Overview
6000 Years of Bible-Based Education – PART II
For your convenience, we’re adding the Biblical Timeline here again, in case you want to refer to it, as you learn more about the last 3000 years of Bible-based education – from King David to Dr Martin Luther – a timeline that has strongly influenced Christian Education over 6000 years. And now, it’s OUR TIME to shape history!
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: In Part II of this overview of 6000 Years of Bible-Based Education you will find highlights of how people were learning to live their lives based on spiritual truth, using the Bible, or at least parts of it, from the time of the Kings of Israel, until now, as we’re moving into the first third of the 21st Century! This period starts with Saul being anointed as the first king of Israel, covers the wonderful lessons in life and FAITH, which KING DAVID is sharing, especially through his Psalms, and Israel’s ultimate ‘high’ during the period of King Solomon’s reign… Chaos again rises as Solomon falls into idolatry, causing the split of Israel into two Kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Juda, which consisted of the two tribes of Judah and of Benjamin. It is the members of these two tribes who are known as “Jews”. After Solomon, a succession of Kings also follow idols, with a few exceptions. This is critical to understand for our own lives! Ultimately, Israel’s FAITHLESSNESS leads to the loss of the ten Northern of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the destruction of the First Temple and the exile of Israel’s leadership class to Babylon. But then we can learn from DANIEL’s life choices and ability to interpret dreams, as well as his incredible visions, including about the final days of life on Earth. We also learn how the Babylonian Empire was taken over by the Persian Empire. This enables the return of the exiles under the leadership of Ezra, during the time of the Cyrus the Great, and the rebuilding of the Second Temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel, and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. But the Land of Israel was never the same again: people from other areas had been moved into this area and Jewish people struggled to stay separate from these pagan people, i.e. people who did not serve God. God raised one prophet after the next to call his people back to him, but the Kingdom of Israel is not restored. Instead, it remains under foreign rule. About 2300 years ago, Alexander the Great of Greece takes over the Land of Israel and for a while, the area is under Greek rule (Hellenistic era). But Antiochus IV, a descendant of one of Alexander the Great’s Generals, Seleucus, desecrates the Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig on its altar! He tries to force the Jewish people to leave behind their religion and assimilate in Greek culture. This causes a revolt by the Jewish people against the Greek Empire (the Maccabean Revolt). The Jews are successful and the “Hasmonean Kingdom” is established, which allows Jews to again practice their religion. In fact, during this period, the area – which is now known as “Judea” (Greek version of “Land of the Jews”) almost covered the same land area that was originally under the rule of King Solomon! But 63 years before Jesus was born, this region was taken over by the Roman Empire and Judea became a Roman province. At this low point in Israel’s history, JESUS CHRIST, the long-awaited Messiah (Saviour), came to restore the relationship to God – not just between God and the Israelites, but between God and humankind as a whole! God in human form, Jesus, really changes up gears into connecting Heaven’s supernatural realm, and bringing it to Earth! Miracle after miracle happens through him: the blind can see, the sick become well, the lame can walk, the dead rise! Food is multiplied, powerful military men bow down to God, storms are commanded to stop! But one thing that is often sidelined, is that one third of all the acts Jesus Christ does, has to do with casting out demons! What is a demon? An evil spirit, who works with the devil (d’evil). Who is the devil? A fallen angel, also known as ‘satan‘ – the accuser -, who used to be one of the leading angels serving God, but through pride and arrogance he convinced one third of all other angels to rebel against God! Not a good idea! He and his fellow rebellious angels were cast out of the “Heaven” where God resides, to Earth. But as a spiritual being, the devil and his angels live in a spiritual dimension. We humans also can operate in a spiritual dimension: when we pray, we are operating in the spiritual “dimension“. The ‘SUPERNATURAL‘ world is something modern minds, which are focused on the material aspects of life (money, health, power, sex and our appearance) struggle to grasp. As Jesus returns to Heaven, he makes way for the Holy Spirit and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, we’re basically told that if we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and accept him, we now have ALL the keys to bring Heaven to Earth by binding (removing from the community of believers and binding evil spirits, so that they no longer affect a person) and to loose people (forgive them and set them free from evil spirits!) – all we need is FAITH. It’s then that things really get exciting for humankind: thousands of believers in Jesus Christ cause