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Showing posts from December, 2014

Happy Holidays: It's the Time of Year Where News Magazines Trash Christians and the Bible. Can Any Good Come from Reading and Responding to This? You Be the Judge (Yes, I Delight in the Irony of That Last Part)

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If you catch this on New Year's Eve 2014, great. Otherwise, I fear you will miss it Free on Kindle: What if...: How to Kill Worry and Anxiety Before They Kill You! [Kindle Edition] The author,  Caleb Suko , is a missionary to Ukraine The Bible: So Misunderstood It's a Sin BY KURT EICHENWALD / DECEMBER 23, 2014 6:54 AM EST My reaction:  First, the Newsweek piece has an outdated Bible image. Ecclesiastes reads like very old English,  Ecclefiaftes , for example.  Take a look at it yourself and see how unattractive it would be to read a book that you struggled to make out most of the words' pronunciations, let alone a script that is dis-inviting for modern eyes.  Then, right out of the gate, Eichenwald delivers a broad-stroke characterization of Christians that would make straw men feel inadequate by comparison.  To believe the author, we spend all of our time angrily waving our Bibles at passing cars, sp...

Devotionals for the New Year: a Couple's Devotional , Bible Reading Plans for 2015

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Moments Together for Couples: 365 Daily Devotions for Drawing Near to God & One Another What a great buy at $1.99 on the Kindle! Check your device to see if there is a deal for you (i.e. Vyrso, Kobe, etc.) My review:   Dennis and Barbara Rainey do an outstanding job with this devotional.  My wife and I have the hardback copy.  We have used it for years.  This devotional is one of our staple buys for a wedding gift to Christian couples.   Each day of the year has a special devotional.  This is especially nice for the days that are missed since you aren't missing a regular flow if you don't get to that particular devotional segment this year. There is a verse at the top, the devotional, a point to discuss and then a suggested prayer.  I believe you will love this devotional and it will help you in your marriage.   Bible reading plans posted on Beacon2Light previously that are still active (use the link below for the chil...

Science Makes the Case for a Designer, The Christmas Truce of World War One, a Root Language to the Indo-European Family of Languages Can Be Seen as Supportive of a Young Earth View

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Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God The odds of life existing on another planet grow ever longer. Intelligent design, anyone? By ERIC METAXASDec. 25, 2014 4:56 p.m. ET Eric Metaxas' book on Miracles A little late for this Christmas but I always loved this story. Perhaps you could file it away for next Christmas as a sermon, Sunday School or Bible study illustration.  Even your kids may marvel at the story next Christmas: The Christmas Truce THE PRINCE OF PEACE, THE DESIRE OF NATIONS By: Eric Metaxas|Published: December 24, 2014 6:00 AM Here is the ad that Eric Metaxas references that does a dramatization of that truce Family Tree of Languages Has Roots in Anatolia, Biologists Say By NICHOLAS WADE Published: August 23, 2012 Beacon2Light: Check out the proposed dates for the beginnings of this root language. Sounds a lot closer to a biblical, literalist interpretation of Creation (and is helpful to the view of a Tower of Babel confounding of language...

How a Tear-Stained Christmas Can Be a Great Christmas: Suffering, Pain and the Holidays

“I hate Christmas.” I heard those words at a store recently. I think I was just as surprised as the man who was with the woman who said this. My mind raced at the moment. Why? More than likely pain, loss or suffering experienced in a past Christmas season or on Christmas day even, perhaps even, a lifetime of pain was the reason. I rejected the sentiment. Isn’t this a sinful reaction to real, legitimate suffering? How does one rise above our painful experiences to find joy in the anniversary of the loss of a loved one or abuse or . . . ? Maybe theology is to blame. If God is real, then suffering eases or even disappears, right? Surely, if God could remove pain, and He is loving and compassionate, then isn’t it logical that those He loves wouldn’t feel its sting? Jesus came into this world introducing pain. Did you ever think about that? Mary was fine without the angel’s announcement complicating matters. She was betrothed to Joseph, a good man, a godly man, one who would be t...

