . . His birthday is kept across the world. His death-day set a gallows against every skyline.”

Even Napoleon himself admitted, "I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ was no mere man: between him and whoever else in the world there is no possible term of comparison."

Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (c. 27–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles (c. 100) and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity developed out of the eschatologicalministry of Jesus. Subsequent to Jesus' death, his earliest followers formed an apocalyptic messianic Jewish sect during the late Second Temple period of the 1st century. Initially believing that Jesus' resurrection was the start of the end time, their beliefs soon changed in the expected Second Coming of Jesus and the start of God's Kingdom at a later point in time.
​
Paul the Apostle, a Pharisee Jew who had persecuted the early Jewish Christians, converted c. 33–36[2][3][4] and started to proselytize among the Gentiles. According to Paul, Gentile converts could be allowed exemption from Jewish commandments, arguing that all are justified by their faith in Jesus.[5][6] This was part of a gradual split of early Christianity and Judaism, as Christianity became a distinct religion including predominantly Gentile adherence.

Jerusalem had an early Christian community, which was led by James the Just, Peter, and John.[7] According to Acts 11:26, Antioch was where the followers were first called Christians. Peter was later martyred in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. The apostles went on to spread the message of the Gospel around the classical world and founded apostolic sees around the early centers of Christianity. The last apostle to die was John in c. 100.

Early Jewish Christians referred to themselves as "The Way" (ἡ ὁδός), probably coming from Isaiah 40:3, "prepare the way of the Lord."[web 1][web 2][9][10][note 1] Other Jews also called them "the Nazarenes,"[9] while another Jewish-Christian sect called themselves "Ebionites" (lit. "the poor"). According to Acts 11:26, the term "Christian" (Greek: Χριστιανός) was first used in reference to Jesus's disciples in the city of Antioch, meaning "followers of Christ," by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch.[12] The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" (Greek: Χριστιανισμός) was by Ignatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD.

The earliest followers of Jesus were a sect of apocalyptic Jewish Christians within the realm of Second Temple Judaism.[14][15][16][17][18] The early Christian groups were strictly Jewish, such as the Ebionites,[14] and the early Christian community in Jerusalem, led by James the Just, brother of Jesus.[17] Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine"[19] in the syncretistic Hellenistic world of the first century AD, which was dominated by Roman law and Greek culture.[20] Hellenistic culture had a profound impact on the customs and practices of Jews everywhere. The inroads into Judaism gave rise to Hellenistic Judaism in the Jewish diaspora which sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism. Hellenistic Judaism spread to Ptolemaic Egypt from the 3rd century BC, and became a notable religio licita after the Roman conquest of Greece, Anatolia, Syria, Judea, and Egypt.[citation needed]

During the early first century AD there were many competing Jewish sects in the Holy Land, and those that became Rabbinic Judaism and Proto-orthodox Christianity were but two of these. Philosophical schools included Pharisees, Sadducees, and Zealots, but also other less influential sects, including the Essenes.[web 7][web 8][citation needed] The first century BC and first century AD saw a growing number of charismatic religious leaders contributing to what would become the Mishnah of Rabbinic Judaism; and the ministry of Jesus, which would lead to the emergence of the first Jewish Christian community.[web 7][web 8][citation needed]

A central concern in 1st century Judaism was the covenant with God, and the status of the Jews as the chosen people of God.[21] Many Jews believed that this covenant would be renewed with the coming of the Messiah. Jews believed the Law was given by God to guide them in their worship of the Lord and in their interactions with each other, "the greatest gift God had given his people."

The Jewish messiah concept has its root in the apocalyptic literature of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future leader or king from the Davidic line who is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age and world to come.[web 9][web 10][web 11] The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah" (Hebrew: מלך משיח, romanized: melekh mashiach) or malka meshiḥa in Aramaic.

Jesus' life was ended by his execution by crucifixion. His early followers believed that three days after his death, Jesus rose bodily from the dead.[67][68][69][70][71] Paul's letters and the Gospels contain reports of a number of post-resurrection appearances. Progressively, Jewish scriptures were reexamined in light of Jesus's teachings to explain the crucifixion and visionary post-mortem experiences of Jesus,[1][77][78] and the resurrection of Jesus "signalled for earliest believers that the days of eschatological fulfilment were at hand."

