Christianity in Home Life

by Charles Orr

Nowhere is Christianity more beautifully displayed, than in the home. It changes the home of wickedness, strife, and contention — into a peaceful and delightful Eden. It converts the home of the wicked — into a palace. It drives away discontentment, uneasiness, fear, and darkness — and showers contentment, peace, and sunlight into every heart.

Recently we saw some people speaking their testimonies in a public meeting, and telling of the blessedness of salvation. Yet in their homes, we found them irritable, impatient, and contentious, which is very unlike Heaven.

But, thank God, true Christianity brings a Heaven to the home — as well as in the public life. Christianity is Christ in the heart, and where Christ is, there is Heaven; consequently a Christian has a Heaven within him, and he has this Heaven at home as well as abroad. Praise God!

Christianity in home life makes all . . .
  love and kindness — between brothers and sisters;
  love and dutifulness — between parents and children;  love, peace, harmony, honesty, and faithfulness — between husband and wife.

WTH is Wrong With America - Part 2

Re-Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on October 1, 2014  monticellocollege.org/

Read Part 1 of WTH is Wrong With America

I mentioned in Part One that there can be no political autonomy without financial autonomy. I think the collapsing of American political autonomy is clear to the most casual observer, but what exactly is financial autonomy?

If I have a job and can pay my rent and have enough money for food until my next pay check – isn’t that being responsible? Aren’t I free to do as I please?

What Is Financial

Let’s take a minute and really drill down on this definition.

Financial refers to the monetary resources of a government, a company, an organization, or an individual; revenue.

Autonomy is of Greek origin and literally means “having one’s own laws;” self -governing or not being subject to outside control. It refers to a kind of independence or freedom known to few in America today.

The word “free” has Saxon and Hebraic roots.

In Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of the English Language, free is defined as, “being at liberty; not being under necessity or restraint; not enslaved; not in a state of vassalage or dependence.”

Since our language has the capacity to describe a certain state of being – that of financial Autonomy, I ask the question – Why are so few Americans financially free?

Why are so many of us, a pay check or two away financial disaster? America is the freest nation on earth…or is it?

Book Review - Our Home by C.E. Sargent

Our Home, by C. E. Sargent

Our Home Vol I & II was written to help parents become what they should be. All aspects of home life are covered, with examples and ideas of how to establish the kind of home the Lord expects of us. This book is about the sanctity of family and family life. Discusses time-honored virtues and values only found within the family circle. Deals with raising and educating children.



Eric Wilson’s Review: I struggled with this month’s review, do I have to like it or be willing to pass this book on to a friend? After consideration I deemed I do not have to “love” every book I read nor am I the final arbitrator of a classic so…. There were some good parts but also some less good parts to borderline ridiculous. This book was recommended by Glenn Beck, Dr. Brooks, and DeMille, all whom I respect and trust their opinions. That said there is a whole lot of great nuggets of principles, values, virtues, and helpful foundational thinking for family and the life education of children. That said there are also other parts that I would question but understand the author included. Over all thought it was not well written, the author’s perspective is from a college aged kid, with neither children nor experience, at the dawn of the first turning with a clear artist archetype (if you don’t understand the last statement read the Forth Turning by Howe and Straus). To a middle aged father of three, Calvinist, and nomad archetype at the leading edge of the forth turning I just could not connect with this book fully. I said all of that to say this, read it for yourself with a discerning mind. There is a lot of great information you can glean and people a lot smarter than me that recommend this book.

Find this and other books in our recommended reading list: Click here

WTH Is Wrong With America - Part 1

Re-Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on September 23, 2014  monticellocollege.org/


I've been angry for a while now.

When I turned 50, I took pause and reflected on my life, presuming that I was at the halfway point (yes, I intend to live to see 100).

I thought about my childhood in the 60’s and early 70’s.

I reminisced my high school years and realized that my topsy-turvy life to that point had pretty well mirrored the turbulence of the era.

I remembered my fear of possibly being drafted into the Vietnam Conflict (I missed it by several years, but the possibility still seemed very real at the age of 15) and my full participation in the Cold War aboard a nuclear submarine shadowing Soviet ships of war.

Shortly after my military discharge, I became painfully aware of the poor state of my country and just how much had been lost, and I dedicated the balance of my life to the restoration of the America given us by her founders.

