Goodluck Jonathan

Goodluck Jonathan became the 14^th President of Nigeria on the 16^th this month (Nigeria, the largest country on the African continent). Goodluck, a Christian, was born in the Niger River delta area to canoe builders, he has degrees in Zoology, including a Ph.D from the University of Port Harcourt.

Once on the banks of the Niger River, I watched a donkey sink into quicksand. The donkey was struggling to extricate himself, natives were pulling and prodding trying to get the animal loose from the sinking sand. Finally, after struggling for so long, the donkey fell over dead, but it was not because the donkey did not struggle, the natives did not do everything they could to loosen the donkey from the quicksand.

Success is not usually a matter of luck, do not confuse luck or celebrity with success, think of Helen Keller and Madonna. One may win the lottery, be heir to a large estate, be unusually talented or physically beautiful, but for most of us it is a matter of struggle, self-denial, self-discipline.

The movie Waiting For Superman depicts the failures of American education. In the movie, students attempt to win a lottery for admittance to a charter school. Education is America's greatest failure. Today, only 38% of public school students read on their grade level.

Educators, we know your product; for over 50 years as a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected medical officer veteran it has been necessary for me to hire people to work for me, driving, assistance in my businesses, assistance with every area of my active life. I am sickened to tell you just how poor the product of our education system is. Money has nothing to do with it, gender has nothing to do with it, the school house from which they came has little to do with it. As college officials have told me, over and over, students are simply not prepared, just passed like a herd of animals from one stable to another. No efforts to improve the conditions of the concentration camp. Much time is spent at every college and university on remediation.

Excellency in education started with Christians. Please explain to me why Christian parents would spend their time, talent, treasure to casually send their precious child to a public school to fail AND on top of that, pay the taxes supporting such school sand not be concerned with their failures. Not only is education the greatest failure in the American experience, but the most unfair taxation in America. Now, you can understand why so many parents choose (as did our colonial ancestors, before even the one-room school) to home school.

Parents who choose not to send their children to public school, to take the financial losses of home-schooling, must pay the same taxes as those who put their children on public schoolbusses. At the public schoolhouse, where failure is almost assured, a child can learn more meanness in two minutes than you can teach them rightness at the home in one day. Every person I encounter with small children, the first words out of my mouth are, “do not send your precious child to a public school, we love your child too much.” One of my secretaries, working for me on weekends, educates her five children at home, they excel in every way. You can always spot a home-schooled child.

Comparing the mental accomplishments of a home-schooled child is like comparing a wading pool to the ocean. Now, we all know there are exceptions, my parents' children went to a country public school with marvelous teachers. My own son, my two grandsons, have never spent one hour in a public school, and we are all university graduates. But, I am convinced that my son, my grandsons were much better prepared for university after being home-schooled than those of us who were “public-schooled”.

There is a difference in learning and schooling. I know the difference, I know what is wrong and have been talking about this for many years...but the professionals do not want to hear. Failures in schools is in direct proportion to the increase in television watching. Reading, listening, speaking are all involved in the learning process. I have never known a person who attended a school for the blind who did not excel in learning; because at the schools for the blind, the student must listen and speak.

I am a vision specialist, I know what is involved in the reading process, transmission to the learning centers of the brain. I know about the importance of listening, not just because as a child I was extremely nearsighted. It was necessary for me to walk up to the chalkboard to read anything, so I listened intently to everything that was said. I can still listen to several radios, several conversations at once and tell you everything that was spoken. Note, I said, “listen” and “tell”, the person who learns can talk. Television, constantly on in the home, has caused the child to disregard what is being said, not only on this idol of Satan, but everywhere else.

As pre-medical student at UNC Chapel Hill, not knowing if I would ever complete any course of study because of finances, I decided to get a teacher's certificate. This way I would always be able to get a job teaching science. I got to know the great educators of North Carolina: Guy Philips, Frank Graham, Walter Spearman, et cetera.

While student teaching, I was given a class of low IQ tenth grade biology students. Each had come from an abusive background, abused at home, the school, the playground, everywhere. These students (and you find them in every school) are not expected to excel even though they are often the greatest students there. This was the biggest challenge for the student teacher.

