Dear Friends,

Before getting to the conclusion of "Teaching the Fear of the Lord", we wanted to share the following thoughts. Reflecting on the American political election, we are reminded of the folly of man in looking for a savior among sinful men rather than turning to God Almighty. In our day, humanistic, sinful, man places great faith in education, especially public education - and rightly so since it is a strong tool to destroy families and corrupt children.

As Christians, we must face the reality that our culture is anti-Christ. This includes its entertainment, its political norms, its ethical standards, its communications media etc. The answer is not to praise Hollywood when it occasionally has a movie with only a "little" profanity, sex etc., but for the church to abandon movies! The answer is not to work for rules banning homosexuals from teaching in public schools, but for the church to abandon its own faith in schools. The answer is not to have bumper stickers complaining about the liberal media, but for the church to stop buying newspapers written by anti-Christ men and stop listening to anti-Christ news people. (A by-product of such a change might be ignorance of pro sports - thus freeing the church from more idolatry).

A simple Bible study in Judges reveals the principle that we are not to compromise our faith by having wickedness remain among us. (1) God warned Israel of the dangers of failing to purge the land of evil,

Numbers 33:55
56. 'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them {will become} as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land in which you live.

When we apply the principle of driving out (and killing) the Canaanites to the New Covenant mandate, the Canaanites are not people but principalities and powers expressed in our culture in many ways.

When Israel entered the promised land, they failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land. As you read the following Scriptures, notice what the Israelites did with the inhabitants.

Judges 1:19
20. Now the \Lord\ was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.

Judges 1:30
31. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.

Judges 1:27
28. But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.
29. And it came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

Judges 1:21
22. But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

Judges 1:29
30. Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

Judges 1:31
32. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob.
33. So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

Judges 1:33
34. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

Judges 1:34
35. Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;
36. yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.

Now what was the result of this failure to totally destroy the sinful traps (inhabitants of the land)? The Israelites tried to make their sin look good by using the inhabitants of the land for "good" purposes as forced laborers. Do we try to make "forced laborers" out of what is rotten to the core such as Hollywood or the anti-Christ media? The Bible shows us the actual results of the compromise.

Judges 2:11
12. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the \Lord,\ and served the Baals,
13. and they forsook the \Lord,\ the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from {among} the gods of the peoples who were around them , and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the \Lord\ to anger.

The initial attempt to exploit the inhabitants as forced laborers soon led intermarriage,

Judges 12:9
10. And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters {whom} he gave in marriage outside {the family,} and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.

As we see throughout the book of Judges, the results were disastrous as Israel lost the opportunity given them by God to establish His Kingdom. Just what does God have in store for a people who leave space in their lives to cultivate a perfect relationship with the Lord of the universe as they are free from the popular culture of sin? We believe that the Bible has the encouraging answer to this question!

How does home education obey this Biblical principle? We believe that recent U.S. election results coupled with wicked court decisions (2) and laws are the logical outgrowths of decades of public education which teaches anti-Christ humanism and promotes the glory of sin. Such a populace is ripe for being deceived into thinking that "the economy" (3) is more important than God's law. (4) As Christian parents, we have three options: (1) anti-Christ public education, (2) private education with the continual deception and corruption of the popular culture since so many in the church are still under the spell of movies, the peer pressure of the popular press etc., (3) home education. Our goal is to disciple strong Christians who are prepared to confront and overcome the spirit of anti-Christ, not yield to it. The issue is bigger than saving our children - the church must awaken to the importance of saving the nation through the spiritual strength, prayers, witness and righteousness of all her children.

We cite the concluding paragraph from an 1874 American history book to show that even then, public education was raised up as a savior.

"If there is one thing, on which, more than all others, America may pride herself and find high hopes of stability for her glorious institutions, it is her system of common schools. She offers the advantages of education to the young without money and without price, convinced that their enlightenment is her best safeguard. She seeks, as Webster has said, 'by general instruction to turn the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of the law and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime'. That she may succeed in thus making her institutions eternal, is the prayer of every friend of liberty." (5)

While earlier times in history may have been free from the unashamed manifestations of sin we see today, there were seeds of humanistic philosophy sown which are now bearing evil fruit in our current situation.

ORAL BIBLE READING

Oral Bible reading teaches the fear of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 31:9
10. So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.
11. Then Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of {every} seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths,
12. when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.
13. "Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, in order that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.
14. "And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

The following steps are involved:

1. Every seventh year a public reading of the law occurred. vs 10,11
2. All ages of all the people including aliens were expected to listen. vs 12
3. God was to choose the place. vs 11

1. to hear the Word of the Lord.
2. to learn from it.
3. to fear the Lord.
4. to obey Him.

Most Christian families can read through the Bible each year in daily family worship times. However, it would be interesting to see this scriptural command become part of a family's sabbatical, a celebration that occurred every seven years or part of each year's vacation or holiday.

We have estimated that it would take seventy-two hours to read aloud through the Bible. With hour breaks for walks, swimming, a game of tennis, basketball, puzzles, board games, etc. and substantial breaks for meals, the Bible could be read aloud from Genesis to Revelation in twelve days. If questions come forth, these may be written down to discuss on a walk or at dinner. If discussions and questions are allowed during the reading time, it will take longer to read through the Bible. Whatever a family may decide to do, time spent in this worthwhile activity promises to bring a fear of the Lord and is certainly more profitable than most activities the world has to offer for family vacations. The eternal benefits far outweigh those of Disneyworld.