Traditionally, the period from the death of Jesus until the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles is called the Apostolic Age, after the missionary activities of the apostles.[85] According to the Acts of the Apostles the Jerusalem church began at Pentecost with some 120 believers,[86] in an "upper room," believed by some to be the Cenacle, where the apostles received the Holy Spirit and emerged from hiding following the death and resurrection of Jesus to preach and spread his message.
​
The New Testament writings depict what orthodox Christian churches call the Great Commission, an event where they describe the resurrected Jesus Christ instructing his disciples to spread his eschatological message of the coming of the Kingdom of God to all the nations of the world. The most famous version of the Great Commission is in Matthew 28 (Matthew 28:16–20), where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Paul's conversion on the Road to Damascus is first recorded in Acts 9 (Acts 9:13–16). Peter baptized the Roman centurion Cornelius, traditionally considered the first Gentile convert to Christianity, in Acts 10. Based on this, the Antioch church was founded. It is also believed that it was there that the term Christian was coined.

After the death of Jesus, Christianity first emerged as a sect of Judaism as practiced in the Roman province of Judea.[19] The first Christians were all Jews, who constituted a Second Temple Jewish sect with an apocalyptic eschatology. Among other schools of thought, some Jews regarded Jesus as Lord and resurrected messiah, and the eternally existing Son of God,[7][90][note 8] expecting the second coming of Jesus and the start of God's Kingdom. They pressed fellow Jews to prepare for these events and to follow "the way" of the Lord. They believed Yahweh to be the only true God,[92] the god of Israel, and considered Jesus to be the messiah (Christ), as prophesied in the Jewish scriptures, which they held to be authoritative and sacred. They held faithfully to the Torah,[note 9]including acceptance of Gentile converts based on a version of the Noachide laws.

The New Testament's Acts of the Apostles (the historical accuracy of which is questioned) and Epistle to the Galatians record that an early Jewish Christian community[note 11] centered on Jerusalem, and that its leaders reportedly included Peter, James, the brother of Jesus, and John the Apostle.[93] The Jerusalem community "held a central place among all the churches," as witnessed by Paul's writings.[94] Reportedly legitimised by Jesus' appearance, Peter was the first leader of the Jerusalem ekklēsia.[95][96] Peter was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord,"[97][98] which may explain why the early texts contain scant information about Peter.[98] According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about the strictness of adherence to the Jewish Law, the more conservative faction of James the Just gained the upper hand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence.[98] According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities.[99] The relatives of Jesus were generally accorded a special position within this community,[100] which also contributed to the ascendancy of James the Just in Jerusalem.

According to a tradition recorded by Eusebius and Epiphanius of Salamis, the Jerusalem church fled to Pella at the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War (AD 66–73).

The Jerusalem community consisted of "Hebrews," Jews speaking both Aramaic and Greek, and "Hellenists," Jews speaking only Greek, possibly diaspora Jews who had resettled in Jerusalem.[102] According to Dunn, Paul's initial persecution of Christians probably was directed against these Greek-speaking "Hellenists" due to their anti-Temple attitude.[103] Within the early Jewish Christian community, this also set them apart from the "Hebrews" and their Tabernacle observance.

The Book of Acts reports that the early followers continued daily Temple attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer, Jewish liturgical, a set of scriptural readings adapted from synagogue practice, and use of sacred music in hymns and prayer. Other passages in the New Testament gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as baptism,[web 22] fasting, reverence for the Torah, and observance of Jewish holy days.

During the first three centuries of Christianity, the Liturgical ritual was rooted in the Jewish Passover, Siddur, Seder, and synagogue services, including the singing of hymns (especially the Psalms) and reading from the scriptures.[web 23] Most early Christians did not own a copy of the works (some of which were still being written) that later became the Christian Bibleor other church works accepted by some but not canonized, such as the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, or other works today called New Testament apocrypha. Similar to Judaism, much of the original church liturgical services functioned as a means of learning these scriptures, which initially centered around the Septuagint and the Targums.

At first, Christians continued to worship alongside Jewish believers, but within twenty years of Jesus' death, Sunday (the Lord's Day) was being regarded as the primary day of worship.

Christian missionary activity spread "the Way" and slowly created early centers of Christianity with Gentile adherents in the predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire, and then throughout the Hellenistic world and even beyond the Roman Empire. Early Christian beliefs were proclaimed in kerygma (preaching), some of which are preserved in New Testament scripture. The early Gospel message spread orally, probably originally in Aramaic,[151] but almost immediately also in Greek.[152] A process of cognitive dissonance reduction may have contributed to intensive missionary activity, convincing others of the developing beliefs, reducing the cognitive dissonance created by the delay of the coming of the endtime. Due to this missionary zeal, the early group of followers grew larger despite the failing expectations.

