OFFICIAL REVIEW OF KAREN KINGSBURY'S "WE BELIEVE IN CHRISTMAS"

Karen Kingsbury has tapped into the simple beauty and complete joy of Christmas in her new book “ We believe in Christmas”.

Her beautiful poem touched down deep into time, past and present, where family is always the fulcrum of the blessed event of Christ’s birth! Illustrator…. Emphasized this truth emphatically and with such finesse that the scene could be anywhere from small town America, to suburbia to the outskirts of any major urban area where God’s people gather.

The countenances on the wonderful children in this book reflect the joy of the actual Kingsbury family, with its wonderful diversity. Just as Christ adopted us as sons and daughters, the children in …..reflect that reality about what heaven can be truly like!

The poem and illustrations speak to us of children, community, church and Christ. Every MOP (mother of preschoolers) and those of Karen’s many, many readers, who were once MOPS, can identify with this book. Those of us were are, were and will be parents have all gone through the annual church Christmas pageant with our own 4 year olds as little sheep or our 8 year olds as shepherds with fake beards from Wal-Mart. We identify with driving our minivans through the snow for rehearsals, past smiling faces on the street as some kid tries to get her dad to buy her a puppy against his will! We recognize ourselves in the adoring congregation as we watch our little ones ham it up on the stage, or forget their lines or just burst out in tears from being worn out by all the Christmas activities! But we love it.

“We believe in Christmas” also brings back my own pre-teen years in the early 1960’s when times were simpler; when memories of Christmas were Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams singing about ‘walking in a winter wonderland’ and ‘Silver Bells’ we never really saw! But what really makes this book special is the final phrase – “if it’s Jesus that we keep”!

There is no better time to speak to kids of Jesus than why He was born like this! There is nothing more special than leading a little child to the Lord, so that he/she can have Jesus to keep forever. There is something special about author Karen Kingsbury, taking a detour from her many popular novels, to bless us with this encouragement – the encouragement to “suffer little children to come unto Me”….at an age where the only suffering is wearing a sheep costume! Moms and dads of every age will find joy and a great big, warm smile with this book.
RECOMMENDED: *****

OFFICIAL REVIEW OF "THE GIFT OF THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE" BY DANDI MACKALL

What do Cookie boards and Calvary boards have in common? Well, both are a testimony to loving hands which are full of caring mercy and grace! This is the message of the latest and most timely Christmas offering from Dandi Daley Mackall. Her new book “The Gift of the Christmas Cookie” carries that powerful message between its wonderfully illustrated pages.

Dandi, a well published author of over 400 books, did a masterful job of weaving the cold stark reality of Christmas in very tough early 20th century America into the even harsher days of the Middle Ages. Anyone over the age of fifty years old may have had parents and grandparents who can identify with these times.

The story of Jack and his hardworking mother is heartwarming in a tear jerky kind of way! The incredibly, time sensitive illustrations added tremendous atmosphere to a story of the great Christmas traditions of old!

Jack is the only son of a working class couple, where the dad has to go off, apparently far away to look for work. The depression era home is empty as Christmas comes around, but mom is busy making cookies for the needy in the church. Jack, as expected for a lonely boy, is downcast and missing his dad tremendously.

While making the cookies, Jack’s mom tells him the story of a Middle Ages woodcarver who lives among very poor and uneducated fellow villagers. He decides to bless the hungry villagers for Christmas by carving cookie boards to tell them about Christ. His family’s Christmas project was to make the cookies molded from those boards, decorate them with berries and colored sugar while daddy Woodcarver told the story of Christ!

Jack is then given his one Christmas gift – a large cookie, made from the same type of cookie board that long ago woodcarver made in another time and place.

The book has some poignant moments when a hungry stranger comes to the door asking for a meal on Christmas morning... Despite their poverty, Jack and his mom fed him a hot meal. All the while, Jack knew in his heart what he should do.

