Educational Philosophy

Torah versus Mishnah

When the Founder of the Global Revival Network Bible College attended college himself as a Theology Major at a major university in Indiana, he was astonished to find that in all the theology courses he took, not once was the Bible itself a required text. Instead, all of his books, instructors and courses centered around the opinions of man about God rather than God's opinions about man. This reverse orientation is best described by two Hebrew words, Torah and Mishnah. Torah is the Holy Scriptures, God's opinion about man. It is what Jesus focused His entire ministry upon and His knowledge of God's Holy Word allowed Him to trap the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees time and time again with trick questions that their Scriptural training had not covered. Why? Because they, like almost all seminaries in the world today, focus only on the opinions of men, the Mishnah , or Second Law. In fact, when most sermons today are delivered to their respective congregations, they include very little Torah, perhaps a single foundational Scriptural quote or two but much Mishnah, or the opinions of men. This reflects and echoes what they were taught in Seminary or Bible College. The Global Revival Network Bible College categorically rejects this philosophy and embraces a totally Torah-oriented approach to education. Given that at least 70% of the teachers, pastors and evangelists in American today have never read their Bible from cover to cover but only focused on certain Scriptures to support and embrace their denomination's doctrinal stances, we have chosen to make our SOLE and ONLY textbook the divinely inspired Word of God. We realize that this separates us from most of the seminaries and Bible colleges in the world today, and frankly, we are glad to say that it does. It is the Holy Word of God, not the relatively worthless opinions of men, that transforms lives, saves souls, heals bodies and delivers from the power of the evil one.

Accreditation

Because of our singular focus on the Word of God as our sole textbook, it would be difficult if not impossible for us to seek the normal accreditation that most educational institutions value. We realize that accreditation has its place in the educational world because the process seeks to ensure that a high standard of performance is guaranteed by the various granting agencies. However, it has been the experience of Dr. Young that an incompetent or unconcerned tenured faculty member can singlehandedly destroy the supposedly high standard that has been set in his or her classes, with few if any repercussions against the professor or the educational institution in which he or she teaches. Given all of this, we have chosen not to seek formal accreditation but rather to follow the pattern established by many of the early educational institutions in America such as Harvard, Yale and many other foundational universities when they were founded, to ACCREDIT THEMSELVES. When Harvard was founded, there were no accreditation agencies to whom they could go to seek approval. Instead, they established an INTERNAL COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE which created its own accreditation. Because our educational model is so radically different from almost all other seminaries and Bible colleges and because we simply refuse to compromise our educational philosophy we have no other choice but we are glad, not sad, about the decision.

Totally Modular Course Presentation

If you examine any of our online course syllabi, you will find that they are broken up into 10 class sessions. Because we are an ONLINE Bible College, we do not need a "brick and mortar" environment to deliver course content. This allows us to be a truly global Bible College, with students all across the world. Instead of a traditional classroom, where instructor and students are physically present, we connect educators with those being educated electronically. In other words, it is like taking ten mini-classes instead of a single class. And, because we can deliver course content one module at a time, IT ALLOWS US TO ASK FOR PAYMENT ONE MODULE OR CLASS SESSION AT A TIME, thus limiting the financial outlay any student has for a given class to small, affordable monetary amounts.

Modular Course Payment

A student can enroll in a single course, select one of the ten modular class sessions and then PAY FOR THAT SESSION ALONE, giving them access to the teaching materials for that class session. In this manner, a student may pay for a given class session one week, save up his or her money, and then pay for another class session a day, a week, a month or even a year later, based on their financial situation. In fact, if the student is enrolled in our unique Free-Lance student category, they may take ANY course module at ANY time. A Free-Lance student is enrolled at the Global Revival Network Bible College not necessarily to gain a degree but rather to gain knowledge and understanding. They may not be interested in all of the class topics for a given class, so they can simply pay for and view only those class sessions that interest them. Our Free-Lance status is very similar to a traditional audit student status, but modularized so that a student can take just those class modules that they want. And, should the Free-Lance student desire to gain course credit for that particular class, once they have paid for and viewed all of the ten class sessions for that course, they can request our comprehensive final exam for the course. If they pass the test with a grade of 70 or better, they automatically will receive academic credit for the complete course.

Restoration of the Complete Five-Fold Ministry

In the 1st Century, the Church was governed wisely and with integrity by men who had both the practical experience of walking with Jesus on a daily basis and the anointing and power to back up their decisions. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit but also sent Ananias and Sapphira into an early grave by that same power. Unfortunately, because of human nature, enforcement of a truly godly standard requires not only good intentions on the part of the enforcer but also an occasional show of force to bring the faithful who are considering being less than faithful behind closed doors into line. Sadly, as the Church moved further and further away from the integrity of the Word of God and more and more into the traditions of the Elders, both Apostolic and Prophetic anointing began to wane until finally the Gospel had lost virtually all of its anointing and power and the top two offices of Prophet and Apostle had "gone out of business". With the introduction of the false doctrine of Universal Salvation into the Church during the Middle Ages, leadership no longer felt the need for the office of the Evangelist. From that point until the Reformation, the Church limped along with only the two bottom offices, that of Teacher and Pastor, in place and functional after a fashion. Men like Luther and Wesley re-established the office of the Evangelist so that men could again be saved. But even today, after another 500 years have passed, there is still an ongoing struggle to restart and re-establish the Offices of the Prophet and the Apostle. Many so-called Prophets and Apostles exist today, but many, perhaps the vast majority, are either fraudulent or teach and practice doctrines that are so watered down that their confrontational and corrective roles have been stripped from them. The Global Revival Network Bible College is geared to take incoming students through the entire five-step process, beginning with the Teacher and ending with fully imparted, trained and equipped men and women of true Biblical power and authority to restore order and integrity to the Body of Christ. Nothing short of a complete Five-Fold restoration will allow the Bride to make Herself ready, to develop into a "perfect man", to the "fullness of the stature of the measure of Christ". Revelation 19:7-8 chronicles this final, perfected state for the Bride by saying, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made Herself ready. And to Her was granted that She should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." It is a largely unspoken, unpreached and untaught critical truth that THE BRIDEGROOM WILL NOT RETURN UNTIL HIS BRIDE HAS MADE HERSELF READY. Dr. Ray Young, Founder and President of the Global Revival Network Bible College has made it a practice for over 40 years of asking fellow ministers of the Gospel one critical question: "Is the Bride ready???" And without fail, each and every time, those pastors who were asked the question sadly hung their heads in shame and sorrow and responded, "No, the Bride is NOT ready. She isn't even close to being ready." Yet these same pastors have frequently trumpeted from their pulpits that Jesus could return at any moment and that all the requirements for His return have been met. Invariably, they point to the existence of Israel and other external political factors, but blindly ignore the carnality and corruption inside those who sit in the pews in front of them, eagerly soaking up the gross distortion of what is required for our Lord and Savior to return. Dear friends, it is time for the Bride to truly make Herself ready, assisted, directed and controlled by the two top offices, the Prophet and the Apostle.