Q&A with Michael Abbott, Jr.
Author of "Entitled to Slavery: A Blueprint for Breaking the Chains that Threaten American Exceptionalism"
The title of your new book is quite provocative. Tell us what you mean by “Entitled to slavery.”
A: When a culture turns its back on the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is entitled to return to the default human condition. History shows every advanced society progressing through the following nine stages: bondage…to great spiritual faith…to courage…to liberty…to abundance…to selfishness…to complacency…to apathy…to dependence… and tragically back into slavery. The only doctrine that has ever disrupted this default human condition has been the enlightened Gospel of Jesus Christ, the same doctrine from which our culture is hastily running away. If we truly want to discuss an entitlement mentality, this is the appropriate starting point from which we must begin.
Q: You are a strong proponent for homeschooling. What led you to conclude that was the best course for your children?
A: Americans have spent the last five decades trusting that it is in the best interests of children to obediently usher them off to government instructional facilities that openly reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, refuse to provide a basic understanding of financial literacy, and fail to instruct the merits of civic responsibility. These facilities do not ascribe to an absolute standard of morality and they generally avoid disciplining students out of fear of legal reprisal. An increasing number are beginning to subvert classical academic curricula in order to exaggerate the importance of sexual preference, a matter that is well outside the scope of any academic curriculum. Plain and simple, these institutions are not preparing children for the trials and tribulations of adulthood.
Q: You say that parents lose certain rights simply by sending their child to a public school. Please explain.
A: In 2001, a California school district elected to survey elementary school students on highly-charged sexual themes, a situation that triggered a lawsuit from a group of outraged parents. Here are a couple of excerpts from the legal opinion of the Ninth Circuit Court following this episode:
There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children. Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed. [Parents] have no constitutional right . . . to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise. Once parents make the choice as to which school their children will attend, their fundamental right to control the education of their children is…substantially diminished.
Q: One of the chapters is called A Shameless, Parental Dereliction of Duty. What are you referring to?
A: Every parent wants what’s best for their children. Conforming to the ways of the world, however, has led to the construction of what I label the four pillars of modern parenting. The first of these is the promotion of poverty. How can indebting young adults to the tune of $200,000 for a college degree possibly be in their best interests? The second is the outsourcing of supervision. The television, tablet, and smart phone open up a world of information, but without any controls, they function as virtual pacifiers for our young children. The third is the rejection of work, despite the fact that work is the very prerequisite for attaining independence! The final pillar is the suppression of discipline, a tool of correction that has become misconstrued as a form capital punishment. Together, they provide the perfect recipe for the rearing of children who are totally dependent and directionless as they enter adulthood.
A: When a culture turns its back on the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is entitled to return to the default human condition. History shows every advanced society progressing through the following nine stages: bondage…to great spiritual faith…to courage…to liberty…to abundance…to selfishness…to complacency…to apathy…to dependence… and tragically back into slavery. The only doctrine that has ever disrupted this default human condition has been the enlightened Gospel of Jesus Christ, the same doctrine from which our culture is hastily running away. If we truly want to discuss an entitlement mentality, this is the appropriate starting point from which we must begin.
Q: You are a strong proponent for homeschooling. What led you to conclude that was the best course for your children?
A: Americans have spent the last five decades trusting that it is in the best interests of children to obediently usher them off to government instructional facilities that openly reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, refuse to provide a basic understanding of financial literacy, and fail to instruct the merits of civic responsibility. These facilities do not ascribe to an absolute standard of morality and they generally avoid disciplining students out of fear of legal reprisal. An increasing number are beginning to subvert classical academic curricula in order to exaggerate the importance of sexual preference, a matter that is well outside the scope of any academic curriculum. Plain and simple, these institutions are not preparing children for the trials and tribulations of adulthood.
Q: You say that parents lose certain rights simply by sending their child to a public school. Please explain.