Free Kindle Book on Influential Christians of History, House of David Inscription Found, Saudi Arabia to Give Death Penalty for Bible Distribution? Taliban School Attack Kills Nearly 150, Arizona Teacher Mocks Jesus, Exodus: Gods and Kings Getting More Negative Reviews in Christendom than Noah? Most Americans Ok with "Enhanced Interrogation," Sydney Cafe Terror and Two Heroes, Romania's Revolution in 1989

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Free on Kindle for a limited time The 40 Most Influential Christians . . . Who Shaped What We Believe Today [Kindle Edition] Daryl Aaron House of David inscription , part of the “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. “the earliest extra-biblical reference to the House of David.” Report: Islamic Saudi Arabia Passes Law That May Impose Death Penalty on Bible Smugglers December 16, 2014 | Filed under: Law & Government , Persecution , Top Stories , World | By: Heather Clark Taliban storm school in Pakistan in revenge attack The sad truth: more than 1,000 schools attacked by the Taliban in Pakistan  in the past five years Arizona Biology Teacher Mocks Jesus, Creationism, in Lecture Slide Imagine the outcry if he mocked Mohammed or Islam. This is the modern, dysfunctional, hypocritical definition of tolerance. O Ye of Little Faith 'EXODUS' GOES HEAVY ON THE ACTI...

Christmas Story in First Person Re-telling, How a Pro-Exodus Film Review Convinced Me All the More Not to Watch It, Ebola Medical Professionals Get TIME's Person of the Year; Frank Wolf Named Daniel of the Year

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Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas [Kindle Edition]  FREE for a limited time John Blase As summarized on Amazon :  This bold retelling of Luke 1–2, based on Eugene Peterson’s Message translation, reads like a novel and invites readers to experience the Nativity with fresh wonder. To Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible translation, John Blase adds his own storytelling voice, exploring the familiar events from multiple first-person viewpoints. What emerges is the intimate story of unlikely people—a frightened teenaged girl, a worried carpenter, a collection of senior citizens, a disillusioned young shepherd—meeting up with the divine as they bumble and stumble toward the realization that the little one just born is the One. This retold story of Word made flesh invites readers to react appropriately—with eyes opened wide in wonder, jaws dropped in amazement, and hearts rejoicing. The beautiful design and Amanda Jolman’s lively line drawings make th...

Leader of Pearl Harbor Attack Later Converted to Christ; One of the Doolittle Raiders Converts to Christ and Learns to Forgive

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Leader of Pearl Harbor Attack, Turned Christian Evangelist By: Shane Morris|Published: December 8, 2014 5:25 PM This Japanese military man had, as Bennett puts it, "embraced the God of his enemies." "When I mention this to people," he told me, "nearly everyone is quite shocked, not only that it happened, but that [they've] never heard about it." Wounded Tiger: A Nonfiction Novel [Kindle Edition] T Martin Bennetonly  $2.51 for over 400 pages! Buy it in paper-form or other non-Kindle e-book forms by clicking here Jacob Daniel DeShazer, 6584514, Staff SergeantBombardier Crew 16 Short biographical sketch of his life and how he came to Christ and the difference it made in his life From Vengeance to Forgiveness: Jake DeShazer's Extraordinary Journey After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Corporal Jacob DeShazer became a man bent on revenge. As a bombardier in the Army Air Corps, he volunteered for a top secret mission a...

Treat Yourself to an Inexpensive (or Free) E-book or Treat a Friend

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Love into Light: the Gospel, the Homosexual and the Church 99 cents By its endorsements, this looks like a book you can trust. I bought one and I am looking forward to having a class discussion on it among our teens and young adults.  Why Believe the Bible by John MacArthur $1.99 The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes us by the Events in our Lives  by Ravi Zacharias  $1.99 The HCSB Study Bible  for $2.99 (love these study Bible deals) FREE: Depression: Looking up from the Stubborn Darkness by Ed Welch

Advent Devotions: One is Free and in Multiple Formats, Last Two Days of Free Shipping from Christian Book Distributors and Where's Rob Bell Now?

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Devotions for Advent: Meditations Based on Best-Loved Hymns by Morgan, Robert J. Vyrso/Logos 99 cents Amazon/Kindle for 99 cents Good News of Great Joy ( Free Advent eBook) by Dr. John Piper To download Good News of Great Joy , click on the following format options: Download eBook as a PDF file . Download eBook as an EPUB file formatted for readers like the Nook, Sony Reader, and Apple iBooks (iPad, iPhone, iPod). Download eBook as a MOBI file formatted for Kindle applications (this option works well on some mobile devices, and not so well on others). Last two days of free shipping from Christian Book Distributors   What ever happened to Rob Bell, the pastor who questioned the gates of hell? Sarah Pulliam Bailey “If Christianity were outlawed and a mob amassed to burn Christian books, ‘The Zimzum of Love’ would not be at risk.”  part of, Florida pastor, Dave Harvey's review on the Gospel Coalition.