Education and Career Choices

For us to find direction in education and career choices in today’s world, we must first understand the intrinsic nature of the Christian religion. The Christian religion is, in a superlative sense, both a spiritual and an intellectual religion.

Concerning the spiritual nature of Christianity, Ellen White wrote, “We need spiritual eyesight now as never before, that we may see afar off, and that we may discern the snares and designs of the enemy, and as faithful watchmen proclaim the danger. We need spiritual power that we may take in, as far as the human mind can, the great subjects of Christianity, and how far-reaching are its principles.” The Home Missionary, November 1, 1893.

“All professions of Christianity are but lifeless expressions of faith until Jesus imbues the believer with his spiritual life, which is the Holy Ghost.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 242.

“Unless the mind is constantly exercised in obtaining spiritual knowledge and in seeking to understand the mystery of godliness, it is incapable of appreciating eternal things, because it has no experience in that direction. This is the reason why religion, by nearly all is considered up-hill business.” Pamphlet 098, 11, 12. [Emphasis added.]

Intellectual Christianity

Concerning the intellectual nature of Christianity, Mrs. White wrote, “The truths of the divine word can be best appreciated by an intellectual Christian. Christ can be best glorified by those who serve Him intelligently.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 160.

Although comparatively few people become intellectual Christians, it is God’s will for all to become intellectual Christians and for this to occur during childhood and youth: “It is the precious privilege of children and youth to yield their minds to the control of the Spirit of God and become intellectual Christians.” Lift Him Up, 91.

“All whom God has endowed with reasoning powers may become intellectual Christians.” The Medical Missionary, May 1, 1892. A similar statement was published in an article that Mrs. White wrote for the March 8, 1887, issue of Review and Herald.

“Jesus would have us learn in his school that we may become intellectual Christians.” The Signs of the Times, February 14, 1878.

“The greatest work of the teacher is to lead those under his charge to be intellectual Christians.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 322.

Especially are the above facts true for any young person who wishes to prepare for full-time service in any branch of God’s closing work on earth, whether it be the gospel ministry, medical missionary work, literature work, Christian education, or work in one of the Lord’s institutions or a local church.

Spiritual Power Also

The minister, for example is constantly to increase in spiritual power. (See Review and Herald, January 21, 1902.) Not only this, but the minister is constantly to increase in intellectual power: “Nearly every minister in the field, had he exerted his God-given energies, might not only be proficient in reading, writing, and grammar, but even in languages. It is essential for them to set their aim high. But there has been but little ambition to put their powers to the test to reach an elevated standard in knowledge and in religious intelligence.

“Our ministers will have to render to God an account for the rusting of the talents He has given to improve by exercise. They might have done tenfold more work intelligently had they cared to become intellectual giants. Their whole experience in their high calling is cheapened because they are content to remain where they are. Their efforts to acquire knowledge will not in the least hinder their spiritual growth if they will study with right motives and proper aims.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 194.

Because of the nature of the Christian religion, we find that wherever Christianity developed in the world, in that place there were also developed schools for educational training. A Christian school was developed in Antioch, and schools were established in India, Africa, and Europe.

So, the first thing to understand about education and career choices is that God wants us to become strong both spiritually and intellectually. This will require us to obtain the educational training that the providence of God makes it possible for us to acquire. In my own family, when my grandparents became Seventh-day Adventists, the result was that even though they were not highly educated, all their children did become highly educated. This is also why Seventh-day Adventists, in general, are more highly educated than the average population. This is as it should be.

The problem comes, however, when we obtain the wrong kind of education, which eventually results in the children of Adventist parents, in the third or fourth or fifth generation, going right back into the worldly life from which their grandparents or great-grandparents came to become Seventh-day Adventists. Both Adventist and non-Adventist authors have amply documented this fact. (See, for example, The Fat Lady and the Kingdom: Confronting the Challenge of Change and Secularization, by George R. Knight, Adventist Book Center New Jersey, 1995, or Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism and the American Dream, by Malcolm Bull and Keith Lockhart, Indiana University Press, 2006.) This fact also, in a great measure, explains the fact that every heaven inspired revival and reformation movement for the past 2,000 years has been dominated mainly by the common people, and relatively few highly educated people became part of it.

Common People

In Jesus’ day, it was the common people: “The common people heard him gladly.” Mark 12:37. In the days of the apostle Paul, it was the same. (See 1 Corinthians 1.)

In the time of the sixteenth century reformation, it was the same. The papal system for education made the following demand in Holland during the time of the reformation: “We forbid all lay persons to converse or dispute concerning the Holy Scriptures, openly or secretly, especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or to read, teach, or expound the Scriptures, unless they have duly studied theology and have been approved by some renowned university.” E. A. Sutherland, Studies in Christian Education, The Rural Press, Madison, Tennessee, 1915, 97.

The historian also relates what happened: “To the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in church and state here were men with little education, utterly devoid of Hebrew, of lowly station—hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers and the like—who began to preach, remembering unreasonably, perhaps, that the early disciples selected by the Founder of Christianity had not all been doctors of theology with diplomas from renowned universities.” Ibid.

It was the same in the second advent movement during the nineteenth century. Most of the converts were from the common people, because the educational systems were so corrupted with false philosophy (see Colossians 2) that by the time people became highly educated, they, first of all, were not of a mind-set to accept unpopular Bible truth, and, secondly, they were often mentally and spiritually incapable of doing so. A person who is not spiritual cannot understand spiritual things. (See 1 Corinthians 2.)

This also explains why, today, the vast majority in the revival and reformation movement in the second advent movement are from the common people; only a very few highly educated people are involved. The entire tenor and philosophy and training of the educational experience of many has prepared them to stay with well-established and highly developed organizations or philosophical groups, and when God leads His people farther out of and away from either Egypt or Babylon, they are unprepared, unwilling, and even unable to walk into new territory where their fathers have not been.

The Relationship

Ellen White explains the relationship between education, the inability to be part of a revival and reformation movement—when God is leading His people into new territory—and the failure to be able to distinguish between truth and error as follows:

“For ages education has had to do chiefly with the memory. This faculty has been taxed to the utmost, while the other mental powers have not been correspondingly developed. Students have spent their time in laboriously crowding the mind with knowledge, very little of which could be utilized. The mind thus burdened with that which it cannot digest and assimilate is weakened; it becomes incapable of vigorous, self-reliant effort, and is content to depend on the judgment and perception of others. . . .

“The education that consists in the training of the memory, tending to discourage independent thought, has a moral bearing which is too little appreciated. As the student sacrifices the power to reason and judge for himself, he becomes incapable of discriminating between truth and error, and falls an easy prey to deception. He is easily led to follow tradition and custom.” Education, 230.

Anyone who has, for example, studied the history of Nazi Germany should know that the Nazis were very successful in getting highly educated people to follow their agenda. The above statement from the book Education explains why that was so.

This fact will be with us until the end of time, and it will help us to understand what will happen in the very last days:

“The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing. Those who have rendered supreme homage to ‘science falsely so called’ will not be the leaders then. Those who have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent will not then stand at the head of rank and file. They did not keep pace with the light. Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will not then be entrusted with the flock. In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and He cannot use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you. But it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. In the daytime we look toward heaven but do not see the stars. They are there, fixed in the firmament, but the eye cannot distinguish them. In the night we behold their genuine luster.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80, 81.

“As the time comes for it [the third angel’s message] to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the training of literary institutions.” The Great Controversy, 606.

A Dilemma

So, we are faced with a dilemma, and it is this: Education is highly desirable. God wants all of us to become intellectual Christians, and we should be seeking to become intellectual giants, gaining the greatest amount of education which the providence of God guides us to obtain. But, obtaining an education in educational institutions is very dangerous for the following reasons: (1) At the vast majority of educational institutions you will be taught worldly philosophy which is directly contrary and opposed to the Word of God. It will be impossible for you to sit in classes day after day and listen to this philosophy without it having a permanent effect on your mind, your thinking, and your life. (2) Many educational institutions focus on educating the memory to the exclusion of the other faculties of the mind, producing the result cited previously in the book, Education, page 230. (3) Unfortunately, those educational institutions that do not teach worldly philosophy often have one of the following problems: (A) Its educational classes are corrupted with fanaticism. That is, information is being taught that cannot be backed up by good scientific research or biblical research. (B) There may be just a plain lack of sufficient ability to help you actually become highly educated. Obviously, an educator cannot educate you to a level higher than that which he or she has attained. Many educators today actually are not intellectual giants themselves; consequently, they cannot help you to become one. A teacher who is not spiritual cannot help you to become a spiritual person. (C) Some institutions lack the ability to prepare you to support yourself in this world.

Support

This last statement, about being prepared to support one’s self in this world, must never be forgotten. A student who graduates from school—not primary school or high school, but a school of higher education—should never have to work as an unskilled occupational worker. Ellen White wrote: “True education is that which will train children and youth for the life that now is, and in reference to that which is to come; for an inheritance in that better country, even in an heavenly.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 328.

“The custom of supporting men and women in idleness by private gifts or church money encourages them in sinful habits, and this course should be conscientiously avoided. Every man, woman, and child should be educated to do practical, useful work. All should learn some trade. It may be tentmaking, or it may be business in other lines; but all should be educated to use the members of their body to some purpose, and God is ready and willing to increase the adaptability of all who will educate themselves to industrious habits.

“If a man in good physical health has property, and has no need of entering into employment for his own support, he should labor to acquire means that he may advance the cause and work of God. He is to be ‘not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’ [Romans 12:11.] God will bless all who will guard their influence in regard to others in this respect.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 912.

“Every youth, on leaving school, should have acquired a knowledge of some trade or occupation by which, if need be, he may earn a livelihood.” Education, 218.

Because of the apostasy—the falling away or departing from the truth God has revealed to his people—in the educational institutions of all protestant churches of which the author is aware, Seventh-day Adventist young people today are faced with a greater dilemma than any Adventist generation since the beginning of the second advent movement.

Waldensian Example

It has often become necessary for Adventist young people who need and want education, and who are seeking education, to do what the Waldenses had to do during the dark ages: “While the Waldenses regarded the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom, they were not blind to the importance of a contact with the world, a knowledge of men and of active life, in expanding the mind and quickening the perceptions. From their schools in the mountains some of the youth were sent to institutions of learning in the cities of France or Italy, where was a more extended field for study, thought, and observation than in their native Alps. The youth thus sent forth were exposed to temptation, they witnessed vice, they encountered Satan’s wily agents, who urged upon them the most subtle heresies and the most dangerous deceptions. But their education from childhood had been of a character to prepare them for all this.

“In the schools whither they went, they were not to make confidants of any. Their garments were so prepared as to conceal their greatest treasure—the precious manuscripts of the Scriptures. These, the fruit of months and years of toil, they carried with them, and whenever they could do so without exciting suspicion, they cautiously placed some portion in the way of those whose hearts seemed open to receive the truth. From their mother’s knee the Waldensian youth had been trained with this purpose in view; they understood their work and faithfully performed it. Converts to the true faith were won in these institutions of learning, and frequently its principles were found to be permeating the entire school; yet the papal leaders could not, by the closest inquiry, trace the so-called corrupting heresy to its source.” The Great Controversy, 69, 70.

Dilemma Faced

If you or one of your loved ones is facing this dilemma and need to obtain an education at a state university or technical school, following are a few things to remember:

  1. The Word of God—the Bible—is the basis of true education in this world, so if you want to be truly educated, as a historian of Oberlin College wrote of that institution, “The Scriptures, both in the English version and in the original tongues, were considered to possess the highest educational value; and as such they should be studied first, last, and everywhere between.” Sutherland, 20. Whether God is calling you to be a physician, a lawyer, a scientist, a business person, or a technical worker, the Bible is the basis of true education, and it must be studied diligently every day if you want to receive a true education, even if you are attending a state university.
  2. It is dangerous to attend a state university for any reason unless you are thoroughly rooted and grounded in Bible religion first. (Notice the Waldensian practice as given above from The Great Controversy.) It would be better to forfeit getting an education rather than lose eternal life, as has happened to countless millions of people in the educational institutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  3. Obtain counsel concerning your plans from godly parents and/or ministers or gospel workers. Do those who know you best and love you believe that you could be successful in resisting the temptations that would certainly come to you in an institution of learning in this world?
  4. Listening to error is never harmless, even in a “Christian” university or a self-supporting Seventh-day Adventist school. There are some courses of study that would, much more than others, expose you to worldly philosophy and error of all kinds. It is beyond the scope of this article to explain this, but you would want to obtain counsel from godly educators about this before making a decision.
  5. If you are in a program of learning at a university or other school that is so rigorous that you do not take time to pray and study God’s Word every day and attend religious services (Hebrews 10:23–25), you are in grave danger of losing your way spiritually. No educational advantages in this world are worth your losing eternal life.
  6. Be sure that you become fully educated. It is beyond the scope of this article to explain what it means to be fully educated, but the book Education, by Ellen White, explores the major areas of mental, physical, and spiritual development that you need if you are going to be fully educated. Be sure that you do not miss out by being only partially educated in some school in this world while some vital, essential part of your education is missing because the educational institution you attend does not teach it.

The Pen of Inspiration – The Essential Knowledge

Higher education is an experimental knowledge of the plan of salvation, and this knowledge is secured by earnest and diligent study of the Scriptures. Such an education will renew the mind and transform the character, restoring the image of God in the soul. It will fortify the mind against the deceptive whisperings of the adversary, and enable us to understand the voice of God. It will teach the learner to become a co-worker with Jesus Christ, to dispel the moral darkness about him, and bring light and knowledge to men. It is the simplicity of true godliness—our passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher school above.

There is no education to be gained higher than that given to the early disciples, and which is revealed to us through the word of God. To gain the higher education means to follow this word implicitly; it means to walk in the footsteps of Christ, to practice His virtues. It means to give up selfishness and to devote the life to the service of God. Higher education calls for something greater, something more divine, than the knowledge to be obtained merely from books. It means a personal, experimental knowledge of Christ; it means emancipation from ideas, from habits and practices, that have been gained in the school of the prince of darkness, and which are opposed to loyalty to God. It means to overcome stubbornness, pride, selfishness, worldly ambition, and unbelief. It is the message of deliverance from sin.

Age after age the curiosity of men has led them to seek for the tree of knowledge, and often they think they are plucking fruit most essential, when in reality it is vanity and nothingness in comparison with that science of true holiness which would open to them the gates of the city of God. Human ambition seeks for knowledge that will bring to them glory, and self-exaltation, and supremacy. Thus Adam and Eve were influenced by Satan until God’s restraint was snapped asunder, and their education under the teacher of lies began. They gained the knowledge which God had refused them—to know the consequences of transgression.

