1. Our Mission

Our mission at The Institute For Christian Apologetics is crystal clear:  Obey the great commandment (Matt. 22:37) by fulfilling the great commission (Matt. 28:19.) by not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

Our heart is for:

1. Evangelism:  To share the Gospel with a lost and dying world and to train others in the biblical theology of evangelism.
2. Discipleship:  To provide resources to help Christians grow in their most holy faith.
3. Apologetics:  To defend the faith once for all delivered to the Saints.  We provide solid answers for what, why, and Who we believe.  And, speaking the truth in love, what sets Christianity apart from all man-made religions. We train people how to answer the cults, not by arguing doctrine, but by simply asking the right questions-like Jesus did.

When it comes to answering the basic question of why we believe, in Romans 1:18-20, the Bible says, in essence, no man will stand before God with any excuse for ignoring or denying Him. God has revealed Himself to man in three ways:

1. Creation (Psalm 19:1-3).
2. The Word of God (Living and written) John 8:12 ,  2 Tim. 3:16.
3. Conscience (i.e. the moral law written on every heart according to Romans 2:15, and John 16:8.

The correlation to the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit is unmistakable (For more on the Trinity, go to the Q & A tab under, “How can one God be a Trinity?” or, check out our 8 minute video).

When it comes to evangelism and apologetics there are two kinds of people:  Those who are interested in light and those who are interested in heat.

1. For those people who are sincerely seeking answers (light) we provide sincere answers. 

2. For those who are interested in heat (arguing rather than learning) we respond with questions.

That is what Jesus did when the false teachers tried to trap Him. He never argued doctrine, all He had to do was ask the right question and it stopped their mouths, and exposed their hypocrisy – every time!

When you are right about God and you are right with God, you never have to be intimidated by the world, the flesh, or the devil himself and it’s easy (and rewarding) to stand for truth!

We have led Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, atheists, Nazis, and Chicago street-gang members to the Lord by following in the footsteps of Jesus the Master Evangelist. You cannot improve on His model for ministry.

We do everything from street evangelism, to speaking in universities-from the intellectual elite to the man on the street.

Last year, we contacted a man (we looked it up on the web) from a Christian organization based at Northern Illinois University. I began to explain that we wanted to distribute one of our books there. He interrupted me and said,

Phil, I know who you are. I’ve heard you speak at Maywood, and at a men’s meeting in December. I have your book. And, a distribution here would be very timely because there are so many voices vying for their world views right now!” Then a friend gave the book to a gal who is a senior at NIU. She read it and told me, “That book is awesome. It explains difficult concepts in a way that people can understand. The chapter on the Trinity was really good. I gave it to my fiancé; he is not just reading it, he is studying it and taking notes! That would be a great book to distribute at NIU!

So, we went to NIU with 14 volunteers. We distributed 3,000 copies of God the Final Frontier in 6 hours! Too many people seem content to do nothing while our country continues to decline morally and spiritually. Have we learned anything from pre-World-War-Two Germany?

Yes, you can make a huge difference. Can you imagine the joy of being a part of something like this and the rewards in time and eternity? If you would like to read the book and help us distribute this resource, please contact us immediately.  Thank you.

2. Our Doctrine

We hold to: Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”),  Sola fide (“by faith alone”), Sola gratia (“by grace alone”), Solo Christo (“through Christ alone”).

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, plus—nothing! Our good works are the result of our salvation, never the cause of it.

Our hearts desire is to exalt Jesus Christ and give Him His rightful place as Lord and Savior. We want to help people see God as He truly is:  The One and only sovereign of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, perfectly holy, perfectly merciful, perfectly just, without beginning, without end, and personal!

3. Our Executive Directors Personal Testimony

It all began for me when a deep personal crisis created in me the realization that if God was there, I needed His help. I began reading the Bible. After reading for a number of months (just by opening anywhere and beginning to read) I wasn’t getting anything out of it. So, I determined to read it from cover to cover.

Beginning with Genesis 1:1 by the time I finished Revelation 22:21 I was a changed man. “My testimony”, is really “God’s testimony”. It’s the testimony of God’s power, God’s wisdom and God’s love still reaches down to redeem sinful people!

