Precarious Yates's Blog: Precarious Precipices, page 5

Before the Beginning

Every once in a while I run across a book that shows me an aspect of God’s love with clarity and cemented revelation. I want to share about that book with you today. Before the Beginning, by T. Webb, is a speculative fiction about the fall of Helel Ben Shachar, the anointed cherub, Satan. While reading this book I encountered not only the Lord’s relentless love, but His protective love.

I encourage you to check out the book for yourself! It’s chock full of revelation. And it’s free today on Kindle. Don’t have a Kindle? The Kindle app is free to download onto your computer!

If you’ve already read the book, please share your thoughts about it below!

To Set the Captives Free

I’ve had times where research for my novels is hard. There are days when my emotions are almost too fragile for what I need to learn about.

It’s always like this when I research human trafficking and modern slavery. Sometimes I see a picture of a trafficking scene in Budapest, or Bangkok, or Johannesburg, or Houston, and it sends me to my knees in prayer, in tears, in mourning for hearts that are torn to shreds by unfathomable selfishness.

One of the most difficult aspects for me to study is what happens to young boys and girls. When they should be protected they are violated in the worst ways. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming I can’t approach the subject without prayer.

So why did I take such a difficult subject and decide to write about it for teens?

Because I wish I knew when I was a teen.

Because I see kids who learn about this sort of thing moving mountains with God to make a difference. Take the young girl who decided to make the lemonade stand to raise money for IJM.

Or the kids who raise awareness in their local high school through Love146.

Teens just need different packaging from what grownups are researching. And so I write. I research as much as I can to get accurate information out there in my novels, but I also try to get it out there in a way that leaves you feeling hopeful.

Because the goal is FREEDOM, not information, and the goal is ABOLITION, not statistics.

I was reading about the Underground Railroad, which operated before and during the US Civil War, and I learned about this sea captain named Jonathan Walker who in 1845 was branded on his hand with the letters S.S., for slave stealer.

If I get a tattoo in the future, I hope I’d deserve this one. Slave Stealer.

The abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier put Walker’s deed into this marvelous verse: “Then lift that manly right hand, bold ploughman of the wave! Its branded palm shall prophesy, ‘Salvation to the Slave!’”

And oh, is that possible! All because of the Great Abolitionist, Jesus Christ, who bore the marks for our salvation in His hands, and proclaimed Isaiah 61 as His goal:

“He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

As His servant I proclaim liberty, and I proclaim the hope that He will come again, riding forth on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness.

The Revelation Special Ops series focuses the hope for abolition in the midst of a YA futuristic sci-fi story, not too unlike our world today.

The first book is The Elite of the Weak, where we meet Hadassah, who is a teen spy and is gripped by the plight of kids who are enslaved.

And the story continues in Pharmacia: Those Magic Arts, where we learn what insidious methods modern slavers use to keep people under control.

Book 3, Gold of Havilah, will be available in early 2014.

I also have a romance novel that’s a spin-off of the Revelation Special Ops series. UnEmbraceable traces the story of a homeless teen who has aged out of the foster care system and creates as much trouble for herself as you can bear to read…then finds a relentless and irresistible love.

Available as an ebook or paperback.

If you’ve been inspired, please visit the links page on this blog and find one of the many amazing organizations that are fearlessly working for abolition.

 

 

Similarities Between Exodus and Revelation part 6

You can find Part 5 here.

I’ve been discussing the seal judgments and how these have more parallels with the major and minor prophets rather than with Revelation, but I do want to point out a few things here that may be of interest, before we go into the trumpet judgments.

In the fourth plague of Exodus there’s a strange turn of events. In Exodus 8:22-23 the Lord says to Pharaoh:

“But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be there so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people.”

The Hebrews had not been removed from the land of Egypt but were set on display, to show God clearly making a distinction. In Revelation 12 and 13 we see a the enemy and his vassals making war against the saints. What would have stirred their ire so much if it wasn’t this mark of distinction during the time of great wrath and tribulation? In 1 Corinthians 4:9 Paul talks about how apostles are put on display not only to men but to angels as well.

