For the WHOLE FAMILY: Life-Enhancement, Biblical Historical Novels, Textual Studies, Story Books, Puzzles, Songs, & Scholarly Research Books
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CHRISTMAS IN JULY PARTY on Facebook Tomorrow!
Christmas NATIVITY Christmas ROMANCE, Christmas MYSTERY. Meet the authors 3-11 EDST.
……….I will be hosting 5:00-5:30 EDST & giving away my four Biblical Historical Novels based on Christmas, one of which is for children.
……….Sign-Up for the Facebook party here & see all the books. You will be sent a reminder:
The scripture for today, July 23 (7/23), is 1st Corinthians 7:23 in the New Testament of the Bible.
“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”
Where were you bought from? Hell. Romans 3:23 says everyone sins and falls short of the glory of God. God, who is perfection, cannot dwell with us. It would be like light dwelling with darkness. It cannot be done.
But God loved you so much, he figured out a way to make you sinless and escape hell. He sent his son, Jesus, to live that perfect life that is impossible for you to live. In the Garden of Eden, God said, “The moment you sin, you die.” Yes, our souls die. Now, Satan holds us for ransom. Who can possibly pay it? Only the perfect Jesus can and did. He took the blame for all your sins onto himself and died spiritually and physically in your place to buy you out of hell.
Then God told the world through his Bible that, if you will believe this really happened and follow his will for you, he will consider you perfect too. Until that happens, you are a slave to what men tell you to do ~ and of Satan and of hell.
You were bought at a great price ~ the blood of Jesus Christ.
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#hell, #ransom, #satan, #purchase, #slavery, #sin, #punishment, #death, #soul, #crucifixion
The scripture for today, July 22 (7/22), is 2nd Samuel 7:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.”
How do we know there is no God but the God of the Bible that we read about and “hear with our own ears” (when scriptures are read aloud)? How do we know our God is the only true God, and our Bible his only true words?
Here’s how: Numerous built-in proofs. Prophecies fulfilled of people and entire nations as given in the Bible and verified in secular encyclopedias. Scientific facts not known in early centuries. Over 300 archaeological facts.
http://churchofchrist-cg-az.com/BibleProofs-Archaeology-Index.html
Therefore, Christians can KNOW what God is like, what he wants and how he views us, for we have heard with our own ears and seen with our own eyes.
How lucky we are. How blessed.
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#atheism, #panthiesm, #agnostics, #polytheism, #Bible, #HolyBook, #archaeology, #prophecies, #science
Our scripture for today, July 21(7/21), is Matthew 7:21ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ “
There are hundreds of denominations/sects out there all contradicting each other. It’s impossible for them all to be right. We can never rely on what someone else says just because they look and act holy and say all the right holy words and phrases and pray such holy-sounding prayers. We must never rely on our religious leaders to tell us what to believe. Shall we take their opinion or God’s opinion?
Romans 10:1 in the Bible mentions some people who had a lot of zeal for God, but were lost because it was not according to the proper knowledge.
Well, how do you get God’s opinion? Read the Bible for yourself! Use a CONCORDANCE (lists every word in the Bible and every scripture with that word) and look up your chosen subject. Then, having found the truth, why not go back to the religious leaders in love and try to teach your teachers? Some just might listen to you.
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#denominations, #sects, #divisions, #opinions, #miracles, #ReligiousLeaders, #religions, #zeal, #misguided, #misinformed, #lies, #knowledge, #concordance, #truth, #teachers, #leaders, #Bible, #worship, #salvation, #heaven, #hell, #enthusiasm, #church
The scripture for today, July 20 (7/20), is Ecclesiastes 7:20 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”
Many people believe if we don’t murder or steal, and if we help people poorer than ourselves, and aren’t mean to our family, God will have no choice but to let us into heaven. But it only takes one sin to be a sinner
God ~ who is Perfect Goodness ~ cannot dwell with sin. But mankind has never figured out a way to be perfectly good. Remember, what we earn with even one sin is death (Romans 6:23). So, in Old Testament days, God allowed people to kill perfect animals as a substitute for collecting the wages for our sins ~ temporarily.