The tree of knowledge, so-called, has become an instrument of death. Satan has artfully woven his dogmas, his false theories, into the instruction given. From the tree of knowledge he speaks the most pleasing flattery in regard to the higher education. Thousands partake of the fruit of this tree, but it means death to them. Christ says, “Ye spend money for that which is not bread.” Isaiah 55:2. You are using your heaven-entrusted talents to secure an education which God pronounces foolishness.

Upon the mind of every student should be impressed the thought that education is a failure unless the understanding has learned to grasp the truths of divine revelation, and unless the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel of Christ. The student who, in the place of the broad principles of the word of God, will accept common ideas, and will allow the time and attention to be absorbed in commonplace, trivial matters, will find his mind becoming dwarfed and enfeebled. He will lose the power of growth. The mind must be trained to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life.

I am instructed that we are to carry the minds of our students higher than is now thought to be possible. Heart and mind are to be trained to preserve their purity by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. The education gained from a study of God’s word will enlarge the narrow confines of human scholarship, and present before the mind a far deeper knowledge to be obtained through a vital connection with God. It will bring every student who is a doer of the word into a broader field of thought, and secure to him a wealth of learning that is imperishable. Without this knowledge it is certain that man will lose eternal life; possessing it, he will be fitted to become a companion of the saints in light.

The divine mind and hand have preserved through the ages the record of creation in its purity. It is the word of God alone that gives to us an authentic account of the creation of our world. This word is to be the chief study in our schools. In it we may learn what our redemption has cost Him who from the beginning was equal with the Father, and who sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from everything earthly, renewed in the image of God. …

The science of salvation, the science of true godliness, the knowledge which has been revealed from eternity, which enters into the purpose of God, expresses His mind, and reveals His purpose—this Heaven deems all-important. If our youth obtain this knowledge, they will be able to gain all else that is essential; but if not, all the knowledge they may acquire from the world will not place them in the ranks of the Lord. They may gather all the knowledge that books can give, and yet be ignorant of the first principles of that righteousness which will give them characters approved of God.

To many who place their children in our schools, strong temptations will come because they desire them to secure what the world regards as the most essential education. To these I would say, Bring your children to the simplicity of the word, and they will be safe. This Book is the foundation of all true knowledge. The highest education they can receive is to learn how to add to their “faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” If these things be in you, and abound,” the word of God declares, “they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. … If ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” II Peter 1:5-11.

When the word of God is laid aside for books that lead away from God, and that confuse the understanding regarding the principles of the kingdom of heaven, the education given is a perversion of the name. Unless the student has pure mental food, thoroughly winnowed from the so-called “higher education,” which is mingled with infidel sentiments, he cannot truly know God. Only those who co-operate with heaven in the plan of salvation can know what true education in its simplicity means.

Those who seek the education that the world esteems so highly are gradually led farther and farther from the principles of truth, until they become educated worldlings. At what a price have they gained their education! They have parted with the Holy Spirit of God. They have chosen to accept what the world calls knowledge in the place of the truths which God has committed to men through his ministers and apostles and prophets.

And there are some who, having secured this worldly education, think that they can introduce it into our schools. There is constant danger that those who labor in our schools and sanitariums will entertain the idea that they must get in line with the world, study the things the world studies, and become familiar with the things the world becomes familiar with. We shall make grave mistakes unless we give special attention to the searching of the word. The Bible should not be brought into our schools to be sandwiched between infidelity. God’s word must be made the groundwork and subject matter of education. It is true that we know much more of this word than we knew in the past, but there is still much to be learned.

The true higher education is that imparted by Him with whom is “wisdom and strength,” out of whose mouth “cometh knowledge and understanding.” Job 12:13; Proverbs 2:6. In a knowledge of God all true knowledge and real development have their source. Wherever we turn, in the mental, the physical, or the spiritual realm; in whatever we behold, apart from the blight of sin, this knowledge is revealed. Whatever line of investigation we pursue with a sincere purpose to arrive at truth, we are brought in touch with the unseen, mighty Intelligence that is working in and through all. The mind of man is brought into communion with the mind of God, the finite with the Infinite. The effect
of such communion on body and mind and soul is beyond estimate.

Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 11-17.

Philosophy of Education

God, by the abundance of life, is as a great magnet, drawing humanity to Himself. So close is the union that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In one Man—a Man made of flesh and blood like all men now living—there dwelt the spirit of wisdom. More than this, in Him are “hid all the treasures of wisdom;” and hence the life of Immanuel stands a constant witness that the wisdom of the ages is accessible to man. And the record adds, “Ye are complete in Him.” Colossians 2:3, 10.

This wisdom brings eternal life; for “this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God.” John 17:3.

Christ, at Jacob’s well, explained to the woman of Samaria, and through her to you and me, the means of gaining wisdom. The well of living water, from the depths of which the patriarch had drawn, and which he bequeathed as a rich legacy to generations following, who drank and blessed his name, symbolized heavenly wisdom. Men today mistake worldy wisdom for the wisdom described in Job 28, of which God understandeth the way and knoweth the place. Christ spoke of this latter when He said, “If thou knewest the gift of God and Who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” John 4:10; 7:37.

Why, then, if wisdom may be had for the asking, are not all fulfilled? Only one reason can be given: men in their search accept falsehood in the place of truth. This blunts their sensibilities, until the false system seems true and the true false.

There is a distinction between the wisdom of God and that of this world. (See I Corinthians 1:20; 2:6.) How, then, can we attain to the real and true wisdom?

Dealing with wisdom is education. If it be the wisdom of the world, then it is worldly education; if, on the other hand, it is a search for the wisdom of God, it is Christian education. Over these two questions, the controversy between good and evil is waging. The final triumph of truth will place the advocates of Christian education in the kingdom of God.

The Heavenly School

God’s throne, the center around which circled the worlds which had gone forth from the hand of the Creator, was the school of the universe. The Upholder of the worlds was Himself the great Teacher; and His character, love, was the theme of contemplation. Every lesson was a manifestation of His power. To illustrate the workings of the laws of His nature, this Teacher had but to speak, and before the attentive multitudes there stood the living thing. “He spake, and it was, He commanded and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9.

Angels and the beings of other worlds in countless numbers were the students. The course was to extend through eternity; observations were carried on through limitless space and included everything from the smallest to the mightiest force, from the formation of the dewdrop to the building of the worlds, and the growth of the mind. To finish the course, if such an expression is permissible, meant to reach the perfection of the Creator Himself.

To the angelic host was given a work. The inhabitants of worlds were on probation. It was the joy of angels to minister to and teach other creatures of the universe. The law of love was everywhere written; it was the constant study of the heavenly beings. Each thought of God was taken by them; and as they saw the workings of His plans, they fell before the King of kings, crying, “Holy, holy, holy.” Eternity was all too short to reveal His love.

The Father and Son were often in council. Wrapped together in that glory, the universe awaited the expression of Their one will. As one of the covering cherubim, Lucifer stood the first in power and majesty of all the angelic host. His eye beheld, his ear heard, he knew of all except the deep counsels which the Father, from all eternity, had purposed in the Son.

Hitherto all eyes had turned instinctively toward the center of light. A cloud, the first one known, darkened the glory of the covering cherub. Turning his eyes inward, he reasoned that he was wronged. Had not he, Lucifer, been the bearer of light and joy to worlds beyond? Why should not his might be recognized?

The Rival System

While Lucifer thus reasoned, Christ, wrapped within the glory of the Father, was offering His life for the world at its creation. Sin had not yet entered; the world was not yet created; but as the plans were laid, the Son had said, “Should sin enter, I am, from this time, one with those We now create; and their fall will mean My life on earth.”

Here was born the rival system—selfishness facing the utter self-forgetfulness of Christ, reason over against faith.

God planted a garden eastward in Eden and from the beauties of the earth chose the most beautiful spot for the home of the new pair. In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, the fruit of which afforded man a perfect physical food. Beneath its spreading branches God Himself visited them and, talking with them face to face, revealed to them the way of immortality. As they ate of the fruit of the tree of life and found every physical want supplied, they were constantly reminded of the need of the spiritual meat which was gained by open converse with the light from heaven. The glory of God surrounded the tree; and enwrapped in this halo, Adam and Eve spent much time in communing with the heavenly visitors. According to the divine system of teaching, they were here to study the laws of God and learn of His character. They were not only His children but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator.

Divine Method of Teaching

As new beauties came to their attention, they were filled with wonder. Each visit of the heavenly teachers elicited from the earthly students scores of questions which it was the delight of the angels to answer; and they in turn opened to the minds of Adam and Eve principles of living truth which sent them forth to their daily tasks of pleasure full of wondering curiosity, ready to use every God-given sense to discover illustrations of the wisdom of heaven. “So long as they remained loyal to the divine law, their capacity to know, to enjoy, and to love would continually increase. They would be constantly gaining new treasures of knowledge, discovering fresh springs of happiness, and obtaining clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the immeasurable, unfailing love of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 51.

The divine method of teaching is here revealed—God’s way of dealing with minds which are loyal to Him. The governing laws of the universe were expounded. Man, as if looking into a picture, found in earth, sky, and sea, in the animate and inanimate world, the exemplification of those laws. He believed; and with a heavenly light, which is the reward of faith, he approached each new subject of investigation. Divine truths unfolded continually. Life, power, happiness—these subjects grew with his growth. The angels stimulated the desire to question, and again led their students to search for answers to their own questions. At his work of dressing the garden, Adam learned truths which only work could reveal. As the tree of life gave food to the flesh and reminded him constantly of the mental and spiritual food necessary, so manual training added light to the mental discipline. The laws of the physical, mental, and spiritual world were enunciated; man’s threefold nature received attention. This was education, perfect and complete.

Unable to reach the soul of man by direct means, Satan approached it through those outer channels, the senses. He had everything to win and proceeded cautiously. If man’s mind could be gained, his great work would be accomplished. To do this, he used a process of reasoning—a method the reverse of that used by the Father in His instruction at the tree of life. The mind of Eve was strong and quickly drew conclusions; hence, when her teacher said, “If ye eat, ye shall be as gods,” in the mind of Eve arose the thought, God has immortality. “Therefore,” said Satan, “if ye eat, ye shall not surely die.” The conclusion was logically drawn; and the world, from the days of Eve to the present time, has based its religious belief on that syllogism, the major premise of which, as did Eve, they fail to recognize as false. Why? Because they use the mind to decide the truth instead of taking a direct statement from the Author of wisdom. From this one false premise comes the doctrine of the natural immortality of man, with its endless variations, some modern names of which are theosophy, spiritualism, reincarnation, and evolution. The sons and daughters of Eve condemn her for the mistake made six thousand years ago, while they themselves repeat it without question. It is preached from the pulpit; it is taught in the schoolroom; and its spirit pervades the thought of every book written whose author is not in perfect harmony with God and truth. Now began the study of “dialectics” so destructive to the Christian’s faith.

The Effects of Doubt

Having accepted the logic of the serpent and having transferred her faith from the word of God to the tree of knowledge, at Satan’s suggestion the woman could easily be led to test the truth of all his statements by her senses. A theory had been advanced; the experimental process now began. That is the way men now gain their knowledge, but their wisdom comes otherwise. She looked upon the forbidden fruit, but no physical change was perceptible as the result of the misuse of this sense. This led her to feel more sure that the argument used had been correct. Her ears were attentive to the words of the serpent, but she perceived no change as a result of the perverted use of the sense of hearing. This, to the changing mind of the woman, was still more conclusive proof that the words of Christ and angels did not mean what she had at first thought they meant. The senses of touch, smell, and taste were in turn used; and each corroborated the conclusion drawn by the devil. The woman was deceived; and through the deception, her mind was changed. This same change of mind may be wrought either by deception or as a result of false reasoning.

Eve approached Adam with the fruit in her hand. Instead of answering in the oft-repeated words of Christ, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17), he took up the logic of the serpent. Having eaten, his mind was also changed. He, who from creation had thought the thoughts of God, was yielding to the mind of the enemy.

The completeness of the change which took place is seen in the argument used when God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening. Said Adam, “The woman gave me to eat. Thou gavest me the woman. Therefore Thou art to blame.” (See Genesis 3:12.) This was another decidedly logical conclusion, from the standpoint of the wisdom of the serpent; and it was repeated by Eve, who laid the blame first on the serpent, and finally on God Himself. Self-justification, self-exaltation, self-worship—here was the human origin of the papacy, that power which “opposeth and exalteth itself above all that is called God.” II Thessalonians 2:4.

Faith Versus Reason

God, through His instruction, had taught that the result of faith would be immortal life. Satan taught, and attempted to prove his logic by a direct appeal to the senses, that there was immortal life in the wisdom that comes as the result of human reason. The method employed by Satan is that which men today call the natural method; but in the mind of God, the wisdom of the world is foolishness. The method which to the godly mind, to the spiritual nature, seems natural is foolishness to the world.

There are but two systems of education—the one based on what God calls wisdom, the gift of which is eternal life; the other based on what the world regards as wisdom but which God says is foolishness. This last exalts reason above faith, and the result is spiritual death. That the fall of man was the result of choosing the false system of education cannot be controverted. Redemption comes through the adoption of the true system of education.

Re-creation is a change of mind—an exchange of the natural for the spiritual. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2. In order to render a change possible, Christ must bruise the head of the serpent; that is, the philosophy of the devil must be disproved by the Son of God.

Man’s spiritual nature, at first the prominent part of his being, was dwarfed and overruled until it was but the “small voice” within. With the development of the physical and the intellectual to the neglect of the spiritual have come the evils of modern society—the love of display, the perversion of taste, the deformity of the body, and those attendant sins which destroyed Sodom and now threaten our cities. Man became careless in his work also, and the earth failed to yield her fullness. As a result, thorns and thistles sprang up.

True Science and Life

It is not surprising to find that the system of education introduced by Christ begins with the instruction given in the garden of Eden and that it is based on the simple law of faith. We have a greater appreciation for the gift of Christ when we dwell upon the thought that while suffering physically, while taking our infirmities into His own body, He yet preserved a sound mind and a will wholly subject to the Father’s, that by so doing, the philosophy of the archdeceiver might be overthrown by the divine philosophy.

Again, it is but natural to suppose that when called upon to decide between the two systems of education, the human and the divine, and Christian education is chosen, that man will also have to reform his manner of eating and living. The original diet of man is again made known; and for his home he is urged to choose a garden spot, away from crowded cities, where God can speak to his spiritual nature through His works.