a spiritual revolution, throwing out the ‘old religious orders’ of both the Jews AND the Gentiles (i.e. the pagan rituals of the Greeks, the Romans, the gods of the various European tribes and every “Babylonian-influenced” priest and priestess, who calls on the spirits of dead people (i.e demonic spirits who pose as the ancestors of living people, in order to gain control over them and turn them into ‘spiritual slaves’!). This movement starts what is described by some as the “Age of the Church”. Over the next almost 300 years, until the year 313, thousands of believers in Jesus Christ were martyred by a succession of Roman Emperors, either by being murdered in the most terrible ways, or by being sold into slavery all across the Roman Empire… After Christian Faith was legalised in the Roman Empire, things changed dramatically. The good news of Salvation through Jesus Christ helped millions of people, especially in what is now Europe, to break free from the superstitious practices, which had held them in ongoing fear. Sadly, with the establishment of a formal ‘church structure’, later becoming known as the “Roman Catholic Church“, human nature over time again resorted to mixing pagan practices such as ancestral worship into what was now known as “Christianity”, praying to “Saints” as mediators, instead of to God directly, in the Name of Jesus Christ. This caused immense corruption of the original message of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and “church” became synonymous with buildings, with power in the hands of church leaders who had theological training and who kept track of wrongdoing (sins) and even charged money in exchange for ‘forgiveness’! This kind of “church” became a human power structure, more than a place of individual spiritual growth, and 500 years ago, a movement known as the “REFORMATION” challenged this kind of institution. One key leader of this reformation movement was Martin Luther. In addition to challenging unbiblical teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, Martin Luther emphasised the need for education – especially spiritual education! – of all people. He mobilised political leaders to establish Christian schools and to ensure that universities had a biblical foundation. He encouraged fathers to fulfill the role of spiritual leaders in their homes, by teaching their households the basics of the Biblical Faith, through the “Small Catechism“. Since that time, the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ has spread across the world. There are some differences among believers in Jesus Christ, in interpretation of certain sections of the Bible, especially when it comes to the practices surrounding ‘Communion’ and ‘Baptism”. This has resulted in different church ‘denominations’ and non-denominational churches. Ultimately, each believer in God through Jesus Christ should be guided by the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible and choose which community of believers to be part of. Today, CHRISTIANITY is considered the largest religious faith group in the world. But sadly, some people are confusing FAITH, BELIEF, CULTURE, TRADITION and RELIGION and while they consider themselves as being Christian, don’t really live their lives like Jesus Christ did. The Christian Business College wishes to help individuals and families to have the knowledge and understanding that is needed to live their lives with SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE, thereby helping to shape the world in a positive way through LOVE, as SALT & LIGHT – like Jesus did.
A Man After God’s Own Heart
3000 Years Ago
King David in the Bible has become one of the most incredible teachers of how to live a life in FAITH, through the Psalms which he wrote. Of course, all these Psalms were inspired by the Holy Spirit, like the rest of the Bible.
But King David also became a wonderful rolemodel for us as humans – he made huge mistakes, but he repented of them and asked and accepted forgiveness from God!
Faithlessness
2900 Years Ago
- When King David died, his son Solomon became the King of Israel. This was the high point of the Land of Israel. Solomon was known throughout the known world at the time as the wisest and wealthiest human alive!
- King Solomon shared excellent spiritual and practical wisdom with us, through the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs.
- However, Solomon also teaches us that the most wise of us can still make a really stupid mistake: he decided to take 700 foreign wives and 300 concubines… and then allowed them to draw him into idolatrous and occultist practices!
- As a result he lost the favour of God and his Kingdom was split between his two sons, leading to tension and conflict. The end result was that the Kingdom of the North with its Ten Tribes disappeared from history, when these Israelites were forced to relocate to other parts of the world by their Assyrian conquerors.
- King Solomon wasn’t the only Israelite King who became an idol-worshipper and misled his people: in the Old Testament we learn that turning our back on God and breaking our covenant relationship with him results in punishment. The Israelites were punished by ten of the twelve tribes being sent into exile about 700 years before Jesus Christ was born, and then about 200 years later the leadership of the remaining Kingdom of Judah was sent into exile in Babylon for seventy years.
