Universal History Volume I - Ancient History Law Without Liberty - The Epilog
Bill Haymin
October 12, 2008
Portions from the Preface to Universal History The Principle Approach Literacy - The Reading Imperative, "it is the Basic Subject"
Introduction from the Editor:
When I think of all the generations of trusting and vulnerable youth that have been promised an education to prepare them for life, only to be shocked and angry to find that when they get out of public school and possibly graduate from a secular university, how unprepared they really are. Being made dependent on the government and on others to sustain them because of their lack of life skills has grieved and angered me. This has angered me because the majority of America´s youth have also been denied a Classical education that was once a common occurrence. Those who have studied the history and true nature of public education in America since the early 19th century know that the public school system in America has greatly contributed to the dearth of classical education, and of Christian Liberty, individual Self Government and the knowledge of the Providential hand of God in all of history. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that we as American´s no longer know, appreciate and understand the meaning of what we have lost and the paramount importance of those things.
Sadly, many well meaning Christian schools produce in their nescience of the Providential view of God (the Hand of God in ALL of His story), the same ineptness and ignorance in their students. They have unwittingly impoverished and deprived them from learning the moral examples which can be found by being able to read the truth and the Biblical principles discovered in studying the history of the world. They have put a Christian label on their education which is merely a faηade. They´re strong on academics but lacking in Biblical principles. Those Biblical principles guide a person through the storms of life. True education must be Biblical in every sphere of study. Otherwise a person does not have the character to apply their education in beneficial ways to themselves or humanity as a whole.
"Upon joining the faculty of American Heritage Christian School in Hayward, California, I realized how sorely ignorant I was of history courses I was assigned to teach and how reliant I was upon the textbooks handed to me, and upon those handed to the students. Albeit conservative in their views of the subject, these history textbooks were godless.
Though academically demanding, the textbook did little, if anything, to aid in the formation of Christian character and conscience in the students. Nor did the textbook materials serve to challenge what the students may have lacked in character and in conscience. The books contained general knowledge, but they did not enlighten the students with Truth or Biblical principles relative to the History of the World and to the government of their own lives
History, void of Christian purpose, would, in my judgment, only cause students to become indifferent to Christ and Christianity.
History courses which are educating generations to deny the power of Christ in the individual have, as well, instilled the Christian with an unattractive negativism, hopelessness and unbelief. I had my fill of this kind of history from my university training at Berkeley
It is not enough to Christianize secularist approaches to history or interpretations of the past, adding Biblical commentary to the secondary historical causes known as men and events. For this approach to history makes the Christian think of himself only as an observer of the world, capable of only reacting to the wrongs in his society, his nation and in the world. Recoiling from the world, the Christian becomes increasingly unresponsive to the social and political needs of humanity and, therefore, ineffective instruments for bringing about real changes for good"
But what interesting, useful and Biblical approach to History will draw the individual Christian into his place of responsibility for the government of himself, his home, his church and his nation? The approach has, first and foremost, to recognize that Jesus Christ occupies the central place, that he is the pivotal point in all of history from beginning to end. For my part, there has been a long process of reasoning and relating in order for the governmental, practical principles drawn from this view of Universal History to surface and become apparent. I have had to let go of depending upon the textbook to do my teaching, and instead begin to search for the Biblical causes of events and for the principles which they are meant to reveal to every student of history"
"Every history teaches some view of God, and that view is either Biblical or it is not. For herein is reason for concern over the carelessness, lack of consideration, and thoughtlessness that exists in the handling of the subject of history in today´s field of Christian education. Christian parents, teachers and professors, through the primary presuppositions of their history courses, are educating future generations either to live wholly conscious of and confident in an All-wise God or to live as atheists do, in unbelief. Christian educators who give history instruction from secondary sources as opposed to primary sources may, unwittingly and subtly, be casting doubt upon the wisdom of God´s government. This is, in effect, to plant seeds of unbelief and to encourage the observed dominance of infidelity in society. If history is viewed through the lens of worldly, historical analysis, God must necessarily be seen, at times, as unjust and cruel. Yet, how can that which is finite comprehend Him who is infinite? or the creature subject the Creator to examination? or the inferior being stand to measure Him who is the Supreme Being? Is it not the extreme height of arrogance for man to sit and adjudge God? Histories are either revealing that God is over all and is mightily working in all things, or that even He, at times, is liable to fall short that there are matters even He cannot control; God is either worthy of man´s complete confidence and trust or He is not. If He is not, then faith in the absolute power of God is, at best, conditional, and in the affairs and concerns of this world one´s reliance must, sometimes, fall upon a power other than God´s.
Scripture, however, teaches there is a Providence that superintends the order of events and sees to completion all that He has ordained regarding every man and every nation. Each of these has its purpose in forwarding God´s plan of bringing life and liberty to whomsoever will freely take of them from Him, Revelation 22:17
"IN THE BEGINNING GOD
Genesis 1:1
A study of history cannot begin until one resolves whether God is, or is not, and if one concludes that He is, then, one must understand the nature of God´s character and government in order to interpret history properly. His character are only known with the aid of Divine Revelation.
History has a point of origin. The Eternal God was not only found present at the point of origin, He is the point of origin, The Principle of the universe. The pages of Scripture declare that the Universe exists and operates by God´s wisdom:
"To him who by wisdom made the heavens .Psalm 136:5
"The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens."
"He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding." Jeremiah 51:15
Excerpts from the Preface and History: A View of God, from Katherine Dang´s book, Universal History, Volume I, Ancient History, Law Without Liberty, P.XV, XVI, 1 www.philomathfoundation.com
In the Jewish Bible the Tanakh Proverbs, 22:6 says: "Train a lad in the way he ought to go; he will not swerve from it even in old age." Training should inculcate a distinctively Christian curriculum in Biblical principles, more succinctly in the "Principle Approach."
"The Principle Approach is America´s historic method of Biblical reasoning which makes the Truths of God´s Word the basis of every subject in the curriculum. It establishes bedrock principles from which to break open each subject to reveal the knowledge of God, making the curriculum a whole system of truth." Rosalie J. Slater, Foundation for American Christian Education Volume V, No.1 Spring 1998 - PRINCIPLE APPROACH EDUCATION American Classical Education: Biblical and Governmental The "Found" Tools of Learning. www.face.net
´"The Principle Approach of teaching and learning is Biblical. It will restore the reasoning and writing of leading ideas and principles which have been deleted from present educational systems predicated upon secular philosophies. But it requires Christian courage to cut through the ´philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.´" (Col. 2:8) The Principle Approach To American Christian Education by Rosalie J. Slater. C/P, P. 600d. Quoted in A Guide To American Christian Education For The Home And School P. 14. The Principle Approach by James B. Rose www.achipa.com
"To inculcate principles is a slow, steady process requiring that principles be taught not in a supplementary lesson, a special class, or a seminar, but through every subject every day. It is the imperative mandate of this moment to educate Christian children in Biblical principles and teach them to reason from them. It is not an add-on in the curriculum. IT MUST BE THE CURRICULUM
Jesus taught principles and provoked his hearers to think, reason, reflect, and respond from the heart. What really is a principle? It is defined as the cause, source, or origin of any thing." By Carole Adams, Foundation for American Christian Education Volume IX, No. 1, April 2002 The Power of Principle, Forming a Biblical Worldview from the Inside Out. www.face.net
The importance in learning to read by the Principle Approach cannot be overstated.