The scope of the Jewish-Christian mission expanded over time. While Jesus limited his message to a Jewish audience in Galilee and Judea, after his death his followers extended their outreach to all of Israel, and eventually the whole Jewish diaspora, believing that the Second Coming would only happen when all Jews had received the Gospel.[1] Apostles and preachers traveled to Jewish communities around the Mediterranean Sea, and initially attracted Jewish converts.[149] Within 10 years of the death of Jesus, apostles had attracted enthusiasts for "the Way" from Jerusalem to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Cyprus, Crete, Alexandria and Rome.[153][87][148][149] Over 40 churches were established by 100,[148][149] most in Asia Minor, such as the seven churches of Asia, and some in Greece in the Roman era and Roman Italy.

According to Fredriksen, when early Christians broadened their missionary efforts, they also came into contact with Gentiles attracted to the Jewish religion. Eventually, the Gentiles came to be included in the missionary effort of Hellenised Jews, bringing "all nations" into the house of God.[1] The "Hellenists," Greek-speaking diaspora Jews belonging to the early Jerusalem Jesus-movement, played an important role in reaching a Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers."[147] From Antioch, the mission to the Gentiles started, including Paul's, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.[154] According to Dunn, within 10 years after Jesus' death, "the new messianic movement focused on Jesus began to modulate into something different ... it was at Antioch that we can begin to speak of the new movement as 'Christianity'."

Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author.[158] According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the early Jewish Christians, but then converted. He adopted the name Paul and started proselytizingamong the Gentiles, calling himself "Apostle to the Gentiles."

Paul was in contact with the early Christian community in Jerusalem, led by James the Just.[161] According to Mack, he may have been converted to another early strand of Christianity, with a High Christology.[162] Fragments of their beliefs in an exalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul.[161][note 18] Yet, Hurtado notes that Paul valued the linkage with "Jewish Christian circles in Roman Judea," which makes it likely that his Christology was in line with, and indebted to, their views.[164] Hurtado further notes that "[i]t is widely accepted that the tradition that Paul recites in 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 must go back to the Jerusalem Church."

Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity to Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica.[166][better source needed] According to Larry Hurtado, "Paul saw Jesus' resurrection as ushering in the eschatological time foretold by biblical prophets in which the pagan 'Gentile' nations would turn from their idols and embrace the one true God of Israel (e.g., Zechariah 8:20–23), and Paul saw himself as specially called by God to declare God's eschatological acceptance of the Gentiles and summon them to turn to God."[web 1] According to Krister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role and salvation by faith is not the individual conscience of human sinners and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the main concern is the problem of the inclusion of Gentile (Greek) Torah-observers into God's covenant.[167][168][169][web 25] The inclusion of Gentiles into early Christianity posed a problem for the Jewish identity of some of the early Christians:[170][171][172] the new Gentile converts were not required to be circumcised nor to observe the Mosaic Law.[173] Circumcision in particular was regarded as a token of the membership of the Abrahamic covenant, and the most traditionalist faction of Jewish Christians (i.e., converted Pharisees) insisted that Gentile converts had to be circumcised as well.[Acts 15:1][170][171][174][166] By contrast, the rite of circumcision was considered execrable and repulsive during the period of Hellenization of the Eastern Mediterranean,[175] [176][177][web 26] and was especially adversed in Classical civilization both from ancient Greeks and Romans, which instead valued the foreskin positively.

Paul objected strongly to the insistence on keeping all of the Jewish commandments,[166] considering it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ.[171][179]According to Paula Fredriksen, Paul's opposition to male circumcison for Gentiles is in line with the Old Testament predictions that "in the last days the gentile nations would come to the God of Israel, as gentiles (e.g., Zechariah 8:20–23), not as proselytes to Israel."[web 16] For Paul, Gentile male circumcision was therefore an affront to God's intentions.[web 16]According to Larry Hurtado, "Paul saw himself as what Munck called a salvation-historical figure in his own right", who was "personally and singularly deputized by God to bring about the predicted ingathering (the "fullness") of the nations (Romans 11:25)."