After the well fed stranger left the house, Jack picked up his only Christmas gift – that cookie board cookie – chased after the man and offered it to him! He then proceeds to tell the stranger about Christ.

One particularly neat illustration in the book can be found when Jack and his mom are in church admiring the Christmas story painted on the stained glass window. Right behind them is a man, who looked exactly like the woodcarver who started this whole cookie board story!
A really neat bonus for this Christmas season is the recipe that Dandi Mackall included in this book for the cookie board cookies! One of the best books of this Christmas season!

RECOMMENDED: *****

KAREN'S NEW BOOK FOR VETERAN'S DAY!

EVERY NOW AND THEN is book 3 in Karen Kingsbury's popular 9/11 series! It is being released today - Tuesday November 11, 2008; Veterans' Day.

Every Now & Then is a gripping story of danger and heroism. L.A. sheriff’s deputy Alex Brady fights crime during the worst fire season in California’s history. Now he faces the ultimate test. Will he have the courage to open his heart to love again?

Get your copy today at your local Christian book story and look out for her brand new Christmas Book for your children! It is called "WE BELIEVE IN CHRISTMAS".

BERNIE LUTCHMAN INTERVIEW WITH SEAL AMERICA'S TRAVELLING PRAYER MINISTRY THROUGH 50 US STATE CAPITOLS - SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS; SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

NDP'S LISA CRUMP PROPHESIES ABOUT SEALAMERICA!! Only in America!

SOFT PREACHING WEAKENING CHRISTIANITY IN THE U.S.

WATCH THIS SHORT 5 MINUTE VIDEO HERE AND WEEP FOR OUR YOUTH 
It is amazing to me that most churches would ignore or stay clear from the most fiery and honest evangelists in America - Paul Washer. But if you ever hear him preach, you will know why! He strips bare the lie of modern evangelism and the modern church movement. He was never invited to speak to the Baptist Youth again, after a 2002 Alabama Baptist Youth convention where he spoke Truth to the Laodecian church of today and its "converts"!

Paul had an amazing gift and anointing from God to speak the Truth of the Pure Gospel that only very few men and women preach these days. The closest teachers of the Gospel to Pastor Washer are Ray Comfort, Mark Keiler (Word Pictures), Drs. Steven Davey, John MacArthur and Johnny Hunt.

SINNER'S PRAYER
As a street preacher/evangelist myself, I was once caught up in the cheap evangelism these men accurately rail against. Namely..."Jesus died for your sins. Trust in the Work on the Cross and if you did, pray this salvation prayer with me!" I have done that and thought I brought people to the Lord! Now I know better, my friends!

What I had done is plant the seeds of the Gospel, but unless the Lord had prepared their hearts to receive the Gospel, all I did was plant the seed and even given false assurance that a prayer has saved them!
Now I know, from the prompting of Holy Ghost, that some of those I have witnessed to, taught one on one with and prayed with, HAVE been saved.

However, in hindsight, I think this represents less than 50% of those I originally thought were saved because I prayed a prayer with them! I pray the Lord takes over where I left off and leads them into a real relationship with Him!
If I, a mere humble man who has never been trained in a seminary, can realize this Truth, why can't those conservative preachers of the Gospel in American churches these days?

Why do they persist in offering up just enough of a vaccine of the Gospel, to say they are preaching Truth, and then ask people to pray with them at the end of the sermon, only to allow them to leave and go home with a smile and pat on the back to a potroast lunch at home? Why?!!

FALSE CONVERTS
What American Christianity has done is create a full roster of false "converts" who are heading for certain hell, unless someone gets a hold of them and their hearts with the Truth! It will take more than a short blog here to get to the root of the problem and provide answers, but stay with us here and maybe we can pull some back from the precipice!
What American Christianity has done is create a fool's gold of false baptisms to report to Head Office about how 'good our church' is doing, so we would look good at the next convention or to the future members.

