September 2004 Archives

Just a mile from the Scotchtown home of Patrick Henry we found this little beauty which quickly became the source of great speculation: We wondered if the leaders of this unique assembly delved deeply into God’s word or just scratched the surface. Were the reports true that the typist for the church bulletin merely hunts and pecks? Was the sermon last Sunday meaningful, or did the pastor lay an egg? Are the members truly yoked one with another? Are the ministers worthy of double honor, or does the congregation just pay them chickenfeed?

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 27, 2004 | Permalink

Two great events happened in the life of the Vision Forum family sometime after 3:00 am last night.

First, the 2005 Vision Forum Family Catalog was completed and sent to the printers. The undertaking to bring this catalogue to completion is a massive but richly rewarding endeavor which involves the collaborative effort of the entire Vision Forum team over a series of many months, and culminating in an intense two weeks of creative output. I can say I have never been so proud of the men at Vision Forum as I am for their work this year. They have poured their heart and soul into communicating a vision for Christ-centered family renewal, and one which will reach 600,000 households over the next month or so. May the Lord turn the hearts of fathers to their children and children to their fathers. In my view, this year’s catalogue is our most visionary and aggressive. The cover especially reflects the prayers and passions of the Vision Forum staff for our nation, and the Church in particular. We pray that the Lord will use this catalogue to bless your family and to advance the crown rights of Jesus Christ on the defining issue of our generation—-the defense of the biblical family.

Second, about the same time we concluded our catalog, we received and logged most of our final entries for the Jubilee Award and the 2004 San Antonio Independent Film Festival (they must be postmarked no later than September 15). The response has exceeded our expectations. With more than 100 fresh and innovative films from filmmakers across the nation and overseas now in submission, we can say without reservation that the evidence is in: The Lord is prospering and blessing a budding independent Christian film market. Before us now is the daunting task of working with our panel of judges to select the Jubilee winners. The festival will be awarding Jubilee prizes up to $10,000 for best of festival, best narrative, best creationist, best political, best documentary and best trailer. Mark your calendars for November 11-13. We are capping our attendance to the festival at about 1000, so we recommend that you sign up sooner rather than later as applications to attend are rising.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 16, 2004 | Permalink

In about a month the 2005 Vision Forum family catalogue will be hitting mail boxes. This year we are featuring a number of fresh and foundational works that communicate passion for the biblical family, for motherhood, patriarchy, home education, the local church and those issues which we believe to be at the heart of our current battles, cultural, civil and ecclesiastical.

One of the books to be featured in the 2005 catalog is R.C. Sproul Jr.’s, latest book When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Home Education. Here is what I think about this book:

Not everyone will love this book (like all great books.)Christians who embrace a philosophy of education methodology neutrality will either squirm with discomfort or convert. R.C. clearly and emphatically makes the case for “Parent’s: God’s Chosen Teachers.” He writes with verve, with heart, with transparency, with humility.

On the other hand, parents whose hearts have turned to their children, parents who seek the ancient paths wherein there is peace, and parents with humility before the Lord to seek His best for their families will be deeply touched and motivated by the simple, biblical message of covenantal home education proclaimed by R.C.

One of my staff members wrote to me after reading this book: “I must say that my love for R.C. has deepened greatly after reading this little work. R.C. gets it. He understands. And he doesn’t care what others think. R.C. writes with this sense of urgency and biblical resolve. He goes for the jugular. He writes of the “antithesis” (He uses this term liberally). He draws a line in the sand...I believe that God could use this to change hearts of many. We need to take it to conferences. We need to get it into the hands of as many families as possible.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 15, 2004 | Permalink

This morning, the Vision Forum staff went to the Alamo for our annual staff photo shoot in preperation for our soon-to-be-released 2005 family catalog. I thought you would enjoy meeting some of the wonderful families yoked in the work of the Lord at Vision Forum. Every one is a gem and a gift from God.