But then came 9/11 and the torrent of bad choices made by the American citizenry and its political leaders following that tragedy. The Patriot Act, the continuation of wars that we could never hope to win with the adopted management policies—that were and still are being used—the gargantuan unjustified economic bailouts and the rapid decline of the US dollar by the alarming leadership of the Federal Reserve, and the unabashed implementation of socialized medicine by all three branches of the federal government destroying any hope of restoring liberty and personal responsibility.

Directives for Avoiding Dissension in the Home

by Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) English Puritan church leader
 

It is a great duty of husbands and wives to live in quietness and peace, and avoid all occasions of wrath and discord. Because this is a duty of so great importance, I shall first open to you the great NECESSITY of it, and then give you more particular directions to perform it.

(1) Your discord will be your pain, and the vexation of our lives. Like a disease, or wound, or fracture in your own bodies, which will pain you until it is cured; you will hardly keep peace in your minds, when peace is broken so near you in your family. As you would take heed of hurting yourselves, and as you would hasten the cure when you are hurt; so should you take heed of any breach of peace, and quickly seek to heal it when it is broken.

“Raising the Standard for Children”

Posted by Don Pinson on May 29, 2014 HeritageMinistriesKY.com

The conversation of a Ugandan boy of 11 with an 11-year-old from the U.S. puts childhood into proper perspective. The Ugandan boy, an orphan, has been touched by the powerful revival which has been happening in his country for several years now. After meeting the young boy from the U.S., the Ugandan child asked him, “What are you going to do in life?” This was not a question of childhood play. He was completely serious. The other child was amazed and asked how was he supposed to know what he would do in life---he was only a child! The boy from Uganda replied, “You’re eleven years old and you don’t yet know what you’re supposed to be in life?!” He really was amazed. You see the Ugandan child has been under the influence of a move of God’s Spirit in his nation that has had a profound impact on his country. Unlike the boy from the West, he has been taught that life is not about him and his pleasure; but rather it’s about the plan of God for him. He’s planning and is now taking steps to become what God has created him to be.

Before you dismiss this as just a child’s aspirations, or perhaps as the result of over-zealous parents and teachers who have “crammed” the Bible down his throat, you better consider history. It is a fact of history recorded in the Bible that God wants children to know His plan for their life; and to prepare early for that plan.

Duties of Parents to their Children by John Bunyan Part 2

read previous Duties of Parents to Their Children by John Bunyan Part 1

IF thou art a parent, a father or a mother, then thou art to consider thy calling under this relation. Thy children have souls, and they must be begotten of God as well as of thee, or they perish. And know also, that unless thou be very circumspect in thy behavior to and before them, they may perish through thee: the thoughts of which should provoke thee, both to instruct, and also to correct them.

 Ah! when children can think of their parents, and bless God for that instruction and good they have received from them, this is not only profitable for children, but honorable and comfortable to parents: "The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him." (Prov. 23:24,25).

Now, The duty of correction:—

Duties of Parents to their Children by John Bunyan Part 1

IF thou art a parent, a father or a mother, then thou art to consider thy calling under this relation. Thy children have souls, and they must be begotten of God as well as of thee, or they perish. And know also, that unless thou be very circumspect in thy behavior to and before them, they may perish through thee: the thoughts of which should provoke thee, both to instruct, and also to correct them.

To instruct them as the scripture saith, and to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" and to do this diligently "when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." (Eph. 6:4; Deut. 6:7.)

Now to do this to purpose:—

The Year Without a Santa Claus

Eric Wilson - 2013

It was the night before Christmas and all through the compound, everyone was coughing making awful sounds. 

The Tamiflu and thermometer we’re all lined up in a row, in hopes that this flu would soon decide to go.

And ma wrapped in blankets and I in our bed, had just settled down and taken our last med.

When what to our wondering ears should I catch, but some elves at our house playing ding-dong-ditch.

Away to the door I stumbled and crawled, opened it up and guess what I saw.

Eight bags of groceries a basket of fruit, and a great big pot of chicken-noodle soup

Anybody that has followed me on Facebook is aware we had a challenging Christmas this year.  It began actually a couple of days before Christmas when we found the entire family at the doctors being swabbed and informed we had influenza.  With the fever, aches, cough, and stomach pains we really didn’t need this confirmation but I guess we now knew in fact it was the “real” Flu. This lead to the next few days of bed rest, lots of tissues, and confinement with in our house (and a Christmas we wish we could forget).