2600 Years Ago
Daniel is another incredible teacher in the Bible. He teaches us about living in, and standing up for our faith, choosing to live a life that is ‘holy’ (different from the world), focusing on excellence. Daniel also shares prophetic insights that help us to understand the future.
Daniel is another rolemodel in the Bible that we can all follow. His life was turned upside down, when he was exiled from Israel to Babylon, together with the other people from the leading ‘class’ in Israel. He and three of his fellow young Israelites were selected to live at the court of the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. He refused to be drawn into the lifestyle of the Babylonians, which was in conflict with what God had taught the Israelites and his faith in God. This irritated some of the influential people at court, who tried to get him killed, by causing him to be thrown into a den full of lions! But God saved Daniel and entrusted Daniel with incredible prophetic visions about the future. Daniel’s life shows that if we trust God and place our faith in him, he will bless us! Also, God can grant us prophetic insights, through the power of the Holy Spirit, if we ask him – like Daniel did. All we have to do, is to make sure that we ask God (pray to him) in the Name of Jesus Christ, and he WILL hear our prayers!
Jesus Christ is the greatest teacher of all time!
2000 Years Ago
When we look at edcation based on biblical teachings, Jesus Christ stands at the centre of it all: he is the reason for everything we do at the Christian Business College.
Jesus helps us to understand God better than anyone else before or after him, because he IS God: if we see him, we see God.
Jesus Christ, of course, is the greatest teacher and the greatest “Servant Leader” of all times.
Jesus used parables to explain God’s spiritual truths in beautifully clear ways. He lived his life serving others.
But most importantly, Jesus came to reconcile us humans with God: he gave his life as a ‘blood sacrifice’ for our sins, so that we can be forgiven and because of his blood, we can stand before our Father in Heaven and experience a direct relationship with him.
The whole Bible is aimed at revealing Jesus Christ, as God’s Plan for humankind. All of creation was made through Jesus Christ.
This website is too small to tell the story of Jesus, but we aim to help all our learners and students to become ‘mirror images’ of Jesus: shining faith, love and hope into the world!
As we teach subjects that matter for the lives, careers and businesses of our learners and students, we always look for ways to bring God into the story – God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. We don’t just add a subject called “religious education” – we aim to do everything we do, to the Glory of God, in the Name of Jesus Christ, through the Power of the Holy Spirit: through academic learning, through the arts, through sport and through caring for and appreciating the environment and through serving others.
Living a supernatural life
2000 to 1500 years ago
- Jesus Christ taught us that we humans were never supposed to live our lives cut off from God or struggling on our own! We’re supposed to live supernatural lives – getting supernatural wisdom and power from God, to handle any and every situation in life.
- The Bible is full of stories of supernatural things happening in the lives of people who believed in God, especially during the three years of Jesus Christ’s life on Earth.
- But even after Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit worked miracles through the Apostles.
- When the last book of the Bible, Revelations, was completed, the miracles didn’t end! There are endless stories about people of faith in Jesus Christ having supernatural experiences in the first 1500 years of the “Church Age”.
- Many of these people were acknowledged as “Saints” by the Catholic Church. Sadly, instead of just respecting these individuals as inspirational rolemodels, this led to some members of the church then calling on dead “Saints” to mediate between them and God!
- This resulted in a major backlash through the Reformation. But in a way, the ‘baby’ was ‘thrown out with the bathwater’, because Protestant leaders wanted to ensure that this wrong teaching would never happen again…
- So the focus shifted away from experiencing FAITH through supernatural miracles, to an emphasis on studying God’s Word and applying it in our lives, thereby making good choices and leading responsible lives.
- Sadly, this in turn led to a ‘growing cold’ in the church, with many ‘traditional’ churches being seen as being ‘dead’ and ‘boring’, because they just focus on rituals, not on living in FAITH in God.
- But things are changing again! More and more people are sharing their supernatural experiences with Jesus Christ.
