July 2003 Archives

When I first heard about the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy, I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn a thing or two about the Constitution and U.S. history. My expectations were exceeded by actually coming and fellowshipping with the remnant; listening to the foremost scholars and leaders on the subjects of law and public policy; enjoying wonderful food and nice facilities; and being exposed to a revolutionary and foundational worldview for those who are serious about Christianity, biblical law, and the means of acts and ends to be revealed. This event changed my life. I now know that there are many others who are devoted to God and to being His remnant as shining lights in a crooked and perverse world. Caleb Hayden

This conference encouraged me to stand on the principles of the Bible in every area of my life. Aaron Weisinger

This has been a main landmark for my life. As a Christian I know that the Word of God is my guide, my light, and it is my responsibility toward God to learn it and obey it through the power that is within me in Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, knowing that there is a country whose founders honored God’s Word and created laws for this land based on biblical principles, encourages me and gives me the responsibility to abide by these laws which will be able to protect God’s very principles. I now am willing to tell others of their responsibilities and principles in this great country to preserve the liberty that God has granted to us. Jose Flore

This time has been a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale and immoral society. My spirit is encouraged and my hope renewed. I am reminded that when God is with us, none shall stand against us. May God in his infinite mercy grant us the spiritual awakening so long needed through this remnant of his people. Micheal Ron Manley

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 29, 2003 | Permalink

Many thanks to Brian Howell and the Vision Forum team for their outstanding work on this Witherspoon School. In my view, I have the greatest staff on earth because they are, to a man, deeply motivated Christians with sound worldviews who rejoice in the mission God has given to them. Below is an image of the fellas relaxing after a very intense week. From left to right is Brian Howell, videographer Jeff Butler, Joel Pendleton, and Bob Renaud.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 26, 2003 | Permalink

I founded the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy because of my sincere belief that we must aim to train up men of conviction to stand in the gates of the land, to lead in their homes, and in the local church. One specific goal of our school is to help students to understand and make wise decisions concerning the legal profession, but the scope of the teaching extends to ethics, apologetics, history, constitutional law, and Christian strategy for bringing the Lordship of Christ to every area of life, thought, and public discourse. Our students include home educators, judges, lawyers, elected officials, pastors, college students, and a diverse group of individuals who share a love for our country and a desire to make a difference as men. This year’s graduation class exceeded one-hundred students, each of whom completed approximately thirty-five hours of training under some of the leading Christian thinkers in their respective fields of constitutional study. In my view, this was the best class in our five-year history. Congratulations, fellas!

Nathan DeLadurantey and myself take a moment to rest after the graduation and to plan a Uniting Church & Home Conference for his home state of Michigan.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 26, 2003 | Permalink

Detective Robert Surgenor is one-of-a-kind. In fact, in my years of representing families and defending parental rights, I have yet to meet a more interesting, uncompromising, fearless (and funny) defender of parents and advocate for spanking. I love this guy.

From left to right: Kurt Anderson, Detective Surgenor, and myself.

For the second year in a row, Surgenor wowed the crowd at the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy with tales from his “search and destroy missions” deep behind enemy lines in defense of parental rights. A veteran of television debates, Surgenor has the ability to outflank the many whiny children’s rights activists that talk show hosts seem to have a penchant for throwing at him. What makes Surgenor especially unique is that he is a cop who knows the Constitution, knows the law, believes the Bible, and sees it as his mission to help parents protect themselves against out-of-control social workers.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 26, 2003 | Permalink

The Friday evening keynote for the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy was delivered by the heroic director of Gods and Generals, Mr. Ron Maxwell. Quoting at length poetry from the likes of T.S. Elliot, Ron shared some moving insights into how filmmakers should understand and interpret history. The heart of his message was an explanation of the antithesis between truthful, God-honoring filmmaking, and the typical Hollywood approach. The former honors the fathers of the past and seeks to understand them in the context of their time, the later reviles everything which is not new, individualistic, and visually over-the-top.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 25, 2003 | Permalink

Noted constitutional author, Dr. Daniel Dreisbach offered some fascinating new insights on Thomas Jefferson, the third president’s understanding of the First Amendment, and the moral and spiritual conflicts of the election of 1800 in a keynote address tonight before the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy meeting in Luray, Virginia. Dresibach is unique among Jefferson scholars because he is a Reformed Christian, the son of missionaries who grew up with no television in Africa, and brings a Christian perspective on history in a field dominated by academics who are by and large at war with God. Dreisbach, who was a Rhodes scholar, received his Ph.D. from Oxford and his J.D. from the University of Virginia. Tapes of the evenings events will be released sometime in the future from Vision Forum.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 24, 2003 | Permalink

The greatest defender of Second Amendment rights in America today is Gun Owners of America. They are distinguished from the National Rifle Association by their distinctively uncompromising and constitutional stand on the right to keep and bear arms. Less known than the NRA, GOA has nonetheless played a critical role in numerous political battles in defense of this right, believed to be so fundamental by our Founding Fathers.

