REVIEW: Decievers

Decievers is a book that will capture your attention right away. Have you ever stopped to think about the subtle tactics of the enemy? Ever considered the ways that the Enemy has infiltrated the world we live in – maybe even in our lives? The introduction of the book states “We believe that stage-setting for Christ’s Olivet prophecy about deceivers and deception is on the front burner of life today. It is alto¬gether fitting, therefore, to assess this particular end-times signal in ascer¬taining where we might stand on God’s prophetic timeline.” The pages following this compelling introduction are filled with the subtle ways that Satan is showing up in every arena of life – tiny deceptions, lies that are mixed with divine truths, slights of hands that make us question the foundations of faith we once so staunchly believed in. The enemy is a master of deception, a master of twisting the truth. He is the ultimate one to make us question the goodness of God and in that question causing us to accept less than what God has in store for us. This book confirmed the things I had thought. It also made me keenly aware of my responsibility as a parent to invest in my children, to “train them up in the way they should go” (Proverbs 22:6). Parenthood is not a task that can be pawned off on the church leaders, or the school. It is a task that we must boldly take up as Christian parents, equipping our children for the spiritual battles they will face in their life time. This book, in short, is one that must be read. I think it joins other books like Indoctrination and Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World (also published by MasterBooks). It is time that the scales come off that Christians stand boldly against the Enemy. It is time that we become uncomfortable in this world that is not our home, that our lives become like the salt of the earth and the light in the darkness. We must not allow the deception of the enemy to shadow the hallowed walls of our church or thwart the power of our testimonies. We must take a stand. We must sound the call “awake o, Sleeper!”. We must not allow the deception of the enemy into our lives for one second longer. Open this book – be prepared for God to move, and with His movement be prepared to get uncomfortable, to have your eyes opened. But most of all be prepared to see the Truth of the enemy and learn to stand firm in the faith! Good Reading! http://www.masterbooks.com

