September 2009 Archives

Charlie Zahm Sings “The Battle for New Orleans” from Vision Forum on Vimeo.

From the Reformation 500. Get the Cds of the messages here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 30, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 30, 2009 | Permalink

Vision Forum Ministries’ new film, The Mysterious Islands, features beautiful footage of Galapagos tortoises in the wild. On islands like Santa Cruz, the giant tortoise of the Galapagos roams free through the outback. It can be found in open fields, under bushes, and in the waterways. Often found near the giant tortoise is the little finch. These two unlikely partners engage in mutualism, a form of “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” relationship. Whenever the tortoise needs to be cleaned of bugs, it just stands up. The finches come and eat the bothersome insects. the finch gets a meal, and the tortoise a nice cleaning.

In the 19th century, many of the tortoises in the Galapagos were killed or taken on board sailing vessels to feed the crew. The tortoises could stay alive for six months without food, and thus they provided fresh meat for the sailors and helped prevent scurvy. The sailors would even drink the water out of the bladders of the tortoises. So many were taken from the islands that the tortoise population neared extinction.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 29, 2009 | Permalink

Last week, I joined Paul Butler of Moody Broadcasting for a discussion on the sordid and evolutionary legacy of H.G. Wells. You can listen to the broadcast here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 29, 2009 | Permalink

If creationists had made this taxonomical classification, we might have been accused of being uncharitable to the father of modern evolutionism. Truth often being stranger than fiction, the evolutionary community decided to name a fascinating beetle that immerses his life in dung after Charles Darwin. You can read more about it here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 29, 2009 | Permalink

The youngest member of The Mysterious Islands film team was Virginia Hope Phillips. During our film shoot in the wilds of the Santa Cruz on the Galapagos Archipelago, we ran into this beautiful reptile. Undaunted by its size, Virginia approached the giant tortoise cautiously, and then engaged it in conversation. The tortoise looked at Virginia, snorted a little, and then went back to tortoise business.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 28, 2009 | Permalink

The hearts of America’s home school leaders were turned to our beloved friend and homeschool hero, Chris Klicka, who has suffered from MS for more than fifteen years, and was admitted into a Colorado hospital during the event. Chris has suffered greatly for years now, but this weekend his condition became life-threatening when his temperature dropped to eighty-five degrees. Though he has recently showed some positive signs, he remains in very serious condition. Both he and his dear wife Tracy have supreme confidence in the sovereign God, and are prepared for His will to be done, be that life or eternity.

It was my pleasure to serve with Chris on the legal staff of HSLDA for six years, during which time we had many adventures serving the Lord and fighting to defend home schooling families. Chris’ love for and principled commitment to Christian home education is legendary, and his tenacious efforts in defense of family freedom equally so. HSLDA president J. Michael Smith gave me the great honor to join a handful of other leaders in addressing the state leaders to share my love and appreciation of Chris in the context of a few very choice memories we have shared together. The evening also included a stirring hymn to God presented by Tracy. It was remarkable to see her courage and strength.

In 2007, I presented Chris with the John Smith Quadricentennial Award at the Jamestown Quadricentennial. He received a five-minute standing ovation from the more than 4,000 home educators present for the event.

Please remember to lift up Chris, Tracy, and the Klicka children in prayer at this time.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 28, 2009 | Permalink

Dean Jones, star of such Disney movie classics as The Love Bug and Snowball Express, was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. During a special lecture to the students of the Christian Filmmakers Academy, Mr. Jones offered sage words of advice regarding the role of Christian filmmakers in discipling their moviegoing audiences (you can download his message titled Personal Message To The Next Generation Of Christian Filmmakers from BlueBehemoth.com).

Mr. Jones recently offered further thoughts regarding the role of film in discipling culture in an interview with Christianity Today:

“[Y]ou become what you see and hear. Film and television have been partially responsible for the disconnect between our nation and our God. Dynamic but righteous entertainment can help reverse this trend.

