Paul Ellis's Blog, page 30

Readers’ Survey

I have been writing articles for people like you for a decade, yet I hardly know you. Would you take a few minutes to complete E2R’s first ever Readers’ Survey? Your responses will help me plan a future that is relevant to you and your needs.

Many thanks,

Paul

Having trouble seeing the survey in your browser/email program? Here’s the link to the survey.

Deadline: July 3, 2019.

 

Last chance to grab special offer

Hi friends,

Just a gentle reminder that you have less than 24 hours to take advantage of our special offer.

“What special offer?”

Sign up as a patron before this weekend and you will receive my latest ebook, “Charles Spurgeon’s ‘All of Grace’.” My book contains the story behind the legendary sermon, and packages the sermon in easy-to-read language for modern readers.

You can get the book, plus gain instant access to a suite of goodies, for as little as $1/month. Not only that, but I will matc...

Special Offer for Escape to Reality Readers

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I’ve got a special offer for you. A real gem. Why? Because this week marks the third anniversary of me being on Patreon.

For those who’ve wondered why everything on Escape to Reality is free (and ad-free!), Patreon is the answer. Patreon is a crowdfunding platform where a lot of readers contribute a little each month, and the result is I get to write full time about the gospel of grace.

Patrons are partners in this gospel, and their support is not without benefits. Over the past three years...

Paul vs the Communists

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Do you remember what you were doing in 1989? Not to brag or anything, but I was smuggling Bibles into Communist China.

I don’t know if anyone still smuggles Bibles, but 30 years ago it was just about the most exciting thing a young Christian could do. I smuggled hundreds of Bibles and Christian books across the border, and when I tell people this, I am invariably asked one question: What happened when you got caught? Short answer: not much.

I once convinced a young man that the Communists pu...

The Soviet Empire and my part in its downfall

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. What are you doing to celebrate? For those too young to remember, 1989 was a remarkable year. At the start of the year, the shadow of a nuclear war between the world’s two superpowers, the USA and USSR, was as dark as ever; at the end of the year, the Soviet Bloc was all but gone. It was a year of revolution and hope. What happened? The short and simplistic answer is the Soviet Union ran out of money. (A better a...

Agent Romanoff and the Furious Love of God

  One of the greatest mistakes we can make, is we undervalue the love of Almighty God. We put his wild, reckless love in a box of undersized belief and we bury it under a temple of tradition. God’s love is this. God’s love is that. We think we have it all figured out. Except we don’t. We have not even scratched the surface of his love for us. Love, like the God who gives it, is far greater than we know or imagine. Every year, I glimpse a new facet of God’s love and I am freshly amazed. Some y...

Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’? (Luke 6:46)

“Paul, I’m a Christian. I’m worried about that Jesus might reject me even though I call him Lord. Am I doing enough to be saved?” Are you referring to this scripture: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). “That’s the one. It terrifies me.” Let me ask you: who is Jesus talking about? Who are the people who call him ‘Lord, Lord’ but don’t do what he says? “It’s those who don’t obey him.” What do you mean by obey? “We’ve got to keep the commands of God.” Whic...

The Gospel in Avengers: Endgame?

I love the gospel and I enjoy watching movies. I love it when movies hint at the gospel, and there were some big hints in the latest Marvel film. Did you notice? SPOILER WARNING: In a free article I’ve posted on Patreon, I talk about the Avengers: Endgame movie. If you haven’t seen the movie and you want to, do NOT read this article. Seriously. Go see the movie first. If you’re a Marvel fan, you’ll love it. But if you have seen the movie and are ready to read on, here’s the link to the full a...

The Gospel in the Seven Letters

You probably know that my book Letters from Jesus came out in paperback last week. I hope you don’t mind me banging this drum but I feel strongly about this one. Why? Because Jesus sent love letters from heaven and most of us are afraid to read them! We have been told his letters contain bad news, even threats for Christians. That’s a contemptible lie! We try and read the letters ourselves, but lacking any sort of lens, we can’t make sense of them. So we file them away in the too hard basket...

Last day to get your free book

This week I was chatting to one of the builders working on our house about the events of Easter in AD70. Like most people, he had never heard the story of how Titus allowed hundreds of thousands of pilgrims into Jerusalem for Passover before locking them inside and slaughtering them all. It’s a terrible story, but one Jesus saw coming. If you’ve ever wondered why Jesus said half the things he said about Jerusalem, the answer has to do with that Easter story. And if you’ve ever wondered why so...