Brave New Schools  Chapter 4

Establishing a Global Spirituality

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"What is needed is a shift in consciousness commensurate with the shift to a global society... emphasize global interdependence... Explore a major shift in belief systems with regard to our children and our future."[1]  Phil Gang, founding director of The Institute for Educational Studies (TIES) and Executive Director of Global Alliance for Transforming Education (GATE)

"As we look for answers [to saving the planet], more and more peoples are looking at the  traditional peoples of the planet.... This is Indian history... our spiritualism, and we want to share it with the world."[2]  Alan Ross, retired South Dakota school superintendent, author of Mitakuye Oyasin (We are All Related)

 

"The group was now complete, the solidarity circle perfect... Twelve of them ready to be made one, waiting to come together, to be fused, to lose their twelve separate identities in a larger being....  Tirelessly... the drums beat... "Come, Greater Being, Social Friend..."[3]  Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Peter stared at his contribution to a large scale mural of the earth.  He had stopped for a moment to join a group of elementary students participating in a two-day art project called "Weaving the World Together".  Like the others, Peter had chosen two distant parts of the world, then connected them with a piece of string.  The message behind the project was obvious--it had already been drilled into his mind through multicultural and environmental teaching in his school: all the people and nations of the world are interconnected. All are joined together into one big global family.

From Peter's neck dangled a new amulet, a symbolic object traditionally worn as protection against evil spirits.  He had just made it in a workshop called "Tribal Neck Ornaments" which promised to teach students how to design their own "personal amulets."  Standing nearby, Peter's mother was carefully balancing the products of two previous workshops: a bright, feathery Amazon Rain Forest Bird and a grotesque tribal mask.     

Earth Day had come and gone, but students from every elementary school in Sunnyvale,  California, were still honoring Mother Earth and her indigenous people. At the annual Hands on the Arts Festival, which demonstrates the planned nationwide partnership between schools and communities, children could choose between 42 workshops teaching native art and rituals.  Through tempting titles like "Indian Totem Poles," "Chinese Dragons," "South India Dances," and "African Drumming," the environmentally and politically correct expressions of the world's beliefs and practices beckoned, "Come... try... experience...."

The students loved it.  They wore their personalized Mexican Spirit Beads.  They designed their own American Indian Dreamcatchers, mystical spider webs inside sacred circles which supposedly would block bad dreams and welcome good dreams. They made Medicine Shields, Indian shields that identify and host their personal animal spirits.  They created Panamanian "mythical figures and animals" and hugged their Southwest Indian "magical figures."

Oblivious to the occult dangers, they celebrated the return of the rhythms, rituals and religions that once animated cultures from Norway to Africa and Alaska to Australia. Multicultural things are fun!  Why shouldn't the world be one?       

Unity in diversity

Partnership, celebration, oneness.... These happy-sounding buzzwords that marked the Sunnyvale fair express the heart cry of today's cultural transformation. It seeks unity between nations, between cultures, between the school and the community, and between people and nature.  No wonder students pledge their loyalty to a spiritualized Earth, sing anthems to a coming New Age of peace, and--in stark opposition to Biblical truth--celebrate a oneness that denies all religious barriers. 

This oneness is central to the international education system. Chapter 2 showed that America's education goals match those of the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA). They also match the goals of the United States Coalition for Education for All (USCEFA) which helps link our national education system to the international system. While all three groups seek common values, the USCEFA emphasizes "the oneness of humankind."  Hidden in these words is their joint understanding that the common values must be grounded in common beliefs and spirituality.  

WCEFA

USCEFA

America 2000

Another and no less fundamental aim of educational development is the transmission and enrichment of common cultural and moral values. It is in these values that the individual and society find their identity and worth.[4]

Human survival and progress increasingly depend on the inculcation in the young of values emphasizing the essential oneness of humankind, the fragility of this planet... and the... rights of each individual.[5]

As we shape tomorrow's schools, we should rediscover the timeless values that are necessary for achievement.[61]

Everything must fit together. The old thoughts, ways, and beliefs that don't fit must be abolished.  In a 1994 report on the Johnson City Central School District in New York, "a national model of instructional excellence," Dr. John Champlin calls for "a change agent" in every school, a "holistic system approach," and "revised beliefs, attitudes and relationships."[7]   No minor figure in the educational arena, Dr. Champlin is the Executive Director of the National Center for Outcome-Based Education and a member of the Board of Directors for Partners for Quality Learning. His "change project" in Johnson City summarizes a nationwide pattern,

The effort to build a new culture by putting our beliefs, practices and values into written documents and policies that we constantly used as a basis for renewal and growth was crucial. We purged former practices as quickly as possible...[8]

Three student outcomes (demonstrated behaviors) sought in the Johnson City experiment were non-academic, affective results such as self-directed learners, creative thinkers, and group participants who could co-operate with others.

