We live on the threshold of a revolution in independent Christian filmmaking. For the first time in more than half a century, Christians have the opportunity to change the terms of debate for this crucial medium of cultural influence by challenging the Hollywood giant. Like David’s sling before Goliath’s enormous sword, the weapons of this warfare are unconventional by industry standards, but when wielded with accuracy and faith, they can strike a devastating blow to the modern pagan elites who seek to crush the very witness of God in this nation. At least four factors fuel this revolution in filmmaking:

First, America needs a permanent break from Hollywood. The need for alternatives to “Babylon Central” is not only recognized within the Christian community, but by typical Americans who are disenchanted with the present state of affairs. The domination of the film industry by Christ-hating, family-denigrating elites, and the general absence of family-affirming, spiritually truthful media — at a time when the family is being redefined out of existence — has created a vacuum in our culture. Christians with a spirit of innovation who take the field and step up to the plate with courage and wisdom have an opportunity to fill this vacuum by communicating life, hope, and beauty from God’s perspective.

Second, we can market our products without selling our souls to the enemy. In the past, the only way a film could be financially viable was by getting the blessing of the Hollywood studios that influenced the distribution process. At bare minimum, this has usually meant sacrificing the spiritual and creative integrity of the project. The growing availability of alternative distribution networks means that independent Christian filmmakers have the ability to encourage the Body of Christ and influence the culture as a whole, while generating a dollar return sufficient to finance their projects.

Third, Christians now have access to the tools. Technologies which were once primarily available only to well-funded Hollywood studios are now readily available in the consumer and prosumer markets. For less than $10,000, the independent Christian filmmaker can set up a basic digital studio capable of noteworthy productions. For less than $5,000, the Christian film student can have a working platform to make digital film shorts.

Fourth, the path to successful filmmaking is no longer the exclusive domain of humanistic film schools. Recognizing that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,” many of the next generation of independent Christian filmmakers will be mastering their craft outside indoctrination centers which do not fear God — centers which, consequently, are fundamentally handicapped in their ability to wisely mentor. The rise of less expensive, family-friendly, discipleship-based, diverse creative alternatives for training should be heralded with thanksgiving. The advent of viable educational alternatives is not only the wave of the future, but an event which means that Christians who are willing to think outside the box live at a time of unique opportunity.

(We must remember, of course, that the existence of inexpensive technologies, alternative distribution networks, and alternative education training models in no way ensures the creation of quality cinema by Christians. Careful thought, wisdom, and significant vision are needed to produce culture-challenging media which is not only timely and theologically sound, but retains high production values.)

The Time is Now
My own observations of the burgeoning independent film movement — emerging from America’s community of entrepreneurial, creative, and spiritually committed home educators — has led me to conclude that the time is ripe to aggressively encourage young men and women to use this medium to impact the culture for the glory of God. (Vision Forum is located in San Antonio, Texas, a city that boasts several budding film studios — and even a new film society in the works — run by home educators and dedicated to a distinctively Christian vision of filmmaking.)

The beauty of independent filmmaking is that it allows the Christian to avoid the “wide path” of assimilation and syncretism with the cesspool and mire of Hollywood, and it opens the door for them to take a visionary, creative, narrow path for the glory of God — a path which gives them the opportunity to define the terms of debate and take the spiritual high road. Methodology is not neutral. We must approach God’s work with a vision for methodological holiness. I am reminded of Hudson Taylor’s wise comment: “God’s work done God’s way, will never lack for God’s supply.”

It is for this purpose — to encourage the next generation and to promote godly independent filmmaking — that Vision Forum is pleased to announce the Jubilee Awards and the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

The $10,000 Jubilee Award for Best Independent Christian Film Short
The biblical doctrine of the jubilee includes the joyful concept of freedom from indenture and bondage. In the context of independent filmmaking, the Jubilee Award is offered in gratitude to the Lord for the freedom and opportunity He is making available to a new generation of Christian filmmakers more interested in pressing the crown rights of Jesus Christ than indenturing their careers, their vision, and their work to Hollywood elites. Film shorts can be from five to fifty-five minutes in length. There are no restrictions on who may submit an entry, and applicants are allowed to make multiple submissions. The first prize is $10,000. Runner-up and special category prizes will also be awarded. Submissions must be received no later than September 1, 2004. Winners will be announced at the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, to be held in November of this year.

Join Us for the First Annual
San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival
Join us in San Antonio, Texas, on November 11-13 for a three-day Christian film festival featuring Christ-honoring, independent film shorts produced by a diversity of enterprising home educators, budding film students of all ages (9-99), and a new wave of Christ-oriented filmographers. Everyone with an interest in God-honoring independent Christian filmmaking is welcome to attend. The cost of the festival (which includes unlimited access to all film screenings, classes, and workshops) will be between $75 and $120, depending on when you register. Registration is limited to approximately five hundred. First come, first serve. Festival schedules, speakers, and registration information will be posted in the next four weeks at www.visionforum.com. Information concerning the Jubilee Award for Christian Film Shorts, including film categories and contest terms, will be posted at the same time

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 27, 2004 | Permalink

Time Changers: Directed by Rich Christianos

When a devout seminary professor from the 1890s seeks to publish a book which advocates the teaching of morality without explicit reference to Jesus Christ, he is given the opportunity to take a first-hand look at the implications of Christ-less morality on the world of the future. With the help of a scientific time transportation machine, he journeys to the United States of the twenty-first century. There, he witnesses the tragic results of law where there is no acknowledgement of the Lawmaker. He discovers anemic and compromised Christians immersed in a culture of entertainment who have lost their love for the Savior and their ability to speak boldly to the world. They have surrendered to the God of pluralism. He responds to the Sabbath-breaking, materialistic, evolution-influenced, rock-and-roll culture of the twenty-first century Church with a simple, child-like faith which is sometimes humorous, always endearing, and thoroughly thought-provoking. In the end, he recognizes that any attempt to foist “morality” and “character” on a culture, without asserting the primacy of Jesus Christ, is doomed.

