“The LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants
of the land: "There is no truth or mercy Or
knowledge of God in the land. By
swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon
bloodshed. Therefore the land will
mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the
field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken
away.” (Hosea 4:1-3).
Year 2004 began with
an intense debate about the teaching of values in education in
As one might have
expected, advocates of both public and private education went to the parapets,
each extolling the virtues of their kind of education. A day later, the same newspaper wrote:
“Australia is
moving towards a national charter for values education after federal and state
ministers agreed that going to school is “as much about building character” as
learning academic skills. A draft
values education framework will be sent to school principals “to guide debate
in this important area” ahead of a national forum on April 28 – 29 in
Melbourne, a spokesman for the federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, said
yesterday.
The Values
Education Study, released in November, was commissioned by Dr Nelson and was
supported by all state education ministers.
It found confusion in schools
about what constituted values and said research showed that a partnership
between schools and parents could help reinforce attributes as tolerance,
social justice, inclusion, and freedom.”
Pardon? Reinforce attributes as tolerance, social
justice, inclusion, and freedom? Have we
reached the stage in which our people need ‘attributes’ that totalitarian
regimes deny to their peoples?
The next day, in a
nationally televised current affairs program by
Three days later,
again in a nationally broadcast program, the Prime Minister himself was asked
about the values he complained public schools were not teaching. It was his chance to set the record straight,
but he too prevaricated and changed the subject. He spoke of the need for ‘cooperation‘
between parents and educators in deciding
the values that all schools ought to teach.
Now isn’t that
extraordinary? People complain that schools
do not teach values, yet when asked about them, they change the subject and
invoke the need to ‘explore’ ‘cooperate’ and ‘decide’ on the values that schools ought to teach. In other words, we are going to invent the
wheel once again.
After two thousand
years of Christianity you’d think that people would instinctively know the
values that make for good character.
Isn’t this what religion is supposed to be all about? It only shows what happens when religion is
relegated to the back burner: the entire society is thrown into confusion about
the values it ought to live by.
One of the best
commentaries on the merits of public versus private education came from a local
community newspaper.
“Prime Minister
John Howard sparked a debate over schools last weekend when he suggested
parents were shying away from public schools because they had become “too
politically correct” and “values neutral”. In the days that followed there was
an angry and justifiable backlash from teachers and parents. Many people would argue the only positive
result of Mr Howard’s comments was it put the issue at the forefront of public
debate.
How is it possible
to be too politically correct? The
Macquarie Dictionary defines correctness as “conformity to current beliefs
about correctness in language and behaviour with regard to policies on sexism,
racism, ageism, etc.” Aren’t these the values children should learn? Private schools do not have a monopoly on
values.
According to NSW
Education Minister Andrew Refshauge, public schools
strive to impart values such as inclusiveness, tolerance, diversity, striving
for academic excellence, democracy and a “fair go”.
Why is it almost 40
per cent of teenagers attend private secondary schools and one in three
children do not go to a public school? It is a misconception a child will get a
better education solely because he or she attends a private school, but it is
something increasing numbers of parents including the Prime Minister appear to
believe.
Many seem to think
private schools have higher academic results, but the 2004 HSC results clearly
show seven of the 10 performing schools were State schools.
Better discipline
is often given as a reason why parents send their children to non-government
schools. But private schools cannot be
judged to have better discipline simply because they can more easily expel
troublesome students or they have a stricter uniform code. Government schools turn out many fine
well-rounded young adults who go on to make productive and honourable contribution
to society.” (
The State Education
Minister touched somewhat on the values schools should ‘impart’, but even his
list is not definitive.
Going back to the
Federal Minister’s Report on Vales in Education, one may be tempted to ask what
is wrong with the ‘attributes’ of ‘tolerance, social justice, inclusion, and
freedom’ that he listed? Nothing wrong,
except that these are the very ‘attributes’ that Canadian and American Courts
have invoked to demand the legalisation of homosexual marriages. It is the kind of ‘attributes’ feminist and
homosexual lobbies have used from the beginning of their campaign all over the
world.
Politicians do not
make statements they know are going to be controversial unless they have a
certain aim in mind and want to channel the discussion in a certain
direction. Can you see where this whole
debate is heading and what purpose it serves?
