To-Do List for Dominion

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  Genesis 1:27-28

by Leah Smith for American Vision

Once upon a time Christians knew what they believed. They knew why they believed it. We often shake our heads at what goes on the world. We don’t like the anti-Christian laws being passed, more government control, our freedoms regulated and the general secularized state of our nation. However we have failed to recognize who dropped the ball. Christians have lost something very basic and precious: the ability to articulate the gospel. Most Christians profess to believe in the Great Commission that Jesus commanded, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19)

How do we suppose nations will become discipled if we are unable to give even a reasonableanswer for the hope that lies within us? How do we expect to handle confrontations without being blown away by any intelligent worldly answer?

Furthermore, how do we suppose things will change in our society when for the most part, solutions to problems in the world are coming from the heathens? If Christians aren’t actively contributing to expanding the Kingdom and bringing God’s perfect and timeless law into society, we have no right to shake our heads.

On another note, there are many professing Christians who believe eschatology (the study of future things or “end times”) is interesting, but it doesn’t – or shouldn’t impact our everyday lives. They have an “only God knows what’s going to happen” mentality, having no regard for the potential consequence it may have on future generations and society at large.

Your eschatology (as indifferent as it may be) affects your worldview, and thus, your actions. For example, if I believe God is going to rapture me out of the troubles and conflicts of this world, or if the world is predestined to get worse, I won’t bother trying to come up with biblical solutions to a humanistic economic system that my children and grandchildren will have to live with. Why would I think multi-generationally? The heathens understand this and have come up with ways to make money off this type of “now-ism” – see here.

If I don’t think Bible prophecy matters, I also do a disfavor to future generations. How? For one, I am at risk of misinterpreting entire books of the Bible and dozens of passages. That is a problem. If you misinterpret scripture, you are at risk of misinterpreting God’s will and teaching others (including your children) based upon your misunderstanding. Misinterpretation of scripture can lead to serious deviations from orthodox Christianity and lead to cults. Proper understanding of Scripture is a matter of eternity. If you have the wrong Jesus, you are worshiping a false god. The Mormons do this. Their Jesus is supposedly the same Jesus of Christianity, however, when you delve a little deeper you discover that there is a great deviation from the Bible. The Mormon Jesus is the blood-brother of Satan who was conceived by God and Mary having physical relations. Serving that Jesus could cost you dearly. Interpretation matters. Prophecy is not a salvation matter, but it is extremely important because it is part of the Word of God. It relates His will for us. It relates to our obedience. It affects our understanding of the covenants He has made. It also affects how we interpret the times and how we act upon them. It affects your children. It affects your grand children and beyond. Don’t you want to know how your every day decisions and actions will affect the future? I do. I want to know that my theology and eschatology is affecting the Kingdom of God in an exponential way. That was how God designed it.

The bottom line is if your eschatology is anything other than victorious, you are expecting defeat. You ultimately anticipate Christ’s failure in history. What better way to paralyze and neuter the church than to have it believe the world will get worse and eventually be handed over to an “Anti-christ”? Isn’t that a powerful lie? But, you say, the world IS getting worse. That is the thing about self-fulfilling prophecy. If you keep saying things are supposed to get worse, continue to disengage, keep preaching from the pulpit that we are not ”of this world”, keep preaching that the earth is Satan’s domain, and that means keeping our hands out, guess what…….. things will get worse! But mostly because we let it. We allowed it. We endorsed it. Then we said it was prophetic. I call that not prophetic, but pathetic.

One of the recurring themes from Genesis to Revelation is God’s continual calling of man to responsibility. We see in history when Christians took their role seriously and engaged as God willed how Christianity shaped and influenced entire cultures as well as the impact it had on modern science and technology, music and the arts.

Consider the influential men of history who had bold faith and a victorious attitude such as Saint Patrick. Though he endured horrible times and afflictions, God used him to convert an entire island with generations of paganism. That was one man in one life span. What would our nation be like if all God’s people changed their bad attitude and stepped into positive action?

That got me thinking about what I could do as a wife and mother. Like many others, when I want to accomplish something, I need a practical action plan. Men don’t go to war thinking “who cares what the enemy is planning, we’ll just let the cards fall where they may” kind of sissy attitude. They have military strategies. They study the enemy and know their weaponry. They have a plan of action.