For Paul, Jesus' death and resurrection solved the problem of the exclusion of Gentiles from God's covenant,[180][181] since the faithful are redeemed by participation in Jesus' death and rising. In the Jerusalem ekklēsia, from which Paul received the creed of 1 Corinthians 15:1–7, the phrase "died for our sins" probably was an apologetic rationale for the death of Jesus as being part of God's plan and purpose, as evidenced in the Scriptures. For Paul, it gained a deeper significance, providing "a basis for the salvation of sinful Gentiles apart from the Torah."[182] According to E. P. Sanders, Paul argued that "those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death, and thus they escape the power of sin [...] he died so that the believers may die with him and consequently live with him."[web 27] By this participation in Christ's death and rising, "one receives forgiveness for past offences, is liberated from the powers of sin, and receives the Spirit."[183] Paul insists that salvation is received by the grace of God; according to Sanders, this insistence is in line with Second Temple Judaism of c. 200 BC until 200 AD, which saw God's covenant with Israel as an act of grace of God. Observance of the Law is needed to maintain the covenant, but the covenant is not earned by observing the Law, but by the grace of God.

These divergent interpretations have a prominent place in both Paul's writings and in Acts. According to Galatians 2:1–10 and Acts chapter 15, fourteen years after his conversion Paul visited the "Pillars of Jerusalem", the leaders of the Jerusalem ekklēsia. His purpose was to compare his Gospel[clarification needed] with theirs, an event known as the Council of Jerusalem. According to Paul, in his letter to the Galatians,[note 19] they agreed that his mission was to be among the Gentiles. According to Acts,[184] Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a necessary practice, vocally supported by Peter.

While the Church of Jerusalem was described as resulting in an agreement to allow Gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments, in reality a stark opposition from "Hebrew" Jewish Christians remained,[188] as exemplified by the Ebionites. The relaxing of requirements in Pauline Christianity opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. The inclusion of Gentiles is reflected in Luke-Acts, which is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected it.

The New Testament (often compared to the New Covenant) is the second major division of the Christian Bible. The books of the canon of the New Testament include the Canonical Gospels, Acts, letters of the Apostles, and Revelation. The original texts were written by various authors, most likely sometime between c. AD 45 and 120 AD,[197] in Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, though there is also a minority argument for Aramaic primacy. They were not defined as "canon" until the 4th century. Some were disputed, known as the Antilegomena.

Writings attributed to the Apostles circulated among the earliest Christian communities. The Pauline epistles were circulating, perhaps in collected forms, by the end of the 1st century AD.

There was a slowly growing chasm between Gentile Christians, and Jews and Jewish Christians, rather than a sudden split. Even though it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church, it took a century for a complete break to manifest. Growing tensions led to a starker separation that was virtually complete by the time Jewish Christians refused to join in the Bar Kokhba Jewish revolt of 132. Certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between Christianity and Judaism.

The destruction of Jerusalem and the consequent dispersion of Jews and Jewish Christians from the city (after the Bar Kokhba revolt) ended any pre-eminence of the Jewish-Christian leadership in Jerusalem. Early Christianity grew further apart from Judaism to establish itself as a predominantly Gentile religion, and Antioch became the first Gentile Christian community with stature.

The hypothetical Council of Jamnia c. 85 is often stated to have condemned all who claimed the Messiah had already come, and Christianity in particular, excluding them from attending synagogue. However, the formulated prayer in question (birkat ha-minim) is considered by other scholars to be unremarkable in the history of Jewish and Christian relations. There is a paucity of evidence for Jewish persecution of "heretics" in general, or Christians in particular, in the period between 70 and 135. It is probable that the condemnation of Jamnia included many groups, of which the Christians were but one, and did not necessarily mean excommunication. That some of the later church fathers only recommended against synagogue attendance makes it improbable that an anti-Christian prayer was a common part of the synagogue liturgy. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.

During the late 1st century, Judaism was a legal religion with the protection of Roman law, worked out in compromise with the Roman state over two centuries (see Anti-Judaism in the Roman Empire for details). In contrast, Christianity was not legalized until the 313 Edict of Milan. Observant Jews had special rights, including the privilege of abstaining from civic pagan rites. Christians were initially identified with the Jewish religion by the Romans, but as they became more distinct, Christianity became a problem for Roman rulers. Around the year 98, the emperor Nerva decreed that Christians did not have to pay the annual tax upon the Jews, effectively recognizing them as distinct from Rabbinic Judaism. This opened the way to Christians being persecuted for disobedience to the emperor, as they refused to worship the state pantheon.

