Normally we think of the downtrodden as individuals who are forced by those in power to live in poverty. Many children today have been born into downtrodden families. If their parents are downtrodden, then can they expect to rise above the economics, educational and social levels of their family? Some do and some don’t. What usually happens is that the children of a downtrodden family become underdogs. Guess what? Society expects them to lose.

A report from Jim Petty, a preacher in South Africa, arrived recently. It said, “One of the former graduates from Umtali Bible School, Douglas Dabangana, was killed by the terrorists where he was preaching in Southwest Rhodesia, the last part of June. A group of terrorists tried to force him to drink beer, but he refused, saying he was a Christian and couldn’t. So they shot him right then, killing him.”

“So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforters; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforters” (Ecclesiastes 4:1). Do me a favor and read this passage again. Are you surprised to find this in the Bible? Sounds like today, doesn’t it? it is about the oppressed and the oppressor. Human nature hasn’t changed much. The world has always had its oppressors. And where there are oppressors there will be the oppressed. What are the oppressed doing in the above verse? They are shedding tears. Why? They had no comforters, but on the side of the oppressors there was power. Still the same.

The Tennesseean carried on its front page Friday this headline; “Tenn. approves Bible curriculum.” The state says it has developed a Bible curriculum that it hopes will avoid legal pitfalls. Beginning next fall, Tennessee high schools that want to offer “Bible for an elective social study credit will have a state approved guideline to do so. As expected, Hedy Weinberg, director of ACLU in Tennessee responded in somewhat of a suspicious and negative manner.

Some high schools in Tennessee already offer Bible as an elective and have their own curriculum. The problem I see with this new state curriculum comes from Kent Richards, Old Testament professor at Emory University, who assisted in developing Tennessee’s Bible guidelines, and who says that the teachers must not take the position “That the Bible is the only road to take.” Is Mr. Richards taking the position that the Islamic Koran is as good as the Bible? The Bible is the guide-the only guide for Christianity. The Koran rejects the Bible and Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Any teacher of the Bible is just one several guides to Christianity would be taking a false position. It doesn’t make sense to teach students the Bible, then turn around and tell them that there are many other reads to Christianity.

Way to go Massachusetts! You weren’t voting for the Republicans. You were voting against Obama’s destructive policies. You have lit the torch and it will be passed on to others. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If all of us will follow the example of Massachusetts, then we can take back our country.

Never has there been a time in which more Americans are alarmed about the future of our country.