God does use the senses of man; but knowledge thus gained becomes wisdom only when enlightened by the Spirit, the gateway to whose fountain is opened by the key of faith.

Beneath the tree of life originated the highest method of education—the plan that the world needs today. Beneath the branches of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil arose the conflicting system, having ever one object in view—the overthrow of the eternal principles of truth. Under one guise, then under another, it has borne sway upon the earth. Whether as Babylonish learning, Greek philosophy, Egyptian wisdom, the high glitter of papal pomp, or the more modest but no less subtle workings of modern science, the results always have been, and always will be, a savor of death unto death. Man’s reason is opposed to simple faith, but those who will finally reach the state of complete harmony with God will have begun where Adam failed. Wisdom will be gained by faith. Self will have been lost in the adoration of the great Mind of the universe; and he who was created in the image of God, who was pronounced by the Master Mind as “very good,” will, after the struggle with sin, be restored to the harmony of the universe by the simple act of faith.

Dr. E.A. Sutherland was one of the early educators at Battle Creek and Berrien Springs, and also one of the founding fathers of the college at Madison, Tennesee. He, with Percy Megan, revolutionized Christian education. Many missionaries were sent to all parts of the world after short courses at Madison College.

Higher Education – Man’s Way or God’s Way?

The Apostle Paul tells us, “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” I Corinthians 3:19. No Seventh-day Adventist should let foolishness keep him or her from the kingdom. “Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation should permit nothing to interfere with their duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God.” The Great Controversy, 488.

Are we not told to so live “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man [or woman], unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”? Ephesians 4:13.

Read what the Lord’s end-time messenger, Ellen G. White, has told us about education: “I am instructed to say that in our educational work, there is to be no compromise in order to meet the world’s standards. God’s commandment-keeping people are not to unite with the world, to carry various lines of work according to the world’s plans and worldly wisdom.

“Our people are being tested as to whether they will obtain their wisdom from the greatest Teacher the world has ever known or seek to the god of Ekron. Let us be determined that we shall not be tied as much as a thread to the educational policies of those who do not discern the voice of God, and who will not hearken to His commandments.” Loma Linda Messages, 447.

“If the recommendation goes forth from our people that our workers are to seek for success by acknowledging as essential the education which the world gives as superior to that which God gives, we are virtually saying that the influence the world gives, is superior to that which God gives. God will be dishonored by such a course.” Ibid, 453.

Here is what the Lord’s end-time messenger has to say about what constitutes higher education: “Through His own chosen messengers God has given us light and instruction as to what constitutes higher education. There is no higher education to be gained than that which was given to the early disciples, and which is given to us through the word. …

“Light has been given me that tremendous pressure will be brought upon every Seventh-day Adventist with whom the world can get into close connection.

“We need to understand these things. Those who seek the education that the world esteems so highly are gradually led further and further from the principles of truth until they become educated worldlings. At what a price they have gained their education! They have parted with the Holy Spirit of God. They have chosen to accept what the world calls knowledge in the place of the truths which God has committed to men through his ministers, apostles and prophets. And there are some who, having secured this worldly education, think they can introduce it into our schools. But let me tell you that you must not take what the world calls higher education and bring it into our schools and sanitariums and churches. I speak to you definitely; this must not be done.” Loma Linda Messages, 405, 406.

In spite of this counsel, many Seventh-day Adventists have sought higher education in the colleges and universities which teach “the wisdom of the world.” Is this not, therefore, foolishness?

The advocates for accreditation of our colleges used this statement from Ellen G. White to justify their position: “Inasmuch as there are legal requirements making it necessary that medical students shall take a certain preparatory course of study our colleges should arrange to carry their students to the point of literary and scientific training that is necessary.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 480.

It was decided in 1928 to select a few of the most spiritually mature teachers and send them to non-Seventh-day Adventist universities. It would then require only a short time to equip our schools with the teaching personnel technically qualified to give the necessary training in our schools in the future.

In the course of time, the above resolution deteriorated until large numbers of Seventh-day Adventist teachers and numerous ministers enrolled in schools of the world for higher degrees. Did any of these worldly-educated Seventh-day Adventists take what the world calls higher education and bring it into our schools, sanitariums, and churches? At the present time, do most Seventh-day Adventist schools have a generation of teachers who received their major training largely from teachers educated in schools of the world?

A.W. Spalding’s Letter

In answer to those questions, and in connection with the foregoing passages from the words of Ellen G. White, it is of value to understand what was happening in the educational system of the denomination. A.W. Spalding, author of the five volume History of Seventh-day Adventists, spent 50 years of his life in educational work, in and out of Seventh-day Adventist schools. He talks about the necessity of following the Lord’s instruction even when it may seem like foolishness to men.

He indicated that we came to our educational Kadesh-Barnea in 1928. The promised land was ahead of us, but the majority of our spies brought back an evil report. We became discouraged at the report of perceived giants and walled cities. We turned away from the commands of the Lord, and rejected His instructions not to seek our education from the universities and schools of the world. (See God’s instruction to His people in Fundamentals of Christian Education, 347, 359, 451, 467, 474.) The true higher education lies in the study of God’s revealed knowledge and wisdom. (See Education, 14.) There were a few Calebs and Joshuas there, but their voices were drowned out by the clamors of the multitude. We voted for accreditation, with all the involved affinity with the world’s education.

The Lord, through Ellen G. White, tells how to escape from the results of our foolishness: “God works through those who hear and obey His voice, those who will, if need be, speak unpalatable truths, those who do not fear to reprove popular sins. The reason He does not oftener choose men of learning and high position to lead out in reform movements is that they trust in their creeds, theories, and feel no need to be taught of God.” The Great Controversy, 455, 456.

The Omega

If we believe the Lord has spoken to our church through His last-day messenger, we must know that we are living in the season of the omega of apostasy. The Lord says this through His servant: “I knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people. … Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the past fifty years would be accounted error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. … The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 203, 204.

After denouncing the alpha of apostasy which shook the foundations of our church, the Lord made this prediction through the Spirit of Prophecy: “The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given.” Ibid., 200. “The omega will be of a most startling nature.” Ibid., 197.

Do we have among the diversities of doctrine in our church the soul-destroying omega? In writing to a leading church member (John Harvey Kellogg, M.D.) whom Satan influenced to bring in the alpha of apostasy, and which seems particularly applicable today in regard to the omega, the servant of the Lord delivered the following scathing comments: “You were professedly believing the Testimonies, and yet walking and working contrary to them, following your own impulses, turning from the plain, Thus saith the Lord, to carry out your own plans and devisings.” Battle Creek Letters, 119.

Unity in Diversity

At the 1995 General Conference in Utrecht, a principal speaker called for unity in diversity. Later our general church paper ran an article on the same theme. Can we have unity in diversity if some of this diversity is the soul-destroying omega against which we have been warned? The Lord says: “The missionaries of the [Seventh-day Adventist] Christian church are to stand in their God-given manhood, with the privilege of freedom of speech and freedom of faith. When they see that a fellow-laborer is not doing as a man in his position ought to do, they are not to harmonize with his plans, or be cowered into silence by a masterful spirit. For them to do this would be a great injury to him [Dr. Kellogg] and to them.

“Our [ministers and] physicians are to stand where no binding influence will hold them speechless when they hear wrong sentiments expressed. At times, with burning earnestness and words of terrible severity, Christ denounced the abominations that He saw in the church and in the world. He would not allow the people to be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity.

“We are to unify, but not on a platform of error.” Battle Creek Letters, 111.

“We have a testing message to give, and I am instructed to say to our people, ‘Unify, unify,’ But we are not to unify with those who are departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. With our hearts sweet and kind and true, we are to go forth to proclaim the message, giving no heed to those who lead away from the truth.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 412.

“Our church members see that there are differences of opinion among the leading men, and they themselves enter into controversy regarding the subjects under dispute. Christ calls for unity. But He does not call for us to unify on wrong practices. The God of heaven draws a sharp contrast between pure, elevating truth and false, misleading doctrines. He calls sin and impenitence by the right name. He does not gloss over wrong doing with a coat of untempered mortar. I urge our brethren to unify upon a true, scriptural basis.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 175.

“He [Christ] labored that man should be true to himself, true to his higher and eternal interest. The servants of Christ are called to the same work, and they should beware lest, in seeking to prevent discord, they surrender the truth. They are to ‘follow after things that make for peace’ (Rom. 14:19.); but real peace can never be secured by compromising principle. And no man can be true to principle without exciting opposition.” The Desire of Ages, 356.

Now our last question—would the warnings of the Lord through Ellen G. White regarding the alpha also apply in the season of the omega?

“Will the men in our institutions keep silent, allowing insidious fallacies to be promulgated to the ruin of souls? The sentiments of the enemy are being scattered everywhere. Seeds of discord, of unbelief, of infidelity, are being sown broadcast. …

“The dangers coming upon us are continually increasing. It is high time that we put on the whole armor of God, and work earnestly to keep Satan from gaining any further advantage. Angels of God, that excel in strength, are waiting for us to call them to our aid, that our faith may not be eclipsed by the fierceness of the conflict. Renewed energy is now needed. Vigilant action is called for. Indifference and sloth will result in the loss of personal religion and of heaven. …

“My message to you is: No longer consent to listen without protest to the perversion of truth. Unmask the pretentious sophistries which, if received, will lead ministers and physicians and medical missionary workers to ignore the truth. Every one is now to stand on his guard. God calls upon men and women to take their stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. I have been instructed to warn our people; for many are in danger of receiving theories and sophistries that undermine the foundation pillars of the faith. …

“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 195–197.

“I was shown a platform braced by solid timbers,—the truths of the Word of God. Some one high in responsibility was directing this man and that man to loosen the timbers supporting this platform. Then I heard a voice saying, ‘Where are the watchmen that ought to be standing on the walls of Zion? Are they asleep? This foundation was built by the Master Worker, and will stand through storm and tempest. Will they permit this man to present doctrines that deny the past experience of the people of God? The time has come for decided action.’

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist of giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. …

Laodicean Fog?

“Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to undermine the foundations of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bogged down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, ‘Iceberg just ahead!’ There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, ‘Meet it!’ There was not a moment’s hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collision, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way.

“Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders. I had heard the words, like a voice of our Captain, ‘Meet it!’ ” Ibid., 204–206.

“Meet It”?

“The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 380.

“A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. …

“Are we hoping to see the whole church revived? That time will never come. …

“We must pray more, and talk less. Iniquity abounds, and the people must be taught not to be satisfied with a form of godliness without the spirit and power.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 121, 122.

[All emphasis supplied.]

Dr. Donald Hewitt, now deceased, was a practicing physician in Hawaii and was a foremost temperance promoter and authored the book, Everything You Wanted to Know About Alcoholism, But Were Too Drunk to Ask. Dr. Donald Hewitt was a good friend of Marshall Grosboll who helped to promote his book.

True Education

Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come. The source of such an education is brought to view in these words of Holy Writ, pointing to the Infinite One: In Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom.” Colossians 2:3. “He hath counsel and understanding.” Job 12:13.

The world has had its great teachers, men of giant intellect and extensive research, men whose utterances have stimulated thought and opened to view vast fields of knowledge; and these men have been honored as guides and benefactors of their race; but there is One who stands higher than they. We can trace the line of the world’s teachers as far back as human records extend; but the Light was before them. As the moon and the stars of our solar system shine by the reflected light of the sun, so, as far as their teaching is true, do the world’s great thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Every gleam of thought, every flash of the intellect, is from the Light of the world. In these days much is said concerning the nature and importance of “higher education.” The true “higher education” is that imparted by Him with whom “is wisdom and strength” (Job 12:13), out of whose mouth “cometh knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6.

In a knowledge of God all true knowledge and real development have their source. Wherever we turn, in the physical, the mental, or the spiritual realm; in whatever we behold, apart from the blight of sin, this knowledge is revealed. Whatever line of investigation we pursue, with a sincere purpose to arrive at truth, we are brought in touch with the unseen, mighty Intelligence that is working in and through all. The mind of man is brought into communion with the mind of God, the finite with the Infinite. The effect of such communion on body and mind and soul is beyond estimate.

In this communion is found the highest education. It is God’s own method of development. “Acquaint now thyself with Him” (Job 22:21), is His message to mankind . . .

What education can be higher than this? What can equal it in value?

“It cannot be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,

With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

The gold and the crystal cannot equal it

And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.

No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls:

For the price of wisdom is above rubies.” Job 28:15-18.

Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for His children. Godliness—godlikeness—is the goal to be reached. Before the student there is opened a path of continual progress. He has an object to achieve, a standard to attain, that includes everything good, and pure, and noble. He will advance as fast and as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge. But his efforts will be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.

He who co-operates with the divine purpose in imparting to the youth a knowledge of God, and molding the character into harmony with His, does a high and noble work. As he awakens a desire to reach God’s ideal, he presents an education that is as high as heaven and as broad as the universe; an education that cannot be completed in this life, but that will be continued in the life to come; an education that secures to the successful student his passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher grade, the school above.

Taken from Education, 13-19

 

The Purpose of Missionary Schools

In mid-1989, my brother Colin and I spent two hours in the office of Pastor Enoch Olivera, then Vice-President of the General Conference. Pastor Olivera, a Brazilian, was a fine Seventh-day Adventist administrator, one who loved the Lord and His truth. As he poured out his heart to us, tears ran down his cheeks. He had held his post for nine years. One by one, Pastor Olivera enumerated his heartaches. He loved the Seventh-day Adventist church, but as he saw the actions of many administrators, he was full of forebodings.

Among a number of his expressed concerns was his fear for the souls of Seventh-day Adventist young people attending Seventh-day Adventist colleges in North America. He concluded his remarks with sorrowful words. “I cannot recommend to God’s people any one of our North American Division Colleges as a safe place for them to entrust the training of their young people.”

Pastor Olivera passed to his rest three years later, but his tears are still before my eyes and his words continue to ring in my ears. As a fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist, the Seventh-day Adventist message, based on the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, is to be found in the marrow of my bones. That map and Christ’s love are the divine driving-force of my life. To see the degeneration of our educational system, which has spanned over the past 50 years, greatly distresses me. Have our church administrators and educators lost sight of the accountability due of them as they stand before the judgement bar of God? Have they neglected to consider the eternal destiny of each young soul they teach?

It would seem to any spiritually-minded observer that the answer to each question posed above is “Yes.” How else can we explain the reckless disregard of the numerous divine counsels with which our colleges have been blessed?