Do not be angry with me, my friends. Here is what Jesus Himself says in Matthew 7:21(NKJV) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven".This is serious business. This is not fun and games or fad-driven spirituality. This is Jesus speaking in stark terms. This is the Truth. Search your own heart. Are you a child of His? If not, call out to Him NOW!
Are your sins forgiven?
Do you have the inner peace and joy of knowing that they are? 
If not, what is holding you back? There is no second chance once this mortal life is over. Repent and put your Trust in the Savior. 
Accept Him fully as YOUR Lord, because He is. If He is NOT your Lord now, then you are still not letting go of self. It is about Him and not us. 
Won't you consider this now?

It's time to get back to the TRUE preaching of the Word...the kind of power preaching which led to the salvation of 500 in 1741 when Jonathan Edwards preached the greatest sermon ever in America - SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD.
It is also time to go back to preaching the TRUE GOSPEL of Christ about the Total Depravity of Man, Repentance, Believing the Gospel and Putting Your Trust and Faith in Jesus - as Lord and Savior!
It is time for church leaders to stop playing games and worrying about buildings or numbers and start concerning themselves about the Temples of the Holy Spirit - the humans sitting in their pews.
It is time for also for those of us, sitting in those pews, to search our hearts daily and check to see if we are even saved and called by His Name!
It is just plain old time - to speak the Truth in love, with boldness and fearlessly.
It is finally time to realize that this message will offend some weak and all fake Christians. It is up to us to explain and touch their hearts with the Gospel, the True Gospel and not what's spouted week after week to inoculate the frozen chosen, until they come back for their booster shots the next week. 

In Jesus' Name, amen.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE: VIDEO - WHY PAUL WASHER SAID WHAT HE SAID IN THE VIDEO CLIP OF HIS MESSAGE ABOVE

RAY BOLTZ HAS LEFT THE FAITH

Romans 1:22- 24 (NASB) says, in part: "professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the GLORY of the INCORRUPTIBLE GOD for the image in the form of corruptible man.....therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity"
(EMPHASIS MINE)

Former Christian singer Ray Boltz left the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in 2004, when he left Contemporary Christian music. The same man who sang the perennial favorite "THANK YOU" and the great "PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE LAMB" not only chose to break his marriage vows with his wife of over 30 years, but commit abomination in his being against Holy God.

He made a conscious choice in both choosing the path of mortal sin in the flesh to immortality with Christ and by joining with the ultra-leftist Metropolitan Community Church (MCC)- the most outrageously gay religious group in America - he questioned the tenets of the Faith of Hebrews 11, and turned from us.

His ex-wife has joined the gay activist group Soulforce, whose goal is to disrupt solid Christian institutions like colleges and every single Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. His interview with the secular gay Washington DC paper is troubling in its content and shows the lack of direction of Contemporary Christian Music and the Gospel Music Association (GMA).

Even more troubling is the GMA's reaction to the revelation. They said they do not comment on the "LIFESTYLES" of their artists! WHAT? They said they are a "TRADE GROUP"! Okay....THEN DROP THE NAME GOSPEL FROM YOUR NAME! YOU HAVE NO RELATION TO THE GOSPEL, GMA! By the way, in case one thinks I am all wet, listen to some of the "contemporary Christian music" on Christian radio today, from this "trade groups's members" and see if you find any Gospel there either!!

Finally, while it is sad to see Ray Boltz go the way of the flesh and condemn himself as an unbeliever, it is a wake up call for the rest of us. Let us never think we can walk in the world and THEN Walk with the Lord! Ain't going to happen, hoss!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM GOV. SARAH PALIN'S SPEECH

WATCH SARAH PALIN'S CHRISTIAN WITNESS

Click here to watch US Vice Presidential Candidate, Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, give her Christian testimony!!

http://www.netbroadcasting.tv/sarah_palin.html

This is very encouraging and powerful, folks! Those of us in the Prayer Movement know a prophetic statement, spoken in the Holy Spirit, as she just aligned herself with!!AMEN!