The sixth seal is so odd and full of myriad disasters it deserves a whole blog post of its own. I may write that one day. But for now, I want to point out something specific: there are a number of people from vastly different socio-economic backgrounds who declare the same thing together: “…hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:16-17)

These are people who have actively opposed God and are publicly acknowledging His work. This means that they’re fully aware of what’s coming, even when they’ve denied it publicly up to this point. Kings, free men, rich, poor, powerful, helpless, mighty or slaves, they all recognize the coming King, and that these judgments are from His hand. Imagine a general hiding in a cave and calling for the rocks to fall on him. He’s quaking. And why? Because there will be a distinction made and the people of God, in plain sight, will be dealt with differently.

And how will we be able to stand? Because we won’t be objects of God’s wrath.

Lately I have seen strong parallels between Romans 8:31-39 and Revelation, particularly the letters to the churches, the fifth seal and select verses in chapters 12 and 13.

Let’s look at the Romans 8 passage:

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I’ve heard this passage referred to as the “more than conquerors” passage. And it’s necessary. Don’t dismiss it as a blithely feel-good passage. Wear it like armor. Let it anchor into your heart. This is training for you, for me, for our children. “To the one who overcomes (conquers) I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I have overcome (conquered) and sat down beside My Father…” (Rev. 3:21)

Long ago, when God freed His people from slavery in Egypt, His hand of protection was upon them. In the last days, God’s devotion to and love for us will be displayed through us while we rise as more than conquerors.

Although you may not be facing severe and violent persecution right now, there are some brothers and sisters in Christ who are. Pakistan, North Korea, Syria and Egypt are some locations where men, women and children of faith are slaughtered simply because of their belief in the One True God. If this post triggered thoughts of persecution happening in the world today, please take some time with me to pray for those facing these kinds of trials.

Father, I thank you that You sent Your Son to redeem me! I thank You that You sent Your Holy Spirit to live through me. I ask that you would infuse my brothers and sisters around the world with grace and courage during their hour of trial. I ask that you would surround them with Your protection. And I ask, Lord, that when the days come that I’m called to endure such trials, that I, too, would have grace and courage in the midst of it. I lay these requests at the feet of Your throne of Grace, through the name of Jesus! Amen!

God bless you!

The Soldier Story, an interview with musician Colin Meyer

Please welcome with me Colin Meyer of The Soldier Story, a musician from my home town of New Haven, CT.

Colin Meyer of The Soldier Story

Thanks for stopping by, Colin!

Me: Tell us about you. Where do you live and perform most of your music?

Colin: I live in New Haven, CT.  Most of our recent performances have been in the northeast.

Me: Tell us about The Soldier Story and how the band formed.

Colin: We originally formed as a six piece back in 1999. The first 10 years we spent mostly writing and rehearsing. One by one the rest of the members left during that time, so it’s now a solo project.

Me: When did you start to write your own music?
Colin: I started writing music when I was 9 after starting a band with some of my friends.  We made 5 or 6 albums.



Me: Who were your musical influences growing up? How have those changed over the years?
Colin: My parents are both musicians so I was always exposed to a wide variety of music growing up, but on my own I listened almost exclusively to U2 and R.E.M. I’ve had a variety of influences since, but probably none that have made such a mark as those two. Since then, I think I’ve been most influenced by the musicians I’ve been privileged to work with.



Me: Which usually comes first, the lyrics or the music?
Colin: I’ve experimented with this, but it’s about 50/50. Sometimes a song will begin with a drum part, or a lyric, or a melody, really anything.  I used to always write guitar parts first, and then build on that, but I found it started to limit my creativity.



Me: Describe the feeling when the lyrics and music begin to flow together.
Colin: It’s sort of like a baby in the womb; you conceive, and then suddenly there’s a growing being. You try your best to take care of it, but mostly it develops on its own, and it’s all truly miraculous.



Me: Tell us about your most recent album.
Colin: The new album is titled Rooms of the Indoors, and will be out Oct 1st. I started writing this in early 2009, the week after the first record came out.  This time, I decided to do everything myself; all of the instruments, the engineering, producing, artwork, mixing and mastering, videos, etc. I didn’t do this because I’m the best at all of these, but because it was the only way I could afford to make it.  I’m really passionate about each of these parts of the process anyway, so it was great to be able to do them all in one project.  The downside of this of course is a loss of multiple perspectives.  So, I invited a team of 5 people to give me advice on the sounds, the songs, the mixes, on everything throughout the process.  I can’t imagine making an album without that kind of help again.

