RANSOMED FROM DARKNESS

by Moira Noonan

Reviewed by Katy King

I love books by former New Age believers who convert to Christianity after a long trek through the myriad pathways of New Age beliefs. Moira Noonan seems to have become an expert practitioner in almost every major New Age pathway during her years of practicing as a clairvoyant and psychic.

Ms. Noonan began studying New Age practices in college in the 1970s. She even became a Reiki master (an occult healing method), a licensed hypnotherapist, a past-life regression practitioner, used crystals and various other occult means of divination (foretelling the future), and studied A Course In Miracles diligently. All these practices are common in the New Age belief system, and almost any weird or peculiar path has its adherents.

In 1993, Ms. Noonan had a series of religious experiences that led back to Jesus and the Catholic faith of her childhood. In one instance, Ms. Noonan attended a table-tipping session, but as she rested her hands on the table with the other attendees, she felt a beautiful presence and pulled her hands from the table. Then she found herself unable to extend her hands again, as they were locked to her body. She rose and went outside, asking herself what was happening and heard an inner voice she believed came from God.”

She suddenly wanted to know more. She also realized she would never go back to the table-tipping center. As she journeyed toward conversion, she continued to find herself mysteriously blocked from her former New Age practices. Finally, after an experience in a Catholic church, she sought out a priest, made her confession, and knew she had come home at last.

However, she still carried a lot of New Age baggage, and as she learned more about the faith, she began to clear out all her New Age books and paraphernalia, with help from her new found Christian friends. Then she met a priest who was experienced in New Age conversions, who spent hours with her, taking her through each New Age practice she had participated in and having her renounce it and the demons associated with it. When she finished, she knew she was free at last.

As she grew in faith and learned more about her new-found faith, Ms. Noonan began to realize that many in the Catholic Church, including some priests and nuns, had no idea what they were getting into when they sponsored A Course In Miracles and other practices Ms. Noonan had recently renounced. She began making it her business to educate them as to exactly what they were involved in.

As she so accurately observes, most New Age practices, including A Course In Miracles, are all part of the church of “Me, Myself, and I.” You are god, you are innocent and perfect, and there is no sin or evil. Therefore, you do not need a Savior.

Although Ms. Noonan seems to have been gently led out of her New Age beliefs, many New Agers are shocked out of it when they learn, first-hand, that evil is real and that the name of Jesus Christ has great power over evil. In fact, it’s the only thing that does.

Ms. Noonan’s book is an excellent introduction to the myriad of practices that go into making up the New Age belief system, and she shows how they are completely opposed to Christianity in spite of their seeming agreement with it.

I Need a Miracle

Check out this great video about the inspiration to one of Third Day’s newest releases:

This is why I write!!!

No, I don’t imagine someone driving in the woods and pulling out my fiction novel for one last read before they end it all, only to be saved by my words. But I have already been blessed to have heard how something I had on my blog—that I didn’t even write—was used by Him to better someone’s life. Nothing more empowering than knowing you’ve been used as an empty vessel … even though the power was all His, through the writing of someone else.

I don’t know if my work will ever touch even a fraction of the lives Third Day’s has, but none of that matters, because even one life can have far-rippling impact. See the story of the one man who reached one man, whose ministry today spans continents and whose church serves families with special needs like no other.

You, too, can have this impact! So don’t delay. Don’t worry about largeness of ministry or numbers of people, but healing of hearts and filling of souls. Who knows, you may be the subject of a story like this one: “I was really down one day, feeling there was no meaning in the world until this person approached me and …”

You fill in the rest—with your life!!!

The following is a list of posts from the Gomer Testimonies, a series about Third Day fans (aka. Gomers) whose faith was impacted by the music of Third Day. It really happens!

Cathy Payton’s Gomer Testimony

Greg Holt—A Gomer Testimony

Robyn C’s Journey to God

Rachel Rutledge—A Gomer Testimony

Connie is a 2012 Genesis semi-finalist for Women’s Fiction. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest for her entry, Why Not to Kiss on a Park Bench (aka. Harold and Violet). She also writes the What’s Your Story column, interviewing debut fiction authors for the My Book Therapy Ezine. Come visit her on one of her other blogs:

Living the Body of Christ

InfiniteCharacters.com

The Best Book Ever Shot from a Cannon

My son used to work as Promotions Coordinator at the Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana. That means he was the guy shooting t-shirts into the stands with a cannon. Actually his job was more complicated than that. Whenever a delay happened on the track, he’d get a call through his headphones that he needed to distract or occupy the crowd for the next ten minutes. Can’t have race fans getting hot and bored. That’s where the t-shirt launcher came into play. Or a drawing for a free pizza, a tire rotation, or something equally exciting.