Here is my to do list:
#1 Get a biblical worldview. We are secular humanists and we don’t even know it. These days, the only way you haven’t been directly influenced by secular humanism is if you’re Amish – and we could probably learn a few things from them (ie: they’re probably laughing at us in this economic crisis). The Barna Group reports that only 19% of Christians who profess they “have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today” and who “are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior” — hold a biblical worldview. Even if you love the Lord with all your heart– statistically, it’s very likely you do not have a biblical worldview. It is imperative we get one. Get some materials from places like AmericanVision, Strategic Christian Services, and GaryNorth.

#2 Get married and have a family. Atheists can do this too, so it is imperative that we hold a biblical worldview with which we approach every thought, action, decision and idea within the family unit. Why have a family? It is the backbone of society. That is why when you delve into the roots of socialism, you find the strategic intent to destroy Christianity and the family. Do we want a biblical society? Start by having a biblical family. I believe there are very few who have the “gift” of singleness. Find a good mate. Use wisdom. Pop out some kids. Raise up godly, clear-thinking Christians who will take dominion as God commands.

#3 Have children, and if possible, lots of them. The Bible doesn’t suggest that we “be fruitful and multiply”, it commands us to. Having one or two kids is not multiplying; it is not growing the population. That is barely a replacement rate. Meanwhile, the Muslim culture continues to out-populate everyone with an average birth rate of 6 per household. Get busy people.

#4 Bring up my children with a Christian, bible-based education. If we want to expand the Kingdom, do not, I repeat, do not give our kids away to the government. I cannot be so arrogant as to think I can compete with the humanistic brain washing they receive five days a week. They are not “salt” or “light” yet, so I mustn’t be pretentious in thinking my one child is going to evangelize or survive a humanist indoctrination centre. That’s like throwing your kid in a shark-infested pool and thinking he’s a good swimmer, so he should be able to make it to the other side, no problem. There is too much to say on this, but basically, if I am a Christian parent, a Christian education needs to be mandatory. See Voddie Baucham, American Vision Store, Exodus Mandate.

#5 Get educated in:

Basic apologetics (the defense of the Christian faith): The Bible doesn’t require us to be experts. However, 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to have a logical answer for the hope that lies within us. The fact that most of us don’t understand logic and reason is beyond pathetic. It’s apathetic.There are some great resources out there for some basic training and education. There are even audio books, so no one has an excuse to be a dumb Christian anymore.

Basic theology: We have a problem. There are atheists that understand our Christian history and theological background better than we do. It is a skewed and distorted version, but it is sad that they know more than many of us. And because we don’t know our own presuppositions (or what that even means), they are formulating new and absurd arguments daily that we can’t refute. That is not good. Not good at all. So learn about presuppositions and learn some basic orthodox Christian doctrine and theology – and even more importantly, why it is truth.

Basic evangelism: I need to learn how to witness. Not hand out a tract, I mean how to present the gospel in a real conversation with people I meet. We don’t see much street witnessing these days since the seeker-sensitive church movement arrived. Instead of telling people that they’re going to hell if they don’t repent, we give them a cappuccino and sing a Beatles song at “church”. My goal is to learn of the most prevailing religions and cults in my city (where I am it would be atheism, Sikhism, Mormonism, J W’s, etc) and be well read enough that I can carry a conversation with them and understand what it is I am dealing with. I would love to see churches offer classes on the religions in their community and teach their congregations how to talk and witness to their community. Churches ought to teach basic apologetics as it is a good foundation for evangelism.

After I become educated in these things, I need to make sure I’m doing all that I can to raise our kids to understand the points I mentioned.
And finally,

#6 Women, get back in the kitchen! Just kidding. Know your feminine role.
I believe the discipling of the nations will happen quickly when women go back to being women, with joy and celebration. When there is family harmony within a biblical context, and husbands love their wives and are leading as the Bible outlines, societies change. Governments change. Children are back in the hands of their own parents and that affects everything. Yes, sacrifices must be made to make this happen, however, we are in a time that if we want our grand children to live in a nation free of slavery and persecution, it is crucial that we make these sacrifices now.

When we as the church finally have a biblical worldview, a victorious eschatology, a rock-solid family of families, and are coming up with real solutions to problems in the world, the nations will turn their heads and see Christ as the answer for everything, including their own salvation.

American Vision, 3150A Florence Road, Powder Springs, GA 30127, USA

When is a Fetus a Baby?: Twice-Born Macie

http://www.americanvision.org/article/when-is-a-fetus-a-baby-twice-born-macie/

Footnotes or Flowers?

What type of impact is the Church REALLY having today? Read this article to find out.

The American Vision- Footnotes or Flowers?

