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Philosophy Defined

According to Noah Webster, ¹ who compiled the first American Dictionary of the English Language(1828):

The objects of philosophy are to ascertain facts or truth and the cause of things or their phenomena, to enlarge our views of God and his works, and to render our knowledge of both practically useful and subservient to human happiness.

Under the same entry for philosophy, Webster quotes S.S. Smith, "True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle" (1828). Therefore to fulfill the course requirement of Philosophy of Educational Leadership {ED840}, this paper will examine the written Biblical revelation of leadership to propose a Philosophy of Christian Educational Leadership that ultimately arrives not to a principle but to the historical person and present manifestation of Jesus Christ as Friend.

Because this paper is written from a Christian Biblical worldview, the role of the church and the purpose of private education are intertwined throughout the discussion. It is my hope that this examination qualifies this treatise as fulfilling the requirement for Educational Leadership for Private School and the Church {ED850}.

It is the Apostle Paul who sets Christ above a self-referential materialistic view of philosophy:

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; (Col 2 :8-10 NASB ² ).

Paul's use of the Greek compound philosophia , simply points to: "A love or pursuit of wisdom" [5385] ² , but a Christian philosophy may not be based solely on human logic and reasoning as 20th century modernists propose:

Stuart Hamblin defines philosophy as "natural function of the human mind," but Bertrand Russell specifies that natural function as "a quest for truth through logical reasoning rather than factual observation (Webster's Third International Dictionary, 1981).

Even though the post-modern era rejects claims of absolute certainty, Christian educators who desire a consistent Biblical philosophy of education must accept the 19th century definition of philosophy rather than that which has been formulated by secular humanists, who exalt the works of man's minds (reason) rather than receiving the mind of Christ (revelation) (Rev 9 :20; 1Cor 2 :16). Bill Johnson (2003), "a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit," reminds the 21st century Christian: "The Bible instructs us to turn our attention toward the invisible. This theme is repeated enough in Scripture to make those of us bound by the logic of this Western culture quite nervous" (44). To humbly research God's point of view on any subject requires an examination of that discipline from the Biblical record, the Holy Bible (Heb 4 :12-13), but even that examination requires a complete and desperate dependence upon the Holy Spirit as the One who guides into all truth and exposes human opinion and observation and differentiates facts from truth (John 16 :13-14). Robert Barclay (1780) who faced a similar problem in the 18th century wrote:

Nevertheless, as that which giveth a true and faithful testimony of the first foundation, they (Biblical cannon) are and may be esteemed a secondary rule, subordinate to the Spirit, from which they have all their excellency and certainty; for as by the inward testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they testify, that the Spirit is the guide by which the saints are led into all truth: therefore, according to the scriptures, the Spirit is the first and principal leader. And seeing we do therefore receive and believe the scriptures, because they proceed from the Spirit; therefore also the Spirit is more originally and principally the rule...(5).

According to Barclay it is the Holy Spirit, not human beings, who is the Leader who guides us into knowing absolute Truth.

Wisdom Defined

Webster's Third International Dictionary acknowledges God in its first entry by defining wisdom as: "The effectual mediating principles or personification of God's will in the creation of the world" (1981). This secular acknowledgment of the Creator and the concept that wisdom can be personified matches the Biblical revelation of wisdom.

The oldest book of the Bible, Job , reveals the greatest treatise ever written on wisdom and the foundation upon which leadership in Christian education must build:

But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, 'It is not in me'; and the sea says, 'It is not with me.' Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx, or sapphire. Gold or glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold. Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; and the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the sky. Abaddon and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a report of it.' God understands its way; and He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He imparted weight to the wind, and meted out the waters by measure, when He set a limit for the rain, and a course for the thunderbolt, then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding' (Job 28 :12-28).

According to Job neither the purest refined gold nor the most precious of jewels can equate to the wisdom that comes from a genuine reverential fear of the Lord God which comes through a relationship with the Holy Spirit. This ancient passage from Job points to the inestimable value of possessing wisdom that ultimately can be found only in a personal loving revelatory submission to the Lord (Jesus Christ).

According to Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest king who ever ruled a nation: "The fear of the Lord is (only) the beginning of wisdom," and it is the knowledge of the Holy One that gives understanding (Prov 9 :10). The Holy One implies God the Holy Spirit, and a man named Elihu may have been the first human being who tried to explain the spiritual symbiosis between the Holy Spirit and wisdom: "It (wisdom) is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding" (Job 32 :8). The Biblical record reveals that wisdom resides in the spirit of a human being, but when wisdom is manifested or expressed through a human being mixture must be discerned. James differentiates earthly wisdom as demonic and describes wisdom that comes from God:

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy (James 3 :13-17).

Therefore a Biblical approach to the wisdom of leadership that is needed in Christian education is not a rational materialistic Greek approach to the wisdom that exalts human reasoning above revelation given by the Holy Spirit but must be one that agrees with the New Testament revelation of wisdom which proclaims that wisdom is not only a gift of the Holy Spirit but also is Christ Himself:

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord'... For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; (1Cor 1 :30-31; I Corinthians 12 :8).

The apostle Paul, who warned, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception," makes it clear that the "traditions of men according to the elementary principles of the world are not according to Christ" (Col 2 :8). Thus to establish a philosophy of leadership in Christian education a revelation of Christ must reign over secular humanist persuasions. According to Paul's prayer found in Ephesians, "a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Christ" as it pertains to leadership in Christian education is given by the "Father of glory" (Eph 1 :17). Therefore leadership in Christian education also requires a relationship with Father God that keeps His will central in all endeavors by being led by the Holy Spirit with eyes focused on Jesus Christ rather than blindly following the dictates of mere men. This relationship with Father God is the essence of Christianity that needs to be seen in education. Jesus explains:

'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me' (John 14 :23-24).

Education Defined

Webster's New World College Dictionary (2000) defines education as "the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, character, etc. esp. by formal schooling." This modern definition stands in sharp contrast to Relational Learning ³ as revealed by Jesus Christ:

'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light' (Matt 11 :28-30).

To ignore Jesus in educational endeavors is to foster weariness and oppression, and His words are an accurate description of education as many observe it in our present society. Hope Jensen Leichter states the dilemma:

If one defines education as the deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to transmit, evoke, or acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, and sensibilities....attitudes and values can be associated with religious beliefs, which are often deliberately excluded from the school curriculum (Leichter, 28-29).

This may be true in public education, but it is the exclusion of Jesus Christ Himself as Lord of private Christian educational systems in a post-modern society and the rejection of His path of wisdom that is suicidal to the church and therefore is detrimental to society. It is not religious beliefs but Jesus Himself that is needed in the Christian private school and homeschool.

Relational Learning ³ doesn't merely acknowledge Jesus or simply agree with Him. Relational Learning actively seeks to personally abide with Jesus and give Him preeminence in every endeavor, in every situation, and in every relationship that pertains to all of life. Learning how to live with Christ as Lord and learning how to learn with Christ as Lord is the essence of an education that claims to be Christian (Rodd, 2003, Learning how to learn ). Doing this with others is the essence of Christian family, the church. Bill Johnson (2003) asks readers to imagine "a people that are continually conscious of the presence of God, not in theory but the actual presence of God upon them" (181).

Leadership Defined

Jesus Christ, "who is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb 13 :8) speaks on leadership as an attribute of God that men must not usurp. Jesus' ability to speak only what He heard the Father saying is unequaled in human history, and His ability to be led by the Holy Spirit sets the human standard for Christian educators. Johnson states:

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit can present us with the same dilemma. While He never contradicts His word, He is very comfortable contradicting our understanding of it. Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures may enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map -- to go beyond what we know. To do so successfully we must recognize His presence above all (2003, 80).

Only Christ alone is qualified to impart to the Christian educator the absolute confidence that is needed to face daily extreme opposition to the perfect will of God (Rom 12 :1-2). Jesus states very clearly, '"Do not be called leaders; for One is your leader, that is, Christ'" (Matt 23 :10). The simplicity of obedience to Christ's teaching was neither explained to me in a private Catholic college nor explicitly extolled in ecclesiastical settings, the church. However, I did see it modeled before me by two men in my life who never used the title of mentor or leader, never vied for the position of elder (father), nor claimed to be teachers. One a simple Australian gardener and the other an erudite Romanian PhD in nuclear physics were both examples to me of "simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (2Cor 11 :3). Shawn Bolz (2004) aptly describes the danger behind the use of titles in Christendom as "idolatrous" and yet is unable to fully agree with Jesus' admonition:

Sometimes as I thumb through well-known Christian magazines, I am amused to see all the titles people use before their names: 'Apostle,' 'Bishop,' 'Reverend,' 'Prophet,' 'Worshipper,' 'Teacher,' etc. Although the use of a title is not wrong in itself, at the same time I wonder if putting such a value on titles in Christian life could become idolatrous! (46).

If Jesus said, "'Do not be called leaders,'" and Christians in private education and the church call one another "leader," who then is being obeyed?

When there is pressure to use titles to define spiritual authority, is it because the title has become part of the community's value system? In the Bible, title defined function, not an identity. Likewise, spiritual authority cannot be defined by a title; it comes from the Lord (Bolz, 46).

According to Christ Himself: "'It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life, but there are some of you who do not believe'" (John 6 :63,-64a). Christian educators in the western church have had access to the words of Jesus in English translations since 1381AD when the Holy Spirit released Wycliffe to give the word of God to the "common" people. Many New Testament editions print the words of Jesus in red ink to clearly demonstrate the superiority of His words over all others, and yet unbelief can push even Christian educators toward the pursuit of everything and everyone but Jesus and His words of life! Johnson(2003) describes the mental conflict:

Unbelief is anchored in what is visible or reasonable apart from God. It honors the natural realm as superior to the invisible. The apostle Paul states that what you can see is temporal, and what you can't see is eternal. Unbelief is faith in the inferior....Most all the people that I've known who are filled with unbelief have called themselves realists ..Put another way, they believe the material world rules over the spiritual world (45-46).

The book of Hebrews, written before 70AD, reveals the Adamic inner conflict: "So we see that they [are] not able to enter because of unbelief. Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God" (Heb 3 :19,12). Jesus simply instructs the church and the private school:

'But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted' (Matt 23 :8-12).

The very use of the word "leader" in the titles of courses ED840 and ED850 as mandated by secular humanists who control educational pursuits in the United States forces Christians to join with the unbelieving Pharisees rather than the Holy One of God. To be called "leaders" pushes the Holy Spirit to the outer perimeters of church activity. To be called "teachers" purposely forbidden by Christ promotes self-exaltation rather than humility in private school. To be called "father" pits the human against the One Father in heaven. Thus Jesus' words directly oppose all that secular education promotes.

Bolz describes the danger and the deception behind the use of titles: the elimination of titles:

I think this is a very important distinction, because when people cannot separate themselves from their titles their heart and their value system seem tied to 'position.' Again, the mind-set becomes, 'what we do is who we are.' Value is equated with position.

Realizing this, we can see how the Church reflects society, rather than influencing it. As followers of Christ, we are called to bring the world to a higher standard, 'pressing on toward our heavenly goal of Christ.'