"Learning to read has to precede any practice of the 4 R´s, hence it was necessary to select intensive phonic reading programs consistent with the Principle Approach." A Guide To American Christian Education For The Home And School Developing Curriculum with the Principle Approach P. 136
"Even now some Christian teachers may believe that an approach or text that uses a phonic approach is enough. It isn´t enough! The Principle Approach to reading requires what may best be called intensive phonics. It should also be understood that a school´s reading program is a reflection of a philosophy of government and character development. In fact, reading is a researching, reasoning, relating and recording process. Our method of teaching reading either promotes the use of principles as a basis of life and living or uses an environmental or progressive approach" Your Reading Program The Principle Approach to Teaching Reading P. 157 Katherine Dang
"The capacity to read gives one the ability to rule or govern well oneself and a subject, hence, to have dominion over a thing" How to 4 R (READING) by Katherine Dang A Guide To American Christian Education For The Home And School The Principle Approach. James B. Rose - American History Institute - www.achipa.com
"Christianity was not only the core of education at the time of the Founding Fathers; it had been the basis of education since the time that the first public education law in America was passed in 1642 by Connecticut and Massachusetts.
That law proceeded from the experiences of the early settlers who while intensely religious for the most part were concerned about the civil atrocities which had often occurred in Europe under the banner of Christianity (e.g., the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc.). Those settlers believed that such atrocities had occurred because the average person did not have access to the word of God (access had been limited only to civil and religious leaders). The American settlers believed that if the common person could have read the word of God and had known what it said rather than what their religious and civil leaders were telling them it said then they never would have allowed the civil governments to do what they did.
The memory of these European atrocities was still fresh in the minds of many who had come to America. To preclude any such repetition in America, in 1642, those settlers passed "The Old Deluder Satan Act" The first public school law in America. That law began:
´It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the scriptures, as in former time´ .
Satan´s primary intent was to keep people out of the Scriptures and thereby to cause them to tolerate bad behavior by a lack of knowledge of God´s will; those settlers were unwilling to allow that to happen in America
"The spirit manifested in that first educational law had continued in America not only for decades, but literally for centuries. In 1807, Edward Kendall arrived from Great Britain to investigate what had made America so special as a nation In Connecticut, he noted the illiteracy law which stated: there are still many persons unable to read the English tongue, and thereby incapable of reading the Holy Word of God, or the good laws of this [state]."
That state was concerned about illiteracy but perhaps not for the reasons which cause concern today. Its concern was that if one could not read, then he would not know the Word of God or the laws of the state. This meant that if the legislature passed a law which contradicted the Word of God, then the people unable to read and therefore unknowledgeable of the Word of God might not stop the law. The Founding Fathers strove to ensure that the Christian principles which had formed the basis of education prior to the Revolution would continue after it." Education and the Founding Fathers by David Barton WallBuilder Press1993. www.wallbuilders.com
My wife Peggy had read in our local newspaper, in the letters to the editor section that a public school teacher was saying that she and some of her colleagues felt that making a child learn to read was child abuse, and being able to read in our society was not necessary. I have also read in a well known Christian magazine that related the same sentiments made by another teacher in another part of the country that teaches in a public school. I also heard with my own ears, in a local business, a teenager telling his mother that it wasn´t necessary for him to learn how to read. I´ll give you three guesses where that child had received that idea, and the first two don´t count.
In James B. Rose´s book: A Guide to American Christian Education, For The Home And School, The Principle Approach (P.153, 154, 158) under the heading: "YOUR READING PROGRAM" are some excerpts by Katherine Dang on the imperative of reading proficiently and the depredation it brings for those who are illiterate or inept:
"Literacy is defined as a state of being literate or able to read and write and, subsequently, learned or educated in literature and science. Illiteracy is a state of being illiterate or inept, unable to read and write, hence, ignorant of letters or books, untaught, unlearned" "Illiteracy invites dependence and slavery, both spiritual and political. Literacy is essential to achieving and maintaining a free, separate and distinct existence as Americans and as Christians" "The ability to read is a key to our survival as a free nation" "It has been said that ´reading is not merely a basic subject in school; it is the basic subject.´ Reading is key to the 4 R´s, the ability to research, reason, relate and record principles from the Word of God.
If a person does not or cannot read well he will not master the Bible, history, literature, or any other subject of record. In arithmetic, for example, poor readers are easily bewildered by word problems. As our common schools produce functionally illiterate students, the standards for academic achievement and entrance into college are lowered. Thus, as a result of the past fifty years of a sight-reading, look-say, ideographic approach to reading, America is being populated by an appalling number of ignorant, inept, and inert youths and adults" "Students who are inept at reading and writing become so disappointed and dependent upon sensory experience that they are encouraged to seek drugs to provide a contrived and artificial enlightening of the mind."
www.achipa.com
Having been a victim of government run schools I can well testify to becoming disappointed and dependent, until I began applying the Principle Approach in my personal studies and in my writing. To the decree that I have internalized and incorporated or inculcated the principles used in the Principle Approach Method of education in my life have I benefitted.
We can see from the excerpts written above how imperative it is to be able to read proficiently. It will enable one to be cognizant and able to read important literature such as Katherine Dang´s brilliantly reasoned out Biblical principles of liberty from Ancient History. History that is alive with profound ideas found in her well researched book.
Here is one leading idea among many presented in Katherine´s Epilog which this article promotes and is reprinted below: "that liberty is the birthright of the individual is a Christian idea; the idea of individual liberty never occurred in the Pagan mind."