Following the acceptance of the false principle of state accreditation in 1931, colleges followed a policy that has led to an escalating course of decline. Inspiration warned of such a consequence: “Those who seek the education that the world esteems so highly are gradually led further and further from the principles of truth until they become educated worldlings. At what a price have they gained their education! They have parted with the Holy Spirit of God. They have chosen to accept what the world calls knowledge in the place of the truths which God has committed to men through his ministers and prophets and apostles. And there are some who, having secured this worldly education, think that they can introduce it into our schools. But let me tell you that you must not take what the world calls the higher education and bring it into our schools and sanitariums and churches. We need to understand these things. I speak to you definitely. This must not be done.” Review and Herald, November 11, 1909.

Seventh-day Adventist education has not followed God’s counsel, but the counsel of unconsecrated men. When, in 1966, the South Pacific Division accepted state aid for its schools, it followed a course which doomed the entire system. At Carmel College, shortly after accepting “no strings attached” state aid, the accreditation committee inspected the school’s library and noted that it was “deficient” in novels. Rather than lose accreditation we introduced “good” novels to the school library, in total disregard of divine counsel. Other examples of the results of the acceptance of state aid, in the South Pacific, is that in New Zealand every Seventh-day Adventist school has joined the government school system. They have school boards consisting of a mixture of Seventh-day Adventists and those not of our faith and they follow the obligatory process of advertising senior school administration post vacancies in the secular press. Avondale College, Australia’s only Seventh-day Adventist Tertiary Educational Institution has four non-Seventh-day Adventist Board members. Students who drink alcohol, play rock music (even on Sabbath) or commit adultery, cannot be expelled because the state prohibits expulsion for such “inconsequential” matters. As a result, these breeches of Seventh-day Adventist standards are not infrequent.

 

Adventist-schooled Youth No Different from Worldly Youth

 

It comes as no surprise to learn that a recent study of Seventh-day Adventist’s aged between 19 and 24 years, undertaken as part of a Ph.D. degree by Pastor Bradley Strahan in conjunction with Pastor Berry Gane, Youth Director of the South Pacific Division, revealed that “there was no significant difference between young adults who were Adventist schooled, partly Adventist schooled or non-Adventist schooled on the measure of Christian commitment, denominational loyalty, doctrinal orthodoxy, social responsibility, self-esteem, egoidentity, or participation in at risk behaviors” South Pacific Division Record, May 2, 1998.

What were these “at-risk behaviors?” Let us summarize:

  1. Nearly 30 percent of participants reported experiencing some kind of abuse. (The South Pacific Division Record, July 25, 1998, has since discussed the protection of Seventh-day Adventist children and youth from abuse in the church.)
  2. More than half the perpetrators of abuse attended church; nearly one in five were involved in church leadership.
  3. Forty-four percent of the participants had engaged in premarital sex at least once, with more than one-half of these (54 percent) using no contraceptives.
  4. More than 40 percent of participants reported drinking in the past 12 months; more than 20 percent reported binge drinking.

The study reported that “The figures are so close to national norms they suggest that Adventists are not much different from the rest of the population.” (Ibid.)

If we are true Seventh-day Adventists then we are different! True Seventh-day Adventist education does make a profound difference!

In the United States, Seventh-day Adventist Colleges have advertised a large range of gay and lesbian books advertised by the book store (La Sierra University), permitted the cardinal archbishop of Baltimore, Cardinal Kesler, Chairman of the Roman Catholic Bishop’s conference, to preach on the subject of baptism during a Thursday evening in their church (Union College, Nebraska), published specifically Roman Catholic depictions of Christ in their student identification book (Andrews University), provided free condoms for students (Walla Walla College), led out in defiance of the position of the world church by ordaining women pastors (Columbia Union College), formed a gay and lesbian society with two theology professors, a sociology professor and two deans on the committee (Walla Walla College), employed a chaplain and teacher who published a book, freely sold in Adventist book centers, which advocated that unmarried couples should engage in sexual activities, the one limitation being that both parties agree (Loma Linda University), arranged abortions for their students (Pacific Union College), accepted students full of faith in God’s message and graduated them filled with doubt (Walla Walla College), promoted interschool sporting competitions (Columbia Union College and Southwestern Adventist University), taught that Christ is not our example, that the redeemed will sin after the close of probation, that the Holy Spirit does not dwell in the heart of the individual and that the day-year principle is invalid (Southern Adventist University).

Do we need self-supporting schools? Not necessarily! We only need self-supporting schools if they teach fidelity to scriptural truth and shun worldly accreditation. Such are most assuredly required. With our denominational tertiary institutions largely given over to worldly education, it is little wonder that faithful denominational leaders have cried out. Elder Robert Pierson stated, two decades ago, that even then “there are those in the church who belittle the inspiration of the total Bible; who scorn the first eleven chapters of Genesis; who question the Spirit of Prophecy’s short chronology of the age of the earth; and who subtly, and not so subtly, attack the Spirit of Prophecy.” That Elder Pierson was focusing his remarks upon our tertiary educational system cannot be denied, for he continued in his article, “Fellow leaders, beloved brethren and sisters, don’t let it [the intrusion of the apostasy cited above] happen! I appeal to Andrews University, the seminary, to Loma Linda University. Don’t let it happen! We are not Seventh-day Anglicans, not Seventh-day Lutherans, we are Seventh-day Adventists!” Adventist Review, October 26, 1978.

This was good reason for the editor of the Adventist Review, Pastor Kenneth Wood, to write eighteen years ago: “We confess that we are alarmed by the fact that some of our colleges seem to be drifting away from the standards and objectives established for them by their founders. We are alarmed by the secular climate that prevails on some campuses. We are alarmed by the strange winds of doctrine that blows on some campuses. We are alarmed by lax moral standards that prevail on some campuses. We are alarmed by the feeble efforts put forth by some administrators and faculty members to create a spiritual climate that will prepare students for the greatest event in earth’s history, the Second Coming of Jesus.” Adventist Review, February 21, 1980.

 

Where are the Watchmen on the Walls?

 

While men like Elders Pierson and Wood sat in the General Conference office, men who were prepared to openly denounce the in-subordination of God’s people and pastors, some hope of reform was cherished in the hearts of God’s true flock. But, where do we hear such public denunciations today in an era where our colleges and universities have degenerated to a level vastly lower than that of two decades past? Any institution which works to prepare young people for the service of God seems to be the butt of attacks from the General Conference. (See Issues published by the North American Division in 1992 and spread worldwide by the General Conference administration.) The gross abominations in the denominational colleges produce paralysis of the vocal cords and of the writing-hands of the very same administrators. The Adventist Review likewise is silent on these matters.

When these colleges pervert their high and holy calling, administrators claim impotency to correct the matter. But they do hold, within their responsibility, to act-not as dictators, but as faithful shepherds standing on the walls of Zion, blowing the warning trumpet (Ezekiel 33:2–10). When a college, such as Walla Walla, rejects efforts to reform its disgraceful record, it is beholding upon church administrators to publish widely the fact that it is no longer a Seventh-day Adventist institution and warn God’s flock of the peril to the souls of their children should they seek to enter that college. The staff should be notified that no longer will they receive denominational service credit for their employment in the college and, further, the administration should be informed that no longer will the institution be a recipient of denominational subsidy.

Denominational administrators have abrogated their responsibilities as watchmen unless they protect God’s people and warn them, not in a corrective manner, but in sincere fulfillment of their duty as watchmen on the walls of Zion. It is no longer acceptable to excuse their inaction on the grounds that the college will lose its accreditation (that would prove to be a wonderful benefit to the institution in any case), or that the Labor Department would not permit dismissal of staff. These are limp excuses for failure to undertake one’s beholden duty in the cause of our Lord. The answer is to divest the denomination of unfaithful institutions which are determined to destroy the faith of the flower of our youth.

It is essential that we learn the lessons of the First Advent. Why did John the Baptist fail to enroll in the schools of the rabbis? John was the son of a priest, he was a descendant of Levi and clearly was a man of high intellect. He was a prime candidate to enter into such training. But God, in choosing John to preach the Elijah message of the First Advent, specifically forbade such a course. We need not speculate why the Elijah message was not presented by a graduate of the denominational colleges of his day. Inspiration clearly testifies to the reason: “The training of the rabbinical schools would have unfitted him [John the Baptist] for his work. God did not send him to the teachers of theology to learn how to interpret the Scriptures.” Desire of Ages, 101. So it must be today.

In Australia and New Zealand, I warn parents, who desire their children to be trained for service in God’s work, that Avondale College is an unfit institution to prepare their children for such a purpose. I do so, not because I have any disaffection for Avondale. It is my alma mater, from which I graduated in 1951. Nevertheless, one dare not permit such natural emotions to excuse one from his spiritual duty.

 

Self-Supporting Schools Answer the Call

 

God has clearly set forth for us the principles of an education approved of Him. Our denominational colleges in first world nations, and even many third-world countries, no longer even marginally approach these principles. Those faithful believers need schools of a new order. Today some self-supporting schools are working diligently to meet God’s standards.

Bible prophecy indicates that the two continents, which will figure most prominently into end-time events, are North America and Europe. It is time, long overdue, for the establishment of an institution with high, holy and noble ideals in Europe. The European Institute of Health and Education (EIHC) Lia-Ullared, Sweden, has been established, but with a commitment to the training of young men and women to take God’s last message to the world.

European Institute of Health and Education is providing a one-year work-study program. The board is convicted that we are at the very end of earth’s history and that it is now time to expedite the training of these young people. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we believe that these youth will go forth to complete the task in Europe and beyond.

The Board and Administration of the European Institute of Health and Education take seriously God’s counsel. “To supply the need of laborers, God desires that educational centers be established in different countries where students of promise may be educated in the practical branches of knowledge and in Bible truth. As these persons engage in labor, they will give character to the work of present truth in the new fields. They will awaken an interest among unbelievers and aid in rescuing souls from the bondage of sin. The very best teachers should be sent to the various countries where schools are to be established, to carry on the educational work.Testimonies, vol. 6, 137.

The European Institute of Health and Education will have a small faculty, but in heeding the divine counsel cited above, it has searched the world in order to provide the highest quality of teachers for the school which will be known as the Lia Missionary Training School. Already the eight-member board is drawn from four continents—Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia—in order to provide a breadth of experience upon which to draw.

The board will not base its policies and curriculum upon those of denominational colleges. We are committed to following divine counsel and avoiding such a mistake. “I have been shown that in our educational work we are not to follow the methods that have been adopted in our older established schools. There is among us too much clinging to old customs, and because of this we are far behind where we should be in the development of the third angel’s message. Because men could not comprehend the purpose of God in the plans laid before us for the education of workers, methods have been followed in some of our schools which have retarded rather than advanced the work of God.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, 533.

The board and administration recognize that, “Without the influence of divine grace, education will prove no real advantage; the learner becomes proud, vain and bigoted.” Ibid., 94. The education provided at the new institution will point each young person to a heart relationship with Christ and personal sanctification. This, the Lord terms “Higher education.” “Higher education is an experimental knowledge of the plan of salvation, and this knowledge is secured by earnest and diligent study of the Scriptures. Such an education will renew the mind and transform the character, restoring the image of God in the soul. It will fortify the mind against the deceptive whisperings of the adversary, and enable us to understand the voice of God. It will teach the learner to become a co-worker with Jesus Christ, to dispel the moral darkness about him, and bring light and knowledge to men. It is the simplicity of true godliness— our passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher school above.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, 11.

We can have no higher ambition for the students who are privileged to enter the portals of the Lia Missionary Training School than, “To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized—this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life.” Education, 15, 16. This, too, is the purpose of Lia Missionary College, for no young person devoid of Christian character perfection will be entrusted with the Latter Rain power so essential for the final proclamation of the Loud Cry Message.

Will Lia reach its high and holy destiny? Only by God’s guidance. That destiny is summarized in the wonderful words of inspiration, well known to us all: “Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come.” Education, 13.

Is Lia Missionary College necessary? The general state of Seventh-day Adventist education demands institutions such as Hartland and Lia and the proposed Southland Institute in Australia. May God’s flock keep these institutions in their prayers. God needs the graduates of these schools, and in the history of eternity, their work will be recorded as having faithfully prepared God’s army of youth, rightly trained, who will shoulder the unprecedented task of taking the last message of warning to the six billion inhabitants of this earth. These youth will have been taught and will have accepted the divine principle that “In the highest sense, the work of education and the work of redemption are one.” Education, 30.

 

Are You a Student in Abraham’s School?

As a stone, hurled from some mountain peak, crashes its way toward the valley beneath, gaining velocity with each foot of descent, until, wrapped within it, lies a power of destruction unmeasured, so man, turning from the gate of Paradise, began a downward career which in intensity and rapidity can be measured only by the height from which he started. Before the strong will of men of the first ten centuries, few forces could stand. As the plane to which it was possible for him to attain was perfection, so the level to which he descended was confusion itself. Men’s lives, instead of being narrowed by the brief span of threescore years and ten, were measured by centuries; and intellects, mighty by birth, had time as well as power to expand. Adam lived to see his children to the eighth generation; and when we think that from his own lips Enoch learned the story of the Fall, of the glories of the Eden home; when we bear in mind that Enoch probably saw this same ancestor laid in the earth, there to molder to dust, we better understand the relation he desired to sustain to his God. After a life of three hundred years, in which the Sacred Record says, he “walked with God”, earth’s attraction grew so slight that he himself was taken into heaven. This was less than sixty years after the death of Adam. This was the beautiful result of the education received by Enoch.

Two Distinct Classes

Passing beyond the gate of Eden, two classes of minds developed. Clear and distinct as light from darkness was the difference between the two. Cain, by exalting his own reasoning powers, accepted the logic of Satan. Admitting the physical plane to be the proper basis for living, he lost all appreciation of spiritual things and depended wholly upon feeling. True, for a time he adhered to the form of worship, coming week by week to the gate of Eden to offer sacrifices; but his eye of faith was blind. When he saw his brother’s sacrifice accepted, a feeling of hatred sprang up in his breast, and, raising his hand, he took that brother’s life.

Men are startled at the rapidity of the descent from Edenic purity to a condition where murder was easy, but it was the natural result of the educational system chosen by Cain. Reason exalted above faith, makes man like an engine without the governor.

Murder, however, was but one result of the decision made by Cain. He fled from the presence of God, and with his descendants, built the cities of the East. Physical needs predominated so that the whole attention of this people was turned to the gratification of fleshly desires. Pride increased, love of wealth was a ruling passion; the artificial took, more and more, the place once occupied by the natural. In the place of God-worship was self worship, or paganism. This was the religious aspect; and here are to be found the first worshipers of the sun, the human progenitors of the modern papacy.