The songs are really honest and intimate, and it’s a lot more direct lyrically than the first record so I wanted to build the album around the vocals. I’m really excited with the way it’s turned out.  It was also a great exercise in letting things go as a songwriter, to see if I could find something better as a producer. It sounds kind of silly, but these shifts in thinking really saved the record for me.



Me: I love the album cover! Where can we buy your music?
Colin: iTunes, bandcamp, cdbaby.



Me: Do you have a website where we can learn about tour dates, updates, etc.

Colin: thesoldierstorymusic.com

Thanks for sharing with us, Colin, and I wish you all the best with this next album! Now I’m going to jump over to iTunes…

Precarious here! I encourage all of you to check out The Soldier Story. I’ve been a fan of this band for a long time, even before I met Colin.

Back To School YA Hop

For Lovers of Young Adult Books!

Ahh…the back to school feeling…

Cooler weather, the sound of crinkling leaves, the promise of learning new things, the smell of pumpkin spiced lattes…….I digress!

One thing I always want to do when I first smell the cool air of a fall day is write a book. Or a poem. Or a play. I want to write anything I can, since the weather lends itself so graciously, and the renewed creativity of students and teachers makes the air electric.

Welcome to the Back to School blog hop. Here’s my version where I will be giving away the following items to the winners:

Grand prize:

Signed paperback copy of The Elite of the Weak
Personalized journal
bookmarks
Pilot Precise V5 pen, in either black, blue or purple (it’s the kind of pen I use to write all my books)

Second place prize:

Paperback copy of The Elite of the Weak

How does someone win? No bribing me with a pumpkin spiced latte.  Simply leave a comment below to be entered into the drawing.

Also, every visitor to the Precarious Yates blog can win something on Sept. 25 & 26.

What? you ask.

I have two books that will be free on Sept 25 & 26:

The Captives

Pyromarne

These are books 1 & 2 in The Heart of the Caveat Whale trilogy. Book 3 will be out in late October or early November.

And don’t forget to visit the other blogs on this hop! Each blog has its own unique giveaway with the Back to School theme!

Back to School Blog Hop

Similarities Between Exodus and Revelation, Part 5

This is to continue from where I left off on Part 4 (which I ended rather abruptly).

When looking at the seal judgments, there are far more parallels with the major and minor prophets than with the plagues from Exodus.

One of the biggest parallels you’ll find between the four horses and the OT prophets is with the fourth horse, the pale or pallid horse.  With this horse we read about four things that it brings:

sword
famine
plague
wild beasts

 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Rev. 6:7-8

Let’s compare this to the four dreadful judgments found in Ezekiel 14:21:

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals!”

In this instance we find:

sword
famine
wild beasts
plague

All the same sorts of judgment, yet we see a slight change in order.

We can also compare this to the judgments we find in Jeremiah 15:2-3.

“‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,

and those who are for the sword, to the sword;

those who are for famine, to famine,

and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. “

Verse two carries parallels with this passage in Revelation 6:7-8, but more so with Revelation 13:10. We’ll look at that later. For now, let’s look at the judgments in verse three.

sword
dogs
birds of the air
beasts of the earth

Although there are a few differences, such as the dogs and the birds of the air, the similarities are quite striking. And we’ve seen in recent years how the birds of the air can bring disease or plague. I don’t see any parallel between dogs and famine. If you do, I’d love to hear your insight!

While writing this post, my approach so far has been scholarly and reserved. While I read these verses in the Word, my heart is gripped with a sense of urgency, reverence and sorrow. Revelation 6:8 talks about how 1/4 of earth’s population would be decimated by this judgment. If this were to take place right now, 1/4 of the earth’s population would equal 2 billion people. This is unfathomable sorrow, and a pastoral crisis unlike any that most of us have faced in our lifetime. I don’t think we could imagine the devastation a judgment like this would bring. I can’t. And I pray that if I ever face an hour like this that I would have a strength of relationship with my Savior where I could offer, even if to one or two people, the comfort with which He comforts me.

Some may ask, “Isn’t God bringing this judgment?”

Here’s where I’ll draw a parallel between this chapter, with the seal judgments, and Revelation. In Exodus, God brought the plagues upon Egypt, but at the same time, Pharaoh’s hardened heart brought the onslaught of plagues. Pharaoh hardened his own heart against the Lord way before God hardened his heart. But because God unleashed these judgments against Pharaoh, over a million slaves were set free in a day.