Can you see the mire and stupor into which the whole world has
fallen? And see how easily these lobbies
have entrapped both the Education Minister and the Prime Minister? After declaring these to be desirable
attributes for character building they cannot now turn back and repudiate them. And the mass media has fallen headlong for
this trap too.
Our politicians
know the storm that the notion of homosexual marriage has caused in
When we discovered
that our leader was listed among the wicked spirits that came up on the River
Euphrates from the East, we were greatly surprised (‘Another End Time Prophecy
Unveiled’, in TCH 12). Not any more.
God know people’s minds, hearts and intentions, better than we do. He does not condemn them for freeing the
people of Iraq from tyranny, which the United Nations should have done long
ago, but for delivering them the ‘freedoms’ that they do not want or need.
It is an
extraordinary fact that it should be the Liberal Party, the party of lawyers,
that is being used as a Trojan Horse by homosexual lobbies to introduce their
agenda into public life, not the Labour Party, which is more sympathetic to its
cause.
So what are the
values that every child should be taught in school, and every parent should teach
at home? We will come to them shortly,
but first let us look at what we wrote as early as 1995. We pick up the story at one of Jesus’ lessons
to His disciples about His return to this earth and the end of this age.
Mat
24:3 “Now as He
sat on the
Mat
24:4 And Jesus
answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
Mat
24:5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will
deceive many. "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
Mat
24:6 See that you are not troubled; for
all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat
24:7 "For nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines,
Mat
24:8 pestilences, and earthquakes in
various places." All these are the
beginning of sorrows. "Then they
Mat
24:9 will deliver you up to tribulation
and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Mat
24:10 "And then many will be
offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Mat
24:11 "Then many false prophets
will rise up and deceive many.
Mat
24:12 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of
many will grow cold.
Mat
24:13 "But he who endures to the
end shall be saved. "And this
gospel of the kingdom
Mat
24:14 will be preached in all the world
as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Mat
24:32 "Now learn this parable from
the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth
Mat
24:33 leaves, you know that summer is
near. "So you also, when you see
all these things, know that it is near; at
Mat
24:34 the doors! "Assuredly, I say
to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take
place.
Mat
24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass
away, but My words will by no means pass away.
Mat
24:36 "But of that day and hour no
one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
Mat
24:37 "But as the days of Noah
were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
“How
could the world be taken by surprise by these events, as it was taken by the
flood of Noah, if everyone is aware of the work of the two witnesses? Something
isn’t right. Could it be that we have
been sold another fib by those who tell us to keep our eyes on
Rev
11:3 "And I will give power to my
two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
Rev
11:4 clothed in sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the
Rev
11:5 earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire
proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if
Rev
11:6 anyone wants to harm them, he must
be killed in this manner. These have power
to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they
have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all
plagues, as often as they desire.
Rev
11:7 When they finish their testimony,
the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them,
“Did you notice that the word “
The
word “
Heb
6:4 “For it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have
Heb
6:5 become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age
Heb
6:6 to come, if they fall away, to renew
them again to repentance, since they
crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
“Those
who have fallen away after they have “tested the good word of God... crucify again for themselves the Son of God”. They could be anywhere in the world, not just
in
“There
are a number of such cities around the world, but we can’t speak about
them. We can, however, speak of the city
of which we have first hand experience, from where we have been sending these
magazines to the world, and that is
“Our
readers would know about the homosexual festival called “Gay and Lesbian Mardi
Grass” which takes place in this city annually, and of which we have written in
the past. It is an open display of
vulgarity and obscenity that would make any decent person sick just by watching
it. This is only one aspect of a wide
range of homosexual activities that take place in this city all year
round.
“Regarding
idolatry,
“As
for those who crucify Christ, all our leaders – political, religious and
academic – have done it. The political
leaders have done it by turning this State from Christianity to paganism. The official religion of
“Earlier
this year we had an election in this State.
The Coalition government, formed by the Liberal and National Parties,
lost the election. That is the good
news. This was the government that gave
“The
bad news is that Labor Party won the election.
This party has been described by a Member of Parliament as the
homosexual party. One of the first acts
of Parliament, signed by the new Premier, enshrined into legislation the
“right” of gay couples to be regarded as families. Then on
“The “right” of homosexuals to marry
and adopt children? Who gave them this
“right”, the United Nations? The Creator says that this is not “right” but
wrong, so wrong that they will pay with their lives for it. Unfortunately, other people suffer as a
result of their abominations too. Our
leaders would never accept that the current disastrous draught, the
astronomical national debt, the unemployment, the epidemic of youth suicides,
the decay of cities and many other social evils, have anything to do with their
policies, their attitude to, and especially their legislation on,
homosexuality.