This fundamental deception regarding titles reaps significant consequences in the Church (2004, 46).

The purpose of this discussion is not to wrangle about words for that "leads to ruin" (2Tim 2 :14) but to expose the work of the enemy, the world system, as it infiltrates Christian educational settings. This strategy of darkness attempts to silence the Spirit of Christ resident within those who have been born again to a living hope (1Pet 1 :3,22-23) and have been called to be ambassadors representing God's kingdom in the sphere of education (2Cor 5 :20). Jesus cuts to the root of this heart issue:

'If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him' (John 14 :15,23).

A Servant Defined

Matthew records Jesus' refutation of the example of leadership that the world presented to Him and others in Israel 2000 years ago:

Jesus called them to Himself, and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many' (Matt 20 :25-28).

John Paul Jackson maintains:

You see, the Lord does not respect the Church's pecking order. Instead, He respects those with humble hearts and contrite spirits, who are true to Him. It is communion and intimacy that God honors, not works and accomplishments. Humanity has imposed a self-made system of supposed spiritual acknowledgment. If one does not fit into this layered hierarchy (pecking order) and wait to be acknowledged by those above, then one will be shunned for not following human-enforced protocols (Bolz 2004, 13).

Jesus differentiates that a nice title, like Benefactor, did not prevent the exaltation of one over another:

'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called "'Benefactors.'" But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves' (Luke 22 :25-27).

Jesus' words and His example reveal God's view of leadership: servanthood . Much of Christianity has seen and fostered the concept of humble servant leadership which Jesus demonstrated in multifarious ways. Johnson (2003) states:

Our strong suit has been, and always will be, service. If in serving we get promoted to positions of rulership, we must remember that what got us there, will keep us useful. In the kingdom, the greatest is the servant of all (168).

However, telling someone to be a servant-example to others does not necessarily imply how to become that servant, and this missing element needs to be examined so that Christian educators are empowered to freely and lovingly obey all of Christ's teachings. Bolz (2004) reveals the relationship Christian educators need to cultivate:

His [Jesus] only goal was to obey the Father's voice, recognizing that the Father's will was greater than His own. Jesus knew the Father would give Him much more than anything offered on Earth, because Jesus was born of the Spirit....

He was an example of day-to-day communion and obedience. He did not devise a master plan for His destiny based on previously successful works and strategies; He received His destiny by cultivating the Master relationship based on love (Bolz, 57).

Family Defined

When Jesus first gives His prohibition concerning titles, He also includes the secret to obeying His words: "Do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers" (Matt 23 :8). Jesus teaches that to be a servant, a person must first be a brother. His use of the word "brothers" is significant for He uses a family term before He introduces the concept of servanthood.

The English word "brothers" is adelphos [80] in the Greek which implies those who come from the same womb. Before a Christian educator can be an example of servanthood, s/he must first be related properly to Jesus Christ. To be a brother to Jesus one must first be a child of God: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1 :12-13).

Webster's 1828 definition of brother states: "A human male born of the same father and mother," but being male or female has nothing to do with Jesus' concept of brothers. Brotherhood as the evolutionist defines would make us fathered by apes. A multiculturalist definition of brotherhood only adds to the confusion that is rampant in educational jargon. Therefore it is Jesus' definition and not past or present culture mores that gives the Christian educator the family identity that will reveal the true example of servanthood in education. That family also known as the Body of Christ is the Church Universal.

As previously mentioned, Jesus' words themselves and the words in the New Testament that are used to record His life and His teachings are the most valuable research a Christian educator can cite. Jesus' words are free and available for all to pursue and peruse, but the revelation of those words and the ability to move from the logos to the rhema requires an intimate abiding relationship. Jesus simply reveals: "Christ is the leader" (Matt 23 :10). Therefore Christian educators are merely followers of Christ, not leaders of men :

'To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out... When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice... And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd' (John 10 :3-4,16).

The ability of Christian educators to hear the voice of the One Shepherd is not as easy as it appears because those trained in education have been forced to recognize, accept and follow the voices of strangers, those who are not true brothers. Therefore brotherhood has to be defined by Jesus and by no other. The acceptance of His definition brings not only clarity and freedom, but it also paves the way to establish a perfected unity in servanthood in education that the world needs to observe in order to displace unbelief with belief:

'I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me' (John 17 :20-23).

Christian educators can see our raison d'etre in Jesus' prayer. Our purpose in education is to create an atmosphere where the Fatherhood of God can be revealed. The concept of education as family rather than "teacher/leaders" may seem impossible to our western Greek materialistic frame of reference, but Jesus loves to reveal the impossible and then do the impossible for that manifestation brings glory to the Father. Thus His definition of "brothers" is the pivotal paradigm shift in human history that must be the basis of the Christian philosophy of Christian servanthood manifested in the sphere of education.

Paradigm Shift

Jesus' natural family were the first to undergo this radical change in the definition of family:

While He was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. And someone said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.' But He answered the one who was telling Him and said, 'Who is My mother and who are My brothers?' And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, 'Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother' (Matt 12 :46-50).

Jesus' inclusiveness of "whoever" satisfies every multiculturalist desire for commonality in education, but at the same time Jesus clearly sets the parameters of exclusiveness. The paradoxes of Jesus are hard for the natural mind to comprehend, but the spiritual man directly comprehends the specificity of family: It is the will of the Father that is sought and that choice determines the foundational root of brotherhood that can mature into the fruit of Christ-like servanthood.

When Mark describes this scene, he adds: "A multitude was sitting around Jesus" (Mark 3 :32,34). This detail encapsulates a visual image of brothers in Christ doing the will of the Father by first learning how to sit at Jesus' feet. Mary, the sister of Martha, is the major New Testament example of one who had learned to follow this better way. Jesus said, "Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10 :42). When the world asks for a titular head, Jesus asks for brothers and sisters who are content to sit at His feet and wait for His instructions. Mary is the primary New Testament prototype of one who leads by example because she is one who was led by Christ's compassion to springs of water and into the Father's arms (Isa 49 :10). In the preface to Bolz's book Jackson agrees:

We should be seeking more and more of God's truth, becoming a part of God's throne room company of people who love simply to sit at His feet and be with Him.

This hunger for more intimacy is a hallmark of what God yearns to release on the Earth in the realm of spiritual leadership. In 2002, I had an encounter with the Lord and His Holy Spirit that disintegrated many former opinions I had held. In this encounter the Lord spoke to me and said, 'The pecking order in the Church is about to topple. I am going to start promoting unknown people to the fourth row....'

To be truly great in the Kingdom of God, however, we must be humble and passionately in love with the King. Like Mary at Jesus' feet, we need to be content to sit and wait on God. We should hang on His every word. This is what a throne room company does. We must be willing to look foolish in the eyes of our peers, as we proclaim boldly what God has told us to say and do (Bolz 2004, 12-13).

Even though John Paul Jackson equates those who have this ability as, "spiritual leadership," I prefer to call them Melchizedek Mary's, ⁴ those who follow the Holy Spirit to sit at Jesus' feet.

When Luke records the momentous point in human history when family is redefined, he describes the standard Jesus set for all Christian educators. The family of God are those who are able to "hear the word of God and do it":

His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, 'Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.' But He answered and said to them, 'My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it' (Luke 8 :19-21).

Jesus' teaching is not a focus on the human family, for He clearly sets his face like flint against His own natural family to declare once and for all what family means to Father God. This patriarchal allegiance to hear Father God, love Father God, and obey Father God may not be palatable to the reasoning humanist, the crusading feminist, or the reigning religionist who all love hierarchy and positions of worldly power. However, Jesus is our example who sets the pattern:

Jesus went to radical extremes to break their (disciples) wrong ideals about these earthly processes and kingdom. This was a war Jesus raged.

Some of Jesus' statements about His own earthly family were considered morally wrong and the ultimate in dishonor by the culture around Him.

The Jewish culture was so wrapped up in the old covenant role of family being one of a person's primary focusses. So, how could they accept such a statement? How could they continue to follow one who did not ascribe value to the central pillar of their culture? Jesus' statement was revolutionary.

This, however, was not the statement of an extremist. It conveyed Jesus' jealous love for humanity. He loves us enough to leave His Father in heaven, and He expects no less from us -- asking us to abandon all other loves for Him. As His followers, we are to treat everything else as lesser in comparison to Him, the greater.

Jesus confirmed that those who were seeking God's will according to His desire were the only ones He would spend time with -- His true brothers and sisters (Bolz 2004, 58).

The prophet Isaiah saw Father's family as those who are led by the Holy Spirit into a supernatural place of rest that glorifies Him: "As the cattle which go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So didst Thou lead Thy people, to make for Thyself a glorious name" (Isa 63 :14). David, the Shepherd King of Israel, also understood and recorded this dependence upon the Holy Spirit: "Teach me to do Thy will, For Thou art my God; let Thy good Spirit lead me on level ground" (Psa 143 :10). When the church and private Christian education enters into the Sabbath rest of belief concerning family, we will no longer look like the world.

ONE FATHER or Deceptive Titles

According to Paul there is a leveling in Christ that submits to one another as well as to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This revelation of Paul needs to be acknowledged in Christian educational spheres:

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Eph 4 :1-6).

Even though the five-fold expression of Christ as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher is necessary until the unity of the faith is achieved, these expressions are not titular heads that exalt themselves by placing others under them. When these titles in the church and in Christian education become more important than servant brotherhood, the world, not the Father's Kingdom, is manifested. The following quote from a city newspaper demonstrates how the secular media observes titles that incubate disaster in private Christian school and the church. The headline (September 1, 2004) states: "Ex-pastor convicted of preying on boys - 13 years in prison for former coach, teacher." The article accurately and concisely describes the deceptive danger of preferring titles to the words of Jesus:

Canton - Pastor. Teacher. Coach. Homecoming king. Mark John Hogan has had many titles in his life. On Tuesday, he added two more - convicted felon and sexual predator. Tall and lanky in an orange jail jumpsuit, Hogan 33, stood before a judge and pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, six counts of sexual battery and two counts of corruption of a minor, all felonies. He also pleaded guilty to five counts of endangering children, seven counts of sexual imposition, and seven counts of pubic indecency. Those charges are misdemeanors. Stark County Common Please Judge Richard D. Reinbold Jr. sentenced the former Heritage Christian School teacher to 13 years in prison and designated him a sexual predator, the most severe of Ohio's three sex-offender classifications.

'Mark, I just hope someday you will confess your sins and ask for forgiveness,' said the mother of two of Hogan's victims during the hearing. 'These are very grave sins that you have committed in the name of Jesus Christ.' Hogan declined when asked by the judge if there was anything he wanted to tell the court or his victims sitting in the gallery. After the hearing, Hogan's attorney, Rick Pitinii, said his client accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted to move on...

Much of the abuse, which included oral sex and masturbation, took place during Bible studies Hogan held at his apartment or at victims' homes. Abuse also occurred at the schools where he taught, prosecutors said. Hogan preyed on the boys' vulnerabilities and twisted Scripture to convince them that his conduct was acceptable, said Chryssa Hartnett, assistant Stark County prosecutor. He met all of his victims through Heritage Christian School, where he taught health and Bible classes and coached basketball, Hartnett said...

