Touched by A Vampire

The book “Touched by a Vampire”  by Beth Felker Jones is a “must have”  for any Christian Parent or Youth Leader and a “should have” for Christians. Within the book the author systematically and comprehensively unpacks the “hidden messages in the Twilight Saga.”

A phenomonal best seller with book one already made into a film and book two opening in theatres November 20th. Not since Harry Potter has there been such a whirlwind of activity surrounding the release of a series of books. The draw is amazing, the marketing phenomonal. The target audience……  tweens, teens and young adults.  Most specifically young girls.  As the book is written from the perspective of a young high school girl named Bella….. most young girls want to read the books or see the movies….. and why not? ….. listen to some short reviews of  Touched by a Vampire.

“Like many who care about young adults, I’ve puzzled over the recent vampire craze. I applaud Touched by a Vampire for shining its brilliant light into a somewhat dark and mysterious world. Utilizing the existing teen fascination of the Twilight books in order to spark an open discussion about love, life, and faith is both smart and savvy. This thoughtful book is a much needed tool for parents, youth leaders, and teens.”

—MELODY CARLSON, author of the Diary of a Teenage Girl series

“‘But Mom, you’d like this vampire book. It teaches that true love waits!’ They knew which pitch to give, and Felker Jones has their number. This book is itself a page-turner, diagnosing vampiric love as meager fare. It turns out true love is not so much about waiting for Mr. Bite, but being abundantly blessed at God’s banquet.”
—AMY LAURA HALL, associate professor of
Christian Ethics, Duke University, and author
of Conceiving Parenthood and Kierkegaard and
the Treachery of Love

Today I will be posting some reviews from others and as the week goes by I will be posting personal reviews….. Please come back and read each new entry.

People around the world are asking the same question, enraptured with Edward and Bella’s forbidden romance in the Twilight Saga, a four-book serial phenomenon written by Stephenie Meyer. The bestsellers tell the story of a regular girl’s relationship with a vampire who has chosen to follow his “good” side. But the Saga isn’t just another fantasy–it’s teaching girls about love, sex, and purpose. With 48 million copies in print and a succession of upcoming blockbuster films, now is the time to ask the important question: Can vampires teach us about God’s plan for love?

Touched by a Vampire is the first book to investigate the themes of the Twilight Saga from a Biblical perspective. Some Christian readers have praised moral principles illustrated in the story, such as premarital sexual abstinence, which align with Meyer’s Mormon beliefs. But ultimately, Beth Felker Jones examines whether the story’s redemptive qualities outshine its darkness.

Cautionary, thoughtful, and challenging, Touched by a Vampire is written for Twilight fans, parents, teachers, and pop culture enthusiasts. It includes an overview of the series for those unfamiliar with the storyline and a discussion guide for small groups.

RELATED LINKS

• > Download the leader’s guide
• > Download the Twlight movie watching guide

This book has been provided for review by Multnomah Waterbrook Press.

You can purchase this book by going on line to: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601422781

The Author  Beth Felker Jones is Assistant Professor of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.  She holds a Ph.D. from Duke University, Graduate Certificate in Women’ Studies, M.T.S from Duke Divinity School and her B.A from DePauw.

John Calvin wrote that “All right knowledge of God is born of obedience.” It is my privilege to serve at Wheaton College as a teacher of theology and to explore what may be known of God when the Spirit leads us to obey. The more I learn about the Christian faith, the more I am stunned by the beauty of what God has done and is doing through Jesus Christ. My goal as a teacher is to help students see that beauty in ways they may never have glimpsed before. That work of teaching is strengthened by researching and writing about the beauty of the gospel spread through time and space.

When not at the College, I can usually be found with my husband Brian, who is a United Methodist pastor, and our three children, Gwen, Sam, and Tess.

Fences

As I began to read White Picket Fences, by Susan Meissner my mind rushed ahead of the story. This happens to me from time to time…I must admit I read the last chapter first! Admittedly that is not the intention of the author and I trust your will not read the last paragraph of this blog first.