It is a privilege and great honor to introduce Katherine Dang´s Epilog from her book: Universal History - Volume I - Ancient History -Law Without Liberty, with an introduction by James Rose directly below:
About the Founder & President:
"Katherine Dang´s extraordinary contribution to this millennium is to restore the Providential Interpretation of History and to encourage the contemporary Christian to judge of and deal with the affairs of the modern world As a Chinese American Christian, Miss Dang has become one of the most erudite thinkers and expositors of Christ, His Story, in this age. How gracious God is to raise up a woman whose ancient heritage is China, ´A complete and unmixed despotism´, and to prepare her to become the foremost American Christian historian since Miss Verna Hall to document and elucidate the Perfect Law of Liberty in the subject of Universal History."1
After receiving an undergraduate degree in History from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1970, with her faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God intact, Miss Dang was subsequently introduced to the Biblical principles and reasoning that distinguish America´s Christian history, government and education by Verna Hall and Rosalie Slater of the Foundation for American Christian Education. Subsequently, she began teaching at the pilot school in Hayward, CA under the direction of James Rose. Within the next 25 years, Miss Dang became a Master Teacher of teachers as these principles and ideas were taught, illustrated, and demonstrated in the classroom and later to the 50-member faculty of her own church-school of nearly 800 K-12 grade students. Retiring from the Christian day-school ministry in 1995, she dedicated herself to writing and compiling a four-volume work on Universal History from Creation to the present the first two volumes of which were published in 2000 and 2004 respectively. Currently, Miss Dang is President of the non-profit religious and educational Philomath Foundation, Founder of Philomath Publications, home school consultant, conference speaker, and author.
Miss Dang teaches groups of home school parents and youth in 14 California cities. When she consults with individual families, parents acknowledge her unique ability to encourage, embolden, and give hope of success because she knows how to cancel the fear of achieving commonly accepted but unreasonable and unbiblical expectations for children. Gifted with the capacity to evaluate a student´s attitudes, disposition, and qualities of thought; equipped with practical curriculum ideas, outlines and resources of her own making; and tested by over 35 years of classroom/counseling experience, Miss Dang simplifies both the Biblical path and the goals for self-education and self-government. She occasionally accepts invitations to teach the philosophy, curriculum and methods of American Christian Education to assemblies throughout the country.
1 James Rose, in the Introduction to Universal History, Volume I, Ancient History Law Without Liberty
EPILOG
By Katherine Dang
www.philomathfoundation.com
"If ye have endured sorrow from your own baseness of soul, impute not the fault of this to the gods. Ye have yourselves put force and dominion into the hands of these men, and have thus drawn upon yourselves wretched slavery. Solon (b. 638 B.C.)
A more instructive and no less captivating study of humanity than discovered in the annals of Ancient History is hardly to be found. If one would be learned and wise in the ways of the world, one needs only to give time and attention to a study of the Pagan Era, of the times before Christ, when God let mankind illustrate what happens when it is left to its own devises, of the heights of glory and the depths of degradation it is capable of reaching. For, how can one appreciate the advent of Christ to this world unless the stark contrast between the Pagan and Christian Eras be seen?
The records of more than 4000 years of human activity are preserved for a reason. Reading Ancient History gives one an acquaintance with mankind as no other period of History can. In surveying the Pagan Era through the close reading of Ancient History, one comes upon a myriad of scenes which display the character and government of a variety of nations which rose and fell and are no more. Juxtaposed against great good are great evils, which inevitably lead to self-destruction and downfall. The inevitability of self-destruction illustrates the innate depravity above which mankind, universally, is unable to rise.
THE ANCIENT WORLD
Devoid of the means of knowing its Creator, The Invisible God, the ancient world is the sum total of everything men are and do when they are unenlightened, governed by superstition or pagan philosophy, and when they reach the highest pinnacle of wisdom men can attain to without the aid of divine Revelation. Ancient History illustrates man´s ignorance of God at work in society, in nations and in the world in general; it is a picture of what happens to nations when left to themselves, of the slavery and laws which come upon men when human depravity reigns unchecked and unrestrained.
But, at the peak of its political development, the Pagan Era is capable of establishing pagan self-government and its subsequent pagan republics. Though short-lived, the establishment of these republics were instances of political freedom, of the furthest, practical extent to which man´s natural love of freedom could reach; nevertheless, they all failed and fell back into the dreaded slavery of Oriental despotism, which, without exception, is the way of all pagan nations. What was lacking in the ancient republics was the supporting foundation of individual liberty.
For, the ancient world is the world into which Christ has not yet come. Christ has yet to come and live with humanity in human form, and it is before the time when his Holy Spirit could be received and invited to rule within the heart of the individual and set him internally free from the control of sin. Hence, the world of Paganism goes unopposed, unchallenged and uncontested. Unlike today´s world, it was a Christ-less world, a world without the benefit of the power of grace to change it and clothe its brutishness.
THE WORK OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE DISPLAYED
But, if Ancient History displays the fullest expression of Pagan civilization, so also does it display the work of Divine Providence guiding a world which is blind to the true notion of God and overruling selfish ambition, ignorance, pride and weakness in the affairs of men and nations. Each nation rises and falls in accordance to the Gospel Plan and Promise of individual liberty. By the divine execution of God´s own Invisible Hand, nations, men, and events all are caused to work together to advance and forward One Plan, an intricate, Divine Plan, embracing and encompassing all men and all nations. Only in looking back into Ancient History and remembering do men observe an Invisible Hand at work in the affairs of men and nations. Only then will they be able to conclude how inadequate and irrational are the words "coincidence," "happenstance", and "chance" in explaining their present condition in their present hour.
In the records remaining of Ancient History Providence has preserved for men´s viewing a comprehensive and detailed account of the human condition. In the readings of Ancient History one sees how truly depraved mankind is. Marred by the fact of original sin, mankind is unable to rise above its proclivity toward evil and wickedness; mankind has an internal well-spring of corruption which stains every deed even those actions stemming from the purest of motives with flawed results. Mankind seen in all of its plausible diversity, seen in all the various situations possible among men, and seen capable of performing both noble and ignoble acts, is ever short of perfection. Found losing more and more ground in their struggle to conquer the weaknesses within themselves, men and nations, both alike, are unable to reclaim what are their lost, natural liberties: life itself and property in one´s self. Although the historical records show that some, by resorting to the force of arms, achieved an appreciable degree of protected liberty, for mankind to apply liberty universally to mankind was never thought of as an appropriate consideration. Liberty was always restricted to a privileged class; moreover, because humanity was not altogether capable of, nor equipped, to living civilly in society, this selective liberty was also short-lived. Or otherwise, invariably, in the not too distant future, there would come a more ambitious people with mightier forces of arms to challenge and wrest from the happy few the precious liberty they so dearly paid for in blood. Yet, so far as the individual was concerned, it was simply his perpetual lot in life to exchange one form of slavery for another. That liberty is the birthright of the individual is a Christian idea; the idea of individual liberty never occurred in the Pagan mind.
PAGANISM HAS BUT ONE FORM OF GOVERNMENT: TYRANNY
Thus, while each pagan nation is forwarding and advancing the promise and plan of the Gospel and is preparing the world for the coming advent of Christ and Christianity, it is also confirming and reconfirming that Paganism has but one peculiar form of government. Tyranny is the abusive rule of the few over the many, is Paganism´s form of government. Tyranny is the political manifestation of the human condition, of the political effect of original sin´s presence and control within the people. In government, sin takes the form of tyranny. Thus, how may a people become sovereign in their nation, until He who is sovereign reigns within the people? Until individual self-government is realized? Until Christ comes? There will be no real political change in the history of the world until the hearts of individual men are spiritually changed, until the basis of human government is, literally, "turned upside down."
