Tag Archives: bible

The Lord Will Go Out Against The Nations

synagogue

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Ari’s gaze was transfixed by the ner tamid just in front of the Aron Kodesh. Sweaty hands gripped his rifle as sirens continued to wail outside. He’d hoped to marry Esther here, but now it was too late. There would be no stopping them this time.

At least his fiancée was safe in the shelter along with both their parents. He’d been separated from his unit during the last bombardment and was drawn to the synagogue. His family had made Aliyah when he was four. Now he was a soldier about to die when France’s nuclear missiles obliterated Tel Aviv.

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The Return

dale red

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

It was too late, so Jeff pulled over and turned off the engine. The effect looked like giant spider legs describing impossible angles across a burning sky, but that wasn’t it at all.

He tried to pray, but everything from guilt to blind fear kept his thoughts away from God. His wife and two children would face this all alone, not that he could have comforted them.

Even though everyone had heard, almost no one believed, so they would blame this on something like solar flares or climate change. The truth was more terrifying and awesome. He was coming back.

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The Word

room

PHOTO PROMPT © Susan Rouchard

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Griffith had been searching for the last syllable, the last few letters of The Word for twenty centuries. It was rather anti-climactic that he should find it on a cheap bookshelf in this hovel.

He ran a grateful finger over the binding of the black tome on the lower shelf. The spine contained a letter only he could read. Once he assembled The Word and spoke it, a peace beyond all understanding would encompass the globe.

A sound from the doorway. “You have led Legion on a merry chase, Griffith. Or is it that we let you bring us here?”

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Review of “Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter”

ginger

Screenshot from the internet.

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I woke up this morning to find a wonderful review of the Christian SciFi anthology Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter by Ginger Nuts of Horror. “Dark Matter” features my short story “The Heavens Shall Declare His Glory.”

Tales by Richard Paolinelli, Frank B. Luke, and L. Jagi Lamplighter received high honors. That said, there was one drawback the reviewer found with the book:

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“Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter” is Available NOW!

shoot the devil 2If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

This is it. Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter is available from Amazon now. Be the first to purchase and review this science fiction anthology of eleven stories pitting good vs. evil in the farthest reaches of deep space.

As I’ve mentioned before, the book features my short story “The Heavens Declare His Glory.” Here’s a short excerpt.

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“Shoot the Devil II: Dark Matter” Coming Soon!

shoot the devil 2If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Some of my regular readers may remember that a short story of mine “Wolf in the Wind” was included in the 2022 Crucifixion Press anthology Shoot the Devil: Ten Tales of Humans Defeating the Demonic. It’s a collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories generally from a Christian perspective that depicts people combatting and defeating literal evil. My own story was less religious, but nonetheless, a battle in the supernatural realm involving a female occult detective in the 1880s west.

Apparently, it did pretty well, so well in fact that the publisher decided to print a sequel. It should go on pre-sale on October 15, 2023 and is called “Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter.”

Basically, it’s the same theme only in space.

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More on Social Media and University Radio Show “Echo Chambers”

campus reform

Screen capture of Campus Reform article title

This is a (sort of) continuation of yesterday’s blog post Which “Echo Chamber” Should I Choose?, since I’ve had a rather “interesting” encounter on twitter this afternoon.

Actually, it began this morning when I read a Campus Reform article called Duke Univ produces ‘himpathy,’ ‘himpunity’ podcast. Having no idea what “himpathy” and “himpunity” were, I clicked the link I found at twitter and began to read.

Marissa Gentry’s article began with:

Duke University’s Peabody-nominated “Scene on Radio” podcast, titled “MEN,” is currently in the middle of its third season, and it revolves around the issues of misogyny and patriarchy.

Okay. Fine and dandy as far as it goes.

Scene on Radio is produced by John Biewen and co-hosted with Celeste Headlee. They each come with an impressive set of credentials, but given the content of Ms. Gentry’s article, it wasn’t exactly a secret what perspective they probably held regarding the topic of their podcast.

The Campus Reform article quotes the show’s content:

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One Child’s Life

rahab

Rahab and the Two Spies – Found at Seeds of Faith website and Pinterest

The strangers with her on the rooftop paused in unison. Before Rahab laid them under stalks of flax in order to hide them from the soldiers of the King, she said, “I know that Hashem has given you the Land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the Land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Reed Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

“When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for Hashem your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by Hashem, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, especially our little children, and deliver our lives from death.”

So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the Land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the Land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father, and your mother, and your brothers, and the little children, and all your father’s household.”

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The Days of Noah

off the grid

Image found at the “Off Grid Path” blog – No photo credit given

“What are you doing?” Helen poked her head into Glenn’s office.

“Just programming the behavior of the irrigation system behind the house. The collectors have amassed enough rain water, and I want to test the valves before we plant.”

“Well don’t forget you have to do the firmware upgrade for the chicken coop alarms.”

He turned and winked at his wife. “You’re not worried about the deleterious effect our local woodland predators could have just because we’re absent two of our hens, are you?”

“Keep the acerbic comments to yourself, and Henrietta and Goldie were dear friends. I don’t think other hens will ever get over it.”

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That Which is of Good Repute

big brother

Image from the film “Nineteen-Eighty Four (1984).

Warning: This is a work of fiction but also a controversial commentary involving social movements, political positions, and religions and it might not be considered “politically correct” by some or most. If you believe you might become upset or offended by a minority point of view (from my perspective), please stop reading now. Thank you.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

–Philippians 4:8-9 (NASB)

Joseph Kelley closed his Bible and sighed. “Yes, but what does the world consider true, honorable, right, and pure these days?”

He got up from his bed where he’d been reading, walked into the small closet and felt on the wall behind his jackets. There he found the hidden panel and pressed the three catches in a particular order to release it. With the panel open, he put the Bible back in alongside his concordance, a torn and aging copy of C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity,” and his dear departed wife’s Stone Edition Tanakh. Then he sealed the panel again and rearranged the clothes hangers so his treasure trove was again concealed.

Of course, he had memorized the contacts list for his cell of fellow believers. That was the one thing he could never commit to writing or any other record. Even if he were caught and they found his contraband, they would (hopefully) believe he was a rogue and not part of a larger group or fellowship.

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