Recent Articles Blog A blog from Take Back the Land http://takebacktheland.com/ Warfare Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800 http://takebacktheland.com/warfare http://takebacktheland.com/warfare Rick, we have been crazy here and we had not yet been able to read the book. However, today I started it with 6 of our children. It took us an hour and a half to get through the first chapter! Not because I can't read, but because we stopped so many times to discuss things! I was so jazzed and can't wait to read more! I shared what had happened with other friends and they have both asked to read the book when I'm finished. The one would love to come to the conference so we'll be praying for funding for their family. I just wanted to thank you for writing this to the kids! I thought I was excited before, and now I'm even more excited.
God Bless,
Ruth 

]]> New Book and Conference Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800 http://takebacktheland.com/ http://takebacktheland.com/ Take Back the Land. I hope God blesses the book and opens many hearts to it. Praying for our first conference in California in February. I think this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’m asking the Lord to let me live and work to age 100. I’ll retire when I expire.

]]> What Josiah Would Tell Us Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800 http://takebacktheland.com/what-josiah-would-tell-us http://takebacktheland.com/what-josiah-would-tell-us He was the leader of a nation at 8 years old.  His administration was characterized by a fear of God that not only drove his personal life but transformed the nation under his rule.  The lessons to be learned from his life are so important that God chose to record them twice in Scripture.  His name was Josiah and you can read about him in II Kings 22 and II Chronicles 34.  Josiah was one of the most godly kings Israel ever had the blessing of knowing.  His story has some lessons that would serve us well today.
 
If godly Josiah could come back from the grave and speak to us today, what would he have to say to us?  Of course we can only speculate, but some things about his example are so clear that I’ll risk drawing some conclusions.
 
First, I think Josiah would tell us that we can rise above the failures of previous generations.  Josiah was the son of Amon and the grandson of Manasseh, two of the most rotten eggs ever to disgrace a throne.  Manasseh repented of his abominations late in life but Amon did not.  He was so vile that God tolerated him as king of Israel for only two years before he was assassinated by his own servants.  Yet Josiah turned to God with his whole heart at age 16 and never turned away.
 
That’s good news to the young people in our homes today.  For a couple of generations, the love of the American church has waxed cold and we have become very much like the pagan society around us.  Our cultural institutions have become contaminated with godless philosophies and the church has largely been silent.  Yet I have watched the home schooling movement grow from a tiny smattering of families across the country to the mega-movement it is thirty years later, and our kids are different.  They are often accused of not “fitting in,” and we should be thankful for that.  Followers fit in, leaders stand out.  Leaders are what we need if we would see revival in our day as Josiah did in his.
 
Josiah would tell us that people can take responsibility at a young age.  Today we’re used to seeing children remain childish into the season of life when they should be adults.  In early America, people were carving their homes out of a wilderness and raising their own children at an age when you and I were still in high school.   Now a  lot of people come home from college after graduation and let Mom and Dad pay their bills just as before.  Josiah would think this strange.  So would George Washington.  He had graduated from the university and was head surveyor for Culpepper County in Virginian when he was seventeen.
 
Josiah would tell us to remember our Creator in the days of our youth.  He set the example at 16 by seeking God for himself.  His faith was not that of his father.  His father was a notorious sinner.   But Josiah gave his heart to God with no fatherly example and surrounded by a society so backslidden that even the priests couldn’t lay their hands on a copy of Scripture.  Josiah would have little patience with teenagers who think they have nothing to do but play silly computer games.  He believed there was a holy God who expected his gift of life to be taken seriously.
 
I think Josiah would also tell our young people to take a bold stand for the one true God.  At age 20 Josiah went on a holy rampage against false worship.  He swept across the land like a tornado, destroying the high places of pagan worship, smashing the idols, grinding the pieces to powder.  He executed the priests of Baal and burned their bones on his abominable altars before reducing the altars to rubble.  He cleaned up Dodge.  There was no such thing as “pluralism” to Josiah.  There was one true God and he would tolerate no cheap imitations.  May God give our sons and daughters the wisdom to hold the modern worship of pluralism in contempt and stand strong for truth.
 
