Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Endorsement for President - Chuck Baldwin

I normally don't get political on my blog, and I likely won't again during the presidential campaign, but I will give a one-time statement regarding my choice for president--Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party nominee.

The two major parties have abandoned the principles of virtue and law, so they have given me no choice. I cannot vote for a candidate who is not pro-life, and although John McCain claims to be pro-life, he is not. He has publicly stated that he would not want Roe vs. Wade overturned, and he supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. And, of course, Barack Obama is about as far from pro-life as a candidate can be.

Some people might say that we shouldn't vote based on one issue, but I disagree. If a candidate believes it is legally acceptable to kill the most helpless and innocent ones of all, he is not qualified to be president.

Also, John McCain has proven himself to be unfit for office in that he left his crippled wife for another woman, with whom he now still lives. According to the Bible, Mr. McCain has broken his vows and is in an adulterous relationship. I cannot vote for an unrepentant adulterer.

Both of the two major candidates, through their voting records, have shown a desire to spend taxpayer money at an alarming rate. Both worked to block conservative judge appointments. Both have done poorly in supporting the Constitution, especially the first, second, and tenth amendments to the Bill of Rights.

Some might say that voting for a person "who doesn't stand a chance" is throwing your vote away. This is illogical for several reasons. First, who can prove that any candidate doesn't stand a chance? If we let the media decide who has a chance and chant that mantra, then we are perpetuating the myth that we can have only two parties. This idea of throwing away a vote is self-created and self-perpetuating. Second, if we continue to believe that the two major parties are the only ones available and continue to vote for them, even if they march out unacceptable candidates, we will never get a real change.

It's true that Chuck Baldwin will take votes from John McCain, but maybe that will be good for the Republican Party in the long run. Maybe the party will wake up and see that they have abandoned their supporters. Otherwise, we will continue to get the same terrible choices.

Don't settle for the lesser of two evils, because this time around, the two evils are both intolerable. Vote for a real change for the better.

Chuck Baldwin is truly pro-life and supports the Constitution in reality, not just verbally. It would take a long time to list all his policies, so I suggest that you go to his website by clicking here.

I know that many people who read this will disagree. As usual, I will moderate comments. You may disagree, but I won't allow any comments that are abusive or insulting in any way.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Coming to Cincinnati

I will be speaking to a writers' group in the Cincinnati area, and it's open to the public.

Here are the details:

August 13 - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Speaking to Writers' Group and Book signing
Faith Church -- Life Center, Room 9A
5910 Price Road
Milford, OH 45150
Phone: (513) 831-3770

In you live in the area, come out and see me. Please tell all your friends.

I will be glad to sign your books, and I'll have books available for purchase.

Invite me to Skyline Chili, and I'll be your friend for life. :-)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

New Contest for Fantasy Fiction Tour Coming Soon

I have mentioned that I will be having a new contest. This time I will be featuring my Dragons in our Midst and Oracles of Fire books as well as books from my fellow author who will be going on the Motiv8 Fantasy Fiction Tour in October.

I plan to get this started around August 7, so watch this blog for details at that time. In the meantime, you might want to check out contests being conducted by the other authors. A list of their blogs is in my sidebar.

Just so this isn't an ugly, text-only post, I will include a photo my daughter took yesterday of the many hummingbirds that enjoy our feeder.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Beyond the Reflection's Edge Contest Winners

On my way back from the International Christian Retail Show, I stopped by the city where the first place and fourth place winners of the Beyond the Reflection's Edge contest dwell. I had the privilege of meeting them and giving them certificates commemorating their accomplishments.

In the photo, that's Shiloh (fourth place) on the left and Kale (first place) on the right. We had a great time talking about the books and eating ice cream. These two young ladies and their families were great!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Bones of Makaidos Cover

I present to you the cover of The Bones of Makaidos, book four in the Oracles of Fire series. If you would like to see a higher resolution version of it, Click Here.

That's Sapphira Adi on the left and Bonnie Silver on the right. Those of you who have read Enoch's Ghost and Last of the Nephilim already know who the white horse is.

This book will likely come out in April or May of 2009 and will complete the series.

Please give me your comments on the cover. Now that all eight covers are out, I have posted a new poll asking which is your favorite.

Monday, July 14, 2008

No Apologies for the Gospel

As often happens when I attend the International Christian Retail Show, I witness something very disturbing. Last evening, I attended a publicity meeting at the show. At least that’s what it purported to be. It was really a panel discussion intended to promote a particular book. I won’t mention the title or the author, because I don’t want anyone to buy it out of curiosity.

Their premise is that the church is too antagonist toward unbelievers. This is “proven” by the fact that their perception of believers is that we’re judgmental, hateful, and hypocritical, and also that their perception of Jesus is much more positive. Therefore, if we would be more like Jesus, unbelievers would have a better perception of us as well. They said we need to stop criticizing and start being more loving and accepting. One on the panel went so far as to say, “We need to stop the apologetics and start apologizing.”

That’s when I almost lost my lunch. These panelists have it completely backwards. The church needs to engage with more of the truth, not less. We need more, “Repent, lest you die,” not “I’m sorry you’re upset.” Unbelievers will never come to true faith with a watered-down gospel of “acceptance.” They need to repent of their sins and turn to the living God in obedience.

Jesus told us that the world would hate us, so why should we worry about an opinion poll of unbelievers? They hated Jesus and crucified Him. Should he have apologized for saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”? Absurd. Yet these authors had the audacity to say that we should be apologizing.