Should slavery be permitted all for the sake of not having these judgments? I’ve wrestled with this question in the face of modern slavery. Should we stay the hand of the Great Abolitionist during the worst bout of slavery this world has ever seen? His judgments are terrifying, but just and true (Rev. 15: 3). The alternative, allowing the slavery to continue until we can properly legislate morality, is horrifying.

Yes, these judgments in Revelation 6 are the beacon for the worst time in all of history. But the light at the end of the tunnel (Rev. 21&22) give hope in the midst, as well at the realization that the Lord comes on behalf of truth, humility and justice (see Psalm 45:4).

Do you have any thoughts to share? I’d love to hear them! Do you see a place where I’m wrong? Please show me, because I only see in part.

God bless you!

Similarities Between Exodus and Revelation Part 4

As many of you know, I’ve dedicated the last few years to concentrated study on the book of Revelation. The first, or even the second time of reading this book of the Bible it becomes obvious that there are correlations between the plagues of Exodus and the judgments in Revelation.

Before I go any further with this post, I want to make it very clear that God NEVER lays aside His love when He brings judgment. God is love, and that’s the presupposition for all of my discussions on judgment. It’s an important point to remember, or we may take His judgments too lightly.

And another thing that might be good for you to know is that I don’t believe in pre-Tribulation rapture. If you’ve never heard of that term before, it’s the doctrine that says the church will be removed (or ‘raptured’) from the earth before the Tribulation. I see Jesus admonishing the church to wake up and overcome, not to get ready for the big escape where they can watch from balcony seating. The only ones who get that balcony seating beforehand are those who die, or are slain for their faith. The church stays as an agent of mercy, not as an object of wrath. Even in wrath, God remembers mercy, and He brings it through His people (see Habukkuk 3:2).

There are 21 judgments in the book of Revelation. Some of these are obvious and some strange and obscure. These judgments are broken up into three 7-wave judgments. Many of these judgments are similar to the plagues in Revelation, and I will draw comparisons and contrasts throughout this blog series.

There are the seven seal judgments, which we’ll touch on here in this post and in Part 5.

The stakes are raised in the seven trumpet judgments.

Lastly there are the terrifying seven bowl judgments.

I believe these are all separate waves of judgments, rather than different ways of looking at the same seven judgments, as some scholars suggest.

These last two waves, the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments, are the ones that most resemble what we see in Exodus. I’ll take five or more posts to unpack what’s happening there and how there are correlations with Exodus.

First let us look at the seals. There’s a ton going on here, but to unpack it we need to look at the prophets, both the 4 major prophets and the 12 minor prophets, for clues. Within these seals there are four horses, one proclamation of judgment from the faithful departed, the first of many earthquakes with other natural disasters, and finally the half hour of silence.

The first place to look for clues is Zechariah, since the four horses are featured there as well, even if not the same colors. Let’s look at this further.

The colors of the horses in Zechariah:

Red

Red

Brown

White

The colors of the horses in Revelation:

White

Red

Black

Pale (sickly)

 

 

CrossReads Book Blast: UnEmbraceable by Precarious Yates

Title: UnEmbraceable

By: Precarious Yates

About the Book

From the author of “Revelation Special Ops” comes a terrifying, hauntingly real and daringly hopeful tale of betrayal and love.

Leonard, a computer programmer, has a unique gift: by words alone he can calm violent situations. Which is helpful with all these kids running around the streets behaving like zombies. He has his own set of sorrows to face, but he’s prepared for anything. Anything except Tamar, and the thunderous inkling that she will be his wife. This doesn’t make any sense to Leonard. She stole his wallet. And his heart.

Painful circumstances ripped family and stability from Tamar’s grasp, but with gutsy tenacity she faces life head on. Meeting the gorgeous and single Leonard changes everything. But surely a guy like him would never fall for a girl of the streets like her.

LINK to KINDLE | LINK to PAPERBACKPrecarious Yates

Precarious Yates lives in Texas with husband, daughter, sheep, dogs, chickens, rabbit, lizard and by the time you read this some other exotic creature her husband or daughter has brought home. She had studied the plight of and worked toward the abolition of modern slavery for over a decade before sitting down to write Revelation Special Ops. She was further inspired by the work of her sister-in-law, who helped to found Love146, an organization that works to raise awareness about human trafficking and builds safe homes in vulnerable regions. Yates spent several years overseas as a missionary in Ireland, and also did missions work in India and the Philippines. Her passion for literature has become her means of further educating young adults of the realities of modern slavery, while producing hope through the power of Christ Jesus in us.