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What to do in an Obama World

by Rev. Bart Martin
“When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent.”
– Jacques Barzun[1]

When a young state senator from Illinois ascended the platform to give the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, many considered him a rising star in the Democratic Party. But even his zaniest fans could not have anticipated that, in four short years, Barack Obama would have made the leap from state senator to United States Senator, and from United States Senator to the President of the United States.

What does Barack Obama’s rise to power mean? For one thing, it means that the “absurd” has become “normal”: when a large proportion of younger “evangelicals” vote for a man who will help perpetuate the war against the unborn, decadence has obviously set it. For another thing, it means that modern conservatism—the conservatism of William Buckley and Russell Kirk, of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan—is dead. As a matter of fact, it has been dead for a number of years: Election Day 2008 simply provided us the coroner’s report.

For we who consider ourselves “conservative,” it will do us no good to pine away for the glory of days gone by. We can’t re-live the Barry Goldwater campaign; we can’t call Ronald Reagan back from the dead—nor would we want to if we could.

What we Christians in America need to do is to rediscover what our vocation is: we are salt and light; we are strangers and sojourners; we are a nation of priests. This does not mean, as the pietistic Christian might take it to mean, that we are to withdraw from the public square, and simply build our own little Christian ghettoes while clutching our Bibles and waiting for the end of the world. No: the Scriptures call on the people of God to take dominion by being salt and light, to take dominion by being strangers and sojourners, to take dominion by acting as priests on behalf of the world. We are not called to withdraw; rather, we are called to engage the world, ruling as God’s co-regents.

But we have forgotten what it means to rule. We have confused the biblical mandate to “rule” and “take dominion” with the hackneyed imperative to “win the next election.” So what should Christians do in the world of President Barak Obama? How can we better prepare ourselves to be the vice-regents that God wants us to be? I would suggest three things:

1. Pray like a Saint Augustine
2. Know the times like an Edmund Burke
3. Love the law of God like a King Josiah

First, pray like a Saint Augustine. When there is an obvious need for a new reformation in the church, many Christians instinctively suggest that we need to go back and brush up on our theology. Absolutely, we must do so.

But whose theology should we turn to? The great Saint Augustine of Hippo should be topping our list. Augustine’s theology, as Peter Leithart put it, “is as big as reality, or bigger.”[2] Augustine’s theology is the perfect antidote to both ivory-tower bookishness and pietistic sentimentalism. Augustine wrote his theology in the white heat of battle and controversy: with barbarians storming the gates of Rome, Donatists infiltrating the Church, and Pelagians attempting to resuscitate a humanistic parody of the Gospel. Not a single paragraph of his theology is divorced from the real, tangible concerns of Christian living; not a single sentence is detached from his concern to build a Christian civilization. Every page of his theology addresses the flesh-and-blood realities that real Christians face in real life.

Moreover, Augustine’s theology is a prayed theology. What does this mean? It means that everything Augustine wrote was suffused with the real presence of God in the world. This is most evident in Augustine’s Confessions, the entirety of which is written in prayer form. But even Augustine’s other writings, which employ a different genre, are all bathed in prayer. Augustine realized, like few theologians since have realized, that true theology will always result in a deeper fellowship between God and man. If our theology fails to get us on our knees, if it fails to get us in closer fellowship with our Creator and Savior, and if it fails to equip us to take dominion in the name of King Jesus, then it is no theology at all, but simply a Gnostic pietism veiled in theological vocabulary.

Augustine laid a foundation for the Christendom which followed; when we learn to pray as Augustine prayed, we too might see a new Christendom in our day.

Second, know the times like an Edmund Burke. Burke was the great Member of Parliament in the late eighteenth century who witnessed many tumultuous changes in England and Europe: the American War for Independence, Britain’s unsteady relations with India, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic War which followed.[3] He was a modern man of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32). What set him apart from other capable men his age was his commitment to “permanent things” in an age of revolution. As Russell Kirk says of Burke,

He foresaw in the Age of Reason a scheme of innovation which was designed to turn society inside out, and he exposed this new menace to permanence with a passion of loathing that exceeded all his invectives against Tories and nabobs. For the great practical spokesman of the Whigs knew more of the wants of mankind than did all the galaxy of French economists and men of letters.[4]

You would not know it by talking to “conservatives” today, but Edmund Burke is the intellectual father of modern conservatism. All Christians who wish to see a return of genuine, robust conservatism would do well to re-acquaint themselves with this master. Burke can teach us how to see through the illusions of propaganda; Burke can teach us how to expose the shallowness of sound-bite dialogue and bumper-sticker slogans that displace rigorous thought.

