Thursday, January 18, 2007

Praise and Thanksgiving - Part Four

I am awestruck by God's continuing blessings on my career. Great is His faithfulness!

I signed a contract with Zondervan for a new series, a Young Adult fantasy trilogy tentatively called Time Prints. The first book is scheduled to come out in May of 2008, and its working title is Time Echoes. As these books become a reality, I'll post more about them.

Please join me in thanking God for this exciting opportunity!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Praise and Thanksgiving - Part Three

My new book, Eye of the Oracle, is number one on the January CBA Young Adult best-seller list!

I am so thankful! Although all the Dragons in our Midst books have sold well, this is my first number one novel.

Here is a link to the list.

Click Here

Praise the Lord once again!

Praise and Thanksgiving - Part Two

My daughter Amanda was suffering through a severe loss of vision. About two-thirds of the field in her left eye was completely black. After taking her to an optometrist, an ophthalmologist, and two specialists who did an MRI and sonogram, we had no answers. Nobody knew why she had lost her vision.

So, we took her to the altar at church. The pastor anointed her while dozens of church members gathered around and prayed. From that moment, her vision began to clear. The black field has faded to a blur, and she estimates that her vision is 70% better.

Praise the Lord! We are continuing to pray for complete healing!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Praise and Thanksgiving - Part One

It's time to move away from the public lamentations and post on more positive issues.

God has so blessed me and my life, I need to shout it from the rooftops as often as I can. God is great! He is full of love, grace, and mercy, and His faithfulness is everlasting.

Yesterday, while jogging, the remaining details for the Enoch's Ghost story came to mind. It thrilled me so much that I actually began to weep even while running. I think both the power of the story, and knowing that the loving hand of God reached down to help me with it, became overwhelming. It fills me with awe to know that our heavenly father is so intimately involved in our lives.

I want to publicly praise Him for that!

Lamentations - Part Four

The doctrine of the inevitability of sin in Christians is the cause of my deepest laments. It's clear to me that the church, almost universally, has abandoned God's plan for believers regarding obedience.

Every day I hear or read something about how the sinful nature is in us all, that we, as Christians, will always suffer this indwelling presence, when, in fact, there is no Scripture that says anything like that. There is no evidence for the existence of a sinful nature at all.

Readers of the NIV translation might wonder why I say that, as they read those words time again in their translations, but the NIV translates sarx (flesh) inaccurately, so they are being misled.

This flesh is simply our bodies, so the New Testament writers created a term for the control our natural desires had on us as unbelievers. There is no sinful essence within us, no anti-God spirit that sneaks into our minds at birth that causes us to stray from God. This has become a sad, "the devil made me do it" excuse for sinful behavior.

The flesh, the bodily desires' control, is crucified and removed when we become Christians (Romans 6:6, Galatians 5:24, Colossians 2:11), so even that concept is no longer effectual in a believer. There is absolutely nothing that can make us sin. Yet, most preachers teach as if sin is something that we can never escape in this life, even as believers. This is the most evil lie that has ever been spoken in church, yet it is also the most common and widely believed.

Jesus put the matter plainly, and the power and completeness of His words are almost always ignored.

"Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin ... If, therefore, the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:34, 36)

No Christian is a slave of sin, because we are free, yet anyone who sins is a slave of sin. The sinful nature doesn't exist, and all the passions and desires of the flesh are crucified (Galatians 5:24).

I see no shadows in the words of Christ. If we who profess Christ continue in sin, we prove that our profession is invalid. And those who profess Christ and continue in sin are dishonoring His name.