How being called by name changes who I am

Isaiah 43:1 I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME; YOU ARE MINE Take a moment: Consider the question who are you? How would you introduce yourself? No consider the question: Who do other's say I am, the world, friends, family? To the first question many of you will answer: I am a wife/mother, sister, daughter. I am a good student, a successful __________ To the second question you may stop; struggle, consider and reconsider if you should even put into words the things that come to your mind. What if someone sees what you write down, what if writing them down makes them true? Should you even put down those secret thoughts that come to your mind? Those labels you have picked up over the years of life? After all some of them are so ugly, so negative - you are ashamed they even come to mind. After all your a Christian and you hate yourself for even being defined by them at all. Maybe some of them would be; your ugly, your worthless, you will never measure up, you will never be enough, you aren't good enough, you can't do _____, your too big, your too small, too young or too old. But maybe in the midst of those there are the good things too: your a peacemaker, your humble and gentle or patient. But even so they all seek to distract us from one identity - the one identity that matters most. The one identity that was given to us before the world began and we were just a thought in the mind of an amazing and creative God. So let's take a look at what God says about us; you and me...... Isaiah 43:1 says "Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; You are mine. It is not a mistake you are here. You were created by loving God for a specific purpose, for this time and this place. But somewhere along the road of life we begin to pick up labels and names that misdirect our destiny as a chosen race and royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)....we seem to forget exactly who we are. We forget our names so to speak, we doubt our purpose. We forget our identity as children of God, a holy nation, a people of his possession (1 Peter 2:9). We seem to lose our way...we love the Lord yet we doubt the identity He has given us. We long for acceptance yet deep down in the part us no sees we doubt we are loveable. We accept His grace yet sometimes in the secret places of our hearts we doubt we should receive it or that it will really cover everything that is so wrong with us - that we are even really redeemable. And so the identity crisis looms large..... We begin to accept the labels as truth and we replace the TRUTH of God with these "truths" of the world. We resign ourselves to be and become less than we are created for. In Isaiah 41:1 we read that God has redeemed us and called us by name and claimed us for Himself. Stop a moment.....close your eyes....think back to being a small girl. Remember how you would dream of Prince Charming? He would fight for your honour, he would defend you at all cost. He would scale the highest walls to the tallest towers and descend to the deepest darkest dungeons. He would chop through the deepest forests, battle the fiercest dragons, fight the largest enemies, slay the mightiest monsters to claim you....the Princess. But....you grow up and the world is no place for fairy tales. There is no Prince Charming to go to battle for you. There is no room for Prince Charmings that don't ever really satisfy that longing deep inside yourself. You even doubt you are worth a Prince Charming at all - would one ever really come for you? So you resign yourself. But I am here to tell you that there is a greater love story going on - and YOU are at its very center - you are the central character - YOU are the princess who is pursued. It is a love story that spans from the beginning of time... Isaiah says He redeemed YOU! This means he fought the dragons, the giants. He slayed the Lions of the world. He scaled the highest towers and descended into the deepest dungeons. He faced the meanest enemies, fought the fiercest battles and he redeemed YOU. You are His and according to Jeremiah 31:3 he has loved you with an everlasting love - one that has no beginning and no end. A love that can not be quenched with time, does not grow weary along the journey, is not afraid of loss and celebrates joys. You are loved with an everlasting love!! Not only that but in Solomon 4:7 we hear his voice echo through the ages and whisper in your ear "you are altogether beautiful, absolutely flawless".....ahhhh....words of love...the words of The ONE who adores you, looks upon you withe pleasure, would lay down His life for yours to redeem you and take you as His. But there's more - in Zephaniah He states that He takes delight in you, and in John 15:15 we learn that He calls you a friend - not just a number, not a face in the crowd, a nameless person in the grocery store, not just a mother, a wife, a woman in the midst of life. No He calls you a friend, by name - He desires a personal relationship! This God - this Creator of the Universe, This Lion of Judah, This Prince of Peace, This Saviour, Messiah, King of Kings - HE chose YOU! He chose you and engraved your name upon the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:16), you are not forgotten - ever. You are ever before His eyes, precious to him. But....somewhere along the way we forget. We lose sight, we somehow determine within ourselves that this greatest love which He bestows upon us is not for us, that somehow we don't deserve it, we don't measure up, we can't accept it. It is true we don't deserve it, we can't ever do enough to. We can't ever do enough to earn it. But we deserve it by the mere fact that we were created by Him for the very purpose of receiving it. What difference does this truth make? It makes this difference: It means that when you are in the trenches of motherhood, walking the halls at night, soothing babies, changing diapers, fighting with a teen, praying over your wayward child - you are not alone. When the enemy tells you that you are an epic failure you can look back to HIM and hear what he says about you and who He says you are. You can step aside and allow HIM to destroy the lions of this world one lie at a time. It means when you hear that voice that says you are too old or too young for something that you can have the confidence in the fact that in Jeremiah He says "you will go where I send you, say what I tell you to say and not be afraid because I am with you..." It means when once again you have that sinking feeling that you are not good enough, you'll never measure up, that you just can't do it, that your a disappointment to your parent, your children, your husband, or your friends that you can look to Him. You can be reminded that in Him you are good enough. You are enough because He is in you and He has called you by name. He has spoken your name in the tenderest of love and drawn you to Him. He will fight for you because He has loved you with an everlasting love. It means you can have confidence that He not only call you by name, He created you for a purpose. According to Ephesians 2:10 you were created by His handiwork - that means He took time to create you, He thought about you, created you carefully and with love. He was involved and cherished His creation. He created you for a purpose. He created you for good works that only you can do. You are the Esther created for just a time as this, for the purpose at hand, for where He has placed you - to do something only you can do. And Sisters, if he prepared you, created you for this purpose and time He will equip you and He will help you. Take a moment today to ask God what He really says about who you are. Reflect on your answers to the first two questions. Allow God to speak to you - allow the Prince to destroy the lions in your life, to dispel the lies and to set you free. And once you remember who you are: Stand strong, stand firm, stand in confidence in the identity you have in Christ. Walk in the confidence that you are His - and you are loved with an everlasting love.

