Remembering 2004
A Tale of Two Cities
by Douglas W. Phillips, Esq., December 14, 2004
The year 2004 will be remembered as the year that the enemies of the Christian family mounted their most aggressive assault in the history of our republic. Major blows were dealt to the legal and biblical definitions of marriage. The very collective conscience of our culture was under attack as cultural elites in Hollywood and political leaders from both major parties, through example and word, exhorted the children of America, not merely to tolerate, but to encourage the moral perversion of homosexuality.
On the other hand, 2004 was also a year of many victories: spiritual, cultural, and even political. Consider that in 2004 the modern home education movement grew to its largest levels in history. (Today, there are nearly one million families home schooling.) The implications of the growth of home education have been nothing short of phenomenal for the Christian family. In 2004, for example, we personally observed, through our various ministry outreaches, more fathers (many of them home educators) turn their hearts to their families, more daughters embrace a Proverbs 31/Titus 2 vision for service and femininity, and more sons aspire to honor their parents and embrace noble manhood. One of the most encouraging signs of 2004 was the large number of grandfathers who rediscovered the important, multi-generational role they play in the lives of their families.
A father enjoying ‘high-tea’ with his daughters at the 2004 Father/Daughter Retreat
A father with his three sons at the 2004 Alabama Father/Son Retreat
What a blessing to see the ancient but eternally binding principle of generational faithfulness pierce the heart of so many! We were also thrilled in 2004 to see so many Christians respond to Vision Forum Ministries’ call to advance the crown rights of Jesus Christ through the building of Christ-centered, family-integrated churches, and the advancement of a distinctively Christian culture. Through our Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy, it was a special blessing to be involved in training a new generation of troops to learn to defend the legal rights of the family. Our hearts were encouraged to see so many young students, lawyers, lawmakers, and pastors step forward to learn how to better defend the rights of the Christian family on matters as diverse as corporal punishment, the right to life, and home school freedoms.
The 2004 Witherspoon Graduating Class
Doug Phillips addresses
the Witherspoon student body
The First Generation in the History of the West
Yes, in 2004, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The words of Dickens seem as appropriate today as they did in the introduction to his famous work, A Tale of Two Cities. The year 2004 will surely be remembered as a year of great cultural division, of epic battles, and of a raging war between two competing worldviews — two cities, each with a distinct vision for the future of our nation.
The year 2004 was a time of antithesis — a time when the lines were being drawn. And like the title of Dickens’ famous book that begins with the aforementioned quote, America is experiencing its own “tale of two cities.” We are experiencing a philosophical and religious battle among us as to whether we will be the heirs to the spiritual worldview of the city of Christian Jerusalem or of Pagan Athens.
A daughter learns to serve her father by giving him a ‘close shave’
Fathers and sons give it their all at a game of tug-of-war
Consider that your children may be the first generation in the history of the West to grow up never knowing or experiencing a world in which marriage simply meant “one man and one woman for life.” The Christian family is being redefined out of existence, not merely by morally compromised politicians, but by churches that no longer honor God’s Word. And all of this is happening on our watch.
What will we do? What will we tell our grandchildren about the epic battles of our day? How will they look back upon our lives and our legacy?
How Will Our Great-Grandchildren View the Legacy We Will Bequeath to Them?
Will future generations remember us as the generation that boldly turned to the God of our fathers, or will they remember with sadness the fact that, during our watch, women were sent to die in combat while dads stayed at home, that perversion and paganism were officially celebrated within the church itself, and that Christians simply assimilated into the culture?
I pray they will look back and declare: “No, this was their finest hour! This was the generation that sobered up about sin. This was the generation that waged war against the enemies of God and the Christian family. This was the generation that rebuilt the culture of the biblical household. This was the generation in which Christian men embraced masculinity and Christian women rejoiced in femininity. This was the generation in which fathers turned their hearts to their children and children to their fathers to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
I am compelled by a sense of great urgency. We must live, love, and act with purpose, knowing that God’s grace is greater than the evil spreading in society. We must engage the battle. We must — family by family and local church by local church — seek to win a thousand small victories for the Lord within our own families and churches, even as we press the crown rights of Jesus in the broader culture around us. We must stand, and we must not back down.
