My Book Review Of: The 21 Toughest questions your kids will ask about Christianity by Alex McFarland

I would like to share another book review with you. This review is on the book, The 21 toughest questions your kids will ask about Christianity. In an added note of comfort, the title also continues; & how to answer them confidently.

                This work is well written by Alex McFarland, published by Tyndale House Publishers and is a Focus on the Family resource. 

                Before I continue into this review I want to begin by asking you a question. Two actually and the first is: Are you a Bible believing Christian who desires to pass on the truth and help win people to Christ as well as help strengthen fellow Christians in their belief? If so then continue on to the next question. The second question is as such: Do you have a child or children, nieces or nephews, grand children or any influence or contact with young people in school age that you love and care for and who know and believe in the Lord? If you answered yes to this question then this book is a book I fully recommend for you.

                There is a sad statistic today on how many young Christians are leaving Christian homes and entering the secular education and secular world on their own and are losing their faith. What is the cause of this loss of faith? It is not because we do not believe in a true magnificent God and creator of the world; it is neither because they never heard the truth nor where taught such truths while young, in school and living at home. The answer lies in a more spiritual world then ours. Satan will use every tactic he can to destroy ones belief and his first means to do this is doubt. Our young people today are simply not equipped and given the means to defend their faith, stand for what they believe and show how logically we can be assured of our faith.

                Alex McFarland has written this book specifically to fight this statistic. Yes, one could take many scholarly university level courses on defending the faith, however, not many are geared or adapt at this level of education. What about the father, mother or grandparent who desires to help nurture their child in truth and prepare them for the attacks of the secular world? This work, I will call “21 Questions” for short, could be your greatest help.

                Mr. McFarland wrote “21 Questions” in a very easy to understand format target to parents as well as children themselves. It is focused on children within upper grade school levels and as the title proposes it answers 21 questions. These questions that the book focuses on are common every day questions that young Christians face every day in the secular world. They are the very questions that Satan uses within non-believers to cast seeds of doubt into young believers minds.

                These questions include topics such as; God and Jesus, the validity of the Bible, Biblical contradictions, why is there evil in the world, why does God allow suffering and many more.

                Alex McFarland toned down what usually encompasses hours of seminary lectures into easy to understand answers for parents. With this work, “21 Questions” can help give you the encouragement, references, words and arguments to confidently answer those questions your children or young Christians may have.  This book may also spark the motivation in you to initiate these discussions with your children and loved ones as well even before those seeds of doubt are cast at them to help them prepare and build a defense and strengthen them in their own personal faith.

                Alex McFarland’s writing is out of his desire to help keep our Christian youth from simply becoming another statistic and to help promote a stronger more educated Christian faith within our youth. Not only will our youth grow stronger through his work, you just may as well find answers to questions you have had yourself. Why are these 21 questions so hard to answer? Many times its because we simply do not know the answers ourselves.

                “21 Questions” by Alex McFarland is among the top of the recommended books within my shelf. I recommend it for all parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, older siblings, mentors, youth directors and pastors alike. 

Thank you for reading.

C. Speakman

Free to sin or Free from sin?

The following is from our ministry web page's blog at http://www.sacredpearlministry.com/

The following is an essay on what important truths for a believer can be pulled from Romans chapter 6. This chapter is an amazing chapter that touches on the topics of why we should not continue knowingly in sin after salvation as well as the symbolic importance of baptism.

                Romans Chapter 6 reads:

Romans 6:1-23  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  (2)  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  (3)  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  (4)  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  (6)  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  (7)  For he that is dead is freed from sin.  (8)  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:  (9)  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.  (10)  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.  (11)  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (12)  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  (13)  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  (14)  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.  (15)  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.  (16)  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  (17)  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  (18)  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.  (19)  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.  (20)  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.  (21)  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.  (22)  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  (23)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

                In verses 1 and 2 Paul starts off asking “shall we continue in sin?” after our salvation through Christ. We find the best answer in verses 8 through 14. In these verses Paul explains that even though our sin was paid for by Christ’s death and sin no longer has dominion over us, we are still to “Live with Him [Christ]” as stated in verse 8. We have a debt to Christ since He covered our sins. We as believers are to present ourselves as alive to God and we do this by being obedient to Christ.

                Verse 16 through 23 of Romans describes this obedience to Christ and aligns it with a slave/master concept. Before our death to sin and salvation we where slaves to sin, as saved Christians paid for by Christ we are to be obedient to Him like a repayment of our gift thus becoming slaves, or servants to righteousness and God’s word and Christ’s teachings and commandments. Our obedience to God allows us to bear fruit, the product of the Holy Spirit within us, which we are unable to do if we are still slaves to sin and this fruit we will reap in our everlasting life with God. 

                Baptism is also explained in this chapter in verses 3 through 7. Christ died physically on the cross for our sins. Like Christ, we are able to die along with Him through baptism. The act of baptism’s full submersion in water is our uniting in a fleshly death and burial with Christ. The resurrection or the bringing forth from the baptism water is our resurrection from death and the grave and our rebirth as a child of God cleansed and resurrected in the liking to Christ rising from the grave.

