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The Vision Forum Faith of Our Fathers film team recently returned from the greatest “journey of honor” of our lifetime. We returned last month from a 25,000-mile mission to tell the story of our World War II fathers to the next generation. Our journey took us from Fredericksburg, Texas to San Antonio to Houston to Los Angeles to Hawaii to Japan to Guam to Iwo Jima to Guam to Japan to Honolulu to Kauai to Honolulu to Los Angeles to Houston to home.
Now I am delighted to report that the Faith of our Fathers Film Project has just wrapped shooting. Praise be to God. We have captured some of the most remarkable footage and interviews. For unity, camaraderie, successful interviews, and a once-in-a-lifetime historiographical opportunity, the journey far exceeded my personal expectations.
Next week on Doug’s Blog, I will be bringing you up-to-speed on this remarkable adventure. Stay tuned.
P.S. I took the above sunset image from Oahu toward the very end of our journey.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 29, 2005 | Permalink
Yes, there is such a thing as a man’s job.
Being a soldier is one example of such.
For years, Vision Forum has written articles and launched entire Web sites and Web pages dedicated to the biblical defense of men as defenders of women and children and the cultural horror of sending girls and mothers into combat (see “Forum on Women in the Military” and the Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society).
Who will stand with us?
Where is the outcry from the church? Do you know of churches or organizations that will take a stand on this issue? If so, let us know who they are.
Today’s USA Today is yet another reminder of our slippery descent to a unisex, daughter-drafting, Isaiah 3 society of men who will not protect their women. The headline reads:
“Women share dangers of combat: Female Amputees Make Clear That All Troops Are On Front Lines: Reality in Iraq has overtaken long-running debate at home.”
The article by Dave Moniz includes some of the following segments:
On June 19, Lt. Dawn Halfaker and soldiers from her military police platoon were on a reconnaissance patrol in Baqouba, Iraq, when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded inside their armored Humvee, grievously wounding two of the soldiers inside. Dazed and covered in blood, Halfaker mustered the energy to give an order to her driver. “Get out of the kill zone!” she shouted. Halfaker’s right arm was loosely connected to her torso.... She is one of five American military women at Walter Reed who have lost limbs from combat injuries in Iraq, a war that marks the first time large numbers of female troops have faced prolonged exposure to daily combat. A decade ago — in the midst of a heated national debate over which military jobs women should occupy — Halfaker’s story might have ignited a battle over whether women should experience the hazards of ground fighting. Today, she and other severely injured female soldiers say, reality has overtaken that debate. Since the ambush that nearly took her life, Halfaker, 25, has done about 30 interviews and appearances, including segments on MSNBC and CNN, and has counseled cadets at West Point. She says she is sometimes asked, often by people her parents’ age, whether women should be so heavily involved in fighting. “Women in combat is not really an issue,” she says. “It is happening.” Although women are eligible to fill most jobs in the military, they are barred from some of the most hazardous positions, including infantry troops, special operations commandos, tank crews and others that would place them in front-line ground combat. But they can fly most aircraft, including fighter jets, and serve as MPs and in other jobs that put them in harm’s way. Guerrilla wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — where front-line and rear-echelon troops often share the same dangers — have rendered the military’s efforts to regulate risk difficult if not impossible. “Everyone pretty much acknowledges there are no rear battle areas, no forward line of troops,” Halfaker says. Since the Iraq war began two years ago, 35 U.S. women have died and 271 have been wounded. Although several hundred American women lost their lives in previous wars, the vast majority of them were nurses or auxiliary troops assigned to rear areas, many of whom died of disease and injuries unrelated to combat. During Vietnam, the last prolonged ground war, a total of eight American women — all nurses — died. U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican who served as an Air Force officer in the 1980s, says the Iraq war seems to have largely answered questions about how Americans would react to seeing women return home in bandages and body bags. “There have been casualties, men and women, and we grieve for them. But I think we have gotten beyond the point where losing a daughter is somehow worse than losing a son,” Wilson says.... Heather Wilson, the New Mexico congresswoman, says the military faced large hurdles in opening up jobs such as fighter pilot and military police to women. Within American culture, she says, there is a deeply rooted belief that women should be protected rather than be protectors....
Dazed and covered in blood, Halfaker mustered the energy to give an order to her driver. “Get out of the kill zone!” she shouted. Halfaker’s right arm was loosely connected to her torso....
She is one of five American military women at Walter Reed who have lost limbs from combat injuries in Iraq, a war that marks the first time large numbers of female troops have faced prolonged exposure to daily combat.
A decade ago — in the midst of a heated national debate over which military jobs women should occupy — Halfaker’s story might have ignited a battle over whether women should experience the hazards of ground fighting. Today, she and other severely injured female soldiers say, reality has overtaken that debate.
Since the ambush that nearly took her life, Halfaker, 25, has done about 30 interviews and appearances, including segments on MSNBC and CNN, and has counseled cadets at West Point. She says she is sometimes asked, often by people her parents’ age, whether women should be so heavily involved in fighting.
“Women in combat is not really an issue,” she says. “It is happening.”
Although women are eligible to fill most jobs in the military, they are barred from some of the most hazardous positions, including infantry troops, special operations commandos, tank crews and others that would place them in front-line ground combat.
But they can fly most aircraft, including fighter jets, and serve as MPs and in other jobs that put them in harm’s way. Guerrilla wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — where front-line and rear-echelon troops often share the same dangers — have rendered the military’s efforts to regulate risk difficult if not impossible.
“Everyone pretty much acknowledges there are no rear battle areas, no forward line of troops,” Halfaker says.
Since the Iraq war began two years ago, 35 U.S. women have died and 271 have been wounded. Although several hundred American women lost their lives in previous wars, the vast majority of them were nurses or auxiliary troops assigned to rear areas, many of whom died of disease and injuries unrelated to combat.
During Vietnam, the last prolonged ground war, a total of eight American women — all nurses — died. U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican who served as an Air Force officer in the 1980s, says the Iraq war seems to have largely answered questions about how Americans would react to seeing women return home in bandages and body bags.
“There have been casualties, men and women, and we grieve for them. But I think we have gotten beyond the point where losing a daughter is somehow worse than losing a son,” Wilson says....
Heather Wilson, the New Mexico congresswoman, says the military faced large hurdles in opening up jobs such as fighter pilot and military police to women. Within American culture, she says, there is a deeply rooted belief that women should be protected rather than be protectors....
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 28, 2005 | Permalink
This wonderful ditty from Colonel Ron Ray:
Leading the charge at the Battle of Trenton, a musket ball struck his shoulder, hitting an artery. He recovered and continued to fight for General Washington, becoming friends with French officer Lafayette. After the Revolution, he studied law under Thomas Jefferson, was elected Senator, Governor of Virginia, and Secretary of State. He negotiated the Louisiana Purchase and set the Monroe Doctrine. Who was he? James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, born this day, April 28, 1758. In his First Annual Message to Congress, 1817, President James Monroe stated: “For advantages so numerous and highly important it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity.”
“For advantages so numerous and highly important it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity.”
For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. (Psalm 96:4)
I recently heard the greatest conference speech in Vision Forum’s eight-year existence. The speech was entitled, “Prepared to Be the Bride of Christ: The Legacy of My Godly Father.” It was a moving tribute given by Mrs. Jennie Chancey to her late father, Jeff Ethell, at Vision Forum’s 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat.
I think that one reason why the message so blessed me was that Jennie’s dad, Jeff, was my friend. I miss Jeff. He was one of the most likeable, unassuming, and accessible men of conscience I have ever met.