The spirit of a film is decisive. With the least bit of discernment, you can figure what motivates a person, their business, the movie they produce or direct, or the character they play in it. The spirit of a character can be discerned and matched up against the Spirit of God. Is it a spirit of hope and love, or the result of their lives being a series of angry blasts and fears? I try and discern the spirit of a script—what does it do in the final analysis, what is its effect upon an audience, how will they react? Will they leave the theater anxious and angry, or will they see a way, as a result of what’s in the film, to attack the problems they face? In other words, does the movie produce good or evil? That’s the bottom line for me...”

To read the rest of the article click here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 24, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 23, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 22, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 21, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 21, 2009 | Permalink

A Five Year Old’s Perspective on Growing Up and Ice Skating from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 21, 2009 | Permalink

My good friend Scott Brown has linked to an incredibly fascinating story of an Israeli woman who passed away at 99 years of age and left behind 1,400 descendants! Rachel Krishevsky had seven sons and four daughters. Click here to read this amazing story.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 21, 2009 | Permalink

Dear Friends,

Join me in an upcoming free online webinar hosted by CollegePlus! this coming Monday, September 21 at 8 PM Central Standard Time. I will be discussing various questions and issues related to thinking through considering higher education alternatives, biblical wisdom for preparing young adults for pursuing ongoing training, defending your faith in a hostile, morally-bankrupt educational environment, and questions about online distance learning and the future of education.

This hour-long presentation is geared to parents of high school and college students who want to know how college fits with their long-range vision. Space is limited to 1,000 attendees. This will be first come, first serve—be sure to sure reserve your spot early.

You can register for this free web event today. I look forward to having you join me as we train up the next generation of Christian leaders. Additionally, we believe so strongly in this program that we have arranged a special gift for families. Now through the month of September 2009, any student who enrolls in the CollegePlus! program, will receive two free months of CollegePlus! coaching plus a $250 gift certificate good for any merchandise sold through Vision Forum (see details below)!

Use Promo Code “VFM09” when you request information. Find out how to take advantage of this great offer at the CollegePlus! website. There is also detailed information on combining high school and college, college majors, and the CollegePlus! philosophy on education.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 21, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 18, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 15, 2009 | Permalink

Moneywatch reported today: “Gold futures climbed back above the $1,000-an-ounce mark on Tuesday, after upbeat U.S. economic reports and as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession is likely over. Bernanke and other Fed officials, however, reiterated views that unemployment will remain high and the economy will stay weak well into next year, fueling expectations that the central bank will continue to provide ample liquidity.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 15, 2009 | Permalink

Mt. Bosavi, Papua New Guinea

The UK Guardian has a fascinating report out on the discovery of “fanged frog” and giant rats:

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

Black and Yellow Noctuid Caterpillars

Bosavi Wooly Rat

A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world...

...The team of biologists included experts from Oxford University, the London Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution and are believed to be the first scientists to enter the mountainous Bosavi crater...”These discoveries are really significant,” said Steve Backshall, a climber and naturalist who became so friendly with the never-before seen Bosavi silky cuscus, a marsupial that lives up trees and feeds on fruits and leaves, that it sat on his shoulder.”

Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot

To read the rest of this interesting discovery click here.

Photographs borrowed from the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/discovery-species-papua-new-guinea

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 14, 2009 | Permalink

Dear Sirs,

Thank you so much for your kit and kaboodle sale. I believe that this is the second year in a row that I have purchased it. I already owned a vast majority, but purchased last years so that my husband could have the same material in his car, since he doesn’t often have time to read. This year I bought it for our church library. Right now our church library has 47 shelves of Christian romance fiction. Ugh! Well the church librarian was presented with a large box of your materials, and though I don’t believe she was too happy with me, I know that your material can make an impact for Christ. I have a box of your catalogs in my van and give them out whenever the Lord opens the door. I live in the Northeast and so many have not heard of your company.

But I am trying! Keep up the good work and send me more catalogs!

In His service, Mrs. J. S.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 14, 2009 | Permalink

Thanks to all the friends of Vision Forum who are remembering us with prayers and encouragement at this time. We are excited to be in the throes of our catalog preparation season where we review fresh products, publish new books and CDs, and design our catalog which will be seen by more than two million sets of eyes. We are hoping that the messages and themes of this year’s catalog will be the most family-encouraging and Christ-exalting in our history.