A: In 2001, a California school district elected to survey elementary school students on highly-charged sexual themes, a situation that triggered a lawsuit from a group of outraged parents. Here are a couple of excerpts from the legal opinion of the Ninth Circuit Court following this episode:
There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children. Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed. [Parents] have no constitutional right . . . to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise. Once parents make the choice as to which school their children will attend, their fundamental right to control the education of their children is…substantially diminished.
Q: One of the chapters is called A Shameless, Parental Dereliction of Duty. What are you referring to?
A: Every parent wants what’s best for their children. Conforming to the ways of the world, however, has led to the construction of what I label the four pillars of modern parenting. The first of these is the promotion of poverty. How can indebting young adults to the tune of $200,000 for a college degree possibly be in their best interests? The second is the outsourcing of supervision. The television, tablet, and smart phone open up a world of information, but without any controls, they function as virtual pacifiers for our young children. The third is the rejection of work, despite the fact that work is the very prerequisite for attaining independence! The final pillar is the suppression of discipline, a tool of correction that has become misconstrued as a form capital punishment. Together, they provide the perfect recipe for the rearing of children who are totally dependent and directionless as they enter adulthood.
Q: You mention four irreconcilable differences between the core beliefs of the progressive and the teachings of Jesus Christ. What are those?
A: Progressives truly believe we can perfect human nature if only everyone would ascribe and commit to collectively achieving social justice. This violates the concept of original sin. Second, progressives require that faith and belief be redirected away from their traditional sources in favor of allegiance to an unprecedented pursuit of utopia. Can man really create heaven on earth? Third, progressives possess a rigid faith in their ability to control the outside environment. Remember the former President’s claim to control the rising sea levels? Finally, progressives use people as a means to an end. Remember the Project Veritas investigation where the field director of a progressive front group confessed that the AFL-CIO uses homeless people to incite violence at Republican campaign events? I dedicate the entire second chapter of my book to explaining how progressivism is completely antithetical to Christianity. We need to learn how to articulate these Scriptural departures effectively.
Q: Do you believe the culture drives the church or does the church drive the culture?
A: Was the Bible abandoned from the public-school system before or after it was abandoned from the American household? Which came first, the homosexual pastor, or the gay marriage Supreme Court decision? The emergent, seeker-driven, “cheap grace” church model, or our national pursuit of an open border policy, one that literally asks non-citizens to make no alterations to their lifestyle whatsoever? In each instance, it was the behavior experienced in the church that transpired long before the detrimental cultural progression. Without question, it is the church that drives the culture; thus, when the church cannot stomach the full Gospel of Jesus Christ, one that includes repentance and even suffering, is it any wonder the culture becomes downright intolerant of the faith as well?
Q: What do you see are some of the solutions to our society’s problems or are we too far gone?
A: We are most certainly not too far gone. We need to find a way to cut the circulation from the wisdom of the world. Progressives have infiltrated the medium of television to portray the conditions most favorable to their ideology. Without the TV, our nation would never have embraced gay marriage or gender dysphoria. We’d be far less likely to glorify adultery, and we would no longer be desensitized to violence. There is great wisdom in simplicity. Do you have any idea how devastating the action of turning off the television would be to the progressive? The solutions are hiding in plain sight…there is remarkable reason for optimism. Americans have no idea just how close we are to revival in this country!
Q: When Americans think of the political party that embraces science, they typically think of the Democrat party. You really derail this narrative in your book.
A: Let me use the university network to highlight an example of an inconsistency with this perspective. The current application for admission at the University of California features six different options for a candidate’s gender. Think of that: a state university formally rejecting biological science…on its application for admission into the College of Biological Sciences. We need to stop categorizing Americans as either Republicans or Democrats. There are Americans that hold a Biblical worldview, and Americans who hold a secular humanist, or humanist, worldview.
Q: Which two political issues best exemplify man’s attempt to usurp the divine rights of God?
