I was having a chat with the Engineering Diva yesterday. One son is doing medical intermediate next year, a daughter is getting grants for premed at her local college, and the Diva’s daughter is thinking of doing medicine. I was wondering what went wrong: why could I not have a tradesman? But the Diva reminded me that it is not our job to make that choice… and I made the choice of my profession at 14, younger than any of these teenagers.
One of the things I believe that the English have wrong and the Chinese and Jews correct is the emphasis on education. The English — the English New Zealanders less so, but still — are rooted in a place. We, historically, were men of our village, our county. But the Chinese have emphasized education: like the Jews, they know they may have to run, with only that on their bodies or in their heads.
Both the Jews and the Chinese have occupied, in many countries, the middle position. (In some countries this is taken by Europeans and Indians). They have not been the rulers, nor the farmers or workers or peasants. They have often been banned from the professions or being in power. Instead, they have traded, become bankers, merchants, loan sharks: the providers of things licit to them (but illicit in other countries, such as pork or liquor). They see qualifications as a set of tools.
We need to know this because the world will not be Christendom. The world will be against us. The nation that we have lived in for generations, and whose land we love, will be shut to us. We will need to run.
7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens:
8“I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying — I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
15“So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; 18the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. 21For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ — do not believe it. 24For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
29“Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. 31And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
The passages today give us our duty, which is to stand for the truth regardless of what is going on. We need to be aware of those who call themselves the church and are not: avoid them.
For there are many churches that are heretical: the Catholics say that about the reformed, and we return the favour, while the Orthodox consider all the West is in error. But I do not consider my Catholic or Orthodox friends on the Internet members of a synagogue of Satan. I consider those who say they are a church and are not: who deny the basic creeds and the gospel itself. The Scientologists (who have just got the right to be a Church from a UK court) would count. So, probably, to the Unitarians, the Mormons, and some (dying) liberal churches that (officially) remain within the mainline defamations.
I am no fan of church hopping, but you have not been able to trust that if a church is Catholic it will teach Catholic doctrine, or if it is Presbyterian reformed doctrine, throughout my adult life. (You can expand the examples). Every Christian has to use discernment now, for the Kirks of error are hidden in plain sight with the most worthy of names.
And from them we should run.
Now, for our children…we need to ensure that they can earn a living. We need to also teach them how to keep a home and raise a family.
This means that I will be praying fervently next year for a 28 and 18 year old who struggle with two of the hardest courses that exist, that they attain an entry into professional programmes, and considering how I can help them. (this may be as much doing tutorials as money: one uses money to buy time).
Knowing that there s a brother two years younger, and the Diva has a daughter a year behind him at school, who may also go down that path. For I would rather the children inherit nothing (that I am buried by the rites of my church in a plain coffin — well, that is directed in my will anyway) and have a true education than they inherit much and are bound by it.
For if we keep the faith of God, in the last days nations will fall into paganism, and we will be overtly persecuted. As it was in the beginning, so it will be in the end. We may need to flee. But we must always stand fast in the word of God and in the faith.