From c. 98 onwards a distinction between Christians and Jews in Roman literature becomes apparent. For example, Pliny the Younger postulates that Christians are not Jews since they do not pay the tax, in his letters to Trajan.

Jewish Christians constituted a separate community from the Pauline Christians but maintained a similar faith. In Christian circles, Nazarene later came to be used as a label for those faithful to Jewish Law, in particular for a certain sect. These Jewish Christians, originally the central group in Christianity, generally holding the same beliefs except in their adherence to Jewish law, were not deemed heretical until the dominance of orthodoxy in the 4th century.[211] The Ebionites may have been a splinter group of Nazarenes, with disagreements over Christology and leadership. They were considered by Gentile Christians to have unorthodox beliefs, particularly in relation to their views of Christ and Gentile converts.

​

National test results released on Thursday from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed that the math and reading scores of elementary school students reached historic lows in 2022, with an unprecedented drop in math and the largest drop in 32 years in reading among nine-year-olds.

Experts say that the drops can be attributed to a variety of factors, including repercussions from school shutdowns, discipline issues, open borders, classroom time spent on controversial ideologies, and other factors.

The dropping test scores reflect a tragic failure of the U.S. education system for vulnerable children and American taxpayers.
​
“Test scores are important, but these reports can’t possibly measure every facet of educational performance, nor is it possible to quantify every factor that creates this national set of numbers,” she told The Washington Stand. “We should remember that a line on a graph represents millions of school children who need to learn. Americans value education, and we pay taxes into system that is not delivering.”

Many experts agree that the 2020-2021 shutdown of most schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to “distance learning” detrimentally affected the education and economic opportunities of children, particularly minority students.

​What many see as particularly frustrating is that schools were shut down by government agencies despite the low risk of serious health issues that the coronavirus posed to children and despite evidence that shutdowns were ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus.

Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, has pointed to problems that have arisen in schools as a result of the lockdowns, including “a rise in classroom disruption, school violence, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and teacher and staff vacancies, and schools also say more students are seeking mental health services.”

“We all have a duty to address this problem, because children can’t fix a failing school system,” she observed. “Concerned citizens need to engage at the local school board level. We need to have conversations about why teachers are leaving the profession. Is it because school discipline is now a civil rights issue making learning impossible in chaotic classrooms? Is it because of vaccine requirements, or are some teachers afraid to return to in-person teaching? Is it because too many students come to school unready to learn?

​How is the crisis at the border impacting schools all over the country, when unaccompanied minors (who are trafficking victims) are placed in communities in the heartland, many of which lack the infrastructure to accommodate them? How has the emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and social emotional learning impacted student learning in core subjects? These are the kinds of questions we need to answer in our local communities so that each child enjoys a safe and rigorous education.”

School districts across the country are indeed reporting historic levels of teacher shortages, with The Washington Post indicating that the shortage is partly due to “an escalating educational culture war” that is exhausting teachers, with highly controversial material like gender theory, critical race theory, and DEI being increasingly included in classroom curriculums.
​
Still, Kilgannon sees hope in what Christians can do to help revitalize the education system.

“When we see test scores like these NAEP results, people rightly feel discouraged, upset, and powerless,” she concluded. “As Christians, our response could be to bring our values to a system that desperately needs our love and our understanding that every child is created in the image and likeness of God. We can run for school board, apply for newly created teaching positions that don’t require an education degree, volunteer in our children’s classrooms, and especially pray for our schools and the children, teachers, and staff in them. Our children deserve it, and our nation needs it.”

A proponent of school choice, DeSantis has particularly vied against strict classroom COVID-19 masking policies, teaching LGBTQ+ curriculum to elementary-aged students, and critical race theory.

With Americans leaving the public school system 
by the millions in recent years,
DeSantis’s views on education have made him popular with conservatives since his election in 2019.

Girdusky’s PAC has helped conservative candidates win school board races across the country in a move to pushback against critical race theory and other left-leaning ideologies like transgenderism. From his perspective, parents will vote for what they believe benefits their children. “Education is the cornerstone of our society and is a huge motivating factor for voters,” he told TWS. “We are in the middle of the parents revolution and taking back our public education from those who wish to indoctrinate our children. This is the beginning of a much bigger movement that we hope to take nationwide.”

Christians and parents are calling to run for school board to transform the education system and fight against left-leaning ideologies in the classroom.

