From Vision Forum, a San Antonio-based organization that offers books, toys, retreats, and “biblical law” training sessions from a Christian Reconstructionist perspective:

The Vision Forum catalogue

“In defense of the biblical family, we today join faithful Christians across this great land by choosing sides in a fight. Like William Barret Travis before the Alamo defenders at the defining moment in Texas history, our sword is drawn and we call upon parents, pastors, and leaders — civil and ecclesiastical — to choose sides in the defining issue of our generation and fight to the death…. The products in the 2005 edition of the Vision Forum Family Catalog have been carefully selected to share our passion for the Christ-centered biblical family. Each reflects the commitment of others who have drawn a line in the sand and who will fight to the death in defense of Christ’s truth…. Victory or death! The biblical family — now and forever!”

Guys — would you like your family to be biblical? Vision Forum is there to guide you, with“Patriarchy Made Simple,” a 16-cassette series available for $40. From the catalogue:

From the Vision Forum catalogue: Stonewall Jackson’s surefire formula for a healthy marriage.

“God appears to be touching the hearts of a growing number of Christian fathers with a hunger to learn more about biblical manhood. This quiet revival is taking place in homes where teary-eyed fathers are standing before their wives and children, repenting for their lack of vision and leadership, and recommitting themselves to God’s priorities for men. With this revival comes the awareness that Christian men need to make dramatic changes in their lives; changes which reflect a biblical re-examination of the way our fallen culture approaches family, work, finances, education, citizenship, etc. The goal of these conference tapes is to encourage men to see ‘the big picture’ of biblical manhood. Topics include: the meaning of patriarchy, developing a multi-generational vision, busy fathers as family shepherds, preparing sons for marriage and life purpose, biblical discipline, family worship, and much more!”

Need more direction? Reality TV producer Suzanne Pharr wants to make “Patriarchy Made Simple” even simpler. The Revealer recently obtained a copy of her pitch for a new TV series based on the popular Vision Forum cassettes. As of this writing, Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network has yet to give it the green light. But our fingers are crossed!

Patriarchy Made Simple — The TV Program

Executive Producer: Suzanne Pharr

Proposal: Twelve week reality series on His Royal Headship (HRH)

Funded by: Adolph “Bottoms Up” Coors

Overview: Five thousand men and their families will be chosen from God’s Tongue, which at 36,000 members is Texas’ largest mega-church. Each family will be provided a head ship modeled on the finest designs provided by Star Wars. The head ships, sealed away from external contact, will be parked in the Arizona desert in an environment that simulates space. Our cameras will follow one family as they detox from the corruptions of the flesh and mind of contemporary life and rediscover the joy and freedom of the domination of one honest man who reclaims his Headship.

General summary of episodes:

Weeks one and two will explore the father’s efforts to develop skills necessary to keep his promise to God to rule over his domain. We will watch him join other men in classes such as

• TV, radio, and Internet detoxification:
• Sex with mild to major restraints;
• Teenage asexuality;
• The empowerment of carrot and stick, both metaphysically and realistically;
• Prayer as appetizer and dessert for every meal;
• Physical training for the wars ahead;
• Quelling independence and rebellion;
• And for those slow days, “Games God plays with us.”

For eight weeks, our cameras will follow the family through their daily lives as they detox from corrupt human contact and influences, rebel from entering this new state of grace, and ultimately find freedom and security through submitting to the order His Royal Headship demands.

A man and his Head Ship

The final two episodes will present the family’s return to an earth that requires them to shine and live within their newly-minted armor as they go forth to do battle against a world that attempts every day to coat them with the putrid slime of its corruption. It is the HRH classic battle of good and evil, a grand theme — always fresh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NYT “conservative beat” reporter David Kirkpatrick sprinkles some skepticism intoyesterday’s story on a Midland, Texas-based evangelical group that uses its geographic connection to President Bush to leverage itself an international influence. Next to the “abstinence promotion” booth at a Christian rock festival sponsored by Midland Ministerial Alliance, he notes, is a genocide booth, featuring a real live former North Korean prisoner, Kang Chol Hwan. Kang’s happy to help and to be helped, though he seems a bit perplexed by the group’s replica gas chamber. “He had never seen such a thing,” writes Kirkpatrick, who notes that an evangelical “helped Mr. Kang write a speech emphasizing ‘the love of Jesus Christ’ and quoting the biblical ‘commission’ to ‘make disciples of all the nations.'”

Kirkpatrick takes the story one more step toward transparencey by noting that its leader, who hosts the Sudanese ambassador in her home and frequently travels to Washington to lobby foreign leaders (a possible violation of the Logan Act, which forbids diplomacy by private citizens), is funded by her Texas oilman husband. Say, doesn’t Sudan have oil? Maybe so, maybe not, but Kirkpatrick’s too coy — excuse us, too objective — to ask about the coincidence.

The NYT calls this new attitude “respect.” A few months ago, the editors declared that they needed to reach out to the red states and to the religious, and that they would do this by doing more sensitive reporting about matters of faith. This, apparently, is what they meant, a compromise that should please no one. Kirkpatrick’s story is snarky, which certainly isn’t respectful. And it doesn’t take its evangelical subjects seriously enough to ask hard questions about beliefs, goals, means — which is even less respectful.

Instead, the NYT continues to play too many evangelical stories as quirky, human interest puff pieces. Here’s a powerful political movement with connections to the president and to the senate (Sen. Sam Brownback, Republican hopeful from Kansas, traveled to Midland for the festival), and the Times reports it as the equivalent of a “last man in town who can whittle worth a damn” story.

The most boring argument about Christianity is that it is GOOD, or that it is BAD, terms that should be restricted to kindergarten use. Example: The 20th Century’s Most Famous Christian loved studied the teachings of Jesus and especially loved the Golden Rule, “Love your neighbor as you would love yourself.” He deplored “the devastation wrought by the misuse of religious conviction for political ends,” and warned against. He could be a little strict — the Ten Commandments, he insisted, must be followed at all times — but he recognized that different people understood God in different ways. Who was this broadminded fellow? Click here for a surprise!