In 1992, the Kansas State Board of Education announced its official plan for change.   It explained that "QPA [Quality Performance Accreditation, another name for OBE] is a process which demands new thinking, new strategies, new behavior, and new beliefs."[9]  Keep in mind, almost every state has following suit. They cannot afford to break their link to the national purse strings.    

Most change agents may not take their cues directly from the world's occult guides, but they follow the same well-trodden track.  After all, people everywhere long for solutions to the world's moral decay and collapsing structures.  They seek spiritual leaders who can pilot the world through these tumultuous times into the new millennium.  More than ever, the noble sentiments of spiritual visionaries offer hope to those who have rejected biblical truth:

Common paths to spiritual power

Re-establishing our unity with earth and spirit is encouraged in classrooms across the country. Multicultural, global, environmental, and arts education teach children the occult formulas that once linked the world's shamans, voodoo priests and medicine men to their respective spirit guides. While words will differ from culture to culture, the pagan practices within earth-centered traditions are similar around the world.

COMMON PRACTICES OF EARTH-CENTERED RELIGIONS
 Ancient religions in: Trance state Dreams Visions  Divination  Spiritism  Magic Sorcery Charms Amulets Solstice rites Serpent worship Sacred sex
 Babylon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Canaan

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Africa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 India

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Greece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Rome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Norway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 America

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Australia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, over half of these religious practices are sweeping into our nation's classrooms. Accepted as means to multicultural understanding, they are actually being used to establish earth-centered spirituality. The following practices from Chart (above?) represent only a tiny drop in a rising flood of occult stimuli.[14]

1. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS: Teaching students to alter their consciousness through centering exercises, guided imagery, and visualizations has become standard practice in self-esteem, multicultural, and arts programs. Sometimes they prompt contacts with spirit guides. An Iowa school using the nationwide language-arts curriculum READ known to captivate students with shocking stories and occult themes. One of Read's audio cassette tapes included a writing assignment (see footnote below) which uses the following visualization to stimulate the students' imagination. Notice the hypnotic suggestions:

"Rest your head on your desk. Close your eyes and breathe deeply to relax. Watch the screen inside your mind.... You are about to journey to an uncharted land. Picture in your mind a place where there is an opening in the earth. Go and find this place, then wait at the edge. Are you ready? Let yourself fall in. Enter the earth. Let yourself spiral down through the world beneath your feet.... Down through the passage way.

What kind of place is this. Look around. Move around... As you become acquainted with our surroundings, ask to meet a guide. A animal, person or being will accompany you an give your whatever power you might need.

Someone or something is coming toward you in a peaceful way. Who is this? Watch what this new companion does or shows you. Listen to what it says. Go wherever this guide wants to lead you. You are safe. You will not be harmed....

Now it is almost time to leave. The guide who has been with you has a gift for you. Reach out your hands and take what it offers. This gift has special meaning, just for you. What is it?[15]

2. DREAMS AND VISIONS: After studying a pagan myth, students are often asked to imagine or visualize a dream or vision, then describe it in a journal or lesson assignment. For example, Montana fourth graders read a myth describing how "the Spirits guided" an Indian girl named "Gentle Fawn" by taking the shape (shape-shifting) of a White Deer. The lesson continued: "You have an incredible dream. And just as Gentle Fawn learned from her dream, you also have a vision... 1. Describe your dream. 2. Describe your lesson of truth."[16]

3. ASTROLOGY: Countless teachers across the country require students to document their daily horoscopes. Others help students discover their powers and personalities through Aztec calendars and Chinese horoscopes.[17]  A Connecticut teacher wrote an award-winning curriculum based on Indian shaman Sun Bear's "medicine wheel astrology." Her students and others who use this program locate their personal birth moons, colors, animal spirits and spirit keepers on the Indian medicine wheel.[18]