The man in the picture above was my friend, Jeff Ethell. The note on the letter is one he wrote to his eldest daughter, Jennie, who he referred to affectionately as his “Jennie B.”
I knew Jennie nearly a decade and a half ago, back in the days when she was a bona fide “Christian feminist.” The transformation of her life by the Holy Spirit from an independent conqueror-woman (her own characterization) to a Proverbs 31, Titus 2 “daughter of Sarah” (my characterization) seemed to those who knew her as a Saul-to-Paul type experience. Jennie, who serves her husband, Matt, as a wife, mother, and outstanding homemaker, honors her husband through a Titus 2 Web-based ministry of encouragement to Christian women at www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com. Jennie has also personally mentored numerous young ladies in her home, in accordance with the admonition in Scripture that reads:
That they [the older women] may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:5)
Though her critics include atheists, agnostics, evolutionists, and feminists of all stripes, I am not surprised to sometimes observe that the nastiest persecution comes from the wolves within the flock. Anti-patriarchs and cultural syncretists loathe Jennie and the vision of hope she communicates to Christian women. The plain teachings of Titus 2 (which are in sync with the rest of Scripture on the subject) throw a colossal monkey wrench into the pragmatic agenda of those who want to build empires of relevancy (from Christian schools to political armies) on the cheap labor source of working mothers. The ancient paths simply don’t shuck and jive with the hip and trendy, which is why some delight to mock and minimize her message to ladies with unfortunate — but all-too-typical — ungentlemanly decorum (not to mention impoverished theological banter).
This message represents the antithesis between Christianity and paganism, and notwithstanding their protestations to the contrary, syncretists by their nature oppose antithesis.
But Jennie has never been phased. She is the type of woman whose message puts fear into the hearts of those who close the womb for economic convenience, or who believe that the occupation of female tank-commander is just as blessed in the kingdom work of the Lord as that of wife, helpmeet, and mother. In short, Jennie, and women like her, are the antidote to the savorless salt of twenty-first century Evangelical womanhood.
Intelligent and articulate, submissive under authority, and genuinely gracious, Mrs. Chancey is a champion of godly, Christian womanhood. Because she is unflinching in her commitment to be a keeper at home, feministic Christians take much of their time to aim their pens at her, rather than the humanists and liberals of the world.
Matt Chancey’s mother, Bonnie (right), looks on as Jennie honors the legacy of her father.
My mission is to place this message in the hands of as many listeners as possible. Toward this end, we are delighted to be offering this CD as a thank-you gift to anyone who makes a donation in the month of April of any amount to our general fund to assist Vision Forum Ministries in the work of Christ-centered family restoration. Click here to read more.
Note: For those of you interested in Jennie’s testimony, this may be the only time she ever gives this message.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 27, 2005 | Permalink
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Many of you have faithfully prayed for this dear girl who, last October, was diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma. Many of you have also generously given to help cover the growing number of medical bills. I know that both of these things have been a blessing to the Kennedy family, and that they are very grateful for your support. After six rounds of chemotherapy with no apparent benefit, Shelby decided to pursue alternate methods of treatment. For the last several weeks, Shelby has been in Tulsa, Oklahoma, undergoing some testing, as well as various nutrition-related treatments. While there have been some improvements, Shelby continues to experience constant pain and has very little energy.
Following is a recent update that we received from the Kennedys:
On Tuesday we had a cat-scan done and comparing it to her last cat-scan, her tumor has continued to grow. Because the tumors are still gaining ground, Dr. Robbins has recommended that she go home to San Antonio and begin radiation therapy, along with the supplements she is now taking. Hopefully the radiation will affect the cancer long and hard enough to give us more time working from the nutritional end. Tomorrow we have some more appointments here at the clinic, till about noon, then we will start heading home. Please pray for our trip home. Shelby is able to lay down in the car but can become very uncomfortable while traveling. Also pray that the radiation will affect the cancer and really knock it back. We will be meeting with a radiologist in San Antonio on Monday morning at 9:00. Thank you so much for continuing to pray for Shelby.
Tomorrow we have some more appointments here at the clinic, till about noon, then we will start heading home.
Please pray for our trip home. Shelby is able to lay down in the car but can become very uncomfortable while traveling. Also pray that the radiation will affect the cancer and really knock it back. We will be meeting with a radiologist in San Antonio on Monday morning at 9:00. Thank you so much for continuing to pray for Shelby.
For more information about Shelby Kennedy, and how you can pray for her, click here.
To donate to the Life and Liberty Fund, click here. One hundred percent of all donations go to help Shelby Kennedy and others like her.
Vision Forum’s family creation adventure drama is now carried around the world in countries as distant as Papua New Guinea (home of the great missionary, John G. Paton). The audio albums have been selling out at conferences and the Lord seems to have used them to bless many thousands of families. We received the following note from a friend on the far side of the earth.
Dear Vision Forum, Thank you for the great programming, which our listeners enjoy so much. As education rises here, so does the myth of evolution. We are thankful for all the research and effort you are putting into blowing up the evolutionists’ sand castles. God Bless,Deborah Wells; For Bible FM; Papua New Guinea
Thank you for the great programming, which our listeners enjoy so much. As education rises here, so does the myth of evolution. We are thankful for all the research and effort you are putting into blowing up the evolutionists’ sand castles.
God Bless,Deborah Wells; For Bible FM; Papua New Guinea
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 26, 2005 | Permalink
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Mr. Pryor is remembered for five defining events in his public career:
The second reason why the Democrats are not serious in their opposition to Mr. Pryor is because he has established a consistent track record of being with them on the critical issues. To put it bluntly:
The Democrats are not concerned one whit about Bill Pryor and many of President Bush’s judicial nominees!
My hometown paper, the left-wing San Antonio Express-News, explained why liberals need never fear Bill Pryor:
William Pryor is undeniably conservative. However, the test is not whether a judge has conservative or liberal views, but whether he will yield to the demands of the law despite such views. Pryor has proved he can do that. As Alabama Attorney General he vigorously prosecuted former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore... despite his personal agreement with Moore’s legal view on the issue. (“A Liberal Urges Democrats to Judge the Judges on Criteria Other Than Party Politics,” April 24, 2005, San Antonio Express-News)
The Democrats remember that it was Republican appointees like O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter who have reinforced abortion, advanced the cause of sodomy, replaced original intent of the Constitution with adherence to foreign law, and insisted on judicial supremacy over the other branches of government. They know it was Republican judges like Myron Thompson who ruled against the Ten Commandments and declared unlawful the acknowledgement of God by public officials, and Republicans like Judge Greer who ordered the execution by forced starvation of Terri Schiavo.
These Democrats know that, when push comes to shove, a majority of Republican nominees who get seated will do the dirty work of the Left. These Republican judges will do it efficiently and without compromise. True, some will express personal moral disapproval with the principles they enforce, but they will advance them, all-the-while claiming that by enforcing abortion rights, sodomite marriages, and starvation of women and children, that they are (like Pontius Pilate) “absolved” of moral criticism because they are just “following orders.” These judges will firmly stand with the culture of death and the liberal court’s rejection of the Framer’s vision for the Constitution, and they will do so with impunity. Having expended so much political capital to back up the Administration’s choices, no Republican legislator will dare censure such judges for their bad behavior. They will grit their teeth, talk about judicial reform, and continue to support men with conservative personal opinions and liberal track records.
Democrats understand this game of doublespeak because they invented it. They hear, in the words of men like Mr. Pryor, that same “Capitol Hill Two-Step,” the virtues of which have been praised by the Ted Kennedys and the John Kerrys of the world who “personally oppose abortion,” but recognize that they must “obey the laws of the land,” and thus support abortion rights.