“That has absolutely happened,”
she shared, “And so we need to support these folks
with our prayers and with practical support. … People who care about the things that we care about
realized how out of touch and out of step our educational establishment is with the wishes and needs of parents and children.
​
And so they have stepped into the breach. They have run for office, and they are now ready to serve. They’ve been elected and now they’re ready to serve. So it’s our job now to support them in their work and to make sure that they have the research, the policy ideas, the facts that they need to transform our educational system and to work for children in America.”

​America is in the midst of a historic political realignment, much has been said about the movement of Hispanic voters and working class voters away from the Left, but we’re seeing another key demographic — parents — move away from the Left as well. The results of Florida’s school board races last night confirm this trend.”  The most important government is the government closest to home,

​so when parents stream to the polls to toss recalcitrant ideologues off their local school board they are sending a clear message: teach our children to read and write, not gender ideology or dividing them by race.”

WHAT IF THE ACTUAL REASON WHY THE RABBIS REJECTED JESUS IS BEING HIDDEN FROM YOU? 

What if Jesus is the best kept secret in Judaism, hidden on purpose from all of us?

We all are witnesses of the exclusiveness that the Rabbis created for themselves in their tradition. But this is not something new. It was like that already 2000 years ago.

Jesus was the only one who dared to stand up against the religious oppression by breaking down the walls that rabbinical tradition had put up. Jesus opened the door to God for everyone: for the simple ones and even for the Gentiles. And so today, thanks to Jesus, millions of Gentiles from all over the world, from different cultures and countries, believe in the God of Israel and find a future, hope, comfort, joy and everlasting life in the very same Jew who lived here, in Israel, 2000 years ago. (We dedicated another video to the fact that the Rabbis depict Jesus as a sorcerer who led Israel into idolatry that you can watch here.)

NOW WE WOULD LIKE TO REVEAL THE ACTUAL REASON WHY JESUS WAS REJECTED BY THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF HIS TIME.

Contrary to the rabbinical explanation and according to the descriptions in the New Testament gospels, the actual reason why the Pharisees rejected Jesus as Messiah lies in the fact that the religious leaders of his time were corrupt. All they cared about was control, power and to make money at the expense of the people. Jesus threatened the exclusiveness of the sect which they had created. They knew that if the people of Israel accepted and followed Jesus, they’d lose their power, their influence, their control, their honored position and of course, their source of income.

But how can we know who was right?

It’s actually not that hard at all. First, let’s go 2000 years back in time. While the religious leaders at Jesus’ time, the Rabbis, were busy coming up with legalistic traditions and rules, isolating their  people from the world and defying the Gentiles, Jesus on the other hand, talked about grace, modesty, compassion and love. While the Rabbis were busy with oppressing and intimidating the people making them view God as some kind of moral monster who only wants to punish, Jesus talked openly about the fact that all need the love and forgiveness of God.

Forgiveness that is based on God’s grace and compassion, not on our own human attempts to impress him with all kinds of ceremonies and habits. 
Where others threw stones, Jesus forgave.

While others blamed the poor for their own suffering, Jesus had fellowship with the outcasts, willingly listened to their troubles, healed the lepers and ate with the families of the rejected ones.

Where others only saw prostitutes, tax collectors and worthless fishermen, Jesus saw a group of people with the potential to change the world.

Like every religion, the religion of the rabbinical tradition tries to develop the idea that God cares only about the members of their sect and hates the rest of the world. They wanted to make all of Israel believe that God cares only about Jews. In fact, the Rabbis have been claiming for 2000 years that only the Jews are important and that God doesn’t care about Gentiles, that they are not important and that their purpose lies in serving us, the Jews. 

Jesus stood up against the claim that there is a group of people who are better or more important in God’s eyes than other people. No matter if they’re Rabbis or Popes, Jesus and the NT calls them to love, grace and compassion, mercy and peace among people. This threatened the intimidation and the oppression imposed by the rabbinical tradition.

AND WHAT ABOUT YOU?Are you offended by Jesus’ sayings?
Like this one:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God… Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew Chap. 5, NT)

Or how about this request of the NT:

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…” (Epistle to the Ephesians, Chap. 4, NT)
Does that really sound bad?

Whoever takes courage and reads the NT will notice that Jesus was gentle, modest, sensitive, compassionate, loving and showed great kindness and compassion.

But what did make him angry was the use of God’s name in vain and the religious oppression on the part of the Rabbis of his time. 

They were coming up with rules, habits, ceremonies and strange traditions that were forced upon the simple people, claiming that this is God’s will. They took power for themselves and controlled the people by spreading fear and threatening economically those who followed them. And all this was done in God’s name.