4. Other forms of DIVINATION: Through palmistry, I Ching, tarot cards and horoscopes students learn to experience other culture and tap into secret sources of wisdom.[19] Students in Texas were desensitized to occult dangers when told to imitate the wizard pictured behind a crystal ball in their assignment. The instructions told each child to create a vision in their own minds and "describe in your best soothsayer tones, the details of your vision."[20]

5. SPIRITISM:. While pagan myths and crafts show students how to contact ancestral, nature, and other spirits, classroom rituals actually invoke their presence. California third-graders had to alter their consciousness through guided imagery, invoke or "see" their personal animal spirits, write about their experience for a public bulletin board display, and finally create their own magical medicine shields to represent their spirit helper.[21]

Minnesota students were given this morbid assignment: "Your mother died three years ago. However, she will return briefly. You will have only ten minutes to speak with her and then she is gone for good. What will you talk with her about?" While this exercise asked students to pretend rather than actually invoke the presence of a dead relative, it placed the occult practice of spiritism into a context that made it seem acceptable.[22]

6. MAGIC, SPELLS AND SORCERY: Many parents consider magic and spell-casting too bizarre and alien to pose a threat, yet gullible students from coast to coast are learning the ancient formulas and occult techniques. They may seem simple and innocuous to children, but Wiccan leader Starhawk shows how their God-given imagination can open doors to occult forces. In The Spiral Dance, her popular manual on witchcraft, she writes:

"To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form, to soar beyond sight, to explore the uncharted dream realm of the hidden reality... to leap beyond imagination into that space between the worlds where fantasy becomes real; to be at once animal and god... 

      "Spells [and magic]... require the combined faculties of relaxation, visualization, concentration, and [mental] projection... To cast a spell is to project energy through a symbol."[23 Emphasis added]

7. OCCULT CHARMS AND SYMBOLS: Dreamcatchers, Zuni fetishes, crystals and power signs like the quartered circle and Hindu mandala are only a few of the empowering charms and symbols fascinating students today.

8. SOLSTICE RITES: After seating themselves "according to their astrological signs," Oregon students who traded Christmas for a Winter Solstice celebration watched the "sun god" and "moon goddess" enter the auditorium to the beating of drums and chanting. "Animal spirits" and "barcode children" followed.[24] Celebrating Winter Solstice with "dance around the Solstice tree" is one of the Anti-Bias Curriculum's suggested alternatives to Christmas.[25]

9. HUMAN SACRIFICE: Because of the quieting influence of Christianity, all ritual human sacrifice around the world apparently ended--for a season. But human nature hasn't changed. As God withdraws His protection from His lands - as He said He would when people turn from Him to other gods[26] - the type of demonic control that originally inspired human sacrifice and torture is likely to return. Death education, assignments like the "Fallout Shelter," and the cultural endorsement of abortion and euthanasia are preparing the new generation to accept many new forms of human sacrifice at the unholy altar of today's "common good."

10. SACRED SEX: Sun Bear, whose books are used to teach classroom Medicine Wheel astrology, writes, "Many native cultures refer to making love as sharing energy or merging energy... [I]n the natural cycle of life, the most powerful thing we can do is to share our energies with each other."[27]

Starhawk wrote a similar message, "Sexuality is a sacrament. Religion is a matter of relinking..."[28] Considering today's degrading sex education programs, one might wonder if Planned Parenthood and SIECUS (The Sex Information and Education Council of the United States) authors share this pagan appreciation for the unifying power of promiscuity. Dr. Lester Kirkendall a SIECUS board member, wrote:

"The purpose of sex education is not... to control and suppress sex expression, as in the past... The individual must be given sufficient understanding to incorporate sex most fruitfully and most responsibly into his present and future life."[29]

11. SERPENT WORSHIP: Throughout pagan history, snakes have symbolized power, wisdom and rebirth. Even if students don't actually worship serpents, their multicultural curriculum and celebrations idealize people who do.
Aldous Huxley was right. In Brave New World, he shows that a profusion of new suggestions will transform beliefs and attitudes. Just keep the revolutionary stimuli flowing...