“First,
it was the law against homosexual “vilification”. Then gay couples received the ‘right’ to be
regarded as normal families. Now, our highest office demands that homosexuals
have the ‘right to marry’ and adopt children too. What next?
Are they going to pass a law that everyone become a homosexual? Thank God they won’t have time for that.
“Those who want children
should exercise their ‘right’ to conceive and rear children, not adopt them
after other people have labored with them, then inculcate them with their vile
ideas. All those ‘rights’ are being
granted to homosexuals while Christians are being denied the right to speak
against such abominations and against the offensive vulgarities that pass as
cultural events in this city. This is
how our political leaders ‘crucify again’ for themselves the Son of
God.” (“Would The Real Witnesses Please
Stand Up”, The Christian Herald No 5).
The expressed
desire of our Governor General in 1995 has been overtaken by events in the
If you get the
impression that this ‘exploration’ is nothing more than the back door by which
they can introduce more un-Christian, anti-God, concepts and laws, you are not
wrong.
The efforts of the
homosexual lobby has shifted from the United Nations and the Courts, which they
have largely conquered, to the churches, some of which are still opposing their
practices. Now do you think that they
want to become priests and ministers because they love the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and want to preach righteousness, truth and holiness? Or rather because they want to neutralise and
silence this institution too. Churches
and religious institutions are still allowed to speak on this matter, and
condemn homosexuality without penalty,
but not for long. The United
Nations will see to that.
“The U. N. Human Rights Commission is
scheduled to meet March 15 to April 25 in
“IGLHRC
[the San-Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission]
called last April's introduction of the resolution by
“At the 2003 session,
“Last year's resolution, according to
the IGLHRC, had the support of
“The resolution, IGLHRC
asserted . . . would "provide activists with another tool to hold states
accountable to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered]
people."
However, some opponents contend the
remedy proposed by the resolution will have worse societal implications than
the alleged disease, "homophobia." "It is highly likely that
gay-rights advocates will use this resolution, if it passes, to advance their
agenda to legalize gay marriage and to create hate-crimes legislation,"
contended A. Scott Loveless, associate professor of law at the
"In their quest to legitimize
homosexuality, many of these countries have actually limited some of our most
fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech," Loveless said.
In
The draft resolution presented last
year by
Isn’t it extraordinary? It was a Muslim nation,
American evangelists never tire
telling their followers that Islam is a religion of the Devil. We are not quite sure that that is how the
Almighty sees it. When we pointed out that
Islam is as much a religion of Abraham as is Judaism and Christianity, each
with its own role and purpose, we received some of the most virulent criticism
ever. They forget that individual acts
of suicidal madness, by the kind of minorities that all religions have, do not
invalidate the basic tenets of a religion.
They have also forgotten what God had told Abraham about Ishmael, his
son by Hagar, who became the father of the Arabs and of Islam.
These are the words of God, of the
Holy Spirit, not of the Devil. Those who say otherwise commit an unpardonable
sin.
The Americans would never admit that the
Almighty would allow the kind of devastation they suffered on
It should not be left to Muslim
nations to oppose resolutions on homosexuality at the United Nations, for they
are an insult not only to them, but to true Christians and to the whole
civilized world. If a foreign body
imposes such abominable resolutions upon any nation, it should be mercilessly
thrown out of the country without delay, and never be heard of again.
Rumours have it that the United
Nations considers moving its headquarters to
Ishmael was a mirror mage of Jacob,
each with twelve princes, but on opposite sides of the fence. Isn’t this what is evident in the world at
present: a wild man, with wild descendants, against the whole world, and the
world against them?
Those American ‘evangelists’, blinded
by their hatred of Islam, betray their own ignorance of the Scriptures by
failing to see the hand of God and prophecy at work in their own nation.
These then are the ‘freedoms’ that
our political leaders would like to ‘impart’ to our students, freedoms that the
United Nations regard as ‘the birthright of all human beings’. Of course, the United Nations was there when
God created the first human beings and heard Him say, ‘your fundamental
birthright freedom’ is to debauch yourselves with all sorts sexual
perversions? They have forgotten the
lessons of history and what happened to those who abandoned themselves to these
kind of ‘freedoms’.
