Who You Are

     My last post began with a very short, rant-like paragraph on how I wasn't going to talk about "true beauty." I felt a little bit bad about that =D ; so, I decided to show two these videos that I think are AMAZING at explain who you are in God's eyes. It's also a really good "pump up" speech if you're having a down day ;)

The first one is for GUYS:

The second one is for GIRLS:

     I was having some trouble getting these to play on my computer; so, if you were also, the titles of these videos are: "Who You Are: A Message To All Guys" and "Who You Are: A Message To All Girls."

Blood on the Nile

Joshua Perahia is a very good friend of my family. He just wrote and produced this song about the war in the Middle East. Joshua is about to come out with a new album and this is the first single.


"Blood on the Nile" is about how after thousands of years, people are still dying in the Middle East. This is a very real and patriotic song! May God Bless America!

Blood on the Nile

We a doing everything we can to make this video go viral! We want the word out! Joshua Perahia is back and kicking! Please ***LINK THIS VIDEO***

Music and Lyrics

For those of you that don't know me, I love music. Well, I had an interesting experience today with music and why listening -- I mean REALLY listening -- to lyrics is extremely IMPORTANT!

I really like the band The Script. I think they have a cool sound and the songs I've heard on the radio seem morally neutral. I decided to buy their CD so that I could enjoy them all the time in my car...

I unwrap the disc an slide it into my CD player and begin bouncing to some fun music when *BAM* the lead singer almost yells an atrocious curse word. I was shocked but continued to listen to the music because I really, REALLY liked it. After playing it a couple times, the swear word started getting to me; so, I decided to re-burn the disc without the curse (I have an editing program). Thinking my problem is now solved I keep having fun with the music.

*Today* I was walking with my Dad and started singing one of the songs from the CD. "So if you see Kay, will you tell her that I love her / And if you see Kay, let her know that I want her back". He looks at me funny and asks, "Who are you singing?" I explain to him about the CD I bought and that this was one of my favorite songs.

"Sing that part again," he asked; which I did. "Are you so naive that you don't even hear what you're saying?" he asked. Evidently I was when to my utter amazement and sheer horror, he told me that "if you see Kay" was a not-so-creative way of spelling out "the F-word".

Talk about a rain on my little party of innocence day. I nearly cried when I found out (not to mention being crushed that the band I liked was being deceptive.) Here I am, thinking I'm singing about a girl named "Kay" when I get hit with a bullet the size of a book of lyrics.

Let this be both a lesson and a warning to music lovers. Be careful what you listen to, and if there is even a hint of "inappropriateness" in an artist, there is probably WAY more (in unexpected places to say the least.)

*Sad Face* :(

Mermaids

I love art, and today I thought that I would share some of my favorite pieces -- mermaid pieces that is.


This Picture makes me think of a sculpture carefully chiseling our his master piece when before he knows it, the carving begins taking on a life of its own.

This image has always intrigued me by its nearly seamless transition from a lady into water and sky. How the folds of her sleeves morph into clouds astounds me.

This picture makes me think of endless caverns and mysterious places long forgotten in the deep.

I love her tail in this parchment sketch. The touching scene of the human and the mermaid reminds me of The Little Mermaid but something is a little different. Perhaps it is that determined look in here eye.

A lonely mermaid, resting against a purple sky. Perhaps someone will sneak up on her when she is not looking...

Manu by Sarah B. Seiter makes me think of an attendant of the Lady of the Lake, or perhaps a mermaid that has raided a sunken ship or two (by that gold hoop in her "ear").

A Quiet Moment

There comes a time when we all need to sit down an be quiet. Humanity is always wondering where God is, when all we really need to do is close our mouths and listen.

"Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent." Proverbs 17:28

Earth is full of so many people that just endlessly babble! Through Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Even in person, there are those people that could talk to a wall for hours without ever running out of things to say. Why is it so hard for us to be silent?

It is because humans need to feel as though they are something. The louder a noise we make, the more attention we get, and the more of a "someone" we feel. If we really have a grounding in Jesus Christ, that He died for us, has given us new life, identity and purpose, we have no need to draw attention to ourselves to make us "feel like someone". We are SOMEONE in Jesus Christ.

So I encourage you, enjoy the quiet moments. It is in these moments that we hear God the loudest.

Dragon Keeper

Title: The Dragon Keeper Series (By Donita K. Paul)

Rating/Review:
Language (1 being clean, 5 being cuss-a-thon) - 1, zero swears!

Morality (1 being hethanistic, 5 being righteous) - 5, total purity!

Violence (1 being clean, 10 being a blood bath) - 3.5 There is fighting between the "good guys" and "bad guys"

Theme (1 being satanic, 5 being righteous) - 5 there is an EXTREMELY strong Christian theme throughout the book. There is a God and Jesus character with whom the main characters all ineract.

Over-all interest and read-ability (1 being terrible, 10 being amazing) - 9 very interesting. There is action and a good plot to the story that keeps you wanting more.

Plot Summary: Kale, an orphan, discovers she has a gift with dragons. In her quest to protect eggs, she finds herself pulled into battling an evil that threatens her land. With the help of God (Wulder) she overthrows temptations to attain her goals.

Philippians 4:8
"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."

Think on These Things

I originally wrote this article for my beloved Passion Magazine. If you'd like to read the original click HERE.

