A Wrong Education by D. C. Barcock

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

A Wrong Education

By D. C. Barcock

The result of a wrong education has not had a greater effect upon any country in all the world, probably, than on dark Africa. It has left her with scarcely a ray of the true light.

To find the origin of this wrong education, and its baleful effects upon the natives of this great continent, we must go back to the early history of the settlement of this country. We can not, in this connection, take into consideration the names and the respective location of the sons of Ham, who was the son of Noah, but we may see what their condition must have been, as they migrated southward from Egypt, and are now to be found in every part of this vast domain.

Shortly after the death of Noah, the tower of Babel was built, and the confusion of tongues resulted. Here Nimrod established the capital of the first earthly government, after the pattern given by the great arch-deceiver, Lucifer. This kingdom reached the height of its glory in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. The city of Babylon became the great center of education for that time, but that education was not of the right kind. It also was planned by Satan. It had a semblance of a right education, but did not reveal the true God as he is, while, on the other hand, it bore the marks of an apostate power. I would be glad to draw here a contrast between the education of the Hebrews and that of Babylon, but space will not permit.

As Babylon became universal in her power, other kingdoms bowed at her feet. Her influence, both civil and religious, was felt everywhere. She was the model for all other governments. That same telling influence is felt to-day in every government on the face of the earth. Babylon’s ideas of God were pantheistic. In Eze. 31:1-8 the prophet of God announces to the king of Egypt that the king will become subject to the mighty monarch of Assyria. By that subjugation, Egypt imbibed all the Babylonian ideas of government, religion, and education.

For centuries Egypt was the gateway to this great continent. She also became the great center of education. The influence of this wrong education is felt in Africa to-day. A wrong conception of God—the prevailing idea that God is found in everything, animate and inanimate—has led on step by step, until every form of worship imaginable is seen. And this idea of the gods they retained, gradually dropping their literary attainments, as they migrated to the south. The awful results of a wrong education can not be sketched. Words can not describe the situation. The grandeur and greatness of Niagara can not be appreciated until one stands upon the very brink of that mighty cataract; neither can one realize the situation of Africa, until he faces personally its present condition. May we not expect that our young men and women, who are in training, who are preparing to give this last message of warning, who are not filled with pantheistic ideas and higher criticism, will place themselves on the altar for perishing souls in this dark continent?

I fear there is a wrong conception, on the part of some at least, of the preparation necessary to meet the demands of this dark field. We need thoroughly trained men and women for this work. The darker the soul, the greater the help needed. We need young men and women of tact and ability, ready to meet every emergency. Let it ever be remembered that our work is not to be patterned after a fallen world. The light shining from Eden should be brought into our school work in dark Africa. I have always believed that the commission given Adam, “Subdue the earth,” is applicable to us to-day. While we have but a short time in which to finish the work allotted us, I believe we should be as thorough in what we undertake, as if we expected the whole world to be made one grand Eden.

May the Lord help our young people to make full and complete consecration of soul, body, and spirit, and get ready for finishing the work.

D. C. BARCOCK.