Homeheading | Lesson 1, Part 1

Greetings MOL Family!

Today we will begin a new series! In this class, we’re studying what we call The Home Training Plan: the utilization of homes for the training of students. This involves, of course, a study of homes in general; the work of parents, and the relation of parents and children, teachers and students…

The Home Training Plan

But these are vast subjects, and in these few classes we’ll not attempt to cover all that. Rather, we will focus on the plan of training students, as members of the home; instead of in large dormitories, or instead of their simply occupying rooms somewhere and coming to class.

In our work, the training home (as we speak of it), it is basic to our total plan. In today’s class we will understand why we use this plan. There’s always a reason, or should always be a reason for doing anything, shouldn’t there? This plan is not a plan that somebody thought up. It is not peculiar to any institution. This plan is as old as the world.

And when I say that, let me also hasten to add that there are many adaptations and applications of the plan.

In Ministry of Healing, one sentence:

He who made us ordained that we should be associated in families. – Ministry of Healing, pg. 203

Who is that, the One that made us? God; and He ordained, that is He arranged, He planned, He purposed that we should be associated in what? — In families. This is His plan, the family plan. So, it originated with God.

In the book Education, the very first sentence in this chapter on the education of Israel:

The system of education established in Eden centered in the family. – Education, pg. 33

Now, when we think of Eden, we think of what part of the history of the world? — The beginning. This is the beginning. This is the pattern. Was Eden a school? Yes, and the system of education established in Eden centered not in a classroom, not in a building, not in some big assembly. But it centered where? — In the family.

The system of education established in Eden centered in the family. Adam was ‘the son of God’ (Luke 3:38), and it was from their Father that the children of the Highest received instruction. Theirs, in a sense, was a family school. – Ibid

Who were the students in that school? — Adam and Eve. Who was the teacher? — God. Now when you turn to the 3rd chapter of Luke, you find a very interesting statement. This is tracing the genealogy of Jesus back through the various generations, on back through David and Abraham and Noah, and finally it comes to Adam. And whereas it speaks of Seth as the son of Adam, notice the last line of this 3rd chapter of Luke, when it has traced the human line back through, as I say, David, and Abraham, and Noah, and finally back to Seth, it says:

…which was the son of Adam [And what is the next line?] which was the son of God. – Luke 3:38

Adam was God’s son, and God had a family school in Eden. Adam and Eve were the first parents, so that was the first training home.

Dear Homeheads, and those who are in training for this line of ministry, what greater inspiration could we have, you and I, than to be following in the footsteps of God, in seeking to share with others that which Heaven has shared with us?

Now, back to Education, page 33: First, before we leave the Garden of Eden, let’s go to page 21 of Education. Notice something about this garden school, this Garden of Eden. We’ll begin with page 20, first paragraph:

The system of education instituted at the beginning of the world was to be [What?] a model… – Education, pg. 20

It is to be a what? — A model. What is a model? Something, in this case, to pattern after.

The system of education instituted at the beginning of the world was to be a model for man throughout all aftertime. – Ibid

So today, the Garden of Eden is speaking to us after 6,000 years, telling us how to carry on a family school.

The system of education instituted at the beginning of the world was to be a model for man throughout all aftertime. As an illustration of its principles a model school was established in Eden, the home of our first parents. The Garden of Eden was the schoolroom, nature was the lesson book, the Creator Himself was the instructor, and the parents of the human family were the students. – Ibid

So here we see that in God’s plan the home is a place to live and learn. That’s what a training home is. It’s a place to live and learn, not simply to live, not simply to reside, certainly not just to board. One of the saddest travesties I can think of is a training home degenerating into just a boarding house, a rooming house, a place where students sleep and eat. In fact, if that were to be the experience, I’d rather put them in big dormitories. No. A home is a place to live, not simply to board and living includes a great many activities, a place to live and learn.

Eden is called a what? What does the Bible speak of as Eden? What’s it called? — A garden, the Garden of Eden. Now, this is not accidental. God put the first training home in a what? — In a garden. Isn’t it a wonderful thing that we can approximate that location; that we can seek to get as close to it as possible? And a garden is a place to work and learn. So, in the garden home we live and learn, we work and learn.

Now, what does it say was the lesson book in this training school home? — Nature. Yes, nature was the lesson book. And what a beautiful lesson book it is. Every page is illustrated, pictures on every page. Students like that, don’t they? Yes, and teachers do to. And may I say right here at the beginning in our first class, you and I are challenged to find in the nature around us something more than merely some parsley on a plate to garnish a dish. We are to find in it a lesson book. That’s what we are to find.