When I Grow Up...

Posted by Justen Collins on June 14, 2013

This past week was a celebratory one in our home. My oldest – WDC – finished up his preschool stint, I celebrated a birthday, and my wife’s patience endured long enough to commemorate another year of marriage for us. It was a fun and relaxing week during which I got to spend time with my loved ones as well as take in a couple of outstanding concerts.

While reviewing the week’s festivities with my five-year-old son, our discussion turned to a familiar topic for us. “When I grow up, I am going to drive a train,” he said for probably the 7,000th time of his life. My oldest son has been blessed with the clear vision of what he wants to do for a living from infancy. If you have the time and interest, he will gladly be more specific and let you know that he intends to be a steam locomotive engineer on a particular route stretching from Colorado up into Wyoming. If you have even more time, he will pull up some YouTube footage and walk you through the tiny details of the train’s interior and exterior complete with humorous stories about their history. It is amazing and slightly terrifying at the same time.

This past weekend, though, he caught me off-guard by shifting the conversation back to me. Perhaps it was my recent birthday or his preschool graduation that had him thinking beyond the railroad for a moment, but WDC asked me from his van booster seat, “Dad, what do you want to be when you grow up?” In his five-plus years, he had never turned the familiar question back around on me.

The Liberal Arts During Bondage; Part Three: The Fourth Turning: The Opportunity Of The Century

Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on March 5, 2013   monticellocollege.org/


[This series of posts are a continuation of the blog posted on January 1, 2013 at Shanonbrooks.com entitled Liberal Arts in Bondage]

To wrap up this series, let’s rely on history to show us a way out of Bondage.

As was mentioned in part two, we not only rely on the 250-year society oriented Tytler Cycle to show us the way, but the more personal 80-100-year Century Cycle or Saeculum.

This last post is dedicated to the fourth and first turnings/seasons of the Century Cycle as described in chapter seven of our book, A Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens. What follows is that chapter in its entirety.

History runs in cycles, and there is a pattern of four seasons repeated over and over, each about 20-25 years long.  Like the seasons of the year, they come naturally and each feels different.  These four seasons are called “turnings,” like turnings on a cycle, by authors Strauss and Howe in their book The Fourth Turning.  The four seasons are:

1st: Founding. New institutions are built up to progress after the last crisis, like the United Nations, Social Security, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), NATO, and other organizations being created right after the Great Depression and World War II.  Lots of businesses flourished in this period also.

2nd: Awakening. Youth grow up and challenge the old establishments, like the 1960s counter-culture movement at Woodstock, the Civil Rights movement led by Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others, and strong pushes for Feminism and Environmentalism, etc.

3rd: Unraveling. Two big viewpoints and political parties fight for power, and everything seems like it will come apart.  Economies boom.  The last unraveling happened between 1984 and 2001, and the one before that in the “Roaring 1920s.”

4th: Crisis.  Big problems come.  Actually, crisis seasons usually consist of three crises in a row, sometimes overlapped.  First is the wake-up crisis that shocks everyone, like the Boston Tea Party, the election of Abraham Lincoln, the 1929 stock market crash, which started the Great Depression.  In recent times, it appears that 9/11 was such an event.

Parents Have Many Education Options

Posted by Theresa Camoriano on March 2, 2013

Last week, I wrote that the responsibility for educating children is still in the hands of pare... and most of the

things children need to learn in order to become successful adults are not even taught in school.  That means we cannot leave the education of our children entirely in the hands of the schools.

 Unfortunately, the “professional educators” have done a very good job of convincing most parents that they are not capable of teaching their own children.  That simply is not true.  Again, as explained in my earlier article, parents still do most of the educating of their children, even if the children attend school.

 The vast majority of parents are perfectly capable of handling most of the educational needs of their children.  Reading to young children, teaching them how to sound out words and how to count are enjoyable and natural activities.  A trip to the grocery store can involve lots of learning – reading the labels and signs in the store, figuring out which product is a better value, counting the number of items in the grocery cart, figuring out how much change is due at the checkout, and so forth.