Larry Pratt discusses Second Amendment with Witherspoon students

Larry Pratt is the Executive Director of GOA, and is known throughout Washington, D.C. as the single most knowledgeable and the most able defender of this constitutional right. Larry is also a friend of many years and a devout Christian. He serves as an elder at Harvestor Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Springfield, Virginia.

Today, Larry wowed the students at Witherspoon with the best and most up-to-date lecture on the Second Amendment they will ever hear. Please get the tape when it is made available by Witherspoon. Must listening.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 24, 2003 | Permalink

For almost five hours today, Dr. John Eidsmoe, the noted author of Christianity and the Constitution, presented the students attending the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy with a comprehensive overview of the United States Constitution. In addition to his numerous books, Eidsmoe is a professor of law and co-counsel to Chief Justice Moore on the Ten Commandments case.

Professor Eidsmoe and my father Howard Phillips enjoy lunch at the Mimslyn Inn

Drawing from more than three decades of research and writing on the subject, Dr. Eidsmoe presented the historic case for a Constitution which demands limited government, restrained federal powers, and a nation where the judges recognize the God of Christianity as the foundation of law and society.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 24, 2003 | Permalink

For his unflappable courage in the face of battle, his unwillingness to compromise on a matter of supreme principle, and his heroic stand on an issue which directly pertains to the future prosperity of our nation, The Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy was pleased to present tonight to Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama State Supreme Court our Stonewall Jackson Freedom Award. Even as Jackson stood like a “stone wall” in the face of battle, knowing from whence His salvation came, so too Chief Justice Moore has declared of his battle to honor the law of God and the lawgiver in the “gates” of Alabama: “Duty is ours, results come from the Lord.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 23, 2003 | Permalink

I count it the greatest of privileges that the Lord allows me to teach and disciple my boys in the process of our life work as a family. This year, my two oldest boys, Joshua (10) and Justice (8), were able to sit through the four-day, thirty-five hour training program. My own father brought me with him to many conferences and it changed my life. I pray that God will use this time to encourage and bless my own sons.

One of the funny events of the week was introducing my son Justice to Chief Justice Moore.

“Justice Moore,” said I, “this is Justice Phillips.”

He replied (and this is a paraphrase):

“Well son, if you ever get my job, you will be ‘Chief Justice Justice.’”

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 23, 2003 | Permalink

As my father, brother, sons, friends, and I travel from Lexington to the valleys of the Shenandoah as part of our private “2003 Stonewall Jackson Tour,” several key principles of leadership have emerged from the life testimony of Jackson that are worthy of mention.

1. Jackson eschewed vice. He knew that the servant of God must be self-disciplined, must set the highest example, and must not introduce weakness into his physical or spiritual constitution so as to render him less effective as a warrior of Christ. Furthermore, because a leader is observed at all times, he must understand that his behavior will be ruthlessly scrutinized, sometimes mimicked, and other times mocked. He was aware of the power of the flesh to rule over a man and sap him of his will power, self discipline, and resolve, so though he believed the use of neither to be inherently sinful in and of themselves, he purposed to rid himself of two things his flesh craved: tobacco and alcohol.

2. Jackson prioritized character and faith as the defining attributes in the selection of “inner circle men,” those men who worked most closely with him. He worked with many different types of men, both saints and sinners, but he placed around him in his inner circle only those who were devout Christian men of unflappable loyalty. He was more concerned about character than he was about the military resumé of his inner circle.

3. Jackson was absolutely intolerant of disobedience to orders. Disobedience to orders was disobedience to God, because it was an assault on God’s ordained chain of command and authority structures. Because God is just, those who disobey Him or His lawfully-constituted delegated authorities, have no assurance of the blessing of God on their cause. In Jackson’s view, disobedience to orders was tantamount to spiritual rebellion before the Lord. It was his regular practice to place under arrest and relieve from command those generals who refused to follow orders precisely as given. His own rise to fame and opportunity was borne out of his reputation from the Mexican War as a man who would never abandon his post. It was this steely commitment to discipline and authority structures which earned him his infamous sobriquet, and propelled him to fame for his ability to arguably get more out of his men than any other general of the War.