"Till at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too--all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides--made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions! ... Suggestions from the State."[30]

A strategy for brainwashing

"How are we to cultivate morality and character in our students without indoctrinating them...?"[31] This provocative question came from a 1988 ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) panel on Moral Education. In his written statement, Richard Paul, Director of the Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique, shows how to hide classroom subversion behind misleading labels such as "critical thinking" and "individual moral reasoning skills."[32]  Both use new-paradigm beliefs and universal values [global oneness, tolerance for all lifestyles, economic equality, etc.] as the standard by which to judge and reject traditional beliefs. Students "discover for themselves" that none of the old ways fit the moral framework of the coming world order. Then they are led to "discover" what does fit: earth-centered beliefs and new-paradigm values. Ponder these obvious steps to transformation:

1. Present palatable versions of the target beliefs
2. Dismantle the students previous beliefs
3. Blend the new beliefs with science to add credibility
4. Redefine words to fit the new beliefs
5. Rewrite history.
6. Provide mystical experiences which conflict with old beliefs
7. Immerse students in enticing forms of the new beliefs
8. Use target beliefs to answer questions traditionally answered by former beliefs
9. Demand "purity"

1. PRESENT PALATABLE VERSIONS OF TARGET BELIEFS. The target belief, of course, is the new global spirituality, a pantheistic, monistic, polytheistic blend of the world's earth-centered religions. Any mythical teaching will do, but America's favorite model is the native Indian.

For instance, a third grade social studies text, From Sea to Shining Sea, part of the popular Houghton-Mifflin series used from coast to coast, encourages children to personalize the spiritual messages behind Indian myths. One such myth, The Gift of the Sacred Dog , is a mythical explanation for the origin of horses, which by then, were extinct in North America. It tells about a boy who asked the Great Spirit to help his famished tribe find buffalo. His answer came through a supernatural vision of a herd of horses. Moments later, real horses appeared. The boy joyfully brought them to his tribe. "These are Sacred Dogs," he explained. "They are a gift from the Great Spirit..."[33] 

The Teacher's Guide made sure the students got the point: "Explain that this myth tells about an Indian tribe that could not find buffalo to hunt and how the Great Spirit (God) came to their aid."[34]  To personalize the myth, the students had to "imagine being the boy in the story," then record their feelings in their journals before and after receiving their visions.

There is nothing wrong with learning about mythology. Myths can provide valuable insights into other cultures. But when they present the pantheistic Great Spirit as a synonym for God, they distort His character and nullify His message. When they reinforce mythical messages with journaling or "fun" mind-altering rituals, they blur the distinction between reality and fantasy. And, when man-made stories such as The Gift of the Sacred Dog emphasize mythical speculations rather than the fact that Europeans reintroduced horses to Indian lands, they sabotage discernment and reason. Without these tools, children will believe anything.

2. DISMANTLE THE STUDENTS' PREVIOUS BELIEFS (VILIFY CHRISTIANITY) Houghton-Mifflin's America Will Be tells students that "Puritan parents might beat their children for laziness or disrespect or for running and jumping on the Sabbath. They believed that a child is 'better whipped than damned' by the devil."[35]  What does this imbalanced lesson teach children about Christian parents?

The teacher's Guide for The Original Land, prompts teachers to emphasize that the Indians "see the deity as part of themselves, warm and approachable." In contrast, it paints a cold, harsh picture of God based on the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by the 18th century evangelist Jonathan Edwards: "God's wrath is burning like fire, and he looks upon humans as 'worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire...'"[36]  

Since teachers must "teach to the test," they are told what students must learn. What do these questions and instructions from the teachers' guide tell you about the planned result of this lesson?

     "Does the student explain that God is wrathful and will severely punish those who disobey with eternal damnation?"
     "Does the student point out that Edwards feels that it is merely God's pleasure, a whim, or his mercy, that keeps sinners from immediate destruction?"
      "Make sure the students understand that they are expected to quote from the sermon to support their points.... You might want to preface the assignment with a discussion of the Old Testament God and how this deity differs from the New Testament God."[37]

Do you wonder, as I do, how most non-Christian teachers might follow the last suggestion? In a group discussion, which deity--the Indian or the Judeo-Christian--do you think students would agree to choose?

Keep in mind that Edward's message was never intended for today's elementary age children. Nor can it be understood by non-Christian adults who have never experienced God's mercy.[38]  It seems that the only logical reason for contrasting Edward's description of God with the idealized images of pagan gods would be to "challenge the students' fixed beliefs"--as Professor Benjamin Bloom proposed decades ago. Since few children know enough about God's love to counter the distortions, the educational outcome seems clear: the biblical God will lose the popularity contest.