Heritage Christian Principal Howard Pizor said he was 'thrilled the allegations against Hogan are now resolved.' When Hogan came to the school, he was a respected graduate of Malone College (a Christian College), where he played basketball and was homecoming king, and he had his own ministry, Pizor said. (Canton Repository, Ex-pastor A1,8).

These explicit quotes from this grievous article demonstrates the inability of the church and Christian educational establishments to set Christ's words and His example as the standard for the world. Did this young man fail or did those who trained him fail in their responsibility to uphold the warnings of Christ concerning the use of titles?

Johnson makes a distinction about titles that is relevant in our post-modern culture that prefers self-indulgence to self-denial:

Christ is not Jesus' last name. The word Christ means 'Anointed One' or "Messiah." It is a title that points to an experience. It was not sufficient that Jesus be sent from heaven to earth with a title. He had to receive the anointing in an experience to accomplish what the Father desired (2003, 79).

It is the same for those in the church who follow Jesus into the realm of education. Hearing the voice of God (rhema) in the word (logos) and then doing it causes a separation. Jesus traveled with his natural family in the beginning of His ministry of reconciliation (John 2 :12), but as He got closer to the end of His ministry, His Father's definition of family became more important than natural family. So it is with those who claim to be followers of Jesus: The Kingdom of God is always in ascendency over the natural family and other human relationships and institutions. Jesus teaches:

'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first, will be last; and the last, first' (Mark 10 :29-31).

Jesus' words clearly reveal the paradigm shift that occurred 2000 years ago when Jesus explained the concept of family. Even though quasi-Christian cults have misused and abused these verses to justify their own self-referential agendas, this scripture passage should not be ignored in philosophical discussions on leadership in the church and in private Christian education. There may be persecution to endure when Christ is followed with the Kingdom of God in focus for the present moment and for eternity (Matt 6 :33). It is the narrow path that leads to life (Matt 7 :13-14).

The New Testament reveals the unreasonable persecution that erupts when a known leader in the civil and/or religious sphere abdicates his position in the world to worship and obey Jesus Christ as Lord:

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying, 'This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, 'If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.' And he drove them away from the judgment seat. And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. And Gallio was not concerned about any of these things (Acts 18 :12-17).

True followers of Christ, then and now, often find themselves incarcerated for sharing the truth in love, and some with educational responsibility who have abused the name of Christ sometimes find themselves sentenced as sexual predators like Mr. Hogan. Who is willing to reveal truth in educational environments among Christians who are more secure in their titles as teachers and leaders than in their identity as worshiper and servant-family-followers of Christ? (Heb 12 :25-29).

Paul never uses the word "leader" in his epistles, but he specifically uses "family" terms to assure Timothy of the way to protect relationships within the church at Ephesus. Paul's instruction to Timothy is excellent for the 21st century Christian educator who may have to mediate peace in difficult matters:

Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity (1Tim 5 :1-2).

Son Defined

Followers of Christ in education are to be continually reminded that those who do the will of God are fellow family members; they are not business prospects nor pawns to be used for personal popularity or power or perverted sexual pleasure. Christians in educational settings need to understand and accept that followers of Christ consciously make Father's will preeminent in every matter, civil or religious. Jesus told a parable to distinguish between two kinds of sons in a family:

'What do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "'Son, go work today in the vineyard.'" And he answered and said, "'I will, sir'"; and he did not go. And he came to the second and said the same thing. But he answered and said, "'I will not'"; yet he afterward regretted it and went. Which of the two did the will of his father?' They said, "'The latter.'" Jesus said to them, "'Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him"' (Matt 21 :28-32).

This passage clarifies the two aspects of the use of the word father. It is not the natural family who cannot use the title father; it is the spiritual family that is not allowed to usurp the title that is ascribed only to "One God and Father of all and through all and in all" (Eph 4 :6). It is noteworthy that Jesus uses the family context as the scenario to mercifully expose unbelief in the chief priests and the elders who came to Him questioning His authority while He was teaching in the temple.

A son or daughter who lovingly obeys Father's commands is a true son who understands the imminent kindness of Father God that gives a human being the ability to repent of that which doesn't please Him. Johnson (2003) describes the spiritual dynamics of the The Living Word, The Son of God, the Christian educators' example:

In this case, the actual Presence of the Spirit of God upon Jesus stirred up a hunger for God in the people. That hunger brought a change in their attitudes without their being told it should change. Their hunger for God, even before they could recognize it as such, had created a new perspective in them that even they were unaccustomed to. Without an effort to change, they had changed. How? The Kingdom comes in the Presence of the Spirit of God. It was His Presence they detected, and it was His Presence they longed for. For them it didn't matter if He was doing miracles or just giving another sermon, they just had to be where He was. Hunger humbles. Hunger for God brings about the ultimate humility. And He exalted them at the proper time with a taste of His dominion (40).

Christians who have been indoctrinated in secular approaches to education have little opportunity to think outside the humanist prison of unbelief. Christians who have received licensure from the state through Christian institutions may fare a little better, but the requirements of state licensure often bind Christian educational institutions to obey man rather than God (Acts 5 :29). It takes heavenly wisdom to walk through the minefield of accreditation and the need to obtain secular humanist approval. However, followers of Christ, who fear the Lord and are willing to endure persecution, have the most glorious opportunity in the sphere of education to present Christ's paradigm shift by showing that the family relationship with the Triune God is a living organism with a blueprint from heaven:

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land (Psa 68 :5-6).

Jesus' walk to the cross revealed One Father. Christian educators must have a philosophy of leadership in private education and in the church that not only follows Jesus, but also displays His joy and power. Johnson (2003) explains this necessity:

A misunderstanding of this call has led many to follow His life of self-denial, but to stop short of His life of power. For them the cross-walk involves trying to crucify their sin nature by embracing joyless brokenness as an evidence of the cross. But, we must follow Him all the way--to a lifestyle empowered by the resurrection...a life filled with joy because of the transforming power of God (146).

The "Title" Dilemma

Much confusion and controversy in the church and in private Christian education arises from one passage in Hebrews which states:

Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you (Heb 13 :17).

Even though perversion of leadership in Christendom has occurred through the misunderstanding of this verse, "Watch over your souls" is very pertinent to formulating a Christian philosophy of educational leadership. The root of the Greek word hegeomai [2233] is ago [71] which gives the idea of carrying or bringing more than leading. The question for Christians in the church and for those called to service in private Christian school or home school is: "How can I carry a person to Christ?" The question for one already in a titled position of authority in the church or in education is: "To what or to whom is a human person to submit? To another human person or to the revelatory teachings of the ascended Christ (Anointed One) coming through a human person?" The question for all in the church no matter where the particular call to service may lead is: "How can Christ Himself be revealed in all daily activity and responsibility?" This mystery, according to Paul was once hidden but is now revealed, and the revelatory answer includes the fellowship of Christ's sufferings:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of {this church} I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the {preaching of} the word of God, {that is,} the mystery which has been hidden from the {past} ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me (Col 1 :24-29).

The Biblical record reveals a process in learning submission, but the ultimate submission that reveals true Christian maturity and freedom is "submission to the Father of (our) spirits" (Heb 12 :9). The mind, the will, and the emotions are all to be subject to the Spirit of God not to human flesh (Gal 5 :16-18). Bill Johnson (2003) explains what happens when the human spirit receives revelation from the Holy Spirit:

Your spirit received the life-giving power of the word from the Holy Spirit. When we learn to receive from our spirit, our mind becomes the student and is therefore subject to the Holy Spirit. Through the process of revelation and experience our mind eventually obtains understanding. That is biblical learning--the spirit giving influence to the mind (47).

The attitude of Moses gives Christian educators a distinct and definitive example to internalize and maintain in helping others follow the Holy Spirit and experience Christ Himself resident within as part of the educational process:

Then he said to Him, "If Thy presence does not go {with us,} do not lead us up from here" (Exo 33 :15).

Thus the most important thing a Christian involved in educational pursuits can do is not only to help others learn to discern the voice of God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and Father, but to also recognize His manifest presence. Moses shared the importance of this with Joshua, a servant-follower in God being trained in the ways of God:

'Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!' (Numbers 11 :29-29).

When Paul wrote about the verbal gift of prophecy, he also explained the New Covenant gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues, that was not in the Old Covenant:

Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying (I Corinthians 14 :1-5).

How many Christian educational endeavors include speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophesying as part of the daily routine in corporate chapel, in every class, in every home school? It would be an interesting survey to compile, for it may show why Christian education mimics the world rather than being a laser of light and power to the world. When private Christian education relegates the church as a superior but separate entity from the student, the division isolates, insulates, and insults the Holy Spirit. When this occurs, the will of human beings, not the will of the Father, is exalted and preferred. This choice is deadly. Johnson (2003) explains:

Contentment short of God's purposes would mean having to learn to live with the enemy. That is what it is like when a believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit but never goes beyond speaking in tongues. When we become satisfied apart from God's ultimate purpose of dominion, we learn to tolerate the devil in some area of our life. As glorious as the gift of tongues is, it is an entrance point to a lifestyle of power. That power has been given to us that we might dispossess the strongholds of hell and take possession for the glory of God (72).

According to Paul the shepherding of the flock of God was always towards the centrality of Christ and away from the ascendency of human beings. His advice to the Ephesian church is valid for Christian educators today:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20 :28-30).

The criteria according to Paul of a true follower of Christ is one who will not allow Christ to be dethroned in the mind, will and emotions of His disciples. Earl and Diane Rodd (1991) demonstrate the true Christian educators as:

Those who bring others closer to the Lord. A leader is not someone who has people following him. People followed Hitler, but he was not a true leader. A true leader is one who never takes God's place in the eyes of man. He knows God personally and is able to help others to see and know God. It is not Bible schools, seminaries, Christian schools, Sunday schools, or church meetings that make true godly leaders. These structures can even inhibit, thwart or prevent the Holy Spirit from having His way in a person's life. God has chosen the family as His perfect training ground to make leaders. The Church is being restored to God's perfect will, and the restoration of God's plan for families is part of that process (63-64).

Keeping Christ central begins with anyone whom others can observe as a "follower of Christ." Dr. James B. Richards (1996) declares:

I must let Jesus be your Lord, just as you must allow Him to be mine. He is the One you must follow. If you follow Him and I follow Him, we will ultimately arrive at the proper destination. You are His servant, not mine. One thing for sure, if we are following Him, we will walk in love throughout our journey (213).

Thus any person, of any gender, of any age, can be observed as a follower of Christ when the gifts of the Holy Spirit are incorporated in the daily life of all and that submission is more important than being designated as a "leader" in the church or in private Christian education.

Some people place high value on the presence of God and others don't. The ones who do enjoy fellowship throughout their day with the Holy Spirit are extremely conscious of how He feels about their words, attitudes, and activities. The thought of grieving Him brings great sorrow. It's their passion to give Him preeminence in everything. That passion brings that believer into a supernatural life--one with the constant activity of the Holy Spirit working through them (Johnson 2003, 134).