For these reasons, savvy Democrats really don’t care what a judicial nominee says about abortion when he is “off hours,” what church he attends, or to which party he belongs. They care about one and only one issue: Will the nominee support abortion-on-demand, homosexual marriage, international law, forced starvation of women, etc., if a higher-ranking judge declares such actions lawful? To put it another way: The only issue to be determined is whether a judge holds to the evolutionary view of the rule of law or the historical and Christian view of the rule of law.
One of our greatest allies is the Church itself.(The demon Screwtape to his protégé Wormwood)
The first philosophy is the historic, constitutional, and Christian doctrine that the rule of law is not the opinion of judges but the law of the land. Within this view, rights are inalienable because they are given by God, and it is the purpose of government to secure these rights, but no government may lawfully restrict them, nor is any law or rule to be considered valid which denies God as the ultimate source of law. This view holds that the Constitution, along with its preamble, the Declaration of Independence, is predicated upon and presupposes the acknowledgement of the Christian God as Lawgiver, is the supreme law of the land, and the only rule of law to be followed, notwithstanding the opinion of individual judges to the contrary.
The second philosophy is the modern view. It is upon this position that Mr. Pryor hangs his jurisprudential hat. The modern view is based on the assumption that law is not governed by fixed principles of higher and constitutional jurisprudence, but evolves based on the changing mores of society and the decrees of whatever unelected official happens to be sitting on the bench at any given time. Under this view, law is positive, meaning that law is whatever men say it is. For proponents of this school of thought, law is subject to change at the whims of judges who, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes, “guide the evolutionary participation of the law.” To follow the “rule of law” is to follow the opinions of judges, regardless of whether such opinions are (a) beyond the scope of their jurisdiction; (b) contrary to our Constitution; or (c) in clear violation of the higher revealed law of God or the Constitution of our nation.
It was this theory of the “rule of law” that was advanced by the defendants on trial during the 1945 Nuremberg proceedings and is, perhaps unwittingly, being advanced by those who argue that “Chief Justice Roy Moore broke the law.” Here is the rub: Just as the German judges and lawyers who personally opposed the mass execution of Jews in the early 1940s (but nevertheless ordered them to their deaths), present-day American judges who are personally opposed to the execution of unborn babies are also compelled to actively promote such abominations through their legal careers because they are bound by “the rule of law.”
Bill Pryor’s commitment to the evolutionary view of the rule of law has drawn praise from some of the most ardent enemies of Christianity. The Washington Post reported that Morris Dees, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and a plaintiff against Chief Justice Moore in the Ten Commandments case, is among Pryor’s defenders. “The heat of this battle certainly matured this young man,” Dees said of Pryor. “His actions behind the scenes to orchestrate the state officials handling these things saved Alabama from constitutional crisis.”[v]
The consequence for the Church in supporting such men is that (a) the collective conscience of the Christian legal community becomes seared and their tactics pragmatic and self-destructive; (b) the resolve of good men and women to resist evil diminishes; and (c) the Church becomes savorless salt in the cultural battle of our generation.
To quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Christians are encouraged to call their Senators — Republican and Democrat — and voice their opposition to the nomination of Bill Pryor.
[i] Sworn affidavit by Former Alabama Governor Fob James, Oct. 22, 2003:
I talked with Bill Pryor about all this when I was considering him for the job of Alabama Attorney-General. He impressed me with his knowledge of these things and provided me with some legal papers on “non acquiescence” that he was responsible for while at the Tulane Law School. I told Bill about my view that constitutional officials needed to challenge the Supreme Court.For instance, for twenty years my view has been that a Governor should refuse to allow enforcement of a patently unconstitutional court order, and force the president to take action one way or the other on the issue. I don’t mean that we should fight anyone with troops. I do mean that we should use our constitutional authority to force the great issue of the day into the provinces of all branches of the federal government, not just a judiciary that likes to sweep everything under its own rug where it has nearly exclusive control. Bill Pryor was aware of my views when I appointed him, because we discussed these things. Bill had indicated nothing but his wholehearted support of my position on these issues at the time.I have now heard that Bill Pryor is prosecuting Roy Moore before the Court of the Judiciary for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments from the State Judicial Building. If this is true, Bill’s action today are utterly contrary to the political and legal convictions he expressed to me. Had he expressed his present view, I would not have found him qualified to be Attorney-General of Alabama. The main reason Pryor was appointed was his understanding and the ability to express that understanding well that a public official’s highest duty was to the Constitution of the United States and not to the Supreme Court or any other entity.
I talked with Bill Pryor about all this when I was considering him for the job of Alabama Attorney-General. He impressed me with his knowledge of these things and provided me with some legal papers on “non acquiescence” that he was responsible for while at the Tulane Law School. I told Bill about my view that constitutional officials needed to challenge the Supreme Court.
For instance, for twenty years my view has been that a Governor should refuse to allow enforcement of a patently unconstitutional court order, and force the president to take action one way or the other on the issue. I don’t mean that we should fight anyone with troops. I do mean that we should use our constitutional authority to force the great issue of the day into the provinces of all branches of the federal government, not just a judiciary that likes to sweep everything under its own rug where it has nearly exclusive control. Bill Pryor was aware of my views when I appointed him, because we discussed these things. Bill had indicated nothing but his wholehearted support of my position on these issues at the time.
I have now heard that Bill Pryor is prosecuting Roy Moore before the Court of the Judiciary for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments from the State Judicial Building. If this is true, Bill’s action today are utterly contrary to the political and legal convictions he expressed to me. Had he expressed his present view, I would not have found him qualified to be Attorney-General of Alabama. The main reason Pryor was appointed was his understanding and the ability to express that understanding well that a public official’s highest duty was to the Constitution of the United States and not to the Supreme Court or any other entity.
[ii] Sworn affidavit by Former Alabama Governor Fob James, Oct. 22, 2003:
The last conversation I recall with Bill Pryor occurred late in Governor’s James’ last term after the Governor signed Alabama’s “partial birth” abortion law. When the law passed, Mr. Pryor instructed Alabama district attorneys not to enforce the law as to pre-viable fetuses. In my view, this gutted the law and defeated its very purpose. An equivalent to Pryor’s actions would be for U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft to instruct U.S. attorneys not to enforce the Act of Congress on partial Birth Abortion that Congress passed only yesterday, and the President is due to sign shortly, as to “pre-viable fetuses.”
[iii] William Pryor, Jr.’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee June 11, 2003:
SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, D-NY: You’ve said on several occasions that Roe v. Wade is “the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law.” Do you believe that as of right now?WILLIAM PRYOR: I do.SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER, R-PA: With that personal belief, Attorney General Pryor, what assurances can you give to the many who are raising the question as to whether, when you characterized it as an abomination and slaughter, that you can follow the decision of the United States Supreme Court, which you consider an abomination and having led to slaughter.WILLIAM PRYOR: I would invite anyone to look at my record as attorney general, where I’ve done just that. We had a partial-birth abortion law in our state that was challenged by abortion clinics in Alabama in l997. It could have been interpreted broadly or it could have been interpreted narrowly. I ordered the district attorneys of Alabama to give it its narrowest construction.SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: You directed prosecutors to enforce the state partial birth abortion ban only to the extent permitted by the Supreme Court. Is that right?WILLIAM PRYOR: That was what I was trying to do.SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: Even though you had people... even though you had people pushing you to go farther...WILLIAM PRYOR: Absolutely.SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: ...to try and expand that law beyond what the Supreme Court had said.WILLIAM PRYOR: Absolutely.SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: So you went along with the Supreme Court, which is the law of the land...WILLIAM PRYOR: Yes.SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: Even though you might have believed otherwise...WILLIAM PRYOR: Absolutely.
SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, D-NY: You’ve said on several occasions that Roe v. Wade is “the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law.” Do you believe that as of right now?
WILLIAM PRYOR: I do.
SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER, R-PA: With that personal belief, Attorney General Pryor, what assurances can you give to the many who are raising the question as to whether, when you characterized it as an abomination and slaughter, that you can follow the decision of the United States Supreme Court, which you consider an abomination and having led to slaughter.
WILLIAM PRYOR: I would invite anyone to look at my record as attorney general, where I’ve done just that. We had a partial-birth abortion law in our state that was challenged by abortion clinics in Alabama in l997. It could have been interpreted broadly or it could have been interpreted narrowly. I ordered the district attorneys of Alabama to give it its narrowest construction.
SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: You directed prosecutors to enforce the state partial birth abortion ban only to the extent permitted by the Supreme Court. Is that right?
WILLIAM PRYOR: That was what I was trying to do.
SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: Even though you had people... even though you had people pushing you to go farther...
WILLIAM PRYOR: Absolutely.
SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: ...to try and expand that law beyond what the Supreme Court had said.
SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: So you went along with the Supreme Court, which is the law of the land...
WILLIAM PRYOR: Yes.
SENATOR ORRIN HATCH, R-UT: Even though you might have believed otherwise...
[iv] On March 23, 2005, Judge William H. Pryor, Jr. of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals voted with the majority to deny a new hearing which would have allowed the courts to look at new evidence in the Terri Schiavo case. View court documentation here (free Adobe Reader software required).
[v] The Washington Post, Monday, August 25, 2003. A Section 5.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 25, 2005 | Permalink
I was listening to glorious hymns on the bagpipes this morning, and was reminded of one of my favorite Spurgeon quotes, written by the “prince of preachers” in a letter to Andrew Bonar (The Scots Worthies):
Better that Scotland were hacked by Claverhouse for cleaving to the Lord, than that she should be flattered by infidels for her gradual departure from the faith. Let not the blood of the Covenanters be spilt in vain.... I am glad you are writing on Scots Worthies. Oh, that Scotland may stand fast in this evil day!
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 21, 2005 | Permalink
Dear Loyal Blog Readers:
Last year, when we advertised our 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat, we filled about 450 slots in less than a business week. We regretfully had to turn down large numbers of families because of space limitations. We will be formally announcing the 2006 event next week. I expect to fill up within a week of the announcement. In appreciation for your loyal readership (and many hundreds of lovely letters I receive each month), I wanted to let you know first, before we make an announcement by mass e-mail or snail mail. My strong recommendation is that if this is an event that would bless you and your daughters, please consider signing up as soon as possible. Currently, we are only scheduled for one Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat event per year (again at the Callaway Gardens) and we do need to cut things off at 450 individuals. To learn more, click here.
Blessings,Doug Phillips
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 20, 2005 | Permalink
The defining historical event of the last five hundred years was the Reformation. The unsurpassed authority on the history of the Reformation was J.H. Merle D’Aubigne. Best known for his multi-volume history of the Reformation, D’Aubigne’s popularity was without rival in the nineteenth century. The complete seven-volume collection, recently brought back into print, is available for $198 — 50% off the normal retail value. Special offer ends at midnight tonight (CDT).
The three-volume Children’s Reformation Stories Collection is a wonderful introduction to the great heroes of the faith and their stories of sacrifice, tears, triumphs, and sometimes martyrdoms that will help your child appreciate the Reformation. Save $24 through May 31.
At any moment I must be able to preach, to pray or to die. —Arnold Pent II (1901-1980)
Some men pay lip-service to the principle of honor. Others ignore it altogether. But then there are a precious few to whom honor is a defining principle of life — a wellspring of vision and daily encouragement. Such men have embraced what Jesus Christ described as the first command with a promise, otherwise known as the Fifth Commandment. God declares of such men that “it will be well” with them and that they will live long in the land which God has given to them. Arnold Pent III is such a man.
I never fail to be amazed at the power of courageous fatherhood or its generational impact. But listening to Arnold Pent III last week at the 2005 Vision Forum Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat, I was blessed to the point of tears as I realized that I was not so much listening to the man at the podium, but to a message given nearly fifty years prior by a faithful father, a message which had been memorized by a devoted son who drunk deeply from his father’s wisdom and found it a wellspring of life.
It is one thing for a son to honor his father when he is nineteen (the age that Arnold Pent III wrote Ten P’s in a Pod). It is another to see that same son honor that same father forty-five years later, but this time with a lifetime of gratitude and spiritual fruit as rich testimony to the power of his father’s principle, and as a heritage to the children his father never met.
Oh, how my heart soared with thanks to the Lord. May I be such a faithful son.
Those of us who have read Ten P’s in a Pod (now on the seventh reading at the Phillips family) feel that we know the man Arnold Pent III writes about. We know, for example, that Arnold Pent II (the father) was the kind of man who feared God, not men. He was the kind of man who neighbors and relatives probably thought eccentric and extreme in his fervor for the Lord. But fifty years later, it is his legacy, not that of his critics, which is being realized in the lives of his children’s children’s children, and proclaimed to families hungry for vision throughout the land.
Like all great visionary leaders, Arnold Pent III was a man with many wonderful directives for his family. In fact, Arnold Pent III discovered something that all fathers would be well-advised to consider: True Christian leadership in the household is born in the fire of adversity. The noblest and most God-blessed expressions of biblical fatherhood are cultivated, always and only, by taking the path less traveled.
Now at the age of sixty-three, Arnold Pent III (the son) still remembers entire books of the Bible he memorized beside his father as together they travelled one million miles on a journey of evangelism and discipleship. He remembers his father’s maxims for life. He remembers the many disciplines his father modeled. What is more beautiful — he has trained his daughter Victoria (who stands there with him) to remember her grandfather’s vision as well. Together they blessed the audience with a beautiful recitation of his father’s favorite chapters from the Holy Scripture.
If you have yet to read about the one million mile journey of home education and discipleship of the Arnold Pent family, then you are missing out on one of the most encouraging and delightful stories to be released in years. Written more than forty years ago by Arnold Pent III when he was just nineteen, Ten P’s in a Pod is the story of one remarkable father of vision and his uncompromising standards.
I feel a special kinship to the Pent family. As a boy, I traveled constantly with my father, having visited forty-nine of the fifty states by the time I was eighteen. I sat with him for tens of thousands of miles and listened to books on tape, sermons, histories, and theology lectures. They were glorious times. We discussed everything, we saw great sights, and I always felt like I was a part of my father’s life-mission. He always let me know that he believed in me and convinced me that there was nothing I could not accomplish through faithful determination and the gracious blessing of God. There is no doubt in my mind that my life was shaped by a father who made it his commitment to have me by his side and to daily speak words of life and love into my heart.
I am grateful to have found a soul mate in Arnold Pent III. And today, I give thanks to the Lord for that special evening.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 19, 2005 | Permalink
A matter of fervent prayer since the birth of our first child, is that God would pour out His grace and equip us to train our sons and daughters to be best friends. We thank God for every little victory, realizing the mark is ever before us, and knowing how much we need God’s grace to communicate the importance to our little ones that brothers and sisters enjoy an uncommon love and unity.