3. BLEND NEW BELIEFS WITH SCIENCE TO ADD CREDIBILITY.  A touch of myth makes classroom science experiential, relevant and fun. For example, the elementary text, Floods and Droughts, animates ecology with all kinds of weather gods and earth-centered myths. The result is a subjective mix of reality and fantasy. Will children be able to distinguish between the two? Probably not, looking at the speedy rise of superstition and irrational fears.

In an article titled "On a New Vision of Science and Science Education," Jeffrey Kane, editor of Holistic Education Review, explains the "difference between the old and emerging paradigms of science." This change, which disturbs some of us, seems normal and necessary to him:

"a postcritical model of science is emerging--a model of science that mirrors... the principles that both shape and transcend empirical observation."[39]

What happens to the credibility of science when it has license to "transcend empirical observation?" What tools will our children use to stay grounded in reality and reason, when fact and science give way to myth and pseudo-science? The answers challenge today's parents to teach their children facts, observation, and genuine science. Our choices are to pursue truth--even when respected leaders follow deception.

Former Governor and Education Secretary Lamar Alexander, wrote a book titled Steps Along the Way: a Governor's Scrapbook. In it, Alexander makes a revealing statement, "The book that changed my thinking the most during the last ten year: A God Within by René Dubos."[40]  His admission begs the question, "Just what does Dubos believe?" The answer from Dubos's book displays the same pantheistic/monistic threads we saw in Robert Muller's writings:

"Both polytheism and monotheism are losing their ancient power... we may instead be moving to a higher level of religion. Science is presently evolving from the description of concrete objects and events to the study of relationships as observed in complex system. We may be about to recapture an experience of harmony, an intimation of the divine, from our scientific knowledge...."[41]

4. REDEFINE WORDS TO FIT THE NEW BELIEFS. Since the word truth is basic to biblical faith, its meaning must be changed--but not through straightforward redefining. A more subtle approach is simply to use it in a new context. The Truth about the Moon, a children's story which is part of a widely used science curriculum,[42]  tells how the sun and moon argued over who would shine at night and who would shine during the day. But what does this myth show children about the meaning of truth?

The Truth about Dragons, a politically correct story imbedded in a nationwide language arts curriculum, sounds as credible as an encyclopedia: "We know from ancient records that people in countries all over the world have been seeing dragons for at least 5,000 years.... Western Dragons are usually ugly, vicious, and extremely dangerous.... Eastern Dragons are beautiful, gentle and friendly..."[43]

Suggestions that demean Western ways and idealize Eastern views are shaping a new, planned, and politically correct set of prejudices. And, like truth, the words Eastern and Western have been cloaked with fresh meanings--cultural definitions that will help mold the envisioned world of the 21st century. Using the chart below, ponder the characteristics of the two opposing views of reality. Remember, it is written from a new-paradigm or globalist perspective. Discuss it with your children, because if they don't recognize the bias behind this type of teaching, they will probably believe the lie.

 WESTERN EXPRESSIONS

 EASTERN EXPRESSIONS

 Competition

 Cooperation

 Materialism

 Spirituality

 Violence

  Compassion

 Division

 Wholeness

 Dualism

 Monism

 War

 Peace

 Nationalism

 Globalism

 Reason or Logic

  Imagination

 Knowledge from others

 Wisdom from within

Since Christianity is equated with Western culture, this anti-Western view discredits traditional beliefs and values along with Western culture. The fact that Biblical faith may blossom in any culture--and that American greed and materialism flow from undisciplined human nature, not the biblical God--is ignored.

No culture has escaped the ravages of greed. Former symbols of materialism among American Indians were scalps and horses, not clothes and cars. Accumulation of slaves was a common practice around the world--including pre-Colombian North America and east Africa (where native slave traders sold their neighbors to foreign slave traders). Eastern or Asian history is no less bloody and cruel than Western history. These facts are ignored in today's quest for new ideals.

5. RE-WRITE HISTORY. According to America Will Be, when five Indian nations joined to form a single Iroquois nation, their joint rulers "brought an end to the wars and other fights." The inhuman cruelty of Iroquois aggression and inter-tribal warfare is never mentioned. Instead, the text leaves the impression that, from the 1400s, the Iroquois lived peaceful lives "based on sharing and cooperation."[44]  In Indians of the United States , respected historian, Clark Wissler, who has expressed deep appreciation for Indians, documents another side: The Iroquois "hated the Huron intensely, like brother against brother. After taking the first town, they massacred its entire population... It is believed that more than 10,000 Huron were killed."[45]  Of course, this information doesn't fit in the new paradigm.