As there was a change in religion, so there was a change in government.

There could no longer be a theocracy, with the father of the family being the high priest unto God; for God had been lost sight of, and His place was filled by man himself. Hence, these descendants of Cain flocked together into cities where the strong bore rule over the weak, and thus developed an absolute monarchy.

The education which upheld paganism in religion, and monarchy in government, was the same as that which in later days controlled Greece and is known by us today as Platoism. It is but another name for an education which exalts the mind of man above God and places human philosophy ahead of divine philosophy.

Pagan Education

We think, perhaps, that there were schools then; but that is a mistake. “The training of youth in those days was after the same order as children are being educated and trained in this age,…to love excitement, to glorify themselves, to follow the imaginations of their own evil hearts.” Special Testimonies on Education, 92. Their keen minds laid hold of the sciences; they delved into the mysteries of nature. They made wonderful progress in inventions and all material pursuits. But the imaginations of their hearts were only evil continually.

Children educated in the cities had their evil tendencies exaggerated. The philosophical teaching of the age blotted out all faith; and when Noah, a teacher of righteousness, raised his voice against the popular education and proclaimed his message of faith, even the little children scoffed at him.

So polluted were the cities, that Enoch chose to spend much time in retired places where he could commune with God and where he would be in touch with nature. At times he entered the cities, proclaiming to the inhabitants the truth given him by God. Some listened, and occasionally small companies sought him in his places of retirement, to listen to his words of warning. But the influence of early training, the pressure brought to bear by society, and the philosophy of the schools, exerted a power too strong to resist. They turned from the pleadings of conscience to the old life.

Scoffers and Critics

As Noah told of the coming flood, and as he and his sons continued to build the ark, men and children derided. “Water from heaven! Ah, Noah, you may talk of your spiritual insight, but who ever heard of water coming out of the sky? The thing is an impossibility: it is contrary to all reason, to all scientific truth, and to all earth’s experience. You may think such things were revealed to you; but since the days of our father Adam, no such thing ever happened.” Such statements seemed true. Generation after generation had looked into a sky undarkened by storm clouds. Night after night dew watered the growing plants. Why should they believe otherwise? They could see no reason for it. To those antediluvians, the possibility of a flood seemed as absurd as does it’s recital as a matter of history to the modern, higher critic. It was out of harmony with men’s senses, hence an impossibility.

Before the Flood, no peal of thunder had ever resounded among the hills, no lightning had ever played through the heavens. Such a thing had never been seen before. “How unshapely,” say they. “How absurd to think of water standing over the earth until that will float!” but in the ears of the faithful whispered the still, small voice of God; and the work went steadily on.

The controversy was an educational problem. Christian education was almost wiped from the earth. Worldly wisdom seemed about to triumph. In point of numbers, its adherents vastly exceeded those in the schools of the Christians. Was this seeming triumph of evil over good a sign that evil was stronger than truth? By no means. Only in the matter of scheming and deceiving does the devil have the advantage; for God can work only in a straightforward manner.

The tree of life was taken to heaven before the Flood, thus symbolizing the departure of true wisdom from the earth. The Flood came. Deep rumblings of thunder shook the very earth. Man and beast fled terrified from the flashes of lightning. The heavens opened; the rain fell, at first in great drops. The earth reeled and cracked open; the fountains of the great deep were broken up; water came from beneath. A cry went up to heaven, as parents clasped their children in the agony of death; but the Spirit of the Lifegiver was withdrawn. Man, satisfied with schooling his senses, with depending upon his own reasoning powers, closed, one by one, every avenue through with the Spirit of God could work; and nature, responding to the loss, was broken to her very heart and wept a flood of tears.

From the beginning to the end it was a matter of education. Christians today exalt the material to the neglect of the spiritual, as surely as did men before the Flood. Shall we not look for similar results, since similar principles are at work?

The Fall Continues

The ease with which men fall into evil habits is illustrated in the history of the world after the Flood. Upon leaving the ark, for families who had known God, and it had been committed to them the peopling of the earth, but evil tendencies, the result of years of acquaintance with the iniquity of the antediluvian world, gained the ascendancy; and the sons of Noah. Failing to carry out the principles of true education in their homes, saw their children drifting away from God. Not more than a single century had elapsed since the Flood had destroyed all things. The change was a rapid one.

The successive steps in degeneration are readily traced. They chose an education of the senses rather than one of faith; they left country and congregated in cities; a monarchy arose. Schools sprang up which perpetuated these ideas; paganism took the place of the worship of God. The tower was a monument to the sun; idols filled the niches in their structures. Men offered their children as sacrifices.

The slaying of infants and children is but carrying out in the extreme what is always done mentally and spiritually when children are taught false philosophy. That man might not bring upon himself immediate destruction, the language was confused and education in false philosophy thus rendered more difficult.

Abraham Is Called by God

It was from this influence, as found in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, that Abraham was called. Although the family of Terah knew the true God and His worship was maintained in the home, it was impossible for him to counteract the influence of the city with it’s idolatrous practices; so God called Abraham into the country.

He was obliged to go forth by faith. The removal meant the severing of every earthly tie. Wealth and ease were exchanged for a wandering life. How he could make a living Abraham did not know. How he could educate his children he did not understand. But he went forth. Terah, his father, and Lot, his nephew, went with him. They halted at Haran, a smaller city, and remained there until the father’s death. Then came the command to go forward. Out into a new country he went, a pilgrim and a stranger.

Power is synonymous with life; there is no power without life, and a teacher has power in proportion as he lives what he wishes to teach. Abraham was to be a teacher of nations, hence he must have power. Power could come only as the result of a life of faith, so his whole life was one continual lesson of faith. Each experience made him a more powerful teacher.

The Father of Nations

His faith grew by trial and grew only as he mounted round by round the ladder which spanned the gulf twixt heaven and earth, which seemed to lengthen with each successive generation. A period of not less than twenty-five years—years filled with doubt, fear and anxiety—was necessary to bring him to the place where the name Abraham—the father of nations—could be rightly claimed by him. Another quarter of a century rolled over his head, years in which he watched the growth of the child of promise; then the voice of God called him to raise his hand to take the life of that same son. He who had said that in Isaac should all nations of the earth be blessed, now demanded the sacrifice of that life at the father’s hand. But He, the Lifegiver in the event of the child’s birth, was now believed to be the Lifegiver should death rob him of his child, and the father faltered not.

These fifty years, with God and angels as teachers, reveal for us, as no other period does, the results of true education, and merit careful attention. If the workings of the Spirit ever wrought changes in the human heart, those changes came to Abraham. It is not strange that when God called the first, time, the voice seemed far away had but partially awoke the slumbering soul. As if in a dream, he, his father, his nephew, and his wife, broke away from earthly ties and from the beautiful Chaldean plains, where luxury and learning were daily things of life, and journeyed toward the hill country.

In Ur, God said, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and will make thy name great.” Genesis 12:2. Years passed, age crept on, and still there was no heir. Could he have mistaken the voice which bade him turn his face toward Canaan?

Ninety-nine years passed over the patriarch’s head, and still the voice of heaven’s messenger was greeted with a laugh when the promise was repeated. Sarah turned within the tent door when the angel guest, whom they had fed, repeated to Abraham the promise concerning his wife. But she bare to Abraham a son whom God named Isaac, in whom the nations of the earth were blessed. Joy untold filled the heart of the mother and father as they beheld the babe.

This was the joy of sight. Twenty-five years before, the thing was just as true and Abraham might lawfully have worked upon the basis of its truth; but the stubborn human heart requires many lessons.

Abraham’s School

Those who wished to worship the true God gathered about the tents of Abraham and became pupils in his school. God’s word was the basis of all instruction. This word was the basis for the study of political science, and Abraham’s “methods of government” were carried out in the households over which the [his students] should preside. The equality of all men was a lesson first learned in the home. “Abraham’s affection for his children and his household led him…to impart to them a knowledge of the divine statutes, as the most precious legacy he could transmit to them, and through them to the world. All were taught that they were under the rule of the God of heaven. There was to be no oppression on the part of parents, and no disobedience on the part of children.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 142. His was not a school where theory alone was taught, but the practical was emphasized. In studying political science, they found the nucleus of a divine government; in the study of finances, they actually made and raised the flocks which brought recognition from the surrounding nations. “The unswerving integrity, the benevolence and unselfish courtesy, which won the admiration of kings, were displayed in the home.” Ibid.

God’s Plan For Education Today

The influence of country life and direct contact with nature, in contrast with the enervating influence of the city with its idolatrous teaching and artificial methods, developed a hardy race, a people of faith whom God could use to lay the foundation for the Israelite nation. We see then, that when God founds a nation, he lays that foundation in a school. The nation, of which Abraham and his followers formed the beginning, prefigured the earth redeemed, where Christ will reign as King of kings. The education of the school of Abraham symbolized Christian education.

As faith was the method employed in teaching in the days of the patriarch, so in the schools of today faith must be the motive for work, the avenue to the fountain of wisdom. There are today those who can not harmonize their feelings and their ideas of education with the plan which God committed to His people. Likewise, in the days of Abraham, there was at least one family which withdrew from the influence of the school.

The Road To Destruction

Lot had felt the effects of the teaching of Abraham; but through the influence of his wife, “a selfish, irreligious woman,” he left the altar where they once worshipped together and moved into the city of Sodom. “The marriage of Lot, and his choice of Sodom for a home, where the first links in a chain of events fraught with evil to the world for many generations.” Ibid., 174. Had he alone suffered, we would not need to follow the history; but the choice of a new home threw his children into the schools of the heathen; pride and love of display were fostered; marriage with Sodomites was a natural; final destruction in the burning city was the terrible but inevitable result. “When Lot entered Sodom, he fully intended to keep himself free from iniquity, and to command his household after him. But he signally failed. The corrupting influences about him had an effect upon his own faith, and his children’s connection with the inhabitants of Sodom bound up his interests in a measure with theirs.” Ibid., 168

The injunction to “remember Lot’s wife,” should serve as a warning to Christians against flocking into the cities to give children an education. The words of Spalding are true. “Live not in a great city, for a great city is a mill which grinds all grain to flour. Go there to get money or to preach repentance, but go not there to make thyself a nobler man.” As Quoted by E.A. Sutherland in Living Fountains or Broken Cisterns, 66.

The Results Of Two Types Of Education

The two systems of education are nowhere more vividly portrayed than in the experiences of Abraham and Lot. Education in the tents of Abraham, under the guidance of the Spirit of Jehovah, brought eternal life. Education in the schools of Sodom brought eternal death. This was not an unnatural thing. You can not find here any arbitrary work on the part of God. To partake of the fruit of the tree of life, imparts life. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil it has been said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

The system of education revealed to Abraham, would, if fully carried out, have placed Israel on a plane of existence above the nations of the world. It was a spiritual education, reaching the soul by a direct appeal to faith, and would have placed the people of God as teachers of nations. Not only a few were intended to teach, but the nation as a whole was to teach other nations. The second Israel will occupy a similar position, and they will be brought to that position by means of Christian education.

The End

Philosophy of Education

God, by the abundance of life, is as a great magnet, drawing humanity to Himself. So close is the union that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In one Man—a Man made of flesh and blood like all men now living—there dwelt the spirit of wisdom. More than this, in Him are “hid all the treasures of wisdom;” and hence the life of Immanuel stands a constant witness that the wisdom of the ages is accessible to man. And the record adds, “Ye are complete in Him.” Colossians 2:3, 10

This wisdom brings eternal life; for “this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God.” John 17:3

Christ, at Jacob’s well, explained to the woman of Samaria, and through her to you and me, the means of gaining wisdom. The well of living water, from the depths of which the patriarch had drawn and which he bequeathed as a rich legacy to generations following, who drank and blessed his name, symbolized worldly wisdom. Men today mistake this for the wisdom described in Job 28, of which God understandeth the way and knoweth the place. Christ spoke of this latter when He said, “If thou knewest the gift of God and Who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” John 4:10; 7:37

Why, then, if wisdom may be had for the asking, are not all fulfilled? Only one reason can be given: men in their search accept falsehood in the place of truth. This blunts their sensibilities, until the false system seems true and the true false.

There is a distinction between the wisdom of God and that of this world. (See 1 Corinthians 1:20; 2:6.) How, then, can we attain to the real and true wisdom?

To man, if born of the Spirit, is given a spiritual eyesight which pierces infinitude and enables the soul to commune with the Author of all things. No wonder the realization of such possibilities within himself led the psalmist to exclaim, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” Psalm 139:6. And Paul himself exclaimed, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Romans 11:33

Dealing with wisdom is education. If it be the wisdom of the world, then it is worldly education; if, on the other hand, it is a search for the wisdom of God, it is Christian education.

Over these two questions, the controversy between good and evil is waging. The final triumph of truth will place the advocates of Christian education in the kingdom of God.

That education which links man with God, the source of wisdom and the Author and Finisher of our faith, is a spiritual education and prepares the heart for that kingdom which is within.

The Heavenly School

God’s throne, the center around which circled the worlds which had gone forth from the hand of the Creator, was the school of the universe. The Upholder of the worlds was Himself the great Teacher; and His character, love, was the theme of contemplation. Every lesson was a manifestation of His power. To illustrate the workings of the laws of His nature, this Teacher had but to speak, and before the attentive multitudes there stood the living thing. “He spake, and it was, He commanded and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9

Angels, and the beings of other worlds of in countless numbers, were the students. The course was to extend through eternity; observations were carried on through limitless space and included everything from the smallest to the mightiest force, from the formation of the dewdrop to the building of the worlds, and the growth of the mind. To finish the course, if such an expression is permissible, meant to reach the perfection of the Creator Himself.

To the angelic host was given a work. The inhabitants of worlds were on probation. It was the joy of angels to minister to and teach other creatures of the universe. The law of love was everywhere written; it was the constant study of the heavenly beings. Each thought of God was taken by them; and as they saw the workings of His plans, they fell before the King of kings, crying, “Holy, holy, holy.” Eternity was all too short to reveal His love.

The Father and Son were often in council. Wrapped together in that glory, the universe awaited the expression of Their one will. As one of the covering cherubim, Lucifer stood the first in power and majesty of all the angelic host. His eye beheld, his ear heard, he knew of all except the deep counsels which the Father, from all eternity, had purposed in the Son.

