I think we would all agree that education is one of the most important facets of any society. I'm not just talking about "going to school"; there is much more to education than that. Education can even begin in the womb, and takes off from birth. Everything we are surrounded by "educates" us, in one way or another—for good or ill. Not all education is "good." It should be unnecessary to say that.
People can only know and act upon what they have been taught. If people don't know what "freedom" and "tyranny" are—and the source of both—then they will not know how to protect the former and guard against the latter. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). "My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge" (Isaiah 5:13). I fear America today is following that same course.
Our Founding Fathers were certainly great believers in the correlation between "education" (i.e., true knowledge) and "freedom." Let me share with you some thoughts from the great men of our past, who taught us and warned us, yet so many do not listen, and do not learn.
From Thomas Jefferson:
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
"The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate."
"An educated citizenship is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people."
And here is a gem from James Madison:
"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."
Such quotes could be multiplied almost endlessly, but frankly, are really a little gratuitous. As noted above, people can only know and act upon what they have been taught—and they will act upon what they have learned. China doesn't teach Christianity and free-market capitalism; it teaches atheism and Marxism, and it is thus wholly unsurprising that it has one of the most oppressive, totalitarian governments on earth. The people in China have no clue what true "freedom" and "democracy" are. They actually believe they do have a "democracy," and their government perpetuates the myth: the "People's Republic of China." North Korea is even more blatantly hypocritical and deceptive: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea." The "people" control nothing in either of those countries, they are not democratic or republican, and the masses are wholly ignorant of it. That's the product of their "education."
Recommended
Our Founding Fathers wanted America to truly be free, free from tyrants, despots, dictators, and power-hungry megalomaniacs that live for their own self-aggrandizement. The men who started our country gave us a Constitution to guide us in the direction of freedom, and away from tyranny. But we are required to learn what true freedom is, and where it comes from, and if we do not, we will almost certainly lose it. And the Democratic Party is hastening that ignorance as much as it possibly can. And with great success, I might add.
Where does "freedom" come from? What is the most critical part of human education? Noah Webster told us:
"Education is useless without the Bible… God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct."
The most important facet of the human constitution is character—virtue, honor, integrity, morality, uprightness, love. But we aren't born with those attributes; they must be taught. But without these decided strengths, all other forms of "knowledge" in the world are missing the most vital components to the ultimate advancement of a society. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (and wisdom)," and I'm sure Noah Webster would agree.
But American has lost that, the most crucial elements of education. We've got the technology to put a man on the moon, but don't have the moral sense to know the difference between a man and woman. If a person has a Ph.D. in nuclear physics, but still thinks children can be mutilated at their own whim for the sexual hedonism of others, then he has been horribly miseducated and will do far more harm to a society than any good his degree can accomplish. Even Thomas Jefferson, who was no devout Christian, understood the Bible's value to education: "The Bible makes the best people in the world." The problem is, the Left doesn't want good people in the world. A virtuous people don't need much government, and the main goal of Leftism is totalitarian government. "The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty," Jefferson wrote; the Bible, not totalitarian government. True religion, properly practiced, will produce an upright people who need little government to guide them. But, again, the Left doesn't want liberty, it wants power and control. It is the major reason they hate and lie about Christianity.
Government power is a great enemy of freedom. But even religion can be, and certainly has been, used by power-lusting humans. Jefferson warned us about the abuses of Christianity: "The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind, and adulterated [them] by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ." A totalitarian clergy, a clergy that loves power and not mankind, is just as dangerous to liberty as totalitarian politicians. Power, in anybody's hands, is the most treacherous beast on earth. Our education system must teach our people that, if we wish to remain free. And it doesn't.
Knowledge. True knowledge. It's essential to freedom. God through the prophet Hosea again: "For she (Israel) did not know that I (God) gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold" (Hosea 2:8). America today doesn't know it, either. And captivity based on miseducation will be the result.
My substacks are a little unique. Not just current events, but history, our Founding Fathers, what America was meant to be, and Biblical exegesis. Check them out. "Mark It Down! (mklewis929.substack.com) and "Mark It Down! Bible Substack" (mklbibless.substack.com). Both free. Follow me on "X": @thailandmkl. Read my western novels, "Whitewater," "River Bend," "Return to River Bend," and "Allie's Dilemma," all available on Amazon.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member