6. PROVIDE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES THAT CONTRADICT OLD BELIEFS. Tammie Kanduch, a Montana mother, read a letter her fourth grader had brought from school. "Dear Parents," it began. "In your hands is the Student Guide to HONOR, an historical simulation we are using in your son or daughter's class.... Everyone... will become a member of the Am Acumwaaa, an imaginary tribe...They all will go on a STRAY, which is a time alone in the wilderness... They will struggle to prove to their tribe that they are worthy of being considered adults."

Would this "simulation of coming of age" be like the traditional Indian Spirit Quest? A family encyclopedia confirmed Tammie's concerns. Like the classroom STRAY, a Spirit Quest is an initiation into adulthood through a wilderness experience. It uses physical challenges and deprivation to alter a person's consciousness and introduce the young initiate to a personal spirit guide -- the ultimate goal of the traditional Indian Quest. That's a demonic spirit, she thought.

Could the course involve her son in spiritism? Tammie leafed through some of the lessons. Each role-playing exercise seemed designed to draw students into personal identification with Indian culture and pagan beliefs. One lesson introduced a mystical youth from the Modat Tribe, "known to have great shamans." Tammie read the opening story:

"You cannot figure out at first why he seems strange. Then you understand: he will not look you in the eyes. Something about him seems to say that he has secrets that you do not have.... As he slowly walks away, you decide to join him. Two days later you arrive at the opening to a deep canyon... Like a slowly rising mist you feel many spirits rising out of the canyon. Something seems to be calling you to visit this incredible place.... What happens to you is so lively and stimulating in the first days that you decide to stay the whole winter... ."

The assignment, which assumes that students are immediately drawn to the mysterious canyon, now encourages them to imagine the fun of occult experiences: "Write a long, detailed story of what happens during the time you are with this tribe."
How would this mystical exercise affect her son's understanding of truth? Would he want to learn the secrets hidden in the Indian boy? Would her biblical warnings seem too narrow? Deeply concerned, Tammie withdrew her son from the class.

7. IMMERSE STUDENTS IN ENTICING FORMS OF THE NEW BELIEFS. Multicultural arts, crafts, music and celebrations have become standard fare in our elementary schools. Children need to understand other cultures and religions, but when teachers tell their captive audience to make pagan masks, use them in ritual dances, sing prayers to Mother Earth, and invoke occult spirits, students are illegally "indoctrinated" with the global religion designed by contemporary change agents.

The new whole language or thematic learning immerses students in selected earth-centered cultures for months. Popular themes like ancient Egypt, Mediaeval Europe and Southwest Indians may determine the context for math, science, literature and other subjects for a whole semester. Every lesson must fit the theme and be relevant to the multicultural experience.

8. USE TARGET BELIEFS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS TRADITIONALLY ANSWERED BY FORMER BELIEFS. For example, the question, "What happens when we die?" has always been important to Christian families. The biblical answer is based on what Jesus accomplished for sinners by dying for the people He loved.[46]

Today's multicultural books give different answers. If You lived with Sioux Indians, published and distributed by Scholastic (same as the US publisher of the Harry Potter books), tells young readers that the "Sioux believed that after a man died, he would live with the spirits forever. He would go on doing the same things that he had done on earth."[47]

How do these answers fit into the old paradigm? How do they fit the new paradigm? How could they alter a student's understanding of truth?

In the Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, Louise Derman-Sparks writes that "Good stories capture the heart, mind, and imagination and are an important way to transmit values."

Nothing is more important to our children's future than the beliefs and values transmitted to them. Which paradigm will they choose? Unless parents consciously and conscientiously transmit biblical beliefs and values, most children will drift with their peers into the new paradigm--and the old values may never again make sense to them.[48] 

9. DEMAND "PURITY". With America's growing acceptance of the new-paradigm comes a decreasing tolerance for the old-paradigm biblical beliefs. When a Wiccan member of the editorial staff at Los Altos High School in California wrote a promotional article about witchcraft based on interviews with other Wiccan students,[49]  a Christian editor asked if he could write about Young Life, a Christian group active on their campus. "No," was the response, "because witchcraft is underexposed in our society and Christianity is overexposed. In other words, witches could give public testimonies about the benefits of their religion, but Christians were no longer allowed to express their faith and testimonies.