The book Christ’s Object Lessons is a wonderful help in this. The early part of that book is filled with precious lessons from nature. And of course, these are to stimulate our minds to find still other lessons.

The book Education has some wonderful lessons from nature. Starting on page 113 and running over to 120, we have a whole chapter dealing with various lessons that may be drawn from nature. And some of the chapters that precede it are full of lessons.

So the Garden of Eden, as the object lesson of the home training plan, is located where? In a garden, that is right. This school, this home is located in a garden, and the garden furnished a place to learn. What else does the garden furnish? — A place to work; a place to learn. And, I may add, a place to enjoy. And in Eden there was nothing but a blend of this.

After sin came in, labor was attended with weariness. And this is all a part of God’s blessing and plan for us today. But in the original garden every moment was a delightful one.

Let’s read some from Education, page 33, again. We’ll notice that first paragraph:

The system of education established in Eden centered in the family. Adam was ‘the son of God,’ and it was from their Father that the children of the Highest received instruction. Theirs, in the truest sense, was a family school.

 

In the divine plan of education as adapted to man’s condition after the Fall, Christ stands as the representative of the Father, the connecting link between God and man; He is the great teacher of mankind. And He ordained that men and women would be [What?] His representatives. The family was the school, and the parents were the teachers. – Education, pg. 33

Let’s think of this little individual family, the father and mother and their children. The father and mother are what with reference to God? — His representatives. Isn’t it a wonderful thing, dear fathers and mothers, that every bit of authority you exercise is the authority of God? When you smile, the child is to get the reflection of the smile of God. When you are firm, the child is to get the picture of the strength and authority of God.

What about when you scold? Or is that something else? How often are we to scold? The prophet uses the word, “N-E-V-E-R.” And as a friend of mine says, “That is not very often.” Firmness? Yes. Sternness, even at times displeasure? Yes; but scolding? No. Irritation? No. All this is on the basic principle that leaders in the home, whether parents with their children or teachers with their students, are the representatives of Whom? — The representatives of God. This is the only way the little child knows God, through the father and mother.

And if you are homeheading very long, students will come into your home as a part of your household that do not know God. And the way they will get acquainted with God is by getting acquainted with you. What a privilege, but what an awesome responsibility. We might flee from it because we think, “Who is sufficient for these things.” But I want to tell you something, dear friends, if God has called you to that responsibility, and if He hasn’t don’t ever take it, but if He has, don’t run away from it.

Jonah tried to run away from a divine call, and you know where he landed. And he had a little prayer meeting down in that big stomach and got back on the path of duty. Now, as I say, never accept the homeheading responsibility of either your own children or anybody else’s, students young or old, unless you know that God has called you. If He has, then you are the representative of God, and He has promised to be with you.

The Divine Call

…Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power [All authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth [What’s the next word?] Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you [And now the last part] and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. – Matthew 28:19-20

Is He with you as you wake in the morning to help you plan the day? Is He with you as you gather your group in family worship? Is He with you at the meal table to guide in the conversation, to make it helpful and productive? Is He with you as you meet the emergencies as well as the routine problems of the day? Jesus and you are a team, teaching, teaching, teaching.

“Oh, but,” somebody says, “I am not a teacher, I am a homehead.” Well, if you’re a homehead, you’re a teacher. That’s what we are studying. And this type of education, God’s ideal education, centers not in the classroom, but in the home; and so you are basically, primarily and fundamentally a teacher.

And you say, “Well, what will I teach?” Well, I hope you’ll teach dish washing. I hope you’ll teach gardening. I hope you’ll teach bed making. I hope you’ll teach nutrition. I hope you’ll teach time planning. I hope you will teach how to get along with one another. I hope you will teach soul winning. And first of all, and most of all, and through it all, I hope you will teach fellowship with God, the sense of God’s presence, the actuality of God’s guidance in the daily experiences of life.

In fact, dear friends, in a properly run home, a student would receive a valuable education if that were all he got during his time there. Just to live in a well-organized, well-regulated, training homes is an experience in education, an experience in Christian life that is most valuable.

So, you are teachers. And as I said, if God has not called you to that, never accept the responsibility. Never accept homeheading for any other reason than the divine call. May I repeat that? Never accept homeheading for any other reason than the divine call. Then, as you meet problems, you can look up to God and say, “Lord, You called me. You gave me my commission, and You promised to stand by me, to be with me. And so, I know you will.”

We hope that you will join us next week, to understand God’s divine plan in Homeheading – Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then… 

-Continue on to the next study-

——-

The work of Elijah must take place now, to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus. As a Homehead, your role is very significant! Find out how you can become a “forerunner” in your home, through guidance from one of our CD series >> Learn More

_______
* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.