Boys remember the doctrine of ‘Women and Children First’ at the
Titanic Memorial in D.C.
The 2004 Titanic Society Dinner at the historic Phillips Flagship Restaurant in Washington, D.C.
The Biblical Family — Now and Forever!
Toward this end, we at Vision Forum Ministries, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, have devoted our hearts and our lives to fight the battle of our generation — the battle to defend, restore, and rebuild the biblical family, now and forever.
Within the past year, the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to defend and serve the Christian family by:
Preaching the doctrine of multi-generational faithfulness throughout the United States in churches and home school conferences, while providing counseling and follow-up material designed to come alongside husbands and wives to better equip them to develop a unified, Christ-centered family vision of victory;
Equipping the saints to mount a strong theological defense of the biblical family through the publication of books, tapes, and articles on the defining issues of our day — from the error of women in combat, to the biblical mandate for family-friendly churches, to the providential history of America, to the blessing of children, to the need for an uncompromising defense of all human life and a vigorous opposition to the homosexual agenda;
Encouraging the turning of the hearts of fathers to their sons and daughters, and sons and daughters to their fathers through our national Father/Son Discipleship Retreats and Father/Daughter Discipleship Retreats;
Casting a vision for the beauty and power of Christian aesthetics and biblical family culture while offering opportunity and hope for the next generation of filmmakers to impact the broader culture through the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Jubilee Awards;
Training young boys to care for their mothers and sisters by proclaiming the doctrine of “women and children first” through the Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society;
Raising much needed monies through our Life and Liberty Medical Fund (formerly the Baby William Fund) to give to Christian brothers and sisters in the Faith with severe financial need who are fighting for the lives of their children;
Teaching families to better appreciate America’s godly heritage through the Faith & Freedom Tour;
Employing the world-class faculty which has included former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, Howard Phillips, Dr. Paul Jehle, Dr. John Eidsmoe, and many others as part of a training program for Christian leaders called the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy; and
Facilitating national reformation for family-friendly churches through the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches and our Uniting Church & Family conferences.
At Vision Forum Ministries, we have dedicated our hearts and souls and lives to the restoration of the Christian household. Fighting for the family is our passion. We know you share our passion for rebuilding the Christian family, and we want to request that you consider investing in the work of Vision Forum Ministries by praying for our staff once a week as a family. We are a people who stand needy and undeserving before our Lord, and we sincerely covet the fervent and effectual prayers of the saints, which “availeth much” (James 5:16).
I would also like to extend my personal thanks to all of you who have joined us in the work of the Lord through your generous financial gifts. You are the conduit through which this ministry advances the work of the kingdom set before us. (To learn more about specific prayer, financial, and project needs for which Vision Forum is seeking the Lord’s help, please visit us at www.visionforum.org.) In 2005, we will be launching a regular newsletter designed to bring you encouraging articles and resources, as well as to provide regular updates on ministry events. If you would like to receive this newsletter, please send a tax-deductible donation of any amount, and we will add you to our list of families to receive helpful articles and updates about exciting works of God with which we are pleased to be a part.
Thank you again for your generosity and love. Please also remember that our staff is praying for you, and that it is our joy to lift before the Lord the needs of those saints who bless us with specific prayer requests.
Our ‘Thank You’ to Supporters
For the remainder of the month of December, friends who support the ministry of Vision Forum with an online gift of any amount will receive both a beautiful, encouraging 2005 Vision Forum Family Freedom Calendar and a CD of my message delivered at the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, entitled, “What Must Be Done?”, which addresses the duty of Christians to advance the crown rights of Christ in our culture, not through syncretism or infiltration into pagan institutions, but through holiness and doing God’s work, God’s way. Click here to make a donation.