Regardless of the brainwashing techniques, keep remembering that the battle for the minds of our children is spiritual warfare, not an ethnic struggle. God doesn't prefer Caucasians over Indians; nor are Europeans inherently less prone to violence than Asians or Africans. Without Christ and the wise guidelines He offers, all people are vulnerable to deception and drift naturally toward spiritual forces that promise power without accountability and peace apart from God.

America's spiritual shift comes as no surprise. Always in the past, when God's people rejected truth, they drifted back to earth-centered religions. As humanity once again pits its puny knowledge and strength against the wisdom and power of God, the world follows the same old pattern. Humanism is merely a downward step on the staircase from Biblical truth to pagan deception, depravity and despair.

How to resist classroom indoctrination

 Monica Grenwich, a perceptive Michigan home-schooler has noticed that most teens seem to flow with the new teaching. "Hardly any believe in our God," she says. "Some believe in 'a higher being,' but not the God of the Bible. For all they know it could be in the hairspray they use every morning. Others have no idea what they believe. They don't believe in anything really. Except their own strength. If parents of teens don't tell their kids about God, no one will. It isn't allowed in school. They won't go to church."

Monica is right. The greatest challenge facing parents today is training their children to be overcomers in a world that mocks their beliefs. To stay spiritually safe and alert to deception, they need to....

* KNOW THE TRUE GOD. When children know God as He has revealed Himself in His Word, they will recognize the seductive counterfeits. Notice in the chart showing God's armor, that the main truth we need to "put on" is the truth about God. To do this, memorize the Scriptures that reveal His character, and use them to counter the deceptions of the enemy.

* KNOW HISTORY'S LESSONS. Historical and archeological records show that pagan cultures have always been tormented by wars, disease, droughts and famine. Usually that list included savage torture, mutilation and human sacrifice. The longing for peace expressed in many pagan myths is an illusion. No pagan hope can offset the horrendous consequences of dealing with demons.

* SHARE GOD'S LOVE WITH EVERYONE. God's way to multicultural understanding and global unity is essential today. He cares for people in every culture, longs to set them free, and wants to love them through us.

* DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR FAITH. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:7) That sounds exclusive to some, but His loving invitation includes everyone.

* REMEMBER THAT GOD IS FAR GREATER! By ourselves we cannot resist "the devil's schemes," but in Christ we are "more than conquerors." Thanks be to God who leads us in His triumph! (1 John 4:4, Romans 8:37)

* PRAY. Only God can slow the massive international movement toward conformity to globalist beliefs and values through educational restructuring. In a nation that has traded truth and reality for an unbiblical quest for tolerance and unity, Christians are called to remain faithful, prayerful and hopeful in Christ, who offers genuine love and unity.

* WEAR THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD--a set of strategic truths that exposes and counters every deception. When we "put on the whole armor," God fills us with His life even as He covers us.[50]  Before studying the chart below, read the instructions given in Ephesians 6:10-17. Notice that our real enemy is the spiritual hierarchy of occult forces, not globalist educators or well-meaning teachers. Only God's power and protection will enable our children to resist and triumph.

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Notes:
1. From promotional brochure for summer course for educators titled Teaching, Learning and Communicating in a Global
Society: A Leadership Training for Transforming Education sponsored by The Institute for Educational Studies (TIES). Phil
Gang is the Founding Director of TIES and Executive Director of Global Alliance for Transforming Education (GATE).

2. Kevin McCullen, “Expert on spiritual beliefs of Indians capitalizes on a prophecy,” in Rocky Mountain News, August 23, 1992.

3. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (New York: HarperCollins, 1932), P. 52.

4. Article 13, WCEFA World Declaration, p. 3. Cited by Patrick James in “America 2000/Goals 2000, Citizens for Academic
Excellence” (P.O. Box 1164, Moline, IL 61265), P. 151.

5. USCEFA-I: Designing Education for the 21st Century: Access and Reform, pp. 5-6. Cited by Patrick James, “America 2000/-
Goals 2000,” p. 151.

