Do You Love Jesus?

Do You Love Jesus?

One spring day while I was walking home through the park, a lady walked over to me and asked me if I loved Jesus. She handed me a gospel tract. I told her I did (though I knew it was a lie) because I knew I was “supposed” to say that I loved him. I was not only a good Catholic, but in the current “Jesus Freak” movement of the 1970s, I was experiencing a lot of pressure through media (television, cassette tape gospel messages provided by my loving aunt) to become this born-again, Jesus-loving person. I wanted to end the conversation as soon as possible. Looking back, I am sure this God-loving, sincere lady would have preferred an honest answer from me. Either way, the gospel tract ended up in my possession, and I kept it because I was too afraid to throw it out…and it haunted me for weeks and weeks and weeks. I was a senior in high school.

I eventually read that tract. I can’t remember exactly what it said. However, the message that I was a sinner and that I needed God’s forgiveness was the main point. And, by God’s grace, I got it - and sought His forgiveness through Jesus. That was over four decades ago. Recalling my baby Christian steps of being a new believer and then my journeys through many waters, mistakes, trials, joys, and blessings, the same question asked by that dear lady is still relevant. Do I love Jesus?

A few decades ago, when I was going through an extreme trial, a pastor encouraged me to meditate often on God’s love for me, instead of me trying to figure out my love for Him. That sage advice was the beginning of an invaluable paradigm shift in my thinking. And continues to this day. Afterall, we love Him because He first loved us. There is nothing better to stir up our love for God, than to meditate on His amazing love for us. The Scriptures are steeped in expressions of His love and faithfulness to His children. Sometimes when I have had a particularly challenging day with my own sin issues and get discouraged (I mean, how can a Christian even behave/think this way?), I dare myself to recall God’s amazing and steadfast and forgiving love for me. His grace and love are then even more amazing, and frankly, unbelievable – in the very best sense - to me (Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.)!

Do I love Jesus? When I think of being clothed with the earned righteousness (my own righteousnesses are as filthy rags) of this Second Adam, Whose perfect obedience to the law is imputed onto me, when I think of my sins being imputed onto Him (He who knew no sin became sin for me.), when I think of the Father being satisfied with the sacrifice of His Son for all my sins, when I think of God’s promise to never leave nor forsake His blood-bought children, when I think of the resurrection and ascension of Christ to the home prepared for me in heaven, and that someday I will praise my Savior unhindered, when I think of the Holy Spirit Who lives in me, and Who makes me willing and able to walk in faith and obedience in this pilgrimage, when I think of the many other bright gospel pearls strung on the golden chain of salvation, yes, I can say that I love Jesus.

Dear homeschooling families and students, do you love Jesus? This IS an important question. The blessed path to your answer is found in God’s word. Daily read this Book from God. In its inspired pages, we learn of ourselves and of God’s great saving grace and mercy. And we see Jesus - His living and dying love for His children.

Mary Brown

Photo by Tiffany Anthony on Unsplash

Prepare in the Nest

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever. - Dr. Martin Luther

Dear CHESS Families,

The words above say it all. As the darkness and attacks of the hateful evil one become more and more evident every day, I pray that God’s people will also trust more and more in the Lord of Sabaoth, that we will obey His Word, rely on the Spirit, and use the gifts that are ours: God’s Word, prayer, sitting under Godly preaching, fellowship of the saints, and the exhortation of one another while it is called today.

Over the past several years, I have met with many families who have been horrified and aghast at what their children were being taught or subjected to at their public school; and they want out! What you hear that is happening in our nation’s public schools is true, even in our own back yard - in our county of Weld.  If the wicked one is going to seek to crush a society and attack God’s truths, one of his main strategies is to work his evil on the vulnerable saplings. And that is just what he is doing.

Parents, I encourage each one of you who have taken up homeschooling. Stay the course. Be thankful. When those hard days come, remember why you are homeschooling, and take a prayerful breather. Don’t believe the philosophy that says we must expose our children to the world so they know how to live in it. Our children have a hard enough time managing the normal growing up process than to add to it having to sort out, and yes, fight against, the evil philosophies of the world that is set on infiltrating their young hearts and minds. Also, our children are NOT missionaries. To place our children in amongst the wicked woke philosophies so that they can be a witness may be a sincere desire, but it is misguided. Let this type of witnessing be done by us, not by our children.

CHESS families. I am thankful for each and everyone of you. I know that homeschooling is not easy. Sometimes we have so many doubts if we are doing everything right, and we worry about our children’s future – will they get into the right college or trade school, will they get a job, etc. Truth to be told, no parent does things perfectly. But our attempts to do the right thing must be bathed in prayer. God is so merciful to take our feeble efforts and turn them into something glorious for Him. We can be confident of the outcome because of His mercies, not because of our abilities or lack thereof. Remember, we are raising our children to serve Him in His Kingdom wherever He deems is best, and we must encourage our children with this truth as we guide them regarding their future. Serving Him in His Kingdom in the days ahead will be a challenge like none of us older folks have every experienced in this country. That is why it is even more important that we are faithful to prepare our children while they are in the nest, so that when they leave, they will be “Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants. Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall.”  Psalm 144:12 - Principal Brown

Eyes Have Been Opened

When I worked for a computer company in the 1980’s, I had a discussion with a fellow employee regarding homeschooling. Like most people in those early days of the home education movement, my co-worker was decidedly against homeschooling, and for all the same reasons we still hear today - even as homeschooling has gained great favor in the eyes of not just families of school-aged children, but also with higher educational institutions. Homeschooling in America from its earliest beginnings has always experienced pushback to some extent or other. Recently, however, the option to home school and the recognition of its super-valuable benefits has become an “Aha” moment for thousands of parents in the USA. Even so, despite it’s growing popularity, fed by the eye-opening year of COVID-reactionary, in-class-learning shut downs, homeschooling is steadily receiving media flogging that is especially reserved these days for any belief or effort that can possibly be related to conservatism and/or Christianity. And this treatment reveals the panic that the government-controlled public school system, as well as the proponents of progressive and ungodly ideologies, are feeling as they witness the massive exodus of young minds no longer available to them for molding into a parroting army of socialist foot soldiers.

