Fill It And Farm It

Have you signed on to your role on planet Earth?

Last week I quoted Jeremiah 29:4-7 in reference to the notion that the Church in the United States has been deported to Babylon. God told the Israelites in Babylon to reproduce, and be productive. Bear children. Plant gardens. Eat its fruit. Prosper.

Did you notice how similar Jeremiah 29:4-7 is to Genesis 1:26-28?

In Genesis 1:26-28, God told the first humans to “be fruitful and multiply.” And He went on to give us a task. An assignment. A mission. A charge.

Specifically, God told us to “have dominion over” planet Earth. To “rule” over it. To “replenish the earth, and subdue it.” This is our role. This is God’s purpose for us.   

The “First Commission” of Genesis 1:26-28 was not rescinded at the Fall. The Fall makes our role more difficult. But the assignment remains, even as it did for Israelites in Babylon.

In my writing, I keep coming back to one fundamental question: What is the role of human beings on planet Earth?

The reason I keep coming back to this fundamental question is because the answer to this question provides a fundamental purpose for education, a fundamental purpose for work, a fundamental purpose for rearing children, a fundamental purpose for civil government, a fundamental purpose for living.

The Westminster Confession answers the question, “What is the chief aim of man” this way: “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Very good. But this does not tell me what my role is. It does not tell me what my purpose is on planet Earth. It tells me a by-product of fulfilling my role well, but it does not tell me what my role is.  

  

What role did God specifically have in mind for humans to fill on planet Earth?

The answer is so simple it eludes us: fill it and farm it.

Psalm 8:3-6 says: “…what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet…” (NIV)

Psalm 115:16 puts it this way: “The heaven of heavens is for God, but he put us in charge of the earth.” (The Message)

We have a role. We have a charge.

Let's fulfill it, shall we?

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

I Was Born In Jerusalem, Deported To Babylon

An engraving with a royal inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II. 

(Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1311723)

As our nation continues to slide from a post-Christian nation to an anti-Christian nation, I cannot help but feel I was born in Jerusalem, deported to Babylon.  

I can remember when stores were regularly closed on Sunday, and the Bible was read in public schools. Abortion was not only illegal, but unthinkable. Now we’re legalizing infanticide. Homosexuality was hidden. Today it has moved past normalization to proliferation. Tired of being a boy? Be a girl. 

In this hour, it is good to revisit God’s message (in Jeremiah 29) to “people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” Verse 4 reveals that God was behind it: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” It was God’s discipline, for God's reasons.  

So, what do we do in our Babylon? Sit in despair under a juniper tree and weep?

Here’s what the Lord told the Israelites:

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Be productive? Work? Bless the pagan city?

I appreciate Jodi Hasbrouck’s comments on verse 11, which is usually quoted apart from its context: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.“

Hasbrouck writes: “In the midst of your suffering, cling to Jeremiah 29:11, but cling to it for the right reason: not in the false hope that God will take away your suffering, but in the true, gospel confidence that he will give you hope in the midst of it.”

“Sometimes,” Jodi says, “trials are of our own doing; sometimes they’re the work of Satan; sometimes they’re just an effect of living in a broken world. Regardless of the source, they're always an opportunity to know God better.”

And an opportunity to bless a pagan nation. As Daniel did, working in a civil service job.    

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Admit The Bible Got It Wrong And Move On?

When it comes to same-sex marriage and the LGBTQ agenda, why shouldn't Christians just admit the Bible got it wrong and move on?

A recent article in USA Today suggested just that. Christians, the writer declared, are not misinterpreting the Bible in the area of sexual dos and don'ts, but the Bible simply got it wrong when it comes to homosexual behavior. We know better now.

Does being a faithful Christian mean we have to accept that everything the Bible said was "wrong" thousands of years ago is still "wrong" today? Could taking such a position be one reason why so many young people are leaving the church? If so, should the church keep on hemorrhaging regardless?

Albert Mohler responded to the USA Today article, and I'm turning my blog over to him today because he said it better than I ever could: click here.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Human Composting

According to a Washington State senator, people from all over my state are excited about the prospect of becoming trees.

Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels

Sir William Gladstone, four-term Prime Minister of Great Britain in the late 1800s, said:

"Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals." 

Gladstone's observation came to mind when I heard about a bill in my state which, if signed into law on May 1, will make Washington State the first to allow human composting.