Over the years, we have not spared
other religions either, making our voice heard in their lands too. Yet, we have
never had a word of condemnation from these people, only from Christians, and
from the Jews.
Our message to the people of the
world is that they are God’s people too, only that they follow a wrong path and
worship wrong gods, just as Christians did before they turned to Jesus
Christ.
1 Cor 8:5 “For even if there are so-called gods,
whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many
1 Cor 8:6 lords), yet for us there is one God, the
Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord
1 Cor 8:7 Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,
and through whom we live. However, there
is not in everyone that knowledge;
What then are the values that create
good character, which all peoples should teach to their children?
For thousands of years, the God-given
standard that has formed the back bone of western civilisation until it started
falling apart under the onslaught of modernism, was the Ten Commandments. It is from
this standard that all other character building values proceed – diligence, honesty, respect for the law,
honour for the elders, charity, humility, love, and faith. These are the forgotten values in our
society today.
You cannot have
‘attributes’ outside these parameters.
You cannot ‘tolerate’ law breakers, you cannot ‘include’ deviant,
anti-social, elements, you cannot have ‘social justice’ by justifying the
unjustifiable, and you cannot have ‘freedom’ without responsibility, freedom
beyond the limits of decency and common sense.
The Judeo-Christian
Scriptures have proven over and over again that they are divinely inspired and
provide the best practical solutions for true character building. The problem
is that religion today suffers from a massive crisis of credibility.
Since the beginning
of time, religion has played a crucial role in education and in people’s lives,
but with the advent of modernity this is no longer the case. In the last couple of centuries religion has
been continuously undermined and subjected to attack from what has wrongly been
called science and enlightenment. The
great educational institutions of our time are no longer centres of discovery
and honest quest for truth, but hotbeds of radicalism, negativity, dissent, and
ridicule.
Years ago, I was
overjoyed when a top Anglican school in
Teachers careers in those
schools are determined by exam outcomes.
Parents, who pay exorbitant sums of money for their children’s
education, want to see tangible results.
Character is not as easily measured as are curriculum subjects. Any wonder that so many good students end up
as unscrupulous, greedy, professionals.
They lack moral education, and true character building values. No subject teaches these values, not even
scripture lessons.
Even the Priest,
who was taking religious instruction classes, would not touch creationist
materials that extolled biblical values.
Being a librarian, I had the chance to observe him at work. His lessons were a joke to say the
least. He had a horrendous time
controlling his classes and motivating students to take him seriously. He was paying the price for his own
convictions, for he was an evolutionist too.
Students did not expect that from him.
They respect a man of conviction who stands up for his principles, not
one who vacillates between two positions that are incompatible with each other.
I don’t think he
had proper teaching qualifications either, for his lessons were unstructured
and poorly prepared. For all intents and purposes, he did not quite seem to
know what he was talking about either.
Students are not stupid; you can fool them once or twice, but if they
perceive that you keep going before them without much of an idea what you are
going to talk about, they tear you to pieces.
Heaven help you after that, because even a school management with the
strictest code of discipline can’t help you anymore.
It is wrong to assume
that a preacher is naturally a good teacher too. A class full of students is not a church
congregation that listens quietly to nonsense for an hour or so, then thanks
the preacher for it.
The Bible tells us
that there are many people in the world who ought to do anything but preach
Scriptures.
Rom 16:18 “For those who are such do not serve our Lord
Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech
deceive the hearts of the simple.”
For two thousand
years impostors and incompetent hypocrites have wreaked havoc with the
Christian Gospel, giving people a sour taste of what religion is all about. The
Apostles saw it coming and warned their followers about it in the strongest
terms. That is why they spoke of the need for a restoration of all things
before the return of Jesus Christ.
For a long time I
wondered how such people could preach from the Bible on Sundays, then teach
students during the week that the story of creation is a myth and the book of
Genesis is not to be taken seriously.
And they still wonder that when children grow up they do not believe in
God and would have nothing to do with the church.
Many of the
problems in today’s education can be traced directly to the intrusive
government legislation that forbids any kind of corporal punishment. They say that they do it for the good of the
children, but evidence is mounting that children brought up without discipline
become adults without discipline too.