The title White Picket Fences intrigued me, was this about a maiden woman who spent all day in her garden behind a white picket fence? Or maybe the white picket fence held back a great big lovable St Bernard. Wrong on both points. The White Picket Fence referred to in the title of Susan Meissner’s most recent novel illustrated what we consider to be the idealic home. You know the kind you saw as “the Beav” road his bike home on the TV show Leave it to Beaver.  White frame houses, with white picket fences the perfect packaging for the All American Family in residence.

White Picket Fences is an engaging novel about the fragile life behind the White Picket Fence. The life of the Janvier family and there new house guest, niece Tally. After the sudden death of Tally’s grandmother and the abscence of her father, she has two options. Foster Care… or life with her aunt and uncle she barely knows.

As you read further you discover several other fences alluded to, the fences keeping in thousands of Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto of World War II and the fences around Treblinka a Nazi Concentration Camp.

Throughout the book you witness many kinds of fences erected by individuals to keep others out or to keep our secrets in….. Pick up a copy of this wonderful book and enjoy a trip with Tally as she experiences the fences of her new life and that of her ancestors.

This book has been provided by Random House  for Multnomah Publishers and can be purchased online at:

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400074570

White Picket Fences

Today we start with the Publishers Notes on this engaging story. Follow us throughout the week as we offer personal reviews on … White Picket Fences.

When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. The girl is practically an orphan: motherless, and living with a father who raises Tally wherever he lands– in a Buick, a pizza joint, a horse farm–and regularly takes off on wild schemes. Amanda envisions that she, her husband Neil, and their two teenagers can offer the girl stability and a shot at a “normal” life, even though their own storybook lives are about to crumble.

Seventeen-year-old Chase Janvier hasn’t seen his cousin in years, and other than a vague curiosity about her strange life, he doesn’t expect her arrival will affect him much–or interfere with his growing, disturbing interest in a long-ago house fire that plagues his dreams unbeknownst to anyone else.

Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.

Will Tally’s presence blow apart their carefully-constructed world, knocking down the illusion of the white picket fence and reveal a hidden past that could destroy them all–or can she help them find the truth without losing each other?

This book was provided by Random House Multnomah Publishing for review.

This book may be purchased online through  the following Link:

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400074570

Visit the site for this and many other books by author Susan Meissner

 

More about the author at her website: http://www.susanmeissner.com/

 

Wonderful Fall Fiction

 Fall is here and for most of you that means a kaleidoscope of color abounds all around. The leaves as they fall are as gems from heaven…amber, garnet, ruby, topaz with a random emerald or peridot intermingled.  There is a brisk chill in the air that is invigorating and renewing. This is a great time to put on your sweater and brew your favorite cup of coffee,tea, or hot cocoa and read. Nothing to intense but something to engage your mind and lift your soul.

Random House through Multnomah Press has a Fall Fiction offering as rich as the color around you.

Leaving Carolina by: Tamara Leigh

Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, twelve years ago, shook the dust off her feet, ditched her drawl and her family name, and made a new life for herself as a high-powered public relations consultant in LA. She’s even “engaged to be engaged” to the picture-perfect U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler.

Now all of Piper’s hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle’s bout of conscience. In the wake of a health scare, Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations’ worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks’ secrets, including Piper’s.

Though Piper arrives in Pickwick primed for battle, she is unprepared for Uncle Obe’s rugged, blue-eyed gardener. So just who is Axel Smith? Why does he think making amends is more than just making restitution? And why, oh why, can’t she stay on task? With the Lord’s help, Piper is about to discover that although good PR might smooth things over, only the truth will set her free.

This is a wonderful story of some of the modern dilemma’s we face and the way to handle them with …truth.

From Leaving Carolina you can journey to fame, beauty, and the good life with

Limelight by Melody Carlson is a fast paced story of the fall from youth, beauty and fame to the reality of age, lost physical beauty and pride.

Claudette Fioré used to turn heads and break hearts. She relished the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle because she had what it takes: money, youth, fame, and above all, beauty. But age has withered that beauty, and a crooked accountant has taken her wealth, leaving the proud widow penniless and alone.

Armed with stubbornness and sarcasm, Claudette returns to her shabby little hometown and her estranged sister. Slowly, she makes friends. She begins to see her old life in a new light. For the first time, Claudette Fioré questions her own values and finds herself wondering if it’s too late to change.

