03/12/2026 – “Just Thinking” (JT) podcast – presented by Darrell Harrison and Virgil Walker – Episode # 133 – “Public Education” / Whoa!
My bride came upon me this past week with a blast of enthusiasm: “Jim, you have to listen to this!” I knew it was solid God’s Truth, but I noted to her: “3 hours!, babe, I don’t have time right now! “
Postscript for me after listening to it in its entirety:
A humorous satire with me in the position of antagonist King Arthur and my bride in the position of protagonist messenger:
I have been a christian as long as I can remember. But I vividly remember in college in 1977 reading “The Federalist Papers”, 1787 – 1788, by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, a required reading assignment in my Political Science class. No exaggeration: I recall vividly thinking in amazement to myself: “Who were these guys !?!” They were essentially throughout pointing out Abraham Kuyper’s assertive quote over a century later that there is nothing in this life that Jesus doesn’t declare: “Mine!”. It all integrates into a single absolute Truth! And guess what, that is what they grew up with.
So, the Lord was going to fast track me to a comprehensive answer to my question some 25 years later when Nancy and I were immersed into Classical Christian worldview education. It was the model that our nation’s founders , “those guys” had experienced and practiced from an early age.
So, I am not even going to attempt to summarize Darrel and Virgil Walker’s historical summary of how we got here. My words: an ongoing battle between Almighty God’s Truth and the Devil and his minions that has been going on since the garden of Eden. Yes, we are outnumbered and seemingly outmatched, from the “world’s” perspective. But, guess who wins in the end! It is within the LORD’s perfect and incomprehensible plan!
So, Virgil and Darrel are starting from mid 19th century to our present day, the progressive evil, reversing course from 1787. They appropriately point out the progressive evil imprint that John Dewey (1859 – 1952) left us, that is so evident to this very day in American Education. Dewey connects to his predecessors: Karl Marx and Charles Darwin.
So, I will just highlight a few of my connective insights from this presentation:
Our public gulag education model has not been a failure to this point. Say what !?! Indeed, the U.S. is at or near the bottom of academic performance, despite being at or near the top in spending. But that has absolutely nothing to do with the goals of the minions! The goal is to indoctrinate young children, pulling them away from their parents, so they can ultimately be delivered to their father, the Devil.
- Notice the pagan Marxist tendency to twist language to their advantage. Case in point, as Douglas Wilson pointed out a generation ago, “democracy” is a sacred word in our American society, not that it should be. So, the minions use that word , central in their objectives. Except it is not democracy, but “collectivism”, the indoctrination of the evil elite aimed to produce complete conformity and loyalty to the elite’s evil.
- Preaching: “There is no absolute truth!” So Dewey, a “father” of pragmatism declares: “Truth is what works!” Question: Works for whom? The ends justify the means and that is a contributing factor in explaining how if man is basically good, why we must kill them, 100 million plus in the 20th century.
- One of Dewey’s key tenets is “SEL”, “social emotional learning”. So, when it stops working, they turn to “angry” emotions, “we are victims of the oppressor!” Facts don’t matter at all.
I am closing this post with: 1). Books by christian worldview authors that influenced me from 2003 and that cover pre- Marx / Darwin / Dewey.; 2). On the “Just Thinking” website there is a listing of around 150 books in their “library”. I will highlight a few where I was influenced by the author, if not the book specifically.
1)
- Creed or Chaos? by Dorothy L. Sayers – 1949 at Oxford
- “How Should We Then Live – The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture” by Francis A. Schaeffer – 1976 – L’ABRI 50th Anniversary Edition
“Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning: An Approach to Distinctively Christian Education”
- By Douglas Wilson / Paperback – April 1, 1991 / ISBN 978-0891075837
- “Total Truth” by Nancy Pearcey – 2004
2)
#87 – “The Christian View of Man” – J. Gresham Machen
#100 – “Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelical’s Looming Catastrophe” by Voddie T. Baucham jr. / 2021 / ASIN: B08T6G7FCQ
#120 – “Christianity and Wokeness: “How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel and the Way to Stop it”. Owen Strachan (2024) / ISBN-13: 978-16845/7053
#122 – “Dismantling America”. Thomas Sowell / 2010 / ISBN13: 978-0465022519
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I recall a very important summary statement for me personally over 20 years ago in a worldwide christian leadership conference: “If you find yourself caught up in righteous anger, don’t run from it, feed it!” Why might that be? Thoughts?
One messenger role model for us: Gideon / Judges – Chapter 6 – 8 . Note how Gideon’s army was vastly outnumbered by God’s design! We were born for this time! ; failure is not an option!
Always connected through prayer and by His grace!
Jimmy