FAITH IN THE ONE TRUE GOD IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Through Adam the world is fallen into spiritual darkness, but in directing the events of the world, God´s Hand of Providence is dispelling, dissipating and dispersing the darkness by letting falsehoods fall and by allowing deceit to run its course from treachery to its ultimate discovery and end. Before the reader reaches the close of Ancient History, he will have recognized that no nation in the world has been without original knowledge of God´s Law of Liberty, and, that under God´s Law of Liberty, whatever shall be in regard to the individual is according to his faith. As history gradually unfolds and as events press forward to the realization of The Goal of History the finished work of salvation and liberty of the individual the reader becomes cognizant of the miraculous presence and preservation of personal faith in the Promises of the One True God and what governing influence such faith has upon ancient men and nations.
The idea of faith in the One True God had a powerful influence upon the ancients. Spiritual faith exercised by the individual during the Pagan Era can well be conceded as having a uniquely precious quality, altogether separate and distinct from the spiritual faith being witnessed and exercised in the Christian Era. Individual righteousness before God by faith is no respecter of persons nor of human circumstances. Individual faith always comes by one´s hearing God´s Word, and such faith is always confirmed with signs following; belief in the spoken Divine Word always precedes the miraculous manifestation of The Promises. The faith in the Invisible One True God exercised by the believer, during the Pagan Era, is in ways a more profound and astounding act than the faith exercised by believers in the Christian Era. When one reads how darkened the intellect and how thoroughly blind to the spiritual principles the Pagan Era was, when the thick clouds of superstition and idolatry acted as blankets over the minds of men, one is astonished that faith could have existed at all. Then, when the Light of Revelation is diffused broadly, as at noon-tide, when the Son of God has come and made godliness vividly clear, is mankind not given much more to behold and believe? In the succeeding ages since Christ´s advent, do men and nations not confirm over and over again that the faith of the ancients was truly justified? Abraham´s legacy of faith in The Invisible One True God sustained his children and his nation for 2000 years. Like Abraham, they lived looking forward in history to the historic fulfillment of God´s promises. But, the modern Christian has only to look back upon history to actually observe Christ and see Him, Who is the object of New Testament faith.
THE NEW BIRTH IN THE CHRISTIAN ERA
In the Christian Era, the phenomenon of the new birth happens within the believer which could not have happened to him in the Pagan Era. This divine phenomenon is the true alternative to Paganism´s form of government, for the new birth is the foundation of individual, Christian self-government. Christian self-government is the consequence of Christ´s indwelling and ruling the individual through the Holy Spirit. Self-government in the civil sphere is the political manifestation of spiritual liberty in a people. From time beginning, God had been external of the individual believer; in fact, all governments relative to men were essentially external in nature. But, when Christ and Christianity entered history, the government of God of the individual believer became internalized. The believer relies upon God´s direction, regulation, control and restraint from within, while the unbelieving, not having power over himself, must necessarily be directed, regulated, controlled and restrained from without or by external means of government. Hence, through Christian self-government the world is, in truth, governmentally changed.
APPROACHING ANCIENT HISTORY AS AN OBSERVER
As Ancient History is illustrative of the human condition, readers, would perhaps most benefit from the subject if they approached it more from the standpoint of a compassionate observer of human conduct than of one who has somehow imagined that he is expected to sit in judgment of it. All the imperfections of ancient men, society and nations are viewed as faults common to every man. The readers of Ancient History must simply keep in mind: (1) men as well as nations can only be held accountable for the Light of Revelation they are given, (2) what is observed among ancient societies and nations are, without exception, the manners and the ways of all flesh, and (3) how obviously perfect, just and wise the work of Divine Providence is in all instances.
NATIONS HAVE LIFE SPANS
The desire to live is as natural to nations as it is to men. But nations, like men, have life spans. These can be relatively long, or they can be relatively short. Current history seems to find nations politically floundering or failing to survive, simply from lack of skill in the arts of political science. The field of political science originates with Genesis 9:6, and the ramifications upon men and societies which have come from the development of this science, as it unfolds and evolves out of the domestic and foreign policies of families, tribes, states, nations and empires, constitute the principles of all human governments. Nations who today are in search of true modernization and progress would do well to apply practical wisdom by first understanding what the records of four millenniums of Ancient History have substantiated as the old, destructive ways, and then to avoid those private and public policies that destroy men and nations.
THE FALL OF PAGANISM HAS BEEN PREPARATION FOR CHRIST"S COMING
Languishing helpless and hopeless within itself, the ancient world must yearn and await for relief, else resign to suffer in unending, ever-increasing and self-destroying misery. But not until the mightiest of nations, the Roman Republic, fell could history convince the world of its ultimate failure; not until Assyria, Babylonia, Media, Persia, Greece and Rome all in succession have given way to utter degradation and demoralizing Asiatic centralization is the world, finally, exhausted of every vestige of moral, spiritual, intellectual and political strength. God´s Hand makes all things perfectly ready for salvation and deliverance. Every nation and every event have been instruments in preparation for Christ´s entry into the world. Unbeknown to the world, Christ is but fifty years from where the chapter on Ancient History closes. The fall of paganism has been preparation for Christ´s coming. In the darkest time, in the deepest despair, and in the most wretched of human conditions is when the Savior appears. For in the history of this world, God is not dealing with angels, but with men, beings who do not naturally seek after God (and thus do not find Him), beings who are not prone to place faith in The Invisible God until all visible means of help are gone. Then, as a consequence of the course of history, does "the fullness of time" come and, in the darkness of the night, does the Divine Savior make His unseen entrance as The Light of the World. Katherine Dang
About Us
Philomath Foundation was founded by Miss Katherine Dang of Pleasanton, California. It is a non-profit, religious foundation established to propagate the ideas of Providential history, self-government, and Christian education through the dissemination of teaching and study materials, American Christian Education seminars, history and government study groups, youth and adult classes, and the encouragement of all in the understanding of the God of Providential history and creation.
Philomath Foundation is dedicated to advancing the Biblical principles and ideas of American Christian history, government, and education and their applications in today´s world, concentrating specifically on serving the educational needs of the American Christian home and church through:
Adult study groups
Seminars
Curriculum materials, etc.
Consultant services
Courses for youth and adults
In America an education in Biblical principles produced the greatest liberty for the individual the world has ever known. Individual liberty is the basis of individual self-government, the cornerstone of America´s Constitutional Federal Republic. It is the responsibility of the American Christian to restore self-government to each of America´s governmental institutions: the home, the church, and civil government. For, if modern day American Christians will turn away from "faith in the all powerful State" to "belief in the absolute power of God," they will, again, testify of the power of Christ in the life of the individual.