He had to make that last t-shirt sound like the biggest, grandest prize anyone could dare dream of winning.

That’s sort of our job as writers. With the first line of our book, or the blurb on the back or the synopsis we send to a potential agent or editor, we must make the reader think our book is the best thing they’ve ever read. Or at least worthy of continuing on to the next paragraph, the next page, and so on.

Most writers are terrible salesmen. Many of us are uncomfortable telling the world how awesome we are or how awesome our book is. We prefer to hide behind our computers and create while praying readers stumble across our work and fall hopelessly in love with every word we write with no interference from us.

That isn’t likely to happen. How does a writer go from being a terrible salesman to convincing an editor to take a chance on our story? There’s no amazing new advice here. First off, we must write an excellent story. Story truly is king.

Secondly, almost as soon as you come up with a nugget of a story idea start thinking of who will buy this book and how to make them want it. What are the selling points? What makes it unique? I guarantee it isn’t the plot. Every one out there has been done to death. So what’s you angle? Imagine your book in the launcher at a major sporting event. What could the guy say to make the crowd stand up and cheer and beg for your book to be fired in their direction? Or would they use the break in the action to head to the concession stand for nachos?

You worked too hard on your book not to have readers clamoring to buy it. Go over your pitch. Or write one if you haven't already. Then honestly ask yourself--Is this book rocket launcher ready?

WE ARE GREECE--Raised to the 23rd Power

by Katy King  

It is easy to look down on little, broke, profligate countries like Greece, because we all know that nothing like that could ever happen to America. We are Americans, and we are too smart for that.

However, Professor Kotlikoff, using the figures provided by the Congressional Budget Office, shows that America is the most profligate country on earth, and probably the most profligate country there has ever been.

According to Kotlikoff, “The U.S. fiscal gap, calculated (by us) using the Congressional Budget Office's realistic long-term budget forecast -- the Alternative Fiscal Scenario -- is now $222 trillion. Last year, it was $211 trillion. The $11 trillion difference -- this year's true federal deficit -- is 10 times larger than the official deficit and roughly as large as the entire stock of official debt in public hands.”

Wow.  Kotlikoff says the budget deficit is $11 trillion, not the $1 trillion we usually hear about. But even $1 trillion is a number we can’t get our minds around, and according to Professor Kotlikoff, this $11 is just this year. Imagine what it’ll be next year, or what it was last year!

The interesting thing about Professor Kotlikoff is that everybody reads his figures, and they are published in the mainstream media, but nobody says anything. Nobody refutes him. But nobody discusses these figures, either, probably because they know he’s right, and they know they will have their heads handed back to them if they try to argue, using their phony figures.

Even more interesting is the fact that most Americans who read these figures appear to have no clue what they mean.

They mean AMERICA IS BANKRUPT. 

It has been bankrupt for quite a while. There is no way it can ever repay these debts.  We are Greece, but on a far greater level.

Translated, that means the Great Default is coming, when America tells China, Japan, and all its other creditors to “take a hike.” It also means nobody will lend America any more money. And when that happens, the Great American Welfare State will come to a screeching halt. Most financial commentators who study Kotlikoff’s figures and agree with his findings believe it will happen some time within the next decade, although not right away.

Think about what this means to you and your family. The American people are about to realize they have been lied to, big time. Their retirements are worthless. Their 401-Ks will probably have been “acquired” by the government some time before. The promises of Social Security and Medicare are worthless. Welfare and Medicaid and food stamps are gone-gone, bye-bye.

How do you think most of the people who were depending on these things are going to react? Think about this now and plan accordingly. You probably have at least 5 years to get ready, but don’t count on it. Any “Black Swan” event could move this time bomb a lot closer than we like.

At the very least, learn to grow a garden and learn a skill you can use to earn a living during hard times. And a few chickens in your backyard probably wouldn’t hurt.

Nothing Good Comes Easy

Being a writer is the life … isn’t it?

Two and a half years ago, after working with my daughter on a story project for school, I got the bug. I wanted to write. I came up with some ideas for a story and laid them out on paper. Oh, was it fun! I hadn’t been that creative in years.

Did people really get paid to do this?

Then, the Lord spoke to my heart. I can almost envision Him shaking His head, warily as He imparted the message. “This won’t be an easy journey. Prepare yourself for a long and bumpy road. But don’t give up.”

Long and bumpy? How?

Um. Well. I know now. After writing, re-writing, critiquing, being critiqued and re-writing some more—only to start the process over again—Oh, do I know. So, seeing His word to me was true, I do as He instructed. I don’t give up.

