Jesus, King of America

Jesus, King of America

We all have dreams and visions, and Fortis Academy has enlarged my vision to fulfill a dream that I have had on my heart for decades. Ultimately, the vision is to see Christ’s kingdom rule over all the earth. That is the vision that is implied by the Lord’s prayer, “Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus would not have taught us to pray that way if it was not God’s desire to transform life on earth. Since God has seen fit to make me a citizen of the United States, my dream has become more specific, to restore the fear of the Lord to America. As a pastor, that dream has inspired all of my labor and choices, and has caused me to constantly seek how it may be accomplished. My opinion is that cultures are created by the faith and values of people. As we become more like Christ, the world begins to look more like heaven. But how do we practically succeed with such a radical vision? My conviction is that a classical Christian education is one of the most powerful ways to transform society, because it puts the dream of a world governed by the love of God in their hearts and gives them the character and skills necessary to make it a reality.

What is the American dream? Today, it often seems like it is tied to money, pleasure and power. Freedom, which was so important to our founding fathers, today is often seen as the freedom to do whatever we want. Yet there was once a different dream in the hearts of American citizens. During the Revolution, their battle cry was “no king but King Jesus.” Their view of freedom was freedom from tyranny and oppression, in other words, freedom from sin. That generation was cultivating the dream that they received through the first great awakening. That is why, during the revolution, they went into the sepulcher, cut a piece off of George Whitefield’s robe and said, “Father, we are finishing the work you began.” What is more, they looked to scripture as inspiration for the laws and institutions they established. They had a dream and a vision to accomplish it by ordering all things according to the wisdom and principles revealed in God’s word and the result was our U.S. Constitution. As Blackstone’s commentary on the law, which was the foundation of American jurisprudence states, stated that any law which is contrary to God’s law is by nature null and void. They also understood that our form of government only works for a moral and religious people, so they immediately founded schools to raise up our children in the fear of the Lord. Most of our universities were founded for this purpose. What they were doing was continuing a great tradition of Western Civilization that was begun in the monasteries that educated the West.

They were so successful at fulfilling their vision, that Alexis DeTouqueville came from France to figure out the source of American “exceptionalism.” His evaluation was that it was due to the fact that Christianity spread its benevolent influence over every area of society. He even enquired what made American women stronger and more industrious than all of the other women in the world. His conclusion was that it was due to the marriage covenant being treated as more sacred in America than in other nations. That is a direct example of how a biblical social architecture was implemented. America is still reaping the benefits of the culture and institutions handed down to us from our fathers, but we have cut ourselves off from its source. The dream of Fortis Academy is to reconnect our children to that great tradition so that they can rebuild our nation upon its founding dream by immersing them in the great tradition that inspired it. That is what a classical Christian education does.

Lights in Darkness

Lights in Darkness

How do we raise our children as Christians in a world where we see so many things that are contrary to God’s design?  Our children are growing up in a world where young people are commonly wrestling with issues such as gender identity even to the point of gender reassignment.  What about college?  Many Christian parents are concerned about the number of Christian children who lose their faith in college.  How do we prepare our kids to stand strong in a world that has so many dangers?  Those are often the types of questions that are on the minds of Christian parents.  Our answer at Fortis is to raise up Christian thinkers and communicators through a classical Christian University Model school.

There are different visions that drive Christian education.  When I was in high school, there were certain “Christian schools” where the students were notorious for licentiousness.  One student explained that they were trying to show they were just as worldly at those who did not go to a Christian school.  A parent who used to go to Fortis, but left to pursue her career, told me that she lost her faith at a “Christian” high school, but met the Lord in college when she got connected with a Christian campus group. She told me that Fortis has caused her children to love the Lord.  We wish we could guarantee that for every student who enrolls at Fortis.  The point is that mission and vision is critical to the Christian culture of a school.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are some who believe the world is a very evil place and want to protect their children from it.  They are looking for a Christian bubble to protect their kids.  Closely connected to this model is the idea that we should indoctrinate our children.  This is done by telling them what to believe and seeing if they can regurgitate it back to us.  The problem with these models is that they will not prepare children to for life after they leave our home.

