Ada Brownell's Blog, page 8

Truth or Error? IMAGINE HOW YOU GOT HERE

DO UNIVERSITIES TEACH TRUTH OR ERROR?By Ada Brownell

Links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

ITunes  http://ow.ly/TY6uO
Excerpt from the book, Imagine the Future You. Here is the book summary:


IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOUA motivational Bible study by Ada BrownellReady or not, you’re going into your future.If you continue to do what you do now, what kind of future will you have? This Bible study will help you discover evidence for faith in God; how to look and be your best; who can help; interesting information about dating, love and marriage; choosing a career; how to deposit good things into your brain you can spend; and how to avoid hazards that jeopardize a successful life on earth and for eternity, all mingled with true stories that can make you smile.Review:  How I would have loved to sit at Mrs. Brownell's knee when I was a teen. This wholesome book resounds with sage, Godly advice and could be picked up again and again as needs arise. Worthwhile for parents too. Much fodder for family discussion.            Also available in Audio. Read or listen to first chapter free! #Teens #Family #DevotionsLinks: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06ITunes  http://ow.ly/TY6uO 

 
8. IMAGINE GOD CHANGING YOUR FUTURE
The Creator of the universe loves you and will guide you into blessed tomorrows.


God— the One who is, who always has been, and who always will be, is the most important person you can meet. He is your Creator, and what your future is like depends on your relationship with Him.
I know more and more young people are atheists today. This is by design by the secularists who write curriculum, teach in our schools, the universities, and have taken over our government and media. As I’ve said before, there is active brain washing to assure you won’t believe in God.
I’ve said many times in the past “atheism is the opiate of the sinner.” If wicked people at least think they don’t believe in God, it helps quiet their conscience. But their conscience won’t quit, so they blame it on other people . Apparently they know what Christians believe is real, so they target Christians. They think stopping the influence of Christianity will help them feel better in their sinful state. That is why religious freedom is in danger in the United States.
So, your future is wrapped in whether you believe in the God of the universe. For that reason I will present the truths to you in this chapter you might not have heard.
Besides creating you, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”That sentence is where the debate begins, but it’s nothing new. Atheists and agnostics argue extensively on this subject. Yet, they can’t prove God is not there. Neither, however, have Christians proved without a shadow of doubt God is the Creator and interested in humankind.
Because we can’t prove how we got here, atheism takes faith, as much or more faith than it takes to believe in a loving God. To be an atheist, man must be­lieve the eyes he sees with and everything he sees and even things he can’t see just happened, including the origin of matter, life and the exact mixture in the air we breathe: nitrogen, oxygen, water, argon, carbon dioxide and trace gases.
IMAGINE HOW YOU GOT HERE
Now, some Christians do believe in evolution—but with God starting the process. But those who believe in God don’t believe the universe or the magnificent human body happened by itself.
Most secular professors and teachers will not hesitate to tell you what to believe and not believe about your origins, but even scientists disagree.
One of the most interesting debates on evolution occurred in October 1980, when 150 scientists met in Chicago and began openly bickering among themselves, thundering forth conflicting theories.
Some scientists at this conference promulgated the “big bang” theory.Darwin’s theory also came under attack from scientists—because missing links are still missing after more than a century since Darwin.
“Fossil hunters have not found the fossils needed to explain the glar­ing differences between major species,” Associated Press newspaper columnist Hugh A. Mulligan reported. “In the whole cycle of environmental selection, with all the genes and embryos playing splitsville according to the evolutionary plan, no six-legged vertebrate has yet walked forth upon the earth.”
Science has pro­vided few or none of the examples of one major species shading gradually into another.
Fossil experts, not clergymen, are Darwin’s most formidable opponents, according to Phillip E. Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial.“There always will be missing links if we think in terms of link between all change,” a university anthropologist argued when I interviewed him. He said changes in Darwin’s theory have occurred, the most recent the theory of “punctuated equilibrium,” which he explained relates to the time taken for one species to shade into another.
“A form which had been a small variant, might have great rapid growth,” he said.
He used the doubling of chromosomes in some species as an example of radical change in a short period.
On the other hand, he admitted such doubling could be caused by the environment and also that most mutations are undesirable rather than desirable.
He used a fruit fly as an example of a species with a short life span where such changes in chromosomes could be observed. But he admitted the insect still was a fruit fly.
“It is very difficult for an average scientist to test evolution,” he said. “Our lives are too short and the research too specialized. The theory is the result of collective effort.”Any serious student with an open mind will eventually admit any species that has experiences changes is still the same species.
IMAGINE OUTDATED TEXTBOOK
One psychology professor openly ridiculed Christians in one of my university classes with more than seventy students. As the instructor made sarcastic remarks about Christians in the news and preached his atheistic ideas, I wondered why no one challenged him. One day I raised my hand.
 “You said this textbook will be outdated in ten years,” I began. “So what you are saying today might not be true in ten years?”


TOMORROW: OUTDATED TEXTBOOKS, DECEPTION AND NEW DISCOVERIES

IMAGINE HOW YOU GOT HERE

DO UNIVERSITIES TEACH TRUTH OR ERROR?By Ada Brownell
Excerpt from the book, Imagine the Future You. Here is the book summary: IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOUA motivational Bible study by Ada BrownellReady or not, you’re going into your future.If you continue to do what you do now, what kind of future will you have? This Bible study will help you discover evidence for faith in God; how to look and be your best; who can help; interesting information about dating, love and marriage; choosing a career; how to deposit good things into your brain you can spend; and how to avoid hazards that jeopardize a successful life on earth and for eternity, all mingled with true stories that can make you smile.Review:  How I would have loved to sit at Mrs. Brownell's knee when I was a teen. This wholesome book resounds with sage, Godly advice and could be picked up again and again as needs arise. Worthwhile for parents too. Much fodder for family discussion.            Also available in Audio. Read or listen to first chapter free! #Teens #Family #DevotionsLinks: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06ITunes  http://ow.ly/TY6uO 
 