                As Christ was killed bearing our sins, buried in the ground we are to take our fleshly body and old sinful man to Him and burry it, and as Christ rose from the grave we are to be resurrected from the water as a new born, a new man free from our sins. This baptism is not a requirement of salvation but should be an important second step after salvation for a believer. It is this baptism that acts as a testimony to others and a statement of our faith as well as an example of our obedience to God.

                In our new lives as members of Christ’s kingdom we are then to honor Christ as our Lord and be obedient to Him as this obedience allows us to bear fruit of righteousness for the honor and glory of that sacrifice made on our behalf granting us through grace our everlasting life free from our slavery to sin and death.

The Purposes Of Christ

http://www.bubblews.com/news/845541-the-purposes-of-jesus-christ

I am first and foremost a Christian and a man who has dedicated His life to spreading the Gospel.
2nd, I am an outdoors living, bushcraft skills and survival skills enthusiast and enjoy being in the woods and teaching skills. I do have a youtube channel where I teach said skills but decided to allow God to use those
skill sets as a way to reach out even more and spread His Word in even another fashion.

I have since created Bushcraft Disciples. A youtube channel for the Chrsitian outdoors-man and bushcrafter.

Here is the first video of many more to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WISYnJUCU8c&feature=share&list=UU1xk6wZaXYlK_HzWJDP8-rw

Are You As Close To GOD As You Are To My Bumper - Book Review

Book Review of: Are You As Close To GOD As You Are To My Bumper

 by Patricia Edwards

Author Patricia Edwards had recently sent me a copy of her book entitled; Are You As Close To GOD As You Are To My Bumper?  

The subtitle of her work is, “A collection of personal memoirs on faith”.

When I first received this book, and subsequently judged it by its cover, I expected it to be a book of Ms. Edwards exhorting on reasons why she believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and why she holds the faith that she holds in her heart. Now, this is not necessarily a bad case or thought of “judging a book by its cover”, but none the less it was my first thought. The thought simply originated from the fact that there are hundreds upon thousands of books on the market that are well written testimonies of one’s faith. This judgment was in fact wrong though but for the better.

This book is not a collection of the authors own thoughts on faith but alternately is a collection on other persons stories of faith that helped fuel and maintain a stronger faith in Christ for the author. This is a method of sharing of one’s faith that I have not yet personally read in a book.

Ms. Edwards’s thoughtful selection of the accounts of individual faith has created a book that can catch the attention of people in many walks of life. Each story is a different human, a different soul, a different life story and a different situation. It is not simply a walk of faith through one heart or one set of eyes but a flash book of many lives. The stories are life events in the subjects lives that they have personally shared with the author which in turned helped foster her strong development of faith. Selflessly wanting to help others develop their walk with the Lord as well she took those life changing stories and shared them with her readers.

Each chapter was a refreshing new story of individuals struggling or lost in faith finding Christ and His salvation and regenerating power through many situations, circumstances and ways. You don’t just trudge through this book from beginning to end in one life story but find yourself renewed in enjoyment learning of others victories in various struggles.

I personally believe any reader will find one, two or even many more of these unique and different lives displayed resembling their own and in turn helping the reader foster new victories or build a stronger faith and relationship with Christ. I myself even took personal lessons and even seen myself in one of the chapters as the subject seemed to be a direct resemblance of my own life in almost every detail. You could have inserted my name, changed a few facts and it could have been about me!

The fact that I 1, enjoyed reading the individual stories 2, had my own life personally reflected in one of the stories and 3, was reassured of my own victories in this book enables me to recommend this book to anybody that claims Christ is in their hearts. This book would also make a great gift or a means to reach out to friends, family members or somebody you are concerned about and desire to bring to the Lord.

I am thankful that Ms Edwards sent me this book and I am able to provide a very positive review of her work.

This work as well as others by the same author is available at the author’s own web site at:

WWW.Patriciaedwardsbooks.com

-WH

Still here

It has been a long time since I have last provided any posts. I am still alive for all those who follow this blog. Just been busy with school and many other facets of life. Will have some new reviews and articles up shortly.

-WH

Alone In Christ

Alone In Christ

                Are you alone in Christ or just alone? Being alone is mental status that can break even the strongest willed person. If can affect anybody in many ways. There are too many factors to measure in to why one would feel alone. To continue in this status of “alone” for a long time can cause many long term issues to an individual and even bleed over to create relationship, family and work issues as well.

                The Bible talks extensively on matters that can cause one to feel alone. How can we, however, be alone in Christ? This article is a look at just 4 ways we as humans can find ourselves feeling alone. These 4 mental statuses; loneliness, failure, guilt and fear are all things that can cripple us as humans as well as work to tear apart our spiritual fiber and our walk with Christ. How does Christ want us to view these 4 types of aloneness? Let’s look at the Word of God and see how instead of being alone, we can be alone in Christ and defeat these 4 mental road blocks to our walk with Christ and life in the Spirit.