It is rare that a movie so impresses me that I track down the writer/director to thank him for his work, and to see what makes him tick—but that is exactly what I did after I saw Rich Christiano’s humorous, hard-hitting, independent Gospel film, Time Changer. The acting and production quality is average for an independent film, but the message of Time Changers is simply exceptional and well worth the price! 99 mins. Yes, there are theological nuances here or there with which I would differ, but the film is driven by a central “no compromise on the Gospel” message which is singular in our world of oh-so-subtle Christianity—-so subtle that you don’t know it’s there. I hope to post an in-depth review of the film including a parental that analyzes content, theology, plot, music, etc., sometime next month. Time Changers can be purchased through Vision Forum. Click here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 27, 2004 | Permalink

Beall and I recently returned with our son Providence from the New York International Toy Fair. In preparation for the production of our All American Boys Adventure Catalog and Beautiful Girlhood Collection, we wanted to be able to meet with the manufacturers of some of our products. With more than five hundred vendors present from around the world, the New York International Toy Fair is quite a sight to behold. Available at the fair are every type of knick-knack, whiz-bang, do-hickey, thingamabob invention for children on the planet.

But, the first thing you realize when you get inside one of the gigantic, seemingly endless exhibit halls is that there are no children. Not a single one. Just a lot of adults playing with toys.

Beall and I felt like Caracatus Potts and Truly Scrumptious from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We had landed in Vulgaria with a baby under our arm, to discover a city without children (but with plenty of spoiled adults who want to play with toys and behave like children). Surely, it was just a matter of time before the child snatcher came, lollipop in hand, to whisk our infant son off to the dungeon for children.

The most humorous part of the adventure for me was the fact that many of the people we passed in the aisles assumed that Providence was a stuffed doll—a very real looking stuffed doll, but a doll nonetheless. After all, everyone knows that you never see a child in Vulgaria, much less Toy Fairs. Not a single guard even stopped us to comment about the baby in my arm—-they either did not care, or they just assumed that he was an it.

One episode took the cake: We were browsing through a lovely booth of very expensive and refined dolls, when the representative of the doll company approached us in absolute astonishment. She had never seen such an authentic looking doll before.

“We call it the Providence Doll,” I explained. “He’s the latest in baby technology.”

“May I touch it,” she asked.

“By all means,” I replied.

“That is amazing,” said she, as she pressed her finger to his forehead. “It’s is so real, just like a baby. It’s just wonderful.”

“Yes, wonderful,” says I, at which point, unable to take it any more, and noticing that Beall is about to pop, I spilled the beans.

But I am still not sure what was more astonishing to her—-that a businessman would bring his baby to work, or that my son was not a technologically advanced doll.

No Kids Please

Of course, the absence of children at a toy fair does not indicate the downfall of Western civilization. (It probably has much to do with liability issues.) But the growing absence of children from corporate worship in the local Church, from the economy of the household, and from the life of our communities does signify such a downfall. Once an ever present reminder of the covenantal nature of family, church and community, children rarely follow the historic patterns of living, working and learning alongside their parents in the spirit of Deuteronomy 6.

But the situation is worse than that. It is not simply that men and women are shipping their children off for 24,000 hours of their children’s youth to government indoctrination centers, its that these men and women don’t want to be parents. (Or if they do want to be parents, their parenthood is part of the hypothetical future——you know, after they are “economically stable” and have comfortably secured two volvos, and a nice mortgage. In the meantime, the designer cats and dogs will suffice for the needed emotional companionship.)

A tragedy of our day, and a sign of the growing selfishness and cold-heartedness of our people, is that one can walk for hours in many of America’s cities without seeing a single child, or a mother with an infant. An even greater tragedy is that most of us have forgotten that it is not supposed to be this way.

To the extent that anyone, Christian or pagan, views children as a potential economic burden, or as a drain on their time and energy too heavy to be borne; to they extent that they would accuse anyone who desires children of treating women as baby machines, to that extent at least, they have ceased to think with a Christian worldview, and have embraced a humanistic philosophy of life and culture. No amount of caveats can mitigate the fact that such thinking is not biblical.

A more extreme example of the anti-family, anti-child philosophy gripping the nation is the growing number of individuals who shamelessly boast about their anti-child sentiment. The title of a February 22 article by Boston Globe reporter Carlene Hempel says it all:

“No Kids, Please: They don’t want to have children, they don’t want to be bothered by children, and they’d just as soon not live near children. It’s the child-free movement, and it’s growing.”