It’s hard work. Harder than I’ve ever encountered. And yet—though I’m still not “published”—the most rewarding work I’ve ever engaged in. My manuscript has brought my sister and I closer as it allowed me to communicate, through my characters, things I had never been able to say. I’ve been told about families who have found great success using vision therapy for their once struggling readers after reading about it on my blog. Yes, the Holy Spirit has shown me the fruits of this labor. Labor I might have given up over a year ago had He not spoken that warning to me.

But the Holy Spirit, in His infinite wisdom, didn’t stop there. A year and a half ago, I went to a Third Day concert and heard Trevor Morgan sing for the first time. He played the song, Easy, which reminded me of the message God gave me above (click here to listen to that song), so I bought his CD. Thank you, Jesus, I can be reminded on a daily basis, after a long, weary day of hard critiques and brutal re-writes. And it encourages me to keep plugging away. Because, after all …

Nothing good comes easy … easy.

Connie is a 2012 Genesis semi-finalist for Women’s Fiction. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest for her entry, Why Not to Kiss on a Park Bench (aka. Harold and Violet). She also writes the What’s Your Story column, interviewing debut fiction authors for the My Book Therapy Ezine. Come visit her on one of her other blogs:

Living the Body of Christ

InfiniteCharacters.com

Set apart for God's use

by Teresa Slack Promotion comes neither from the east or the west, not from the south. But God is the judge: he puts down one and sets up another. Psalm 75: 6-7 Some days while I’m writing and the words flow like a stream after a spring rain, it’s easy to believe I have a special calling on my life. I am set apart for God’s use. He has a big purpose for me. My writing is meant to touch hearts and change lives. Then I get word from my agent that another publishing house passed on my work. I log onto one of my writing groups and I hear of a multi-published author who received a contract for three more books with a fantastic advance, and I come crashing to the ground. What’s the deal? Why doesn’t anyone like my writing? What am I doing wrong? When will God show me favor? Several times in the last few weeks I’ve talked to people, many of them writers who are disheartened about the loss of a job or cut in pay or yet another rejection from a publishing house. It is easy to ask; “Why not me? I know I have a calling on my life. I’ve read published works that are ten times worse than mine. Why is So-and-So blessed?” We don’t want to hear it will happen in God’s time. We want it to happen in our time. I work hard at my writing. I study the markets, am always on the lookout for new ideas and work like a dog to make my prose as precise and compelling as possible. So why am I not inundated with lucrative contract offers? Why doesn’t my agent have a picture of me up in his office to show fledgling writers what they should aspire to? You will drive yourself crazy trying to wrap your head around these questions. We won’t always understand why things happen the way they do, whether with writing or promotion at work or in relationships. The only thing we can do in times of trial and doubt is to keep doing well. Keep applying yourself at work. Keep growing in your craft. Use the downtime in your writing to read, study the markets and network. Faint not in doing good. It will happen as long as we keep working, keep submitting, keep growing, and most importantly, keep the faith that God is bigger than we are and he has a plan for each life he put on earth.

THEODORE BOONE: The Accused

John Grisham's YA Novel Series

by Kay King

I can usually always count on enjoying a John Grisham novel, and his young adult series involving a thirteen-year-old middle school student named Theodore Boone have so far been thoroughly enjoyable.

Theodore Boone (Theo) is the child of two lawyers, and he therefore knows a great deal about lawyers, judges, courthouse procedure and the law. The first two novels involving Theo concerned a murder in which Theo discovers an eyewitness who also happens to be an illegal alien. The second involves the disappearance of a good friend and classmate of Theo’s, and Theo happens to have the specialized knowledge needed to find her. The more entertaining aspects of these novels occur when an adult consults Theo about a legal problem, because they know he’s likely to have an answer for them that won’t involve anyone else (in the adult world) finding out about the problem.

In the third novel, Theo is all set to attend the murder trial of the man he helped build the case against in the first novel, but the man does a disappearing act. The small town he lives in is abuzz with nothing else, when all of a sudden Theo becomes a target. A local electronics store is robbed and some of the contraband is found in Theo’s locker, and someone is pitching rocks through Theo’s windows and poking holes in his bicycle tires.

It isn’t long until word gets around that Theo Boone, kid lawyer, is in trouble with the law himself and might just be a thief on top of that. Theo and his motley crew of friends must band together and discover who hates Theo enough to frame him like this.

If you have teens who might be interested in law, or if you enjoy legal thrillers in general, then you might enjoy the Theodore Boone series, and definitely the current book,  Theodore Boone: The Accused.