I used methods unknown in the scholastic world: strictly talking, they had to listen; then, the class became like an athletic competition, the student could score only if having listened, they could answer a simplified question with a simplified answer. But, at the end of the day, at the end of the course, they knew more than the other biology students. Dr. McCuskey, famed educator at UNC Chapel Hill, never stopped talking about what she had when evaluating me. I used this method in physics, chemistry, every course. I even used the same method in the pulpit and on stage. Nothing replaces reading, but even for the illiterate, listening and speaking excels every time. Television treats everyone with disrespect; you learn to ignore most of it. You only learn to listen when you push yourself, whether at the school house, church house, or your house.

Marcus Aurelius (161 AD), the world's wealthiest man, in his Meditations says that the fundamentals of education enhanced by natural ability have brought more men to glory than anything else.

Every year, the Alexis de Tocqueville award is given to an American educator. Alexis de Tocqueville writing in 1835 said, “America is good because America stresses learning.” (So impressed was he by our mailing of newspapers, even into the hinterlands in 1792)

Next year, we will observe the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Our education is sinking because it has hit the iceberg of indifferent educators, profiteering unions, and casual parents. The mighty hand of concern, directed by an omnipotent, sovereign God can keep the ship of American education from sinking. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Time to Unplug

A young man who works for me has a growing family, a wife and 4 children, these parents have never attended church, but had the intelligence to know that their children should be in church. They can certainly see the direction the world is going. There was a church near their house and they went there last Sunday. They enjoyed the music, it is one of these churches with “drums and drama”. But, they became very confused, even bewildered when the church observed the Lord's supper, Communion. They had never heard anything about remembering the atonement of our Blessed Lord, and they became even more confused when some members of the church, filled with the spirit of the occasion, began to talk in tongues.

There are spiritually elite people in every congregation, those who have been in church their entire life, many members as well as pastors have been lulled to sleep believing that everyone has caught up with them. Knowing that there are visitors in the church, would it not behoove any pastor to explain the Lord's supper, that it is a believer's ordinance, not for the unbelievers.

Most of the “unchurched” have just witnessed brief encounters with Christianity by way of television. Anyone who can read can learn everything he needs to know, it does not take the spiritually elite to instruct him. As with everything else, there must be some desire, motivation, involved. I have been in mosques all over the world, I just kept quiet and observed, same in Catholic cathedrals, or even Pentecostal brush arbors.

People whose souls are mesmerized by this electronic age, the worst Satan-inspired invention one can imagine, television. The second worst Satan-inspired invention, bringing pornography and every decadent act known to man right into your house, the computer. All these should be unplugged. Get out into the fresh air and sunlight, which God has provided for the health of your soul and body.

I remember very well, World War 2, and so many young men could not pass the physical examination because, as victims of the Great Depression, they were undernourished and underweight. They had bad teeth, bad feet, bad musculature, all from the debilitation brought on by an unhealthy life. Now, most enlistees fail the test because of excess: overweight, illegal-expensive recreational drugs, sitting around watching television or playing games on a computer, laziness, lack of exercise, every thing in their lives automatic. Most young people are too lazy to change the gears in their cars, or raise and lower a window in their house. Their food, their entire lifestyle must be automatically controlled, automatic dishwashing, automatic clothes washing, most young people have never seen a clothes line or clothes pin. Farms and farm life is the only rational, promising lifestyle left in this county. The politicians are “chewing at the bit” through licenses, regulations, numbering, to get rid of America's farm life. When everything decent about America is gone, someone will say, “we unplugged the wrong things”.

The greatest republic the world has ever known, was made up of free enterprise, entrepreneur, hard-working, capitalistic, freedom-loving, family businesses. Today, through government regulation, we have a fascist-capitalistic-communistic-collectivist controlled government.

The greatest healthcare system was found in America, the Gravitas of healthcare practitioners prepared trained, licensed, peer-reviewed by their fellow professionals, unsurpassed education, quality students, carefully selected and paid privately according to ability. A profession-business atmosphere which gave America superior care all the way from the country doctor making his calls, first in a buggy, now in a car, to the university research centers.

The greatest schools the world has ever known were small, parent-directed and controlled, not political boards trying to meet to government objectives of political correctness. Finally realizing the failure of socialized public education, many parents, loving their children too much to see them entangled in satanic decadence, have chosen to home school. There is nothing prohibitive about homeschooling, it can be the most rewarding choice ever made regarding your most precious possession. Set a room aside for education, everything you need is available to you: online, from others in your community, from national self-help groups. You can always tell a student who has been home-schooled, and even one who has attended a private Christian school. The bad manners, illicit acts, quirks of confusion, have not affected these children. Youth is confusing enough at best, impossible at worst.