The following is an excerpt from her story:

They don’t appear to have much in common. Mike Crutcher plays bass in a Lowell band and teaches piano and guitar. Kathy Reboul is a social worker and, she reveals during dinner, allergic to peanuts. Lori Schneider is a former cop from Connecticut who’s going back to school. Todd Larson of Allston writes about real estate for the Brookline Tab. They’ve gathered, along with 10 others, at Polcari’s in Cambridge on a wintry Saturday night. They convene this way once a month, because that’s what social clubs do. Except that while most clubs organize around something — a model-train fixation, an interest in needlepoint, a love of good books or fine wines — what this bunch has in common is what they don’t have: kids.

This is life for the child-free. In a culture often defined by breeders, those who dare not have children feel they must band together. They need support to help fend off parents who are desperate for grandchildren, or friends and co-workers who wonder how these seemingly productive members of society could be so selfish. They’re not interested in hearing about the latest family-tested flick from Pixar. They’re tired of hearing: “But you’d be a great parent.” They don’t need tips on using a Chinese adoption agency. They can have kids, they just don’t want them. And they’re fighting back.

This story is absolutely chilling. These societies are dedicated to the virtues and glories of barrenness. This article is a “must read” if you hope to understand the growing anti-family philosophy. To read the story in its entirety, click here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 26, 2004 | Permalink

I received this interesting quote. I do not know the author’s name, but I appreciate the sentiment:

“No one has a problem with Christian liberty that I know of. What we do have a problem with is cultural idolatry disguised as liberty.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 25, 2004 | Permalink

The greatest Christian political hero of the last decade is Roy Moore. He is the first Christian that we have seen in our lifetime elected to high office who unabashedly stood for Jesus Christ, the Law of God and for the Constitution. A man that was willing to give up everything rather than disacknowledge Almighty God. (Can you think of any other Christian elected to high office who has made such a sacrifice? I can not.)

Chief Justice Moore literally gave up the world, for the sake of Christ. He gave up the highest paid job of an elected official in the State of Alabama. He allowed himself to be subjected to the censure and open ridicule of both God-haters and politicized professing Christians whose commitment to pluralism and partisan politics blinded them to the duties they owe to their Creator.

Today, Roy Moore returns to court for oral arguments. He will be appealing the decision that threw him out of office. His attorneys will be arguing (among other points) that it is wrong to establish a religious test prohibiting an elected office holder from acknowledging God. The reason for this argument is that then Attorney General Bill Pryor three times asked Chief Justice Moore under oath if he would continue to acknowledge God even if a court told him not to acknowledge God. Roy Moore said he must acknowledge God. (Note that the prosecutor never even raised the issue of the Ten Commandments. He simply wanted to know if Chief Justice Moore would continue to acknowledge God. On the basis of the Chief Justice’s commitment to God over man, he was declared “unrepentant” to the judiciary.)

I was with the Chief Justice for his trial, but found myself sitting next to Charles Campbell, assistant to Bill Pryor.

During the trial Mr. Campbell blurted out: “Roy Moore is unrepentant to His God.” I responded to Mr. Campbell, by asking how he became possessed with the ability to search the soul of Roy Moore such that he could declare the Chief Justice unrepentant to his God. Mr. Campbell a professing protestant, works for Bill Pryor, a Roman Catholic. The former declared him “unrepentant” to God, and the later declared him “unrepentant ” to the imperial judiciary.

Today, Mr. Campbell will be leading the opposition against the Chief Justice in court. May the Lord open his eyes. (To read more about this story visit my blog from Monday, December 08, 2003, — Pryor and Staff Communicate Malice and Mockery.)

The possibility for success (from a pure human perspective) is extremely low given the fact that the judges who will be hearing the case include people that Roy Moore fired in past years, and who were political opponents of the Chief Justice. Normally, such a relationship would absolutely require the judges to recuse themselves, but there is nothing normal about the vendetta which has been brought against the Chief Justice. Against all principles of judicial propriety, these judges have refused to recuse themselves. When I spoke to the Chief, his comments were simply: “We have a duty to make this argument, but the results are in God’s hands.”

The Nomination of Bill Pryor
Over the last week, we received the tragic news that the President gave Bill Pryor, the Alabama Attorney General, who both persecuted and prosecuted the Chief Justice, a recess appointment to the federal bench. Mr. Pryor is a judicial imperialist because he believes that the orders of judges who (a) legislate from the bench: (b) act beyond the scope of their jurisdiction; and (c) act unlawfully, must be obeyed as the highest law of the land, and any willful disobedience to such orders is a violation of “the rule of law.” It was this philosophy which encouraged Mr. Pryor to tell his attorneys not to enforce part of a state partial birth abortion ban because it was inconsistent with United States Supreme Court precedent. (See my article “Roy Moore to be Prosecuted for refusing to Deny His God”) Mr. Pryor received his job as Attorney General on a personal promise that he would resist an unlawful order of the federal court to remove the Ten Commandments. Ironically, he prosecuted Roy Moore for the very thing he had promised to do himself.

“The World is Better With Roy Moore Off the Bench”: Sodomites and Radical Marxist Alike Jump to Support Bill Pryor’s Work Before the Court of the Judiciary:

Despite the rancorous partisan filibuster in Washington D.C. of Mr. Pryor’s nomination for federal judge, outside the beltway he has been praised by ultra-radical leftists like Richard Cohen (of the Southern Poverty Law Center) who describes Pryor as “a friend,” and agrees with his judicial philosophy concerning the meaning of “the rule of law.”