4. Jackson not only knew how to give orders, he knew how to take them. He was an authority who was able to be under authority even when he disagreed with the command decisions of those over him. He easily moved from authority to subordinate because his view of God enabled him to understand with precision the doctrine of jurisdictions.

5. Jackson trained his subordinates to follow him, even when they did not understand his mind or direction. Even generals under his command would often march without a clear direction of where they were heading. He shared his counsel primarily with the few, not the many, and the few were usually Christian counselors within his inner circle.

6. Jackson was confident and decisive. Few military leaders acted with the supreme confidence that Jackson brought to the field. He was aggressive and absolutely convinced of both the righteousness of the cause and the ultimate victory that would be secured if the South did not break the Law of God. His confidence stemmed neither from arrogance, nor from an innate sense of self-worth and wisdom, but from a confidence in God. Jackson believed that he was acting under authority in a righteous cause and could thus presume victory as a norm. He was God’s minister of justice on the battlefield, and thus acted and spoke with a higher authority. This confidence was bolstered by a full-bodied Calvinism which taught him to trust in the sovereignty of God for every outcome in life.

7. Jackson rejected the doctrine of victory at all cost, choosing instead to hold the doctrine of victory by God’s methods. He believed war must be fought using biblical methods. This meant the total annihilation of the enemy, but not the harassment or persecution of non-combatants. This was even manifest in his philosophy of the Sabbath. If battle were forced upon Jackson on Sunday by the providence of God, he could assume it to be his duty to respond, but with respect to every choice within his jurisdiction or that of the Confederate leadership, Jackson believed there was no flexibility to violate God’s law of the Sabbath.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 21, 2003 | Permalink

Today is the anniversary of the date that Thomas Jonathan Jackson earned is famous sobriquet. This blog is written from the mountains of Luray, Virginia, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley where Stonewall Jackson performed one of the most brilliant military campaigns in history, the tactics of which are still studied by military scholars from around the world.

Having just completed a two-day “Stonewall Tour” with my father, brother Sam, sons Justice and Joshua, Brian Howell, Scott, David, and Kelly Brown, Mo and Howard Gill, Bill Potter and sons, and Matt Chancey and sons, I set into preparing for the 2003 Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 21, 2003 | Permalink

After great deliberation, we are pleased to announce the winner of the Vision Forum 2003 Biblical Manhood Essay Contest. Upon thoughtful and careful examination of each of the entries, the judges have chosen “How Stonewall Jackson Demonstrated a Biblical Vision of Manhood,” written by Amanda Freeborn. Miss Freeborn concisely and directly answered the essay question, “How did Stonewall Jackson demonstrate a consistent vision of biblical manhood both in his homelife and in his professional military career?” All biographical information was pertinent to the subject of the essay. Her supporting points manifested a clear and thorough comprehension of Jackson’s vision of manhood as exhibited at home and in his career. We congratulate her for a very fine essay!

We would like to thank the many participants for their great effort and thorough research evident in all of the essays. It is always a privilege to read the contest entries. We hope you will enter again next time.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 15, 2003 | Permalink

Dear Friends, having been inundated with many, many excellent essays on the subject of biblical manhood and Stonewall Jackson, we have been in heavy deliberation to select our one worthy winner. We had hoped to post a winner by now, but need a little more time and ask for your patience. Thank You, Doug

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 8, 2003 | Permalink

As a boy, I spent my Independence Days having glorious adventures with my mother and father. My father — the purest lover of liberty — is a walking encyclopedia of the Constitution, having committed much of it to memory. He always made sure that Independence Days were chock-full of historical recitations, readings from the Founders, fireworks, and music that represented the best of Americana.

As native Bostonians, both he and my mother had a penchant for the Boston Pops, whose magnificent master, Maestro Arthur Fiedler, brought it to global fame over the course of his fifty-year career as conductor with the orchestra. Incredibly, Mr. Fielder conducted the Pops for five seasons longer than all of his seventeen predecessors combined. He was known as a man of great warmth and originality, but his greatest legacy was his ability to popularize and make classical music accessible to the common man.

It was on the lawn of Boston’s great Esplanade, listening to the Pops, that my family and I enjoyed our most memorable Independence Days, including Fiedler’s fiftieth anniversary concert on July 4, 1978. Two years earlier, he had set the mark for the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest single audience for a classical music concert. On that occasion, more than 400,000 were in attendance on the Bicentennial.