Sound familiar?

POWER CORRUPTS
​
Many of the Rabbis of the Sanhedrin and the priests of Jesus’ time were hypocritical, corrupt, liars, and thieves. Their deeds, done in God’s name, were in contradiction to the OT. But Jesus was not the only one who thought that way. Reading, for example, what Josephus wrote, a Jewish historian at the time of the 2nd temple, we see that this was a dark time of political corruption and wickedness. 

The high priests’ appointments were purely political, based on power and manipulation, and the temple had become a marketplace. When they noticed that Jesus had power to perform miracles in the name of the God of Israel and that they could not, they became jealous and feared to lose their position. They did not want to lose their power and control over the people of Israel. They did not want to lose their honorable position and the respect they received from so many people. And they knew that if the people of Israel were to follow Jesus, the Messiah, they would lose everything. And for that reason the religious leaders of rabbinical Judaism 2000 years ago, and until today, reject Jesus and the fact that he’s the Messiah. 

The Dead Sea Scrolls, dated to the Second Temple period, also contain severe criticism against the corrupt leaders of Judaism of that time.

This might be hard to believe, but even the Talmud, Tractate Pesachim 57, admits and attacks with determination the corruption among the priestly families in Israel at the time of Jesus. 

In a lecture given by Professor Rachel Elior, Hebrew University, on the Dead Sea Scrolls, she says that the mere discovery of these scrolls in the Judean Desert, is proof of the poor condition the temple priesthood was in. According to Elior, scrolls written by the Sadducean priesthood describe how they had to flee for their lives and hide from the new priests who replaced them by force. In Prof. Elior’s opinion, when we find in the scrolls references to a war between “Sons of Light” and “Sons of Darkness,” the “Sons of Darkness” are the corrupt priests who caused a spiritual decay and the destruction of the temple.  

According to the book of Numbers, chapter 20, the priesthood was supposed to be passed on from father to son, and the High Priest ministered until the day of his death. However, according to the Encyclopaedia Hebraica, the spiritual leadership in Israel during the Second Temple period was so corrupt that the appointment of the High Priest was controlled by a group of rich and privileged priestly families from which most of the priests came. According to Tractate Yoma 8 and 9, the high priests bought their position from the political rulers and took turns every year.

In other words, the Sages themselves admit that the spiritual leadership at Jesus’ time was corrupt. 

They used to harass the people without mercy. The way the NT writings describe the level of corruption that the Rabbis and priests had reached during the Second Temple period is being backed up both from historical sources and the Talmud itself. 

This is what Jesus fought against. And because of that he was rejected by the religious leaders. 

It’s important to understand that just like the prophets in the OT, one of the tasks of the Messiah was to point out the sins of the religious leaders, rebuke them and show the people their real face. So is it really that surprising that they rejected and killed him?

BUT GLADLY ENOUGH, GOD IS AN EXPERT IN TURNING BITTER INTO SWEET. He used the rejection and the death of the Messiah to bring about healing and forgiveness.

Just like the sacrifice on the altar offered in the temple for the sins of the people, so is the Messiah the eternal sacrifice. Not only for our sin but for the sins of the whole world. The blood that was shed because of our sin has made for us a new covenant. 

Rabbi Isaac Liechtenstein, who lived in the 20th century, main rabbi of Hungary, was willing to swim against the tide. Though it was forbidden, he read the NT. These are his words:

“I used to think that the NT is an unclean book, a source of pride selfishness, hate, antisemitism and violence. But when I opened this book, I felt it capture my heart in a special and wonderful way. All of a sudden glory and light filled my soul. I was looking for thorns, but I found roses, pearls instead of stones, I found love instead of hate. Instead of revenge, I found forgiveness. Liberty, instead of slavery.” (Rabbi Isaac Liechtenstein)
​
Amazing, right?

When a Rabbi shows courage and instead of blindly following the habit of rejecting the Messiah hereads the NT with an open heart, his life changes completely. He does not try anymore to force rules and odd traditions on people as if we could impress God by doing so. Rather, he understands that the peace the Messiah has come to give is first of all internal, for only in that way can our relationship with God be restored.
​
To sum it up: Since the corrupt religious leaders of Jesus’ time did not want to lose their power and control, they didn’t have another choice but to reject God’s Messiah and to get rid of him. However, God used this to bring a perfect sacrifice, forgiveness and atonement.