At Fortis, we seek to train our students to think for themselves from a Christian perspective.  We want to give them an education in faith and virtue that will make them strong when they face challenges in life.  One of the ways this is done is by having the courage to face the ideas and dogmas they will experience in the world in an environment where we can analyze it from a Christian perspective.  The beauty of a classical education is that it develops both discernment and Christian virtue. The idea is that students would see the beauty of Christ, of His creation, and of His government.  Having that vision causes them to recognize those things that are contrary to Christ and at the same time creates the confidence and security that is necessary to exhibit Christian virtue.  When confronted with those who are committed to evil ideologies or actions, those with such a vision are not afraid and are able to be a light in a dark world.  They can see goodness, truth and beauty wherever it is to be found, and are even able to see it a fallen world and among sinful human beings. Through their education they have developed the character and skill where they are able to fulfill their calling and cause God’s will to be done, in a greater measure, on earth as it is in heaven.  Most importantly, our prayer is that they walk in the light of God’s presence, for in His presence they will find fullness of joy.  The end of such an education is true satisfaction in life.

Beatific Sight and Education

Beatific Sight and Education

It is interesting to ponder the memories and knowledge that we have integrated into our worldview and retain in our permanent memory.  I still remember many things from classes taught more than two decades ago by Dr. Shuta.  He constantly challenged us with new information that woke our imagination and required us to think.  In his systematic theology class we had a discussion on beatific vision, which the redeemed will enjoy in heaven.  It is “a term denoting the blessed state of the glorified saints in heaven, where they behold the glory of the Lord and enjoy perfect and sinless communion with Him.”[1] C. Stephen Evans writes concerning beatific vision that “many religious philosophers have taken the Beatific Vision to be the supreme good that all humans seek, whether they know it or not.”[2]

True education seeks to develop knowledge that is dynamic, that grows, develops and makes connections to all other truth.  As I was thinking about beatific vision, I thought of the words of the Apostle John who wrote,  “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2, NKJV). Here the ultimate purpose of humanity is as seeing Christ as He truly is.  There is also a principle here that to the level that Christ is revealed to us that we become like Him. Generally speaking, the current Christian worldview restricts this knowing to a personal experience of God’s grace, and in better circles, to the revelation of Christ through special revelation (the scriptures).  Classical Christian education seeks to restore the tradition that built Western Civilization, which includes the conviction that Christ is also revealed through general revelation.  In other words, Christ is revealed in nature as Creator and in history as Lord. It is a tradition that sees divine purpose, meaning and design in all of life.  Whenever someone begins to experience Christ revealed through general revelation, education becomes an exciting exploration of the character and nature of God.  As scripture says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10, NKJV).

I was fascinated when I learned that certain monks referred to themselves as white martyrs, hoping someday to exchange their white martyrdom for red martyrdom.  They saw themselves as living witnesses who were willing to lay down their lives for the testimony of Christ.  At the Society for Classical learning conference this summer, I learned that they also had a term called “green martyrdom”.  What happened is that Irish monks preserved classical learning because they found Christ revealed through it by general revelation.  They discovered that the development of the intellect and of skills such as logic and rhetoric develops the image of God in man.  Eventually they realized that this great education must be shared with the world, so they went throughout Europe founding monasteries that included schools which educated Europe in the seven liberal arts.  This was called the green martyrdom because they were growing the revelation of Christ in the earth as Europe received an education that revealed Christ to them through both special and general revelation. They planted the garden of God in the barren desert of human depravity and ignorance.

One of the goals of Fortis Academy is for our children to see Christ through both general and special revelation, and as they do, to become more like Jesus.  Another goal is for our students to become green martyrs who reconnect with the great tradition passed down to us through Western Civilization.

[1] Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms (Belfast; Greenville, SC: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002), 66.

[2] C. Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 16.