Josh and Sarah Wean with new baby James

Perry and Kim Coghlan with their seven daughters

The Kevin and Kathleen Turley Family

The family of Richard and Reba Short

Jeremy and Deanna Fisher and children

Michael and Grace Gobart with baby Michaella

Me with our wonderful new intern class

A bunch of Vision Forum bachelors

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 13, 2004 | Permalink

The Arctic Coring Expedition (Acex), an international team of evolutionary scientists which has been drilling beneath the bed of the Arctic Ocean, announced that the North Pole was once a tropical environment. According to a BBC News report yesterday, the Acex scientists claim the North Pole enjoyed a sub-tropical climate 55 million years ago. The finding was based on the recovery of visualized algae in the cores which show that sea temperature was once about 20C, instead of the average now, -1.5C. In addition, the Acex scientists argue that the North Pole was characterized by an extremely warm climate that created a natural greenhouse effect, which caused massive amounts of carbon to be deposited in both sea and air. The Acex discovery is prompting a complete re-evaluation of the history of the arctic basin for evolutionary scientists, including speculation that the North Pole was once a relatively shallow sea, possibly a freshwater lake.

The discovery that the North Pole once experienced a very different climactic environment is no surprise to creation scientists. Many creation scientists believe that the pre-Flood world was (1)a single land mass, and(2)generally tropical because it was protected by a vapor canopy that created a greenhouse effect,resulted in the earth being watered by a dew, and produced different atmospheric conditions. Most of these same creation scientists believe that the tropical climate of the earth continued until the advent of the post-Flood ice age, which was itself a consequence of the tumultuous and radical changes wrought by God in the conditions of the earth at the time of the Flood.

What is the Fundamental Problem With the Acex Report?
Remarkable discoveries by renowned evolutionary scientists have the tendency of both mystifying and intimidating Christians. These scientists tend to be very good at reporting observable data, the problem comes in when they seek to interpret the data in light of assumptions which are entirely unprovable and accepted on faith, based on a broader (and highly religious) evolutionary chronology paradigm.

In this case, a defining presupposition of the Acex scientists is uniformitarianism—-the belief that present rates and processes are definitive when interpreting past events. It is this uniformitarianism which drives the assumption that the core samples must be millions of years old. By assuming that layers in the core samples represent vast epochs of time, laid down at present, non-catastrophic rates of deposition, they justify and interpret the data in terms of their a priori commitment—-old earth evolutionary chronology.

But what if the layering happened rapidly? What if the rates of deposition were radically different? The result might be that the core samples represent thousands, rather than millions of years.

The ability of a catastrophe to rapidly reconstruct the geological landscape was demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt at Mt. St. Helens two decades ago when hundreds of rock layers were laid down in matters of minutes and hours and days, not millennia or long ages, but creating the appearance to uniformitarians that the stratigraphy and rock deposits at Mt. St Helens are millions of years old—-when we know they are only decades old and were formed rapidly.

The problem of uniformitarian assumptions can also be tested the next time you take a typical cave tour, as I recently did in Lurray, Virginia. The tour guides are usually trained to tell you that stalactites and stalagmite took hundreds of thousands of years to form. This is a completely fallacious statement based upon the assumption that limestone has always been deposited at the present rate of deposition. But the fully formed stalactites at the base of the Washington Monument (less than a century old) or the examples of bats which were caught and entombed in limestone stalactite graves indicates these cave formations can form rapidly. It all depends on the rates of deposition, which are not constant.

What does The Bible Say About Uniformitarianism?

It is crucial that Christians become more aware of the presuppositons behind the many scientific theories foisted on the public. The bible addresses the error of uniformitarian thought in 2 Peter 3 when it declares that a day will come when men will deny the global flood and claim that everything we see today is a continuation of what has been in the past.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 12, 2004 | Permalink