There were many great Independence Days. Especially memorable to me was spending the Bicentennial with my parents in the Capitol. I was only eleven. (That great day merits a blog of its own.) A decade later, we returned to the Capitol to watch the fireworks from the top of the Department of Interior with then-Secretary Ed Watt. On another occasion, we watched fireworks under the stars by the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Apart from the Bicentennial, the most notable Fourth of July experiences will always be our journeys to Boston to sit on the Esplanade and rejoice with hundreds of thousands to the brilliance of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. There will never be music like that again. Never. Fiedler gave us the national tradition of playing the “1812 Overture” on the Fourth of July to the rousing conclusion of howitzers firing and church bells ringing throughout the city. We lived for those howitzers. It was worth the nine-hour wait and fierce jockeying for position on the lawn in front of the Esplanade — just to hear the brilliant melodic streams of Tchaikovsky accented by the incessant pounding of those cannons at the conclusion of the overture.

Fiedler was the mentor and musical father to composer/conductor John Williams who began at the Pops and went on to become the most famous composer of film soundtracks in history, being nominated for more than thirty Oscars in his career, and receiving five.

Before signing off on the Fourth, Beall and I watched Eric Kunzel and John Williams conduct the National Symphony Orchestra (which includes my old violin teacher, Louis Hazah) on the steps of the Capitol. Both of these men have risen to tremendous prominence and fame in their profession, but both stand on the shoulders of Arthur Fiedler, the man who made great music accessible once again to a generation which had forgotten how to listen to great music.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 5, 2003 | Permalink

Independence Day is a time for great rejoicing at the Phillips home. It is appropriate for a nation to give thanks to God for His providential direction in their history. Families across America should use this day to remember and rejoice. We try to do both with great gusto.

This morning, we enjoyed a brunch in the tradition of my father and grandfather. I prepared a meal of fried matzo — a little Yiddish dish which my children have come to love. We also gathered as a family to watch the superb film A More Perfect Union about the Constitutional Convention. This sparked much discussion, so afterwards we sat for a devotional on the history of American freedom. We read from R.J. Rushdoony’s excellent treatise This Independent Republic. Next, we had a special time of celebration in which Beall and I sang a slightly bowdlerized song from the musical 1776 about the committee on the Declaration and the debate between Adams, Franklin, Sherman, Livingston, and Jefferson as to who would draft the document. This was followed by fife and drum music throughout the house and much enthusiastic dancing with my daughters. (Jubilee especially loves to dance with and be swung by her father.)

At 2:00, the Richard “Little Bear” Wheeler family arrived and we spent the afternoon at the San Antonio Alamodome for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. After the circus and a nice meal at Mr. Gatti’s, we traveled to the country for a fireworks display where we met friends and fellow saints. The delightful light show being finished, “Little Bear” and I shared a brief speech on the Founding Fathers, the Articles of Confederation, the glories of the Constitution, and we lamented the tragic anti-constitutional decisions this week in both the 11th Circuit and the Supreme Court. Before the day was over, I reminded my son and daughter Liberty and Justice, that they had special names from the Lord, and should look upon Independence Day as a reminder of the calling God has placed on their lives. From beginning to end, our family celebration was satisfying and delightful.

Thanks be to God Almighty for America. May God be merciful to us. May our children’s children maintain the most profound spirit of gratitude for the manifold blessings of God on our nation.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 4, 2003 | Permalink

I want to immediately alert my friends to the release of a new book that I believe will be considered a classic for years to come. Published by Lex Rex Publishing, In The Name of God, Amen, by Dan Ford, is a large, visually gorgeous hardback book which brings a scholarly but accessible history and analysis of the influence of covenants and covenantal thinking on the family, the church, and the state. Put another way, In the Name of God, Amen is a history of freedom.

There is no subject more directly connected with the prosperity of the Christian home, the integrity of the local church, or the success of national governments than that of the covenantal nature of life, law, and relationships. The Bible begins and ends with the doctrine of covenant. The history of the world, of nations, and individuals can only be understood in terms of those who kept covenant with God, and those who did not. The family was birthed from God’s directive that man and woman become one through an indissoluble covenantal union. The Church is a testimony to the triumph of God’s holy covenant. Even the civil authority is a covenantal creation. And thankfully, from the perspective of the history of our own people, we can gratefully report that no nation in the annals of Western civilization was ever birthed from such a self-consciously covenantal model than the United States.