Hitherto all eyes had turned instinctively toward the center of light. A cloud, the first one known, darkened the glory of the covering cherub. Turning his eyes inward, he reasoned that he was wronged. Had not he, Lucifer, been the bearer of light and joy to worlds beyond? Why should not his might be recognized?

The Rival System

While Lucifer thus reasoned, Christ, wrapped within the glory of the Father, was offering His life for the world at its creation. Sin had not yet entered; the world was not yet created; but as the plans were laid, the Son had said, “Should sin enter, I am, from this time, one with those We now create; and their fall will mean My life on earth. Never has My heart gone out for any creation as I put it into this.”

Here was born the rival system,—selfishness facing the utter self-forgetfulness of Christ, reason over against faith.

God planted a garden eastward in Eden and from the beauties of the earth chose the most beautiful spot for the home of the new pair. In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, the fruit of which afforded man a perfect physical food. Beneath its spreading branches God Himself visited them and, talking with them face to face, revealed to them the way of immortality. As they ate of the fruit of the tree of life and found every physical want supplied, they were constantly reminded of the need of the spiritual meat which was gained by open converse with the light from heaven. The glory of God surrounded the tree; and enwrapped in this halo, Adam and Eve spent much time in communing with the heavenly visitors. According to the divine system of teaching, they were here to study the laws of God and learn of His character. They were not only His children but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator.

Divine Method of Teaching

As new beauties came to their attention, they were filled with wonder. Each visit of the heavenly teachers elicited from the earthly students scores of questions which it was the delight of the angels to answer; and they in turn opened to the minds of Adam and Eve principles of living truth which sent them forth to their daily tasks of pleasure full of wondering curiosity, ready to use every God-given sense to discover illustrations of the wisdom of heaven. “So long as they remained loyal to the divine law, their capacity to know, to enjoy, and to love would continually increase. They would be constantly gaining new treasures of knowledge, discovering fresh springs of happiness, and obtaining clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the immeasurable, unfailing love of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 51

The divine method of teaching is here revealed,—God’s way of dealing with minds which are loyal to Him. The governing laws of the universe were expounded. Man, as if looking into a picture, found in earth, sky, and sea, in the animate and inanimate world, the exemplification of those laws. He believed; and with a heavenly light, which is the reward of faith, he approached each new subject of investigation. Divine truths unfolded continually. Life, power, happiness,—these subjects grew with his growth. The angels stimulated the desire to question, and again led their students to search for answers to their own questions. At his work of dressing the garden, Adam learned truths which only work could reveal. As the tree of life gave food to the flesh and reminded constantly of the mental and spiritual food necessary, so manual training added light to the mental discipline. The laws of the physical mental, and spiritual world were enunciated; man’s threefold nature received attention. This was education, perfect and complete.

Unable to reach the soul of man by direct means, Satan approached it through those outer channels, the senses. He had everything to win and proceeded cautiously. If man’s mind could be gained, his great work would be accomplished. To do this, he used a process of reasoning—a method the reverse of that used by the Father in His instruction at the tree of life. The mind of Eve was strong and quickly drew conclusions; hence, when her teacher said, “If ye eat, ‘ye shall be as gods,’ ” in the mind of Eve arose the thought, God has immortality. “Therefore,” said Satan, “if ye eat, ‘ye shall not surely die.’ ” The conclusion was logically drawn; and the world, from the days of Eve to the present time, has based its religious belief on that syllogism, the major premise of which, as did Eve, they fail to recognize as false. Why?—Because they use the mind to decide the truth instead of taking a direct statement from the Author of wisdom. From this one false premise comes the doctrine of the natural immortality of man, with its endless variations, some modern names of which are theosophy, spiritualism, reincarnation, and evolution. The sons and daughters of Eve condemn her for the mistake made six thousand years ago, while they themselves repeat it without question. It is preached from the pulpit; it is taught in the schoolroom; and its spirit pervades the thought of every book written whose author is not in perfect harmony with God and truth. Now began the study of “dialectics” so destructive to the Christian’s faith.

The Effects of Doubt

Having accepted the logic of the serpent and having transferred her faith from the word of God to the tree of knowledge, at Satan’s suggestion the woman could easily be led to test the truth of all his statements by her senses. A theory had been advanced; the experimental process now began. That is the way men now gain their knowledge, but their wisdom comes otherwise. She looked upon the forbidden fruit, but no physical change was perceptible as the result of the misuse of this sense. This led her to feel more sure that the argument used had been correct. Her ears were attentive to the words of the serpent, but when perceived no change as a result of the perverted use of the sense of hearing. This led her to feel more sure that the argument used had been correct. Her ears were attentive to the words of the serpent, but she perceived no change as a result of the perverted use of the sense of hearing. This, to the changing mind of the woman, was still more conclusive proof that the words of Christ and angels did not mean what she had at first thought they meant. The senses of touch, smell, and taste were in turn used; and each corroborated the conclusion drawn by the devil. The woman was deceived; and through the deception, her mind was changed. This same change of mind may be wrought either by deception or as a result of false reasoning.

Eve approached Adam with the fruit in her hand. Instead of answering in the oft-repeated words of Christ, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17), he took up the logic of the serpent. Having eaten, his mind was also changed. He, who from creation had thought the thoughts of God, was yielding to the mind of the enemy. The exactness with which he had once understood the mind of God was exemplified when he named the animals; for the thought of God which formed the animal passed through the mind of Adam and “whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” Genesis 2:19

The completeness of the change which took place is seen in the argument used when God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening. Said Adam, “The woman gave me to eat. Thou gavest me the woman. Therefore Thou art to blame.” (See Genesis 3:12.) This was another decidedly logical conclusion, from the standpoint of the wisdom of the serpent; and it was repeated by Eve, who laid the blame first on the serpent, and finally on God Himself. Self-justification, self-exaltation, self-worship,—here was the human origin of the papacy, that power which “opposeth and exalteth itself above all that is called God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4

Faith Versus Reason

God, through His instruction, had taught that the result of faith would be immortal life. Satan taught, and attempted to prove his logic by a direct appeal to the senses, that there was immortal life in the wisdom that comes as the result of human reason. The method employed by Satan is that which men today call the natural method; but in the mind of God, the wisdom of the world is foolishness. The method which to the godly mind, to the spiritual nature, seems natural is foolishness to the world.

There are but two systems of education,—the one based on what God calls wisdom, the gift of which is eternal life; the other based on what the world regards as wisdom but which God says is foolishness. This last exalts reason above faith, and the result is spiritual death. That the fall of man was the result of choosing the false system of education can not be converted. Redemption comes through the adoption of the true system of education.

Re-creation is a change of mind,—an exchange of the natural for the spiritual. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2. In order to render a change possible, Christ must bruise the head of the serpent; that is, the philosophy of the devil must be disproved by the Son of God. Christ did this; but in so doing, his heel, representing his physical nature, was bruised. The result of the acceptance of the satanic philosophy, the more complete is the subjection of the race top physical infirmities.

After the Fall, man turned to coarser articles of diet; and his nature gradually became more gross. The spiritual nature, at first the prominent part of his being, was dwarfed and overruled until it was but the “small voice” within. With the development of the physical and the intellectual to the neglect of the spiritual have come the evils of modern society,—the love of display, the perversion of taste, the deformity of the body, and those attendant sins which destroyed Sodom and now threaten our cities. Man became careless in his work also, and the earth failed to yield her fullness. As a result, thorns and thistles sprang up.

True Science and Life

It is not surprising, after following the decline of the race, to find that the system of education introduced by Christ begins with the instruction given in the garden of Eden and that it is based on the simple law of faith. We better appreciate the gift of Christ when we dwell upon the thought that while suffering physically, while taking our infirmities into His own body, He yet preserved a sound mind and a will wholly subject to the Father’s; that by so doing, the philosophy of the archdeceiver might be overthrown by the divine philosophy.

Again, it is but natural to suppose that when called upon to decide between the two systems of education, the human and the divine, and Christian education is chosen, that man will also have to reform his manner of eating and living. The original diet of man is again made known; and for his home he is urged to choose a garden spot, away from crowded cities, where God can speak to his spiritual nature through His works.

God does use the senses of man; but knowledge thus gained becomes wisdom only when enlightened by the Spirit, the gateway to whose fountain is opened by the key of faith.

Beneath the tree of life originated the highest method of education,—the plan that the world needs today. Beneath the branches of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil arose the conflicting system, having ever one object in view,—the overthrow of the eternal principles of truth. Under one guise, then under another, it has borne sway upon the earth. Whether as Babylonish learning, Greek philosophy, Egyptian wisdom, the high glitter of papal pomp, or the more modest but no less subtle workings of modern science, the results always have been, and always will be, a savor of death unto death. As was the unassuming life of the Saviour of man when walking the earth unrecognized by the lordly Pharisees and wise men of His day, so has been the progress of truth. It has kept steadily on the onward march, regardless of oppression. Men’s minds, clouded by self-worship, fail to recognize the voice from heaven. It is passed by as the low mutterings of thunder at the gate Beautiful when the Father spoke to His son, and the halo of heavenly light encircling eternal truth is explained by natural causes. Man’s reason is opposed to simple faith, but those who will finally reach the state of complete harmony with God will have begun where Adam failed. Wisdom will be gained by faith. Self will have been lost in the adoration of the great Mind of the universe; and he who was created in the image of God, who was pronounced by the Master Mind as “very good,” will, after the struggle with sin, be restored to the harmony of the universe by the simple act of faith.

Christian Education and Why the Protestant Churches Fell

That church triumphs which breaks the yoke of worldly education, and which develops and practices the principles of Christian education.

“Now, as never before, we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God.” Christian Educator, July 8, 1897. “The science of true education is the truth. . . . The Third Angel’s Message is truth.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 131. It is taken for granted that all Seventh-day Adventists believe that Christian education and the Third Angel’s Message are the same truth. The two are as inseparable as are a tree’s roots and its trunk and branches.

The object of these studies is to give a better understanding of the reason for the decline and moral fall of the Protestant denominations at the time of the midnight cry in 1844, and to help us as Seventh-day Adventists to avoid their mistakes as we approach the Loud Cry, soon due to the world.

A brief survey of the history of the Protestant denominations shows that their spiritual downfall in 1844 was the result of their failure “to understand the true science of education.” Their failure to understand and to practice Christian education unfitted them to proclaim to the world the message of Christ’s Second Coming. The Seventh-day Adventist denomination was then called into existence to take up the work, which the popular churches had failed to train their missionaries to do. The Protestant denominations could not give the Third Angel’s Message, a reform movement, which is a warning against the beast and his image, because they were still clinging to those doctrines and those principles of education which themselves form the beast and his image.

It is important that young Seventh-day Adventists study seriously the causes of the spiritual decline of these churches in 1844, lest we repeat their history, and be cast aside by the Spirit of God, and thus lose our place in the kingdom. If Seventh-day Adventists succeed where they failed, we must have a system of education which repudiates those principles which in themselves develop the beast and his image.

“Now, all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” I Corinthians 10:11.

Protestantism, born in the sixteenth century, was about to lose its light in Europe. God then prepared a new land, the future United States, as a cradle for the protection and development of those principles, and from this country is to go forth the final world-wide message that heralds the Saviour’s return.

“It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and, with God’s blessing, to lay on the shores of America the foundation of a mighty nation. . . . “The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source of wisdom and the charter of liberty. Its principles were diligently taught in the home, in the school, and in the church, and its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, purity, and temperance. . . . “It was demonstrated that the principles of the Bible are the surest safeguards of national greatness.” The Great Controversy, 292, 296.

These Reformers, on reaching America, renounced the papal doctrines in church and state, but they retained the papal system of education. While the Reformers rejected the creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her spirit of intolerance. “The English Reformers, while renouncing the doctrines of Romanism, had retained many of its forms.” Some “looked upon them as badges of the slavery from which they had been delivered, and to which they had no disposition to return. . . . Many earnestly desired to return to the purity and simplicity which characterized the primitive church. . . . ‘England was ceasing forever to be a habitable place.’ Some at last determined to seek refuge in Holland. Difficulties, losses, and imprisonment were encountered. . . . In their flight they had left their houses, their goods, and their means of livelihood. . . . But they cheerfully accepted the situation, and lost no time in idleness or repining. . . . ‘They knew they were pilgrims’. . . . In the midst of exile and hardship, their love and faith waxed strong. They trusted the Lord’s promises, and He did not rail them in time of need. His angels were by their side, to encourage and support them. And when God’s hand seemed pointing them across the sea, to a land where they might found for themselves a state, and leave to their children the precious heritage of religious liberty, they went forward, without shrinking, in the path of Providence. . . . The Puritans had joined themselves together by a solemn covenant, as the Lord’s free people, to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made known to them. Here was the true spirit of reform, the vital principle of Protestantism.” The Great Controversy, 289–291.

The educational system of the church, which had driven them from their native home, was one of the most serious errors from which the Puritans failed to break away. Their system of education, while papal in spirit, was, to a certain extent, Protestant in form. The historian writes of the schools of the Puritans in the New World, that their courses were “fitted to the time-sanctioned curriculum of the college. They taught much Latin and Greek, and extended course in mathematics, and were strong generally on the side of the humanities. . . . This was a modeling after Rugby, Eton, and other noted English schools.” Again we read, “The roots of this system were deep in the great ecclesiastical system.” “From his early training,” Dunster, one of the first presidents of Harvard, “patterned the Harvard course largely after that of the English universities.” They so faithfully patterned after the English model—Cambridge University—that they were called by that name, and the historian wrote of Harvard, “In several instances youths in the parent country were sent to the American Cambridge for a finishing education.” Boone, speaking of the courses of study of William and Mary prior to the Revolution, says, “All were of English pattern.” Of Yale, started later, it is said, “The regulations for the most part were those at Harvard, as were also the courses of study.” The younger patterned after the older. It is very natural that Yale should be established after the English papal system, because the founder, Elihu Yale, had spent twenty years in the English schools. “Twenty years he spent in the schools and in special study.” Boone’s Education in the United States, 24–40.

Seventh-day Adventists should not let this fact escape their attention: The three leading schools of the colonies were established by men who had fled from the papal doctrines of the Old World; but these educators, because of their training in these papal schools and their ignorance of the relation between education and religion, unwittingly patterned their institutions after the educational system of the church from which they had withdrawn.

It is surprising that these English Reformers, after sacrificing as they did for a worthy cause, should yet allow a system of education, so unfitted to all their purposes, to be in reality the nurse of their children, from whose bosom these children drew their nourishment. They did not realize that the character and Christian experience of these children depended upon the nature of the food received. Had they grasped the relation of the education of the child to the experience of the same individual in the church, they would not have borrowed this papal system of education, but would have cast it out bodily as too dangerous for tolerance within the limits of Protestantism.

