When we take an honest look at the broken family, the broken sexuality, the broken faith. . . the broken everything around us, it’s inevitable that we ask the question, “What does this country really need? What do our families and churches really need?”
At some point, we come to the realization that the making-me-great agenda, the making-man-great agenda, and the making-my-nation-great agenda isn’t going to fix our problems
The problem with America, indeed, the problem with all of us, is simply that man is too big and God is too small from our point of view. Americans are proud. In fact, national pride is a virtue. School pride, sexual pride, feminist pride, and intellectual pride are treated as the highest virtues. The word itself is a virtue. What used to be an obvious sin is now applauded in the streets!
Fundamentally, our problem is the minimization of God. As the father of modern public education, John Dewey, put it, “God is a faded piece of metaphysical goods.” In the minds of most people in the West, God has faded away in school, in history textbooks, in church, in my heart and yours.
So in the face of all other agendas, our agenda is radical, but simple. Our manifesto is just this:
Make Jesus great again in our thoughts, our families, our schools, our universities, our churches, our nation, and our world. Every Christian in America, every Christian in the world must be overcome with a passion and commitment for this.
According to Colossians 1:16-18, Jesus is big, very big.
"He is the image of the Invisible God. By Him all things were created that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions. All things were created through Him and for Him. All creation is for His glory. All creation functions for His ultimate purpose and delight. There isn’t one rogue atom in the universe that will not serve His purposes. He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."
All ecosystems, all political systems, every demon in hell, and every meteorite in the cosmos operate under His control. He is Lord of all. And He has come to bring every enemy under His footstool and reconcile all things to Himself.
Jesus must be a thousand times bigger in our curriculum. There are only three extremely significant events in human history — the creation of the world, the redemption of the world, and the judgment of the world. Who was there or will be there at all three events? Of course, Jesus Christ, the Son of God was present and will be present. To Him alone belongs all the praise and glory.
And yet, so many Christian homeschooling science and history textbooks hardly mention Jesus Christ at all. Often, there is almost no praise or worship to His glorious name throughout them. He might receive a tacit mention once, but overall the credit He receives is astonishingly lacking.
I was asked to write a world history textbook. I sat down, and wrote Taking the World for Jesus. I gave the cruel Caesars a couple of paragraphs, and then laid out the amazing work of Christ’s missionaries during the “dark ages” when Europe was discipled for Christ. I gave Napoleon one paragraph, and then worked out the great missionary work of Jesus’s people for the next twenty pages.
Not surprisingly, the course is almost never received as a core history course. More often it is treated as an “elective.” But why? Of course, there is too much about Jesus in it, and not enough about the great tyrants and the powerful empires of the world. But to whom should we give more credit — the Spanish empire with all of its slave trading, or the poor Moravian missionaries who indentured themselves and suffered imprisonment to reach the African slaves on the island of St. Thomas?
I am asked, “Will this curriculum really prepare my children for college and the SAT test?” "Will this keep the humanists happy?" "Will this help to make America great again?”
My answer: “What about making Jesus great again?"
Here's a 20-minute clip of me addressing this issue in full at the Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference hosted by CHEC.
For the estimated 2.2 billion Christians around the world, this message should not be controversial. I believe that every true Christian in the world will be passionately committed to making Jesus great again, in every textbook, in every classroom, in every home, every minute of the day. And there never was a more important time to make Jesus great than now.
It is Generations' commitment to make this a reality in our curriculum and homeschools with this three-point manifesto:
We at Generations are committed to "Making Jesus Great Again" by...
Will you join me in this modest manifesto? Will you commit to one thing for the rest of your life? Make Jesus great again. . .in everything.
If the topic of placing Christ at the center of your curriculum has resonated with you at all, then you might be interested in a FREE online course we're hosting a week from now (July 8-12). It's an online training series called The Christian History Workshop, and it's main focus is discovering how to use history studies to give our children a truly God-centered education and a passionate love for Jesus Christ. Click here to learn more or join the waiting list and we’ll send you an email when it opens up.