8. IMAGINE GOD CHANGING YOUR FUTURE
The Creator of the universe loves you and will guide you into blessed tomorrows.


God— the One who is, who always has been, and who always will be, is the most important person you can meet. He is your Creator, and what your future is like depends on your relationship with Him.
I know more and more young people are atheists today. This is by design by the secularists who write curriculum, teach in our schools, the universities, and have taken over our government and media. As I’ve said before, there is active brain washing to assure you won’t believe in God.
I’ve said many times in the past “atheism is the opiate of the sinner.” If wicked people at least think they don’t believe in God, it helps quiet their conscience. But their conscience won’t quit, so they blame it on other people . Apparently they know what Christians believe is real, so they target Christians. They think stopping the influence of Christianity will help them feel better in their sinful state. That is why religious freedom is in danger in the United States.
So, your future is wrapped in whether you believe in the God of the universe. For that reason I will present the truths to you in this chapter you might not have heard.
Besides creating you, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”That sentence is where the debate begins, but it’s nothing new. Atheists and agnostics argue extensively on this subject. Yet, they can’t prove God is not there. Neither, however, have Christians proved without a shadow of doubt God is the Creator and interested in humankind.
Because we can’t prove how we got here, atheism takes faith, as much or more faith than it takes to believe in a loving God. To be an atheist, man must be­lieve the eyes he sees with and everything he sees and even things he can’t see just happened, including the origin of matter, life and the exact mixture in the air we breathe: nitrogen, oxygen, water, argon, carbon dioxide and trace gases.
IMAGINE HOW YOU GOT HERE
Now, some Christians do believe in evolution—but with God starting the process. But those who believe in God don’t believe the universe or the magnificent human body happened by itself.
Most secular professors and teachers will not hesitate to tell you what to believe and not believe about your origins, but even scientists disagree.
One of the most interesting debates on evolution occurred in October 1980, when 150 scientists met in Chicago and began openly bickering among themselves, thundering forth conflicting theories.
Some scientists at this conference promulgated the “big bang” theory.Darwin’s theory also came under attack from scientists—because missing links are still missing after more than a century since Darwin.
“Fossil hunters have not found the fossils needed to explain the glar­ing differences between major species,” Associated Press newspaper columnist Hugh A. Mulligan reported. “In the whole cycle of environmental selection, with all the genes and embryos playing splitsville according to the evolutionary plan, no six-legged vertebrate has yet walked forth upon the earth.”
Science has pro­vided few or none of the examples of one major species shading gradually into another.
Fossil experts, not clergymen, are Darwin’s most formidable opponents, according to Phillip E. Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial.“There always will be missing links if we think in terms of link between all change,” a university anthropologist argued when I interviewed him. He said changes in Darwin’s theory have occurred, the most recent the theory of “punctuated equilibrium,” which he explained relates to the time taken for one species to shade into another.
“A form which had been a small variant, might have great rapid growth,” he said.
He used the doubling of chromosomes in some species as an example of radical change in a short period.
On the other hand, he admitted such doubling could be caused by the environment and also that most mutations are undesirable rather than desirable.
He used a fruit fly as an example of a species with a short life span where such changes in chromosomes could be observed. But he admitted the insect still was a fruit fly.
“It is very difficult for an average scientist to test evolution,” he said. “Our lives are too short and the research too specialized. The theory is the result of collective effort.”Any serious student with an open mind will eventually admit any species that has experiences changes is still the same species.
IMAGINE OUTDATED TEXTBOOK
One psychology professor openly ridiculed Christians in one of my university classes with more than seventy students. As the instructor made sarcastic remarks about Christians in the news and preached his atheistic ideas, I wondered why no one challenged him. One day I raised my hand.
 “You said this textbook will be outdated in ten years,” I began. “So what you are saying today might not be true in ten years?”


TOMORROW: OUTDATED TEXTBOOKS, DECEPTION AND NEW DISCOVERIES

Carole Brown's new romanic mystery

The Heart that Loves is Always Young—Greek Proverb


My genre of choice is suspense and/or mystery. BUT, I love including romance within my books. Why? Let's list a few reasons:


·       Readers love it! Romance is the best selling genre of today's publishing world.
·       It brings a warmth to a novel that lures readers to continue their reading.
·       It's a great escape. Readers have a real world. A world filled with problems and heartaches at times, and for them, for a little while they can forget their own lives.
·       Encouragement. We know not everything is or ends as a fairy tale story in real life, but it's an encouragement to strive for that fairy tale—realistically—and hope to improve our own romantic lives.
·       Romance brings out emotions. The world calls us to be strong, career driven and the “amazon” woman. But reading romance—included in whatever genre—touches the emotions that are sometimes hidden within ourselves.


Suspense is known as mysterious, dramatic, at times a little scary or intense. But when I create touches of romantic passages (clean!) in my books, I can lighten that heavier scene.


Let's show you an example:


Knight In Shining Apron, Book Two of the Appleton, WV Romantic Mystery series
Excerpt from Chapter  19
“I lovingly insist.”
How could she resist that dazzling smile every time he wanted something from her? The answer? She couldn’t, even though she could feel her skin tingle with a tad bit of unease. Not enough to make her draw back for long, or object too strenuously. Long time habits died hard. At least for her. But she’d meant that pledge to God and to Joel. Trust or die trying. That's why she was going along with his idea of talking to Stu about plans to rebuild. But would the bank agree if they already had a problem with a loan for a more up-to-date oven?
She cocked her head sideways to look at the man driving his sporty convertible. Yep. Just as beautiful as she’d thought not a minute before. She chuckled when the vision of him protesting at her latest verbal compliment about being beautiful flashed into her mind.
“Men aren’t beautiful, My Princess,” he'd said.
But they were. At least, he was. He couldn’t win that argument. She laughed now, thinking about their argument, and he joined her, even though she knew he didn’t know why.
“Right on time.” He didn’t bother to open his door, only scooted up in his seat and stepped over the door. He flung open her door and took her hand to help her out. “Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?”
“No, you haven’t. It’s been all of fifteen minutes since you picked me up and informed me of that very fact. Far too long for me to remember it.”
Joel tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. “Don’t you be sassing me, My Princess.”
“Oh, I won’t.” What fun he was.
Just a touch of romantic warmth in this excerpt, but in the midst of Starli overcoming her emotional problems, it gives the reader a break and propels them further into the story. It helps create a barrier between the hardships we put our characters into and the light that shines onto them at times. For a suspense/mystery novelist, it's vital.

To everything there is a season...a time to love.   --Song of Solomon


Knight in Shining Apron -- Cover Blurb:By Carole Brown


Starli Cameron gave up her career plans to be a concert pianist to marry the man of her dreams. He turned out to be a nightmare. When he dies in a car accident, Starli takes the insurance money and builds a successful and upscale restaurant: Apple Blossoms in rural West Virginia.  Threats from someone determined to ruin her life and the suspicious romantic advances from her new chef force Starli to search her heart and finally turn to God for real healing.


Sir Joel Peterman-Blair, top notch chef from England, is roped by his uncle, into filling in as head Chef at Apple Blossoms. Joel, with his sanguine-personality, has always laughed and flirted his way through life. But now, confronted with and attracted to the most beautiful woman he’s ever met, Joel has to prove his sincerity and depth of character to his icy-cold employer. Can his love for God and for this woman reach out far enough to rescue her from her own mistrust and bitterness? Will he learn that life is not all play?


And can they both work together to find the source of threats that seem to be coming from Starli’s past? 

Buy the book:http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1427898838&sr=8-1


Meet Carole Brown
Carole Brown


Bio:Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. An author of ten books, she loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?