Centuries ago, a bank account was established for our nation. In this account was deposited a spiritual and intellectual treasure trove of the purest gold and silver. This treasure was not easily obtained. It was birthed in the furnace of reformation, baptized in the flames of persecution and martyrdom, and molded by holy hands intent on leaving a covenantal legacy of freedom for generations. Believing our treasure to be inexhaustible, we have drawn from this account for more than two centuries, with little thought toward replenishing our principle. The account is almost dry.

Today, and perhaps only for today, our own nation continues to enjoy the manifold blessings of prosperity, not because of any innate wisdom or righteousness of this present generation, but because of the cumulative efforts of our covenant-keeping ancestors who established a nation with the specific goal of securing the blessings of liberty for their posterity. This historic truth, the memory and honor of which is central to the perpetuation of our present freedoms, is all but forgotten today. Never before in our history have American lawmakers, pastors, and students been more ignorant of who they are and how they got here. I believe we have but a brief window of time to remedy this problem of ignorance and indifference. It must begin with the people of God. It is up to them to embrace these truths and argue the case on behalf of generations yet to be born.

I know of few better equipped to make this case than Dan Ford. For the better part of a decade, he has immersed himself in the original works of the Reformation and the Founding era of America. Dan is not only a walking encyclopedia capable of cataloguing at a moment’s notice the many examples of the providential hand of God in our nation’s history, but he is the personal owner of one of the most distinguished collections of Reformation and covenantal documents in the world. Consequently, unlike many commentators and historians, Dan not only reads the primary sources, he actually studies the past from the original documents. In fact, many of the rare images you see in this volume come directly from his private collection, making In the Name of God, Amen a truly unique and wonderful literary work.

For the last three years, Dan has been bringing hundreds of one-of-a-kind, premiere documents to the Vision Forum Ministries Witherspoon School of Law & Public Policy. His goal has been to inspire the next generation of fathers, lawyers, pastors, and lawmakers to love the Law of God and keep covenant with their Creator. The impact is electric. For many, it is as if “the lost book of the law” was opened for the first time. Students recognize the holy call of God to “remove not the ancient landmarks” and once again proclaim the charters and covenantal documents of our nation’s founding. In the Name of God, Amen takes the heart and the soul of these messages and makes them understandable and meaningful to a wider audience.

Here you will learn of the great covenantal inheritance of Christianity, from the legacy of the martyrs, to the preservation of the “Book of books,” to the emergence of God’s people of promise, to the gracious fulfillment of His covenant with the triumph of grace and the inheritance of Christ’s Church. Here you will discover the noble heritage of our nation’s Forefathers, the rise of American covenantal thought, the great Puritan doctrine of covenantal living in every sphere of life, the covenantal principles behind the War for Independence, and the nature of Christian self-government under God. But here also, you will learn rich insights into the practical application of covenantal thinking in terms of our holy responsibilities toward the family, the Church, and the State.

In the Name of God, Amen is more than great history and sound theology artfully presented. It is a passionate labor of love, a gift and a record to our children and their posterity. It is a clarion cry to go back to the ancient paths wherein we will find peace. I am deeply indebted to the author for this thorough, but highly readable contribution. This book is simply landmark. The first and best book of its kind to appear in over a generation, In the Name of God, Amen is sure to become a staple for home educators, seminary students, church leaders, lawyers, fathers, and hopefully even civil magistrates. It is my intention to use this tremendous volume to teach my law students, interns and my own children for years to come. Let me also add that you will find the footnotes to be generous, wisely inserted on the text pages themselves, and enormously helpful. Available through Vision Forum. $24.00. Introductory sale this month for $20.

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 1, 2003 | Permalink

Author and illustrator Robert McCloskey died today. He was 88. Last year on the Vision Forum Ministries Faith & Freedom Tour, we stopped on the Boston Commons to pay homage to this much beloved author whose landmark children’s book, Make Way for Ducklings, is memorialized in a series of distinguished bronze statues depicting momma duck leading her children across the very spot detailed in the book. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Amy Finnerty commented this week: “...there is something vaguely depressing about much current children’s literature. One remedy for parents who wish to protect their kids from the bland and the preachy is to pull out a passed-down edition of Make Way for Ducklings (1941), Blueberries for Sal (1948) or One Morning in Maine (1952), all by the author and illustrator Robert McCloskey... In the pages of these classic works, in the expressive, monochrome drawings, there is no Big Sociological Message, forced sunniness or sentimentality, but rather the gentle but sharply observed depiction of children’s — or ducklings’ — dilemmas, regional landscapes and midcentury American cities.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on July 1, 2003 | Permalink