THE BIBLICAL FAMILY NOW AND FOREVER!

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. . . . He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. . . . The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. (Psalm 112:1-2,7-8,10)

It was patterned before time began by an eternal Father who loved His eternal Son. It was birthed on the Sixth Day as the very pinnacle of Creation. It was chosen as the vehicle for globe-transforming dominion, covenant faithfulness, and the incarnation of the Savior of the world. It is modeled in the life of the Church through the spiritual brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers who are the very body of Christ. It is pictured and perfected in all of its beauty at the culmination of time through a divine wedding feast. In its purest expressions, it is a society of love declared in the last verses of the Old Testament to be inextricably linked to revival and national peace. From Genesis to Revelation, it is proven to be the flesh-and-blood organization through which men first learn love, law, and the meaning of life. It shapes the destiny of children, the character of leaders, and the future of civilizations. Its definition is immutable, transcendent, and non-negotiable.

It is the biblical family — now and forever!

Every generation has its defining challenge. Ours is the systematic annihilation of the biblical family. It is during this deceptively peaceful yet culture-transforming epoch of history that God has placed us. This is our watch.

We stand on the threshold of the single most destructive social event in the history of the West. Much has happened over the last two millennia, but it was not until our generation that women have been asked to strap on machine guns and die in combat, that parents en masse have rejected the fruit of the womb, that the majority of women have left the home as their primary mission field, and that the mass execution of the unborn has received legal sanction. And it was not until our watch, our moment in history, that men have sought to redefine marriage to include the most perverse of human behavior. All this on our watch! How will we respond?

Think back for just a moment to your own childhood. Think back to an America that was, an America already in the throes of radical changes, but an America in which the people of this land still retained a moral conscience. Can you remember the days when moral perversions were not mentioned in public (let alone glorified on national television)? Do you remember? I do.

And those memories are not so distant. You need only look into the eyes of those precious little ones given to you by God whose innocence and purity have been entrusted to you. I do this every day — with all seven of my children. It puts a fire in my belly. It daily reminds me that there is nothing I would not be prepared to do for my Lord, if only to preserve a future in which these little ones will not be offended. I am reminded that teaching my children the way of Christ “is not a vain thing; because it is [my] life” (Deut. 32:47) and that parents can state, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (III John 4).

In defense of the biblical family, we today join faithful Christians across this great land by choosing sides in a fight. Like William Barret Travis before the Alamo defenders at the defining moment in Texas history, our sword is drawn and we call upon parents, pastors, and leaders — civil and ecclesiastical — to choose sides in the defining issue of our generation and fight to the death.

Be not ye afraid of them: remember the LORD . . . and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. (Neh. 4:14)

We will never surrender. Nor will we lack the proper weapons of our warfare. The Lord has predetermined both the means and the ends of this battle. This is a battle to be fought in the homes of families, in the local churches, and in the very gates of the land; but it is a battle that is primarily fought in the hearts of men as Christians do what Christians are supposed to do best — make the life of Christ extremely attractive as we evidence the sweet aroma of Jesus by thinking, looking, and acting very different from the world.

We win every time a father turns his heart to a son. We win every time our daughters reject feminism for femininity. We win every time children rise up and call their mothers blessed. We win every time a local church embraces a vision for family-integrated worship. We win every time a grandfather embraces his patriarchal vision to bless his grandchildren. We win every time a candidate for public office speaks truth regardless of the consequences. We win every time a Christian filmmaker prefers the path of Christ to the sanction of Hollywood. We win through obedience. We win through faithfulness. We win by leading our households in a multi-generational vision of victory.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)

The products in the 2005 edition of the Vision Forum Family Catalog have been carefully selected to share our passion for the Christ-centered biblical family. Each reflects the commitment of others who have drawn a line in the sand and who will fight to the death in defense of Christ’s truth. Within its pages, you will learn about a Christ-centered film festival dedicated to defending the family, a conference for uniting church and family, and sound biblical and constitutional doctrines which reflect the very “[r]ighteousness [which] exalteth a nation” (Prov. 14:34). From R.C. Sproul, Jr.’s bold work proclaiming the biblical necessity that parents serve as the primary teachers in the lives of their children (When You Rise Up, pg. 11), to Michael and Susan Bradrick’s challenging, but eminently practical video course on family unity (Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World, pg. 6), to Stacy McDonald’s winsome plea for virtuous maidenhood (Raising Maidens of Virtue, pg. 16), to Nancy Campbell’s defense of the biblical doctrine of children as a much desired blessing (Be Fruitful and Multiply, pg. 7), to our Beautiful Girlhood Collection that makes no apologies for extolling the virtues of femininity, or our All-American Boy’s Adventure Catalog that exhorts boys to defend women and children — every inch of this catalog has been prepared to help you draw your own line in the sand.

This is our watch. Let’s serve the Lord with such vigor that Christian children yet to be born will someday look back and say: this was our finest hour!

Victory or death! The biblical family — now and forever!