Peter, an example of a submissive servant-family-follower of Jesus Christ led by the Holy Spirit, gives the clearest advice to those who may be given titles by others to differentiate their various calling, gifts,and functions.

I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you (I Peter 5 :1-7).

Some titles are an anathema, such as leader, teacher and father. To ignore Christ's direct command in this matter is to invite the deceptive machinations of the kingdom of darkness. Jesus warns:

For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order, if possible, to lead the elect astray (Mark 13 :22).

One of those false prophets unleashed against the family as educator was John Dewey. In Understanding the Times David Noebel (1991) describes Dewey's descent into a philosophy of education based on the false premise of evolution rather than faith in Father God as Creator:

Dewey was convinced by Huxley's (T.H.) claim that man is the result of natural evolutionary processes and credited (Huxley's textbook on physiology) with being responsible for his 'intellectual awakening.'... By 1894 he (Dewey) was the head of the philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy department at the University of Chicago. At Chicago, he began an experimental school to test his educational theories. This led to a conflict with the university's president, and Dewey wound up moving to Columbia University in 1904. His fame spread, and many of his Humanistic educational theories found their way into America's public school system. Many of his books, including Experience and Nature and Liberalism and Social Action have also impacted the academic world (55).

Because civil government has usurped the authority of the family as educator, the entwined mess of octopusian tentacles strangles the life out of all those who are caught in a system trying to be something it can never be. John Dewey's experiment attempedt to institutionalize education and remove "much of the adult world (that) stood directly revealed before the eyes of the child, and "to recreate versions of the adult world (in schools) to teach what the child had formerly learned in the household" (Lichter 1974, 2). Dewey's experiment has perpetrated failure and abuse in secular and Christian education for the past 100 years. Even though John Dewey may have separated the family from education, it is the acceptance of the false doctrine of cessationism in the church that has separated the presence of the Holy Spirit, Father and Son from private Christian education.

Peter addresses the internal attitude of a follower of Christ that must be championed in a philosophy of Christian education if that philosophy demonstrates the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of this world. It is the example of being the church in education that a follower of Christ is able to keep Christ as the single focus of a group of people. Peter's statement bears repeating for he cites voluntary eagerness as that which displaces the desire for prestigious titles, worldly acclaim, or monetary gain:

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock (1Pet 5 :1-3).

Whether it is the homeschooling parent or a Christian in an organized educational setting, submission to the Holy Spirit in all educational endeavors is that which can be observed and thus can be desired by those who watch it in all of life's daily activity. All that is done or experienced in Christian education must reflect the will of Father God, not human theories or opinions.

Not only are designated titles a source of entanglement in Christian education but civil compulsory attendance legislation is also a source of strangulation. These two false friends continue to perpetuate a system that has starved and suffocated millions of students for over a century in direct opposition to God's word without any awareness that hearty approbation is given to something that is totally outside God's Divine order (Rodd, E. & D. (1991), Training for Royalty, (15-17); (2000), "Compulsory Education: Its History and Effects"). Clarence Carson (1987) describes the education prowess of the Pilgrim Fathers which was despised by Dewey's secular humanistic philosophy of education:

Education was mainly a family responsibility in colonial America, and the extent was largely left up to the individual. There were no compulsory attendance laws enforced by governments. Most children got at least their early education in the home, where they might be taught to read, write and figure, but almost certainly would be trained in housekeeping if they were girls, and in many of the tasks of making a living if they were boys....Trades and professions were usually learned by serving an apprenticeship under someone who had mastered them. This was usually so whether it was carpentry, iron making, medicine, or the law (124-125).

The Battle Defined

Like the Israelites who had "shortness of spirit" due to slavery under Egypt (Exo 6 :9), many Christians who deeply desire to serve the King of kings within the education system have no idea how detrimental the system really is. Just like David facing Goliath, Christian educators must recognize the battle and maintain a Biblical strategy that works for those within the system and those without. David's cry must be every Christian educator's war cry, and we must go for the head and eyes of this giant octopus and not just try to severe a symptomatic tentacle every once in awhile:

David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands' (1Sam 17 :45-47).

A Christian philosophy of educational leadership must be able to work even under governments that pass anti-Christ laws. Jesus prayed: "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil {one}" (John 17 :15). It is the words of Jesus, the Life and the Spirit, (John 6 :63) that is the stone that will stop the mental doubt and confusion concerning educational leadership: Nebuchadnezzar saw the future, and Daniel interpreted the King of Babylon's dream:

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy (Daniel 2 :44-45).

Both Matthew and Luke recorded Jesus' words on this future event:

'Did you never read in the Scriptures, "'The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'"? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.' And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. And when they sought to seize Him, they feared the multitudes, because they held Him to be a prophet (Matthew 21 :42-46).

But He looked at them and said, 'What then is this that is written, "'The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone'"? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.' And the scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them. And they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so as to deliver Him up to the rule and the authority of the governor (Luke 20 :17-20).

An educator in a titled position must never forget that the goal in education is not knowledge, but knowledge of the Holy One who can give understanding in all things (2Tim 2 :7) and leads to the worship of the Father. The goal is not wisdom, but relationship that leads to revelation of the One who is Wisdom. A Christian educator must know that when a worshipful relationship to Father God is the ultimate goal of a Christian education, there may be other educators who do not want to lose their position in the hearts and minds of their students. When the Kingdom of God is chosen rather than the kingdom of the world, much heavenly wisdom is needed to handle the conflict that may arise:

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1 :5).

Relationship with the Living Triune God involves a mental and spiritual capacity that refuses all doubt, all unbelief, all lies. All thoughts that are contrary to Christ's teaching must come under submission to God Himself who guides into all truth and gives understanding in all things (John 16 :13; 2Tim 2 :7; 1John 5 :20). This understanding requires supernatural intervention in the battle that rages in the mind of a Christian who serves in education, public or private:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete (2Cor 10 :3-6).

To obey this scripture requires not only heavenly wisdom but it also demands great faith:

But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1 :6-8).

But something more than relational revelational wisdom is needed in Christian education. A follower of Christ must be very certain to be an example who is full of joy in the midst of incredible opposition:

These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng {and} lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival (Psa 42 :4).

Mutual submission to uncover and discover the Father's will in any given educational endeavor is not profitable when grief leads to sighing, moaning, groaning, and complaining rather than to joy (Heb 13 :7). Mourning, weeping and groaning in the Spirit in private prayer may be necessary to discover Father's will, but "joy always comes in the morning (mourning!)" (Psa 30 :5).

The visible western church with its glitter and glamor offers very little for followers of Christ to emulate in the educational sphere. However, the written word of God reveals that following Christ is just the first level of manifestation for one who is serious about putting the Kingdom of Father God first in education.

Friend of Christ Defined

Jesus looks for family members who desire the will of the Father above all else, but Jesus also has another requirement that applies to being an example for others in educational establishments. Servant-family-followers can be promoted to the most glorious status of all: a friend. According to Noah Webster (1828) the English word "friend" is derived from a Saxon word meaning "to free or to love." The word gives the sense of being ready, willing, cheerful, and joyous which is exactly what the writer of Hebrews intimated (Heb 13 :7) and stated as Jesus' example:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart (Heb 12 :1-3).

Webster (1828) defines a friend as:

One who is attached to another by affection; one who entertains for another sentiments of esteem, respect and affection which leads him to desire his company and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity. One not hostile. One reconciled after enmity. An attendant; a companion. A favorite.

This description aptly fits philos [5384] {beloved, dear, friendly} as used in the New Testament. A friend of Jesus in the church and in private Christian education must be one who desires Christ's company and seeks to promote Father's happiness by being led by the Holy Spirit at all times, no matter how foolish or humbling that may be. Jesus uses another word for friend hetairos [2083] in two parables to demonstrate what a friend is not. This negative contrast assists in establishing a Christian philosophy of educational friendship.

The Difference in Friends

Even though the Greek word is translated into the English word "friend," these parables do not carry the Saxon meaning for friend. Therefore "friend" should be translated as companion which is the Greek meaning for hetairos.

The context of one parable is Jesus' loving warning to the chief priests and Pharisees that the Kingdom of God can be taken from one group and given to another. To illustrate this concept He shared a parable about a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. A man in attendance at this feast was not dressed appropriately in wedding garments provided by the king, so the king ordered the man to be bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness (Matt 22 :1-14). This man is a hetairos , a companion, not a true friend. Thus a friend of Christ is one who totally believes, embraces and obeys the will of Father God. Bob Mumford (2004) accurately describes the "wedding garment":

It was the Father who set His love upon us and sent Christ as His gift. We were not seeking Him; He was seeking us. When He sets His love upon us, it is His sovereign declaration. Understanding and receiving that love is the essence of spiritual maturity. We must "come to know and believe the love which God has for us" (1John 4 :16). The ultimate issue is confidence in Christ alone as our righteousness demonstrated by our straightforwardly accepting the wedding garment. This is what enables us to abide on the Agape road in communion and intimacy with the Father. Attempts to please God that do not originate and rest in faith are unacceptable.

God provided the wedding garment so that we would be comfortable in His presence....We can have confidence in God's faithfulness to make us righteous. The wedding garment is passive righteousness; meaning Christ provided righteousness on our behalf. Faith is ceasing the struggle to create a righteousness of our own. If God said it, we should believe it and that is the purest form of humility (180-181).

The experiential love of the Father that establishes imputed passive righteousness as a relational reality is the essence of spiritual maturity and the example of humility that needs to be manifested in all Christians who gather together in educational environments to learn.

According to John, wedding garments are also deeds of the saints that are accomplished by faith working in love requiring great patience (Rev 19 :8; Gal 5 :6; Heb 6 :12). A Christian in education must be certain that imputed righteousness (the ability to abide continually in Father's presence) is producing deeds motivated by love towards God and towards others that carries others into His presence. The Father's presence is to be more desired than the titles that the Son directs His followers to avoid. Servant-family-follower-friends will learn intimacy and abiding which then manifest the works Father prepared for them to walk in before the foundation of the world (Eph 2 :10).

In another parable Jesus uses companion hetairos rather than "friend" to particularly address envy, entitlements, and privileged positions concerning those who labor in Father's vineyard (Matt 10 :1-16). Here a companion is one who assesses the duration of work as more worthy of notice and reward. A friend of Christ would be more concerned about the righteous fulfillment of Father's stated purposes or covenant than his or her fair share. A friend of God understands Father's commitment to His word and His ability to remain impartial. Thus a friend of Christ in educational settings would never question Father's judgment but would be one who is an example of a patient co-laborer with Christ and would assist all to be in Father's presence where unity of the spirit and unity of the faith (Eph 4 :3,12) could be experiential rather than theoretical.