A: Abortion and the minimum wage. Abortion is built upon the belief that man – not God –is the author, creator, and giver of life. Retaining the right to terminate life at any point, for any reason, bestows the characteristics of an infallible God upon the shoulders of tragically fallible man. The minimum wage destroys the right to liberty, another God-given right. It essentially forbids two parties from reaching any labor agreement below an arbitrary floor of compensation, violating the liberty of both parties. If we accept the premise that the minimum wage is a civil right, then we have unwillingly woven flexibility into the very fabric of what we consider to be our basic human rights. Abortion is an assault on life, while the minimum wage is an assault on liberty. Since God is the giver of these rights, both political issues are an assault on our Creator!
A: Progressives truly believe we can perfect human nature if only everyone would ascribe and commit to collectively achieving social justice. This violates the concept of original sin. Second, progressives require that faith and belief be redirected away from their traditional sources in favor of allegiance to an unprecedented pursuit of utopia. Can man really create heaven on earth? Third, progressives possess a rigid faith in their ability to control the outside environment. Remember the former President’s claim to control the rising sea levels? Finally, progressives use people as a means to an end. Remember the Project Veritas investigation where the field director of a progressive front group confessed that the AFL-CIO uses homeless people to incite violence at Republican campaign events? I dedicate the entire second chapter of my book to explaining how progressivism is completely antithetical to Christianity. We need to learn how to articulate these Scriptural departures effectively.
Q: Do you believe the culture drives the church or does the church drive the culture?
A: Was the Bible abandoned from the public-school system before or after it was abandoned from the American household? Which came first, the homosexual pastor, or the gay marriage Supreme Court decision? The emergent, seeker-driven, “cheap grace” church model, or our national pursuit of an open border policy, one that literally asks non-citizens to make no alterations to their lifestyle whatsoever? In each instance, it was the behavior experienced in the church that transpired long before the detrimental cultural progression. Without question, it is the church that drives the culture; thus, when the church cannot stomach the full Gospel of Jesus Christ, one that includes repentance and even suffering, is it any wonder the culture becomes downright intolerant of the faith as well?
Q: What do you see are some of the solutions to our society’s problems or are we too far gone?
A: We are most certainly not too far gone. We need to find a way to cut the circulation from the wisdom of the world. Progressives have infiltrated the medium of television to portray the conditions most favorable to their ideology. Without the TV, our nation would never have embraced gay marriage or gender dysphoria. We’d be far less likely to glorify adultery, and we would no longer be desensitized to violence. There is great wisdom in simplicity. Do you have any idea how devastating the action of turning off the television would be to the progressive? The solutions are hiding in plain sight…there is remarkable reason for optimism. Americans have no idea just how close we are to revival in this country!
Q: When Americans think of the political party that embraces science, they typically think of the Democrat party. You really derail this narrative in your book.
A: Let me use the university network to highlight an example of an inconsistency with this perspective. The current application for admission at the University of California features six different options for a candidate’s gender. Think of that: a state university formally rejecting biological science…on its application for admission into the College of Biological Sciences. We need to stop categorizing Americans as either Republicans or Democrats. There are Americans that hold a Biblical worldview, and Americans who hold a secular humanist, or humanist, worldview.
Q: Which two political issues best exemplify man’s attempt to usurp the divine rights of God?
A: Abortion and the minimum wage. Abortion is built upon the belief that man – not God –is the author, creator, and giver of life. Retaining the right to terminate life at any point, for any reason, bestows the characteristics of an infallible God upon the shoulders of tragically fallible man. The minimum wage destroys the right to liberty, another God-given right. It essentially forbids two parties from reaching any labor agreement below an arbitrary floor of compensation, violating the liberty of both parties. If we accept the premise that the minimum wage is a civil right, then we have unwillingly woven flexibility into the very fabric of what we consider to be our basic human rights. Abortion is an assault on life, while the minimum wage is an assault on liberty. Since God is the giver of these rights, both political issues are an assault on our Creator!