Josiah would tell us to restore real worship.  He was 26 when he ordered the rebuilding of the temple.  In the process, the lost Book of the Law was found and taken to the young king.  When Josiah read the Law, he evidently realized fully just how awful was the national sin of Israel and he tore his robes in anguish.  Then he had the Law read in the hearing of all the people, with special attention to the leadership.  The result was nationwide revival.  II Chronicles 34:33 tells us that Israel stayed true to God as long as Josiah lived.
 
Josiah would encourage our young people to embrace worthy traditions.  Some traditions are just long standing habits, but many have great value to succeeding generations.  Josiah revived the practice of the Passover, the celebration of Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  God had ordained that feast to remind the Israelites of the mighty works God had done for them as a nation.  Those who know the true history of America are aware that God worked mightily to bring our nation to birth, intervening many times in ways far too unlikely to be natural coincidence.  The fact that George Washington survived a battle with four bullet holes in his coat and bullet fragments in his hair is one example of many.  No wonder John Adams said that the 4th day of July should be celebrated as a sacred holiday.  Charles Darwin has taught us diligently that the new form of a thing is always an improvement, but Josiah would join our founding fathers in exhorting us to return to the old paths.
 
I think one lesson Josiah would drive home to the young people of today is that they should make every day count for eternity.  Josiah died in battle at the age of 39.  He had accomplished a remarkable work in the changes he had made in his country, but it came to an end unexpectedly early.  His early death reminds us that our time is limited.  Youth is no guarantee of time to waste.  I believe Josiah would say to our sons and daughters, “Start living your life NOW.  Take responsibility early.  Stop playing your way through life and get to work changing the world around you.  Your nation needs revival and that is your job, not somebody else’s.  Give your whole heart to God and others will be influenced by your example.  Live every day as if it were your last, because someday, and possibly much sooner than you think, it will be.
 
The only clear hope for America is growing up in our homes right now.  God grant that we are teaching our sons and daughters what Josiah would teach them:  Give it all to God.  Make a difference.  Make every moment bear fruit for eternity.  And when your time is up, go out fighting.

]]> The Third Joshua Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800 http://takebacktheland.com/the-third-joshua http://takebacktheland.com/the-third-joshua They called him Joshua.  He was a mighty man, a man of warfare. He was a leader, a man who ignited courage in the hearts of those who followed him and whose exploits in battle were legendary.  It was said that he had once called upon the very sun to stand still in order to give him enough hours of daylight to finish off the five kings of the Amorites.  And the sun had obeyed.  The heavens had rained huge hailstones that had killed more enemy soldiers than the swords and arrows of the Israelites.  The name of Joshua struck fear into the hearts of the enemies of God.
 
It had not been Joshua who had led Israel out of Egypt.  That leader was Moses, whom Joshua served and under whom he had studied the arts of war and leadership.  But young Joshua had learned well and when he arrived at the full vigor of mature manhood he was ready to take on the mantle Moses cast down.  Well seasoned in battle, bronzed by the sun and leather tough from long exposure to danger, difficulty and the elements of harsh nature, Joshua was a man through and through.  Other men looked to him for strength and direction when times were tough.  He was that kind of a man, a man called by God to lead other men.  And God had prepared him for that task.  Joshua would finish the job that Moses had started.  He would lead God’s people across Jordan and home to the Promised Land.
 
We called him Joshua.  He was born on a summer day in 1979, the fourth son born to me and my wife.  Josh was a cranky baby but he quickly grew into a round-faced little cherub who hardly knew how to make any expression besides a smile.  Everything was funny to little Joshua Andrew, even himself.  Not overly blessed with coordination, Josh was short on athletic ability but happy to play with his brothers and friends.  And even though he was sometimes laughed at for the awkward way he ran or his consistent misses when “at bat” in a game of kickball, nobody saw more humor in it than did Josh himself.  Josh laughed at everything, including Josh.
Josh grew from a cute little boy to a tall, gangly big boy and without bothering to notify anybody, a bright young man.  Everybody liked Josh.  He was a hard worker, a good sport, friendly and cheerful.  He worked for few months for a man who did lawn care, then started his own lawn care business.  At age 17 he was the owner of a pickup truck, some mowers, trimming machines, all the paraphernalia of lawn care.  He paid cash for everything he bought.  Another year or two, and he would realize his dream of building his own landscaping business.
 