6. Patrick James, p.25.
7. John R. Champlin, “Leadership: A Change Agents View,” in Quality Outcomes-Driven Education, Journal of the National
Center for Outcome Based Education, February 1994, pp. 15-16.
8. Ibid.
9. Lee Droegemueller, Commissioner of Education, “Assessment! Kansas Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA),” Kansas State
Board of Education, January 1992.
10. Spaceship Earth: Our Global Environment, a project of the American Forum for Global Education (New York). Contributors
include Ted Turner’s Better World Society; Gala Corporation, and the National Wildlife Federation.
11. World Goodwill Newsletter, 1993, No. 1.
12. C. William Smith, “God’s Plan in America. “ Quoted from a copy of the original article written in New Orleans, for an unknown
publication.
13. Robert Muller, New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality (Garden City, NY~ Image Books, 1984), p. 37.
14. Most of the following illustrations were reported to me by parents whose children participated in the classroom activities or
assignments. Some parents asked to remain anonymous.
15. After the guided journey, the taped instructions continued: "...write down your journey while it is still fresh in your mind. Let your first line begin where you were poised at the edge of the opening waiting to jump in. Move through the whole adventure again as your write. . . . Enjoy the telling as much as the adventure itself. For writing too is journey. “ From “A Journey Beneath Your Feet,” in READ (Deiran, NJ: Weekly Reader Corporation).
16. Dan Dekock, Honor—A Simulation of Coming of Age (Lakeside, CA: Interaction Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 46.
17. “Fun with Chinese Horoscopes,” in Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1992. A used portion of the assignment was sent to me by a
parent.
18. Vincent Rogers, ed., Teaching Social Studies: Portraits from the Classroom (National Council for the Social Studies Bulletin, No.
82), p. 20.
19. These occult practices were taught to seniors in preparation for a Mountain View High School graduation celebration. For several  years, more occult practices have been added. These practices are also taught through a growing assortment of multicultural textbooks and programs used in classrooms across the country, such as Native American Crafts Workshop, by Bonnie Bernstein and Leigh Blair, Ethnic Celebrations Around the World, by Nancy Everix, and Anti-Bias Curriculum, by Louise Derman-Sparks.

20. “Look Into My Crystal Ball,” in 101 Ways to Learn Vocabulary. This portion of the curriculum was sent by a parent in Texas.

21. Reported by a teacher in a public elementary school in San Jose, CA.

22. A detailed written report was sent by a participating student’s mother.

23. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979), pp. 62, 123-24.

24. From a copy of the original program.

25. Louise Derman-Sparks, Anti-Bias Curriculum (Washington D. C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1989),
p. 92.

26. God withdraws His protection: Numbers 14:9; Micah 1:11; Deuteronomy 8:6-20; 31:17; Ezra 8:22; 1 Corinthians 10:1-11.

27. Sun Bear, The Path of Power (Spokane, WA: Bear Thbe Publishing, 1983), pp. 244-45.

28. Starhawk, p. 23.

29. Sexuality and Man, a collection of articles written and compiled by Lester Kirkendall and other SIECUS board members.

30. Huxley, p. 28.

31. Richard W. Paul, “Moral Education in the Life of the School,” in Educational Leadership, May 1988, p. 11.

32. Ibid., p. 18.

33. From Sea to Shining Sea, Teacher’s Edition (New York: Houghton-
Mifihin, 1991), p. 79.

34. Ibid.

35. America Will Be (New York: Houghton-Mifihin, 1991), pp. 185-86.

36. The Original Land, Unit One of McDougal Literature (McDougal, Littel & Co., 1989), p. 24.

37. Ibid.
38. Read 1 Corinthians 1:18—2:14.
39. Jeffrey Kane, “On a New Vision of Science and Science Education,” in Holistic Education Review, Fall 1992, p. 2.
40. Lamar Alexander, Steps Along the Way: A Governor’s Scrapbook (Nashvffle: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), p. 85.
41. René Dubos, A God Within: A Positive Approach to Man’s Future as Part of the Natural World (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,
1972), pp. 42-43.
42. Bess Clayton, The Truth About the Moon (Boston: Houghton-Muffin, 1983).
43. Rhoda Blumberg, The Truth About Dragons (D. C. Heaths & Co., 1989).
44. America Will Be, p. 98.
45. Clark Wissler, Indians of the United States (New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1966), pp. 131-32.

46. See John 10:10; 3:16; Romans 3:23,24; 5:8; 6:23; John 1:12; 3:1-8; Ephesians 2:8,9.

47. Ann McGovern, If You Lived with the Sioux Indians (New York: Scholastic Inc., 1974), p. 44.

48. See 2 Corinthians 4:4.

49. Leah Mowery, “Mystical Misconceptions Haunt Students," in The Talon, June 7, 1991.

50. See also Romans 13:14; John 14:20.