The story of the Vision Forum catalog began more than a decade ago, in the year 1998 with this cover:

Each year we emphasize a theme which God has placed on our hearts and which we believe is a God-honoring message of encouragement for the Christian family. The 1999 edition emphasized Heroes and Histories:

2003 was a year in which even American Christians could not determine if they would fight for the duty and right to acknowledge God. We remembered the importance of our landmarks to liberty with this cover featuring Justice and Liberty Phillips, and the Alabama Ten Commandments monument:

One of my favorite covers was a tribute to the faith of heroic fathers of past generations. It followed the release of Vision Forum Ministry’s film The League of Grateful Sons:

We had a great time working on that catalog, and everybody got a turn to drive around in the World War II jeeps.

The big boy on this catalog cover, was the littlest boy in our first. Boy, does time fly! This was a special year—the year of the Jamestown Quadricentennial. We honored the blessing of God’s providential hand in American history with this cover:

This week we are shooting and designing a new cover and things are moving fast and furious here at the Vision Forum headquarters. In the past we have rented studios and shot key images on medium format cameras. This year our capable staff is handling all things in-house, including building our own studio for the purpose of the shoot. We shot against a white screen which allows us to produce the clear and dramatic effect we are looking for on our covers. Here is an image shot on the fly of Virginia and me against the white screen just moments before she got into her costume for the cover shot.

This year’s cover was designed and directed by my son Joshua. After appearing on more than eight covers, Joshua is (at least for this year) trading in his role as “talent” and expressing his creative skills off-camera. Our principal photographer, Peter Serven, grabbed this shot of Joshua coaching Virginia for her debut on the catalog cover.

In the past, film was sent to photo-labs for developing. We could never be completely sure if the shoot was successful until we got the preliminary results from the lab. We would scrutinize the best images and examine every detail using magnifying glasses called “loops.” Now we are able to view the image in real time on computer screens. This really boosts productivity and precision, allowing the director to see exactly what was shot within moments of taking the picture.

Although we have a strong idea of how the cover should look, experience has taught us to test different options. We will sometimes shoot the same concept with different models, different angles, and different props. Digital computer technology allows us to mix and match until we get the most pleasing results. Here, Faith waits her turn to be suited up for the shot.

God bless you and your loved ones this week. Keep praying for one another, and stay tuned to Doug’s Blog for more updates.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 11, 2009 | Permalink

More media about this up-and-coming movie can be found on the new web site www.themysteriousislands.com.

The Mysterious Islands Trailer 2: Evolution’s Birthplace from Vision Forum on Vimeo.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 10, 2009 | Permalink

Master seamstress, Mrs. Laurie Manteufel, prepared each of these costumes for her family for the Reformation 500.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 9, 2009 | Permalink

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — September 8, 2009 — As the world prepares to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s landmark book, On the Origin of Species, Vision Forum has unveiled details on a new documentary, filmed on the Galapagos Islands, that debunks the conclusions Darwin reached during his storied trip to this island chain during the voyage of the HMS Beagle. Shot and directed by the award-winning Jon and Andy Erwin of Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures, the 90-minute film, entitled The Mysterious Islands, is set for release in early November, just weeks prior to the November 24 anniversary date of Darwin’s influential book.

The cinematically beautiful adventure film was shot earlier this year and examines the same unusual creatures Darwin saw while on the Galapagos Islands, and repudiates the findings he made there that formed the basis of his Theory of Evolution.

“This October and November, Americans and other Westerners will be confronted with an unprecedented onslaught of pro-evolutionary propaganda as the major media and leaders of academia heap praise on Charles Darwin, the patron saint of evolutionism,” noted Doug Phillips, who served as Executive Producer of The Mysterious Islands.

“New pro-Darwin feature films will be launched, including Creation, a major motion picture produced by atheists and starring an outspoken atheist that will present a negative perspective on the biblical account of origins,” remarked Phillips. “Major international events will be held honoring Darwin in such places as the University of Chicago. The Darwin-hype is about to reach a feverish pitch as protagonists of evolutionism celebrate the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of Species.