Jill Elizabeth Nelson, author of the “To Catch a Thief” series sums it up in these words;

“Only a gifted writer like Melody Carlson could present a self-centered character in such a way that the reader can’t wait to turn the page and learn more about her. Claudette’s poignant, yet amusing journey from worldly has-been diva to genuine, honest woman grabs the reader by the heartstrings and doesn’t let go, even after the end. Highly recommended!”

For the young woman in your home Melody Carlson offers What Matters Most, diary of a teenage girl…

Maya’s Green Tip for the Day: Recycled fashion is one of the most fun ways to go green. A pair of jeans could be transformed into a denim skirt. A sweater into a vest. A bunch of old ties into a dress. A blanket into a poncho. Accessorize it in new way–with beads, buttons, appliqués, buckles, stencils, or ribbons…your imagination is only the limit. (65 words)

Sixteen-year-old Maya Stark has a lot to sort through. She could graduate from high school early if she wants to. She’s considering it, especially when popular cheerleader Vanessa Hartman decides to make her life miserable–and Maya’s ex-boyfriend Dominic gets the wrong idea about everything.

To complicate matters even more, Maya’s mother will be released from prison soon, and she’ll want Maya to live with her again. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. And when Maya plays her dad’s old acoustic guitar in front of an audience, she discovers talents and opportunities she never expected. Faced with new options, Maya must choose between a “normal” life and a glamorous one. Ultimately, she has to figure out what matters most.

We all are faced with difficulties as we walk through life, but some of what young girls like Maya face are beyond our comprehension. Travel through Maya’s story as she detemines what REALLY matters most.

All of the above referenced books are provided by Random House for review.

These and many other wonderful books may be obtained by visiting:

Leaving Carolina : http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601421661

What Matters Most: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601421197

Limelight: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400070824

Sounds of Sleigh Bells Ranked Number Five in Christian Fiction at CBD

Sounds of Sleigh Bells has hit #5 on teh Bestsellers List at Christian Book Distributors

www.cbd.com

Who’s Watching You Now?

 

“There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”  George Orwell 1984.

The above quote comes from the book 1984, by George Orwell. Released in 1949. In commenting on excerpts published in Life Magazine July 1949 and NY Times Book review 31 July 1949, Orwell says this:

“My recent novel [Nineteen Eighty-Four] is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter), but as a show-up of the perversions . . . which have already been partly realized in Communism and Fascism. . . . The scene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasize that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else, and that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.” The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4 – In Front of Your Nose 1945–1950 p.546 (Penguin)

The scary thing about both of the above quotes is how close to fact they are today in 2009.

In Grant Jeffrey’s new book, Shadow Government, he provides statistics that are mind boggling.

For instance in the Chapter entitled:  You Have No More Privacy he offers a glimpse into Orwell’s own England.

 “My wife Kaye and I conducted a research trip to the UK in 2008.” Although the author was aware of the extensive use of closed circuit TV’s throughout Britain he had no idea just how far reaching it had become. “Surveillance camera’s followed us during every step of our passage through UK customs and British immigration at Heathrow Airport. And it didn’t stop there.” He goes on to explain that throughout the day they were continually under the watchful eye of CCTV.

“Recent estimates by British authorities suggest that citizens and tourists alike will be captured on camera an average of 500 times every day. But despite an almost universal presence of CCTV, even in back alleys, law enforcement authorities report that the cameras have NOT suppressed violent crime as much as displaced it”

Why then the expense of the over 4.2 million CCTV’s in the UK alone?

Grant Jeffrey continues in his book to outline fact after fact of incidences just like these. Lack of Privacy, cultural and monetary issues of world wide impact.  As the author continues he ties the incidences happening through out the world with the prophecies of the Bible. From Daniel to Revelation he illustrates how these occurences foreshadow the biblical end times. 

Whether you are a Christian or not  as a citizen of any modernized country in the world you are being watched. The only question remaining is by who and what for.

Pick up a copy of Shadow Government today for facts to knock your hat off. Well written and packed with facts, this is an easy read with a lot of meat.

You can purchase this book at:

http://www.randomhouse.com/

 

 

Please be aware this book was provided for review by Multnomah Publishing.

How the Secret Global Elite Is Using Surveillance Against You….