 Planning a garden can involve measuring, calculating area, drawing a chart, setting up a time line, planting seeds,  caring for the plants, cooking the produce, following a recipe – all important learning experiences which are learned in a very natural way.

Whether we realize it or not, we are all home-schooling families

Posted by Theresa Camoriano on February 18, 2013

It is our responsibility as parents to ensure that our children get a good education that prepares

them to lead a healthy, successful life.  A good education not only includes reading, writing, math, science and history.  It also includes learning good values as well as critical thinking, problem-solving, and time management skills. It includes learning self-reliance, how to budget and balance a checkbook,  how to deal with people, and how to have a good attitude about life.  It also includes learning good health habits, including exercise, hygiene, and nutrition.  In order to be good citizens, our children also need to learn about economics and government.   They also should learn something about car maintenance, proper etiquette, and self defense, among other things.

When we consider everything that is involved in a good education, it is clear that we cannot hand all that responsibility over to a school, even if it is a very good school.  Even the best schools will not teach a fraction of what our children need for a successful life.  Like it or not, most of that education has to come from the parents and grandparents.  So, whether we realize it or not, we are all home-schooling families.

While being responsible for the education of  our children is an awesome task, we  should not be intimidated by it.  We do not need a Ph.D. in childhood education in order to do a good job.  We just need to recognize our responsibility and make a real effort to do what we are naturally equipped to do as parents and grandparents.

The Second Great Commandment

Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on February 18, 2013  monticellocollege.org/

“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “thou shalt love the lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Matt 22: 35-39

This is perhaps one of the best-known scriptures from the New Testament. But the quotation is incomplete.  The next verse is the real message:

“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Service is not a new concept in our culture.  Lots of people engage in service and do a great deal of good.

But how many of us love our neighbors—as ourselves—and from the perspective that “all the law” hangs on our doing so?

Don’t misunderstand, in my opinion there is nothing wrong with the standard service project, a bunch of people getting together and raking leaves from an elderly citizen’s yard or painting a house or planting a garden.

These are good and we should do this kind of service often.  But loving our neighbor as our self is a deeper, less public, more personal form of service, and as it turns out, it is often needed more than a new paint job.

Labor Pietas Fatum

Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on December 18, 2012     monticellocollege.org/

The great Roman Poet Virgil summarized the virtues of the Roman Republic in three words:

Labor
Pietas
Fatum

These three words played a vital role in shaping Colonial America and in essence led the American culture up until the Civil War.

When Virgil wrote of the Romans in the Aeneid these three words were used to describe that

best of Roman character:

Labor

Pietas

Fatum

He used the word labor to describe the concept of self-reliance and ownership. Taking care of one’s self without government intervention. For the American founders, the roman general Cincinnatus was the ultimate model of manliness and the concept of self-reliance.

Today Pietas or piety means to be a good church-goer. To the Romans, it was a deep sense of devotion and duty first to family, community, then to the state or nation. It was the sense of a connection to your past ancestors and to the future,

A Renaissance in Social Leadership

Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on December 17, 2012    monticellocollege.org/

In Lee Iacocca’s book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?, he strikes a poignant cord—with

all of these problems we are facing, where is the outrage?

And now that he mentions it, where the heck are all of the leaders?

Why is no one other than “beltway fever” politicians putting forth answers, and bad ones at that.

Why are we all just standing around waiting? And what are we waiting for?  Where are the ordinary men and women who are the legacy of this great nation?  The Sergeant Yorks, the Mr. Smiths, the Rosa Parks’, the Preston Tuckers and the adherents of Cincinnatus?

Where are the everyday leaders in society, who have the common horse sense to solve these problems? 

Book Review - A Thomas Jefferson Education

Is American education preparing the future leaders our nation needs, or merely struggling to teach basic literacy and job skills? Without leadership education, are we settling for an inadequate system that delivers educational, industrial, governmental and societal mediocrity? In A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century, Oliver DeMille presents a new educational vision based on proven methods that really work! Teachers, students, parents, educators, legislators, leaders and everyone who cares about America's future must read this compelling book.

This is one of the fundamental reads that really sets the ground work for “how” to start think and the power of self-education. We highly recommend this book as a quick read over the holidays and to either begin your journey or to provide key building blocks on your path to restore liberty.