No corporal
punishment, no rote learning, no speaking harshly to students, no external
examinations, no lowering the students’ self-esteem, nothing that might
incommode our ‘little angels’. The problem
is, we are not dealing with ‘little angels’, but with many intrinsically
disruptive elements that do not know the meaning of discipline anymore.
After a few years
in private education, I moved to a public school that was more easily
accessible for me. That school
introduced a laudable program of 20 minutes quiet reading for all students
first thing in the morning. I had year
11 in the library’s instruction room.
That was supposed to be a more disciplined and diligent class, as all
senior student classes are supposed to be.
Yet even in that class there was a group of four students who did their
best to live up to their fame as bullies and trouble makers. After trying every method at my disposal to
quiet them down, without success, I wrote a memo to the Deputy Principal, who
was in charge of discipline in the school, inviting him to come down to the
library to discuss their case with me, or tell me when I could go and discuss
it with him in his office. He did not
answer me; he knew their case very well, and that nothing more could be done
with them short of expelling them. But expelling students from a school does
not look good on the school administration record, and so they let the staff
grapple with unruly students the best they can.
However, I did not
give up for I could see the disruption they were causing to other
students. I wrote two more memos, and
when the Deputy Principal still did not answer me, I expelled them from the
library and sent them to the Principal to deal with them. It was only then that the Deputy Principal
reluctantly made his way to the library.
A heated discussion followed. His
point was that we had to do everything in our power to keep them in school,
‘because we could not throw senior students out in the street’. And my point was that not only were they not
getting any benefit out of it, but were causing major inconvenience to other
students. I pointed out that we were not
a correctional institution to deal with perennially recalcitrant juveniles, but
an educational one with responsibility to the majority of students and to
parents who expect the best possible education for their children. In the end I had to accept his viewpoint, for
he was my superior, but he promised to have a serious discussion with them warning
them that unless they changed, their behaviour would not be tolerated much
longer.
Whether he did that
or not, I do not know, but what I do know is that a few days later, during a
school social occasion for our senior students, they got into a major brawl
with some strangers. One of our good students who went to their help, was
stubbed and killed on the spot. Two of
the bad ones ended up in hospital fighting for their life. They survived, but that was the end of their
association with our school. Far too
late in my opinion.
Somehow, the school
administration and the Education Department managed to keep the whole incident
out of media headlines. No school wants
to see its name associated with that kind of record. They made my life miserable after that,
undermining my position whenever they could and wanting me out of the school,
mindful of the fact that if my attempts to have those incorrigible juveniles
dealt with earlier had come to light they may well have been held criminally
responsible for the death of that good and innocent boy. They were a time bomb ready to explode
anytime; and it did. But the school’s
interest and the administration’s record demanded that they be kept in school
at all costs. And the costs turned out
to be very high indeed. Fortunately, my
association with that school did not last long after that. Unfortunately, it came for the wrong
reason: a car accident caused by another
irresponsible youth, who did not respect traffic laws, caused me severe
injuries that forced me into an early retirement.
There would have
been no room in private schools for those students, and there should have been
no room for them in public schools either.
But they were in school because the current educational guidelines work in
their favour. Teachers who want to
advance their career are judged among other things on their ability to deal
with unruly students. Rather than have
their record spoiled, when nothing else works, they let the rascals rule the
roost in the class. And so, public
education gets a bad mark, and other students suffer as a result of it.
As a
Teacher/Librarian, who did not care for further career advancement I could
afford to be firm with them, but other teachers put up with it, always hoping
that the next year would bring them better students.
The problem comes
mainly from the inane notion that all children must stay in high school until
late teens. For many of them school is
nothing but a drudge and a vexation of spirit, and so it is for anyone who has
to deal with them.
So what should be
done about it? Apprenticeships, that’s
what! Every qualified tradesman should
have a helper, an apprentice who in the beginning would receive a certain
remuneration from the Government.
The Government
provides substantial amounts of money to families for the upkeep of their
children, as they should, and to schools for their education. Part of this money should be split between
tradesmen and apprentices in the early days, until apprentices become
productive and self supporting.
Everyone would benefit from such a scheme, and would spare the schools
from having to work as baby sitters, or correctional institutions, for students
that have no reason to be there.
Less than a quarter
of high school students go on to university.
And for that, all children must be subjected to trudging education that
leaves little mark on them. Just think
how much you remember of your high school studies, and whether you would not
remember just as much if those studies were more judiciously spread out and
combined with practical work.