EXPOSURE OF THE HEART

Exposure of the heart teaches the fear of the Lord.

I Kings 8:37
38. "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight {or} mildew, locust {or} grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,
39. whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man {or} by all Thy people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house;
40. then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, for Thou alone dost know the hearts of all the sons of men,
41. that they may fear Thee all the days that they live in the land which Thou hast given to our fathers.

When Solomon dedicated the temple, he asked the Lord to do many things in response to people humbly seeking God in prayer. In His prayer Solomon asks the Lord to hear, forgive, act and render to men according to their ways so that they would fear Him. The following verses show the circumstances a family needs to take to the Lord in prayer so that He can bring a reverential fear of Him into that family. Even though the context of these verses is in the natural realm, they may be applied to the spiritual realm as well.

1. Famine. vs 37 {The scarcity of the Word of God preached with power or an inability to believe God's Word.}
2. Pestilence. vs 37 {Sin that spoils God's world.}
3. Blight or mildew. vs 37 {Sin that spoils God's people}.
4. Locust or grasshopper. vs 37 {Demonic realm that devours and destroys
5. Enemy besieges cities. vs 37 the Goodness of God's Word and keeps
6. Plague. vs 37 people enslaved to the bondages
7. Sickness. vs 37 of Satan's deceptions.}

This study has been offered as a look into the Laws of Israel that we might be prepared to serve the Lord in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Each family should discover its unique way to obey the Lord in finding His plan for teaching the fear of Him. There are no shortcuts to instill and teach the fear of the Lord. It takes the dedication of each family member to earnestly desire the fear of the Lord and the willingness to then set aside the time necessary for God's promises to become a reality.

II Corinthians 5:11
12. Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.

Further Discovery
The following are further topics a family may research together to discover much more about The Fear of the Lord

• WHAT DO PEOPLE WHO FEAR THE LORD DO?
• STUDY EXAMPLES OF THOSE WHO FEARED THE LORD AND THEIR BEHAVIOR.
• RESEARCH THE OUTCOME OF THOSE WHO FEAR THE LORD.
• STUDY GOD'S ACTS THAT INSTILL A FEAR OF HIM .
• HOW DO I KNOW THAT I PERSONALLY AM FUNCTIONING IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD?
• ARRANGE ALL THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD IN A SYSTEMATIC ORDER AS A CHECK LIST.

Jesus places a great emphasis on "understanding." His emphasis should encourage us to consider what we do in our homes to lead our children to understand, not just learn facts. We live in an age of information (facts) explosion. One has said that if you learned all the facts there are, in five years you would know only half because the amount of information would have doubled (see Daniel 12 :4 for a possible Biblical prophecy of this phenomena). This leads us to be encouraged to concentrate on understanding, whether it be in understanding the mysteries of the Gospel (reconciliation, restoration and victory), in understanding the times (current events), or in understanding history, science and so forth. Listen to what the Bible has to say.

After teaching the parable of the sower, Jesus told his disciples,

Matthew 13:13
14. "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand
15. "And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, #'\You will keep on hearing, but will not understand \; \And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive\;
16. \For the heart of this people has become dull\, \And with their ears they scarcely hear\, \And they have closed their eyes\ \Lest they should see with their eyes\, \And hear with their ears\, \And understand with their heart and return\, \And I should heal them\. '#

Reminding the disciples that He had power over provisions, Jesus said,

Matthew 16:9
10. "Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

After Jesus told his parents that they should have known to look for Him in His Father's house, Luke adds,

Luke 2:50
51. And they did not understand the statement which He had made to them.

Finally, when Nicodemus came to Jesus in the night, Jesus asked him,

John 3:10
11. Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things?

We encourage you to conclude this study with a search of the book of Proverbs where 55 verses talk about "understand" or "understanding"!

1. This study is inspired by teaching in A. B. Simpson's book, Danger Lines
2. Remember that the popular press tries to keep us ignorant of what is really going on - wickedness is more abundant than is often perceived.
3. Public education today teaches too little mathematics to understand economics and too little morality to understand the effect which sin has upon prosperity. Sin affects our economic circumstances through sickness, stealing, corruption, broken families, and government intrusion. Most government intrusion (regulation) is nothing more than the attempts of humanists to enforce politically correct morality (e.g. excessive safety regulations) upon a people who are sinful and selfish. Many basic, Biblical, principles of economics are totally unknown to the majority of church going people.
4. We noted in the November 6, 1992 edition of the Wall Street Journal that the first three announcements of directives from president-elect Clinton were to remove restrictions on abortion counseling, allow homosexuals in the military, and cut the white house staff. This priority to sin issues demonstrates the deception about the "economy" being the important issue.
5. Taken from History of the United States by G. P. Quackenbros, LL.D., New York: D. Appleton and Company, 549 & 551 Broadway. 1874. The quoted passage is the last paragraph of the book, page 512 of part IV, The Constitutional Period.