I was reading through the summary of 2003 for Vision Forum ministries, and I realized that it was through your October catalogue which some how came to our home last fall which made me aware of Vision Forum-and how grateful I am that it came! The catalogue caught my eye with a book about how brothers and sisters should be each other’s best friend/confidante, and in our own quest to raise (and homeschool) our children coventally in the Lord, my interest was decisively piqued! I have been becoming thoroughly familiar with your mission, works, and articles (-Doug’s blog being a regular “hit”) in the last year, and am indebted to Vision Forum for strategic help in clarifying and instructing on the Godly call of, as you say, bold manhood, virtuous womahood, and multi-generational faithfulness (-near and dear to our hearts). I also would like to thank God for...”hot topics” with a keen, precise laying out of an argument, accurately dissecting where it differs from the principles of Scripture. He also does it all, esteemably so, in a kind, respectful manner. I hope some day that we can attend one of your seminars. (So far we are just buying books, and our 7 year-old is saving up for the Liberty doll!) Your seminars and books foster such strong, righteous societal impact in their promotion of purity, high-calibre “performance”, and Godly vision. May God continue to prosper your way, because you truly glorify Him! Frankly, it is most powerfully in VISION FORUM’S work that I see evidence for hope that God will not give over entirely this very lost generation but rather has plans to overcome it.(By the way, my husband’s name is John , and we have 4 kids so far, ages 7,5,3,1: Cayley Moriah, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Zoe Elizabeth, and Jonathan Edwards!)

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 11, 2004 | Permalink

The policies of past and present presidential administrations which have been geared at gradually placing more women in harm’s way in combat have created the largest death toll of women since the Second World War. The New York Times reports: “American women, too, have quietly drawn closer to combat than they had in half a century. At least 24 female service members died in Iraq, more than in any American conflict since World War II, a stark sign of a barrier broken.”

Please pray for our President that he will exercise his lawful authority as Commander in Chief, and his duty before the Lord as a professing Christian, by immediately removing women from warfare in Iraq. Please pray for our Christian brethren in the Church that they would wake from their sleep and speak to this defining cultural issue. For an overview of what the Bible says about the sin of sending daughters and mothers to die in combat for men, please visit Vision Forum Ministries.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 9, 2004 | Permalink

Once again Ken Ham has demonstrated to the Christian community that there still are faithful men willing to speak the truth, regardless of consequences, in a world in which far too many in the Church are rapidly spiraling downward on the slope of incremental compromise.

The issue in question today is biblical marriage vs. the sodomite agenda. The question is this: Should Christians use God’s Word in the public square as a basis for defending marriage as ordained by God? The answer from leading Christians like Chuck Colson is “No.” Ken Ham explains why we may never run from God’s Holy Word.

Did You Pass the Test?

Last year the Christian community was given a test. For years American Christians prayed for a man in office to defend God’s Word and declare that no court may prevent elected officials from acknowledging God. When God sent us this man in the form of Chief Justice Moore, many Christians ran for the hills or simply denounced their brother in Christ. Why? Because the cost of discipleship in Christ is huge and most are not willing to pay the price.

I have worked for a United States president and have been both a reporter and a lobbyist on Capitol Hill (and have trained more than 500 people to lobby on Capitol Hill) and I can tell you that the vast majority of Christians in Washington D.C.(and elsewhere)who seek to be influential and relevant, are simply afraid of defending truth publicly by using the Scriptures.

We must be willing to give up everything — prestige, insider status in Washington D.C (and elsewhere), our seat at the partisan table of relevancy and political acceptability — even elected office. This is why Roy Moore is the man of the decade. He understood that wisdom of God is foolishness to man. But we will only win our culture if we are willing to be fools for Christ.

Click here to read: Christian leader: Don’t use the Bible to argue the gay marriage issue!

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 8, 2004 | Permalink

As we approach the September 15th deadline for entries to the film festival, it is encouraging to see Christians from around the nation send in their films. Each day we receive new entries from film students, families, and professionals. We have received everything from renditions of Christ in the Camp by budding eleven year old film producers, to documentaries from industry professionals. Each of these entries are blessing as we see creative talents emerge in many styles and categories — each aimed to bring glory to God. We are blessed that so many individuals and families are willing to share their films with us. Thank you, and praise be to God for each of your efforts.

If you have created a Christ honoring film and would like to share it with us, I would encourage you to submit it to the San Antonio Independent Christian film festival before we reach the entry deadline. By submitting your film you will also be eligible for the $10,000 Jubilee award.

