Train Up a Child

A Word in Season: Messages by R.J. Rushdoony on the Faith for All of Life · May 19, 2026 · 2m

When Ben-hadad besieged Samaria, his demand for Ahab’s gold and silver aimed to cripple Israel’s strength, and his demand for the king’s wives intended to humiliate him but his greatest weapon was the demand for Israel’s children, who would be taken, re-educated in an alien faith, and returned as servants of a foreign power. This strategy has been repeated throughout history, from ancient empires to modern Prussia, whose architects of state schooling like James G. Carter and Horace Mann’s associates openly saw state-controlled education as a means of people-control. By taking the child from…