Part of the series First Things First
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2015-10-12.
We know that God desires all men to saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He has taken care of part one. Are we doing our part by coming to the knowledge of the truth?
We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)
Bible Reference: 1 Tim 2:1-6
I considered it a great honor when Dr. Michael Wagner dedicated his first book, “Standing On Guard For Thee“, to me. He called me a “prophet of home education and a man of action”. Quite a compliment! I considered what a prophet is and what is traditionally the outcome for those prophets we read about in the old testament and got a bit concerned!
Although a prophet is most often seen as a visionary who can see into the future and predict what is going to happen, a prophet is best described as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. Since we know that God is the source of all truth, a prophet is nothing more than a person who tells the truth, God’s truth (as there is no truth outside of Him) no matter what the consequences.
Truth is an interesting thing. It either is or it is not. When it is not the truth, it is a lie and we know that the source of lies is not God. “Prophets” who lie are referred to as false prophets which is actually to not be a prophet at all. The old testament directed the Israelites to do away with such a character. However, more often than not, those in power who could only benefit from the perpetuation of lies, also got rid of true prophets, before they exposed the lie they were living. Either way, prophets have had a tendency to have a shorter life span! Our greatest prophet, Jesus, was killed at age 33, yet the truth He left us with has affected every aspect of our lives, whether we know it or not, in every way. He said the truth would set us free, and that when He would set us free, we would be free indeed.
If truth sets us free, then it can be rightfully assumed that to follow or believe something that is not true leads us to bondage. Even though bondage seems bad, most people prefer the predictability of bondage than the challenges of freedom. As a matter of fact, we are often so comfortable in our bondage, we tend to think we are free. There is no one more in bondage than he who believes he is free when he is not.
Freedom is a scary thing! If we are free, we are responsible for making our own decisions along with the associated consequences. It is easier to let others think and make decisions for us, and there seems to be no shortage of people and agencies willing to take advantage of that. In fact, we have been conditioned by media, government, church, school, fear and tradition to do just that. We are not encouraged to question but to obey without thinking. The result is that most people prefer the temporary comfort of bondage over the continuous vigilance required for freedom.
Prophets have a way of polarizing people. That is, people are either going to listen to what the prophet has to say and take his message to heart, or see him as crazy or worse, a threat, in which case, one who must be ignored or silenced. Prophets are usually perceived as heroes or bums, depending on who is getting what message and how that message will affect them. One way or the other, if a prophet speaks, scripture tells us that the word can land along the side of a road or within rocky, weedy or good soil. Few people, therefore, can truly appreciate the calling of the prophet as a disseminator of truth, for only some people are found to be good soil in which the truth can take root and grow. Few are truly willing to search for and come to the knowledge of the truth, preferring to assume or advance their limited and opinionated understanding as truth.
Truth has a characteristic that few consider. Once known, we want to share it with others, not in an indoctrinating way as is so often seen with the dissemination of lies, but in love, for the source of all truth is love. To share the truth in a world that does not want to hear it is an expression of love as it always comes with an element of risk. We should all desire to know the truth and when we find it, to be prophets, men of action advancing and proclaiming the will of God as truth rather than the will of man. In this light, we should be prophetic in our understanding and advancement of what a biblical home education truly is.