Official Press Release:
New book claims America is on a fast track back to slavery
For Immediate Release (Phoenix, AZ) – In his debut book, “Entitled to Slavery: A Blueprint for Breaking the Chains that Threaten American Exceptionalism,” (WND Books) writer and apologist Michael Abbott points out the destructive course that has felled societies throughout history. With detailed research and anecdotal evidence, Abbott makes the case that America is on that same course—unless Christians change their own trajectory and come to the rescue.
“History shows every advanced society progressing through the following nine stages: bondage…to great spiritual faith…to courage…to liberty…to abundance…to selfishness…to complacency…to apathy…to dependence… and tragically back into slavery,” says Abbott. “The only doctrine that has ever disrupted this default human condition has been the enlightened Gospel of Jesus Christ, the same doctrine from which our culture is hastily running away.”
Abbott hits every political hot button issue in “Entitled to Slavery” including how the public education system is taking away parents rights and Common Core is modeled after the regimes of Mao and Lenin (Abbott is a strong home school advocate); how progressivism contradicts Christianity; and how abortion and the minimum wage are usurping the divine rights of God, among other topics. Abbott makes no distinctions between the political parties, but instead places the brunt of the responsibility of the downward spiral of the culture squarely on the shoulders of Christians.
“We need to stop categorizing Americans as either Republicans or Democrats,” says Abbott. “There are Americans that hold a Biblical worldview, and Americans who hold a secular humanist, or humanist, worldview. Was the Bible abandoned from the public-school system before or after it was abandoned from the American household? Which came first, the homosexual pastor, or the gay marriage Supreme Court decision? In each instance, it was the behavior experienced in the church that transpired long before the detrimental cultural progression. Without question, it is the church that drives the culture; thus, when the church cannot stomach the full Gospel of Jesus Christ, one that includes repentance and even suffering, is it any wonder the culture becomes downright intolerant of the faith as well?”
About Michael Abbott:
Michael Abbott is a Christian philosopher, author, and apologist. He has spent 15 years in the banking industry, receiving numerous accolades for his achievements from the FDIC. His articles have appeared on WorldNetDaily.com as well as The New Americana website. He and his wife, Kristina, are home school advocates. He blogs about current events through a Biblical lens at www.AbbottSpeaks.com.
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“History shows every advanced society progressing through the following nine stages: bondage…to great spiritual faith…to courage…to liberty…to abundance…to selfishness…to complacency…to apathy…to dependence… and tragically back into slavery,” says Abbott. “The only doctrine that has ever disrupted this default human condition has been the enlightened Gospel of Jesus Christ, the same doctrine from which our culture is hastily running away.”
Abbott hits every political hot button issue in “Entitled to Slavery” including how the public education system is taking away parents rights and Common Core is modeled after the regimes of Mao and Lenin (Abbott is a strong home school advocate); how progressivism contradicts Christianity; and how abortion and the minimum wage are usurping the divine rights of God, among other topics. Abbott makes no distinctions between the political parties, but instead places the brunt of the responsibility of the downward spiral of the culture squarely on the shoulders of Christians.
“We need to stop categorizing Americans as either Republicans or Democrats,” says Abbott. “There are Americans that hold a Biblical worldview, and Americans who hold a secular humanist, or humanist, worldview. Was the Bible abandoned from the public-school system before or after it was abandoned from the American household? Which came first, the homosexual pastor, or the gay marriage Supreme Court decision? In each instance, it was the behavior experienced in the church that transpired long before the detrimental cultural progression. Without question, it is the church that drives the culture; thus, when the church cannot stomach the full Gospel of Jesus Christ, one that includes repentance and even suffering, is it any wonder the culture becomes downright intolerant of the faith as well?”
About Michael Abbott:
Michael Abbott is a Christian philosopher, author, and apologist. He has spent 15 years in the banking industry, receiving numerous accolades for his achievements from the FDIC. His articles have appeared on WorldNetDaily.com as well as The New Americana website. He and his wife, Kristina, are home school advocates. He blogs about current events through a Biblical lens at www.AbbottSpeaks.com.
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