Christ cites the word companion hetairos in another negative use of the word. However, this is not a parable but is an exact description of a proven unrepentant betrayer. This scriptural passage points to a companion as one who does not know how to repent; one who insists on a self-perceived view of facts, and as one who refuses to submit to TRUTH - Christ Himself, the Living Word:

While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him.' And immediately he went to Jesus and said, 'Hail, Rabbi!' and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, 'Friend, do what you have come for.' Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him (Matt 26 :47-50).

Betrayer is not to be confused with companion hetairos , for all the disciples abandoned Jesus at Gethsemane, shunned the reality of the cross, forgot the promise of the resurrection and were guilty of betrayal (Matt 26 :31). A companion is one who is unable to repent; while a friend is one who may deny, forget and even betray but after repentance and submission to the Holy Spirit will desperately desire Jesus and the Father's presence. A friend in an education setting is one who knows the kindness of Father God leads to repentance (Rom 2 :4). A friend of Jesus may make many mistakes when the mind is set on man's interests rather than on God's, and Peter is the prime example of this kind of friend who is able to repent of wrong thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors (Matt 16 :22-23). Mary Magdalene is another example of a friend saved by the kindness of God, who desperately chose to follow the Lamb wherever He went while He walked on the earth (Matt 21 :31-32). She was willing to be accused and even verbally abused by those who did not understand one who knew how to be led by the Holy Spirit, but she lovingly and obediently anointed Jesus for His burial. A friend embraces the THE LIFE that conquers death while a companion prefers a selfish death to Life. Judas is an example of a companion hetairos :

Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? See to that yourself!' And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself (Matt 27 :3-5).

Judas felt remorse but chose a self-centered physical death rather than "repentance that leads to life" (Acts 11 :18). "The path of life {leads} upward for the wise, that he may keep away from Sheol below" (Prov 15 :24).

I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter (II Corinthians 7 :9-11).

In the progression from one level to another in our relationship with Jesus, faith discovers: "A man of many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov 18 :29). Jesus' disciples were brothers and friends, but John was a Friend with a capital F. He was a follower, a family member, and a true friend who was entrusted with the care and protection of Mary, the human mother of Jesus. There were also two other friends, Melchizedek Mary's, standing at the base of the cross, who knew how to desperately follow Jesus closely and embrace the horrendous reality of the Roman crucifixion:

Therefore the soldiers did these things. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household (John 19 :25-27).

It is this level of friendship that the Biblical record reveals as the highest level to aspire when seeking to carry others in educational environments into the presence of God:

For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (Galatians 2 :19-20).

Difficulty in Family, Church and School

Luke reports that divisive situations lead to an opportunity for testimony (Luke 21 :13), but more importantly these circumstances give Father God's Spirit the opportunity to speak. In Martyrs Mirror Thieleman J. van Braght (1660/1990) describes a persecuted bishop/school teacher martyred in A.D. 302 and provides an extreme but unique example:

CASSIAN, A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL TEACHER, BY THE

ORDER OF THE MAGISTRATE PUT TO DEATH

BY HIS HEATHEN SCHOLARS, FOR THE

TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST AT

FORUM CORNELII, A. D. 302

It is stated that in this persecution Cassian, Bishop of the church at Brescia, in Italy, being compelled to flee on account of the violent persecution, settled in the city of Forum Cornelii (at present called Imola), where he established a school for children. However, the persecution, which also there broke forth, did not spare him; for shortly afterwards he was denounced as a Christian and apprehended. When the Judges asked him what profession or trade he had, he replied that he was a schoolteacher and taught children to read and write. He was also examined concerning his faith, and as he would not abandon it, or sacrifice to the gods, the Judges sentenced him to a very unusual death, for this was his sentence: 'Let the scourger, that is, the schoolteacher, be pricked, cut, and stabbed to death by his own scholars, with styles, awls, pens, penknives, and other sharp instruments such as children make use of in school.'

Thereupon Cassian was stripped naked; his hands were tied behind his back, and he was thus delivered unto his scholars, to be maltreated by them in the aforesaid manner. Some of these then stoned him, others stabbed him with styles, pens, penknives, and other sharp school utensils, till, after unspeakable torments, death ensued, and he having commended his soul unto God was thus released from this vale of sorrows. {Compare A. Mell., 1st book, fol. 104, col. 3,4, with J. Gys., fol. 24, col. 1, ex Prudent., in Hymno, Steph. Hym., 9. Petr. de Natl, Lib.7.} (176).

Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you" (John 15 :18). This hatred may come not only through strangers but also through natural family members, and this could be the portion allotted to some of His follower-friends so that the Holy Spirit could speak to those who are protecting their own agendas and territory:

'For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. And brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved (Matt 10 :20-22).

At that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many' (Matt 24 :10-11).

No matter what nation or time period may be examined, a secular or Christian educational system may be full of hatred, betrayal, false prophets, and false teaching. These kinds of situations always create the perfect environment for the supernatural light of Christ's Church to shine in the midst of gross demonic darkness:

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60 :1-3).

Father Revisited

The apostle Paul used a Greek word gannao [1080] translated "father" to describe his relationship with the Corinthian Church. In the context "father" means one who birthed and set an example for others to imitate. Fathers in the natural do not give birth, so the context is not a natural relationship of "birthing," but probably refers to the spiritual labor/birth that is necessary in intercession to carry another into the full revelation of the Kingdom of God (Gal 4 :19). Paul cited Epaphras as one who had received this ability and thus serves as an another example for Christian educators to examine:

Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis (Colossians 4 :12-13).

The marginal rendering in the NASB translation of this "deep concern" and earnest labor describes this process as "much toil, or great pain." Women who have conceived, carried a child through full gestation, and then successfully delivered, not only know the pain and labor of this natural process, but also know the full joy when the child is born (John 16 :21). However, the spiritual context of this analogy is more than a person getting born again. Those who enter into this labor with Christ have His goal for themselves and for others as moving into the full increase of the presence of the King and the Kingdom of Father God into every area of life. To grasp the extremities that a follower-friend of Christ may have to endure to be such a carrier of God's presence, we must meditate on a lengthy Pauline passage:

Do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power. For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? (1Cor 4 :5-21).

Paul's use of father in this passage has been cited by many in Christendom and throughout church history to legitimize the title of father. However, Paul actually told others to imitate him, and this imitation was very specific, and further on in his first epistle to the Corinthians he explains: "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ " (1Cor 11 :1). Christ specifically forbit the use of the title father . As Paul matures in revelation of being an example, he tells the Ephesian church:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (Ephesians 5 :1-2).

The full manifestation of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit must be the philosophical and educational goal of the church and private Christian education. To imitate Paul as he imitates Christ we must have submissive love that humbly embraces Father's will as revealed by Jesus:

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3 :14-21).

This is the example Christian educators are to follow and in so doing we set the example for others who observe us. It is not the title but the humble attitude and the power exuded through words and deeds that always demonstrates there is only ONE FATHER and this manifested revelation carries those around us into the presence of Christ who then carries us to the Father. This experiential demonstration of supernatural intervention and power stands in direct contrast and in opposition to theoretical postulates and academic pursuits. Paul repeats himself in the second letter to the Corinthians to reveal that the ministry of the Spirit (words and power) is a ministry of righteousness and reconciliation. The western church emphasizes titles while Paul emphasizes Spirit, words of faith demonstrated by power, righteousness and reconciliation. Followers of Christ view Paul as one who followed Christ as a brother and as a friend. Once again the length of a scriptural passage is necessary to view the complete picture of the philosophy of Christian friendship that is needed in the church and in Christian private education:

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "'Light shall shine out of darkness,'" is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "'I believed, therefore I spoke,'" we also believe, therefore also we speak; knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2Cor 4 :1-18).

Whenever self-referential human agendas foster competition and envy, Paul's revelation refocuses the spiritual reality that brings Christ into full view and reveals the need for attitudinal repentance in all hearts who are tempted to desire a hierarchy.

Ability to Discern

The philosophy of a Christian in the church and in education who aspires to be an example of one who follows Christ must be able to discern the difference between a companion, a brother, a bond-servant and a friend and to know how to relate in the Spirit to each. However, it is the friend of Christ who can endure to the end and live a lifestyle free from hypocrisy and compromise that demonstrates the superiority of the Kingdom of Father God by his or her radiant example (Matt 5 :16).

Friends of Christ believe and live in confidence knowing the Kingdom of God is overtaking the kingdom of this world (Rev 11 :17). The apostle Paul had this confidence and spoke accordingly about:

those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away (1Cor 7 :31).

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; (1Cor 2 :6-7).

The Apostle John also wrote from this perspective:

The world is passing away, and {also} its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining (1Jo2 :17,8).

John's words from the Isle of Patmos remind continually of the superiority of the Father's Kingdom to anything the world tries to impose on the church who are called by Father God to love and obey Him in educational settings:

When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth' (Rev 5 :8-10).

And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.' And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, 'We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign' (Rev 11 :15-17).

A Christian educator who is a bond-servant, a follower, a family member, and a friend of Christ will desire friendship above all else because of the Biblical revelation of family, intimacy and friendship that is encapsulated in one verse in the Song of Solomon:

'I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers' (Song of Solomon 5 :1-1).

This friend of God serving in education also knows an open rebuke is better than love that is concealed, for his or her eyes have been opened to see Jesus' loving interchange with those who opposed Him, rejected Him, and eventually sentenced Him to the cross. Paul's advice to Timothy reveals that:

The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will (2Tim 2 :24-26).

This ambassador for the Kingdom of God knows faithful are the wounds of a friend, and deceitful are the kisses of an enemy, but only when an educator's eyes are focused on Jesus can one know how to properly respond with love and forgiveness when opposition arises (Prov 27 :5-6; Matt 23 :34).

Therefore the following scriptural passage is submitted in its entirety as the Biblical standard for a Christian educator who desires to carry all those around him or her into Christ's presence where true repentance can be experienced:

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "'Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'" Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (Eph 5 :1-53).

Practicing the Presence of God

An educator who is a family-follower-friend of Christ will make room anywhere at anytime for the presence of the Holy Spirit that usually is relegated only to Pentecostal/Charismatic church services. The edification of the human spirit has been denied in secular educational matters by preferring knowledge. Paul warned:

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (I Corinthians 8 :1-3).

Jesus specifically taught:

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4 :23-24).

It is now the hour in human educational endeavors to allow the Holy Spirit to be in full control of the human spirit in Christian education so that the soul (mind, will, and emotions) can be edified during the education process as God designed and not as Dewey has distorted. Allowing room for spontaneous worship as part of the education process may seem radical, but Christian educators must love Jesus enough not only to agree with Him but also to allow Him to have free access to others whenever He so chooses. A friend in educational environments will know when Jesus wants to personally reveal the Father's love.

A Christian educator who is a follower of Jesus understands that being a friend of Jesus is more important than worldly status or accumulation of wealth. James, the natural and spiritual brother of Jesus, makes this very clear:

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4 :4).

James understood the necessity of following Jesus wherever the Lamb would go and to possess a desperate desire to have that higher quality of friendship with Father God that honors and pleases Him without concern for the accolades of other human beings. He reveals the choice that all members of the church in education have to make by describing Abraham as our example of a friend of God. Abraham's friendship with God was pitted against family loyalty and cultural expectations:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God (James 2 :21-23).