The push for
university education for everyone and everything helps neither society, nor
individuals who have no stomach for it.
It merely reinforces the misplaced concept that education to be worth
anything must be at the university level.
The school of life
and practical training still offer the best education for the vast majority of
people. Just think how many people you
know who have no university education and yet have done very well in life and
are pleasure to deal with. And just the
same, how many people you know with university education whom you wish you had
never met. If you have never met such a
person, happy are you. Pray to God that
you stay that way and that you’ll never have to put your foot in a Court of Law
for example.
When Labour was in
Government at the Federal level, they took nursing education from hospitals and
put it into universities. Then they had
to invent a new position, nurses’ help, to deal with what the nurses used to do
before. The result is that the country
has a chronic shortage of nurses.
Universities are
conservative institutions. Because they
operate on fixed budgets, they cannot expand and shrink at will according to
the market principle of supply and demand.
They cannot expand quickly enough when there is a certain shortage in
the labour market, then close down departments and lay off staff when that
demand has been fulfilled or diminished.
That is why hospitals and other institutions that can take care of their
own needs, must be allowed to do so on the basis of well established,
verifiable, national guidelines and standards, and not be subjected to the
whims of politicians and bureaucrats that more often than not have little idea
of what they are talking about.
Most children are
not meant for, and do not care for, university education. They would benefit infinitely more from
practical training that could start as early as the end of their primary
school, or elementary school as it is more commonly called in
At the end of
primary school, all education should be two streamed: one stream for
academically inclined students, and another for those
that love practical training. Sport
should play a bigger role in both streams, but more so in the latter. Basic subjects such as Literature, History,
Geography, Mathematics, Science, Physics and Chemistry, should be staple menus
for all students, each stream however with its own emphasis and degree of
complexity. In the practical training
stream, these subjects should be gradually reduced until they take no more than
two days per week.
This, however, is
considered elitist education, and in a world gone mad on egalitarism
it is unlikely that the powers that be would consider such a scheme. One of the arguments against it is that
students are too young to take life long decisions at that early stage. But opportunities for further education
should not stop there. Further education
through evening or correspondence courses should be available throughout life.
At the end of my
elementary school, I undertook three years vocational training that qualified
me as electrician. Then I completed my
high school through evening classes while working as a tradesman. I was aiming towards electrical engineering
at university when my life took a radical turn.
I escaped from communist
More than a decade
passed, and although I felt well versed in Scriptures and history, I did not
rush to do anything with my knowledge, always thinking that if God wanted me to
do something with it He would provide the opportunity. And He did, but not in the manner or the time
that I expected. Originally, I thought
that my knowledge and experience would be harnessed thorough an existing
church. But rather than making use of my
knowledge and cooperating with me in enlightening the world on the malaise that
was destroying churches worldwide – lack of Scriptural knowledge – I found
myself on a collision course with these same churches. In desperation, I began an independent work
by publishing The Christian Herald. I
produced the first seven editions on evenings, weekends and school vacations
while working as a Teacher/Librarian.
Then I had the accident that forced me into an early retirement. Since then, I managed to maintain the rate of
one edition per year while convalescing at home. It so happened that the Internet came into
vogue at about the same time. Without
the Internet I would have had to give up on this work, for I would not have
been able to carry out the almost interminable research work that some of the
articles required.
Now, why am I
telling you these things? To show you
that with all the twists and turns that my life had taken, and the physical,
psychological, and emotional pain that I endured, and still do, there are few
people in the world that would be happier than I am. I have the right relationship with My Maker,
I know where I stand, what I do, and where I go, which is what few other people
could honestly say.
That is why a
decision taken at the age of 13 or 14 is not the end of the road as far as
one’s career and happiness are concerned.
Indeed, I am convinced that getting work experience and practical
training for some years after primary school, is the best possible outcome for
students of that age. It would teach
them valuable skills and the value of honest work, it would give them the
satisfaction of earning their own upkeep and would lessen the burden on
families; and it would be a lot less costly for the Government too.
Let those who aim
to become doctors, teachers, lawyers and the like, take the academic stream,
but let others who like working with their own hands not be castigated for not
getting a university degree for it.
God certainly does
not do that. He extols the virtues of
honest diligent work in whatever field.
Luke 10:7 "The labourer is worthy of his wages.”
Prov.