Personal blog: http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaroleBrown.authorAmazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1427898838&sr=8-1Twitter:  https://twitter.com/browncarole212BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/carole-brownInstagram:  https://www.instagram.com/browncarole212/?hl=enPinterest: http://pinterest.com/sunnywrtr/boards/Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5237997-carole-brownLinkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/carole-brown-79b6951a/Google+:    https://plus.google.com/u/0/113068871986311965415/posts Stitches in Time:  http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/


Buy the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1427898838&sr=8-1

SOMETHING IS MISSING IN many WOMEN VOTERS

By Ada Brownell
Republican, Democrat, Independent, or Socialist, a large majority of women eligible to vote have a huge liability—time to think.
For years, I didn’t vote because I didn’t have time to investigate the candidates. I didn’t even know which political party to align myself with.
Our five children grew up and didn’t require so much care, so I began to pay attention when an election loomed ahead.
I began to think, and knew babies are more than a blob in a woman’s uterus. Our fifth child was the only one that was a surprise, and even though well-meaning friends who didn’t take time to think advised me to have an abortion, I knew I had a baby in my womb, who lived from the moment of conception, moved, had hiccups, and grew in my belly.
Yes, I had a child with severe asthma that demanded much of my time, but the daughter that I delivered has been such a blessing and a joy!
 I decided the first thing I’d want to know about a candidate is that person’s view of abortion. No matter what else the candidate supports, if the person didn’t respect life, I’d vote for the other party.
After that would come things such as support for our military, a commitment to freedom according to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Yes, I’ve taken time to read both documents. I want someone who will also open our borders to legal immigration, and shut the door to those who break the law to come.
 I’d want the person to be wise about how to help the poor, defend the handicapped, and find solutions to providing health care at a reasonable cost, prevent Medicare and Medicaid from going bankrupt by tightening wasteful spending, which includes advertising for medications that can’t be purchased without a prescription. I’d want the candidate to support and build more community health centers, where patients pay on a sliding fee according to income. I want someone with the guts to defund Planned Parenthood, and get the government out of the abortion business.
The greatest thing about freedom is I can think about my vote and cast it accordingly.
I pray this generation of women will register, and get out and vote. But first, take time to think about who you’re voting for, and how that vote will affect their future, perhaps even into old age.
--Ada Brownell is a retired reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain and the author of several hundred published magazine articles and nine books.

WHAT WILL YOU BRING INTO YOUR MARRIAGE?

7. IMAGINE YOU ON YOUR WEDDING DAY
An excerpt from Ada Brownell's book, Imagine the Future You.
NOTE: Ada Brownell spent seven years as a medical writer for The Pueblo Chieftain.
By Ada Brownell
What will you bring into your marriage?


 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” 1 Peter 5:8.


A high school human sexuality teacher who is a Christian did this experiment for me in a class I taught at our church’s Dunamis Academy.
She gave paper and pencils to everyone. Before class, she marked an X on the back of one of the papers, but none of the kids knew it. She instructed students to shake hands with other teens and have them sign each other’s papers. They shook hands and gathered signatures for five minutes, and then returned to their seats.
“Turn your papers over and see if there is an X on the back,” she told them. A girl found the X and raised her hand.
The teacher told her to stand up. “She has Virus X. Who signed her paper?”
Five hands went up, and those kids stood.
“Now these five have the virus. Who signed their papers?” Four more got out of their seats, also contaminated by the fictional “virus.”
Six more admitted their fate.
Eventually all remaining students were “infected.”
“This is how sexually transmitted diseases spread,” the teacher said. “When you have sex with someone, you are essentially going to bed with every person that individual had sex with, because once a sexually transmitted disease is shared, it is contagious until the disease is cured—if the disease has a cure. You might be intimate with only one person but be exposed to multiple diseases.”
Some STDs, such as herpes, cause severe misery and are incurable, but they don’t kill. But the HIV-AIDS virus isn’t the only one that kills. Both hepatitis B and C affect the liver and can take your life. Human papilloma virus (genital warts) sometimes causes cervical cancer. Chlamydia and gonorrhea, left untreated, can affect joints and heart valves and cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and even blindness.
 A story by Lawrence K. Altman published in the New York Times on March 12, 2008, said the first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women found that one in four is infected with at least one of the diseases.

IMAGINE YOU—CLEAN!