Some facts from educational history will make clear the statement that the system of education in Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and Rugby was papal, and the New England Reformers, patterning their schools after these models, were planting the papal system of education in America. Laurie says, “Oxford and Cambridge modeled themselves largely after Paris. . . . A large number of masters and their pupils left Paris. . . . Thus the English portion of (Paris) University went to Oxford and Cambridge.” The relation of the University of Paris, the mother of Cambridge and Oxford, to the papacy is thus expressed, “It was because it was the center of theological learning that it received so many privileges from the pope, and was kept in close relation to the Papal See.” Laurie’s Rise and Constitution of Universities, 153, 162, 242.

Luther and Melanchthon, the great sixteenth century Reformers, understood clearly that it was impossible to have a permanent religious reform without Christian education. So they not only gave attention to the doctrines of the papacy, but also developed a strong system of Christian schools. Melanchthon said, “To neglect the young in our schools is just like taking the spring out of the year. They indeed take away the spring from the year who permit the schools to decline, because religion cannot be maintained without them.” “Melanchthon steadily directed his efforts to the advancement of education and the building up of good Christian schools. . . . In the spring of 1525, with Luther’s help, he reorganized the schools of Eisleben and Magdeburg.” He declared, “The cause of true education is the cause of God.” Life of Melanchthon, 81.

“In 1528 Melanchthon drew up the ‘Saxony School Plan,’ which served as the basis of organization for many schools throughout Germany.” This plan dealt with the question of a “multiplicity of studies that were not only unfruitful but even hurtful. . . . The teacher should not burden the children with too many books.” Painter’s History of Education, 152. These Reformers realized that the strength of the papal church lay in its educational system, and they struck a crushing blow at this system and, wounding it, brought the papal church to her knees. The Reformers established a system of Christian schools that made Protestants of the children. This wonderful revolution in education and religion was accomplished in one generation, in the brief space of one man’s life.

To give an idea of the power in that great Christian educational movement, the historian, speaking o several European countries, says: “The nobility of that country studied in Wittenberg—all other colleges of the land were filled with Protestants. . . . Not more than the thirtieth part of the population remained Catholic. . . . They withheld their children, too, from the Catholic schools. The inhabitants of Mainz did not hesitate to send their children to Protestant schools. The Protestant nations extended their vivifying energies to the most remote and most forgotten corners of Europe. What an immense domain had they conquered within the space of forty years. . . . Twenty years had elapsed in Vienna since a single student of the University had taken priests’ orders. . . . About this period the teachers in Germany were all, almost without exception, Protestants. The whole body of the rising generation sat at their feet and imbibed a hatred of the pope with the first rudiments of learning.” Von Ranke’s History of the Popes, 135.

After the death of Luther and Melanchthon, the theologians, into whose hands the work of the Reformation fell, instead of multiplying Christian schools, became absorbed in the mere technicalities of theology, and passed by the greatest work of the age. They sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. When the successors of Luther and Melanchthon failed to continue that constructive work, which centered largely in the education of the youth, who were to be the future missionaries and pillars of the church, internal dissention arose. Their time was spent very largely in criticizing the views of some of their co-laborers who differed with them on some unimportant points of theology. Thus they became destructive instead of constructive. They paid too much attention to doctrines, and spent the most of their energy in preserving orthodoxy. They crystallized their doctrines into a creed; they ceased to develop, and lost the spirit of Christian education, which was the oil for the lamps. Protestantism degenerated into dead orthodoxy, and they broke up into opposing factions. The Protestant church, thus weakened, could not resist the great power of rejuvenated papal education.

The success of the Reformers had been due to their control of the young people through their educational system. The papal schools were almost forsaken during the activity of Luther and Melanchthon. But when these Reformers died and their successors became more interested in abstract theology than in Christian education, and spent their time, energy, and the money of the church in preaching and writing on abstract theology, the papal school system, recovering itself, rose to a life and death struggle with the Protestant church. The papacy realized that the existence of the papal church itself depended upon a victory over Protestant schools. We are surprised at the skill and tact the papal educators used in their attack, and the rapidity with which they gained the victory. This experience should be an object lesson forever to Seventh-day Adventists.

A Christian School Animated by the Papal Spirit. —The eyes of the successors of Luther and Melanchthon were blinded. They did not understand “the true science of education.” They did not see its importance, and grasp the dependence of character upon education. “The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul.” Christian Educator, 63. Satan took advantage of this blindness to cause some of their own educators, like wolves in sheep’s clothing, to prey on the lambs. Chief among these was John Sturm, who, by these blind Reformers, was supposed to be a good Protestant. Sturm introduced practically the entire papal system of education into the Protestant schools of Strasbourg. And because he pretended to be a Protestant, the successors of Luther looked with favor upon his whole educational scheme. He was regarded by the so-called Reformers as the greatest educator of his time, and his school became so popular among Protestants that it was taken as their model for the Protestant schools of Germany, and its influence extended to England, and thence to America.” “No one who is acquainted with the education given at our principal classical schools—Eton, Winchester, and Westminster—forty years ago, can fail to see that their curriculum was formed in a great degree on Sturm’s model.” The historian says that it was Sturm’s ambition “to produce Greece and Rome in the midst of modern Christian civilization.” Painter’s History of Education. 163.

The educational wolf, dressed in Christian fleece, made great inroads on the lambs of the flock, and made possible a papal victory. Most dangerous of all enemies in a church is a school of its own, Christian in profession, with “teachers and managers who are only half converted;” who are accustomed to popular methods; who “concede some things and make half reforms, . . . preferring to work according to their own ideas,” (Testimonies, vol. 6, 141) who, step by step, advance toward worldly education, leading innocent lambs with them. In the day of judgment it will be easier for that man who has been cold and an avowed enemy to a reform movement than for that one who professes to be a shepherd, but who has been a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who deceives the lambs until they are unable to save themselves. It is the devil’s master stroke for the overthrow of God’s work in the world, and there is no influence harder to counteract. No other form of evil is so strongly denounced. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:15, 16.

Sturm’s school stood as a half-way mark between the Christian schools of Luther and Melanchthon and the papal schools round about him. It offered a mixture of medieval, classical literature with a thin slice of Scripture, sandwiched in for effect, and flavored with the doctrines of the church. Its course of study was impractical; its methods of instruction mechanical; memory work was exalted; its government was arbitrary and empirical. “A dead knowledge of words took the place of a living knowledge of things. . . . The pupils were obligated to learn, but they were not educated to see and hear, to think and prove, and were not led to a true independence and personal perfection. The teachers found their function in teaching the prescribed text, not in harmoniously developing the young human being according to the laws of nature.” Painter’s History of Education, 156.

Macaulay, speaking of this system of education, adds: “They promised what was impracticable; they despised what was practicable. They filled the world with long words and long beards, and they left it as ignorant and as wicked as they found it.” Macaulay’s Bacon, 379.

Jesuit Schools—This study should make it clear that the Protestant teachers weakened and unfitted the Protestant denominations for the attack made by the papacy through the counter system of education introduced by Loyola, founder of the order of Jesuits. Before this, the Catholic Church realized its helplessness to withstand the great movement of Protestantism, inaugurated by thousands of missionaries trained in the Christian schools of Luther and Melanchthon. Noting the return of the Protestant church to the dead orthodoxy under the inefficient leadership of Luther’s successors, the papacy recognized the vulnerable point in Protestantism.

The Order of Jesuits found its special mission in combating the Reformation. As the most effective means of arresting the progress of Protestantism, it aimed at controlling education. “It developed an immense educational activity” in Protestant countries, “and earned for its schools a great reputation. . . . More than any other agency it stayed the progress of the Reformation, and it even succeeded in winning back territory already conquered by Protestantism. . . . It worked chiefly through its schools, of which it established and controlled large numbers. Every member of the order became a competent and practical teacher.” Painter’s History of Education, 166.

The following methods of teaching are characteristic of Jesuit schools: “The memory was cultivated as a means of keeping down free activity of thought and clearness of judgment.” In the place of self-government “their method of discipline was a system of mutual distrust, espionage, and informing. Implicit obedience relieved the pupils from all responsibility as to the moral justification of their deeds.” Rosencranz’s Philosophy of Education, 270.

“The Jesuits made much of emulation. He who knows how to excite emulation has found the most powerful auxiliary in his teaching. Nothing will be more honorable than to outstrip a fellow student, and nothing more dishonorable than to be outstripped. Prized will be distributed to the best pupils with the greatest solemnity. . . . It sought showy results with which to dazzle the world; a well-rounded development was nothing. . . . The Jesuits did not aim at developing all the faculties of their pupils, but merely the receptive and reproductive facilities.” When a student “could make a brilliant display from the sources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest points to which the Jesuits sought to lead him.” Originality and independence of mind, love of truth for its own sake, the power of reflecting and forming correct judgments were not merely neglected, they were suppressed in the Jesuit system.” Painter’s History of Education, 172, 173. “The Jesuit system of education was remarkably successful, and for nearly a century, all the foremost men of Christendom came from Jesuit schools.” Rosencranz, 272.

Success of Jesuit Schools. —Concerning the success of the Jesuit educational system in overcoming the careless and indifferent Protestants, we read: “They carried their point.” They shadowed the Protestant schools and like a parasite, sucked from them their life. “Their labors were above all, devoted to the universities. Protestants called back their children from distant schools and put them under the care of the Jesuits. The Jesuits occupied the professors’ chairs. . . . They conquered the Germans on their own soil, in their very home, and wrested from them a part of their native land.” Macaulay’s Von Ranke, vol. 4, 134–139.

This conquest rapidly went on through nearly all European countries. They conquered England by taking the English youth to Rome and educating them in Jesuit schools, and sending them back as missionaries and teachers to their native land. And thus they were established in the schools of England. The Jesuits overran the New World also, becoming thoroughly established, and have been employing their characteristic methods here every since. Here, as elsewhere, their only purpose is “to obtain the sole direction of education, so that by getting the young into their hands they can fashion them after their own pattern.” Footprints of the Jesuits, 419.

“Within fifty years from the day Luther burned the Bull of Leo before the gates of Wittenberg, Protestantism gained its highest ascendancy, an ascendancy which it soon lost, and which it has never regained.” Macaulay’s Von Ranke.

“How was it that Protestantism did so much, yet did no more? How was it that the church of Rome, having lost a large part of Europe, not only ceased to lose, but actually regained nearly half of what she had lost? This is certainly a most curious and important question.” We have already had the answer, but it is well stated thus by Macaulay, who understood the part played by the Jesuit schools founded by Loyola: “Such was the celebrated Ignatius Loyola, who, in the great reaction, bore the same part which Luther bore in the great Protestant movement. It was at the feet of that Jesuit that the youth of higher and middle classes were brought up from childhood to manhood, from the first rudiments to the courses of rhetoric and philosophy. . . . The great order went forth conquering and to conquer. . . . Their first object was to drive no person out of the pale of the church.”

Heresy Hunting Defeats the Protestant Cause.—Macaulay thus gives the causes for this defeat of Protestantism and the success of the papacy: “The war between Luther and Leo was a war between firm faith and unbelief; between zeal and apathy; between energy and indolence; between seriousness and frivolity; between a pure morality and vice. Very different was the war which degenerate Protestantism had to wage against regenerate Catholicism,” made possible by the Jesuit educational system. “The Reformers had contracted some of the corruptions which had been justly censured in the Church of Rome. They had become lukewarm and worldly. Their great, old leaders had been borne to the grave and had left no successors. . . . Everywhere on the Protestant side we see languor; everywhere on the Catholic side we see ardor and devotion. Almost the whole zeal of the Protestants was directed against each other. Within the Catholic Church there were no serious disputes on points of doctrine. . . . On the other hand, the force which ought to have fought the battle of the Reformation was exhausted in civil conflict.”

The papacy learned a bitter lesson in dealing with heretics. Since the Reformation, she conserves her strength by setting them to work. Macaulay says: “Rome thoroughly understands what no other church has ever understood—how to deal with enthusiasts. . . . The Catholic Church neither submits to enthusiasm nor prescribes it, but uses it. . . . She accordingly enlists him (the enthusiast) in her services. . . . For a man thus minded there is within the pale of the establishment (Orthodox Protestant churches) no place. He has been at no college; . . . and he is told that if he remains in the communion of the church, he must do so as a hearer, and that, if he is resolved to be a teacher, he must begin by being a schismatic (a heretic). His choice is soon made; he harangues on Tower Hill or in Smithfield. A congregation is formed, and in a few weeks the (Protestant) church has lost forever a hundred families.”

The papacy was wiser than the Protestants in dealing with those who become somewhat irregular in their views. She spent little time in church trials. She directed their efforts, instead of attempting to force them from the church. “The ignorant enthusiast whom the English church makes. . . . a most dangerous enemy, the Catholic Church makes a companion. She bids him nurse his beard, covers him with a gown and hood of course dark stuff, ties a rope around his waist, and send him forth to teach in her name. He costs her nothing. He takes not a ducat away from the regular clergy. He lives by the alms of those who respect his spiritual character and are grateful for his instructions. . . . All this influence is employed to strengthen the church. . . . In this way the church of Rome unites in herself all the strength of the establishment (organization) and all the strength of dissent. . . . Place Ignatius Loyola at Oxford. He is certain to become the head of a formidable succession. Place John Wesley at Rome. He is certain to be the first general of a new society devoted to the interest and honor of the church.” Macaulay’s Von Ranke.

The Church of Rome, since its rejuvenation, is literally alive with determined, enthusiastic, zealous soldiers who know nothing but to live, to be spent, and to die for the church. She is determined to conquer and bring back humiliated, broken down, and completely subjugated, the Protestant denominations. She has everywhere, through her Jesuit teachers, editors, and public officials, men at work to fashion public sentiment, to capture the important and controlling positions of government, and most of all, to obtain control, through her teachers, of the minds of Protestant children and youth. She values that eternal principle, and makes use of it, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Let me teach a child until he is twelve years old, say the Catholics, and he will always remain a Catholic. We can now better comprehend why those English Reformers did not understand the character and the danger of the school system in vogue at Cambridge, Oxford, Eton, and Westminster, and unwittingly planted this system of education upon the shores of their new home and in every one of their Christian schools. They ignorantly fostered it and scattered it, and their successors, like the successors of Luther and Melanchthon, became so infected with the spirit of Rome that by 1844 the Protestant churches were morally like their mother.