We have learned, and continue to learn, from wise mentors the importance that brothers and sisters spend large amounts of time with each other, that they learn to work together daily, and that boys learn their masculine duties toward their sisters and that sisters learn their feminine duties toward their brothers. Though we had a house with a hundred rooms, we would still want all the boys in one room and all the girls in another. Proximity and time are two indispensable elements when building teamwork and unity.
We have learned, and continue to learn, about the importance of daily exhortations and admonitions. Hundreds of times, our little ones have been warned against the sins of Cain and Abel, and of Jacob and Esau. Every day is a new battle, and every battle is a new opportunity. The amount of effort to cultivate true oneness between brothers and sisters is simply enormous, but at the end of the day, the fruit of the labor is deliciously sweet and the blessing of God’s gracious favor even more so.
Oh Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Pour out your favor on the fathers and mothers who dearly and desperately seek the hearts of their little ones.
She Reads to Him:
Tonight my sweetheart Jubilee (who just turned seven last week) spent the evening reading to me the Bible in our hotel room. I was a little under the weather and she lifted my spirits by reading aloud the entire book of Jonah with tremendous zest (and a boatload of great questions). What a joy when our daughters comfort us with God’s Word.
Earlier today, we fellowshiped with the families of St. Peter’s Presbyterian Church — a lovely conclusion to the “Your Gold to Refine” conference sponsored by R.C. Sproul, Jr. and the Highlands Study Center.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 17, 2005 | Permalink
Memories from the ninth annual CBMTS Titanic Men’s Memorial Dinner. (Click here to visit the Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society.)
May our sons be defenders of women and children.
Samuel Turley recites from Poems for Patriarchs.
Bob Renaud and Wes Strackbein discuss Sir Walter Scott’s vision of manhood and history.
See you next year at the grand tenth-anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 16, 2005 | Permalink
“Spiritual Consolation to the Survivors of the Titanic,” as delivered by Dr. Henry Van Dyke in Princeton, New Jersey on April 18, 1912:
The Titanic, greatest of ships, has gone to her ocean grave. What has she left behind her? Think clearly. She has left debts. Vast sums of money have been lost. Some of them are covered by insurance which will be paid. The rest is gone. All wealth is insecure. She has left lessons. The risk of running the northern course when it is menaced by icebergs is revealed. The cruelty of sending a ship to sea without enough life-boats and life-rafts to hold her company is exhibited and underlined in black. She has left sorrows. Hundreds of human hearts and homes are in mourning for the loss of dear companions and friends. The universal sympathy which is written in every face and heard in every voice proves that man is more than the beasts that perish. It is an evidence of the divine in humanity. Why should we care? There is no reason in the world, unless there is something in us that is different from lime and carbon and phosphorus, something that makes us mortals able to suffer together “For we have all of us an human heart.” But there is more than this harvest of debts, and lessons, and sorrows, in the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic. There is a great ideal. It is clearly outlined and set before the mind and heart of the modern world, to approve and follow, or to despise and reject. It is, “Women and children first!” Whatever happened on that dreadful April night among the arctic ice, certainly that was the order given by the brave and steadfast captain; certainly that was the law obeyed by the men on the doomed ship. But why? There is no statute or enactment of any nation to enforce such an order. There is no trace of such a rule to be found in the history of ancient civilizations. There is no authority for it among the heathen races to-day. On a Chinese ship, if we may believe the report of an official representative, the rule would have been “Men First, children next, and women last.” There is certainly no argument against this barbaric rule on physical or material grounds. On the average, a man is stronger than a woman, he is worth more than a woman, he has a longer prospect of life than a woman. There is no reason in all the range of physical and economic science, no reason in all the philosophy of the Superman, why he should give his place in the life-boat to a woman. Where, then, does this rule which prevailed in the sinking Titanic come from? It comes from God, through the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the ideal of self-sacrifice. It is the rule that “the strong ought to bear the infirmities of those that are weak.” It is the divine revelation which is summed up in the words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” It needs a tragic catastrophe like the wreck of the Titanic to bring out the absolute contradiction between this ideal and all the counsels of materialism and selfish expediency. I do not say that the germ of this ideal may not be found in other religions. I do not say that they are against it. I do not ask any man to accept my theology (which grows shorter and simpler as I grow older), unless his heart leads him to it. But this I say: The ideal that the strength of the strong is given them to protect and save the weak, the ideal which animates the rule of “Women and children first,” is in essential harmony with the spirit of Christ. If what He said about our Father in Heaven is true, this ideal is supremely reasonable. Otherwise it is hard to find arguments for it. The tragedy of facts sets the question clearly before us. Think about it. Is this ideal to survive and prevail in our civilization or not? Without it, no doubt, we may have riches and power and dominion. But what a world to live in! Only through the belief that the strong are bound to protect and save the weak because God wills it so, can we hope to keep self-sacrifice, and love, and heroism, and all the things that make us glad to live and not afraid to die.
She has left debts. Vast sums of money have been lost. Some of them are covered by insurance which will be paid. The rest is gone. All wealth is insecure.
She has left lessons. The risk of running the northern course when it is menaced by icebergs is revealed. The cruelty of sending a ship to sea without enough life-boats and life-rafts to hold her company is exhibited and underlined in black.
She has left sorrows. Hundreds of human hearts and homes are in mourning for the loss of dear companions and friends. The universal sympathy which is written in every face and heard in every voice proves that man is more than the beasts that perish. It is an evidence of the divine in humanity. Why should we care? There is no reason in the world, unless there is something in us that is different from lime and carbon and phosphorus, something that makes us mortals able to suffer together “For we have all of us an human heart.”
But there is more than this harvest of debts, and lessons, and sorrows, in the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic. There is a great ideal. It is clearly outlined and set before the mind and heart of the modern world, to approve and follow, or to despise and reject.
It is, “Women and children first!”
Whatever happened on that dreadful April night among the arctic ice, certainly that was the order given by the brave and steadfast captain; certainly that was the law obeyed by the men on the doomed ship. But why? There is no statute or enactment of any nation to enforce such an order. There is no trace of such a rule to be found in the history of ancient civilizations. There is no authority for it among the heathen races to-day. On a Chinese ship, if we may believe the report of an official representative, the rule would have been “Men First, children next, and women last.”
There is certainly no argument against this barbaric rule on physical or material grounds. On the average, a man is stronger than a woman, he is worth more than a woman, he has a longer prospect of life than a woman. There is no reason in all the range of physical and economic science, no reason in all the philosophy of the Superman, why he should give his place in the life-boat to a woman.
Where, then, does this rule which prevailed in the sinking Titanic come from? It comes from God, through the faith of Jesus of Nazareth.
It is the ideal of self-sacrifice. It is the rule that “the strong ought to bear the infirmities of those that are weak.” It is the divine revelation which is summed up in the words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
It needs a tragic catastrophe like the wreck of the Titanic to bring out the absolute contradiction between this ideal and all the counsels of materialism and selfish expediency.
I do not say that the germ of this ideal may not be found in other religions. I do not say that they are against it. I do not ask any man to accept my theology (which grows shorter and simpler as I grow older), unless his heart leads him to it. But this I say: The ideal that the strength of the strong is given them to protect and save the weak, the ideal which animates the rule of “Women and children first,” is in essential harmony with the spirit of Christ.
If what He said about our Father in Heaven is true, this ideal is supremely reasonable. Otherwise it is hard to find arguments for it. The tragedy of facts sets the question clearly before us. Think about it. Is this ideal to survive and prevail in our civilization or not?
Without it, no doubt, we may have riches and power and dominion. But what a world to live in!