Paul refers to Abraham as "the father of us all" and agrees with God who called Abraham "the father of many nations," and upon a cursory reading, the use of "father" appears to be in disobedience to Christ's command concerning this title. However, when fatherhood is viewed as one who sets an example of faith and loving obedience more than by pontifical titles, then there is no contradiction. It is not Abraham's title of father that is to be emulated, but it is his willingness to believe God as his own Father and his ability to refuse all that did not agree with Father's plans and purposes. The length of the following passage reveals the life of one who knows God as Father and as Friend:

For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, 'A father of many nations have I made you') in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, 'So shall your descendants be.' And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5 :1-31).

Titles do not automatically reveal a living example of a true "friend of God." Tests and trials come to every Christian educator to prove a faith that is genuine and sincere or expose one that is a lie and full of hypocrisy. Abraham is an educator's example of one whose faith and friendship has Father's seal of approval.

Spiritual Weapons for Friends of God - Fasting

Jehoshaphat, a king of Judah, understood the weapon of fasting when fear attempted to stop him from bringing a flock of people forward in the relational purposes of Father God. At that time he reminded himself and his people of God's word to Abraham, "His (God's) friend forever," and to Abraham's descendants (2Ch 20 :7). Jehoshaphat is an excellent example of one who proclaims God's unconditional covenants when feeling utterly powerless and has no idea of how to proceed! In the presence of Judah's family (including infants, wives, and children) surrounded by multitudes of the enemy's great army, this example of the faith focused everyone's eyes on God (2Ch 20 :12;Heb 12 :1-3). A bond-servant, follower, family member, and friend of God who leads by example, recognizes when wisdom (Holy Spirit) flows from the midst of the gathered ones and responds with obedience even though the heavenly wisdom did not flow through the designated leader :

Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, 'Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, "'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's.'" 'Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.' And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice. And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God, and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.' And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, 'Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.' And when they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely, and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, garments, and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much. Then on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore they have named that place 'The Valley of Beracah' until today. And every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets to the house of the Lord. And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides (2Ch 20 :14-30).

The spiritual weapon of fasting gave the ability to see and hear what the Holy Spirit knew was the will of the Father (Rom 8 :27). The gifts of the Holy Spirit, word of wisdom and word of knowledge, provided specific direction and then submission to that prophetic guidance released the supernatural power of worship that was stronger than the human designed weapons of warfare. Victory over the enemy not only released abundant provision but it also established a testimony to the other nations. These kinds of conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light can only be won with God's strategy and resolution and the victory brings peace and rest to God's people. The clash in educational settings, Christian or secular, is a continual battle that requires the weapons of spiritual warfare to manifest Christ's victory.

Spiritual Weapons for Friends of God - Worship

The importance of this extensive account is to reveal the ability of one person under the Old Covenant to have "ears to hear what the Spirit is saying" (Rev 2 :29;3:6,13,22) and for another to confirm that word so that the strategy of the Holy Spirit is embraced. This Old Testament event also demonstrates the practicality of King David's revelation of worship (1Chr 5 :21-11) and points to Paul's New Testament revelation of the importance and necessity of worship in the Spirit with speaking and singing in other tongues (Eph 5 :15-21; Col 3 :15-17). To accept and to understand the necessity of the prophetic to initiate Holy Spirit-led worship which makes room for the manifest presence of the Lord, the churchmust release Christ outside the walls of man-made tradition and church buildings. For Father's family members who desire to follow God into the mission field of education there must be belief that God's weapons and His methods will bring excellence and victory for the 21st century Christian educator and student who is called into educational endeavors.

Confrontation with government authorities is promised to those who are friends of God for it is one of God's methods of demonstrating His love and the superiority of His Kingdom to those who don't yet know Him as Father. Friends of God in educational spheres are those who humbly submit to the Spirit of the Lord, His wisdom and His strategy, no matter how ludicrous it may appear to those who stand in opposition to the will of Father God ⁵ . Fasting for the revealed will of Father is Jesus' example (Mat 4 :2). The pivotal place of worship/tongues/interpretation/prophecy is specifically what Jesus teaches:

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4 :23).

Some educational battles so engaged will bring peace for many years when God gives His victory to those who are "forever friends" of God (2Ch 20 :7).

Jesus' use of the parable, the retelling of true events that He observed, best explains the difference between a companion, a bond-servant, a follower, a brother, a son, and a friend. In the following parable there are three significant people who exemplify three different kinds of friendship. One friend has no food in his dwelling to feed his friend who showed up at his home unexpectedly in the middle of the night after a long arduous journey. The unprepared friend's solution for his hungry, weary friend is to "disturb" the sleep of another friend who has food that will satisfy the traveler's hunger. The friend who is "disturbed" with this midnight request at first rejects the demands of his friend (Luke 11 :7), but Jesus explains that it is not only a friend relationship that feeds another person's hunger, but this relationship involves persistence:

'I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs' (Luke 11 :8).

Discerning Friends

The Christian educator who is a friend of God knows how to ask Father for what is needed for others and persistently seeks for what needs found and untiringly knocks until the heavens open with revelation and the manifest presence of Jesus:

'For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened' (Luke 11 :10).

The Christian educator who is a friend of God knows how to receive, find and unlock others to the reality of the Holy Spirit as God on the earth today:

'If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? (Luke 11 :13).

The presence of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of education is the missing dimension that secular humanists cannot comprehend, but the presence of His friendship is the major relationship that Christian educators must cultivate. Out of that friendship educators in private Christian education in the home and in the school will be known as the "friend of sinners" just like Jesus.

Jesus' teaching to His disciples and His friends who had ears to ear is a direct contrast to the attitude and behavior of the hypocrisy of educators who fear civil government:

Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows. And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man shall confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who will speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not become anxious about how or what you should speak in your defense, or what you should say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say' (Luke 12 :1-12).

The release of the Holy Spirit into the private homes and public arenas of Christian education in the west has not yet brought the levels of persecution that Jesus describes here. However, in many nations where Islam or communism is the ruling governmental authority, education has been one of the main vehicles for the persecution of God's friends. Both Islam and communism understand the human necessity to have worship as part of the curriculum. It is only the west that tries to separate the worship of the Body of Christ, the church, from the process of education.

The following description by Thomas Belke (1999) of Juche, the ruling philosophy of North Korea, reveals the direct conflict a Christian parent daily faces when sending a child to a school under the iron fist of communism:

The Juche educational system is the most automated and structured system of mass brainwashing in the world, bar non. State controlled education is the mainstay of totalitarianism....Under Juche, like the Nazi system, the children are considered to be wards of the state, not the Korean family. Compulsory Juche indoctrination begins at age three in North Korea's pre-school and continues through the tenth grade. These educational programs are specially designed to teach children to worship the father and son Kims. Annual primary school education includes 304 hours of instruction on the "Childhood of Kim Il Sung" and the "Childhood of Kim John Il." These lessons teach that Kim Il Sung is the divine father of the Korean. Students are grilled with endless lessons on how Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il are to be worshipped as absolute deities since they are the protectors and progenitors of the Korean race....Juche indoctrination gets heavier as the students get older. By the time students are promoted to high school, Juche indoctrination has intensified to 567 hours each year in four subjects.... In addition to Juche religious indoctrination, over 40% of North Korea's language, geography, and nature textbooks are full of material designed to deify the two Kims. Well over half of the content of North Korea's musical education program is devoted to hymns and compositions that worship the Kims (293-295).

Because most Christian educators in the west do not seem to understand Jesus' emphasis on the first commandment, Christian education has not been able to create an environment where Jesus' emphasis could have a chance to flourish as the Spirit would so manifest: Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. (Mark 12 :29-30). Even though the North Korean counterfeit reveals the extreme bondage of false idolatrous worship to a substitute father, there is an understanding that worship should be incorporated into the educational process. The North Korean method is a counterfeit in which externally motivated and coerced worship is used for a hidden idolatrous agenda. Therefore the goal of Christian education must not merely allow the form of worship but Christ Himself must be disparately invited to flow in, through, and over all for Father's glory and His good pleasure. The clash of kingdoms on earth in the 21 century is won by engaging in the warfare that is unseen, just as it was with Jehoshaphat:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6 :12-12).

The following description by Wade Taylor (2004) reveals the power of worship as a spiritual weapon that the church needs to unleash in every private educational environment:

In His (God's) original created purpose, Satan was a worshipper (Ezekiel 28 :13-14). When we 'worship,' we are taking his place by 'displacing' him. Thus, we are to 'wrestle' against Satan, and against these fallen principalities, as being an active enemy who works against us. If we are wrestling successfully, we are displacing their strength, until these fallen principalities become weakened and ineffective. 'He who smote the people in wrath (Satan) with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing' (Isaiah 14 :6-7).

It can be rightly said that when we worship, 'He who presently rules the nations...is persecuted.' We are taking his place because he was the worshipper, and now, "we" have become the worshippers.

When we 'break through into the heavens in worship, the quickening power of God begins to flow. As a result, '"the whole earth becomes quiet, and breaks forth in singing,'" because now there is no opposition, as the hindrances have been removed. As we worship, we are lifted from the earth, and are lifted into the heavenlies, displacing these powers of darkness. '"Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, '"'since you are laid down, no feller is come up against us.'"'

Therefore our worship is very important. As we enter into a high level of worship, we are weakening the enemy, and we are becoming strong. The Word of blessing, direction, and purpose, can now flow out and become effective beyond our expectations.

We are living during the closing time of Satan's rule. The result of his rule has been hatred, violence, murder, famine, pestilence, and the like. All creation has seen how Satan rules, but they have never seen how God rules (6-7).

When Christian educators move beyond chapel or family devotion as worship and allow worship to become the continual daily fare of learning to learn ³ , then all will be adequately equipped to bring the Kingdom of God into the world. H.A.Baker, a Spirit-led missionary went to the city of Kotchiu in the southwest Yunnan Province of China in the 1920's. In Visions Beyond the Veil he reports what the Holy Spirit did in the school/orphanage he founded:

In this visitation from the Lord all were treated impartially. The oldest and the youngest, the first arrivals and the latest comers, the best and the worst, all sitting together around their common Father's table, were alike treated to His heavenly bounties.

This giving of the Promised Spirit was clearly a love gift of grace 'apart from works' or personal merit. It was not something that was worked up; it was something that came down. It was not the result of character building by man from below; it was a blessing of God that came from above.

I am convinced that the experiences of these Adullam children were not manufactured. These wonders could not possibly have been the product of the natural minds of these children. Such uneducated, mentally untrained, unimaginative boys as these could not themselves have conceived of such things. Nor could these spiritual experiences, visions, and revelations have been the working of their subconscious minds. Many of these children were too young, too ignorant, or too recently rescued from paganism to know the Bible teachings on these subjects. Neither can these things be explained by the psychology of mental suggestion from others. We ourselves had never seen such visions as were given these children. These new experiences were new to all of us (1973, 12-13).

Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian educators in the west would not say that the things of the Spirit are new. The Azuza Street revival occurred in Los Angeles one hundred years ago. However, to give the Spirit access in educational settings would be a major paradigm shift for Christian educators in the church, in private school or in the home. When we will invite the Holy Spirit to take us beyond what we already know to see and hear that which He may want us to bring from heaven to earth? A heavenly solution for new sources of energy is just one of those "gems" that is waiting to be poured out upon those who are humble enough to ask to see things from Father God's perspective.

Baker's (1973) description states:

Furthermore, the children did not get these things from one another. When the power of the Lord fell in our midst many children were filled with the Spirit at the same time. Those who were in different rooms sometimes had simultaneous visions of the same things. There was no possibility of comparing one with another. The complete harmony of these visions covering numberless details is beyond any natural explanation. Even the most ignorant children, who could easily get confused on cross questioning, whether questioned singly or in groups, gave clear and uniform answers to questions covering great numbers of details. Neither can these experiences be explained as any sort of mental excitement, religious frenzy, natural emotion, nervous state, nor any sort of self-produced condition. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit came to ordinary children as they went about the not-too-exciting business of going to school (13-14).

Can we imagine how bored unmotivated 21st century Charismatic/Pentecostal students could be turned into innovative creative scientists, inventors, mathematicians, and authors, if Christian educators would ask and allow the Holy Spirit to come in as TEACHER/REVELATOR/COMFORTER/HISTORIAN/SCIENTIST/AUTHOR etc.? If worship and edification of the spirit were actually sought and experienced rather than just taught as something that only occurs in church buildings and church services, what would Christian education look like? Would the world come to see our wisdom as the Queen of Sheba came to King Solomon? (1Kings 10 :1- 10).

Wade Taylor explains the Lord's will concerning satan's deception and the place of worship:

When Satan deceived Adam and Eve, the Lord spoke a word of judgment against him, 'You bruised their heel (hindered their walk), but they will bruise (render ineffective) your head.' (Genesis 3 :15b). Because Satan deceived mankind, God will use the very ones he deceived to bring him down. The key to this is 'worship' (7).

The church which gathers together may experience all that Wade Taylor describes. However, the church that gathers daily in private Christian educational settings all across the world may not realize that worship is the key to breakthrough for educational excellence and creativity. Taylor agrees:

In pure worship, we come together as 'one' in harmony, becoming 'one' with the Lord in purpose. In this 'oneness,' there is a release of divine life and energy, and Satan is brought low, and the purpose of God begins to unfold and move. As a result, the whole earth will become quiet, and break forth in singing.

Jesus said, "'The Kingdom of God is within.'" As we submit to the 'inner working' of the Kingdom, we are becoming a 'prepared' people. The righteousness, peace, and joy that we experience within will begin to move out and affect all of mankind (8).

Richard Florida (2004) explains the necessity for creativity from a secular business point of view:

The United States must invest generously in its creative infrastructure. Education reform must, at its core, make schools into places that cultivate creativity. Americans revel in the legendary stories of young creators like Michael Dell building new businesses in dorm rooms or in garages in their spare time? Isn't this the real stuff of education in the Creative Age? (134)

Florida postulates that creativity is necessary for societal peace and financial security:

To prevent widespread social unrest and to benefit economically from the creative input of the maximum number of its citizens, the United States will have to find ways to bring the service and manufacturing sectors more fully unto the Creative Age.

The US must begin to think of creativity as a 'common good,' like liberty or security. It is something essential that belongs to everyone and must always be nourished, renewed, and maintained or else it will slip away (136).

If a secular business analyst sees the need for creativity in education, shouldn't Christian educators provide the perfect example taken from the perfect blue print designed in heaven? It is time for those who are friends of Jesus to have no fear of public ridicule for approaching education in an unconventional way. Christian educators must boldly proclaim the necessity of worship wherever Heavenly wisdom is needed to bring Light, Life and Spirit to conquer death, darkness, humanism, and dialectic materialism. In 1978 Morton Kelsey wrote:

If we really believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then we must trust that He has inside knowledge about the nature of reality. Is it not strange that we take His moral teachings seriously but seldom take a serious look at His conception of reality? There is no question about Jesus' view of the world. He speaks of the flowers of the field and chooses symbols from the everyday physical world for His parables. However, at the same time, He deals with angels and demons and experiences the transformation of His body. There is no question, then, that Jesus wholly and completely accepted existence of a spiritual world and its power to affect the physical one.

I sometimes have the feeling that we are afraid of really looking at the words of Jesus. We are afraid of making Jesus look silly. However, the more I have looked at Jesus' understanding of reality, the more I have begun to take Him seriously. One of the most interesting passages in the Bible, John 12 :29, shows Jesus praying for the glorification of God's name and a voice answering from heaven. But the people standing there said, 'Hear the thunder.' They did not understand. So often we do not understand any more than they did.

Turning to the Acts of the Apostles, we notice that every important change in this book happened as a consequence of a dream, a vision, a prophecy, or some other breakthrough of spiritual reality into the realm of the physical world. Despite this, every time I look at a scientific commentary on the New Testament, I find no reference to these events. As I began my studies of the New Testament in seminary at the beginning of the forties, none of these aspects was mentioned or discussed. I still do not know whether the professors were embarrassed about them or simply did not know how to deal with them.

One amazing occurrence showing the spiritual causing a change in the physical world is the freeing of Peter by angels in the book of Acts. Sometimes spiritual reality has a very practical use in the physical world...

The story of Stephen is another example. As he was being stoned, the heavens opened and he saw Christ in all His glory. So often in our darkest moments God reveals Himself to support us (67-68).

Jesus is looking for friends, like Stephen, who are not afraid of physical death, but He is also looking for those who will take His words seriously and carry His concept of reality into the educational arena. He wants friends who know how to worship until supernatural laser light is released to break the chains that paralyze those who are caught in the darkness of thinking and acting like the world. These are the friends Jesus is looking for: "You are My friends if you do what I command you" (John 15 :14).

Jesus' discourse shows the progression from servanthood to friendship and the relationship to the Father that is the ultimate promotion for a Christian educator:

"No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15 :15).

Spiritual Weapons for Friends of God - Revelation

Abraham knew friendship as a position of revelatory secrets as well as Father's timing for world events:

Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. And the Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him' (Gen 18 :16-19).

A brief overview of Biblical history reveals that others understood the place of personal revelation from the One who calls us to be His friends. It is this place of friendship that causes a Christian educator to be a true example of the faith whose very presence shakes the powers of darkness rather than just being known as a leader, a teacher, or a father.

1. Moses recorded God's view of revealed secrets:

   The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law (Deut 29 :29).

2. David revealed the path of relationally revealed secrets and following God:

   Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net (Psa 25 :12-15).

3. David also knew the realm of the secret place when the battle was intense:

   Let the lying lips be dumb, which speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt. How great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast stored up for those who fear Thee, which Thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in Thee, before the sons of men! Thou dost hide them in the secret place of Thy presence from the conspiracies of man; Thou dost keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. As for me, I said in my alarm, 'I am cut off from before Thine eyes'; nevertheless Thou didst hear the voice of my supplications when I cried to Thee. O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord (Psa 31 :18-24).

4. The secrect destiny of Cyrus, a civil pagan king chosen for God's purposes for Israel, and the wisdom of following God's purposes was revealed to Isaiah:

   Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 'I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars. And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places, in order that you may know that it is I, The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name' (Isa 45 :1-3).

5. Isaiah recorded God's heart concerning Jesus' example to follow Father and Holy Spirit:

   'Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.' Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; 'I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go' (Isa 48 :16-17).

6. Jeremiah reveals Father's heart for His sheep that are held captive in educational prisons, a time and place where tears are wept in secret:

   But if you will not listen to it (the voice of the Lord), my soul will sob in secret for such pride; and my eyes will bitterly weep and flow down with tears, because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive (Jer 13 :17-17).

7. Daniel knew secrets that he explained and secrets that stayed secrets:

   'The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but keep the vision secret, for it pertains to many days in the future.' Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king's business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it (Dan 8 :26-27).

Why would a Christian educator who desires to be a Family-Follower-Friend of Jesus even look to the Lord for revealed secrets that could bring on exhaustion, bitter tears, and even days of sickness, like Daniel? For the testimony, "God is certainly among you!"

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you (1Cor 14 :24-25).

Family-Follower-Friends in education have the Father's good pleasure to receive direct revelation from Jesus, and Jesus set the example of sharing that revelation with His friends. It is not the false teaching of Freud but friendship with Holy Spirit as Comforter that Christian school counselors should promote as the basis of human psychology. It is not the false theory of theistic evolution but friendship with the Father of the universe as Eternal Creator that Christian science teachers should extol. It is not the false models of fiction but friendship with Jesus as the Author of priestly parables that Christian English teachers should expound. Most Christian educators do this, but if that is all Christian education entails, it still falls short of the glory of God. All must be done with the freedom to worship God as the Spirit leads, at any time, in any place, by any person, of any age, with any gender. When worship and love for God is first in the heart, mind, soul, and body of the church gathered for educational pursuits, then according to Wade Taylor we will see:

The Lord...move mightily in His body, as he will rule through those whom He has prepared for a higher purpose, a people whom He can trust with authority (Taylor (2004), 8).

Christian educators fall short of the glory of God, and yet Jesus teaches:

'You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you' (John 15 :16).

Hatred and persecution is promised to those who are true Family-Follower-Friends of Jesus who do not wish to educate as the world does. Taylor (2004) concurs:

When this spiritual authority begins to function, there will be both persecution and tribulation. This will function as a two-edged sword, which will bring repentance, healing, and deliverance to those who rightly respond; or judgment, which will lead to death, for those who reject their opportunity (8).

Thus a philosophy of educational leadership for the church and Christian private school is found in the concept of friendship and extravagant worship that allows the manifest presence of Christ to be a daily reality. Leadership as defined by the world system bears no resemblance to the Biblical record and experience of the saints who have reached beyond the tangible to bring heaven down to earth. Being a friend of God is the ultimate accolade to which a Christian educator should aspire. Heidi Baker (2003), a 21st century lover of God and educator of orphans in Mozambique, writes:

One glance of His eyes and you're wrecked forever.

His call is for all of our lives. He calls each of us to be an extravagant, hilarious love offering to Jesus. That's the place where I believe the glory comes. This glory of His presence that we are so desperate for, that we so need, that we're so crying out for, that we're so longing for, that we sing about, comes as we hilariously, totally and completely give away our entire being before Him. We are sacrifices He ignites with His love, and His presence just falls. He just comes. He is looking for people who will carry His glory. He really, really is.

But you have to be dead in order to carry it. And when you carry the glory, you will carry it out to the poor, and the broken, the dying and the lost. You will. That's the call. That's the heartbeat of Jesus, that we carry Him out to the broken. But you can't carry Him until you've seen His face. You have to know the holy place.