The World's Story 1

From its opening proclamation; “What we need to realize is that we are not islands unto ourselves; we are the present generation of God’s family, the legacy of many previous generations The Bible is Holy Spirit-breathed and is completely true and the ultimate guide to “Ancient History.” This is why I have chosen to use the Bible as my absolute baseline of truth, not just for this book but for all my writing and, indeed, my life. In this world of relativism, I know that I desperately need something that I can trust at all times. That is why I stand on the promises of God, written to me in the Holy Word of God. Whenever I have a question about something, I go to the Bible. The answer is always there. Always. No exception. It is living and breathing and completely pertinent to every issue with which mankind has ever dealt” To its closing chapter this History book points continually back to the author of human history and the part that we each play in the greater story. The Lessons open with a reference to Scripture – continually drawing the student’s focus back to God and then proceeds to teach a lesson about a particular culture or period through a Biblical World View. After teaching home school for almost 13 years now and viewing and using many different Christian curriculums this is the first that is both engaging and exciting while teaching the fundamentals of history and incorporating strong Biblical world views. I was so impressed with the author’s heart as they expressed: “I want you to feel His heart break as He watches the people, whom He created, turn their backs on Him and choose sin. I want you to marvel as His plan for a Redeemer begins to be revealed in history. I want you to be amazed at the very real, very flawed people He decides to use to do amazing things in the story of the world . . . just because He can!I want you to hear His heartbeat as He chooses a young woman to be the earthly mother of His own Son. I want you to feel the pain as the crown of thorns rips into the skin of God in human flesh: Jesus. I want you to look into the eyes of my Savior and my Friend as He breathes His last, and like me, I want you to KNOW that He did it for you, too. I want all of us to hear His voice rending the heavens with His cry, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” What more could a Christian home school parent wish for than a curriculum that continually draws the child’s eye and heart to the one who is writing their story? What more could we want for our children then to hope they see history as a testimony of God’s enduring grace, a legacy of lessons to learn from and the hope that God has given the Nations through His Son? I could not put down my copy. I could not put down my copy of the book – I read the lessons through, I pondered the questions, I let the truth of history and God’s hand sink in. I was excited to open the book each day to read more of it. Then – I did the ultimate test that any mom reading home school material does – I sat down with my children (those age appropriate for this text, the two in high school and the two below the age of this text) and I read it to them. I saw a light of adventure come into my boy’s eyes – score one for MasterBooks and this author! I witnessed my 4 and 6 year old become captivated by the text and entranced by the photos – score two for Masterbooks and the author! I listened as the grade 9 boy punched the grade 10 girl in the arm and said – “I wish we had this ancient history when we took it in elementary!!” – Score again! Yep, an all around great curriculum when children get excited about it; when its not like pulling teeth to get them to sit down for a lesson. So we’ve established that my family loves this curriculum. But now I want to let you know what makes it so special, what makes it unique, why it would be a good fit for your family. First – It is a very strict Biblical world-view. This means this text seeks to show the reader that God is in control and very much concerned with His creation and His people across the span of time. He is active in all ages, all cultures, in every instance. The focus continually draws the reader back to the author and finisher of the human story. Second – Each section or chapter begins with a section called “Start Here” – this marks a new section or chapter and opens with a brief description of what will be discussed and scripture. This is an excellent opportunity to have discussion with the student about what they expect to learn from the section and what they think they already know about the subject. I have found that this is the time when I have my kiddos write down questions they have about the subject and thoughts they have. Then at the end we review their lists and see what new things they discovered, if any of their thoughts changed and if their questions were answered adequately. If they need more we begin researching or discuss further. There are other excellent resources from New Leaf Publishing and Masterbooks to answer almost any question posed – and “The Great Big Book” of History is always a go-to for our family for interesting facts and a visual time line of events and civilizations. Third – The book has what are called “Narration Breaks” – This is a time to discuss what was previously talked about in the text. It is an excellent time to have open conversations with your children. I think it could also be an excellent writing prompt if your are seeking to enhance a child’s ability to write responses to questions and to analyze what they read. It is also an opportunity to for children to connect to the text, connect the text to scripture and view the events within the lens of Christian faith; an opportunity to begin to own their faith and work though how faith and Biblical truths relate to this very big world we live in. Fourth– The book has what are called “Connect” sections – This is unique to this curriculum. I have not really seen it before in any other curriculum I have used or viewed (and that has been a ton over the years as I have tried to find curriculum that my children both enjoy and that has a Biblical World view). This section connects history across the ages. For instance it shows how past events shape and influence future events (our more current past and present). This section shows how people base their opinions and understanding on past events. FIFTH – This book has the most awesome pictures I have seen with the best descriptions. This is one thing that makes this book stand out for me. My kids love all pictures and neat descriptions. I have a digital copy of this book on my lap top and the other day my 6 year old was on it just to scroll through each page and look at the photographs. Visual learning is great. Overall this text is engaging and enjoyable. Yes – I am a fan of Masterbooks. But even so I am more interested in solid Biblical World View teaching for my children that they will enjoy. Too often history is wooden, boring, and dry. This text is visually engaging as well as written and laid out in such a way as to keep a child’s interest and offers solid historical teaching that the child will remember long past the end of the course. This books lays an excellent foundation for later High School and Collegiate level history courses. Masterbooks.com