God’s Word began to open-up for me when I read Deuteronomy 4:29,

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

It was as if the words jumped off the page into my eyeballs, through my nervous system, up to my brain and down into my heart. God had spoken! To me, essentially He was saying,

I am not an obscure power or an impersonal force, I am a Person and you can know Me!

The Lord revealed the same principle in Proverbs 2:1-5,

My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.

I saw it again in Matthew 7:7-8,

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

I saw the same thing again in James 4:8,

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

And finally in Revelation 3:20, God turned the table around and now He was pursuing me!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

And finally, when God opened my eyes to the deity of Christ (John 10:30),  He blessed me to know who Jesus is. Life has never been the same!

Then, one night (I had been seeking God for a year and a half), I was on my knees with my face in my hands crying out to God (literally). I was praying hard and asking God,

If I’m really on the right track by praying and reading this book (the Bible) please speak to me!

That night I experienced Romans 8:16. His Spirit bore witness with my spirit that I was (and am) a child of God. At that moment, He washed away all the pain, all the shame and all the doubt. I was born all over again. The identity crisis was settled—forever!

Now I know for a fact who I am, where I came from, why I’m here, and where I’m going. Some people may call me a “Jesus freak” and some people may call me a “religious fanatic” but God calls me son (John 1:12)!

One thing He left me with was a burning passionate desire to see as many other people get saved as possible. At that point I knew enough about the Bible to believe it myself, but I didn’t know enough about it to cause anyone else to believe it and I wanted that knowledge more than anything else in this world. So, I began to read everything I could get my hands on that would help me, help others to know the truth.

Ministry began for me in 1987 when I met a man who invited me to share my testimony at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. He took me right inside one of the cell blocks. I played a song on my guitar, shared my testimony (it’s really God’s testimony) and I have been preaching the Gospel ever since!

It was 1994 when a mega-church I was attending developed an interest in our ministry at the jail. They were so encouraged by what they saw they asked me to come on staff and develop a full-time ministry of evangelism!

In 1997 Voice in the Wilderness Ministries was incorporated as a 501(c)(3). We have been on an incredible journey ever since. The Lord has opened doors for us to speak at:

1. The Moody Bible Institute
2. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
3. Trinity International University
4. Judson University
5. Bethel College
6. Beyond Amsterdam 2,000
7. Keynote Speaker for the Iron Sharpens Iron men’s conferences
8. Districts Youth rally in Green Bay (4,000 kids)
9. Pastors conferences
10. Bible colleges in:  Russia, the Ukraine, India, Africa, and Central America
11. Churches, prisons, and jails across the country and around the world
12. State-wide Gideon Conventions
13. The 40th annual Greater Rockford Evangelical Associations Leadership Prayer Luncheon and the National Day of Prayer
14. The International Gideon Convention San Hose, CA (3,000 delegates, simulcast to 90 countries)
15. National Prayer Breakfast for the Christian Businessmen’s Committee, Omaha, NE
16. Mayors Leadership Prayer Breakfast Norfolk, NE
17. Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids, MI.
18. CBMC Indiana
19. CBMC St. Louis
20. Men’s Retreat Village Church of Barrington, IL
21. Wheaton Bible Church Men’s breakfast

4. The Present

Our Biblical Worldview Training Seminar (Hard-cover 350 pages) is being used to train people all over the world.

One of the greatest joys of ministry has been the writing and distribution of books and tracts that help people understand why we believe what we believe and point them to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Our resources can go anywhere in the world (In some cases for pennies). Our Gospel tracts especially can go places where Jesus may not be welcome. We have received reports of people getting help, encouragement and salvation from around the world by God using Gospel tracts!

Many people have said our new Gospel tract is absolutely the best they have ever seen! See for yourself. Here is the link…

https://voice-wilderness.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Gods-Three-Witnesses.pdf

We get excited about teaching evangelism to any congregation whether its 10 or 10,000 anywhere in the world. The response we receive from this teaching is very rewarding. There is no greater joy than to see someone come to know Christ personally, or to see a Christian learn how to present the Gospel the way God wrote it.

5. The Future

Jesus is coming soon. Is your lamp filled with oil?

The internet is an open door for the ministry of the Word to the world. Our hope and prayer is to produce many more videos with great content, like many say this one has.

Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Praise the LORD!

In Christ,

Phil