You can find more information on the film festival website:

IndependentChristanFilms.com

For information on the film categories as well as guidelines, click here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 4, 2004 | Permalink

Let us remember to love and lift up our President in prayer.

The decision by President Bush’s re-election team to have a Muslim imam open the Republican National Convention in prayer (like the decision by the President to celebrate Ramadan in the White House, or while acting in his official capacity as President, to bow in reverence before a Shinto Shrine) is a national tragedy because it is the formal and public advancement of false worship and idolatry.

The problem with using Muslim imams to lead in worship is essentially the same problem as having Zoroastrians, Wiccans, or Hindus lead those who claim to represent Christian candidates in an act of public worship — it is the advancement of idolatry.

What is even worse is the complete silence by Christians in the face of such idolatrous behavior.

Of course the trend on the part of presidents and public officials to imitate ancient Rome by blessing all religions as long as none claim to have the exclusive corner on truth, is not new. It has been in vogue for some time. Such behavior allows candidates of diverse partisan affiliations to use God-talk out of one side of their mouths (just enough to satisfy confused evangelicals), while with the other side of their mouths, distancing themselves from any exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.

But there are serious covenantal implications of such behavior when it is done by the president of the United States, whomever the president may be at any given time in our history. When such actions are taken by United States presidents, they represent a form of oath-breaking. This oath-breaking is more than a departure with tradition (i.e. the obvious fact that America’s historic roots are found in Christianity, not Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or even Judaism). A president is an oath breaker if he uses the office of the President to advance a false religious faith which is contrary to our national charter, the Constitution, and its preamble, the Declaration of Independence.

Upon taking their oath of office before Almighty God, presidents are bound to enforce and honor the national charter, which is our covenant as a people. Despite its clear imperfections (i.e. a lack of a national religious test), our national charter is, nonetheless, distinctively Christian in content, expression, and subscription. It is predicated on the formal acknowledgement of the God of Christianity (the “Creator who endowed us with inalienable rights” and allowed us to covenant in the “year of our Lord” Jesus Christ 1787), because it (a) twice incorporates by direct reference the Christian common law into the Constitution, (b) rejects the pagan calendar system for the new Christian calendar system, (c) declares a national commitment to honor the Christian Sabbath, and (d) makes overt reference to Christ, declaring him to be Lord in the all-important subscription clause which gives credibility to the authority of the document itself — to name some of the reasons.

More serious, however, than even breaking a presidential oath, is for a professing Christian office-holder (of any party) to violate their Christian oath to the Creator. Simply put: through baptism, the Christian declares to the world that he is of the Redeemed. As such, he will have no other gods but Jesus Christ. Christians may not build idols, serve false gods, or do anything but remain faithful to the one true God of Scripture. Christians may not minimize the difference between Christianity and Satanically-inspired false religions. They must live by the First and Second Commandments.

Ask yourself the question: What is worse — pagans who promote the worship of false gods, or Christians who promote the worship of false gods?

Again, I implore Christians to remember to lift up in prayer their President, and all authorities and office-holders. There is no issue more important than that we as a people (including our magistrates) acknowledge the God of the Bible as our one true authority for law and life (Psalm 2). We may acknowledge none other but Him. This issue is more important than even the battle over abortion or sodomy because it is the first issue from which all other issues precede.

(FYI: For more on the subject of Christianity and our imperfect, but nonetheless Christ-rooted Constitution, get The Witherspoon Tapes and read The Constitution: A Christian Document, by Herb Titus.)

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 2, 2004 | Permalink

During the 1970’s, my father’s work with conservative leaders offered me the privilege of growing up around some fairly well-known national evangelical leaders and their families. I became friends with some of their children. One day during the early 1980’s, one of these children appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. It was a dark day for me as I watched this young man — a friend — try to win the approval of the audience by demonstrating that, unlike his “square” preacher father, he was cool, listened to rock music, and knew how to be an independent thinker. Incredibly, this young man believed he was helping his father’s public image, by distancing himself from his godly father.