Cleansing the “temple”
500 Years Ago
We humans tend to lose focus and become distracted from our faith in God, both because of our own human nature, but also because we are targets of spiritual warfare by the devil. Five hundred years ago the devil had infiltrated the one, ‘general’ church in Europe, called the “Roman Catholic Church”, which had become a very powerful political instrument. Instead of staying in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, the church leadership was focused on becoming recognised through building a new cathedral in Rome, the headquarters of this church. So they fell into the temptation to raise funds from illiterate members of the church, by letting them buy ‘forgiveness’ from the church leaders and save themselves from having to go to hell…
So God raised an unknown monk, Martin Luther, to stand up against this and other untruths in the church, by writing 95 Theses to correct the path on which the church had ended up and nailing them to the door of the church in Wittenberg, the town where he was working in what is now Germany.
This started the Reformation, which was aimed at cleansing the church of wrong teachings. This may be compared to the way in which Jesus cleansed the temple in anger, because he said that the Jewish religious leaders had turned his Father’s House into a ‘den of robbers‘.
One of the key results of the Reformation was that its leaders promoted literacy and therefore education of the masses. The fact that printing technology had just been developed, helped to make printed matter affordable and so the Bible became the best-selling book: an honour it has received ever since then.
500-200 Years Ago
Christian Education builds strong countries
People sometimes ask the question why Western Europe became the strongest region in the world, starting in the Middle Ages until World War II?
There are all kinds of theories, but here is one fact: the Leaders of countries in that part of the world submitted themselves and their countries to God, in the Name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In doing so, they and their countries received ‘automatic’ blessings from God – as per Deuteronomy 28:1-14!
You can google this yourself, but up to the year 2000, those countries in Western Europe which had anchored their faith in Jesus Christ in their Constitutions, were always in the Top 20 in the world, when it comes to wealth of the citizens (pro capita income), low crime rates, human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, social support for the weak, life quality, including life quality and lifespans of the elderly.
Similarly, the United States of America, which rose to become a Global Power in the aftermath of World War II, was characterised as a “Christian” country.
Even now, people from countries where Christ was never acknowledged as supreme ruler, are keen to run away from home to countries, where Christian value systems shaped the Constitutions, because where there is Christ, true Freedom follows!
Why don’t we hear about people looking for Asylum in countries, other than Western Europe, the United Kingdom, North America or Australia and New Zealand (which were formed through colonisation of these regions by the UK?)
Sadly, secularisation of these countries is causing major social ills to rise in these regions again. However, Christianity is gaining a foothold in Africa and where Christ is King, blessings follow! Watch this space!
The “hang-over” of Humanism, Colonisation & Secularisation
Western European countries are still recognised as having excellent public education systems, but it’s interesting to note that some of them have been ‘backsliding’ in recent years, with many different issues being given as reasons for this decline. However, from a biblical perspective the fact remains that secularisation (turning their back on God) is busy affecting the fibre of society in these countries and the resultant ‘generational curses’ have started to take effect…
One of the interesting results of secularisation has been the drop in birth rates. Initially celebrated as critical to stopping global overpopulation, dropping birthrates have actually resulted in deep concerns about the ability of these countries to carry the burden of their pensioners, who are all relying on government to pay for their upkeep into the future.
With the secularisation of Western European countries, they have been slipping down the “Top 20” list and for someone who has kept an eye on these trends over the past 40 decades, its truly shocking to see that some of these countries are currently leading in websites that promote and sell child sexual abuse and are now neck-to-neck with countries that never acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Head, when it comes to suicides and human trafficking! While they may protect their own citizens, they have become destinations for human trafficking victims…
Interestingly enough, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, Christian countries who all grew wealthy through colonisation at some point in their history, are now struggling with an influx of peoples from their former colonies, who are placing pressure on their social security systems. These countries played major roles in spreading the Gospel of Christ, as they started to be blessed through doing trade with other parts of the world. But then, greed set in and they colonised their trade partners, oppressing the peoples they were supposed to LOVE and TEACH! Still, God can turn what the devil meant for evil, to good and these immigrants have the potential to become valuable contributors to the local economies in these countries if these immigrants are treated with the Biblical values of love, care and respect!