But Josh didn’t get another year or two.  The month after Josh turned 17, I stood beside the girl of my dreams and heard a man tell our son, “I think you’ve got leukemia.”  A few months later Josh was dead.
 
Nobody can tell God his business and we were too overwhelmed to even try.  Of course we asked why.  Of course we grieved.  But through it all, we never experienced fear.  It was far too big for us to do anything about, so we just stumbled along and left the planning to God.
 
Our Josh never grew to mature manhood, but there was more man in him than a stranger might see.  He suffered and he grieved, but he saw himself in a win-win situation.  Either he would get well or he would get to heaven.  Caring friends stopped by hoping to be an encouragement to him, and went away encouraged themselves by his attitude.  He had plenty of low moments.  You can’t help that when you’re only 17 and you have to spend some long nights of pain staring at the ceiling and wondering whether you’re going to live or die.  But his testimony was clear and strong.  And after his battle was won, we heard testimonies of 15 or 16 people who received Christ as savior at least partly through the effect of his dying example.
 
Two things we learned from Josh.  First, that a young person can have a powerful influence on others despite his youth.  Second, that youth is no guarantee that we have a long time yet to develop and use that influence.
 
Which brings me to the third Joshua.  That’s what I call the young person growing up in your home right now.  Your son may not be named Joshua and your daughter certainly isn’t.  But I see them as Joshua, a member of the second generation of free believers.  It was my generation, the Moses generation that fought the legal battles and the social pressures of the 1980’s to give birth to the Christian home education movement.  Some of us suffered, some of us were persecuted.  There was a season when my children hid under their beds whenever there was a knock on the door during school hours.  And many others paid a higher price than we did.  We didn’t know it then, but it was God who was bringing about a mighty deliverance.  Standing on the shoulders of those who fought the battles for Christian schools in the 1960’s, the parents of the 1980’s won for themselves and their children the right to grow up outside the mediocre mainstream.
 
The Joshua at your house may or may not know the hardship and difficulty that others faced so that his parents could choose the mode of his education.  If he doesn’t, you should tell him.  You should drive it into his head and his heart, because the home education movement is the work of God.  Those who fought the early battles were led by God.  It’s his movement and it is just the beginning.
Moses passed from the scene and God told Joshua to arise and lead the people across the Jordan at last.  That land over in Canaan belonged to them, given to them when they were still in the loins of their father Abraham.  Their tribe had long been absent and in their absence the enemies of God had erected strongholds in God’s territory.  One generation led the nation out of slavery, another generation led them in a conquest of reclamation.
 
So it is with your young Joshua.  Our generation led the way out of a godless system of child training.  Their generation is now charged with crossing over and taking back God’s territory.  The enemy has raised up strongholds in American culture.  Pagan thought is deeply established in the family, the church, education, government, the media, the arts, the court system.  God’s calling for your Joshua is to take the battle to the enemy with weapons of warfare that are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.  Joshuas all over America must hear the trumpet’s call and rise up.  The battlefields are everywhere.  No one can fight on all of them, but all must fight on some of them.  God is calling the modern Joshua to mighty works for him.
 
My book, Take Back the Land was written for your Joshua.  Our Take Back the Land conference is for him and his parents and his siblings.  Like the rebuilders of Jerusalem’s wall, we fight by families.  Joshua may need further training, but he is not too young to be in the battle now.  It is our job as parents to make him fit to be a mighty man of valor.
 
My Joshua’s battle is over.  Your Joshua’s battle is just beginning.  May he fight bravely and well, and for the glory of the King.

]]> More Praise for Take Back the Landâ€"the book! Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/more-praise-for-take-back-the-land-the-book http://takebacktheland.com/more-praise-for-take-back-the-land-the-book “Take Back the Land is a call to young adults to get busy for the kingdom, to take the Word of God seriously and apply it in every area of life. Great exhortation to pray, seek wise counsel and act! Filled with ways that young adults can make an impact on the world that God created. Well done Mr. Boyer! Well done!” – Corey Cheney, Advertising Manager CHEC & Homeschool Update

]]> Education Expert Blumenfeld Endorses Take Back the Land! Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/education-expert-blumenfeld-endorses-take-back-the-land http://takebacktheland.com/education-expert-blumenfeld-endorses-take-back-the-land http://thenewamerican.com/opinion/sam-blumenfeld/9523-homeschoolers-take-back-the-land Homeschoolers: Take Back the Land! Rick and Marilyn Boyer are pioneer homeschoolers and Rick has written several books on the homeschool experience and has been a much-in-demand speaker at many homeschool conventions all across America. by Sam Blumenfeld

]]> I Didn’t Say It, But I Wish I Had Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/i-didn-t-say-it-but-i-wish-i-had http://takebacktheland.com/i-didn-t-say-it-but-i-wish-i-had Three great quotes from Thomas Jefferson.  God give us another leader with his wisdom SOON.