Only through the belief that the strong are bound to protect and save the weak because God wills it so, can we hope to keep self-sacrifice, and love, and heroism, and all the things that make us glad to live and not afraid to die.
Ninety-three years ago yesterday, the men of the Titanic demonstrated what happens when cultures embrace (even in part) the presuppositions of the biblical doctrine of patriarchy. Nearly a century has passed since that date. Three women still live who were lifted by men and placed into life boats. They are the following:
Miss Lillian Gertrud Asplund. She was born on Sunday, October 21, 1906 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her last residence was in Alseda Småland, Sweden. She never married. Third-class passenger.
Miss Elizabeth Gladys “Millvina” Dean. Born on Wednesday, April 10, 1912,her last residence was in Bartley Farm, Hampshire, England. She never married. Third-class passenger.
Miss Barbara Joyce West. She was born on Wednesday, May 24, 1911. Her last residence was in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. Married Mr. Dainton. Second-class passenger.
Ninety-three years ago today, these women were being transported on the Carpathia (also called “the widow ship”) to New York and a world without their fathers.
Thank the Lord. “Women and Children First!”
It was a small, private affair this year, but last night, the Christian Boys’ and Men’s Titanic Society met for the Ninth Annual Memorial Celebration to the men who died so that women and children could live. What a joy to be reminded of the ancient, transcendent truth that men sacrifice for women and children. In a year marked by Christian leaders who place women in harm’s way on foreign battlefields, husbands who starve and dehydrate their wives, and evangelical teachers who lack the guts or the perspective to decry such wickedness, it was a blessing to be reminded of the ancient virtue — the strong die for the weak, the groom dies for the bride — WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!
www.titanicsociety.com
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 15, 2005 | Permalink
This blog is broadcast from the Highlands Study Center and the warm, delightful home of R.C. Sproul, Jr. and his bride Denise. R.C. and I just completed a “Basement Tape” on oaths and vows. The image above is the view from R.C.’s front porch. What a blessing!
This is simply one of the most remarkable recordings I have ever heard. Listen to the voice of a 102-year-old man recount, with remarkable clarity, his service with General Ewell during the War Between the States.
In light of Jay’s admonition to the Governor of Florida that it would be wrong to violate “the rule of law” by using his executive authority to intercede on Terri Schiavo’s behalf, and in light of acting federal judge Bill Pryor’s horrific complicity in her forced starvation by refusing her appeal when it came before him (yes, he voted against her once; he was out for the second vote), following is a quote from:
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful until it became risky. —C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 14, 2005 | Permalink
No other success in life — not being President, or being healthy, or going to college or anything else — comes up to the success of the man and the woman who can feel that they have done their duty and that their children and grandchildren rise up to call them blessed. —Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Five daughters enjoy tea with their father.
Jay Valenti and daughters came from Louisiana to be part of the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat.
Don Palmer with his beloved.
We love to see long-term friends of Vision Forum!
Three girls very special to the author of this blog.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 13, 2005 | Permalink
”...there were never such devoted sisters...”
Melissa and Lyndsay Keen take a “sister moment” during teatime at the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat. These delightful girls helped to organize the entire event for Vision Forum and did a tremendous job.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 12, 2005 | Permalink
Can a daughter find joy and contentment serving in her father’s house? A panel of twenty-something ladies at the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat offered their thoughts to the girls in attendance about the beautiful vision of biblical womanhood that comes from rejecting the feminist concept of the independent career woman, and embracing the biblical vision of the industrious, virtuous, submissive daughter who serves her father and advances the ministry of the household.
Kelly Brown shared her testimony of gratitude to the Lord and her father for giving her the freedom to be “about her father’s business.”
Melissa Keen (pictured above) related the story of how her father had shepherded her and helped her to guard her heart, and God used this to prepare her for a biblical courtship which has been a source of great joy for her and her family.
Rebekah Zes (pictured above) spoke with passion of the necessity that women of God resist the spirit of the age and return to the ancient paths. Her sister, Hannah Zes, declared: “I want to share the immense happiness I have found in being a daughter in my father’s house. I have more liberty and more peace in spending my days at home in service to my family and in developing my skills than I would if I were anywhere else. My home is a wonderful place always bustling with love, joy, laughter, and activity. I love my father and mother dearly, and because I love them, I love my home. From the moment I wake and am greeted by my mom and sisters, to cooking with them, to talking with them, to working beside them, to dinner discussions and family worship, to the time I kiss my father goodnight, I love being at home. May God, by His great grace, grant you such a love for your family and for your home, and may He keep you faithful all your days to run with perseverance the race set before you.”
Sarah Zes reminded the girls in attendance: “Proverbs 4 says: ‘Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.... He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.... My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’ We must honor our father and keep his commandments. We must determine to guard our hearts daily, and entrust our heart to our father for safekeeping.”
Rebekah Zes commented, “You will not always have the privilege to be so near your father as you are now, and have the opportunity to serve him as you do in this time of your life. I exhort you to take full advantage of this season in your life and to be about your fathers business. Is your father over-burdened? Relieve him! Serve him in whatever capacity you may that he might be freer to devote his time to those things which demand the most attention. Likewise, is your mother wearied? Aid her! Take some responsibilities upon yourself so that she might better serve your father. This will be a great help to both of your parents.”
Hannah Zes said, “One of the greatest joys I have is spending all day, every day, with my best friends, which are my mom, my dad, and my sisters. My aunt always asks, ‘How can you stand being at home all day with your mother and sisters?’ To which we reply, ‘We love it!’ It is solely by the grace of God that my sisters and I are best friends. When our parents took us out of the school system and brought us home to be taught, we three girls did not have each other’s hearts — we were competitive and resentful toward one another. By learning together and by working alongside one another, and through the working of the Holy Spirit, we came to love each other. Now I cannot imagine life without my sisters. They are the sweetest joys God has given to me and the most trusted friends I could ever claim.”
Hannah Zes continued: “We, as daughters, have the joyful privilege of bringing beauty and order into our father’s house. Some of the ways my sisters and I beautify our home is through decorating, fresh floral arrangements, lovely music, and savory scents. A cheerful smile and kind heart, as well as what you wear, will bring beauty to your home and reflect the loveliness of a godly spirit to everyone who sees you. The description of a young woman’s dress in Titus 2 is chaste, or pure, and the woman of Proverbs 31 is clothed in beauty. So that we would reflect the beautiful character of the Proverbs 31 woman, my father has asked us to dress modestly and femininely, and we do so to please him and to honor God.”
The greatest gift a dad will ever give away is his daughter. But before he does so, wise fathers win the hearts of their daughters. Similarly, a woman will someday serve beside her husband, but before she does so, she learns to serve her father. At this past weekend’s 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat, we thought it would be a good idea to take these themes and to have a little fun with both the dads and the daughters.
We surprised some of our dads by rating them on their ability to serenade their daughters — in front of five hundred people.
Our girls competed to see who could do the best job at grooming, shaving, and tying a tie on their father. It was a hoot from beginning to end.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 11, 2005 | Permalink
The lush, 14,000-acre Callaway Gardens estate was the perfect setting for the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat. This gorgeous venue offered a magnificent enclosed butterfly habitat, acres of lakes, a palatial vegetable patch, and numerous world-class gardens.
Claudia Brown and Jubilee Phillips play in the Callaway fields.
Gardens everywhere!
Faith Phillips in front of an onion patch. (I think they were onions.)
More than 450 gathered for the “Unity Games” at our 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat.
Girls had to negotiate around tricky obstacles based solely on the voice commands of their fathers.
Dads and daughters had to demonstrate balance and unity as they competed against other father and daughter couples in our egg race.
Fathers and daughters played, sang, listened, talked, and walked with each other during this weekend’s powerful three-day retreat at Callaway Gardens, Georgia for the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat. The weekend culminated with a time of prayer and blessing over the daughters by the fathers. It was also a time of honesty, forgiveness, and reconciliation as many fathers and daughters made the commitment and took the time to resolve unresolved issues and to pledge their hearts one to another in the name of, and for the sake of, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dads talk a moment while some of the young girls just talk “doll-talk” at the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat.
Fathers and daughters enjoyed a luxurious picnic together at the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat.
Despite wet fields from inclement weather, many enjoyed a lawn picnic.
Others gathered around the pool.
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. (Isaiah 1:26)
I am so thankful that, even in these perilous times, the Lord continues to give us sign after sign of hope. Every time a godly leader demonstrates that he fears God more than man, the Lord reminds us that He has not abandoned this God-blessed nation. Given the fact that the greatest usurpations are taking place in the judiciary today, we should not be surprised to see the Lord raise up some truly heroic warriors within the judiciary itself. Justice Roy Moore was one. Now Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker is another. The thing you need to know about Justice Parker is (1) he fears God more than man; (2) consequently, he is the personification of principled leadership; (3) he has a model Christian marriage and is widely known as a true gentleman; (4) he is a skilled thinker who understand the constitution and the Christian presuppositions of all law; (5) he has been wise enough to place rock-solid Christian legal thinkers around him and to build a staff which will stand with him and not back down; and (6) God miraculously and wonderfully placed him in office, having ousted one of the very opponents who stood against Roy Moore on the issue of whether or not the state can acknowledge God.
Justice Parker joined us for a special Sunday worship service following the 2005 Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat held at the beautiful Callaway Gardens in Georgia, after which we met for brunch. Remember that Justice Parker is the only sitting state Supreme Court judge who spoke out (in accordance with the canon of judicial ethics), at the death of Terri Schiavo, on the judicial tyranny and executive abdication of responsibility by those authorities empowered by law with the ability to save Terri’s life. His courageous statement stands as a model of principled and thoughtful leadership. Remember to pray for Tom as he honors the Lord as a Supreme Court Justice of Alabama.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 10, 2005 | Permalink
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 9, 2005 | Permalink
This October, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival will once again offer a $10,000 first place cash award to an independent Christian film, and present an event which we believe highlights the stark antithesis between Hollywood and Christian culture. Based on pre-registrations and early interest, we think it reasonable that we will double last year’s 700 person attendance. In my view, the need is more critical than ever.
Just before Oscar night, USA Today featured a full page article by Anthony Breznican entitled “Exploring Oscar’s Dark Side.” His thesis:
Open the winning envelope? For this year’s Oscar hopefuls, it’s more like opening a vein. Drug addiction, mercy killing, mental illness, genocide, abortion, ill young mothers and borderline alcoholism — these are a few of Oscar’s favorite things this year.... Some Oscar experts say this year’s nominees reflect the overall dour state of Hollywood moviemaking.... Morgan Freeman, who has a supporting-actor bid for Million Dollar Baby, also defends the dark side of his movie: “I’m sorry, there are some people who are going to be put off by this kind of subject matter. But I think most of the audience sees it for what it is. It’s a wonderful story, and sometimes these (troubling) choices confront us.”
Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave both of its “best movie” Oscars to films portraying assisted suicide in a sympathetic light: Million Dollar Baby took home the award as best picture (plus best director, best actress and best supporting actor) while the Spanish offering The Sea Inside won recognition as best foreign language film. On the entertainment industry’s night of nights, millions of people saw glamorous figures in fairy-tale gowns and tuxes receiving standing ovations for telling intense stories of deeply endearing figures who longed explicitly for death and persuaded friends to help them get their wish.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 7, 2005 | Permalink
“But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry” (I Corinthians 7:36). By the flower of her age he means the marriageable age. This lawyers define to be from twelve to twenty years of age. Paul points out, in passing, what equity and humanity ought to be exercised by parents, in applying a remedy in that tender and slippery age, when the force of the disease requires it. And it requires to be so. In this clause I understand him as referring to the girl’s infirmity — in the event of her not having the gift of continency; for in that case, necessity constrains her to marry. As to Jerome’s making a handle of the expression sinneth not, for reviling marriage, with a view to its disparagement, as if it were not a praiseworthy action to dispose of a daughter in marriage, it is quite childish. For Paul reckoned it enough to exempt fathers from blame, that they might not reckon it a cruel thing to subject their daughters to the vexations connected with marriage.... Now this passage serves to establish the authority of parents, which ought to be held sacred, as having its origin in the common rights of nature. Now if in other actions of inferior moment no liberty is allowed to children, without the authority of their parents, much less is it reasonable that they should have liberty given them in the contracting of marriage. And that has been carefully enacted by civil law, but more especially by the law of God. So much the more detestable, then, is the wickedness of the Pope, who, laying aside all respect, either for Divine or human laws, has been so daring as to free children from the yoke of subjection to their parents. It is of importance, however, to mark the reason. This, says he, is on account of the dignity of the sacrament. Not to speak of the ignorance of making marriage a sacrament, what honor is there, I beseech you, or what dignity, when, contrary to the general feeling of propriety in all nations, and contrary to God’s eternal appointment, they take off all restraints from the lusts of young persons, that they may, without any feeling of shame, sport themselves, under pretense of its being a sacrament? Let us know, therefore, that in disposing of children in marriage, the authority of parents is of first-rate importance, provided they do not tyrannically abuse it, as even the civil laws restrict it. The Apostle, too, in requiring exemption from necessity, intimated that the deliberations of parents ought to be regulated with a view to the advantage of their children. Let us bear in mind, therefore, that this limitation is the proper rule — that children allow themselves to be governed by their parents, and that they, on the other hand, do not drag their children by force to what is against their inclination, and that they have no other object in view, in the exercise of their authority, than the advantage of their children.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 6, 2005 | Permalink
Tonight, Jane Fonda told Larry King that she is on a “journey” of discovery to unlock the teachings of Jesus which she described as inherintly feminist. She explained that she rejects the Genesis account of Eve, and that she was looking to the Gnostic gospels for truth.
In his daily blog, my father offers some personal comments about his professional relationship to Jane Fonda when he served as Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity.
From a biblical perspective, children remain under the counsel of their godly parents throughout the course of their lives. But they are only under the command of their parents while they remain a member of their father’s household and under his protection, provision, and oversight.
There is a great deal of overlap in the training of sons and daughters. But the distinctions are crucial. A key distinction between sons and daughters concerns the goals of their preparation and release. The training of sons should focus on preparing them for independent household leadership. To be qualified for marriage, sons must demonstrate their ability to leave their fathers and stand as a capable, independent household leader. Daughters demonstrate the opposite. The training of daughters should focus on their ability to remain under the authority of a household leader. Daughters who are trained, industrious, content, capable, and comfortable serving beside their fathers (as they will someday serve beside their husbands) demonstrates that they are ready for marriage.
Under normal conditions, neither sons nor daughters are capable of emancipating themselves. Sons leave “for this cause” when they are released by their fathers to do so. This release may include a time to “prepare their fields” before they build their houses, but the goal is to see our sons established in independent household leadership.
Daughters are “given” by their fathers in marriage. The normative pattern is that daughters remain under the authority, protection, and provision of their godly fathers who have, as a primary duty of their fatherhood, the charge to protect their virginity, prepare them for marriage, and someday present them spotless to a groom. Because they are women under the authority, provision, protection, and “roof” of their father, they cannot independently contract or covenant without the blessing of the head of household (Numbers 30).
Remembering that sons leave and daughters are “given” in marriage, an important question for modern Christian fathers to ask is this: “How can I give my daughter away, when I have already directed her to leave?”
To put it another way: How do you seriously intend to give away that which you have already released?
True, we can have a healthy debate about just what constitutes a father releasing his daughter into a state of independence. Is it allowing her to pick and choose various experimental romantic relationships? Is it the act of sending her away from home for four years without the covering of a household head to protect and care for her? Is it having her move to another city, pursue a career and provide for herself?
There should be no real debate that each step of abdication or potential misdirection on the part of modern fathers pushes the women God has entrusted to their care — for protection and provision — further from the biblical ideal. To the extent that modern Christian girls are trained for independent leadership, they are being trained to be men.
The modern Christian family is double-minded and thus unstable in all of its ways. It wants to borrow the feminist vision for training and releasing daughters, while enforcing a code of parental authority which presupposes the principles of biblical patriarchy. I see this same form of “intellectual schizophrenia” with pastors who speak favorably of young women standing in harms way as United States soldiers, and also urge the young men of their congregations to hold the door for women. They want the sentiments of the men on the Titanic (“women and children first”), but the ethics of Gloria Steinam. This is an impoverished breed of “Christianity” because having reduced bold manhood and virtuous womanhood to mere sentimentalism it becomes worse than useless.
Modern fathers living in a post-Christian, feminized America must make choices. They cannot have it both ways. They cannot, on the one hand, release their daughters into a state of manly independence, and on the other hand, demand of them submission to their parental authority. This confusion has resulted in many daughters who are provoked to wrath because they simply don’t know where they stand or what is expected of them.
Dads — it’s time to love our sons and daughters enough that we will go back to the ancient paths wherein there is hope.
Please pray for the 450 fathers and daughters gathering with me this weekend in Georgia at the beautiful Callaway Gardens to cast vision for biblical fatherhood and daughterhood. Joining me will be NCFIC director Scott Brown, Jennie Chancey of Ladies Against Feminism, Dr. David Pent (son of Dr. Arnold Pent, author of Ten P’s in a Pod), and many others.
Posted by Doug Phillips on April 5, 2005 | Permalink
Dear Doug: A few weeks ago, our family visited San Antonio, looking at possibly relocating there. We wanted to visit your church but had no information on where you met, except.... We searched in many directions but finally gave up. When we spotted a fifteen-passenger van, we decided to follow it! We were so glad we did. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Everyone was very warm and welcoming. Reading your blog today reminded us of our visit. You described it exactly and we can testify to that. We were encouraged by the fellowship we had with several people there: Debra; Kevin Turley; Beall; and two other families I’m embarrassed to say we forgot their names. We hope this note is an encouragement to you all.... Thank you, Daniel and Marie O.
I am part of a small congregation that meets in a small house of worship in a one-horse town in the hill country of Southwest Texas. There are no fast-food restaurants, industrial centers, or Wal-Marts within miles and miles. Less than 150 of us gather each Sabbath in that cozy, eighty-year-old, rickety building. Our children take turns each Lord’s Day pulling the ancient rope that leads to the bell tower and faithfully notifies those still gathering on the lawn that worship will soon commence. The grassy parking lot is marked by an abundance of fifteen-passenger vans which carry the individual youth groups that we call families.
We sing from both the Trinity Psalter and the hymnal before weekly partaking in the Table of the Lord. The tunes are potent and the words far more so. The goal of the musical accompaniment is not to entertain, overshadow, or drive the clear melodic and doctrinal proclamation of the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, but to sweetly enhance our congregational singing.
We approach the preaching of the Word exegetically, going book by book through the Bible. We also recognize the duty of the eldership to equip the saints with timely and practical training through topical studies. Philosophically, we believe the preaching of Christ to be central, but the goal of such preaching is to train warriors for Christ (which means there must be practical training and application), not to raise a generation of useless philosopher-kings. After the preaching of the Apostle’s doctrine, we open the floor for the men to ask questions of the preacher or to share a reinforcing testimony from Scripture. These men know (because they are regularly reminded) that it is their duty to take what they have been taught and use it to train their wives and children.
The Guadalupe River runs just a few hundred yards from our house of worship. We look forward with great anticipation to the kindness of the Lord whenever He grants us the joyful journey down to the river to witness yet another disciple of Jesus Christ identify with the risen Savior through the waters of baptism. After the meeting of the church, we weekly gather for our “pot providence” fellowship meal. (No one is required to stay, but most do.) Mothers and fathers, grandparents and children gather in the grassy backyard behind the meeting house to luxuriate in the blessings of creation and the sweet fellowship of the saints.
It’s a very happy setting that weekly brings us happy memories. We worship with single mothers, grandparents, babies, newlyweds, seasoned parents, and lots of young men and women who are “in the zone” — i.e., at that time when the possibility of marriage is ever so real. In my view, they are some of the finest and most honorable group of young men and women I have met. They are God’s gift to our local church.
These young men and women are very, very precious to us. Encouraging, discipling, and promoting them in the work of the Lord is simply crucial to our life mission as individual believers, as families, and as a congregation. We recognize that both the local church and the Church universal is perpetuated and developed through two means: evangelism without (reaching a lost world) and evangelism and discipleship within (reaching our sons and daughters). Of the two, the latter is by far the most effective when it comes to building communities and local churches which are faithful from one generation to another.
This brings me to the title of this blog: In my view, wise local churches will recognize that their long-term generational success is linked not only to their investment in present families, but to their vigorous commitment to building future families. (This is the “teach all things whatsoever I have commanded” part of the Great Commission.)
One of the absurdities of our modern age is that preparing sons and daughters for noble marriage is an afterthought at best for most pastors and parents. Parents spend tremendous amounts of time training their daughters to be men, “just in case they don’t get married” so that mom and dad will not “get stuck with the bill” of caring for a single thirty-five-year-old. They spend an equal amount of time training their sons to define their lives by a job and job security, rather than preparing them for the gamut of duties which define biblical manhood (which including dominion works, covenant-keeping sonship, patriarchy, marriage and fatherhood).
The biblical presumption is in favor of marriage, not singleness (contra misguided interpretations of 1 Corinthians 7). Marriage is a relationship that, for many, will define decades upon decades of their lives. Next to our duty to lead young men and women to Christ and see them discipled in the Faith, our primary goal is to see them established in covenant-keeping, victorious marriages. The expression about an “ounce of prevention” is apt. Church shepherds would save themselves years and years of heartache putting bandaids on problems if they would simply work diligently to encourage children and parents alike to wisely select spouses for the children and to build Christ-honoring marriages.
Walking beside these men and women, encouraging them, exhorting them, and publicly praying for young men and women to be established in godly marriages is fundamental. We want them to know that we love them and will be relentless intercessors on their behalf. We want them to have hope. We want them to seek the best and the brightest — the most honorable paths for Jesus Christ as they prepare for marriage. And we want them to know that they do not have to walk alone. Their family and friends will stand beside them.
This past Sunday, we asked all the single young men and women age sixteen and over to stand so we could pray that the Lord would establish each of them in godly, covenant-keeping, victorious marriages. Twenty-six stood. (Another half dozen were out sick or traveling). We called some of the fathers to the front of the assembly. They prayed the heartfelt prayers of men who know that their legacy depends on the marriages of these children. It was a powerful visual reminder of our duty to stand with them, to encourage them, to hold them accountable, and to constantly set the brightest and best vision before them. They are the future of our local church.
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