After the trial of Chief Justice Moore, Bill Pryor, spokesman for leading homosexual activist groups and radical leftist groups like The Southern Poverty Law Center, and People United For Separation of Church and State, came forward to announce their support of the work of Bill Pryor for his ouster of Roy Moore:

The Anti-Christian Lobby: Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (one of three groups that brought the lawsuit against Moore’s Ten Commandments display), applauded Moore’s removal. “America is a safer place with Roy Moore off the bench,” Lynn said. “After all, this is a man who said in a court decision that the state has the power to execute gay people. His repeated attempts to mix his personal religion with government power was dangerous, and I’m glad he’s no longer a judge.” The Homosexual Community: Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called Moore “a nightmare for lesbian and gay people in Alabama.” “Justice Moore has invoked his own personal religious beliefs as a justification for taking children away from lesbian and gay parents,” Minter told the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network. “It is frightening to have such an overtly homophobic person on the bench, and his removal is a welcome development.”

See the Video:
Attorney General Bill Pryor Prosecutes Chief Justice Moore and Claims the Chief Justice is “Unrepentant” for Acknowledging God Notwithstanding Court Orders to the Contrary.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 25, 2004 | Permalink

Please forgive a proud papa his delight in sharing his video images of his son with you.

Click here to view Providence Mather Phillips at play

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 24, 2004 | Permalink

Love your children. Love them first by wanting them. The very employment of birth control is a statement against the gifts of God, and it plants the foot firmly along the road for love to grow cold. It is the very foundation of choice against love. If God gives you five, ten, fifteen, or twenty, then praise Him! He’s given you quite a legacy. While birth control and abortion are certainly not to be considered as moral equivalents, it must never be forgotten that the argument that foisted the former, cemented the path for the latter. (Steve Schlissel, Christian Culture in a Multicultural Age, page 44)

(Steve Schlissel plays with Providence Mather Phillips.)

In a selfish and materialistic age that prefers individualistic gratification more than a covenantal passion for children, I am truly, truly grateful for those men and women of diverse theological backgrounds in the Evangelical world who are casting a vision to the Christian community for being fruitful and multiplying in great abundance. These present day heroes recognize the implications of this historically unprecedented and culturally significant practice of planned barren-hood for the conscience of the Church. They are not afraid to warn the people of God of the spiritually devastating blight on the people of God caused by perverting the natural function of the womb in the name of convenience.

Of course there is a price to pay for such type of preaching. Some men will respond by making the humanistic assertion that such patriarchal teaching leads to misogynistic practice of men treating their wives as “baby machines.” The loud ones will shout “legalist, Pharisee” at men like Steve Schlissel who dare to wisely apply God’s Word to the present crisis. Others will go so far as to try to censure those who preach an uncompromising message of life. Bill Gothard once told me that he had been blackballed from several communities by pastors who specifically indicated that they would only open the doors for him if he would agree to remain silent on the issue of birth control. (I shared my personal gratitude to him for the documented tens of thousands of children alive today, who otherwise would never have been conceived, but for their parent’s humble response to the uncompromising message of life Bill Gothard has so boldly proclaimed over the years.)

The opposition to the message of life from conscience-seared clergy is so strong, that the man who fervently preaches an uncompromising vision of life, is more intolerable than the neo-orthodox who undermines the historic doctrines of the faith. Men who will endure all forms of doctrinal compromise in the name of ecumenicity, seem to make it their life mission to excoriate at every possible opportunity the preacher who reminds the Church that the acceptance of birth control in the Protestant community is a historically novel accommodation to modernist theology, utterly without biblical warrant, and fated to bring the Church into judgment for its rejection of the sovereign God’s biblically revealed vision for bringing forth godly seed in great abundance.

Thankfully, the testimony of a rapidly growing new generation of children-loving families who trust Jehovah to be Lord of the womb (primarily emerging from the Christ-centered patriarchal and family revival within America’s home school movement), is evidence that God is preserving His remnant and building His people.

Nothing thrills me more than the dozens and dozens (perhaps hundreds, by now) of reports Vision Forum has received over the years, of families who physically and/or mentally made a decision to reverse their commitment to planned barren-hood, and embrace the gift of children. It has become rare for me to return to a state home school conference without having at least one mom or dad opens their wallets to show the picture of their precious child who “would not be here, but for the message they heard from Vision Forum, two years prior.” Hallelujah! Thank you Father!

Steve Schlissel is one of the few fellow preachers I know who has had the guts to preach with fervor against the widespread acceptance of the modern birth control ethic within the Church. (Most preachers could not preach this way because they are leading the charge in practicing, and encouraging young couples to practice, planned barren-hood.) Consider the following observation:

We demand less nudity on television. Let’s insist on a maximum of two nude scenes per half hour. Has anyone ever thought of using the on/off switch. If T.V. offends you, shut it off. But Christians won’t admit their T.V. addicted. “No, turning off the T.V. is just too radical. Let’s compromise!” We want to end abortion, yet at the same time we hold to the propriety of birth control. Eventually, we find that the problem can be found at the root, and the problem is that we’re sharing the root with unbelievers. To justify ourselves we soothe our guilty consciences, we demand to see a couple of Christian tokens on the cultural landscape. Hallelujah. Everybody loves Jesus. Now let’s go home and wallow in the mud like total humanist pigs! (Steve Schlissel, Christian Culture in A Multi-Cultural Age, page 104)

Christian Culture in a Multi-Cultural Age, which has a noteworthy introduction from our friend George Grant and can be ordered on-line from Vision Forum.