What does this mean? It means human remains can be used to fertilize household gardens.  

The "organic reduction" Bill 5001 passed with bipartisan support.

A state Senator, Jamie Pedersen, told NBC News: “People from all over the state who wrote to me are very excited about the prospect of becoming a tree or having a different alternative for themselves.”

No doubt many view this as a step forward. But I see it as a step backward. 

I see it as another indicator of our steady rejection of those "high ideals" Gladstone had in mind: Judeo-Christian ideals rooted in a biblical worldview.   

This process of rejection began when Descartes birthed the Age of "Reason above Revelation," which eventually squeezed authentic Christianity out of Europe. The process is now finding its stride in popular America. 

The difference between our current hour and those leading up to it, is that until now, the rejection of Judeo-Christian "high ideals" in American society did not have wide, cross-parties, cross-class, cross-education support. But today it does. 

The Judeo-Christian "high ideals" which once provided a common rudder for Americans and Brits alike, no longer directs our ship.  

When it comes to human burial, I see no need for fancy caskets, or cosmetic display. I see no problem with immediate burial, and no embalming. That's legal, too. But this is a far cry from composting the garden with Mom's remains. 

Gladstone is also famous for saying, "Justice delayed is justice denied," and, "Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right."

Give us more Gladstones! 

Better yet, give us a generation who will re-plant the ideals of a biblical worldview in the soil of American society once again, and bury the pagan ideals of Naturalism, which are dear to most of our current legislators.

If there ever was a time for authentic Christian re-education, it's now. We're moving backwards with breathtaking speed. 

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Pushing Back

Outside the Washington State capitol in Olympia, on April 1 (no fooling) approximately 2,000 Christians protested a "comprehensive sex-ed" bill. They went inside and lobbied. They protested. They prayed. 

Two days later, on April 3, the deadline passed without the House Education Committee bringing SB 5395 forward for a vote, and the bill died in committee. 

A friend of mine, who is the headmaster of a Christian school, informed me that some parents at his school “don't find the LGBTQ+ agenda to be that offensive.” Some people tell him: "Why is the sin of homosexuality treated as so much more offensive than other sins?  Someone is gay. Another is a drunkard. Sin is sin.”

But what if esteemed teachers were telling impressionable children that getting drunk is normal, and they should be proud to do so someday? Would that be a problem?

It’s one thing to say “one sin is just as much sin as another” (by the way, the consequences are not all equal), but when children are taught that some sins are not sins, and they should accept certain sins as normal and good, we have a problem.

For a short course on what the LGBTQ+ agenda is about, click here, and here.

Some parents are pushing back.  

Consider the recent push-back from Christians regarding a “comprehensive sex-ed” bill in the State of Washington:

On February 26, over 100 people expressed outrage about this bill at a school board meeting. The outrage was so intense that after the meeting the senator who was sponsoring the sex ed bill, and also a member of that particular school board, resigned from her school board position.  

On March 23, nearly 1,000 people from local churches and family groups came to a town hall meeting where the bill’s sponsor and two other legislators were present. At the meeting, the legislators refused to talk about the sex ed bill until a pastor (yes, a pastor) yelled, "You know what we are here for!" and the crowd started chanting! This led to 45 minutes of public comments, and many were neither meek nor mild.

A phone call campaign was organized that put real heat on the House Education Committee members.

On April 1, approximately 2,000 Christians gathered on the steps of the capital to pray, protest and lobby. 

On April 3, the sex ed bill died in committee. 

For the full story, and the group that organized this strategic push-back, click here.

The ruling secularists are not accustomed to having Christians push back. Nor are Christians used to pushing back. But the water has come to a boil, and some are fed up enough to get off their…

For what’s happening in California, click here.

A father pushing back at the City of Federal Way public school board meeting on February 26, 2019. 

While such push-back can never "fix" the root problem of a single tax-supported school system committed to Secularism (I wish such fervor was demonstrated against that, and I wish more pastors would shout about the problem of parents sending their children to schools that perpetuate dualism), this kind of push-back from parents sends an important message to legislators in the meantime. A message that will have to be repeated next year, and the next...until the tax laws are changed.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Lambasted, Part II

Dr. Darrell Furgason in his first meeting as a school board member in Chilliwack, British Colombia, Canada.