The Publishers review of Shadow Government by Dr. Grant R. Jeffrey.

Security cameras, surveillance of your financial transactions, radio frequency spy chips hidden in consumer products, tracking of your Internet searches, and eavesdropping on your e-mail and phone calls. Without your knowledge or consent, every aspect of your life is observed and recorded. But who is watching the watchers?

An ultra-secret global elite, functioning as a very real shadow government, controls technology, finance, international law, world trade, political power, and vast military capabilities. Those who hold power are invisible to all but a few insiders. These unrivaled leaders answer to no earthly authority, and they won’t stop until they control the world.

In Shadow Government, Grant Jeffrey removes the screen that, up to now, has hidden the work of these diabolical agents. Jeffrey reveals the biblical description of Satan’s global conquest and identifies the tools of technology that the Antichrist will use to rule the world.

Your eyes will be opened to the real power that is working behind the scenes to destroy America and merge it into the coming global government. Armed with this knowledge, you will be equipped to face spiritual darkness with the light of prophetic truth.

About the Author:

author spotlight

Grant R. Jeffrey is an internationally known author of more than twenty bestsellers and the editor of the Marked Reference Prophecy Study Bible. Recognized as one of the world’s leading teachers of prophecy and an intelligent defense of the Christian faith, Jeffrey appears frequently on television and radio throughout the world. He studied at Philadelphia College of the Bible before entering the business world. Later he earned his masters and Ph.D. degrees in biblical literature from Louisiana Baptist University. He and his wife, Kaye, live near Toronto where they serve in full-time ministry.

You can purchase this book at:

http://www.randomhouse.com/

Please be aware this book was provided for review by Multnomah Publishing.

Gratitude is a choice

Gratitude is a choice. If we fail to choose it, by default we choose ingratitude. And once allowed into the heart, ingratitude does not come by itself but with a lot of other seedy companions that only succeed in stealing joy. To not choose gratitude – daily and deliberately – is more costly than we usually realize. And when we do choose a lifestyle of heartfelt, humble gratitude, we are mindful of the benefits received from our gracious Savior and those He has placed around us. By intentionally thanking God and others, bitterness and entitlement are replaced with joy and the humble realization of just how undeserving we really are.

Derived from a popular Revive Our Hearts radio series, Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy challenges and equips the reader to live a life of intention. A life based on thankfulness – for the freedom Christ has provided and for the blessings of others.

Feminism Unfulfilled–Why Are So Many Women Unhappy?

 

This was originally posted to Albert Mohler.com

“The woman’s movement wasn’t about happiness.” That judgment, attributed to feminist Susan Faludi, seems to be the blunt assessment shared by many other women. As numerous recent studies now indicate, a remarkably large percentage of women describe themselves as increasingly unhappy.

This issue came to light last month in a fascinating essay by Maureen Dowd of The New York Times. Dowd, whose columns often reveal the nation’s Zeitgeist, cited the fact that a number of major studies indicate that “women are getting gloomier and men are getting happier.” She asked: “Did the feminist revolution end up benefiting men more than women?”

A very similar set of questions arises from TIME magazine’s current cover story and special report, “The State of the American Woman.” As the cover of the magazine explains, “A new poll shows why they are more powerful — but less happy.”

Reporter Nancy Gibbs traces the vast changes brought about by the feminist revolution. “It’s funny how things change slowly, until the day we realize they’ve changed completely,” she observes. As she documents, these changes are easily visible in contemporary America:

In 1972 only 7% of students playing high school sports were girls; now the number is six times as high. The female dropout rate has fallen in half. College campuses used to be almost 60-40 male; now the ratio has reversed, and close to half of law and medical degrees go to women, up from fewer than 10% in 1970. Half the Ivy League presidents are women, and two of the three network anchors soon will be; three of the four most recent Secretaries of State have been women.

Along the way, Gibbs also traces more fundamental changes. With remarkable understatement she simply notes “the detachment of marriage and motherhood” among other transformations. “Women no longer view matrimony as a necessary station on the road to financial security or parenthood,” she explains.

Nevertheless, “Among the most confounding changes of all is the evidence, tracked by numerous surveys, that as women have gained more freedom, more education and more economic power, they have become less happy.”