 But the federal study could have pointed out three out of four do not have the disease. I imagine a large number of them were virgins.
When my husband and I were married, couples took blood tests to check for STDs. When a virgin discovered she was set to marry someone affected with a disease, there was time to call off the wedding. Of course, my husband and I had nothing to worry about, and the test came out negative.
I would guess in my day most of us were virgins, and I knew my beautiful white satin gown testified to that fact.
According to Kelsey McIntyre in From Times Past, white has been accepted as the preferred wedding dress color since Queen Victoria married her cousin Albert of Saxe-Coburg in 1840. Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1849 reported, “Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material. It is an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood and the unsullied heart she now submits to the chosen one.”
A wedding gown probably is the most beautiful dress most women wear in their lives. Even the least expensive are exquisite.
Young men, too, probably will never be more handsome than the day they stand at the altar waiting in a tuxedo for the beautiful bride.
Children often like to play “bride and bridegroom,” and during their growing years, many girls dream of the day when they walk down the church aisle, dressed in white, as the wedding march fills the sanctuary.
In 1953, about half of all women were married by age twenty, and half of all men by age twenty-two. In 2002, the average age for the bride was twenty-five and bridegroom age twenty-seven.
Today, thousands of couples are living together without being married, and multitudes of young women give birth to babies without being married. In addition, approximately fifty million babies have been killed by abortion in the United States since abortion became legal in 1973.
Something happened. A large number of young men don’t bend a knee and extend a tiny box containing a diamond and ask their beloved to marry them. Instead, many just want to rush the girls off to bed somewhere and perhaps live together.
Some folks blame the lack of finances and needing to wait to earn a college education as the reason to delay marriage, but it doesn’t make sense. You can get a marriage license for a few bucks. A pastor will marry you for free, but it’s customary to pay him one hundred dollars or so. A couple can live cheaper than two single people, and you can get your education after marriage. I did. Thousands of people earn their degrees later, and most of the people did from generations before us.
But there is something else—and it’s huge. Young women and men are giving away their virginity as if they are dropping a penny on the sidewalk and leaving it there. Guys who already have a sexual relationship with a woman won’t hurry to get married. A woman who gives away her virginity before marriage risks never being married—especially to him!
IMAGINE: UNBLEMISHED
With throwing away virginity goes the dream of walking down the church aisle in a white wedding gown or a tuxedo as a virgin, pure and unblemished. Maybe the bride will wear white, but it won’t mean anything—especially to the couple.
In addition, sex before marriage causes emotional consequences. Physicians Joe S. McIlhaney and Freda McKissic Bush, authors of the book Hooked,In contrast, when the bride is a virgin and her man loved her enough to control his own urges for his wedding day, there is suspense, excitement, electricity, and sparks that go way beyond the fireworks of the wedding. When they bow their knees together and pray with the minister’s hands on their heads, they are serious about this commitment. They recite their vows to God, concluding with tears in their eyes, “Until death do us part,” and they intend to keep their vow. If they continue to follow Him, God will help them through the better or worse, thick or thin, hair or baldness, sickness or health, poorer or richer.
Staying pure until the wedding night is the way God dreams of life for young couples.
Sure, God knows about sex. He invented it. Here’s what God’s Word says: “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4).
One time during the hippie generation, evangelist Billy Graham visited a college campus and asked students what they would like to talk about.
“Let’s talk about sex!” yelled one uncouth student.
“Sure,” said the evangelist with a smile. “That’s how we all got here, isn’t it?” Then he explained sex is a wonderful thing between two married people, and marriage is endorsed by God. But he added sex outside of marriage will bring only sin and sorrow.
Young people who accept anything less than God’s best for them learn early about the sorrow.
For a newspaper story, I visited and interviewed a high school class for unmarried students who were pregnant or had babies. These girls were angry! They were furious at their former boyfriends. Only one out of about twenty was still dating the guy. The girls were upset at their parents. They didn’t want their parents interfering with their lives, although they needed financial support and help with the child. I think some of them were capable of anger at their babies, too, and that was one reason for the parenting class—to teach them how to love and care for the children and to prevent physical abuse. Just shaking a baby can cause mental retardation and dire consequences.
A large percentage of girls who give birth out of wedlock have another child in two or three years, even though they aren’t married. A few complete high school and college and go on to a successful career, but the life they always dreamed of often eludes them. Many of the girls will spend the rest of their lives in poverty, feeling unloved.
Don’t believe it when someone tells you STDs can be prevented even if you are sexually promiscuous or have sex with someone who has been exposed to a disease. Some of the devices do help, but all have a failure rate, as do birth control methods.
Don’t believe it, either, if Satan tries to make you believe the sexual experience will be
worth anything you pay for it. In a moment of passion, people do believe that. In reality, it often is over within a few seconds. Some counselors say single men seldom find it as satisfactory as married sex, and women almost never are satisfied with early sexual encounters.
IMAGINE REACHING YOUR GOALS
Many young people are ruining their health, future, and their lives by having sex before marriage. All over America, however, are youth who respect themselves enough to wait until they get married. These young women—and there are larger numbers of them than you would think—aren’t concerned about being “sexy” or whether they have a date for the weekend. The girls have lots of girlfriends and friends who are boys. The boys enjoy friends of both sexes, too. Many go places in groups but usually don’t pair off with the opposite sex. Others date, but sex is off-limits.
These gals have goals in life they plan to reach.
Wise young people keep their eyes on goals they want to pursue and stand firm in not allowing Satan to snatch their future. Even some who aren’t dedicated to God know they’ll never reach their goals if they take that beer, smoke that pot, use that drug, or engage in premarital sex. They don’t want to be stuck with an addiction or a disease, a baby to support, or a hysterical person in love with him or her at this point in life.
Young people who are committed to God have those and much deeper reasons for resisting temptation. It’s not because parents and pastors get up and yell and warn them about the dangers of premarital sex, although the warnings should be heeded.
It’s because they made a commitment to the Lord, who loves them more than anyone, and they want to please God and obey His Word.
God started in Old Testament times warning about the dangers of sexual sins by giving the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.”
Many counselors and some Bible translations say adultery covers all forms of sexual sin. Furthermore, adultery is the only reason Jesus gave for divorce.Jesus put sexual sin on the same level with murder (Matthew 15:19). In Hebrews, we’re told God will judge the sexually immoral (Hebrews 13:4), and we’re told by Peter that Sodom and Gomorrah were examples of what happens to people who commit such sins, and if they do not repent, they will be cast into hell (2 Peter 2: 4–10).
John says if someone says, “‘I know Him (Jesus)’ but doesn’t keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 1:4).       
 We aren’t even supposed to be friends with people who commit sexual sin (1 Corinthians 5:9). We can try to win such people to Christ, but if they claim to be Christians and continue to sin, they should be excommunicated from the church (1 Corinthians 5:5). Paul says we should do that (1) for the sake of the offenders so perhaps they will repent and turn from their wicked ways and be restored to fellowship; (2) for the sake of the church’s purity (verses 6–8); and (3) for the good of the world. If the church is just like the world, how can we expect to win people to Christ?
Paul explains the reason we should not have fellowship with or have such people in our church membership is because “a little leaven (or yeast) leavens the whole lump.”
Of course, if people truly repent of sexual sins and turn from their wicked ways, God will have mercy on them and forgive them, and the church should welcome them with open arms. New Christians should not, however, be put into positions of leadership until they have proved themselves as dedicated Christians who follow the Lord (1 Timothy 3:6). Yet, in this world they will still reap much of the harvest of their sins, for what a man sows, he will reap.God knew what He was doing when He created marriage and put within us a desire to love a person of the opposite sex so much we’ll want to spend our whole lives with him or her, even when we’re upset with the person, he or she turns old and ugly, we’re out of money, or our spouse becomes disabled or ill.
That is true love.
It is the commitment to their relationship that makes another person know he or she is loved—not a willingness to have sex.
Waiting is not easy if you begin dating when you’re age twelve. It’s also difficult with long engagements if you see each other every day.
Your future is in your hands. If you want to walk down the aisle a virgin, and if you want to marry a virgin, you need to decide how you’re going to accomplish your goal. You will accomplish this shimmering walk with your will, your decisions, and assistance of the power available through our Almighty God. The Bible says, “Resist the devil and he’ll flee from you.”
TIPS TO HELP YOU KEEP YOUR VIRGINITY UNTIL MARRIAGE
Don’t watch immorality on TV or in a movie. If it’s placed before you, walk out.Consciously reject lustful thoughts when Satan tries to put them into your head.Don’t dress seductively; dress modestly (see 1 Timothy 2:9).         Don’t start dating until you’re sixteen or older. If you’re not ready to get married, why court? It just complicates your life. When you break up with someone, he or she is no longer your friend. When the person dates your friend, you’re mad at your friend. If you don’t date, you can be friends with everyone!When you do date, do most of your activities with groups and in public places. Don’t spend a lot of time kissing and holding one another close.Never have a person you are dating in your home when you are alone or in your bedroom, or lie down together anywhere.Be aware that you don’t need to date someone to lose your virginity. Molesters steal the innocence of young people—male and female—every day. Don’t sit on an uncle’s lap or drape yourself over your favorite cousin—or even your dad. Don’t be alone with any member of the opposite sex anywhere that could make opportunity for lust to capture the sinful mind. It usually starts with an inappropriate touch. The prophet Jeremiah wrote: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).Don’t dance. There is a reason why dancing is a fertility rite among primitive cultures: It arouses sexual desires.    Don’t think you are above temptation because you are a Christian. Satan walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And Satan wants to destroy you—especially if you are a Christian.When you know you’re in love, value that person. Treat her or him with respect, and also treat yourself with respect. You are made in the image of God.Don’t have a long engagement. Married people do get through college, and do find jobs to support themselves. If, however, you are not willing to work (and this includes cleaning house, washing dishes, and cooking), you aren’t grown up enough or self-disciplined enough to be married. Begin praying now for the person you will marry because he or she is alive somewhere right now, even though you most likely don’t know the individual. Pray he or she will dedicate himself or herself totally to God, keep pure, and be committed to God’s will.
If both of you want God’s will for your lives and are willing to use your own will to achieve going into your marriage as virgins, you’ll be successful!
It is true that even if you’ve sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and if we ask forgiveness and turn from sin, He will abundantly pardon. Counselors now talk about “secondary virginity.” The woman caught in the act of adultery, in danger of being stoned to death, Jesus rescued. But he told her, “Go. And sin no more.” Never plan to sin and then ask forgiveness. Open rebellion against God is a dangerous thing. Real virginity is precious, and once lost it is forever gone.  