Most importantly, Burke can teach us how to fight today’s battles, not the battles of yesteryear. As Burke said in his magisterial Reflections on the Revolution in France,

Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to the occasional organs by which they act, and the transitory modes in which they appear. Otherwise you will be wise historically, a fool in practice.… It is thus with all those, who attending only to the shell and husk of history, think they are waging war with intolerance, pride, and cruelty, whilst, under colour of abhorring the ill principles of antiquated parties, they are authorizing and feeding the same odious vices in different factions, and perhaps in worse.[5]

Satan is a master of disguises. If we desire to understand the times and expose the works of darkness in their current forms, we need to have our minds properly trained. Edmund Burke remains the best tutor in this regard.

Third, love the law of God like a King Josiah. Our day is both similar and dissimilar to the early days of Josiah’s reign. It is similar in that, like Josiah’s early days, there is virtually no memory of God’s law in our land; it is dissimilar in that, unlike Josiah’s early days, there are millions upon millions of copies of God’s law scattered all over our land. Josiah, when the Book of the Law was found, heard it and immediately tore his clothes; we, on the other hand, have in our possession the same Law, but rarely bother to read it and never consider allowing it to tear our hearts.

The Law of God is perfect, modern Christians have said, but it’s not very useful. Modern Christians have treated the Law of God like that old professor emeritus that some universities keep around campus: you wouldn’t think about sacking him, but you’re also not going to take him very seriously. Likewise, no modern Christian would dream of suggesting that Deuteronomy, for instance, should be ripped out of their Bibles, yet their ignorance of Deuteronomy is palpable.

It is high time that we once again be able to sing with sincerity what David, Josiah, and our Lord Jesus Christ sang: I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart (Ps. 40:8). We have a mandate to disciple the nations; but if our own lives, our own families, and our own churches are not conformed to the Law of God, we have nothing to offer the world.

Elections are important; politics is one of the many areas that must be brought into submission to Jesus Christ. But before we think about how we are going to influence the next election, we have work cut out for us. Let Saint Augustine and Edmund Burke and King Josiah guide us as we navigate ourselves through the many challenges of the Barack Obama presidency.

Endnotes:[1] Peter Leithart, Against Christianity (Moscow, ID: Canon, 2003), 47[2] Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2001), 16.[3] Kirk, 23.[4] Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (London: Penguin, 2004), 248–249

About the author: Rev. Bart Martin, B.S., U. S. Military Academy, M.Div., Reformed Episcopal Seminary, is an Ordained Deacon in Reformed Episcopal Church, Chaplain and Instructor of Theology at New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, VA, and Minister-in-Charge of New Covenant Reformed Episcopal Church. He has a wife, Kristie, and four children, and is lamenting yet another Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship debacle.

Article posted January 22, 2009

Budget Blues? American Vison wants to help you save thousands

Today at The American VisioneNewsletter: August 20, 2008
We hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading this issue of Today at The American Vision. You can expect your next issue on August 21st. See you then.
Written and designed by The American Vision in Powder Springs, Georgia. Today at The American Vision is a free weekday email publication supported by ministry donations. Thank you for your support.