Dinner at Sardis
I finished Steve’s delightful book Christian Culture in a Multi-Cultural Age on my flight to New York last week. We discussed the book over a lovely meal at Sardis in New York City. Eating at Sardis is a multi-generational activity in the Phillips household. My father would often take me here for dinner during our visits together to New York in years past.

As we talked about Christian Culture in a Multi-Cultural Age over dinner, I was deeply touched by Steve’s tender compassion for the plight of the Christian family seeking holiness in an age where rampant paganism and libertine values define the Church itself.

Two years ago I had an opportunity to visit Urban Nations, the remarkable outreach of Messiah’s Congregation, over which Steve is a shepherd. It was extraordinarily gratifying to discover that one of the Urban Nation’s classrooms for bringing the Gospel to immigrants through their unique Bible centered language programs, had been dedicated to my father, Howard Phillips, and prominently featured a dedication on the wall to him. (Just as it takes courage to preach against the evil of the birth control mentality, so too it takes courage to take a stand for principled political activism. Steve, has always been willing to do both.)

Our love for each other is an example of the fact that genuine Christians with variations and flavors to their theology not only can co-exist without rancor, but can enjoy a deep personal friendship based on love, mutual respect and honor. (I once asked Steve for permission to publish a public response in opposition to an article he had written — a request he happily granted!).

Two Converted Jews and the Fiddler
It is good to be mishpokhe. After dinner, Steve, his bride, Beall and I, and Josh and Sarah Wean, saw a performance of Fiddler on the Roof. The theology of Fiddler has much to be desired, but the poignant depiction of Jewish family life in the midst of far reaching socio-political change in the broader world around them, is moving to the point of tears. The story is especially meaningful to me because my ancestors (on my father’s side) were among those Russian Jews to flee the dehumanizing pogroms of the last generation of Czars.

Both Steve and I are married to lovely goyim girls who have learned to happily tolerate the Jewish food, Jewish talk (lay-Yiddish) and Jewish-nostalgia-shtick-thing which is the destiny of every little boy who can claim Judaic ancestry, or who once had a Bubbe in his life.

Fiddler was also an opportunity to begin my Jewish-nostalgia-shtick-thing indoctrination program for my two month old son, Providence Mather Phillips. Providence had never heard such singing, dancing and whooping before (except for every other day around his brothers and sisters in the Phillips home). The presence of a two month old at Fiddler sent all the Yentas and Bubbes and Uncle Mordacai’s around us into an uproar, not knowing whether to coo in delight, or kvetch that we had a lot of chutzpah schlepping our way into a play with a baby who might let out a wheeze or a gurgle during the sacrosanct “Sunrise/Sunset” scene, thus rendering them a bunch poor schlemazels. In the final analysis, we could just hear the meshugeneh coming from the chorus of kbitzers declaring: “What? No nosh to keep the kinder quiet?..Such a child!.. And to think, his first Fiddler.”

Real Food
Another blessing of the New York trip was that I was able to eat the type of real food that my Gigi (my grandmother) use to make for me: Lox and bagels, kreplach, knishes, matzo ball soup, latkes with applesauce and sour cream, and garlic pickles, to name a few. Five pounds later, I emerged from New York content, sated and ready for some serious exercise. The only opportunity for a real Jewish meal in Texas comes every Saturday when I cook fried matzo and sometimes offer gefilte fish and horseradish for my children (Beall runs for her life when I pull out the gefilte fish.)

(Oh, my dearest son Providence, what grand adventures we shall have together!)

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 22, 2004 | Permalink

Former Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor was today sworn in as a federal judge for the 11th circuit. Across the nation, freedom loving Americans are grieving over the President’s decision to appoint to the federal judiciary by recess appointment a man whose idolatrous view of the judiciary prompted him to three times ask Chief Justice Roy Moore to deny God on the witness stand, and who then declared him “unrepentant” to the federal judiciary for placing his allegiance to the Constitution and his Creator, over the unlawful and extra-jurisdictional opinions of renegade judges.

For important reports on Bill Pryor, please read my November 11 article “Chief Justice Moore to Be tried for Refusing to Deny His God,” on the Vision Forum newsletter site. See also my blogs on the support Pryor received from the homosexual community (November 14) and my report from inside the trial of Roy Moore at the Court of the Judiciary (November 13).

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 20, 2004 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 17, 2004 | Permalink

Here at the Vision Forum, we are passionate about serving our customers with excellence. For this reason, we were honored to be recognized this year with the Circle of Excellence Platinum Award from BizRate.com for outstanding performance during the critical 2003 holiday season. Over two thousand quality, consumer-rated online merchants were considered for the awards. The awards are based on the direct feedback, collected at the point-of-sale and after delivery of goods, from customers concerning seven key satisfaction metrics, including:

1. Overall Satisfaction
   2. Product Selection
   3. Ease of Finding Products
   4. Repurchase Intent
   5. Product Met Expectations
   6. On-time Delivery
   7. Customer Support

We are profoundly grateful for the enthusiasm, loyalty, and constant support of our dear friends and customers.