Reprinted by permission
Presented by Bill Haymin, 2008
Introduction from the Editor:
When I think of all the generations of trusting and vulnerable youth that have been promised an education to prepare them for life, only to be shocked and angry to find that when they get out of public school and possibly graduate from a secular university, how unprepared they really are. Being made dependent on the government and on others to sustain them because of their lack of life skills has grieved and angered me. This has angered me because the majority of America´s youth have also been denied a Classical education that was once a common occurrence. Those who have studied the history and true nature of public education in America since the early 19th century know that the public school system in America has greatly contributed to the dearth of classical education, and of Christian Liberty, individual Self Government and the knowledge of the Providential hand of God in all of history. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that we as American´s no longer know, appreciate and understand the meaning of what we have lost and the paramount importance of those things.
Sadly, many well meaning Christian schools produce in their nescience of the Providential view of God (the Hand of God in ALL of His story), the same ineptness and ignorance in their students. They have unwittingly impoverished and deprived them from learning the moral examples which can be found by being able to read the truth and the Biblical principles discovered in studying the history of the world. They have put a Christian label on their education which is merely a faηade. They´re strong on academics but lacking in Biblical principles. Those Biblical principles guide a person through the storms of life. True education must be Biblical in every sphere of study. Otherwise a person does not have the character to apply their education in beneficial ways to themselves or humanity as a whole.
"Upon joining the faculty of American Heritage Christian School in Hayward, California, I realized how sorely ignorant I was of history courses I was assigned to teach and how reliant I was upon the textbooks handed to me, and upon those handed to the students. Albeit conservative in their views of the subject, these history textbooks were godless.
Though academically demanding, the textbook did little, if anything, to aid in the formation of Christian character and conscience in the students. Nor did the textbook materials serve to challenge what the students may have lacked in character and in conscience. The books contained general knowledge, but they did not enlighten the students with Truth or Biblical principles relative to the History of the World and to the government of their own lives
History, void of Christian purpose, would, in my judgment, only cause students to become indifferent to Christ and Christianity.
History courses which are educating generations to deny the power of Christ in the individual have, as well, instilled the Christian with an unattractive negativism, hopelessness and unbelief. I had my fill of this kind of history from my university training at Berkeley
It is not enough to Christianize secularist approaches to history or interpretations of the past, adding Biblical commentary to the secondary historical causes known as men and events. For this approach to history makes the Christian think of himself only as an observer of the world, capable of only reacting to the wrongs in his society, his nation and in the world. Recoiling from the world, the Christian becomes increasingly unresponsive to the social and political needs of humanity and, therefore, ineffective instruments for bringing about real changes for good"
But what interesting, useful and Biblical approach to History will draw the individual Christian into his place of responsibility for the government of himself, his home, his church and his nation? The approach has, first and foremost, to recognize that Jesus Christ occupies the central place, that he is the pivotal point in all of history from beginning to end. For my part, there has been a long process of reasoning and relating in order for the governmental, practical principles drawn from this view of Universal History to surface and become apparent. I have had to let go of depending upon the textbook to do my teaching, and instead begin to search for the Biblical causes of events and for the principles which they are meant to reveal to every student of history"
"Every history teaches some view of God, and that view is either Biblical or it is not. For herein is reason for concern over the carelessness, lack of consideration, and thoughtlessness that exists in the handling of the subject of history in today´s field of Christian education. Christian parents, teachers and professors, through the primary presuppositions of their history courses, are educating future generations either to live wholly conscious of and confident in an All-wise God or to live as atheists do, in unbelief. Christian educators who give history instruction from secondary sources as opposed to primary sources may, unwittingly and subtly, be casting doubt upon the wisdom of God´s government. This is, in effect, to plant seeds of unbelief and to encourage the observed dominance of infidelity in society. If history is viewed through the lens of worldly, historical analysis, God must necessarily be seen, at times, as unjust and cruel. Yet, how can that which is finite comprehend Him who is infinite? or the creature subject the Creator to examination? or the inferior being stand to measure Him who is the Supreme Being? Is it not the extreme height of arrogance for man to sit and adjudge God? Histories are either revealing that God is over all and is mightily working in all things, or that even He, at times, is liable to fall short that there are matters even He cannot control; God is either worthy of man´s complete confidence and trust or He is not. If He is not, then faith in the absolute power of God is, at best, conditional, and in the affairs and concerns of this world one´s reliance must, sometimes, fall upon a power other than God´s.
Scripture, however, teaches there is a Providence that superintends the order of events and sees to completion all that He has ordained regarding every man and every nation. Each of these has its purpose in forwarding God´s plan of bringing life and liberty to whomsoever will freely take of them from Him, Revelation 22:17
"IN THE BEGINNING GOD
Genesis 1:1
A study of history cannot begin until one resolves whether God is, or is not, and if one concludes that He is, then, one must understand the nature of God´s character and government in order to interpret history properly. His character are only known with the aid of Divine Revelation.
History has a point of origin. The Eternal God was not only found present at the point of origin, He is the point of origin, The Principle of the universe. The pages of Scripture declare that the Universe exists and operates by God´s wisdom:
"To him who by wisdom made the heavens .Psalm 136:5
"The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens."
"He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding." Jeremiah 51:15
Excerpts from the Preface and History: A View of God, from Katherine Dang´s book, Universal History, Volume I, Ancient History, Law Without Liberty, P.XV, XVI, 1 www.philomathfoundation.com
In the Jewish Bible the Tanakh Proverbs, 22:6 says: "Train a lad in the way he ought to go; he will not swerve from it even in old age." Training should inculcate a distinctively Christian curriculum in Biblical principles, more succinctly in the "Principle Approach."
"The Principle Approach is America´s historic method of Biblical reasoning which makes the Truths of God´s Word the basis of every subject in the curriculum. It establishes bedrock principles from which to break open each subject to reveal the knowledge of God, making the curriculum a whole system of truth." Rosalie J. Slater, Foundation for American Christian Education Volume V, No.1 Spring 1998 - PRINCIPLE APPROACH EDUCATION American Classical Education: Biblical and Governmental The "Found" Tools of Learning. www.face.net
´"The Principle Approach of teaching and learning is Biblical. It will restore the reasoning and writing of leading ideas and principles which have been deleted from present educational systems predicated upon secular philosophies. But it requires Christian courage to cut through the ´philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.´" (Col. 2:8) The Principle Approach To American Christian Education by Rosalie J. Slater. C/P, P. 600d. Quoted in A Guide To American Christian Education For The Home And School P. 14. The Principle Approach by James B. Rose www.achipa.com
"To inculcate principles is a slow, steady process requiring that principles be taught not in a supplementary lesson, a special class, or a seminar, but through every subject every day. It is the imperative mandate of this moment to educate Christian children in Biblical principles and teach them to reason from them. It is not an add-on in the curriculum. IT MUST BE THE CURRICULUM
Jesus taught principles and provoked his hearers to think, reason, reflect, and respond from the heart. What really is a principle? It is defined as the cause, source, or origin of any thing." By Carole Adams, Foundation for American Christian Education Volume IX, No. 1, April 2002 The Power of Principle, Forming a Biblical Worldview from the Inside Out. www.face.net
The importance in learning to read by the Principle Approach cannot be overstated.