by Dr. Richard A. Jones
Whether in good economic times or “bad,” many American parents stubbornly saddle themselves with a needless and frequently counterproductive financial burden. Fortunately, it’s a burden with potential to be significantly minimized and that homeschoolers can shrink drastically. American Vision wants to help.
This dollar drain on families is the ransom that Darwin-based, Darwin-dedicated, 100% “politically correct” U. S. colleges and universities extort annually from habit-blinded parents. For $25K per year for four years or more, the schools sell a shoddy product that no longer commands the respect it once enjoyed either here or by prospective students overseas. That one tenth of a million dollar sheepskin in impressive Latin script does not bring surefire job guarantees much less honoring Bible edicts saying that true education calls for enrichment of minds and souls. Thus, AV is here to remind you that for about one tenth the cost, your self-disciplined teenager (your goal in the formative years—right?) who sees college as more than a “13th grade, fun & games, no-more-curfews” street party, could have learned as much and more at home, online— working part time and/or interning—while advancing in love of learning, perseverance, critical thinking intellectual growth, and in adult-quality responsibility traits. Life is such that even a small town holds within it all this “real-life” potential. Don’t let anyone kid you otherwise.
What prompted me to rethink all this (and what most institutes of higher learning think of as their “dirty little secret”) was last week’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “For Most People, College is a Waste of Time,” by influential scholar Charles Murray. “Most people” is a lot of people and a lot of money, and I think Murray is on to something here even more than he knew. His thesis is this: Rather than persisting in the myth that the four-year BA degree is the last word in academics plus a sound gauge for measuring job qualifications, a much better way to test job competence is the CPA exam model used to validate public accountants. It’s a very tough test and no BA is required. If you “pass” you not only pass, it’s likely you’ll be a good job candidate and employee.
Murray, interestingly, noted that outside the realms of medicine, science, engineering, etc., two-thirds of all BA degrees come from studies in other fields and that potential job competence there (why not in law as well?) could in theory be effectively measured using nationally recognized “certification” tests with no BA required. Initially, I’d guess that the testing agencies ought to be competitive, for-profit, private and that test-takers would apply based on the related job field. The Underwriter's Laboratory approach is similar. UL either grants or withholds their “seal of approval” based on a product’s reliability. Similarly, as with cost-conscious appliance purchasers, a passing score on an intensive, CPA-caliber “certification” test (plus the applicant’s actual score) would give employers key information.
What I wish Murray had also stressed is that our famous American spirit of entrepreneurship has been deliberately stolen from government dumbed-down (and feminized) U.S.boys. Real national economic viability depends not just on truly educated people but on how many of them can turn a key component of a nation’s wealth—natural resources—into consumer products. Which is, by definition, what most entrepreneurs do. The myth that the U.S. has shifted to a “post-industrial” “service” economy whereby we take in each other’s laundry and get all our durable goods from overseas, masks all sorts of unsound, even evil agendas. We need more homegrown Edisons, Fords and yes, even Rockefellers, to turn ideas, sweat and natural resources into worker-employing businesses yielding a standard of living for all that honors God and advances His kingdom. It happens that the homeschooling environment offers the best path for entrepreneurial resurgence as I’ll explain, but others of you can add and adapt based on the homeschool model.
While homeschooled girls are being shepherded in the direction of their natural bent, which is to become Bible-class moms, wives and helpmeets, boys need to be nurtured to think vocationally and—especially—that they should seek to become self-employed. Also to be emphasized is the exciting prospect that they might one day establish an inter-generational family business. The adage is a good one that says if you can turn your avocation (hobby) into your vocation, your prospects for lifelong job contentment are wonderfully enhanced. And, who doesn’t want that? This process of parental pre-vocation encouragement and guidance for sons depends on continuous assessment of natural gifts and interests. These discoveries are advanced every way possible consistent with the rule that what’s done has to be done to God’s glory – even the fun parts.
“False starts” are acceptable during this ten-year quest because between the ages of 5 and 15 most “missteps” won’t be fatal and time is on your side. But, hopefully, by age 15, depending, he has shunned computer-game type impulses and is moving in an adult direction. In fact, he may, by himself or with family, already be creating modest products or services for sale. As this process proceeds he can be thought of as an apprentice. The next logical step would be to try and link him up with a master in the field; exactly the approach used by forward-looking business-people-to-be over the centuries—with world changing results. If online studies or career-allied courses at a local community college work out to further the profession of choice, or even conclude with a BA, then fine. The goal is to see the apprentice become, first, a journeyman and finally a master.
It’s likely Murray’s national certification proposal in hundreds of professions is a long way off. But the principle is there for us to use. As the home-discipled boy’s career direction takes shape, both he and his parents can be contacting, directly and indirectly, experts in the field. You discover their “check list” of practical/theoretical tasks and solutions that a newcomer must work towards achieving if he is to gain “master” status, and most important, to become an entrepreneur of note. It’s clear that out there in the world of knowledge and experience these collective bits of professional wisdom are available for preparatory self-study and practice application. When mastered, the boy has not only “self-certified” himself, he’s head and shoulders above others who only have a BA or who, at age 23, arrive one day at someone’s office, bright eyed and bushy tailed saying; “Here I am and I’m ready to learn.” Our truly educated homeschooled lad is already light years ahead and is probably well on his way to starting his own business.
A young friend—not homeschooled and not much “into religion”— treasured a lifelong dream to produce a specific product. He discovered after one year that college wouldn’t help. Ten years later he was a BA-free millionaire and ended up hiring his dad. Not the perfect ending to my story, but except for a God-dedicated aspect, it would come close.

Dr. Richard A. Jones - contact: dickjones1517@sbcglobal.net.
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How You Can Help Make a Difference In Our Government

I had an article sent to me today from American Vision that shows you how you can get involved and make a difference in the upcoming election in November.