Following are a few of the notes from customers that came in with their reviews:

The Vision Forum has been such a blessing to our family in strengthening our vision of a family devoted to God and His Word. We so appreciate the catalogs, products, and timely service of Vision Forum.
S.F., Graham, North Carolina
February 12, 2004

I appreciate the mission of this company. The variety of books and products is unique and of superior quality.
R.J., North Bend, Washington
February 4, 2004

Vision Forum is a wonderful company and we are thoroughly satisfied each time we do business with them. We will continue not only to shop with them, but pass on a recommendation to our friends and family.
K.E., Memphis, Tennessee
January 13, 2004

My family and I are extremely pleased with the values and products that Vision Forum has. They have been a blessing to us in more ways than I can count!
R.W., Anna, Texas
January 12, 2004

Vision Forum is awesome. Extremely high standards.
B.E., Anchorage, Alaska
January 8, 2004

The Vision Forum is a great company to do business with — they offer high quality, wholesome products along with a smooth ordering process and great customer service. I am very pleased with this company.
D.R., Rowley, Massachusetts
January 6, 2004

The Vision Forum has always shipped promptly. This time was no exception. I will do business with them again.
K.H., Wiggins, Mississippi
January 5, 2004

Haven’t had any difficulties. Good products, good prices, happy children.
A.V.N., York, Pennsylvania
January 2, 2004

I had absolutely no problems ordering or receiving my order. The product bought met all the expectations I had, and I know it will be worth giving as a gift.
M.D., Raleigh, North Carolina
December 23, 2003

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 17, 2004 | Permalink

Yesterday, Wednesday, February 11, Vision Forum, our board members, and some guests rejoiced in a face-to-face encounter with one of the Lord’s most unusual of creatures, the manatee. Also known as the sea cow, these massive, docile animals were encountered by Christopher Columbus on his journey to America, who commented that if these were the mermaids so often spoken of by sailors, they sure were ugly.

We left at 7:00 a.m. for a remote part of the Crystal River, highly populated by a herd of manatees. For several hours, we swam and interacted with the playful and mysterious mammals. The babies were especially playful.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 12, 2004 | Permalink

Doug:

Matthew Chancey

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 10, 2004 | Permalink

Book Notes: The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes, Second Edition, by G.I. Williamson, P & R, 2004.

In an age of trendy new theologies and super-hip theologians, it is refreshing to hear from a man like G.I. Williamson who lives in the present, looks to the future, but understands the many biblical commands to honor the righteous legacy of the past.

For decades, Williamson has been a defender of the Regulative Principle of Worship (the focus of Vision Forum’s book How We Are to Worship God, by Dr. Joe Morecraft), which was part of the great legacy of independent, separatist and puritan thought during the Reformation and post-Reformation years. Now Williamson brings his insight and wisdom to this easy to understand, biblically balanced and thoughtful study guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith. This is a delightful read.

Williamson’s discussion in Chapter Six on Karl Barth and the quest for “relevance” at the sake of orthodoxy is timely and especially insightful.

Neo-orthodoxy (which is supposed to mean “new orthodoxy”) arose in early twentieth century Europe) from the spiritual ruins of an older “rationalism.” The “rationalists” enthroned human reason and made the Bible subservient to it. When Karl Barth (the originator of neo-orthodoxy, which is therefore also called “Barthianism”) first appeared on the scene speaking with great power against the emptiness of the old rationalism, many were impressed. He even revived the terminology of the historic Christian faith, speaking of “creation,” “the fall,” and “election.” Many hailed him as a prophet who would lead the Church back to the orthodox faith.

This led to a complete dilemma. There were but two choices: (1) Either accept the authority of God’s Word and lose standing with this world, or (2) retain the approval of the world and reject the authority of the Bible. It was the latter which was chosen, but the ingenuity of the neo-orthodox theologians was seen in their ability to camouflage the loss of biblical authority. They did it by removing doctrine from history.

Book Note: God’s Pattern for Creation: A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1, by W. Robert Godfrey, P&R, 2004

We need to remember to pray for Christian publishers. It is important to be relevant. But the pressure to be “culturally relevant” at the expense of timeless orthodoxy can be overwhelming. More than forty years ago, P&R Publishing demonstrated a visionary and heroic spirit when they helped to launch the modern creation movement with its publication of the landmark book The Genesis Flood, by Morris and Whitcomb, two of the great defenders of the Faith in the 20th century. Employing a rigorous historical grammatical approach to Biblical interpretation, coupled with a rich depth of scientific knowledge, Morris and Whitcomb annihilated “local flood theory,” and mounted a defense for young earth creation, which has not been successfully challenged to this day.

Regretfully, last month P&R sullied its otherwise heroic record, by publishing an anti-creationist book entitled God’s Pattern for Creation: A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1, by W. Robert Godfrey. The book is essentially a restatement of Meredith Kline’s Framework Hypothesis which reduces Genesis 1 to a non-historic, non-scientific, non-literal, piece of “covenantal” poetry about the Sabbath. Author Robert Godfrey bolsters his arguments by erecting straw men not only against scientific creationists, but home schoolers.