The reason people give higher ratings to Jesus than they do to His followers is that they are evaluating a Jesus that they have invented in their minds, not the real Jesus. They don’t think about His command to repent or His insistence that they love Him more than life itself. If they were alive at the time of Jesus, they would likely have been among the crowds who shouted, “Crucify him!”

Another statement the author made that was just ridiculous was, “Yes, I’m a hypocrite, and I’m sorry. Yes, I’m not a good example of Jesus, and I’m sorry.” I wanted to stand up and say, “You must not be very sorry if you’re still playing the hypocrite.”

This is one part of their message that was true. Hypocrisy is a horrible blight on the church. The false doctrine of the carnal Christian continues to destroy the witness of the true believers. Yet, this author claims to be one of those hypocrites, gives a weak, “I’m sorry,” and, apparently goes on being a hypocrite, because, I suppose, he believes us all to be hypocrites. This is simply twisted thinking. True Christians are not hypocrites.

I’m going back to the convention today, and it’s likely I’ll see more disturbing examples of fake Christianity. It always grieves me and makes me wonder how God puts up with all this nonsense masquerading as truth.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Contest Wrapup

I have a few contest issues to wrap up. First, I will be creating "Books for Life" certificates for each of the top three contestants and mailing them to our second and third place winners. I will personally give one to Kale, our grand prize winner. The event will be at the Barnes & Noble on Airport Blvd in Pensacola, FL, on July 18, from noon to 2 pm. If you're in the area, come on out. I will be signing books, including Beyond the Reflection's Edge and Last of the Nephilim.

Now I will post a few contest videos. First will be Shae's, the one I awarded an extra twenty points for being my favorite. It was a tough decision, but I really appreciated the cut scenes between travel and violin.


And now, Araken's:


And Siobhan's:


And bookworm's:


And Michelle's:


And Zera's:


The quiz answers are as follows:

#1 - 1881
#2 part one - "Give three"
#2 part two - "book tunes in"
#2 part three - "composed date order"
#2 part four - "not Strauss include year"
#2 - Final instructions - Answers vary.
#3 - "Is this the answer" (Use 1881 to find the hidden phrase in quiz #2. The first word in part one's clue. The eighth word in part two's clue, the eighth word in part three's clue, and the first word in part four's clue.)
#4 - (1) Red (2) Saudi Arabia (3) $1.25 (4) A Northwestern T-shirt (5) 326

It was a lot of fun! I greatly appreciate every participant, and I hope you will consider helping in the next contest, which I hope to begin August 1. It will focus on the Oracles of Fire and Dragons n our Midst series as well as the upcoming Fantasy Fiction Tour. I will be posting much more about that soon.

If you want to get the book for yourself or friends, Christianbook.com has it for a great price, $9.99. You can get it at the link below:





715542: Beyond The Reflections" Edge # 1Beyond The Reflections' Edge # 1

By Bryan Davis / Zondervan

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Beyond the Reflection's Edge Contest Winners

What a great two months! I am so impressed with the contestants, it's impossible to write it in words. I wish I could gather you all in person and tell you how much I appreciate the work you've done to help me promote this new series.

Because of your amazing efforts, I'm increasing the awards again. So, as I list the winners, I will also tell what they've won.


This is Kale, our first place contestant (1369 points). Along with many reviews, bookstore photos, and purchase referrals, she did an amazing job with posters, hanging them in 129 different places! She wins "books for life," and she will be the first to help me create a character in a future book, that is, I will create a character who will be a fictionalized representation of the winner, using a name and characteristics that we will agree upon.


This is Twin4God, our second place contestant (1259 points). She was also great at putting up posters, 65 in all, but her biggest point accumulation came from getting 27 people to buy copies of the book. That's amazing. She also wins books for life, and she will be the second to help me create a character, probably a more minor character than what Kale's will be, but she'll know it's hers. That one will be later down the road, but we'll stay in touch to get it done.


This is Josh, our third place contestant (1152 points). He was another poster warrior. I checked his list of 73 posters, and I think he put one up in every Panera Bread restaurant in a three-state area! Josh also wins books for life, and he will be the third to help me create a character. Again, his will be a more minor character than Kale's, and it will be in a later series.

The rest of the prize winners are as follows:

Rounding out the top ten:
Shiloh
– 858.9 points (Five books, including the next two in "Echoes")
Katie G. – 431.5 (Four books, including the next two in "Echoes")
Magma – 391.3 (Three books, including the next two in "Echoes")
Abigail - 332 (Three books, including the next two in "Echoes")
Shae - 327 (Three books, including the next two in "Echoes")
Moncowgirl - 315 (Three books, including the next two in "Echoes")
Lightbearer - 279 (Three books, including the next two in "Echoes")

And the Honorable Mentions:
Araken - 274
(Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Galadriel - 262 (Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Zera - 243 (Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Son of Shem - 234 (Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Djaq - 212 (Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Jessica H. - 206 (Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Katie L - 200 (Eternity's Edge and Book #3 in "Echoes")
Tegid - 165 (Eternity's Edge)
Bookworm for God - 159 (Eternity's Edge)
Michelle - 156 (Eternity's Edge)
MeghanTheDraygon - 100 (Eternity's Edge)

Prize winners, it will be very important to keep me up to date with any mailing address changes you have over the months and years. If I don't have your mailing address, I will email you and ask for it. I'm looking forward to these lasting friendships with you!

I hope to have another contest soon. It will focus on the Oracles of Fire series and also promote the next fantasy tour, which I will be posting about a lot in the near future.


The Beyond the Reflection's Edge contest is over

Now that it is after midnight, and it's July 1, the two-month long Beyond the Reflection's Edge contest is over.

I will be posting the results sometime today. I'll do the best I can to get it done early.