Then Jesus came. He became that perfectly good person (Hebrews 4:15) ~ that perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29). Then he died in our place to collect our wages of death for our sins ~ permanently. Now all he asks is that we love him, thank him, worship him, follow his examples and all his commands (there aren’t many). Then, God the Father will consider us perfect too.
Then we will be accepted into heaven.
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#sin, #sinner, #sinfulness, #imperfect, #perfect, #LambOfGod, #SoulDeath, #soul, #death, #WagesOfSin, #heaven, #hell
Then below that is how I write biblical historical novels.
1 ~ I Am Titus……………………………………………………… 1
2 ~ The Earthquake……………………………………………. 11
3 ~ Masks………………………………………………………….. 22
4 ~ Stephan……………………………………………………….. 35
13 ~ Plague……………………………………………………….. 47
5 ~ The Ghost…………………………………………………….. 57
6 ~ The Undead………………………………………………….. 67
7 ~ Discovery……………………………………………………… 76
8 ~ Turning Point……………………………………………….. 86
9 ~ Ammonius……………………………………………………. 96
10 ~ Ice Queen…………………………………………………. 106
11 ~ The Return……………………………………………….. 116
12 ~ Goddesses………………………………………………… 128
14 ~ The Apostle Paul……………………………………….. 138
15 ~ A New Reality……………………………………………. 149
16 ~ Challenges………………………………………………… 158
17 ~ Confusion…………………………………………………. 167
18 ~ Failure……………………………………………………… 176
19 ~ The Temple……………………………………………….. 186
20 ~ Astonishments………………………………………….. 197
21 ~ Unspeakable…………………………………………….. 207
22 ~ The Meeting………………………………………………. 217
23 ~ Cries for Help……………………………………………. 227
24 ~ Chloe……………………………………………………….. 238
25 ~ Untouchables……………………………………………. 248
26 ~ The Letter…………………………………………………. 258
27 ~ Turns and Twists………………………………………. 269
28 ~ False Apostle…………………………………………….. 278
29 ~ Real Apostle……………………………………………… 290
30 ~ Face-Off……………………………………………………. 299
31 ~ Confusion…………………………………………………. 309
32 ~ The Impossible………………………………………….. 320
33 ~ Groping……………………………………………………. 330
34 ~ Needed…………………………………………………….. 340
35 ~ Brothers…………………………………………………… 351
36 ~ Aftermath…………………………………………………. 360
37 ~ Of Pirates & Priestesses……………………………… 371
38 ~ Messages………………………………………………….. 381
40 ~ Breaking Away………………………………………….. 400
41 ~ Fame……………………………………………………….. 410
42 ~ Surprises………………………………………………….. 421
43 ~ Miracles……………………………………………………. 430
44 ~ Homecomings……………………………………………. 440
45 ~ The Attack………………………………………………… 450
46 ~ Change of Plans………………………………………… 460
47 ~ Discoveries……………………………………………….. 469
48 ~ To the Ends of the Earth…………………………….. 478
It definitely is not adding to the Bible. That would be sacrilegious and disloyal to God who told us just exactly what he wanted us to know. I have too much respect for the Bible.
A biblical historical novel is a COMMENTARY IN NARRATIVE FORM. I spend an average of 300 hours researching for each novel I write.
What I do is give A POSSIBLE PREVIOUS LIFE to the Bible character that might have caused him to do and say what the Bible says he did and said. All my novels begin in the character’s youth, sometimes even their childhood. I sometimes add what their attitudes may have been at their death as a result of their earlier encounter with God.
(By far the most difficult death scene I ever wrote is what Stephen’s thoughts may have been as a young deacon, possibly 29 years old, leaving behind a wife and small children. I struggled with that and walked the floor for two days before writing it.)