As an aside, the first page to which I providentially flipped was page 91, which includes some remarkably ignorant swipes at both home education and creation science. Here, the author demonstrates his antipathy towards home education by relegating the movement to a mere reaction and an escapist attempt at creating a subculture. He links creation science to an anti-intellectual fad, (which leaves us wondering about whether he accepts the legitimacy of the hundreds of PhD young earth creation scientists). In fact, he calls it a pseudo science. (Note: he follows the recent trend among formerly Reformed, now “relevant” teachers, of tap dancing around irresponsible statements by placing mild caveats designed to allow plausible deniability to the inevitable criticisms that come from unsubstantiated over-reaching generalizations.)

Framework Hypothesis, Progressive Creationism, Gap Theory and the various forms of Age Day Theory all share the following creation compromises in common: (1) They are novel, modern reinterpretations of Scripture, the goal of which is to reconcile Scripture with the supposedly neutral scientific conclusions of academia; and (2) they all undermine the doctrine of the Atonement by incorporating or tolerating the notion of death before Adam. Often (not always) these views include acceptance of Big Bang Theory and an ancient earth, of proto-humans which predated Adam, and a rejection of a global flood as described in Genesis.

Although it has been coated in covenantal language and rhetoric, the Framework Hypothesis is a dangerous cocktail of Reformed verbiage, evolutionary assumptions about scientific neutrality, and neo-orthodox reasoning.

As noted above in my review of Williamson’s comments on Barthian neo-orthodoxy, there is a remarkable temptation that seems to well-up within the soul of opportunists, those who lust after respectability and those who disdain the past, to find ever new and trendy means of reconciling Christianity with pop culture and pop science. Such men fail to acknowledge the religious presuppositions behind modern science and modern culture. They fail to realize that culture is religion externalized, and that science is inescapably a religious discipline. Instead of presuppositionally building their scientific and cultural paradigm from the Word of God, they become religious syncretists—-mixing paganism with Christianity, evolutionism with creationism.

For an outstanding response to the Framework Hypothesis, make sure to listen to Dr. Ken Gentry’s lectures on the subject in our Theological Bootcamp tape series. For a discussion between myself, Dr. Whitcomb, Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. John Morris, and Dr. Russell Humphreys about why such theories undermine the doctrine of the Atonement, get our tape series After Eden, also available through Vision Forum.

God’s Pattern for Creation carries endorsements from Mark Futato, author of Theonomy an Informed Critique, and president of Westminster West, the bastion of Genesis revisionism and hermeneutic confusion within the Reformed community.

Postscript and Addendum: Two weeks ago I wrote a friendly appeal to P&R to reconsider its decision to abandon biblical creationism for the Framework Hypothesis.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 6, 2004 | Permalink

Please forgive me if these few quick taps of the keyboard are not particularly coherent. I am genuinely stunned. I had just recently finished writing about the deaths of Dr. S. Lewis Johnson last week, and Dr. Greg Bahnsen (in 1995), when I received an e-mail that our beloved friend, Jack Clayton, died of a heart attack on February 4.

Jack was the very first Faith & Freedom Tour guide for Vision Forum. He loved Jesus. He was devoted to the United States of America. His joy was telling the stories of God’s remarkable providence in our history. He also loved to gather the young men and women around his family piano to sing the great hymns of the faith. He was extremely committed to the cause — a genuine warrior, a Southern gentleman, and a scholar.

Of Jack, Eugene Delgaudio wrote: “For decades and decades, Jack Clayton has been well known for his articulate and strong religious convictions and for defending the pro-family cause in the streets, in the halls of Congress and actually whenever he was awake. He made many sacrifices on a routine basis for all of us. He represented me and the views of our members at your meetings at Free Congress for a long time and he represented the traditional conservative view on many other issues. I will miss hearing his voice, and his thoughts and opinions as I know you and others will.”

We will miss you, Jack!

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 5, 2004 | Permalink

There simply is no substitute for careful planning. This year, the staff of Vision Forum spent the better part of the month considering what the Lord had taught us in 2003, considering the course He has set before us in 2004, and strategizing for the most effective way to aggressively, but wisely, use our gifts and resources to advance the mission He has given to us. The planning culminated in a two-day event in which each departmental head presented a PowerPoint on their department. I was so impressed by each of the men — everyone did a phenomenally professional job. Everyone had gone to great lengths to “take dominion” in their respective areas of responsibility. From beginning to end, the event was a blessing.

Delegation is crucial to success. Many leaders struggle with delegation. I used to struggle with it far more than I do now, but have learned that failure to delegate drastically limits the impact of ministry and prohibits men from growing and exercising their gifts. The key to delegation is to find the right kind of men. They must be competent and trustworthy. (In my book, honesty, loyalty, and general character are more important than experience. I have seen men of character rise to the occasion, but I find there is little satisfaction in the work of a competent man who is untrustworthy or lacking in character.) Once you find them, give them parameters, give them tools to be successful, set up a method of accountability, then let them shine. A man must feel like he can be a man. He needs the space to prove himself. If he can’t cut it, he should not be in the job. If he can cut it, give him space. While it might be necessary to give careful directions and oversight on special projects or on a case-by-case basis, micro-management is the death of any company because it causes the hearts of men to whither. I thank God regularly because He has given me the honor of working with men who are not only competent, but are scrupulously honest, loyal, and committed to the mission.