Moody Publishers, 2008. Matthew 5:32 Galatians 6:7

THE SOUL SEARCHER--WHY I LOVE FANTASY WRITING

By Erin Howard
New Release: The Soul Searcher (The Kalila Chronicles, #2)
One of the things that I love most about fantasy books is how you can escape into the story as if you were there along with the characters. I’ve always been fascinated with story worlds and how they can be used to show complex issues and make you think about your own life. When I was writing the first and second book in my series, The Kalila Chronicles, I wanted to have characters that are real and show the messy parts in life. Everyone has something that they struggle with at some point in their lives. I hope readers will not only be able to escape and enjoy my stories but also to identify with my characters and know that they aren’t alone.  I love how the fantasy genre can bring aspects to life.  Back cover blurb:
Elnora’s parents gave her one rule: Stay hidden away at all costs. Elnora Scott is used to her survival depending on the decisions of others. Locked away in her safe house, it is easy to follow her parents’ dying wishes until an angel, demon, and seer show up on her doorstep. Now, waking up in a dirty cell, she wishes she would have gone with them when she had the chance, because the very ones who unknowingly ushered the kidnapper to her location may be the only ones who can save her. When Thea learns that Elnora may be in danger, she doesn’t hesitate to go find her. Thea thought stepping through the portal would be her greatest obstacle, but it only reveals a more sinister threat. Bio:
Erin R. Howard is a developmental editor, fantasy author of The Kalila Chronicles, and has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing/English from Southern New Hampshire University. When she's not writing, Erin enjoys spending time with her family, fueling her craft addictions, and teaching writing workshops. Erin is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the KenTen Writers Group. She resides in Western Kentucky with her husband and three children.
Social Media:
Website:  https://erinrhoward.com/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/E.R.H.Fiction/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ErinRHoward Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/erinrhoward/ Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/erinrhoward/
Blog/Wordpress:   https://erinrhoward.wordpress.com/

Erin Howard's Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/c386-H
Purchase Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Searcher-Kalila-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B07MLXTYJT

IS FALLING IN LOVE AN UNAVOIDALBE DIVE, OR A DECISION

Excerpt from the book by Ada Brownell, Imagine the Future You

IMAGINE YOU FALLING IN LOVE Is falling in love an unavoidable dive, or a decision?
By Ada Brownell Would you like your parents arranging your marriage? That still happens in many foreign countries. How would you guys feel about not knowing who your bride is until the ceremony is over and you lift the veil to kiss her? Some men experienced that. An 11-year-old girl, apparently from Yemen, recently made a passionate plea to her parents to stop pressuring her into an arranged marriage. The resulting video caught international attention.  In 1960, the Encyclopedia Americana reported more than one half of the total female population of India married before fifteen years of age, and sometimes while they were still infants. In the western provinces of India, a bride remained at home with her parents until she went through puberty. But in Bengal, girls commenced their married life at age nine. In some countries, a hopeful suitor would give a girl’s father a certain amount of money or goods like cattle or sheep for his daughter, and sometimes the bride brought a dowry of property to her bridegroom. The amount depended on the status and economic circumstances of the families involved.  Historically at the engagement, the suitor often gave an ornament of some value, which signified his pledge. That was the predecessor of the modern engagement ring. IMAGINE WORKING SEVEN YEARS FOR A WIFE In Old Testament times, many marriages were arranged. Jacob met Rachel leading sheep and was so smitten he kissed her and wept (Genesis 29:11). Perhaps it was on the cheek. Who knows? Jacob stayed with Rachel’s father, Laban, a month, working for him like a ranch hand. Finally, Laban asked what Jacob expected to be paid, and Jacob told Laban he was in love with Rachel and he agreed to work seven years for her. Finally there was a wedding feast, and after the ceremony, Jacob discovered he had been given Rachel’s older sister, Leah, instead. He protested, and Laban said he couldn’t give the younger daughter before the older girl married. Despite having a wife, Jacob worked another seven years to get Rachel. In Old Testament times, God allowed men to have more than one wife. IMAGINE GOD GIVING A MATE Abraham arranged the marriage for his son, Isaac, and a servant picked her out. You can read the story in Genesis 24. He must have been worthy of the trust, because the servant traveled some distance to find her and then asked God to show him the right girl out of the dozens of women who came to a well to draw water. “Oh Lord, God of my master,” the servant prayed, “give me success and show kindness to my master, Abraham. Help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey. See, here I am, standing beside this spring, and the young women of the village are coming to draw water. I will ask one of them for a drink. If she says, `Yes, certainly, and I will water your camels, too!’ Let her be the one you appointed as Isaac’s wife. By this, I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” As he prayed, a beautiful young woman, Rebekah, arrived with a water jug on her shoulder. She went to the spring, bent over, filled her jug, and straightened. Running over to her, the servant said, “Please give me a drink.” “Certainly, sir,” she said, and she quickly lowered the jug to fill it from the well. When he finished gulping the refreshing liquid, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough!” She emptied the jug into the watering trough and ran down to the well again. She kept carrying water until the camels’ intense thirst was quenched. The servant watched Rachel in silence. When the camels finished drinking, he gave her a gold ring and two large gold bracelets. The servant stayed with her family and told them about how his prayer was answered. But Isaac wasn’t even there. The father gave Rebekah to the servant, but only after Rebekah agreed to go. Isaac saw the servant coming home with someone. Excited, he raced out to meet them. When Rebekah saw Isaac coming, she dismounted, covered her face with a veil, and ran to him. Rebekah became Isaac’s wife and he loved her, the Bible says. She was a special comfort to him because his mother had just died. WHY ARRANGED MARRIAGES SURVIVE There is a reason arranged marriages work: Falling in love is an act of the will. Cupid doesn’t shoot you with a poison love arrow and “twang!” you’re a goner. Love happens to you because of several circumstances. You are around the person of the opposite sex frequently (that’s called propinquity—what happens when you are near in time and space). You desire someone in your life. Your God-given instincts are telling you to create a family.  The person will build your ego. You think, Won’t everyone be surprised I have a boyfriend? Won’t everyone be impressed with how pretty she is or how handsome he is? Won’t everyone be impressed because of how popular he or she is? He’s so tall he makes me feel so feminine; or, She has such a great figure it makes me feel great to walk beside her. She or he treats me so nice it makes me feel special. Because you decide to fall in love to create excitement in your life. Because no one better is available. Because you have similar interests. Because you are lonely. Because someone else thinks it’s a good idea. Most important: Because while you were in the womb God had a plan for both of you, and your love is so strong you feel you can’t live without one another (Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalms 37:33).  Some Pharisees came and asked Jesus, “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?” “Haven’t you read the scriptures,” Jesus replied. “From the beginning God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:3-6KJ) There may be dozens of other reasons you fall in love, but even if you aren’t conscious of why it is happening, you allow yourself to love someone else. It’s a decision. If love happened spontaneously without your will being involved, people who are greatly overweight would have as many proposals for marriage as others. So would the handicapped or someone with facial deformities or pure physical ugliness. I once knew a young woman whose father was quite wealthy, but one of her eyes was noticeably higher than the other. She was an old maid, at least the last I heard. But she was a sweet, talented young woman, and really not so bad-looking. It seems Americans don’t know the meaning of love, although it’s before us all the time. Well, we do know how we want others to love us, but many aren’t willing to give that kind of love back. We want others to love us unconditionally— the way God loves us, no matter how we look, how we act, or what we do. God talks to us about love in 1 Corinthians 13. The Bible chapter is read during many weddings—but most couples don’t absorb what it says or promptly forget it. That scripture passage tells us if we don’t love others, we’re like clanging cymbals—all noise and little music. The fellow who tries to persuade his girlfriend to have sex before marriage is like that clanging symbol. If he really loved her, he wouldn’t think of stealing her chastity. If he really loved himself, he wouldn’t want the sin, the guilt, the possibility of disease, the guilt of an abortion, or perhaps bringing a child into the world whom he would be required by law to support until it turns eighteen. There is no such thing as a “love child” born out of wedlock. It is a “lust child” if it was conceived before the wedding. Of course, this isn’t the child’s fault, and it should be loved no matter how it was conceived. The scripture tells us, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, boastful, proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8). Spiritually, marriage is a union between a man and a woman so they can enjoy, love, and protect one another, and also to protect the family. Children need a father to help guide, discipline, love, and financially support them. Children need a mother to nurture them, guide them, discipline them, and love them. Even biologically, the object of marriage is to ensure the survival of the species and of the race, according to Drs. Abraham and Hannah Stone’s A Marriage Manual. A Marriage Manual (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953), 3.