One of my friends had a young boy who was very confused about the satanic acts in public schools and the holiness of home. I said to the father and mother, “home school him!” The next time I saw the young man, he was a different person, showing all the potential I knew was there. If a national enemy were to invade this nation, go into the schoolhouse and do to your loved children what you are paying taxes for your own nation to do to them, you would rise up with guns and armor. Don't use the school's model for your model, American schools are a total failure, don't copy them.

God chose the foolishness of preaching to teach stiff-necked rebelling, defying people about him...his love, grace, faithfulness to the unlovely, almost beyond the mind of man to understand...the miracle of faith. So many deceived into thinking God's work is a matter of numbers. God is not interested in counting numbers, but rather making numbers count. Gideon first had 30,000 men, God told him to tell those who were scared,” to go home”, as would be the case today, 20,000 went home. Through other tests, and the tests always comes, only 300 were left. These 300 won the battle.

So often we depend on the sophisticated to make sophisticates, the world to give us God's advice. As in homeschooling, Sunday-schooling, it is a matter of teaching simple belief. A lady in a country church taught children for 27 years, the basics of God's word. At her funeral, some of her students said there was an aura about her when she talked, so convincing were her words.

The world needs to plug in to the fact that the most important teaching is in the home, we teach all the time, whether we know it or not. When the biography of Winston Churchill asked him to verify the names of his school teachers, he put his mother's name at the top of the list. He said, “my mother was my first and greatest teacher.” It is time to unplug the unnatural, and plug into the natural, that which will never fail or have a failing grade.

Back to School

Although ruled by the Democrat party for the past 100 years, which, through segregation and other practices, has kept North Carolina at the bottom in education ratings nationally, Governor Charles Brantley Aycock, known as the 'education governor' in this state, was governor from 1901-1905. He was born and reared in the community in which I was born and reared in Wayne County, North Carolina. He attended a two room school with 2 of my grandfathers. My grandfather told how they were responsible for cutting the wood, kindling and building the fires in the wood stove to heat the school building. Governor Aycock said he became a fanatic about education when he saw his beloved mother make her 'mark' on a deed because she could not write her name. Only those who have seen their parents embarrassed because of lack of education can appreciate education and be so humiliated by today's young people who take education so casually. My own mother was very poorly educated and I could barely make out the letters she wrote to me the 8 years I was a university student. But, it stimulated me to do better because she was working night and day to give her 4 children a university education. The youngest graduated from a university 2 weeks before she died.

Never, in the history of the world, has it been more important to prepare your youngster for the onslaught of Satanic unbelief promoted and taught by modern educators, as in today's world. The journey of faith must begin in the home, where you prepare your child, if you love your child and want your child to experience eternal life, to be ready for the onslaught of Atheism, which has taken over every college including, I am very sorry to say, most “Christian” colleges. Today, it is necessary for you to prepare your young student to expect the onslaught of Atheism, even in the primary grades. A young father in Massachusetts, David Taylor, spent 4 days in jail because he would not submit to the teaching of his kindergarten student the principles of homosexuality. The modern Atheist NEA death culture teachers start promoting perversion to children even in the lowest grades. Children, who are entirely innocent, children who care nothing about sex and should not be exposed to practices which embarrass many adults! I can remember, even in pre-medical studies and even in professional medical school, we were embarrassed to even discuss sexual perversion, abortion, euthanasia and the news flashes which sicken most of us everyday. Why this fascination with sexual perversion? Sexuality is sensitive enough even in the teenage years. Why rob small children of the innocence of childhood?

This month, 76.6 million students (and this number includes public university students) will return to school. A total of $972 billion will be spent on education. Depending on the state, the amount of money spent per student varies between $6,000-17,000 (greatest cost, Washington, DC which has the poorest schools). Every year, more and more parents make the decision to home school their children; they love their children too much to send them to the morass found in most public education facilities. Why teach your child manners, discipline, good habits which will see them entirely through life, give them the love and attention of light, and then send them into the public school world of darkness? I have one employee with 5 school-aged children and she home schools all her children. My one son, never went to a public school, but he did go to a public university, medical school, 2 seminaries and he and his wife both with graduate degrees, never allowed my two grandsons to go to a public school. My two grandsons, because their parents were foreign missionaries, were reared and educated on the foreign mission field. When they returned to this country for college, they were so far ahead of other high school graduates, that there was no comparison; and they have continued to excel because of the well grounded education they received in their home. (One, now a law school senior, one, a university engineering senior). The greatest wealth you can give or leave to your child, and I am convinced that most parents love their children, is to love them enough to put a 'hedge' around them from the undisciplined cauldron of deception called 'public school' education, even though it is necessary for you to pay the same tax as those who use the public school system.