You go from the place where you say, 'Oh God. I'll write a check, but just don't make me go to Africa. Please, oh God, don't make me sit in the dump. I'll love to write a check. Here it is. It's a lot. Just don't make me go there. I don't like bugs' to where you just say, 'Oh God, here I am. Take me anywhere. Take me, use me, break me, bruise me if need be, pour me out, fill me up, here I am. I'm an offering. I'm it. I'm the offering. Take me. Pick me up with Your glory, and let me be a carrier of Your presence into the darkness. I know You love me, God, because I've seen Your face' (180).

This is the desperation that Christian educators and students need to learn from God Himself rather than from other human beings. Western Christian education looks too much like the world, rather than revealing devoted radical worshiper friends of God. Baker (2003) describes the requirements as well as the safeguards:

God wants to do signs and wonders like we've never seen, but we have to see His face. We have to see what He sees and feel what He feels. Otherwise it's dangerous and frightening. He can only release His power and anointing to those who will lie down, who will say, 'Only You,' and stay that way every single day (180-181).

The book of Job is an excellent treatise on friends who are not true friends of God. The summation of that contrast is revealed in the description of Elihu and God Himself:

His anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job .... And it came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has' (Job 32 :3;42 :7).

Even though Elihu was angry at the ineptness of Job's three friends to carry him forward in his friendship with God, The Philosophy of Educational Friendship would insist upon Biblical answers to problems that do not foster condemnation, guilt or shame and do not obscure the revelation of Father God that Jesus exemplified. Christian educators must always remember:

This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless (James 1 :19-26).

The precious Family-Follower-Friends of Jesus who serve Him in education will "refuse foolish and ignorant speculation knowing that they produce quarrels" (2Tim 2 :23), but they will not be afraid to proclaim the excellencies of Christ and His Kingdom. Opposition may come from students, parents, board members, civil and religious authorities and even from the devil himself disguised as a teacher of light (2Cor 11 :14). However, the logos is consistently clear: "The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all" for the kindness of God brings men to true repentance (2Tim 2 :25; Rom 2 :5). Repentance flows best in worship of the Father in spirit (Holy Spirit) and in truth (Jesus Christ) (John 4 :23-24).

A friend of God in education is "able to teach" from the realm of worship because the Holy Spirit is the spirit of wisdom and revelation (2Tim 2 :4; Eph 1 :17). Friendship with God as the philosophical educational model may experience opposition, but opposition needs to be met with patience, gentleness, and correction so that repentance (a change of heart and mind) paves the way for Father's will and His ways. Johnson states:

A religious spirit is a demonic presence that works to get us to substitute being led by our intellect instead of the Spirit of God. Being led by the Holy Spirit is an ongoing God encounter. Religion idolizes concepts and avoids personal experience. It works to get us to worship past accomplishments at the expense of any present activity of God in our life (81).

Educators who are Family-Follower-Friends of God see the enemy's hand on the human will (2Tim 2 :26) but have the goal of remaining in the anointing until the Lord is glorified:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isa 61 :1-3).

These oaks of righteousness, these Family-Follower-Friends of God, have been planted in the field of education so that He may be glorified, not them. Friendship in educational philosophy will rebuild and raise up the ancient ruin and devastations of past compromise and hypocrisy rooted in the fear of man and unbelief that relegates worship (the tabernacle of David) to church and not to all of life:

'After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, in order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,' says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old (Acts 15 :16-18).

Christian educators who are Family-Follower-Friends of Father God will be priests and ministers of reconciliation who reverse the deception and harlotry that leads men away from God rather than to Him (Hos 4 :12; Rev 2 :20). As Christ's ambassadors we manifest one message: "We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2Cor 5 :20).

No assignment is too big or too small for the Family-Follower-Friends of God. No opposition is too large for those who know their God and see His kingdom increasing (Dan 11 :32). No sacrifice is too great for Christian educators who obey Christ's teaching, "Greater love has no one than this, than one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you" (John 15 :13-14). The Bakers describe the extreme depth of commitment it takes to be a friend of God:

The attacks continued. My truck window was smashed and bags were stolen. Another truck caught on fire dangerously. Our project engineer's truck was hijacked. Jesse, our Brazillian director at Machava, came down with serious malaria, as did Rolland the month before. I ended up in the hospital with an unknown virus, and Janel also went in with pneumonia. Then three hundred people were out of water when our well pump broke down...

Our daily work is filled with frustrations and delays from operating in such a poor environment, a feature of life here that especially impacts visiting teams. Many come wanting to work quickly and energetically, making the most of their time. Instead they are confronted by supply, communication and transportation problems, etc., that are the common lot of the underdeveloped world. But God is breaking hearts, enlarging them, and preparing them for His use as He sees fit anywhere in the world. We never waste time when we throw away our lives for His sake, wanting only Him and His Spirit in us. He is not daunted and deterred in the least by any of our troubles, and by faith in Him we overcome. He knows the way forward; He will lead us. May we reflect His glory as we participate in His nature!

Thus family members who become bond-servants have the opportunity to follow Christ into a friendship with Father God that brings transformation to educational establishments all over the world. The first coming of Christ ushered in "a time of reformation" when Christ first appeared as a high priest of the good things to come (Heb 9 :10b-11a). As we await His second coming, He expects transformed Christian educators to do "business until He comes" and that business is allowing worship to break forth whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit desires. Jesus said:

'A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, "Do business with this until I come back"' (Luke 19 :12-13).

In this parable each slave received one mina (four months wages) to "do business." According to Jesus some citizens hated this nobleman and did not want to submit to his lordship (Luke 19 :14). However, after he received the kingdom and returned to see what "business" his slaves had accomplished, the nobleman discovered that one slave turned one mina into ten and another slave turned one mina into five. However, the nobleman also discovered that one slave buried his mina in the ground with not even interest from a bank!

This parable reveals that Jesus rewards faithfulness: "Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, be in authority over ten cities...; be in authority over five cities" (Luke 19 :17,18).

Jesus expects His Family-Follower-Friends to rule and reign in the midst of His enemies. With an educational philosophy based on the revelation, "Christ in us, the hope of glory," transformed Christian educators can be assured that the Biblical record reveals it is the Family-Follower-Friends of Father God and His compassionate love and faith burning inside them that overcomes the world (1John 5 :5). When the Christian Philosophy of Educational Friendship is embraced in Christian educational establishments, then a revolution in education may begin. But only when a Christian Philosophy of Educational Friendship moves from the mental assent to the practical daily life style of tens of thousands of Christian worshipers will the unshakable Kingdom of God come to Christian and non Christian educational establishments:

See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.' And this expression, 'Yet once more,' denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12 :25-29).

Methods of implementing the Christian Philosophy of Educational Friendship will be as creative and as unique as God is. Each nation, each state, each province, each county, each township, each city, and every family needs a Christian educational philosophy that provides a common foundation (unity of the Spirit) that can support individual needs and uniqueness (diversity of the gifts of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). A philosophy of friendship with God rather than leadership in Christian establishments is a light that will dispel darkness and bring transformation that reveals the glory of God:

And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1John 1 :5-7).

An educator who becomes a servant of the Most High God is a valuable example to all who observe that person, but a servant who progresses to being a follower of Christ brings the Kingdom of God into a clearer focus. When a follower of Christ then becomes a son, the picture of the Kingdom becomes a little clearer and brighter, but when a son becomes a friend, then the Kingdom of God has no revivals in that educator's heart, and the Kingdom comes to earth as it is heaven. Taylor (2004) prophetically proclaims:

This world will see a demonstration of the power of God, such as has never been seen. As these judgments begin, mankind will have the greatest opportunity ever to hear, repent, and turn to the Lord.

The Lord is preparing the earth for a demonstration of His government, and of His Kingdom. Then all creation will see how God rules (8).

There is a God-given restoration promised in the Old Covenant to Christians who are educators:

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,' says the Lord, 'and I will heal him' (Isa 57 :18-19).

Transformation can only be achieved in education settings where liberty is the norm and not the exception:

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (II Corinthians 3 :17-18).

His presence and person coming through transformed worshipers is a New Testament promise to the church that Christians in education must continually believe and desperately desire:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place (2Cor 2 :14).

His presence manifested in new places and in new ways is for now and eternity:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 1 :24-25).

Today when the Biblical basis of education is under systematic attack we need to capitalize upon the availability of our first American dictionary - the only dictionary in the world to 'draw water out of the wells of salvation' - to utilize God's written word as a key to the meaning of words. Historically, it documents the degree to which the Bible was America's basic test book in all fields" (Rosalie Slater (1967) preface to facsimile edition of Webster's 1828 dictionary, p. 9).
² The New American Standard Bible is the translation used throughout this paper. The numbers in [ ] refer to the New American Standard Bible Concordance.
³ Relational Learning is a phrase I coined for course ED830 Psychology of Learning. See my paper entitled, Learning how to learn .
⁴ A prophetic word given to me personally that I submit as a word to the church:

You are moving into a time of great favor with grace and mercy and love pouring through you with power and faith to stop the enemy. I desire one word quietly spoken with one thought to demonstrate who I AM. You do not want to be seen. You want to remain hidden in Me, and I agree. Love Me more, obey what I show you and wait for My timing. You were a John the Baptist for many years as well as a Mary. You will be more and more a Mary, a Melchizedek Mary, and My glory will manifest in you and through you and around you. Do not worry about anything. Do not be concerned about anything. Do not see anyone. SEE ME AND ALL WILL BE WELL (1/18/04).

⁵ A prophetic word given to me personally that I submit as a word to the church:

Fruit and Nuts

Those the church considers "a nut" are often bearing the most fruit for My Kingdom. There are nuts inside shells that are very difficult to break and those shells and those nuts most often think they are in full control. But My Stark Reality is the nuts who have had the shells broken in pieces. These are the nuts that are foolishly in love with Me and will move at My whim, not just My command. These nuts are bearing the fruit of answered prayer. They are hidden in Me, and I know them, and I am pleased with their faith working through love. Continue to walk humbly with Me, and I will have you at the right place at the right time to use your body (and your soul) for My purpose and My will. You are a living stone, a living sacrifice, an intimate tabernacle of prayer, and you will see and you will understand, and you will proclaim that which I see and that which I tell you and you will be the example of the torch that lights the fire of My love everywhere you go. You carry My presence, you walk in My authority, You hear My voice, and your heart beats with Mine. Go when I say go. Sit when I say sit. Kneel when I say kneel. Stand when I say stand, and the worship of Me at all times 24/7 will do that for which I have appointed. Your fruit will remain because you are a nut for me (10/8/04).

This word was confirmed on 10/12/04 on a prayer/walk and three witnesses saw strawberries growing in Ohio in the fall after frost. Strawberries have a short growing season in Ohio in late May early June! It was also confirmed on 10/20/04 when my dental hygienist told me she saw irises blooming at another dentist office where she works. She also reported that tomatoes grew in a place where she did not plant them, and the tomatoes she did plant did not grow at all! On the same day I asked those gathered at Cornerstone Chapel in North Canton, Ohio, if anyone had anything unusual happening with the plants on their properties. The following seven plants were reported to be blooming after frost, and no one had ever seen this happen before: (1) a dogwood tree (2) an azalea (3) a rhododendron (4) a hibiscus (5) a forsythia bush (6) a portulaca (7) strawberries.