Alone In Loneliness

Matthew 28:20b lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

              In Christ’s final words to His disciples He states; “I am with you always”. Always is not part time, it is not tomorrow, it is not seldom. It means every second of every minute of every day. Speaking to His disciples and to those who believe in Him, Christians, He is making a point before He ascends to Heaven that He is always here with us in our hearts, in our souls, linked to us by the Holy Spirit.

                For how long will be with us? Some translations of the Word state age whereas the King James Version states “unto the end of the world”. Age, end of the world, both mean until this age, or world as we know it ends, which is when Christ returns to earth to claim His bride, the church.

                Remember this when you have moments of loneliness in your life: Christ, bonded to you by His Holy Spirit, the living Son of God, the King of Kings and our Lord of Lords is always with you. As a believer it is an intimate relationship that Christ wants us to seek with Him. To “walk in the Spirit” as we are commanded to do is to walk continuously with Christ. We are never alone. The one who was in the beginning of it all, whom created it all and for which all was created is with us always.

                Turn your loneliness to Christ. When in need reach out, call out, talk to the one who is ALWAYS there with you. Seek out that intimate relationship with your Lord and Savior. It is in a continuous intimate walk with Christ that we see the bouts of loneliness lifted from our shoulders as we find that we are never really ever alone.

Alone In Failure

Psalms 103:10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

We are human. And as humans born into this world of sin we are born into sin. We are imperfect. We have imperfections and impurities and because of such we are not worthy to stand even near the presence of God. Due to our sins, God sent His Son, Christ, to die for our sins. Examine the scope of this action.

                Christ, who was perfect, paid our debt. Our debt was to be cast out, to be destroyed for our sins, for our failures. God needed this price, this sentence to be carried out. Before we could even see the judge Christ stepped in for us and took our punishment. He bore all and was crushed for our imperfections. With this price being paid we no longer, as born again Christians stand guilty or imperfect before God. Yes we still fail and have imperfections but in the eyes of God we are no longer failures for we are sealed in our salvation.

                As this verse states, at the end of our time here on earth, when our body dies and our spirit moves on we will not be dealt with according to our sins. We will not be punished for our imperfections for we are paid for; we are cleared of our verdict. When faced with your failure, when your imperfections weight you down remember your salvation. Turn your eyes upon Christ for He has covered your failures with His blood.

Alone In Guilt

Psalms 103:13 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Many who are born again in Christ still feel a measure of guilt for past sins they may have committed. This is the reassurance given to us by the Psalmist in this verse. When we are forgiven we are forgiven.

                Are you a born again believer and still feeling remnants of guilt from the past? If so give them over to Christ. Lay the guilt at His feet. When we come to Christ and bare the blame for our transgressions and confess He takes the guilt from us. His sacrifice on the cross was for your sins, for your punishment and to remove the guilt from you. When we confess and give our convictions to Him He forgives completely and takes our guilt. Christ’s desire is to bear that burden for you.

                As far as the east is from the west, that is a measurement far greater then you, far reaching then we can. The writers of the Word often use these measurements and comparisons as a way of explaining in fashion, “as much as you think is possible, you are forgiven, and God has cleared you from all your sins.” Place that guilt at the cross. Christ does not want you to carry that burden. He picked up a wooden cross and was crushed on it so you would not continue on in guilt if you truly believe in your salvation and your forgiveness.

Alone In Fear

Psalms 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

What can man possibly do to you? Yes, man here on earth could do you bodily harm. Is that a fear in your life? Money issues, job issues, legal issues, these are all things we can fear. They are all things that can harm our earthly lives here in this life. Do we look at the grand picture when we weigh our fears?

                We as humans place a time line on our lives as well as value to what we have and how we live on earth. What is God’s time line? What is His value on things that we have and how we live? His time line is eternal. This life we live on earth is short, temporary and very soon to end in comparison to eternity. Our life is but a vapor in the grand scheme of eternity.

                God does not want us to place such value on things here on earth, including our life as it will all turn to dust. If we are believers, if we are children of God and sealed in our salvation what is this life here on earth worth compared to our life in eternity with our Lord where we will have no fears, no worries, no sickness and no pain? Do not fear, what we have after this life is better than even the grandest life we could ever possibly live here on earth.

                What can another man possibly do to us? Even if our lives are threatened, even if we are killed what is that to us? As a Christian this should be a blessing, for it quickens your arrival to our Lord and Master. You are sealed in Heaven so nothing on this earth, even the end of your life should cause you any fear. Paul said in the Bible that to be persecuted and killed for his belief and service to Christ would be a victory. Indeed it would be a victory for as our life on earth would end we would in an instant be alive for all eternity in the presence of our amazing Lord.

                Are you alone today or alone in Christ? How are you handling these statuses of aloneness?

Take action today. Bring these thoughts to Christ and instead of being alone be with Christ.

In Christ,

C. Speakman of WH