My parent's 4 children attended a public school; my father was on the school board. Since public education started, 150 years ago, public education, even in my lifetime, has changed entirely for the worse. As I heard one esteemed Massachusetts educator say recently, “All public schools should just be shut down and we should start over.” There is no one to blame for the present impossible situation with the public schools than the teacher's union. (NEA) The greatest paradox, I can think of, is that this Union, which always contributes their money and promotes the Democrat party, is promoting a culture of death WHEN their very survival depends on children, for which they are paid to educate! At this year's NEA convention, in San Diego, some pro-life teachers asked the convention just to be 'neutral' on their abortion stance. But again, as always, they took the pro-abortion culture of death stance. I loved all my public school teachers, to this day, I remember each and could tell you their names and all about them. My 6th grade teacher, Ms. Gurley, taught me her first year out of college. She taught my three siblings as well in the 6th grade. She married and lived in the community. When my parents died, and their children came home, she was at our family home to greet us. This is what I call a REAL teacher.

One of my cousins, the same age as my father, was one of the first in our large family to attend college. She taught in the public schools for 50 years and then served as a trustee on a college board; giving her expertise to the teachers being trained there. She was, in every word, a REAL TEACHER, excellent pianist, and, I understand at her funeral, the church was full of teachers with whom she had taught. Among the many awards and scholarships that I give at that college each year, is one award to a student of excellence in her memory.

I have little sympathy for today's students and their complaints; the carpeted classrooms, the air conditioning systems. I still remember, even at UNC-CH, sweat running off my elbows and puddling on the floor. Even the college classrooms, back then, did not have air conditioning and very little heat. The public schools were sparse at best. But, when we got a diploma or degree, it was worth something. The university sends new professors down to meet me because they still are impressed with the fact that a totally blind citizen can contribute to the world; money, writing, speaking, etc.

At the Baptist college, where I have contributed most, I am told that today's students are ill-prepared for college. The politically correct politicians and media always hold up Bob Jones University as a symbol of backwardness. I heard Dr. Jones say, some parents did not want their children to come there because they did not allow smoking. He said, “Now, you are not allowed to smoke anywhere, in the nightclubs”. He said, “we did not allow our students to drink either, but they all received a superior education.” The shame of Southern Baptists and other Evangelical denominations, students and graduates are as promiscuous, agnostic and heathen as those who graduate from state universities. For years, I owned a co-op apartment on the East Side of Manhattan and I attended the 5th Avenue Presbyterian church. The great pastor there, Rev. Dr. R. Maurice Boyd, told me that in the early years at Princeton University, the church gave each graduating minister a new suit of clothes. Today, Dr. Peter Singer, of the Princeton Religion department, advocates the abortion of children, even up to several days old, if they are not exactly what the parents want. But, even at Chapel Hill, where I graduated, we were presented a Bible at graduation. Can you imagine such today? Anywhere?

Perhaps the most precious example of parental/student love was in that country school, where I graduated, on a very hot graduation day with the few graduates on the stage. Calvin's mother seldom got out of the house, she still wore long black dresses, down to her ankles and she had on a black hat. But, Calvin had never been well and he was graduating from high school. Everyone saw her get out of her seat, down where the parents were sitting, and slowly, quietly walk up the steps to the stage to check on Calvin and to wipe his forehead, because she sensed he was not feeling well. She then quietly, after she checked him, went back to her seat. No one said anything, no one made any type reaction. It was not surprising, at that time, 60 years ago, for a mother to demonstrate faith and love, not just talk about it.

I am convinced that Catholicism is the only denomination that prepares their students for the onslaught of Atheism in college; the testing of their faith, the primary ethic of life. In 1963, an innocuous 21 word prayer caused the Supreme Court to outlaw prayer in schools. So, today, instead of prayer, we have police in schools. It is illegal for a teacher or students to read or discuss the Bible in the classroom, many times, the only exposure many students have to the 'love that is a many-splendored thing.' Have a good school year!