Gibbs cites a growing body of research that documents this trend toward unhappiness. In “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” [pdf file] published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers explain that women in the 1970s “reported higher subjective well-being than did men.” Now, the opposite is the case.

The big question raised by these studies is this: Has feminism produced unhappiness among women? That question is inescapable when seen in light of the historical context. The great transformation of society by feminism took shape only after the 1970s. As a political and social movement, feminism has been stunningly successful. In the span of a single generation, the society has been overwhelmingly transformed. But, over the same period, women report themselves less happy, especially as compared to men.

As Gail Collins notes in her new book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, the pace of this transformation has been absolutely stunning. “The cherished convictions about women and what they could do were smashed in the lifetime of many of the women living today,” she observes. “It happened so fast that the revolution seemed to be over before either side could really find its way to the barricades.”

Nevertheless, Collins, also a columnist for The New York Times, concluded: ” The feminist movement of the late 20th century created a new United States in which women ran for president, fought for their country, argued before the Supreme Court, performed heart surgery, directed movies, and flew into space. But it did not resolve the tensions of trying to raise children and hold down a job at the same time.”

These tensions have erupted as flash points in our national conversation over recent years. Some feminists have accused women who decide to stay home with their children as “letting down the team.” Gail Collins cites Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of undergraduate admissions at Harvard University as saying, “It really does raise this question for all of us and for the country: when we work so hard to open academics and other opportunities for women, what kind of return do we expect to get for that?”

The essays by Maureen Dowd and Nancy Gibbs both raise the fundamental question of feminism – Has it led to greater unhappiness among women? Dowd and Gibbs remain committed feminists. Nevertheless, as Dowd notes, feminism has served to increase the burdens upon women, even as it promised to open doors.

Sadly, most feminists seem incapable, given their ideological commitments, of asking the hardest questions. “Progress is seldom simple,” Gibbs explains, “it comes with costs and casualties, even challenges about whether a change represents an advance or a retreat.”

In reality, feminism was never only about opening doors for women. In order to make the case for the vast social transformation that feminism has produced, the feminist movement aspired to nothing short of a total social, moral, and cultural revolution. Along the way, feminism redefined womanhood, marriage, motherhood, and the roles for both men and women.

Nevertheless, it appears that most women are uncomfortable with this total package. Instead of producing a vast expansion of happiness among women, the feminist movement must now answer for the fact that women, by their own evaluation, appear to be less happy than before the revolution.

The reason for this is probably quite simple. Women are in the best position to evaluate, not only what feminism has gained, but what it has lost. Maybe Susan Faludi is right – The women’s movement wasn’t about happiness.

_____________________

I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at mail@albertmohler.com. Follow regular updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AlbertMohler.

I discussed this topic on Thursday’s edition of The Albert Mohler Program with special guest Dr. Denny Burk, Dean of Boyce College.

Your Journey to Everlasting Joy…

Ask yourself honestly….. How many times have I said “thank you” with an ungrateful heart? My honest answer, too many times.

What do we teach our children, say “I’m sorry” to your sister/brother. Of course the child says nothing….. and so we say it again… I told you to apologize!

Relunctantly and with a rebellious heart they say, “I’m sorry.” The tone of voice overpowers the words spoken…… subtitles… I am only saying I am sorry because Mom told me to, I am not sorry and never will be!!!!

Do you teach them to say thanks in the same way…… What are you teaching….

British Pastor John Henry Jowett once said, “Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.”

True gratitude is not an elective. It is one way” God infuses joy and resilience into the daily struggles of life.” (pg 23)

I had a Pastor once who really disliked the song, I Can Only Imagine, by Mercy Me. His reason was that the song illustrates an outpouring of unfettered worship…when we get to heaven, yet we should be like that now on earth. I agree with his point that we should constantly be praising the Lord. But I still like the song.

So if we are to worship 24/7 how do we do this with an ungrateful heart?

Do we worship or whine?

Worship will lead us on a beautiful journey to everlasting joy….

Whining will lead us on a “destructive slide that ultimately leads to bitterness and broken relationships…..”

Which journey do you want to take?

Join us tommorow for more from Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ book:

Choosing Gratitude….