"Learning to read has to precede any practice of the 4 R´s, hence it was necessary to select intensive phonic reading programs consistent with the Principle Approach." A Guide To American Christian Education For The Home And School Developing Curriculum with the Principle Approach P. 136
"Even now some Christian teachers may believe that an approach or text that uses a phonic approach is enough. It isn´t enough! The Principle Approach to reading requires what may best be called intensive phonics. It should also be understood that a school´s reading program is a reflection of a philosophy of government and character development. In fact, reading is a researching, reasoning, relating and recording process. Our method of teaching reading either promotes the use of principles as a basis of life and living or uses an environmental or progressive approach" Your Reading Program The Principle Approach to Teaching Reading P. 157 Katherine Dang
"The capacity to read gives one the ability to rule or govern well oneself and a subject, hence, to have dominion over a thing" How to 4 R (READING) by Katherine Dang A Guide To American Christian Education For The Home And School The Principle Approach. James B. Rose - American History Institute - www.achipa.com
"Christianity was not only the core of education at the time of the Founding Fathers; it had been the basis of education since the time that the first public education law in America was passed in 1642 by Connecticut and Massachusetts.
That law proceeded from the experiences of the early settlers who while intensely religious for the most part were concerned about the civil atrocities which had often occurred in Europe under the banner of Christianity (e.g., the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc.). Those settlers believed that such atrocities had occurred because the average person did not have access to the word of God (access had been limited only to civil and religious leaders). The American settlers believed that if the common person could have read the word of God and had known what it said rather than what their religious and civil leaders were telling them it said then they never would have allowed the civil governments to do what they did.
The memory of these European atrocities was still fresh in the minds of many who had come to America. To preclude any such repetition in America, in 1642, those settlers passed "The Old Deluder Satan Act" The first public school law in America. That law began:
´It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the scriptures, as in former time´ .
Satan´s primary intent was to keep people out of the Scriptures and thereby to cause them to tolerate bad behavior by a lack of knowledge of God´s will; those settlers were unwilling to allow that to happen in America
"The spirit manifested in that first educational law had continued in America not only for decades, but literally for centuries. In 1807, Edward Kendall arrived from Great Britain to investigate what had made America so special as a nation In Connecticut, he noted the illiteracy law which stated: there are still many persons unable to read the English tongue, and thereby incapable of reading the Holy Word of God, or the good laws of this [state]."
That state was concerned about illiteracy but perhaps not for the reasons which cause concern today. Its concern was that if one could not read, then he would not know the Word of God or the laws of the state. This meant that if the legislature passed a law which contradicted the Word of God, then the people unable to read and therefore unknowledgeable of the Word of God might not stop the law. The Founding Fathers strove to ensure that the Christian principles which had formed the basis of education prior to the Revolution would continue after it." Education and the Founding Fathers by David Barton WallBuilder Press1993. www.wallbuilders.com
My wife Peggy had read in our local newspaper, in the letters to the editor section that a public school teacher was saying that she and some of her colleagues felt that making a child learn to read was child abuse, and being able to read in our society was not necessary. I have also read in a well known Christian magazine that related the same sentiments made by another teacher in another part of the country that teaches in a public school. I also heard with my own ears, in a local business, a teenager telling his mother that it wasn´t necessary for him to learn how to read. I´ll give you three guesses where that child had received that idea, and the first two don´t count.
In James B. Rose´s book: A Guide to American Christian Education, For The Home And School, The Principle Approach (P.153, 154, 158) under the heading: "YOUR READING PROGRAM" are some excerpts by Katherine Dang on the imperative of reading proficiently and the depredation it brings for those who are illiterate or inept:
"Literacy is defined as a state of being literate or able to read and write and, subsequently, learned or educated in literature and science. Illiteracy is a state of being illiterate or inept, unable to read and write, hence, ignorant of letters or books, untaught, unlearned" "Illiteracy invites dependence and slavery, both spiritual and political. Literacy is essential to achieving and maintaining a free, separate and distinct existence as Americans and as Christians" "The ability to read is a key to our survival as a free nation" "It has been said that ´reading is not merely a basic subject in school; it is the basic subject.´ Reading is key to the 4 R´s, the ability to research, reason, relate and record principles from the Word of God.
If a person does not or cannot read well he will not master the Bible, history, literature, or any other subject of record. In arithmetic, for example, poor readers are easily bewildered by word problems. As our common schools produce functionally illiterate students, the standards for academic achievement and entrance into college are lowered. Thus, as a result of the past fifty years of a sight-reading, look-say, ideographic approach to reading, America is being populated by an appalling number of ignorant, inept, and inert youths and adults" "Students who are inept at reading and writing become so disappointed and dependent upon sensory experience that they are encouraged to seek drugs to provide a contrived and artificial enlightening of the mind."
www.achipa.com
Having been a victim of government run schools I can well testify to becoming disappointed and dependent, until I began applying the Principle Approach in my personal studies and in my writing. To the decree that I have internalized and incorporated or inculcated the principles used in the Principle Approach Method of education in my life have I benefitted.
We can see from the excerpts written above how imperative it is to be able to read proficiently. It will enable one to be cognizant and able to read important literature such as Katherine Dang´s brilliantly reasoned out Biblical principles of liberty from Ancient History. History that is alive with profound ideas found in her well researched book.
Here is one leading idea among many presented in Katherine´s Epilog which this article promotes and is reprinted below: "that liberty is the birthright of the individual is a Christian idea; the idea of individual liberty never occurred in the Pagan mind."
It is a privilege and great honor to introduce Katherine Dang´s Epilog from her book: Universal History - Volume I - Ancient History -Law Without Liberty, with an introduction by James Rose directly below:
About the Founder & President:
"Katherine Dang´s extraordinary contribution to this millennium is to restore the Providential Interpretation of History and to encourage the contemporary Christian to judge of and deal with the affairs of the modern world As a Chinese American Christian, Miss Dang has become one of the most erudite thinkers and expositors of Christ, His Story, in this age. How gracious God is to raise up a woman whose ancient heritage is China, ´A complete and unmixed despotism´, and to prepare her to become the foremost American Christian historian since Miss Verna Hall to document and elucidate the Perfect Law of Liberty in the subject of Universal History."1
After receiving an undergraduate degree in History from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1970, with her faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God intact, Miss Dang was subsequently introduced to the Biblical principles and reasoning that distinguish America´s Christian history, government and education by Verna Hall and Rosalie Slater of the Foundation for American Christian Education. Subsequently, she began teaching at the pilot school in Hayward, CA under the direction of James Rose. Within the next 25 years, Miss Dang became a Master Teacher of teachers as these principles and ideas were taught, illustrated, and demonstrated in the classroom and later to the 50-member faculty of her own church-school of nearly 800 K-12 grade students. Retiring from the Christian day-school ministry in 1995, she dedicated herself to writing and compiling a four-volume work on Universal History from Creation to the present the first two volumes of which were published in 2000 and 2004 respectively. Currently, Miss Dang is President of the non-profit religious and educational Philomath Foundation, Founder of Philomath Publications, home school consultant, conference speaker, and author.