5. IMAGINE YOUR MENTAL WEALTH

Excerpt from the book, Imagine the Future YouBy Ada Brownell
IMAGINE YOUR MENTAL WEALTHWhat you need to know and what you don’t want to know
You came into this life “empty-headed.”
When we were kids, my brother used to tell me he could look into one of my ears and see out the other. Then I had an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of my brain so I could do a firsthand story on the latest technology.
I started the newspaper article with “My brother was wrong. There is something in there.”
What I mean by “empty-headed” is that no stored information existed in our brains when we came into this world. New brains are like a blank sheet of paper, although fantastic stored data governing our neurological systems and instincts operate even while we’re still in the womb. What God “programmed” into us commanded our arms, legs, fingers, toes, and so forth to move even before birth. Instincts God installed in our DNA prompted us to suck, swallow, cry, and feel hunger, as well as caused the various inner parts of our body to function. Babies arrive with a brain download to literally cry for love, care, and being held, and they won’t thrive without these things.
When we were a few months of age, we learned to coordinate movements so we could reach for things because our muscles and brains developed that capacity.
Nevertheless, we all needed outside stimuli to use the potential from the brain. Children who are given no attention often don’t learn to sit, walk, or talk.
We learned our language skills by imitating. If Mom kept saying “Mama” over and over to us, soon we worked our mouths and tongues around, using our vocal cords so we could come up with a fairly good imitation. Sometimes the child says “Dada” first and learns later what it means.
If the parents speak Chinese, the child obviously will learn Chinese instead of English, and children of Spanish-speaking parents communicate in Spanish or whatever language is spoken in the home.
All through childhood, children imitate what they see and hear. Adults imitate other people—at least in some degree—all their lives. For instance, we like to imitate the experts on everything from sports to dancing, to gardening, to playing or singing music, to doing tricks on a bicycle or skateboard.
But imitation isn’t all there is. At some point we think for ourselves.
IMAGINE THINKING FOR YOURSELF
As children, we started thinking for ourselves when we gagged and spit out the spinach baby food and then decided which cold cereal we like best. If we were born into a poor Oriental family, we might like rice instead. If we lived in an African slum, we’d be grateful for slimy oatmeal gruel in a dirty bowl.
In some parts of the world, you’d think putting live bugs between two slices of bread was a special treat, even though bugs crawled around on your fingers as you ate them. In other countries you’d eat dog and monkey. In times past it was quite common for Americans to eat cow and pig brains and kidneys. They made “head cheese,” which was a meat jelly made from the head of a calf or pig. You can still buy pickled pig’s feet. I don’t know if they still sell head cheese but it became popular in a society that didn’t waste anything. In hard times, people also ate squirrels and turtles.
You cringe at the thought. Your stomach turns. That’s because you think for yourself and form an opinion.
Your head is not empty now. You learned by experience and from other people. That’s the only way we assimilate knowledge.
After we learn something, we usually can recall it spontaneously. We ride a bike without thinking about how we balance. We can type, text, cook, clean, repair cars, and program computers. We balance checkbooks, do income tax, use math to buy and sell, and make chemical formulas to create medicines that save people’s lives or to invent guns, bombs, and rockets to kill them. You can store billions of information blocks in your memory.
 According to Kenneth Higbee, author of Your Memory and How it Works and How to Improve it,Everything you put into your mind, especially what you experience, changes you. You study to learn or pick up information from your friends, your parents, or through the media, and you are affected.
IMAGINE BEING ON GUARD  
I am choosy about what goes into my brain and hope you are, too.
The Bible says when we have a close relationship with God, He will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Yet, you decide whether or not to post that guard, the Holy Spirit, at the door. If we listen to what our conscience and scripture tells us, 24/7, and resist, Satan and his cohorts flee in fear.
The Holy Spirit, through our conscience, convinces us of sin (so we’ll know what it is), righteousness (so we’ll understand that), and judgment (so we’ll know God will reward those who live for Him and punish those who do not).It helps to think on things that are true, things that are honorable, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.IMAGINE GREAT DOWNLOADS IN YOUR BRAIN
 We also are able to put some beautiful things in our brains: God’s Word, good music, good information, a willingness to learn, a willingness to work, a determination to love, a determination to help, a determination to make heaven our home.
Although His covenant is etched into our hearts, we still need to study good things that “Ca-ching!” profitable character. We’re told in the book of Timothy to study to show ourselves approved unto God, so we will rightly interpret the Word of Truth.
But even if we memorize the Ten Commandments, such as “thou shall not lie” or “thou shall not steal,” and “do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” we can turn away when Satan tempts.
If we use our excellent knowledge of good things, our character and integrity grow. Our will becomes stronger. It’s like seeing a growing baby every day. He looks the same size if we see him often, but if we wait six months or a year, we see a big difference! And you and others will see a change in you when you put positive things you learn into action.
When we make good decisions, we become more mature, more trustworthy, more dependable, and our potential for doing great things increases.
IMAGINE A STRONGER BRAIN GUARD       
In addition to a spiritual guard over the brain, often we need to reject evil that constantly crashes into the door of our mind and tries to burst through.
Ungodly things we assimilate into our brains (even alcohol or an illegal drug) can do things to our brains we can’t fathom.
Could be like what happened to Jones, my sister Clara’s Chihuahua, a little darling dog who did tricks for Clara’s husband, Blackie. They would put some glassless eyeglasses on Jonesy, as we called him, and he’d sit up, take his front paws, and act as if he were reading a newspaper. He’d play dead when Blackie pointed his finger and yelled, “Bang!”
Jonesy did all kinds of tricks and received his hamburgers “made to order” and a human-style cookie for dessert, not doggie treats.
But one day he coughed, sneezed, and gagged all through the night. He wouldn’t eat, and he continued coughing, sneezing, and gagging for several days.
My sis thought Jones was dying, and she couldn’t bear putting him to sleep. Her son was fighting a war, and he was attached to the dog, too.
“We can’t let Jonesy die!” she said.
After about a week of the dog not eating, Jonesy gagged and Clara noticed something in the back of his throat. A long blade of grass hung down his throat and through his nose! She reached in and pulled it out. Jonesy immediately got a drink of water and started eating and lived for several years after that.
Sometimes a tiny amount of filth or ungodliness can give us great grief.
If we are forced to read ungodly material, we can pray as we read for God’s protection against our minds, but we can go even further. We can go to the teacher or person in charge and say the book offends us and ask for a substitute. Teachers usually provide something else, especially if you come with a respectful attitude and your grades show you’re not just trying to get out of something.
I obtained a substitute book in college when Hugh Hefner’s biography was required reading. I didn’t want that stuff in my brain. When I overheard another student say of the biography of the Playboy empire owner and founder, “That’s really a raunchy book!” I knew it wasn’t for me.
A much more serious problem with our brains arises that’s more difficult to talk about. Yes, we should respect those over us, but we also need to be aware there is some brainwashing going on.
A THIEF AT THE DOOR
I am a graduate of a secular college and saw brainwashing firsthand. Secular college professors often want to “reprogram” students who have faith in a personal God. I encountered anti-God teaching in psychology classes, a course on the environment, and even in music history classes. Mass communications classes seemed to be saturated with obscenity and we spent most of our time in the media law class studying obscenity law.
If you are a science major, changing your belief systems is a top priority in a secular college.
In secular learning institutions, Christians often are ridiculed, discriminated against, and even given lower grades or flunked if they don’t embrace the theology of secularism.
Most colleges and universities promote a one-world government, teach against freedom and capitalism, and work to make secularism everyone’s religion and the earth their God.
Today, the progressive political system and secularists, and even other religions, are inserting anti-Christian and ungodly doctrines into public school education to brainwash out the Christian teaching implanted by the church and parents. You make up your mind whether to reject it.
IMAGINE RECALL
One thing we learn about our brain is once we put something into it, it’s there for recall. Sometimes the things you try the hardest to forget are the ones that stick. That’s why we need to be careful what we put into our heads.
IMAGINE BRAINWASHING