Follow Precarious Yates

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We would like to send out a special THANK YOU to all of the CrossReads book blast bloggers!

I, Saul: A Book Review

I, Saul

Jerry B. Jenkins & James MacDonald

Rating: 4 Star

About the book:

Here’s an international thriller in the vein of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Unlike Brown’s book, I, Saul has the presupposition that all scripture is God-breathed and infallible, a point which I appreciated very much. In I, Saul, a tour guide stumbles upon the biggest archaeological find since the Dead Sea Scrolls and asks his friend, a seminary professor, for help, since this manuscript find puts his life in serious danger.

Review:

There are many who may enjoy this book. There’s action, intrigue, romance and a sizable history lesson, especially about Roman prisons and punishment during the first century. Personally, this book wasn’t my favorite. There were certain insinuations about Luke’s character that didn’t sit well with me. Can we find any evidence in Acts or Paul’s letters that would suggest Luke would use bribery, or that Paul would slide that behavior under the rug? Since this book had so much input from credible historians I’d love an answer to that question. Would the story still have held its ground without this detail? I think so, but that’s my opinion.

I found the ‘autobiography’ of Saul/Paul quite intriguing, even if the language and style were quite modern at times. Paul’s final hours make this book a very worthy read. I wanted to jump up and rejoice in the Lord knowing that He would give any one of us the same grace He gave Paul in the hour of trial. Jenkins described it so well that I felt infused by courage!

The modern, thriller aspects of the book were pretty good. I loved the way Jenkins tied everything up in the end after leaving the reader hanging in many impossible situations. The romance aspect between Augie and Sofia had quite a bit of appeal. I appreciated the maturity with which these characters approached their romantic feelings toward one another.

These are my opinions about the book. Many who were disappointed in theology of The Da Vinci Code may be quite satisfied with this book as an alternative.

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Check out I, Saul on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Deeper Shopping.

The Story of Jane: A Parable of a Rescue

What it takes to rescue and restore girls from human trafficking is often more than we consider. Sometimes girls who are rescued don’t want to be.

Here’s a parable about that, a story from our back yard chicken farm.

Of all our chickens, Jane was my favorite. I named her early after we got as a chick. She was a sleek, black australorp, gentle and friendly with iridescent green feathers.

As she grew with the other chickens, one of the other chickens we thought was a hen turned out to be a rooster. Surprise, surprise!

Rocky the rooster grew meaner and meaner. Having fourteen hens to watch after, Rocky increasingly treated us humans with greater contempt. He attacked me no less than six times and I had to carry a giant rake with me every time I went to collect the eggs in the morning.

But as awful as he treated me, it was nothing compared to how he treated Jane, his favorite hen. While he wouldn’t let us near Jane, and attacked us if we got close, he would pull out her feathers and pluck out bits of her comb. It was painful to watch, to say the least, and more painful to experience, I can presume. She looked abused.

Rocky had to go. We brought him to justice…straight to the stew pot.

We had thought Rocky’s ‘justice’ would have brought relief to Jane.

Our sweet, docile and friendly chicken brooded and scowled from the top of the chicken coop. Out in the yard, she began to chase us, pecking at our legs and hands as often as she could manage. There seemed to be no return to her former self.

Weeks passed. Her feathers and comb began to grow back. She looked much healthier, but she continued to attack us. I dreaded going to the chicken coop and seeing her behave this way.

It seemed as if our rescue failed. Jane acted as if she missed Rocky, even though he abused her terribly. My poor hen suffered from what’s called ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, where the abused prefers the company of the abuser to those who treat her with love, honor and respect. It’s an odd phenomenon, but real. Very real.

Thankfully, this isn’t the end of the story. With massive pain comes the need to blame, but in this case the blame didn’t last forever. Jane has stopped chasing us and pecking at us, for the most part. There are a few symptoms of the past pain. Jane’s wary and skiddish and keeps her distance from the new rooster (who I’ve named Dinner so I can keep all attachments at bay). But Jane’s less apt to attack.

What changed?

I credit the change to the gentle persistence of a little girl, my daughter, who fearlessly approached Jane and held her lovingly. We take turns gently holding Jane.

It’s taken months, but we’re no longer afraid of Jane. Although I think Dinner might be. Our australorp may not be the easiest to love, but oh, I’m so fond of her!