Miss Dang teaches groups of home school parents and youth in 14 California cities. When she consults with individual families, parents acknowledge her unique ability to encourage, embolden, and give hope of success because she knows how to cancel the fear of achieving commonly accepted but unreasonable and unbiblical expectations for children. Gifted with the capacity to evaluate a student´s attitudes, disposition, and qualities of thought; equipped with practical curriculum ideas, outlines and resources of her own making; and tested by over 35 years of classroom/counseling experience, Miss Dang simplifies both the Biblical path and the goals for self-education and self-government. She occasionally accepts invitations to teach the philosophy, curriculum and methods of American Christian Education to assemblies throughout the country.
1 James Rose, in the Introduction to Universal History, Volume I, Ancient History Law Without Liberty
EPILOG
By Katherine Dang
www.philomathfoundation.com
"If ye have endured sorrow from your own baseness of soul, impute not the fault of this to the gods. Ye have yourselves put force and dominion into the hands of these men, and have thus drawn upon yourselves wretched slavery. Solon (b. 638 B.C.)
A more instructive and no less captivating study of humanity than discovered in the annals of Ancient History is hardly to be found. If one would be learned and wise in the ways of the world, one needs only to give time and attention to a study of the Pagan Era, of the times before Christ, when God let mankind illustrate what happens when it is left to its own devises, of the heights of glory and the depths of degradation it is capable of reaching. For, how can one appreciate the advent of Christ to this world unless the stark contrast between the Pagan and Christian Eras be seen?
The records of more than 4000 years of human activity are preserved for a reason. Reading Ancient History gives one an acquaintance with mankind as no other period of History can. In surveying the Pagan Era through the close reading of Ancient History, one comes upon a myriad of scenes which display the character and government of a variety of nations which rose and fell and are no more. Juxtaposed against great good are great evils, which inevitably lead to self-destruction and downfall. The inevitability of self-destruction illustrates the innate depravity above which mankind, universally, is unable to rise.
THE ANCIENT WORLD
Devoid of the means of knowing its Creator, The Invisible God, the ancient world is the sum total of everything men are and do when they are unenlightened, governed by superstition or pagan philosophy, and when they reach the highest pinnacle of wisdom men can attain to without the aid of divine Revelation. Ancient History illustrates man´s ignorance of God at work in society, in nations and in the world in general; it is a picture of what happens to nations when left to themselves, of the slavery and laws which come upon men when human depravity reigns unchecked and unrestrained.
But, at the peak of its political development, the Pagan Era is capable of establishing pagan self-government and its subsequent pagan republics. Though short-lived, the establishment of these republics were instances of political freedom, of the furthest, practical extent to which man´s natural love of freedom could reach; nevertheless, they all failed and fell back into the dreaded slavery of Oriental despotism, which, without exception, is the way of all pagan nations. What was lacking in the ancient republics was the supporting foundation of individual liberty.
For, the ancient world is the world into which Christ has not yet come. Christ has yet to come and live with humanity in human form, and it is before the time when his Holy Spirit could be received and invited to rule within the heart of the individual and set him internally free from the control of sin. Hence, the world of Paganism goes unopposed, unchallenged and uncontested. Unlike today´s world, it was a Christ-less world, a world without the benefit of the power of grace to change it and clothe its brutishness.
THE WORK OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE DISPLAYED
But, if Ancient History displays the fullest expression of Pagan civilization, so also does it display the work of Divine Providence guiding a world which is blind to the true notion of God and overruling selfish ambition, ignorance, pride and weakness in the affairs of men and nations. Each nation rises and falls in accordance to the Gospel Plan and Promise of individual liberty. By the divine execution of God´s own Invisible Hand, nations, men, and events all are caused to work together to advance and forward One Plan, an intricate, Divine Plan, embracing and encompassing all men and all nations. Only in looking back into Ancient History and remembering do men observe an Invisible Hand at work in the affairs of men and nations. Only then will they be able to conclude how inadequate and irrational are the words "coincidence," "happenstance", and "chance" in explaining their present condition in their present hour.
In the records remaining of Ancient History Providence has preserved for men´s viewing a comprehensive and detailed account of the human condition. In the readings of Ancient History one sees how truly depraved mankind is. Marred by the fact of original sin, mankind is unable to rise above its proclivity toward evil and wickedness; mankind has an internal well-spring of corruption which stains every deed even those actions stemming from the purest of motives with flawed results. Mankind seen in all of its plausible diversity, seen in all the various situations possible among men, and seen capable of performing both noble and ignoble acts, is ever short of perfection. Found losing more and more ground in their struggle to conquer the weaknesses within themselves, men and nations, both alike, are unable to reclaim what are their lost, natural liberties: life itself and property in one´s self. Although the historical records show that some, by resorting to the force of arms, achieved an appreciable degree of protected liberty, for mankind to apply liberty universally to mankind was never thought of as an appropriate consideration. Liberty was always restricted to a privileged class; moreover, because humanity was not altogether capable of, nor equipped, to living civilly in society, this selective liberty was also short-lived. Or otherwise, invariably, in the not too distant future, there would come a more ambitious people with mightier forces of arms to challenge and wrest from the happy few the precious liberty they so dearly paid for in blood. Yet, so far as the individual was concerned, it was simply his perpetual lot in life to exchange one form of slavery for another. That liberty is the birthright of the individual is a Christian idea; the idea of individual liberty never occurred in the Pagan mind.
PAGANISM HAS BUT ONE FORM OF GOVERNMENT: TYRANNY
Thus, while each pagan nation is forwarding and advancing the promise and plan of the Gospel and is preparing the world for the coming advent of Christ and Christianity, it is also confirming and reconfirming that Paganism has but one peculiar form of government. Tyranny is the abusive rule of the few over the many, is Paganism´s form of government. Tyranny is the political manifestation of the human condition, of the political effect of original sin´s presence and control within the people. In government, sin takes the form of tyranny. Thus, how may a people become sovereign in their nation, until He who is sovereign reigns within the people? Until individual self-government is realized? Until Christ comes? There will be no real political change in the history of the world until the hearts of individual men are spiritually changed, until the basis of human government is, literally, "turned upside down."