Last week, I introduced Dr. Darrell Furgason, a school board member in Chilliwack, B.C., who is being lambasted for speaking in favor of the current modest dress code, rather than adopting one that allows students to wear whatever they want, showing underwear and cleavage if they wish, with teachers and principals unable to say anything about it.

The week before, I wrote about a substitute teacher in Washington State being asked to accept a policy allowing biological males to use female locker rooms.  

These cases are the tip of the iceberg. They are part of a “gender fluidity” ideology known as SOGI ["Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity"] that is being aggressively pushed by so-called “progressives” across the U.S.A. and Canada.

“The implementation (by the State) of SOGI ideology in public schools is a major battle that is raging right now,” says Dr. Furgason, “and we must get involved in it.”

Darrell put action where his mouth is, and ran for a school board position last October. But he did not approach this alone. Rather, he and four other Christ-followers ran together, knowing the only way to change things is to gain a majority vote on the board.

There are 7 board positions. Darrell and his friends needed 4 to secure a majority. They knew if they did not get 4 seats, they would be [as Darrell put it] “in for hell.”

5 of them ran, 3 of them made it, and a 4th lost by 33 votes. So now they're in the furnace...and loving it!

When Darrell told me his story, I wondered why I had never thought of this strategy before. Getting a majority vote on school boards and city councils, running as a pack rather than as lone wolves? Humm.....

This idea needs traction!

Would churches get behind this? Certainly! Perhaps 1 in 1,000.  

I'm forwarding this post to radio talk show hosts I know, urging them to have Dr. Furgason as a guest. Not only is he an authority in political science, with two degrees in philosophy, and a Ph. D. from the University of Sydney, but Darrell is also an authority in biblical worldview. A rare combination.

If you know any radio, television or press people who would interview Darrell, pass this post on and have them contact Darrell through the Worldview Studies Center, here.

Let’s get Dr. Furgason’s voice, inspiration, and much-needed counsel out there!

This flyer shows 4 of the 5 above-referenced candidates who ran for seats on the Chilliwack, B.C., school board. An idea whose time has come--for those who have the stomach. And the skin.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Lambasted, Part I

Dr. Darrell Furgason, a member of the Chilliwack, British Colombia, school board, found himself on the Vancouver evening news after making comments about proposed changes in the student dress code. What could he possibly have said to receive such attention?

Last week I asked why Christian teachers in state schools would accept a policy allowing biological males to use the girls’ shower room.

You and I both know why. They’re afraid of losing their jobs. Afraid of being lambasted for “puritanical” ideas.  

Dr. Darrell Furgason is finding out first-hand what happens when a school board member speaks up.

In Chilliwack, British Colombia, where Darrell sits on the board, a female board member wants to abolish the current dress code, so students can wear whatever they want. The current code calls for no cleavage or underwear showing, nor any revealing clothing on boys or girls. The new code would allow for short shorts exposing underwear, and tops revealing bra straps, with no teacher or principal being able to say a word about it. 

You can’t make this stuff up.

After speaking out in favor of keeping the current dress code, to encourage modesty and discourage voyeurism, Darrell Furgason was rewarded with prime-time coverage on the Vancouver evening news. 

In the news report, the President of the British Colombia Teachers Federation, Glen Hansman, declared Furgason’s thinking to be “not even 1950s thinking,” but “Dark Ages thinking.”

This pre-dates the Puritans.

Hansman went on to say that having an elected official (in 2019, mind you!) making comments such as those by Dr. Furgason, is disturbing.

Disturbing? Whose comments are disturbing?

Darrell Furgason holds two degrees in philosophy, a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Sydney (the “Harvard of Australia”), and a Ph. D. from that university. He was a substitute teacher at the Christian school where I was Principal, and today he leads a biblical worldview training institute in Canada, called the Worldview Studies Center (https://worldviewstudies.ca/). He is a good friend.

How did Darrell get on the Chilliwack school board? And why?

I’ll tell you how and why next week. But first, please watch highlights from the board meeting that reached the evening news. In the video, you will see our mutual struggle in real-time.

The front lines of our battle run through thousands of school boards in Canada and the US. Yet the vast majority of these boards have no biblically-minded members who are boldly speaking up.    

You and I know one reason we're absent. Dr. Furgason is experiencing the lambasting in spades.

I urge you to view this video with friends, and discuss it together: click here.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman