August 2005 Archives

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 31, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 30, 2005 | Permalink

The postmark date for submission for the $10,000 Jubilee Award is fast approaching. We are so grateful for the many filmmakers who have already submitted their independent films to our festival. Below is a brief clip from the winner of last year’s $10,000 Jubilee Award: The Art of Play.

(Requires free QuickTime player.)

The Art of Play is available as a part of The Best of the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival on DVD.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 29, 2005 | Permalink

The 2005 VF intern class with Doug Phillips and boys.

The 2005 class of Vision Forum interns arrived this month. During their five month training program they will be exposed to the ins and outs of operating a Christian business and ministry. They will participate in Vision Forum Ministry events, and receive interdisciplinary study in apologetics, law, history, public speaking and theology, as well as preparation for marriage, manhood and household management. At Vision Forum we recognize the terrible plight of arrogance and dishonor with young men who are ever learning, but incapable of demonstrating a spirit of honor and service to others. Consequently, in the spirit of Titus 2, which emphasizes that young men be doers of the Word, they are required to devote most Saturdays to serving families in the community.

Perhaps the most unusual element of the Vision Forum training is the requirement that the entire intern class of six men study fencing. Under the delightful and expert instruction of Andrei Samorodov, a former Russian fencing champion and Soviet/Russian military officer, the Vision Forum men are learning the disciplines, execution and proper competitive technique of the epee. I am so very thankful for Coach Andrei (founder of the Alamo Fencing Academy) who provides the men with excellent private instruction at an exceptional price.

There are five goals to the Vision Forum fencing program:

1. Mental: Train the men to have fertile, quick, analytical minds which think strategically in conflict situations. (Fencing is largely a mental discipline.)

2. Physical: Cultivate the physical component of the Vision Forum internship’s preparation for life and manhood by exposing the interns to intense work-outs, challenging physical disciplines, and actual combat.

3. Historical: For nearly six-thousand years the predominant weapon of choice for self-defense and warfare has been the sword (in its many incarnations). Numerous practical and spiritual applications can be drawn from understanding the history and application of this weapon.

4. Friendship and Teamwork: Provide the interns with an unusual opportunity to grow in friendship and appreciation one for another as a team of men committed to a common goal, thrown into an environment with which they were completely unfamiliar, who must learn to understand each others strengths and weaknesses.

5. Spiritual: Learn to understand the numerous applications and relevant spiritual analogies to be drawn from fencing, (including the biblical teachings regarding the sword and the life of the Christian) such that their knowledge and experience with fencing can be a tool for practical encouragement and instruction of others.

Coach Samorodov with Joshua, Justice and Faith Evangeline.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 29, 2005 | Permalink

Howard Honor Phillips, Born August 26, 2001

Happy Birthday Son.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 26, 2005 | Permalink

These girls are oblivious to the fact that they are at a photoshoot for the Beautiful Girlhood Collection. To them, it is just plain fun.

The food did not last long.

Tea time never gets old for this one.

Jubilee Phillips plays with her pal, Leah Day.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 25, 2005 | Permalink

At this year’s Vision Forum Ministries Father and Son Discipleship Retreat, fathers took their sons on a remarkably difficult high-wire rope course.

Forty-five feet in the air.

This one didn’t make it.

Getting down was the most fun.

Peter Bradrick and Joshua Phillips

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 24, 2005 | Permalink

The fog lifts in the beautiful Colorado mountains.

God sends a beautiful new day for fathers and sons to renew their vision.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 24, 2005 | Permalink

On the way to the Oregon state home school conference this Thursday, Liberty and her Daddy ran into Phillips family friend and Olympian, Josh Davis. Participants at the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival will remember that Josh served as one of the presenters. Of course, Josh is known around the world as a three-time gold medalist and two-time silver medalist in Olympic swimming competition, an American and World record holder, and the co-captain of the United States Olympic Swim Team. Because of his courage to boldly share the Gospel, God has given Josh a significant ministry of Christian encouragement. (Check out his website at www.joshdavis.com. I got a kick out of his humorous fencing commercial which is posted there.)

Josh honored us by kindly taking out two of his gold medals (which were in a sock) and placing them around our necks for a photo. I was suprised at their size and weight — bigger and heavier than I had imagined. Josh told me that the gold medals are actually silver encased in gold.

The most amazing thing Josh shared was his intention to train for the next Olympic Games. If successful, he would be the oldest swimmer to medal in Olympic history. Please pray for the blessing of God on Josh and his family.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 23, 2005 | Permalink

The evening before the Oregon Christian Home Educators Association Network’s (OCEAN) state convention began, the Vision Forum team was meeting over a meal to discuss the up-and-coming ministry opportunity and our prayer goals for the weekend. I shared with the staff that God has been kind to send me a very special and beloved form of encouragement at almost every home school conference at which I speak.

For almost three years now, I have had someone come up at almost every one of these conferences, open a wallet, show me a picture of a child, and say: “If it were not for the message of children as a blessing which I heard from your ministry, this child would not be here today. Thank you.” The very next day, this Christian father came up to our table and opened his wallet to reveal a picture and said very much the same thing. We saw it as a wonderful answer to prayer.

Honestly, if the ministry of Vision Forum did nothing else but to encourage Christians to see the beauty and blessing of children, and if such encouragement resulted in the rejection by moms and dads of Margaret Sanger’s hateful conception control philosophy in favor of a biblical vision of fruitfulness, I would die a happy man. How sad to think that some who profess the name of Christ would prefer a humanistic vision of temporary economic convenience over a precious eternal soul that will live forever. May the Lord give all of us a greater love for Him and for His precious gift of fruitfulness.

Let the critics whine and cry. Let them wail and nash their teeth. Let them call mothers names and boast in their barrenness and freedom to pervert the womb. Such philosopher-kings, libertines, and pundits already have their reward.

The fact is, we rejoice every time a Christian family brings a child into the world for the glory of God. Children are a blessing and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Thank God for every child. Dear Lord, please send more babies to the saints of your Church.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 22, 2005 | Permalink

By Edgar Guest

No children in the house to play —
It must be hard to live that way!
I wonder what the people do
When night comes on and the work is through,
With no glad little folks to shout,
No eager feet to race about,
No youthful tongues to chatter on
About the joy that’s been and gone?
The house might be a castle fine,
But what a lonely place to dine!

No children in the house at all,
No fingermarks upon the wall,
No corner where the toys are piled —
Sure indication of a child.
No little lips to breathe the prayer
That God shall keep you in His care,
No glad caress and welcome sweet
When night returns you to your street;
No little lips a kiss to give —
Oh, what a lonely way to live!

No children in the house! I fear
We could not stand it half a year.
What would we talk about at night,
Plan for and work with all our might,
Hold common dreams about and find
True union of heart and mind,
If we two had no greater care
Than what we both should eat and wear?
We never knew love’s brightest flame
Until the day the baby came.

And now we could not get along
Without their laughter and their song.
Joy is not bottled on a shelf,
It cannot feed upon itself,
And even love, if it shall wear,
Must find its happiness in care;
Dull we’d become of mind and speech
Had we no little ones to teach.
No children in the house to play!
Oh, we could never live that way!

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 22, 2005 | Permalink

Many thanks to the wonderful home school ladies from across the nation who came to bless the 2005 Father and Son Discipleship Retreat with home cooking and gracious hospitality.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 22, 2005 | Permalink

More than 450 fathers and sons gathered in the main hall of the Crooked Creek Ranch for singing, teaching, testimonies, and blessed fellowship.

Thanks to the visionary leadership of the board of the Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC), Vision Forum has had the privilege for some years now of co-laboring in the blessed work of encouragement to Christian families. This year, we gathered at the stunningly beautiful Crooked Creek Ranch to fellowship and grow as fathers and sons. Though the price for using the Ranch was certainly more than reasonable, the facilities are simply world-class.

My son Joshua joined me for the first time as a “preacher’s assistant” in reading the precious Word of God to the men.

It was my pleasure to preach on the biblical doctrine of honor at work, at church, at home, and in the key jurisdictions of our lives. I also preached on the story of “David and Bathsheba,” “The League of Grateful Sons,” and practical tools for “Building Multi-Generational Legacies.” One of the highlights of the weekend was listening to 450 men sing the great hymns and psalms of the faith with all of their might and from the depths of their souls. Tremendous! Before the weekend was over, everyone had learned “the old 100th” — Pilgrim-style.

Arnold Pent, who authored Ten P’s in a Pod more than forty years ago, presented perhaps the most compelling message on the importance of Scripture reading to family life that the men had ever heard, as he shared his talk entitled “Seven Things My Father Taught Me.” Many participants expressed that the story of faithfulness and honor communicated by Arnold Pent about his father was the most encouraging and instructive time of the weekend. Arnold Pent (far right in black shirt) is pictured above with his brother (on guitar), grandsons, and two of his sons.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 20, 2005 | Permalink

Fathers and sons give it their best at the tug o’ war.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 19, 2005 | Permalink

This last weekend, 450 fathers and sons gathered in Colorado for the Vision Forum Father and Son Discipleship Retreat at the Crooked Creek Ranch to rejoice in Christ and build multi-generational legacies. It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place for fathers and sons to walk together before the Lord. The facilities are superb and the scenery breathtaking. The above image was shot from my porch at the ranch. We will be back.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 18, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 17, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 16, 2005 | Permalink

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12)

I’m writing you this blog from the Crooked Creek Ranch Retreat Center near Copper Mountain, Colorado, where I am joined by more than 450 fathers and sons representing thirty-seven states. The special occasion for our gathering is the 2005 Vision Forum Ministries Father and Son Discipleship Retreat. The event is co-sponsored by the wonderful families of Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC).

Historically, these events have been among the most spiritually fruitful of all the ministry activities in which Vision Forum is privileged to participate. Please pray that God would continue to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons, and the hearts of sons to their fathers, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. I would also be grateful if you would pray that the Lord would bless us with an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit resulting in repentance, revival, and vision for the future.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 13, 2005 | Permalink

WARNING: Graphic Descriptions of Pagan Sacrifice

Ruins of a Mayan temple in Chichén Itzá

One of the most disturbing falsehoods of modern neo-orthodoxy is the myth of cultural neutrality. Popular evangelical groups predominate which teach that Christians should spread the Gospel to all nations, but not work to see the transformation of other cultures. This is incoherent thinking and poor theology. It is a perversion of the Great Commission which commands that we make disciples of nations “teaching them all things” (Genesis to Revelation) commanded by God.

This remarkable astronomical observatory was built to decipher signs in the stars and calculate days for human sacrifice. It is an amazing hybrid of scientific technology and moral perversion.

Here are the facts: Not all cultures are equal. Historically, some have been virtuous. Others have been barbaric. Some have been predominantly Christian. Others have been distinctively pagan. Some suffer from the technological and social backwardness from years of rejecting the Christian work ethic and the dominion mandate. Others benefit from the cumulative effect of Christian industry and Christ-focused scientific inquiry. Cultures that worship animals and trees or glorify elements of the occult tend to be bloody and barbaric. Those which honor the triune God tend to emphasize law, beauty, and family life.

Every fifty-two years (the Mayan calendar cycle) more columns were added to this warriors’ temple. This is yet another site of human sacrifice.

Christianity is comprehensive. It seeks to transform the whole man. That is why cultural imperialism is inescapable for the Christian evangelist. When we lead men to Christ we must “teach them all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” This is a de facto command to subvert pagan cultures (through spiritual, not physical weapons) in favor of Christian ones.

A scale diorama of the Chichén Itzá

Cultural subversion also means that new believers must stop drinking blood, taking multiple wives, consulting witch doctors, or continuing the practice of any atrocity of pagan culture. Their new faith in Christ must be backed up by a desire to “sin no more” and follow the Cross. They must exchange the wickedness of their past culture for the purity of Christian culture. Men and women, cultures and nations, are not greater or less great because of skin color, height, or nose length, but they must be judged by whether or not they perpetuate the crimes of paganism or embrace the cultural implications of biblical Christianity.

Inside the priests’ chamber on top of the great pyramid of Chichén Itzá

The folly of the myth of cultural neutrality was highlighted in bold for Beall and me during last week’s mission to the ancient city of the Maya. Deep in the jungle interior of the Yucatan Peninsula, the adventurous traveler can still visit the remains of the ancient priestly city of the Maya — a people so barbarous in their atrocities that (along with the Aztecs), they appear to rival the worst of the child-sacrificing nations recorded to us in Holy Scripture.

The well of sacrifice. It is very deep and larger than my photo reveals. Hundreds of bodies and jewels remain submerged within its depths.

Though more than five hundred years have passed since the last boy and girl was sacrificed at the spot pictured above, the experience of standing where unimaginable crimes had been performed on so many children for hundreds of years was overwhelming. On this site, the long-haired, blood-matted, astronomer-priests would sacrifice young boys and girls between the age of four and twelve by taking the living children and strategically cutting open their bellies to allow them to remove their still-beating hearts which they would display to the people and immediately consume. The lifeless, jewel-adorned bodies of the children would then be hurled into the pool of water where most rest to this day. This became an accustomed, welcomed, normal ritual of the Maya culture and persisted for many hundreds of years.

A temple edifice dedicated to the god of water.

Remarkably, many of these children had been born and bred specifically for their sacrifice. Children conceived or born within certain astronomical cycles were deemed pure enough to be raised for ceremonial harvest. Their parents were honored participants in the acts of vivisection and cannibalism by the Maya priests.

The seat of the priests at the Warriors’ Temple where men were eaten alive.

Perhaps a century before the Spaniards arrived to combat and conquer the Aztec nation and Montezuma (a monstrous butcher and pedophile in his own right), the Mayas of Chichén Itzá simply disappeared. Their massive cities were abandoned with jeweled thrones, detailed hieroglyphic displays, and architectural masterpieces intact, exactly as they left them. There these wonders remained for centuries, waiting for an intrepid team of Americans to discover, catalog, and study them in the mid-nineteenth century.

A view of the Warrior’s Temple taken from the top of the great pyramid

Different theories have surfaced to explain the mass-Mayan exodus, but scholars currently believe that the Mayans abandoned their city after large percentages of their population became poisoned by their sacrifice-contaminated water supply. In short, they died from killing their own children. The justice of God is often ironic.

Beall sits in between the ornate doorwells where the priests addressed the people and performed human sacrifice. Bodies were thrown down the stairs so the steps would run red with blood.

The Mayas were brilliant, technologically advanced people, but God “gave them over” to unspeakable purposes. Today their civilization has been wiped off the planet. Only temples of stone remain as haunting reminders of the perversions of their scientist priests and the agony of tens of thousands who were sacrificed alive.

A site for ceremonial dancing. Taken from the summit of the pyramid.

As Americans venture into our own world of twenty-first century bio-ethical horrors (raising tiny babies for stem cell experimentation, cloning for body harvesting, vivisecting our own children through abortion to appease the gods of convenience, using the body parts of aborted children for cosmetics and medicines, etc.), we would be well served to remember that advanced technology, civilization, and bloody savagery can dwell side-by-side. They can feed off of each other.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 12, 2005 | Permalink

The above image from the amphitheater wall of the Chichén Itzá city complex is of a Mayan athlete prepared for the religious ritual of an athletic match, the goal of which was to encourage the great snake god Kukulkan to replenish the earth with water through the blood of ceremonial athletes. From their youth, Mayan athletes were raised to prepare themselves for the blessed glory of sacrificial decapitation at the hand of their opponents. The games were religious rituals which commenced during key astronomical cycles and were meant to invoke the favor of the gods. Athletes wore protective leg and shin pads and carried a stick with which they swatted both the ball and opponents.

The sports arena was a reflection of Mayan architectural and mathematical genius. The acoustics were designed so that one visiting king could speak to another visiting king nearly four hundred yards away by sitting on their elevated platforms and speaking in a normal tone. It really works!

The game ended when one team captain placed the rubber-like ball through the stone ring pictured above. Recent scholarship indicates that the winners, not the losers, were decapitated at the hands of the losing team captain. Execution was considered an honor. Games continued unabated, with decapitation after decapitation, sometimes for weeks, until the Mayans saw a sign that the animal gods would send rain.

Look carefully at the above image on the stadium wall. It depicts a Mayan athlete after decapitation shooting forth “the blood of life” in the form of serpents of blood to replenish the life of the earth. To the left (just outside the picture) is the “tree of life” which springs forth from the death of the athlete, and is watered in the blood of the dead as a sacrifice to renew the culture. The Mayan religion is a genuine perversion of biblical Christianity in that it recognizes a triune serpent which created man from the dust of the ground, and gives life in response to human executions because the life is in the blood.

This is a broader look at the stone relief work on the stadium wall depicting the execution of the winning athlete.

Cultures like the Mayans and the Aztecs were scientifically and technologically light years ahead of the American Indians, but the Mayan technology and science became focused on an ever more horrific obsession with human sacrifice, cannibalism, pedophilia, and other, even more unspeakable horrors. These walls depicting hundreds of skulls are believed to mark the site where the cremated bodies of the sacrificed athletes were used to symbolically fertilize the world of the Mayans.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 12, 2005 | Permalink

Image of Beall descending from Pyramid taken this Saturday

Deep in the jungles of Meso-America lie the remains of ancient pyramids, pyramids on pyramids, some completely unexcavated, many more still undiscovered, abandoned by unknown builders at an unknown time for unknown reasons. In their secret places lie precious codices and hieroglyphic writings of celestial mathematics sculptured into geometric form on monuments known as stelae.

For my fortieth birthday, my own beloved esposita took me on an adventure into the jungle interior of the Yucatan Penninsula to further my studies of ancient cultures and technologies. We drove for nearly three hours (in two of which we saw barely a soul or a sign of civilization) until we reached Chichén Itzá — one of the great, previously lost, stone cities of sacrifice for one of the most barbarous and wicked civilizations in the annals of human history — the ancient Maya people.

Chichén Itzá is a city complex of more than three dozen enormous stone buildings. (A local man we hired to be our private guide explained that one can go into the brush of the jungle exterior to the city to find still more uncovered and unexcavated buildings.)

This image taken around 5:00 p.m., Saturday

The centerpiece of Chichén Itzá is the massive Pyramid “El Castillo,” dedicated to the serpent-god Kukulcan. The construction of the Kukulcan Pyramid was planned by the brilliant pagan mathematician-priests so that on each Vernal Equinox, the dying sun would cast a shadow of a serpent writhing down the steps of the pyramid to replenish life on earth.

Beall about to descend

Climbing and descending El Catillo is a surprising challenge. The precipitous ninety-one steps to the top are a doozy, but manageable even for the faint of heart if you don’t spend much time looking back. From the summit, Beall and I had a magnificent view of the city which is surrounded on every side by miles and miles of Mexican jungle.

My own trip inside the pyramid was less hospitable. Thanks to the help and counsel of our faithful guide, I had an opportunity to journey into the belly of the great pyramid, through its almost unbearably humid, dark, and treacherous corridors to an interior room where there was just enough light to see an ancient jewel-encrusted Jaguar throne — the seat of the Mayan priests who would cut and eat the beating hearts out of their living victims.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 11, 2005 | Permalink

Christians are in a state of covenant with the Lord. One way that supreme covenant finds expression is through the “mini” covenant of their relations and duties to Christ’s local church. Because Christians are in covenant with Christ, they are to be in covenant with a local church. They are not “married” to the local church, but they are to be in a state of formal covenant with it. This “mini” covenant (an extension of our covenant with Christ) carries privileges and responsibilities, and is not to be taken lightly. Furthermore, it is designed as a covenant of blessing and should be viewed with profound gratitude by the believer.

Contrary to what some say, there are sound biblical reasons for leaving one local church to attend another, but the reasons for departure must derive from sound biblical reasons, not personal whims and preferences. Biblically leaving a local church involves transferring covenant duties and privileges from one local body to another. It does not involve breaking a covenant.

To put it another way, the believer’s covenant with the local church can be transferred to another Christ-honoring local church, but it cannot be “resigned,” abandoned, or simply disregarded without the professing believer becoming a covenant-breaker. Furthermore, the way a family leaves a local church is an evidence of their maturity, integrity, and honor as a Christian. Every effort must be made to act honorably. This may take time, effort, and patience. This means candidly sharing your reasons with the church leadership, affirming your desire to avoid schism and division, and asking for their formal blessing for a membership transfer. Dropping off the face of the earth without candidly discussing issues with the elders with whom you are in covenant is simply dishonorable conduct.

Similarly, the willingness of church leadership to work with departing brethren (even discontent and divisive brethren) to transfer membership to other Christ-honoring church works is a sign that the leadership are men under authority, not dictators or autocrats. Membership covenants do not mean that local churches own people. Pastors and elders must never behave as if it is a crime for people to want to leave a church. It is a crime to be a covenant breaker, but it is not a crime to desire and act to honorably transfer your membership. Furthermore, a church member who is genuinely convinced that he should abandon his belief in paedo-baptism for credo-baptism, or credo-baptism for paedo-baptism, has not de facto “departed the faith.” He should not be denied transfer to a church that upholds the foundations of Christian orthodoxy (e.g. justification by faith, sufficiency or Scripture, the Trinity, etc.), because of his view on baptism.

Even in the midst of disagreement and conflict, every effort must be made by the party seeking to leave a local church to work within the God-appointed chain of authority. This means the Christian seeking to depart must sincerely strive to honor the very leaders with whom he disagrees, to honor the terms of his membership covenant with the local body, and to treat all men with integrity. The goal is for the departing believer to leave with the blessing of his elders and to receive from those elders a formal transfer of his covenant membership to a church of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, sin on the part of either or both members and church leaders prevents these goals from being accomplished. It is my sense of things, however, that most church shepherds are happily willing to grant membership transfers to disagreeing brethren where (1) those brethren are genuinely trying to approach things in an honorable and respectful manner; and (2) where they seek a transfer to an orthodox Christian work (i.e., not into oblivion, or to a church which is at war with the foundations of Christian orthodoxy).

Perhaps the worst thing a disgruntled church member can do is to insinuate that the body with whom he disagrees is “a cult” or simply “cult-like” — as some form of a pretext for privately declaring his covenant with the church to be null and void. Cults do exist. They are wretched abominations which rightly should be denounced. But if a person is going to raise the “C” word publicly, they had best be prepared to defend such a charge before the world, and if found guilty of defaming a legitimate work of Christ, they must be prepared to face the consequences which are rightly due to those who divide brethren and slander the servants of the Lord.

Equally problematic is for church leaders to respond with hostility to those who go through the proper channels to raise concerns over doctrine and practice and who wish to peaceably depart because of matters of conscience. I know of one pastor who was so antagonistic to a confrontation and departure by some of his own co-elders, that he engaged in an ongoing campaign of slanders (and was confronted for such) that involved public Internet sermons, wild and unsubstantiated charges of legalism, gross mischaracterization of the views of those with whom he disagreed, and ultimately took the form of a formal Web site ostensibly dedicated to eradicating the cause of the split in his eldership, but clearly focused on his own self-justification. Such behavior divides the brethren, harms the body, is not the sign of mature leadership, and (no matter how carefully couched) is the mark of tyrants. In this case, the one pastor may not like the fact that one of his co-elders (and others in the congregation) fundamentally disapproved of his practice to endorse Christians placing their children in government schools, or promoting youth culture over family culture, or of having the daughters of his congregation join the United States military, but he would have been better served to address individual issues charitably and biblically than justifying irresponsible behavior on the grounds that those who disagree with him are simply pharisees and legalists.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, the problem of amicable membership transfers in the local church (like the problems in marriage, employment, and most of life) is a problem of honor. One or both parties acts lawlessly and dishonorably toward the other. Honor is key. Honor is crucial. Those who have true Christian love will act honorably.

Even as it is wrong for individuals to claim the status of “martyr for conscience and doctrine,” when they have acted dishonorably toward their local church and its leadership, it is wrong for pastors to use Christ’s pulpit for personal vendettas, or to arbitrarily refuse to transfer membership on some pretext of protecting Christ’s church.

The fact is this: Honorable men can disagree and still be friends. Honorable men can disagree and still work through problems. Honorable men can determine that it is necessary that they take separate paths to be truthful to their conscience. Only dishonorable conduct will absolutely guarantee division, discontent, and heartache.

From its inception, the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches and those leaders in association with it in the cause of unity between church and home have vigorously and vocally emphasized these principles and the duties of both shepherds and church members. Neither self-serving shepherds nor radically individualistic believers like this counsel, but it remains our deep abiding conviction.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 10, 2005 | Permalink

Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum announced today that my mother, Margaret (“Peggy”) Elizabeth Phillips, has been named by their organization as “Homemaker of the Year.” Having watched my mother stand beside my father for so many years, and having seen her wise counsel, her unflappable commitment to her family, and her desire to see each of her children develop their own unique gifts and personalities, I am especially grateful that Mrs. Schlafly would bestow upon her such a kindness.

Some of the biblical virtues commanded in Scripture and modeled by my mother for which I am especially grateful include:

1. My mother has spent a lifetime as a “keeper at home” for her husband and children (Titus 2:5).
2. My mother has always rejoiced in the fruit of the womb as God’s gracious reward (Psalm 127:3).
3. My mother has always cared for the way of her household such that her husband had no need of spoil and could be in the gates of the city (Proverbs 31:11).

Because of her sacrifice, her unflappable support, and her joyful embrace of the duties of wife and mother, she enabled her husband to serve a United States President at the executive branch level, be used as a tool of the Lord to proclaim truth to a nation, and forge a national revival of interest in Christian and constitutional republican government. Both her high intelligence and her many virtues have been examples to each of her six children. Each of us (her children) recognize that Mom is uniquely blessed with an unusual dispensation of loyalty, commitment to principle, and genuine charity — three virtues which are not commonly found in the same person.

To her children, she is known as a woman in whose mouth is the law of kindness; who has devoted herself to their education and prosperity; and whose love for beauty (especially in the realm of music) has left a profound and lasting impression.

My mother had the unique distinction of attending her twenty-fifth college reunion, at age forty-seven, carrying a baby in her womb — my younger brother Samuel Joshua Phillips — whom she would home educate for the entirety of his childhood, finally graduating him last year, and thus completing (alongside my father), nearly forty years of remarkable parent-to-child training in the lives her six children.

The Homemaker of the Year Award will be presented by Mrs. Schlafly to my mother this September in St. Louis. On behalf of Vision Forum and the Phillips family, I want to extend my thanks to Mrs. Schlafly for recognizing the faithfulness of my mother and honoring her with this prestigious award.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 8, 2005 | Permalink

My good friend, Michael Bradrick of Family Discipleship Ministries, is hosting Vision Forum Ministries’ Uniting Church and Family Regional Conference on August 26-27 in Olympia, Washington. Michael and his wife Susan are the parents of nine children and were among the pioneers of the modern home school movement in America. They began teaching their children at home in the late 1970s and played a big role in home schooling in Texas in the early ’80s as they taught and counseled other families on the the biblical model of parent-led discipleship. In 1985, the Bradricks began Family Discipleship Ministries, Inc. to encourage others in God-honoring Christian family living. Since that time, Michael has taught his eight-hour seminar “Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World” at churches across the country. Michael has been involved in several church-planting efforts over the years, and he has a real heart for family-integrated worhsip and the work of the NCFIC. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with Michael and his family to bring the message of church and home to the Northwest. If you you would like to register for the Olympia, Washington, Uniting Church and Family Conference, click here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 8, 2005 | Permalink

I spoke today with Dr. John Whitcomb, author of The Genesis Flood, and one of the great heroes of the faith alive today. At the age of eighty-four, Dr. Whitcomb is preaching with fervor and continuing to combat the forces of evolutionary compromise which have assaulted the Church by distorting the Genesis account of creation. (In January of 2003, I had the honor of taping a week-long series with Dr. Whitcomb and Dr. Morris on the subject of “No Death Before Adam.”) In my early days as a Christian, Dr. Whitcomb’s ministry was a great mentor, and I remain deeply grateful for his influence on my life.

Dr. Whitcomb reminded me today of the fact that he had served as a young officer in the famous Battle of the Bulge, and related to me a remarkable story about his father, who served as a commanding officer under General George S. Patton. Apparently when Whitcomb Jr.’s division fell into rough times, Patton sent Whitcomb Sr. to rescue them. The mission was a success and the father was able to rescue the son and his men. Dr. Whitcomb related to me the joy of spending a full hour with his Dad during a break in the battle.

The episode reminded me of the touching story of John Fahndal, whom I interviewed on Guam earlier this year for the Faith of Our Fathers project. For that Marine, the journey back to Iwo Jima evoked profound memories of a loving father finding his son in the midst of battle.

Marine Corps Battalion Commander John Edward Fahndal and his son Sgt. John Walker Fahndal (pictured above) were both ordered to Iwo Jima, but in different companies. They attacked Iwo on different beaches.

Separated for two weeks of bloody battle by less than a few miles, father and son agonized over the fate of each other. Finally, during a brief respite in the fighting, the father was able to search through the battle debris to see if his boy, his only son, was still alive.

Fahndal told me:

He came looking for me one day, I recognized him coming and he came up to me. He said “Do you know a Sgt. Fahndal” and I said “sure do.” He said “Will you take me to him?” Then I realized... he didn’t really recognize me, of course we were in helmets. So we had a nice visit. About two hours. We watch the sun go down.”

The interview (which is featured in our up-and-coming film) is a powerful testimony to the significance of fatherhood and sonship.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 2, 2005 | Permalink

On July 14, we reported the following:

Vision Forum Ministries is seeking a donor with a working WWII-era Jeep Willis who would be interested in making a tax-deductible donation of the vehicle to the Faith of Our Fathers project for filming and promotional purposes. To inquire about making a vehicle donation, contact Don Hart.

I am pleased to report that the Lord has graciously directed us to a beautifully maintained, vintage jeep that is wonderfully suited for our purposes. The jeep itself was not donated, but a generous Vision Forum donor has offered to cover a substantial portion of the price of the vehicle. We are now just a few thousand dollar away from our goal of covering the full cost of the vehicle.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 2, 2005 | Permalink

Joshua Phillips signals the end of a week at the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy by blowing a shofar brought to him from the city of Jericho by his uncle Samuel Joshua Phillips.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 2, 2005 | Permalink

Howard Phillips with nineteen-year-old son Samuel and twelve-year-old grandson Joshua Titus at the 2005 Witherspoon School.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 2, 2005 | Permalink

Congratulations to the outstanding members of the 2005 graduating class of the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 2, 2005 | Permalink

President John Garang with my niece, Clementine Phillips

Breaking News

Sudan, a nation of many sorrows, has suffered yet another tragic blow to the cause of freedom early this morning with the death of the newly inaugurated President of Southern Sudan, Dr. John Garang. He was the highest ranking Christian in the world of an officially Islamic state.

For the last twenty-two years, Sudan has been engulfed in a civil war between a radical Muslim regime in the north and the predominately Christian and animist region of the south. The southern rebels were led by a charismatic leader, Dr. John Garang, who was educated in the United States and managed to successfully keep a coalition together in one of the most underdeveloped regions of the world.

But most importantly, Garang was a professing Christian who evidenced a heart to see Christian reform in his nation. The father of seven children, President Garang and his wife were active in efforts with my brother Brad Phillips, president of the Persecution Project, to build Christian radio in the Sudan and to ease the misery of state-sponsored Islamic atrocities against Christians by building mission projects for widows and the fatherless, sponsored by Brad’s Persecution Project.

Dr. Garang probably did more than any other person in Southern Sudan to open the country to Christian missions. When the Persecution Project Foundation desired to set up a Christian radio station in Southern Sudan, Garang called it “an answer to prayer” and opened the doors for this to happen. Garang also worked to bring Christian education to the thousands of orphans in Southern Sudan.

Children orphaned by Muslim terrorism.

In an area of the world where it’s very common for leaders to take many wives for political purposes, Garang remained monogamous. Garang and his wife Rebecca raised seven children together.

In January of 2005, after months of negotiations, Garang signed a comprehensive peace agreement with the Islamic government in Khartoum, officially ending the long war in the South.

Moreover, Garang won an important power-sharing concession that made him First Vice President over all Sudan, and President of Southern Sudan, which would be exempt from Islamic law. Just days before his July 9, 2005 inauguration, Dr. Garang was meeting with Brad Phillips and Matt Chancey of Persecution Project to discuss further efforts to spread the Gospel in the Sudan.

Dr. Garang died in a helicopter crash. It is not yet known if the aircraft crashed as a result of foul play.

Pray for the Garang family, the people of the Sudan, and the noble work of organizations like the Persecution Project to spread the Gospel and ease the plight of persecuted believers.

Dr. Garang with his daughter.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 1, 2005 | Permalink

And the beat goes on. The deluge of e-mails about Harry Potter continues. The following notes from readers of “Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade” ended up in my inbox this morning and caught my attention:

Well now — everyone is entitled to his own opinion. One of the goals of classical education is to develop the minds and hearts of young men and women and to teach them to think critically and with discrimination.... However, he [Phillips] lacks winsomeness in his arguments. No one ever convinced anyone else to change an opinion by blasting them with Scripture verses.... Thanks for an article to remind me of why I am working at a classical Christian school. M.

Oh good grief! Doug Phillips oughtta take Maria and the von Trapp family singers (a.k.a., his family) to English L’Abri in Greatham, formerly the home of the very bright and wonderful Jerram Barrs. Of course poor Mr. Phillips would be eaten alive at the lunch table since his entire premise is ridiculous. If Captain von Trapp spent more time sucking the marrow out of life instead of sucking the joy out of everyone else’s, what a happier world it would be. Why on earth are you subscribing to such garbage?! ... I’ve just read more of the Phillips guy’s website, and quite frankly it scares me.... It’s not Christianity. At all. It’s another case of “Dominant Male Look-at-how-many-times-I-can-procreate-and-get-me: I’m being the Head of my household” syndrome.... I’ve been ticked off at Doug Phillips all day. The very fact that his entire article was refuting L’Abri teacher Jerram Barrs’ opinions doesn’t sit well with me at all as I’m a huge fan of both L’Abri and J.B.... [T]he picture of him and his family was just weird — the long-haired wife from the ’80s, matching clothing for the kids: girls in dresses, boys in ties, I mean the whole thing just makes my skin crawl. And his ultra PRO-family stance doesn’t fit someone like me, so he’s wasting his time trying to impose his opinions. T.

Note from Beall: Dear T., I will work on the hair, but the kids’ clothing is staying.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 1, 2005 | Permalink

I am thankful to Vision Forum friend Carmon Friedrich for pointing out the Web debate between Berit Kjos and John Granger, author of Finding God in Harry Potter, a man with whom I was unfamiliar at the time of writing my own article on the Harry Potter phenomenon.

I invite my readers to visit the Web sites of both Berit Kjos and John Granger so they can form their own opinions. In my personal view, Kjos offers a helpful, blow-by-blow critique of the book Finding God in Harry Potter. Granger offers an immature, vituperative response replete with ad hominem against Mrs. Kjos. Most importantly, his anger toward her opens a window into his opposition to Evangelical and Reformed Christianity which he openly mocks:

Kjos’ Biblical Christianity, as it is Ms. Kjos’ private understanding of scripture removed from the tradition of the Christian Church and answerable only to her understanding as an individual reader, has little if anything to do with the faith of Christians. Her use of proof texts about magic (and dictionary definitions) as litmus strips by which to gauge the edifying quality of literature in the name of Christ and His Church point to her strictly legalistic and self-justifying reading of both fiction and Holy Writ — and to the Pharisee’s and Islamic fundamentalist’s use of God’s Word. I do not mean to chastise Ms. Kjos for her limited understanding of Christian tradition and of scripture, which is no doubt a reflection of her education and capabilities; I am obliged to point out to readers who may think her opinions have weight outside her own home that when she writes “Biblical Christianity” she means only “Berit Kjos.”

Though I soundly disagree with what appears to me a very immature personal attack on Mrs. Kjos, I do thank Mr. Granger for demonstrating that theology truly does have implications for literary analysis. Mr. Granger is a devout member of the Eastern Orthodox Church (and he links to Eastern Orthodox Web sites) which claims historic exclusivity as the original and faithful Church of Christ and emphasizes the heavy use of icons and mystical theology in its worship and doctrine. Even a superficial reading of his material reveals keys to the philosophical influence of his theology on his wholehearted acceptance of promoting “good” witchcraft as a means of teaching Christ. Mrs. Kjos, on the other hand, is a Bible-believing Christian with similar theological premises as the Reformers who emphasized the doctrine of the “priesthood of the believer” and the “sufficiency of Scripture,” both of which doctrines Mr. Granger rejects. It is not suprising that Mr. Granger’ icon-intensive theology of worship and religious mysticism provide a unique vision of literary interpretation that elevates Harry Potter series to the status of “explicit and implicit” Christian literature, while Mrs. Kjos’ premise in the “sufficiency of Scripture” does not.

With this in mind, I want to step back from the Kjos/Granger debate to make a broader point about literature and syncretism with witchcraft:

There has always been a profound tension within the broad camp of those who call themselves Trinitarian Christians between the cultural syncretists and the biblical presuppositionalists. Syncretists seek to wed paganism with Christianity. Biblical presuppositionalists reject the myth of neutrality, and, consequently, seek to build culture (including their theories of literature) from the ground level up on the Word of God. The result of the former is a pagan/Christian hybrid. The result of the latter is biblical holiness and Christian culture.

Syncretism always leads to pagan/Christian hybrids—-the very sort of relationships of which much of the Old Testament is dedicated to denouncing. In their most diabolical forms, these syncretistic hybrids include the unabashed integration of witchcraft (i.e. Vodoo) with Roman Catholacism, like Santeria (in Haiti, Louisiana, Florida, Brazil, etc.). Biblical Presuppositionalists reject integrating witchcraft and paganism with Christianity in the real world, and in any allegorical world which man might devise for literary purposes.

P.S. This just in from a Vision Forum Reader: “Berit Kjos is one of the most sincere and Godly women I have ever met. I have corresponded with her from time to time over the past several years. Her book, Brave New Schools, documents quite nicely the problems that a secular humanism school system generates.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 1, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 1, 2005 | Permalink

An enormously encouraging letter:

You didn’t scare me, Doug! I didn’t even know the title of the new HP book prior to reading youremail, but I DID know from listening to VF tapes & reading your previous works that I could count on you to approach this topic presuppositionally—-and I was actually sitting on the edge of my seat before I reached the half-way mark of the newsletter! I knew that, by the time I reached the end of the Mr. Barr’s statement, you would pick it apart by holding it up to the Scriptural Light to which it should be subjected & thereby teach your readers to stand on firm biblical ground when presented with such fluff. I thought to myself, “Another fish who doesn’t know he’s wet. This should be powerful!” I wasn’t disappointed.

Anyone who is the least bit familiar with VF should know better than to think you’d applaud Potterism. It would’ve served them well to have taken the time to read the entire newsletter before deciding to lash out. (I’m guessing that the homesexual’s who fired off their heinous remarks did at least that.) But Doug, could you have imagined a better scenario than the one which is playing out right now in the way of “teachable moments” for your readers?! What a huge opportunity this has been to show us how careful we must be today, especially when attempting to understand the cultural pottage hurled at us! Your approach in the newsletter was right on-target.

Thanks should be given to our Father in heaven for providing us with the likes of Vision Forum. You are remaining true to the call (and your mission) to help equip others to deal with these cultural issues by developing a Biblical Worldview from which to discern them. We whole-heartedly agree with your “desert island challenge” and believe that Christians must always be willing to submit to it in today’s world. Keep up the good work & may God continue to bless your endeavors to teach us how to think like Christians. C. B. & family in Missouri.

Posted by Doug Phillips on August 1, 2005 | Permalink