FAITH IN THE ONE TRUE GOD IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Through Adam the world is fallen into spiritual darkness, but in directing the events of the world, God´s Hand of Providence is dispelling, dissipating and dispersing the darkness by letting falsehoods fall and by allowing deceit to run its course from treachery to its ultimate discovery and end. Before the reader reaches the close of Ancient History, he will have recognized that no nation in the world has been without original knowledge of God´s Law of Liberty, and, that under God´s Law of Liberty, whatever shall be in regard to the individual is according to his faith. As history gradually unfolds and as events press forward to the realization of The Goal of History the finished work of salvation and liberty of the individual the reader becomes cognizant of the miraculous presence and preservation of personal faith in the Promises of the One True God and what governing influence such faith has upon ancient men and nations.
The idea of faith in the One True God had a powerful influence upon the ancients. Spiritual faith exercised by the individual during the Pagan Era can well be conceded as having a uniquely precious quality, altogether separate and distinct from the spiritual faith being witnessed and exercised in the Christian Era. Individual righteousness before God by faith is no respecter of persons nor of human circumstances. Individual faith always comes by one´s hearing God´s Word, and such faith is always confirmed with signs following; belief in the spoken Divine Word always precedes the miraculous manifestation of The Promises. The faith in the Invisible One True God exercised by the believer, during the Pagan Era, is in ways a more profound and astounding act than the faith exercised by believers in the Christian Era. When one reads how darkened the intellect and how thoroughly blind to the spiritual principles the Pagan Era was, when the thick clouds of superstition and idolatry acted as blankets over the minds of men, one is astonished that faith could have existed at all. Then, when the Light of Revelation is diffused broadly, as at noon-tide, when the Son of God has come and made godliness vividly clear, is mankind not given much more to behold and believe? In the succeeding ages since Christ´s advent, do men and nations not confirm over and over again that the faith of the ancients was truly justified? Abraham´s legacy of faith in The Invisible One True God sustained his children and his nation for 2000 years. Like Abraham, they lived looking forward in history to the historic fulfillment of God´s promises. But, the modern Christian has only to look back upon history to actually observe Christ and see Him, Who is the object of New Testament faith.
THE NEW BIRTH IN THE CHRISTIAN ERA
In the Christian Era, the phenomenon of the new birth happens within the believer which could not have happened to him in the Pagan Era. This divine phenomenon is the true alternative to Paganism´s form of government, for the new birth is the foundation of individual, Christian self-government. Christian self-government is the consequence of Christ´s indwelling and ruling the individual through the Holy Spirit. Self-government in the civil sphere is the political manifestation of spiritual liberty in a people. From time beginning, God had been external of the individual believer; in fact, all governments relative to men were essentially external in nature. But, when Christ and Christianity entered history, the government of God of the individual believer became internalized. The believer relies upon God´s direction, regulation, control and restraint from within, while the unbelieving, not having power over himself, must necessarily be directed, regulated, controlled and restrained from without or by external means of government. Hence, through Christian self-government the world is, in truth, governmentally changed.
APPROACHING ANCIENT HISTORY AS AN OBSERVER
As Ancient History is illustrative of the human condition, readers, would perhaps most benefit from the subject if they approached it more from the standpoint of a compassionate observer of human conduct than of one who has somehow imagined that he is expected to sit in judgment of it. All the imperfections of ancient men, society and nations are viewed as faults common to every man. The readers of Ancient History must simply keep in mind: (1) men as well as nations can only be held accountable for the Light of Revelation they are given, (2) what is observed among ancient societies and nations are, without exception, the manners and the ways of all flesh, and (3) how obviously perfect, just and wise the work of Divine Providence is in all instances.
NATIONS HAVE LIFE SPANS
The desire to live is as natural to nations as it is to men. But nations, like men, have life spans. These can be relatively long, or they can be relatively short. Current history seems to find nations politically floundering or failing to survive, simply from lack of skill in the arts of political science. The field of political science originates with Genesis 9:6, and the ramifications upon men and societies which have come from the development of this science, as it unfolds and evolves out of the domestic and foreign policies of families, tribes, states, nations and empires, constitute the principles of all human governments. Nations who today are in search of true modernization and progress would do well to apply practical wisdom by first understanding what the records of four millenniums of Ancient History have substantiated as the old, destructive ways, and then to avoid those private and public policies that destroy men and nations.
THE FALL OF PAGANISM HAS BEEN PREPARATION FOR CHRIST"S COMING
Languishing helpless and hopeless within itself, the ancient world must yearn and await for relief, else resign to suffer in unending, ever-increasing and self-destroying misery. But not until the mightiest of nations, the Roman Republic, fell could history convince the world of its ultimate failure; not until Assyria, Babylonia, Media, Persia, Greece and Rome all in succession have given way to utter degradation and demoralizing Asiatic centralization is the world, finally, exhausted of every vestige of moral, spiritual, intellectual and political strength. God´s Hand makes all things perfectly ready for salvation and deliverance. Every nation and every event have been instruments in preparation for Christ´s entry into the world. Unbeknown to the world, Christ is but fifty years from where the chapter on Ancient History closes. The fall of paganism has been preparation for Christ´s coming. In the darkest time, in the deepest despair, and in the most wretched of human conditions is when the Savior appears. For in the history of this world, God is not dealing with angels, but with men, beings who do not naturally seek after God (and thus do not find Him), beings who are not prone to place faith in The Invisible God until all visible means of help are gone. Then, as a consequence of the course of history, does "the fullness of time" come and, in the darkness of the night, does the Divine Savior make His unseen entrance as The Light of the World. Katherine Dang
About Us
Philomath Foundation was founded by Miss Katherine Dang of Pleasanton, California. It is a non-profit, religious foundation established to propagate the ideas of Providential history, self-government, and Christian education through the dissemination of teaching and study materials, American Christian Education seminars, history and government study groups, youth and adult classes, and the encouragement of all in the understanding of the God of Providential history and creation.
Philomath Foundation is dedicated to advancing the Biblical principles and ideas of American Christian history, government, and education and their applications in today´s world, concentrating specifically on serving the educational needs of the American Christian home and church through:
Adult study groups
Seminars
Curriculum materials, etc.
Consultant services
Courses for youth and adults
In America an education in Biblical principles produced the greatest liberty for the individual the world has ever known. Individual liberty is the basis of individual self-government, the cornerstone of America´s Constitutional Federal Republic. It is the responsibility of the American Christian to restore self-government to each of America´s governmental institutions: the home, the church, and civil government. For, if modern day American Christians will turn away from "faith in the all powerful State" to "belief in the absolute power of God," they will, again, testify of the power of Christ in the life of the individual.
Reprinted by permission
Presented by Bill Haymin, 2008