Yes, in some ways I play PSYCHOLOGIST. I try to convey how the character possibly grew spiritually through the years before the events we read of in the Bible.
I also play SOCIOLOGIST. I research each city the character lived in or even traveled through, along with the ancient highways that existed then. I learn the languages spoken, the street layout (from archaeological digs), who the magistrates were then, how they dressed, what they ate, what form of transportation they used, what other religions were prevalent there, who the country’s king was, what wars were they involved in at the time, etc.
I play LINGUIST. As I study deeply into the Bible account, I look up major words in the original Hebrew or Greek. Translators do not have the luxury of doing more than giving a single English word. If they gave a phrase for each word translated, the Bible would be zillions of pages long and we’d have to carry it in a wheelbarrow. For example, when the Bible says the soldiers took Jesus up the hill of Golgotha, the word “took” in Greek is to carry like a bowl.
I try to both educate and entertain.
The scripture for today, July 19 (7/19) is found in Romans 7:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.
“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do ~ this I keep on doing.”
Doesn’t this pretty much describe all of us in some area of our life? It may be eating too much, breaking the law by going over the speed limit, laughing at dirty jokes, habitual lying, stealing “little things” at work, cheating on tests, jealousy ~ any number of things. Sins of habit and attitude are hard to break. So, we go to God over and over asking him to forgive that which, deep down, we know we’re going to do again.
Perhaps this emphasizes the importance of us forgiving others who habitually do wrong to us. If we say, “I’m not going to forgive you anymore. You’ve done this to me too many times,” then God is likely to say the same thing to us.
Jesus said, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14).
Satan wants us to quit trying to do better. And he wants us to quit forgiving each other. Let us not give in to Satan. Let us give in to God.
God’s way leads to ultimate forgiveness.
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#forgiveness, #grace, #mercy, #habits, #sins, #insults, #attitudes, #littlethings, #revenge, #Satan
The scripture for today, July 18(7/18), is Acts 7:18 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.”
Does God really answer prayers? When the Jews first arrived in Egypt, they received “royal treatment” because they were relatives of “Prime Minister” Joseph. Then he died, but his relatives stayed. Eventually, they were resented, then feared, then made slaves of the Egyptians.
For the following 400 years, the Jews prayed for God to release them from their slavery. Generation after generation died believing that God does not answer prayers.
But God saw the big picture. He saw that the 70 relatives of Joseph who originally went to Egypt would become over three million through the next four centuries. Then and only then would they be large enough to begin a new nation ~ the Jewish nation. In Egypt during those centuries, they were in a form of “protective custody”.
Are you frustrated and confused because God is seemingly not answering some very important prayers? Perhaps you are part of a bigger picture that God knows about. Perhaps your job is to stay where you are and just keep hanging on.
Are you up to the task God has assigned to you?
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#providence, #fate, #disappointments, #slavery, #prayer, #hangon, #assignment, #bigpicture, #Joseph, #Egypt
The scripture for today, July 17 (7/17), is 1st Corinthians 7:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him.”
In some situations in life, this scripture is hard to accept. Sometimes life gets very, very hard. Sometimes it is hard to keep smiling, even to keep breathing. When will it end? Will it ever end?
But can it be that this is where God wants you? Can it be that the difficulties in your life right now are your assignments from God? God fights Evil from heaven and it is our place to fight Evil from earth. It is an ongoing battle. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
For some reason that cannot be understood right now, you are where God wants you to be. This is your assignment from God. Remember, we are “ambassadors for Christ” (II Corinthians 5:20). We must show the world that “all things work together for good to those who love the Lord” (Romans 8:28).
As a soldier for Christ, be brave. Think with a clear head. Hold fast. Stand firm. Carry out your assignment.
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#assignment, #responsibility, #governments, #rulers, #dictators, #problems, #difficulties, #fight, #soldier, #warrior, #battle, #Evil, #Satan, #devil