The link below is an encouraging podcast on homeschooling and why homeschooling has recently become the preferred choice of K-12 education for thousands of parents. If you know families who have joined the worthy ranks of home educators, and who are looking for a solid, Christian home school academy to come alongside them in this great journey, please share CHESS with them.

I hope you enjoy the podcast.

Principal Brown

Good and Right

Wednesday, June 1, 2022, was National Say Something Nice Day. Sounds good, right? But then who decides what is nice to say? And how do we know that the nice thing that we think we should say will be taken as nice? Is nice important? Who decides how we should communicate to each other and what we should say to each other? What does God say about communication?

In the Bible, one of the first words we read is “Word”. In the beginning was the Word. God’s primary form of communication to His created image-bearers is through His Word. His Word is Himself; and the Scriptures are God speaking His truths to us.  God commands us to love His Word, to believe His Word, and to speak His Word to others. Psalm 119 is replete with God’s Word being described as good, right, true, necessary, indispensable, etc. However, since the garden conversation between Eve and Satan, the inhabitants of the world, including Christians, have been encouraged to doubt what God has said and to put His Word, and His Truths as expressed in that Word, on the examination table of the “higher” and, frankly, hateful critics. The world falls for this handling of God’s Word; and weak and unstudied Christians do as well.  These are strong words, and perhaps may be taken as me not being very nice. But they are loving words of warning for believers - “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 27:6 - as we are pressured by the world to accept its manipulation of the Scriptures to support lies.

Christian individuals, Christian families, Christian churches, and Christian organizations are under extreme pressure to say something nice about homosexuality. Many organizations, authors, and movements - in the name of Christianity - are determinedly focused on “educating” Christians to be positive about and accepting of homosexuality. Christian church leaders and other Christian leaders must know what God’s Word says about homosexuality and be able to speak the truth in love to those who insist on saying, “Did God really say?”  And Christian families and individuals need to be decidedly committed to communicating (whether verbally or through writing) in a way that shines light on God’s truth regarding homosexuality.

The link shared below is an excellent interview with Dr. Rosario Butterfield. Dr. Butterfield offers much needed clarity and direction on how the Christian church must think and respond to the current pressures of saying nice things about and accepting homosexuality. I pray that the interview will be a blessing and an encouragement to you and your family. - Principal Brown

https://youtu.be/p0nJDga1zeo

The Necessity of Christian Education: The Command, the Commitment, and the Non-Conformity

Praise God with me that He continues to bless CHESS (Colorado Heritage Education School System)! God has faithfully caused us to be a beacon of light for Christian education when most other schools have succumbed to and promote the dangerous and rebellious thinking of the prevailing ungodly society.

As I ponder the benefits of CHESS - our dedicated and gifted staff, teachers, and board - I am once again in awe of God's great goodness to us. We are a solid Christian school through whom God has been pleased to bless hundreds of students in our 31 years of existence. CHESS is an educational institution and environment where God’s Glory is upheld, where students are encouraged in their walk with the Lord, challenged to live for Him, and exhorted to be a light and a witness.

Colorado Heritage leadership steadfastly encourages the antithesis: i.e., being in the world, but not of the world. Our leadership and teachers recognize the perilous ways and motivations of ungodly thinking - past and present. We not only teach our students to think counter-culturally, but we also strive to be a good example to them in our dedication to not walk in the counsel of the wicked (Psalm 1). 

When the Scriptures command parents to teach their children about God “when they rise up and when they sit down and when they walk by the way” (Deut. 6:7), CHESS recognizes and takes seriously that families have entrusted their children to us as an outworking of obedience to that command.

Psalm 1 strictly warns those who are tempted to think and live as the ungodly. The way of the ungodly is deadly, leading to spiritual ruin. Ungodly thinking in all areas of life is unabashedly encouraged and promoted in most schools. CHESS, however, assents to the warnings in Psalm 1 as well as to the blessings of obedience expressed in the same Psalm. Our instruction, services, and events are all thoughtfully developed to bring Glory to God as well as to set forth a clear path toward righteousness for our students.

For over three decades, Colorado Heritage has stood apart from other schools in our Judeo-Christian convictions and endeavors. Going forward, CHESS is determined to keep a firm hand on the rudder - maintaining a straight course through the constantly changing and turbulent waters of society, and steadfastly disregarding the siren calls of "attractive" conformity. 

We are so thankful for our CHESS families and students! You are why we are here. We love to serve God by serving you. We pray for you often.

Do you have friends who have joined the worthy ranks of homeschooling? Are they looking for a school where their children will be pointed to our Savior and exhorted to live in the world, but not of the world? We would love to meet them and be a blessing to them. - Principal Brown