“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
― Thomas Jefferson

Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.”
― Thomas Jefferson

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”
― Thomas Jefferson

]]> Wise Words from Teddy Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/wise-words-from-teddy http://takebacktheland.com/wise-words-from-teddy “Patriotism is standing by the country, not standing by the president.” — Theodore Roosevelt Now is a time when standing by the country means NOT standing by the president. 

]]> Wise Words Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/wise-words http://takebacktheland.com/wise-words “The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.”
-Whitney Young

]]> Davy Crockett Had It Right Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/davy-crockett-had-it-right http://takebacktheland.com/davy-crockett-had-it-right Does the federal government have the right to use tax money for charitable purposes? Davy Crockett was a Congressman from Tennessee from 1826 to 1834. He spoke during debate over a proposal to appropriate federal funds for the relief of the widow of a distinguished Navy officer. This is what he said about the power of Congress to use government money for charity: “Mr. Speaker – I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.” The bill, which had seemed to have the support of nearly every Congressman present, went down to overwhelming defeat after Davy spoke. Read his entire speech athttp://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/ellis1.html

]]> The Meaning of Freedom Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/the-meaning-of-freedom http://takebacktheland.com/the-meaning-of-freedom Had to get this off my chest. A friend of mine on FB suggested that I “render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and stop whining about the government stealing your money.” This was my reply (I feel better now…):

I don’t think George Washington would have called it whining. The Founding Fathers went to war over a tax that was a tiny fraction of the 40-some % the average American is paying now. The difference between free men and socialists is the understanding that ALL MONEY DOES NOT BELONG TO THE GOVERNMENT. America is a republic and the government works for the people in a republic, not vice versa. Without economic freedom, all other freedom is meaningless. The government has today so overstepped its constitutional authority that between taxation and regulation, it has made it nearly impossible to run a business. I know, because I’ve run several. And if you are successful—if you render a service the public wants and create jobs for working people in the process—they punish you for doing so by charging you more in taxes. In 2008, the top 1% of income earners paid 38% of all income taxes. And the top 10% of earners paid 70%! The bottom 50% of earners paid only 3% of income taxes, and 49% of Americans paid no income taxes at all. Is that fair? Class warfare says yes—the rich have more, so they should pay more. That’s Marxism undiluted. It buys lots of votes, but it forgets the little detail that people get rich by being successful in business: i.e., providing a product or service that others need (that’s called serving others) and creating jobs for other working people. If you really think the rich are evil, try asking a poor person for a job next time you’re unemployed. Enjoy working gratis for the government from January to April next year friends, because that’s what your tax burden amounts to. Or, if you don’t want to continue living as a tax serf, stand up on your hind legs like patriots and free men and vote the Democrats and other socialists O.U.T.

]]> Birthday Thoughts for the Best Wife in the World Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/birthday-thoughts-for-the-best-wife-in-the-world http://takebacktheland.com/birthday-thoughts-for-the-best-wife-in-the-world Happy Birthday to “Mrs. Proverbs 31 on Steroids” | The Learning Parent Blog www.thelearningparentblog.com

]]> Salute to a Great Christian Warrior Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://takebacktheland.com/salute-to-a-great-christian-warrior http://takebacktheland.com/salute-to-a-great-christian-warrior Today marks the 2-year anniversary of the home-going of my best friend, Chris Klicka.  If you don’t know him, he was a lawyer for Home School Legal Defense Association, an author and a great speaker at homeschooling conventions.  He was a tenacious fighter for parents’ rights and educational freedom.  He was also a loving husband and dad to 7 kids, the youngest of whom is now 13.  Lift a prayer for his widow and children tonite and if you knew him, give thanks for his life and godly death.  Honor to whom honor is due.

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