“Christians look to Jerusalem, Muslims to Mecca, but for the followers of Charles Darwin, the Galapagos Archipelago is the spiritual homeland to their evolutionary faith,” Phillips observed. “Our film — shot on ground-zero of evolutionism — will be a counter-offensive to the Darwin adulation that blows holes in the conclusions he formed while observing the wonder-filled creatures that inhabit the Galapagos Islands.”

Told through the eyes of 16-year-old Joshua Phillips, The Mysterious Islands presents a remarkable quest to Darwin’s Eden with Joshua, his father, and a team of scientists and investigators including Dr. John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research.

The Mysterious Islands is a fast-paced film that tracks their journey of discovery as they walk where Darwin walked and engage with the amazing animals that he chronicled during his Voyage of the Beagle. Their mission: to determine whether the Galapagos Islands are a laboratory for evolution, as Darwinists claim, or a showcase for creation.

Along the way, the film examines intriguing questions that Darwin failed to answer, or that he just got wrong: Why do the animals on these islands appear to have little fear of man? Why have some of the creatures of the Galapagos developed such unusual characteristics — are these phenomena evidences of evolution or something else? Does natural selection produce new kinds of animals, or just variations within the same kinds?

“Darwin was a poor naturalist,” noted Phillips, who led the team on this historic expedition. “While on the Galapagos, he improperly recorded his observations and later drew fundamentally wrong conclusions from the findings that he made. One hundred and fifty years after the publication of his magnum opus, his errors are clearer to see. It is not surprising that key arguments he advanced to support his Theory of Evolution have been rejected by evolutionists themselves. By retracing his steps, we show exactly where he erred.”

This beautiful documentary takes viewers deep beneath the ocean waves among hundreds of white-tip sharks, over lava fields covered with salt-spitting marine iguanas, and to the unusual habitat of blue-footed boobies and flightless cormorants. Featuring the only team of Creationists and Christian scientists to shoot a documentary on the Galapagos during 2009 — Darwin’s anniversary year — The Mysterious Islands brings a fresh perspective on Charles Darwin and his Theory and presents sweeping cinematography of one of the most remote, desolate, and fascinating island chains in the world.

To visit the official The Mysterious Islands website here click here

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 8, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 5, 2009 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 3, 2009 | Permalink

Once there was a little boy with red boots.

He had a brother who was his very best friend in the world.

The two of them went to Colorado with their daddy for a very special father and son retreat.

The little boy with the red boots could not wait to get there.

In Colorado, the little boy with the red boots and his brother got to sing and listen to messages about the Lord Jesus Christ.

After the messages he decided to stalk a chipmunk. But it got away.

The next day the little boy with red boots walked on logs in the mountains

He climbed trees.

He climbed higher and higher.

Then he played tug-o-war with his daddy.

Like all little boys, the little boy with the red boots loved to be in the mountains.

His daddy told him that God made them.

The little boy in the red boots had many wonderful adventures.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 3, 2009 | Permalink

But I had gradually come, by this time, to see that the Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow at sign, etc., etc., and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian. The question then continually rose before my mind and would not be banished, — is it credible that if God were now to make a revelation to the Hindoos, would he permit it to be connected with the belief in Vishnu, Siva, &c, as Christianity is connected with the Old Testament. This appeared to me utterly incredible.

By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is suppoted, — that the more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more incredible do miracles become, — that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us, — that the Gospels cannot be proved to have been written simultaneous with the events, — that they differ in many important details, far too important as it seemed to me to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of eyewitnesses; — by such reflections as these, which I give not as having the least noveltry or value, but as they influenced me, I gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation.

...I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all of my friends, will be everlasting punished. And this is a damnable doctrine

from The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 3, 2009 | Permalink

”...very much” from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

A happy birthday word on the occasion of Honor’s eighth revolution around the Sun.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 1, 2009 | Permalink

Virginia Recites Psalm 1 As Recorded On a Friend’s iPhone from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 1, 2009 | Permalink

The Little Boy With Red Boots Watches the Felling of a Tree from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

Posted by Doug Phillips on September 1, 2009 | Permalink