Webster’s New World Dictionary says brainwashing is “to indoctrinate so intensively and thoroughly as to effect a radical transformation of beliefs and mental attitudes.”
In other words, to brainwash you is to change not only how you think, but also what you think. Furthermore, if you are brainwashed, it changes who you are.
Armies who keep prisoners of war often brainwash one person at a time, but communists and Nazis brainwashed entire societies. In America, we not only have brainwashing in institutions of learning, but it’s done by gangs, politicians, and the media. Gangs and governments can brainwash you so thoroughly you’ll kill your brother, grandmother, or mother.
 The media brainwashes you by portraying the majority of Christians as crooks and adulterers. A few high-profile ministers have been great sinners, but if they break God’s laws, they are no longer Christians in God’s sight.
The media rarely mention powerful things accomplished by Christians and Jews. Christian charities have housed and fed the homeless and hungry around the world for centuries. Missionaries often bring feeding programs, build orphanages, and offer free health care and medicine when they go to tell the world about Jesus. Christians are there, too, when disaster strikes.
Religion was the reason people learned to read. Since the Middle Ages, there has been near-universal literacy among Jewish men because they were required to read the Torah by age thirteen.
In the early church, Christians copied the apostles’ writings by hand, as was done meticulously for centuries with Old Testament scriptures, with everything being continually checked and rechecked for accuracy. That is what the scribes did. With the Protestant Reformation came a desire for everyone to read scripture. Then Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, and the first book printed was the Gutenberg Bible.
According to the Encyclopedia Americana, education in colonial New England grew out of the Reformation as well. Puritans made sure their children could read the Bible. In the Middle Colonies, religious sects birthed early schools. In the Southern Colonies, parents tutored their children or educated them in a private school, often so they could read God’s Word. In New England, teachers got their jobs because of their soundness in the faith. The home and church provided most education until the early 1900s.
Universities and colleges were started by religious organizations: Harvard to train preachers; Yale for training in church work, civil duties, the arts and sciences; Vanderbilt for teaching law, medicine, theology, and the arts; Baylor was the fruit of the Baptist General Convention; Boston University was started by Methodists for training in theology; Boston College was Catholic, as was Fordham; Cornell College was Methodist; Rutgers University for eighty years included the New Brunswick Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of America. Universities were established by other denominations and religious organizations that included biblical training as well.
 Christians are still educating the world. Wycliffe Bible Translators live with primitive tribes and give them a written language and teach them to read. Wycliffe translated the Bible into hundreds of languages and brought literacy to many nations. Through its Last Languages Campaign, Wycliffe’s translators hope to have the 2,200 last languages translated by the year 2025. Currently, Wycliffe has 1,400 translation literacy and language development programs, touching nearly six hundred million people in 176 countries.
Beyond that, Jews and the church birthed most of the hospitals in our nation.
Christians visit those in prison, mental hospitals, and nursing homes; care for orphans; and speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, such as infants in the womb.
Churches teach children to obey their parents—then they provide wholesome activities for youth, mostly for no charge. They teach marriage and parenting classes, provide grief support, and offer recovery groups for alcoholics and others—without charge.
Christians will come to our side when we’re dying and comfort those left behind.
THE USE OF PROPAGANDA
Those who brainwash use propaganda, which aims to accomplish a systematic changing of your beliefs, practices, and ideas. It’s similar to how some journalists and politicians “spin” facts, spinning the listener’s mind away from the truth, convincing the audience to believe a lie.
The most successful propaganda usually always has some truth in it. If it were all lies, most people would resist it.
“For a long time propagandists have recognized that lying must be avoided,” says Jacques Ellul, author of Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes.Where propaganda goes to work to change minds is in the “interpretation” of the truth, or the “slant” placed on the truth.
Ellul’s book says in France between 1921 and 1936, the Communist Party made progress because of election propaganda, and the same was true for the Nazi Party during 1929 and 1933.
Mao Tse-tung said propaganda can “force” people to become Marxist. His first techniques failed, but then he went to public discussion, criticism, persuasion, and Marxist education, especially for children, and he turned China to his way of thinking.
This was in spite of Mao executing an estimated two to five million people and sending several million to labor camps.
 To have the greatest effect, propaganda must base itself on existing tendencies, Ellul said,Ellul said preexisting attitudes fade quickly in real propaganda campaigns, which surround people from morning to night, childhood to old age, in all they read and hear, without giving them rest or a moment to pause, think, or catch their breath.Dave Roever, a US Navy SEAL who served in Vietnam, in his book, Scarred,“They took all our clothes away from us and left us standing naked and shivering in the cold rain while they issued tattered, ruined old World War II `greens,’” recalled Roever  “We were forced into formation for inspection, and then beaten because a button was missing. We were given hard labor because a zipper wasn’t zipped, when it wasn’t even there.”
 They put him in a box the size of a baby coffin, in a sitting position.
“Three or four men forced me into a folded position, my face on my knees, and they hammered the lid on the box. For many hours I remained in the box. They would come with large chains and beat on it. The sound was horrific. I went numb from my waist to my feet.”
      The trainers continued the torture, and every time they stopped, Roever smiled. One officer became so angry, he struck Roever with his fist and knocked the young trainee’s teeth through his lower lip.
The men were starved, shown food, then the “pretend” captors did despicable things to what had been served—before they threw it in the dirt.
Eventually, machine guns firing blanks erupted out in the bushes, US troops clothed in full uniform and carrying American guns came in, and the exercise was over. The trainees shredded the North Vietnamese flag that had been flying over the compound and sent up the American flag while a bugler played “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
The training exercise had been tough, and Roever wondered what it would be like to be captured by the Vietcong.
Roever was not captured by the enemy, but he underwent even greater challenges when a phosphorous grenade exploded in his hand one day in Vietnam, blowing off his face, several fingers, and an ear, and severely damaging an eye and his chest. The battle he fought was not only to live, but also to want to live and to fulfill God’s call on his life.
Today Roever is a preacher who goes back to Vietnam with humanitarian missions and hopes someday to win that nation for Christ. He also has a program for wounded soldiers in Colorado.
Today you need to be aware some people and organizations would like to brainwash you. We need to actively resist. Roever did, and he came out smiling.
When someone is trying to steal your faith, mentally say “reject, reject.” Dave Roever had his name, rank, and serial number to answer every attempt by his interrogators to bend his will and force him to reveal military secrets. Christians have hundreds of scripture verses that not only will help us to resist but also send the enemy, Satan, to flight.
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7) is one example of these scriptures.      
IMAGINE YOU IN BATTLE      
Now, when you’re young, is the time to fill your brain with things that will help you in the future. Your youth is similar to basic training, because much of what you learn won’t be used until you reach the battles of adulthood.
But if you invite Him to, God will be there to help you in the difficult choices you need to make. Basic training in the military shows young men how to make split-second decisions that save lives or a nation. Basic training helps them build bodies so strong they can build bridges in hours, dig trenches for cover in minutes, and stand against the enemy for days with almost no sleep or food.
Learning all you can now will make you strong enough to stand up to Satan and his devices and not only save your own soul, but lead others to freedom through Jesus Christ. But you’ll need the whole armor of God described in Ephesians 6:10–18: the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the breast plate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit (God’s Word), and feet fitted with readiness of the Gospel of peace.
Submitting to God’s love for us and His plan for our lives will give us the greatest joy that can be achieved on this earth. You might have heard of the biblical “Joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8) and the “rivers of living water” (John 7:38 that will flow through you.
 But that’s not all. Accepting salvation through Jesus Christ, who died for us, will give us eternal life, and our souls will never die.
That’s the most important information of all to put into our brain’s memory system.




IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU (Summary)
By Ada Brownell
Will you be the person you dream of becoming, or the person in your nightmares?
Ready or not, you are headed into your future.
Would you like to achieve your dreams of being all you can be inside and out? Would you like to deposit good information in your brain you can spend and invest in your future?
Read or listen to Ada Brownell’s book, Imagine the Future You.
This author, who taught church youth for more than 30 years, spent a good hunk of her life as a journalist interviewing successful people who achieved great things, but also met and wrote about those whose lives had become so entangled with baggage they needed a miracle to turn them loose. In addition, she has picked brains and studied how to believe in yourself and things greater than you.
You need this book.  E-book, paper and audible. Great narrator.
Mom: Our teenage daughter loves this book!
 http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
ITunes  http://ow.ly/TY6uO

How Christianity changes the world

·        By  Ada Brownell 
·        
I was a kid. A visiting missionary stretched a snake skin over the church altar. That day in the early 1940s, it seemed to cover the mourners' bench and go from aisle to aisle.
“That kind of snake hides in the trees in Africa,” my brother told me. “They drop on you, squeeze you to death and swallow you whole.”
The missionary showed a home movie of almost-naked Africans who heard the gospel for the first time. I thought hearing about Jesus and his love was good, with them living with big snakes and all. Then my brother informed me some were cannibals.
The missionary also told how a witch doctor came to Jesus and the whole village accepted Christ and danced with joy.
I remember what happened when Christian missionaries took the gospel to remote Indian tribes in Ecuador during the 1950s. Jim Elliot and his wife, Elisabeth, studied Spanish, tropical diseases and learned to do some medical treatments. Jim and Elisabeth also translated the New Testament into the Quechua language and ministered to the Quechua Indians from their missionary station at the base of the Andes Mountains.
One day the pilot, Nate Saint, who flew in supplies regularly, spotted Auca Indian houses. The five men on their team prayed for a way to reach Aucas with the gospel.
After trading gifts with the Indians, the missionaries found a beach where they could land. They prayed, and Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian set up camp.
Three Aucas acted friendly, but on January 8, 1956, hostile Aucas speared the missionary men to death.
Yet, Elisabeth Elliot and her daughter, Valerie, along with Rachel Saint (Nate Saint’s sister) went back and lived with the tribe. With the help of Dayuma, an Auca woman, Elisabeth created a written language and used it to translate the Bible. Now many Auca Indians are literate Christians.
Following Jesus has always been dangerous. In the 20th century, Christians were among millions killed or starved by Communist dictators Mao (China), Stalin (Russia), Leopold (Belguim), Tojo (Japan) and the world has no idea how many thousands or millions have been killed by Islamic radicals in the 21st century.
Nevertheless, nations have been changed by Christians who teach what Jesus taught: “Love your neighbor as yourself; Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you; Love your enemies and do good unto those that despitefully use you.”
A 2011 Pew Research poll showed China now has an estimated 67 million Christians. Africa is the zone of Christianity’s greatest growth today, according to Crux, a Catholic publication. Africa is the world’s most populous Christian continent, with slightly more Christians than North America. The Pew Forum projects that by 2050, sub-Saharan Africa will have 1.1 billion Christians, almost twice as many as its nearest rival, Islam.
The turning of wicked individuals and nations to Jesus is not only a story of courage, but also one of unconditional love, healing and forgiveness.
Gospel light blazed from mouths and actions of missionaries, evangelists such as Billy Graham, Christian organizations that built hospitals, schools, universities, and charitable agencies that do something about illiteracy, disasters, hunger, disease, poverty and orphans. Christians lift up the value of human life, equal human rights, compassion and mercy; value of education, marriage and family; and political freedom. Also rising from biblical teachings is a strong work ethic and the joy of music and singing.
My friends Ruth and Curtis Butler went to the Philippines to teach the gospel and stayed despite finding cobras in the kitchen. They weren’t harmed and served 31 years in missions, obeying Jesus’ command to go into the world and preach the gospel. After retirement, they taught the Ablaze Bible Class at Pueblo Christian Center for 10 years before Curtis’ death, and Ruth continues to teach.
Why take risks like deadly snakes to spread Christianity?
Because each person needs to know God loves him, will forgive sin and gives eternal life. No one can be forced to believe and receive salvation. It’s a choice, but “how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14).
Ada Brownell is a retired reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain. A freelance writer, she has eight published books and writes occasionally for Christian publications. Her blog is inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com

The Castle and the Catapult: Joe the Dreamer

Fiction By A.B. Brownell
Enter an area where people are missing and radicals want to obliterate Christianity from the earth. Joe Baker’s parents are among the missing and he finds himself with someone after him. He joins a gang committed to preventing and solving crimes in their neighborhood with harmless things such as noise, water, and a pet skunk instead of blades and bullets. Praying for his parents’ return, in his dreams Joe slips into the skin of Bible characters, but cries out in his sleep. He ends up in a mental hospital. Will he escape or be harmed? Will he find his parents? Does God answer prayer?


Enjoyed by mid-grade and up ---including adults.


 No fantasy. No wizard, but suspense. Christian payload. Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult
Reviewer: “A.B. Brownell weaves a tale of intrigue and faith which captures the reader from the opening page.” Another reader: This book is relevant to what is happening today. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in years.
[image error][image error][image error]In paperback or e-copy.  http://ow.ly/VmcHh  [image error]