Germany, the home region of Martin Luther, has a different history, as much as its ability to colonise other countries was limited, because of its geopolitical structure of independent states, which were only united in 1871. In the 10th Century A.D. (over 1000 years ago), practically the whole area where Germanic tribes were living, had accepted Christian faith. Because of the Reformation, this region lead the charge in terms of mass public education through the churches. However, this region was then strongly influenced by the “Renaissance” and the French Revolution and Humanistic ideas were spread across Germany to ‘free’ education from the church, by introducing ‘classical‘ education including an emphasis on (idolatrous) Greek and Latin civilisations and causing a push-back against “religious” ideas of Judaism and Christianity. We all know how that ended: with a Germany that has to live with the burden of a Holocaust! After World War II, Germany ‘repented’ and had a practically 100% church attendance in the 1950s, with the state providing a system of support for both Catholic and Evangelical (Protestant) Churches. Also, Germany as been welcoming Asylum-seekers from other countries and is still a favourite destination for refugees – whether political or economic. No wonder this country has been blessed abundantly! But the growing secularisation of Germany is causing cracks again: one key symptom of secularisation is an increased number of people suffering from depression. This does not mean that someone who believes in Jesus Christ never experiences depression. From a biblical standpoint, an ongoing state of depression is either the result of nutritional deficit or has a spiritual cause (spiritual attack or spirit of depression). So, if there is a steady increase in depression among the population in Germany, we can ask the question whether this is the result of nutritional deficiency or spiritual state? Apparently, Germans have been improving their nutrition since 2000, so this is why we could possibly ascribe the increase in depression as being related to a spiritual cause…
All of the above are ‘hot’ topics and each one of us will have an own perspective on them, which is directly related to our worldview! So, if you don’t agree with the discussion above, please do your own research. The perspective provided here is presented, so that it stimulates thinking and debate: the kind of thinking and debate – and own research! – that the Christian Business College will encourage its learners and students to engage in. If the conclusions we’re presenting here are proven to be inaccurate, we will be very happy to amend this section!
Also, throughout the Bible there are secular kings and secular countries which achieve extreme wealth and power – so wealth and power are not limited to believers in Jesus Christ. But the question is: how was that wealth built and how was that power acquired? Usually, this is on the ‘back’ of oppressed human beings: whether own citizens or people enslaved through violence or through environmental destruction, like unsustainable mining practices. This is why it’s so important to explore the origin of wealth… and why it’s so important for each one of us to consider the moral and environmental implications of our own businesses…
Building a Better Future
As we are entering the second quarter of the 21st Century, we have an incredible opportunity to address the root causes of poverty and build on the biblical principles, which will release BLESSINGS in our lives, our families, our communities and our countries. Here are four cornerstones which God teaches us in the Bible, that will help us to do so:
- Love God above all!
The God of the Bible is ONE GOD in THREE PERSONS: Father, Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are LOVED by God, who wants us to be united as members of his FAMILY! Our identity is rooted in GOD, meaning we are supposed to be Sons and Daughters of our Father in Heaven, Brothers and Sisters of Jesus Christ, our King and Saviour, and to fulfill the role of Royal Priests and Royal Priestesses, i.e. guide and care for other people, animals, plants and Earth as a whole.
2. Honour your marriage
The institution of marriage is a reflection of God’s LOVE for Israel and Jesus Christ’s LOVE for his Body – the Church (all Believers collectively). So, after loving and respecting God, Jesus taught that husbands must love their wives, as if they were their own body, and wives must respect their husbands. Remember, it’s easy to LOVE a wife, who respects you and it’s easy to RESPECT a husband who truly loves you!
3. Build strong families
God established the family as the building block of society: he created Eve as Adam’s wife, then instructed them to be fruitful and to multiply. The first and second commandments after the commandments telling us to love and respect God, have the purpose of protecting the family: Children must respect their parents and husbands and wives must be faithful to one another! This is the secret for building an all-round successful life on Earth.
4. Love your neighbour
Good relationships are the key to peace and peace is the key to prosperity for all. While a war may make some people rich, it always oppresses, kills and causes destruction of other people. Jesus Christ taught us that “Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS” and “Love your enemies”. These are revolutionary ideas that someone with a worldly worldview can’t understand. But imagine how much better the world would be, if we start practicing this?
The Christian Business College wants to help YOU and YOUR FAMILY to have the educational resources and support that you need, so that you can be a CHANGEMAKER in your own life, your family and your community, while building an ABUNDANT life, through sharing biblically founded knowledge that can help you grow and steward your wealth better, experience life in multi-dimensional ways and develop good habits to care for your health, as well as for the environment. We are honoured to have this opportunity to accompany you on this journey!
CHRISTIAN BUSINESS COLLEGE 