Last night America watched another such shameful display as the Bush daughters rose to the podium at the Republican National Convention — we must assume, with the blessing of their parents. The reporters who commented on the display used terms like “foolish,” “childish,” and “unhelpful” to the President’s cause. They were right.

This morning I received the following email:

I am writing to ask that you address in your blog the terribly disrespectful content and tone that Jenna Bush displayed with her grandmother, Barbara Bush, last night at the GOP convention. How disappointed and embarrassed we were to learn that a family who generally stands for the things of Christ would allow their daughter to so publicly tarnish the family’s reputation in the name of being “hip.” Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised because the girls have been in trouble before, but this was not the venue. S & K. M

The partial text of the speech the Bush girls delivered to the one hundred million viewers watching worldwide is below:

Jenna Bush: It’s great to be here. We love Arnold. Isn’t he awesome? Thanks to him, if one of us ever decides to marry a Democrat, nobody can complain. Except maybe our Grandmother, Barbara. And, if she didn’t like it, we would definitely hear about it. We already know she doesn’t like some of our clothes, or music, or most of the TV shows we watch. Granny, we love you dearly, but you’re just not very hip. She thinks “Sex in the City” is something married people do, but never talk about. We spent the last four years trying to stay out of the spotlight. Sometimes we did a little better than others. We kept trying to explain to Dad that when we were young and irresponsible. Well, we were young and irresponsible.”

Jenna Bush: Not to be deterred, we thought surely there’s a place for strong willed, opinionated women in communications... and next thing we know, Karen’s back! So, we decided the best thing we could do here tonight would be to introduce someone we know and love. You know all those times when you were growing up and your parents embarrassed you? Well, this is payback time ... on LIVE TV!!!

Barbara Bush: Take this... I know it’s hard to believe, but our parents favorite term of endearment for each other is actually “Bushie”. And, we had a hamster, too let’s just say...ours didn’t make it.

Barbara Bush: So, okay- maybe they have learned a little pop culture from us... But, we’ve learned a lot more from them. About what matters in life. About unconditional love. About focus and discipline. They taught us the importance of a good sense of humor. Of being open-minded and treating everyone with respect. And, we learned the true value of honesty and integrity.

—

Dear friends, we have reached the point in our nation where people actually believe it is honoring to dishonor their parents.

My only response is this. First, we need to pray for President Bush. What great things could happen if our national leader embraced a biblical vision for law and family. He could be God’s vehicle for national reformation. Great things happen when leaders turn to Christ and open the “lost book of the law.” This will not happen as long as our leader continues to endorse civil unions for sodomites, endorses abortion for children conceived in difficult circumstances, sends women to their death in combat, or appoints judges who attack those Christians standing for the law of God.

Second, we need revival in America, and in the families of America. We need to rediscover the biblical principle of honor. The Bible teaches that true leadership and revival are linked to biblical priorities for the family as the hearts of fathers are turned to their children, and children honor their parents. (By the way, one of the finest examples of a man who had a Gospel revival and family reformation is Constitution Party Presidential Candidate, and home school father, Michael Peroutka — you have to read his story!)

Postcript:

This from a political consultant who dropped us a note:

Dear Doug...The sad part is that their speech was most assuredly not written by them. Even if it was, it would have been edited and approved by multiple consultants and Bush advisors. This means the Bush campaign wanted to convey the Bushes as your typical American sitcom disaster family. The Kerry girls are very similar. They appeared at the MTV music awards. Regretfully, Vice Presdient Dick Cheney’s daughter is a top lesbian activist who dishonors her father’s work, and Newt Gingrich’s daughter was in the same boat when her father was Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 1, 2004 | Permalink

San Antonio’s historic Menger hotel (launching place for the Rough Riders) located just feet from the Alamo, recently unveiled this magnificent new bronze to one of the Texas’ original freedom fighters. This fabulous statue to William Barret Travis, depicts the courageous Alamo hero drawing by sword his now legendary “line in the sand.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 1, 2004 | Permalink