In this we have been tracing the roots which bore the tree of education in the United States. While Harvard, the first school in New England, at first “was little more than a training school for ministers,” and “the Bible was systematically studied,” yet it is plain to any student of Harvard’s course of study that, aside from Bible teaching, its curriculum was modeled after Eton, Rugby, and other noted English schools which were all based on Sturm’s system. Yale, William and Mary, and other institutions of the United States are modeled after this same system. Behold Protestant America training her children in schools which were modeled after Sturm’s papal schools.

The secret of the rejection of the Protestant denominations in 1844 is contained in the educational history just given. We see that, while they clung to the forms of Protestantism, their educational system continually instilled into the student the life of the papacy. This produced a form of Protestantism imbued with the papal spirit. This spells Babylon. Should not our students seriously question the character of the educational system that they are under, lest they find themselves in the company of those five foolish virgins who are rejected in the time of the Loud Cry, just as the great Christian churches were rejected at the time of the Midnight Cry, because they failed to understand the “true science of education?” “They did not come into the line of true education,” and they rejected the message.

Certain divine ideas of reform in civil government were received from God by some men in this country during the days of the wounding of the papacy. These men dared teach and practice these truths. They fostered true principles of civil government to such an extent that the Third Angel’s Message could be delivered under its shelter. But the papal system of education, as operated by Protestant churches, was a constant menace to this civil reform, because the churches would not break away from the medieval, classical course with the granting of degrees and honors—without which it is difficult for aristocracy and imperialism in either church or state to thrive. But in spite of the failure of the churches to break away from this system, the civil reformers repudiated all crowns, titles, and honors that would have perpetuated European aristocracy and imperialism. The churches, because they still clung to the papal educational system, became responsible, not only for the spirit of the papacy within themselves, but also for the return of imperialism now so plainly manifesting itself in our government, and especially noticeable in such tendencies toward centralization as the trusts, monopolies, and unions.

The year 1844 was one of the most critical periods in the history of the church since the days of the apostles. Toward that year the hand of prophecy had been pointing for ages. All heaven was interested in what was about to happen. Angels worked with intense interest for those who claimed to be followers of the Christ to prepare them to accept the message then due to the world. But the history quoted above shows that the Protestant denominations clung to the system of education borrowed from the papacy, which wholly unfitted them either to receive or give the message. Consequently, it was impossible for them to train men to proclaim it.

The world was approaching the great Day of Atonement n the heavenly sanctuary, the year 1844. Prior to this date, history records a most remarkable Christian educational movement and religious awakening. The popular churches were rapidly approaching their crucial test. And God knew it was impossible for them to acceptably carry the closing message unless they should “come into the line of true education”—unless they had a clear understanding of “the true science of education.” These words were applicable to them: “Now as never before we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God.”

What the Protestant churches faced in the year 1844, we Seventh-day Adventists are facing today. We shall see how the Protestant denominations opposed the principles of Christian education and thus failed to train their young people to give the Midnight Cry. Seventh-day Adventist young people, thousands of whom are in the schools of the world, cannot afford to repeat this failure. The moral fall of the popular churches causing that mighty cry, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, ” would never have been, had they been true to the principles of Christian education. If individual Seventh-day Adventists approach the Loud Cry with the same experience that the Protestants approached the Midnight Cry, they likewise will be foolish virgins to whom the door is closed. The virgins in Christ’s parable all had lamps, the doctrines; but they lacked a love of truth which lights up these doctrines, “The science of true education is the truth, which is to be so deeply impressed on the soul that it cannot be obliterated by the error that everywhere abounds. The Third Angel’s Message is truth, and light, and power.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 131. Is not Christian education, then, the light to the doctrines? Papal education fails to light up those lamps, for it is darkness.

Surely it is a serious time for our young Seventh-day Adventists—a time when every teacher in the land, when every student and prospective mission worker in the church, should look the situation squarely in the face and should determine his attitude toward the principles of Christian education. For “before we can carry the message of present truth in all its fullness to other countries, we must first break every yoke.” The Madison School, 30. “Now as never before we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God.” We are dealing with a life-and-death question.

True Education

“Welcome to the first rehearsal of Macbeth. This is an exciting day and a terrifying one. Over the next five weeks we’re going to grapple with one of the greatest plays ever written….Why do a play which is so fraught with problems?….Why is Macbeth considered to be an unlucky play?….The answer to both these questions is that Macbeth is the most brilliant and comprehensible play about evil ever written. Evil is portrayed in its private, public, supernatural and cosmic form. It is a vision of Hell, and during the next five weeks we will be using our imagination to bring that vision to life. We shall cast spells, evoke spirits, pray to demons, murder, intrigue, betray, lie, cheat and pillage. If we are brave enough, we will face the evil in ourselves in order to make the evil in our production true….We will be bringing into play the dark side of ourselves.” Longman Group limited 1986, William Shakespeare, Macbeth

These are the opening statements from the textbook used my senior year in academy. Over a three-month period we watched this play four times, acted it out once, and studied it more in-depth than any other work. This was at a Seventh-day Adventist academy! Does this bother you? If not, it should!

The strength of a family, movement, or culture depends heavily on how it is continued. This explains why people have expended large quantities of time and energy on passing down history and training their children. Today this process is called education.

To the world, education is understood to be an intellectual preparation for life. Webster defines education as: “the act of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” [All emphasis supplied.]

Adventists, on the other hand, have been shown that education is the act of growing—spiritually, mentally, and physically. “True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in the world to come.

“To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized—this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life.” Education, 13, 15-16

Education deals in the obtaining of wisdom. As such, man’s education began in Eden. There, Adam felt the thrill of unity and harmony with his Creator. Though for a little time inferior, there lay within him the possibility of attaining to greater heights than that held by angels. He was to be the companion of God, the perfect reflection of His light and glory. “The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God, but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. They were visited by angels, and were granted communion with their Maker, with no obscuring veil between….The mysteries of the visible universe—‘the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge’ afforded them an exhaustless source of instruction and delight.” Education, 207. The divine method of education is here revealed,—God’s way of dealing with minds which are loyal to Him. This was education, perfect and complete.

Written on the face of creation is the wisdom of the Eternal. “And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Job 28:28. In other words, when a man lives in harmony with God, acting in accordance with the laws of the universe; when his thoughts are those of the Father, then he has truly entered the road that leads directly to wisdom.

Why, then, if wisdom may be had for the asking, do not all find it? Only one reason can be given: men in their search accept falsehood in the place of truth. This blunts their sensibilities until the false seems true and the true false.

When the serpent addressed Eve, her curiosity was aroused; and instead of fleeing, she argued with him. She attempted to determine in her own mind between right and wrong, but God had already told her what was right. This moment of indecision, of doubting, was the devil’s opportunity. He knew that if man’s mind could be gained, his great work would be accomplished. To do this he used a process of reasoning based on doubt—a method the opposite of that used by the Father in His instruction.

At Satan’s suggestion, Eve transferred her faith from the word of God to the tree of knowledge; and she was now easily led to test the truthfulness of all his statements by her senses. The theory had been advanced, and the experimental process now began. Eve looked upon the forbidden fruit, but no physical change was perceptible as the result of the misuse of this sense. This led her to be more certain that the argument used had been correct. All of this to the changing mind of Eve was still more conclusive evidence that the words of Christ and of the angels did not mean exactly what she had at first thought them to mean. The senses of touch, smell, and taste were in turn used, and each supported the conclusion drawn by the devil.

The woman was deceived, and through the deception, her mind was changed. This same change of mind may be brought about either by deception or as the result of false reasoning.

Today there are still two types of education in the world. There is that which comes form God and that which is the wisdom of the world, which God pronounces to be foolishness. The latter exalts the senses above faith and reason above revelation, but it results in spiritual death. That the fall of man was the result of choosing the false system cannot be debated. Redemption, therefore, comes through the adoption of the true system of education which links man with God, the true source of wisdom. The final and ultimate triumph of truth will, therefore, place those who are advocates of Christian education in the kingdom of God. Over these two great educational systems the great controversy between good and evil is now being waged.

When Christianity, in the power of Pentecost, entered the world, the Word of God was its educational book. There was, however, another system of learning which was claimed by the world to be true education and which had to be met by Christianity. On this question of education, as in all other things, Christianity and the world were diametrically opposed to each other.

There were, at this time, three great centers of education—Corinth, Ephesus, and Athens. Of the three, Athens was pre-eminent and was known as the mother of the then world’s education. The whole basis and theory of Greek education was established on the premise that doubt is the way to knowledge.

For a time, paganism, steadily retreated before a victorious Christianity; but as time passed, Christianity’s conquest faltered and slowed. Slowly at first, and then with accelerating speed, there was within the Christian church an exalting of the worldly wisdom. This so called wisdom was but Greek ignorance and resulted in the “falling away” from the gospel truth. For the next half-score of centuries, schools, from the grammar schools to the universities, all looked to Aristotle for the basis of knowledge. The Dark Ages had begun.

With the dawning of light, ushered in by the Reformation, true education received a fresh start. Luther and Melancthon developed a strong Bible based system of learning. “It was not the public worship alone the Reformation was ordained to change. The school was early placed beside the Church; and these two great institutions, so powerful to regenerate the nations, were equally reanimated by it. It was by a close alliance with learning that the Reformation entered into the world; in the hour of its triumph, it did not forget its ally.” D’Aubigne, History of the Reformation, book 10, chap. 9, 375

So successful was this education that, “Not more than a thirtieth part of the population remained Catholic…They withheld their children, too, from the Catholic schools.” Sutherland, Studies in Christian Education, 11. In reaction to this great movement, the Jesuits arose with the goal of regaining that which had been lost to the Reformation.

In the place of training the youth to be thinkers and not mere reflectors of other men’s thoughts, (see Education, 17, 18), the Jesuits emphasized the cultivation of the memory as a means of keeping down free activity of thought and clearness of judgment. (See Studies in Christian Education, 16.)

In the place of self-governing, which leads to independent and original works, “their method of discipline was a system of mutual distrust, espionage and informing.” Ibid. The papal system makes no effort to train students in self-governing, as such a system is fatal to the papal church organization.

In the place of the Bible as the basis of education, the papal education introduced secular literature for its foundation and guide. (See Ibid., 143)

Is the duty of Christians to repress the spirit of envy, or emulation (see Testimonies, vol. 5, 242), but the Jesuits made much of rivalry and competition. They believed that the ability to excite emulation was a most powerful aid in teaching. Under their system, nothing was more honorable than to outstrip a fellow student, and nothing more dishonorable than to be outstripped. (See Studies in Christian Education, 16.)

“’The Jesuits did not aim at developing all the faculties of their pupils but merely the receptive and reproductive faculties.’ When a student ‘could make a brilliant display from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest points to which the Jesuits sought to lead him.’ Originality and independence of mind, love of truth for its own sake, the power of reflecting and forming judgments were not merely neglected, they were suppressed in the Jesuit system.” (See Ibid.)

True education, in contrast, will show students how to follow the established principles of God. The character of Christ is the one perfect pattern which we are to copy. “Godliness—Godlikeness—is the goal to be reached.” Education, 18

The strength of the papal system lied in repeating meaningless forms, and in a dead study of words in the place of a living knowledge of things. Mental cramming and formal memorizing are the exalted methods of teaching. (See Studies in Christian Education, 142.)

Manual training is not an essential part of papal education. In its place they have substituted athletics, sports, games, and gymnasiums. True education, however, will give students useful exercise that will uplift the mind, educate, and be of practical value. (See Ibid., 145.)

We are to be reformed and self-supporting, following the Spirit of Prophecy’s admonition to live in the country and be able to support ourselves. By contrast, the papal system is one of control. The more dependent you are upon others, the more perfectly it suits their plans.

“The Jesuit system of education was remarkably successful, and for a century nearly all the foremost men of the Christendom came from Jesuit schools.” Ibid., 16, 17. Within one hundred years after the death of Luther, Aristotle was again given the chief place in the seats of leaning and the Greek educational system was securely in place within the Protestant school system. This was accomplished with the assistance of such men as John Strum. Strum, a Protestant who was schooled in the papal universities, introduced a new system of education that effected a compromise. Maintaining the form of the Catholic schools, he threw in a wedge of Bible to keep it spiritual. So effective was the educational system that within a short span of time, the papacy was able to reclaim much of the ground lost to the Reformation. It was Strum’s system of education that was generally practiced in Ellen White’s time and which she spoke out against.

Sadly, instead of following the blueprint for true education, our Adventist form of education adopted the educational system of the 1850s that followed the pattern established by Yale, Harvard, and William and Mary. These three schools were known as the daughters of England, and Harvard was even referred to as the American Cambridge. The English universities, Cambridge, Oxford, Rugy, and Eaton, were, in turn, patterned after Paris University, which was the daughter of the papacy. As the center of theological learning, it received many privileges from the pope and retained a close relation to the papal see. (See Ibid., 9, 10)

The educational struggle has gone for ages between truth and error. The Christian and papal methods of instruction are inseparably connected with the history of nations; and we may, therefore, expect that in the final conflict, education will play a significant role. How can we proclaim the second angel’s message if we are wholeheartedly endorsing its system of education. This is as hypocritical as attempting to declare the third angel’s message while keeping Sunday.

“Before we can carry the message of present truth in all its fullness to other countries, we must first break every yoke. We must come into the line of true education, walking in the wisdom of God, and not in the wisdom of the world. God calls for messengers who will be true reformers. We must educate, educate, to prepare a people who will understand the message, and then give the message to the world.” The Madison School, 30

We have an effect on history by the way we educate. True education is the life blood of our movement; without it we shall surely fail. “Now, as never before, we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God.” Spaulding and Magan Collection, 56

God, has given us a window of time that is unique in modern history. Never in recent times have the laws governing home schools been as liberal as they are now, but none know how long this window of opportunity will remain open. To historic Adventist families this holds a tremendous significance. Jochebed was given twelve years to prepare Moses for his great work. Jehoida taught Joash for only seven years. At the age of twelve, Christ passed His mother’s teachings and began His heavenly Father’s business. Esther was yet a teen when she was called away from her uncle’s care. “The impressions made on the heart in early life are seen in after years. They may be buried, but they will seldom be obliterated.” Bible Echo, February 13, 1899. By the time a child reaches adolescence, any prospects of significant change in the life course are greatly diminished. Are we willing to take our responsibility seriously and no longer accept second best for our children’s education? If not, the enemy is more than willing to do our job. Until we sense the urgency of this issue, we are destined to fail.

The End