Thanks to the Messiah, this good news would not be exclusive but spread throughout all the nations of the earth. The Jewish Messiah became a blessing to the Gentiles. This God who created, upholds and loves all of his creation loves so much that he revealed himself to humanity and gave his life in the person of the Messiah, for Jews and Gentiles.

ONE for Israel 

https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-untold-reason-why-jewish-people-do-not-believe-jesus-is-the-messiah/

​

“The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation becomes the philosophy of government in the next.” Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, the statement captures a timely truth. Undeniably, progressive ideologies are dominating public education classrooms with the aim of producing young people beholden to the worldview of their schooling. Alarmingly, in many cases, the ideology is at odds with the values of the students’ parents.

While the majority of parents devote substantial time to raising their children, time is also a powerful force working against their efforts. The outsourcing of 16,000 hours of learning time to education establishments over the course of a child’s K-12 years has stacked the deck against parental influence. Couple this with the teacher’s recognized authority in the learning realm and the stage is set for schools to dominate the formation of children. As a result, there is a battle waging for the American mind.

According to Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin, the confrontation is far more than a clash of worldviews.

It is a battle. A war—a war over correct ideas….The classroom is our battlefield, the hearts and minds of our kids the prize. The very survival of the American Republic, and the greatness of Western civilization, are at stake.

PETE HEGSETH & DAVID GOODWIN, BATTLE FOR THE AMERICAN MINDG.K. Chesterton famously stated, “Education is not a subject and does not deal in subjects. It is instead a transfer of a way of life.” And the way of life taught in today’s schools is leading to the downfall of our country. We did not arrive here overnight. While the COVID-induced-closed schools gave parents access to the public school teachings, propaganda, and priorities, the attack on our nation’s Judeo-Christian founding began nearly a century ago. In its place is progressivism, rooted in Marxism and radicalism.

Progressivism’s ascendancy in K-12 public education dates back to John Dewey in the early twentieth century. But it was Dewey’s associate, secular humanist Charles Potter, that provided the most explicit revelation about the goal to dominate the influence on the hearts and minds of children through the classroom. Recognizing that many Americans were church-goers at the time, Potter boasted in 1930, “What can theistic Sunday School, meeting for an hour once a week, do to stem the tide of a five day program of humanistic teaching?”

But the battle over who controls American primary and secondary education goes back much further — President Ulysses S. Grant and Senator James Blaine worked strategically in the 1870s to ban public money from going toward religious schools. While the Blaine Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was defeated in 1875 by the Senate, it laid the groundwork for Blaine Amendments in 36 state constitutions. The message was sent — our nation’s founding Judeo-Christian worldview, and the high value it placed on faith, would be pushed out of the most formative years of a child’s life. The First Amendment’s freedom of religion was now exchanged for the notion of freedom from religion.

The drive of progressives to control the education of all children — not just public school children — was also witnessed in the 1920s with efforts to close private schools. Oregon led the way by attempting to outlaw all private Christian schools with the Compulsory Education Act of 1922. Other states had similar plans underway until the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck the law down in 1925 with the Pierce v. Society of Sisters decision.

Beginning in the late 1960s, public education control has undeniably been held by the mega teacher unions in political alliance with liberal politicians. They have used their power to deeply root progressive philosophy dominance in K-12 public schools.

This brings us back to today. Hegseth and Goodwin lament that countless parents nationwide send their children off to school “knowing that what they will encounter there—eight hours a day, five days a week, and nine months out of the year—reinforces none of those things” they teach them at home. In other words, “we ship them off to Democrat camp…every day.” Hegseth and Goodwin summarize the sad state of affairs: “We are willfully blind to the indoctrination of our kids, because it’s easier, cheaper, and more comfortable.”

But they also highlight an alternative path. They challenge us to muster the courage to “stop doing it. Pull your kids out. Choose a radical reorientation for your life, and the life of your kids…you will not regret it.” The stakes are high, as radicals are grasping the hearts and minds of our children in irrevocable ways, robbing them of their innocence and undermining the flourishing of their minds that comes from knowledge and critical thinking skills rather than political indoctrination.
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It’s not too late. If enough Americans commit to winning the battle for their children, as a nation, we can win the war against the dominance of detrimental progressive ideologies. Collectively we can change the tide, reasserting parental authority, breaking the monopoly of powerful teacher unions and the K-12 education bureaucracy, and unbinding our children from destructive education malpractice.

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