Director of operations, Kevin Turley (middle) once successfully ran four-star resort hotels, but when the Lord turned his heart to his family, he longed for a more family-friendly lifestyle. His addition to our staff has been a critical component of the Lord’s blessing on our work in 2003. Here he visits with Perry Coghlan (right), our outstanding director of fulfillment, and his counterpart, Sid Woodruff. All three of these men love Jesus Christ with all their hearts.

Good friends Joshua Phillips and Samuel Turley use one of the meeting breaks to experiment with Vision Forum products and set up toy soldiers.

After the meeting, some of us went down to El Mercado in old San Antonio to enjoy one of the great San Antonio Mexican restaurants.

San Antonio is a wonderful city. We just love it. There is a vibrant and diverse Hispanic culture, but one thing just about everybody loves are the mariachi bands which frequent San Antonio’s best Mexican restaurants.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 5, 2004 | Permalink

The greatest Christian apologist of the twentieth century was Cornelius Van Til, and the greatest apologetic communicator was his protégé, Dr. Greg Bahnsen. The day that Dr. Bahnsen died in 1995 was a day of enormous sadness for myself and hundreds of others whose lives had been touched by the spiritual passion and intellectual gifts of this great man. There will never be another Greg Bahnsen. For more than a decade, I have been using his literature and tapes to train a new generation of sharp-thinking, Christ-loving warriors in presuppositional thinking. Our friend, Dr. Ken Gentry, has authored a touching tribute to this remarkable man. Please take a moment to check it out.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 4, 2004 | Permalink

Precious in the eyes of the Lord are the death of His saints. Yet I must confess that a few tears have been shed in the Phillips home over the last half-decade or so as we have watched, one by one, a generation of giants in the Faith leave this present world for the bosom of the Savior. More than once, we have asked out loud: “Lord, who will be the men to fill their shoes?”

One of the most gentle of these giants was Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, who departed this earth for his eternal reward on January 28, 2004. He was eighty-eight years old. Dr. Johnson was known to some as the scholar who left Dallas Theological Seminary decades ago when their discomfort with his rigorous Calvinism became clear. To other men, Dr. Johnson was the saintly Bible teacher who was involved in pastoral ministry for more than forty-five years, and who distinguished himself for his uncompromising committment to truth. To others, Dr. Johnson was the professor whose lectures “you simply could not miss,” but whose academic requirements never failed to keep his students on their toes.

My training from this great man was purely informal. Dr. Johnson was the man who befriended me as a young man, brought me into his home, counseled me, walked me through some very difficult waters at a time when I desperately needed the wise counsel of elders in the Faith. He was the man who invited me into his study and tolerated my many exclamations of delight while allowing me to peruse his numerous hand-illustrated, magnificent manuscripts, some more than a thousand years old and written in lost languages (which he was able to translate!!!). Even more, Dr. Johnson and his bride served as a veritable covering to Beall, then living away from home and teaching in a Christian school, in the years leading up to our wedding in Believer’s Chapel, where Dr. Johnson taught. Dr. Johnson was also the man who, years later, offered helpful wisdom and counsel as I was working with other men to plant a church work in San Antonio, Texas. I simply don’t know what I would have done without him. He was God’s good provision for me and many others like me.

When Dr. Johnson preached or taught, it was never from a Bible translation, but from the original languages. He always emphasized the grace of God, something that he felt deeply himself, and for which he always gave thanks. In fact, though he was world-renowned for his brilliant Bible scholarship, Dr. Johnson was one of the most unassuming, humble, accessible men I have ever met. He was the quintessential Southern gentleman who brought civility and kindness to all of his discourses, but who never, ever shrunk from a battle ordained of God.

How we thank our Lord for Dr. Johnson, and for his widow Martha, a spunky, lovely, devoted Christian woman of many gifts and charms. How we will miss him. His departure to be with the Lord Jesus leaves a hole for those of us here, which will not soon be filled.

I have asked permission of my wife Beall to share her personal thoughts, recorded from the day of Dr. Johnson’s funeral:

I feel a great loss today. My teacher and counselor, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, has gone home to be with the Lord.

I flew from San Antonio to Dallas this morning with Joshua and Providence Mather to attend Dr. Johnson’s funeral. Practically speaking, it seemed a little foolish to fly there and back in one day for only a few hours. But I had to go and I had to take Joshua. I wanted to honor this great man who took time for a young girl. I wanted to tell his sweet widow how much I loved them both and how they had changed my life forever. I wanted my son to share this moment with me and know this part of my history and his history.

Official Bio of Dr. S. Lewis Johnson

Dr. S. Lewis Johnson was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Charleston, S.C., graduating from College of Charleston with an A.B. degree in 1937. He was converted in Birmingham, while in the insurance business, through the teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. He left the insurance business in 1943 to enter Dallas Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1946, Th.M. degree and in 1949, Th.D. degree. Dr. Johnson was Professor of New Testament from 1950 to 1972 and Professor of Systematic Theology from 1972 to 1977 at Dallas Theological Seminary. He served as Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at Deerfield, Illinois and was a Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Amsterdam, Netherlands. He has done graduate work at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, SMU, Dallas and in the University of Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Johnson has now been engaged in pastoral ministry for about forty-five years.

Posted by Doug Phillips on February 4, 2004 | Permalink