So often we do things and don’t even consider the ramifications. We watch movies, read books and we don’t even take a second thought as to what we are doing to ourselves. I wanted to address some very serious side affects that most people don’t know about. Let me start with an excerpt from Leslie Ludy’s book Set-Apart Femininity.

“A close friend of mine was really struggling with spiritual attacks upon her life, waking up with horrible nightmares and battling fearful irrational thoughts on a nearly-constant basis. One afternoon as we met together for prayer, she casually mentioned that she’d just come from a movie. When she told me which one she’d seen, I was taken aback. It was a horror/suspense film and though it was one of the milder ones it still was leaving a gaping breach in her life though which the enemy could gain access. Paul said, ‘Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.’ (Philippians 4:8)”

What we put into our minds either makes us spiritually stronger or spiritually weaker. I’m sure most of you never thought that you could be demonically attacked because of what you watched or read – I sure didn’t!

Please understand that I’m not trying to insight fear or paranoia about what we watch in movies or read in books or listen to in music, but you must know that these things DO affect you.

Not too long ago, whenever I felt lonely or depressed I would listen to music. That music, however, tended to be either very dark or very provocative in it’s lyrics. As time would pass and I continued to fill my head with the sound of this music, I found myself spiraling down into sorrow and (even though I never did it) self-harm. I was poisoning myself with the music I was listening to.


Another example would be of my wonderful mother. When she first got married, she had to move away from her very large family. She was depressed and lonely, and in her efforts to relieve the sadness she would watch afternoon soap operas and reality TV. In a few short weeks, my mother was plagued with nightmares, severe anxiety, paranoia (all of which were demonic attacks). As soon as my father found out, he posed the question to her, “Could it be what you are watching?” That was when it dawned on my mother. All of the un-godly, pagan television she was watching was poisoning her mind and soul – leaving her open to attacks from Satan. As soon as she stopped watching all of her regular programs, the nightmares and stress melted away.

Another thing that can be very damaging is books. The first thing that usually pops into our minds when we think of “books that we probably shouldn’t read” are romance novels, but I want to delve into something much more popular...manga.

Manga and anime are some of the most popular reading materials out there. Both girls and guys go crazy over the latest issue of their favorite comic – never mind that over 90% of them are filled cover to cover with extremely satanic and sexual messages. I don’t mean this to be a rail against manga, there are some very good ones out there, but the majority of the comics are anything but “holy”. Is this really something we should be filling our heads with? Leaving, as Leslie Ludy put it, “a gaping breach” in our lives? Everything affects us. It is, however, up to us what we allow into our lives – be it the Internet, movies or novels.

Our thoughts stir up our emotions. Our emotions stir up our desires. Our desires trigger our actions. The most important battles we fight are those of the mind. That is why Paul is so insistent on “Whatever things are true… meditate on these things.” Whatever time we spend cultivating in our minds will effect our actions. Constant baragement from evil things will cause us to be more and more prey to our sinful actions. But, daily devotion and prayer will strengthen us and draw us closer to the Lord for He has given us the power to, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7b)

Inkheart

Title: Inkheart

Rating/Review:
Language (1 being clean, 10 being cuss-a-thon) - 4 there were a couple d--n's and perhaps a few hell's

Morality (1 being righteous, 10 being hethanistic) - 3, the only morality problem I have with the book is the excess of lying (I think ANY lying is excess.) The characters are constantly lying to each other (especially the father to the daughter and vise versa) because they think it's for their "best".

Violence (1 being clean, 10 being a blood bath) - 2, there is no out and out bloody violence. There is a chase scene, but no gore.

Theme (1 being righteous, 10 being satanic) - 2, there was nothing satanic in the book. The main characters have the ability to read things and people out of books (which I consider more like a "super power" rather than sorcery).

Over-all interest and read-ability (1 being terrible, 10 being amazing) - 6, I think the book could have been a bit more "exciting" -- more action I mean. The writer takes time to go into everyone's thoughts and describes in great detail the scenes and people.

Plot Summary: Meggie discovers that her father can read people out of books, and unfortunately, he has read one of the most evil villains of all -- Capricorn -- into our world. Meggie and her father, Mo, set out to discover a way to defeat this evil and perhaps find her long lost mother.

Philippians 4:8
"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."

Shiver

Title: Shiver

Rating/Review:
Language (1 being clean, 10 being cuss-a-thon) - 7, several d--n's and a lot of hell's

Morality (1 being righteous, 10 being hethanistic) - 7, these characters have nothing wrong with sleeping together behind their parents' backs. The relationships between parents and children shows the parents to be uncaring, stupid clods, while their children are really the ones who care.

Violence (1 being clean, 10 being a blood bath) - 3, there were several bloody scenes of wolves attacking people (not severely bloody) and one scene of a boy having his wrists cut.

Theme (1 being righteous, 10 being satanic) - 4, Werewolves were the main theme of this book. There was zero magic involved, but there was a very subtle line that hinted that the church was not the place to go in a crisis.

Over-all interest and read-ability (1 being terrible, 10 being amazing) - 7, it was a good read, but I like a bit more action in a story, this book seemed to be a little slow for my tastes.

Plot Summary: Grace gets saved from an attack of wolves by a wolf with yellow eyes. Over the next 6 years, grace forms a special, yet distant, bond with this wolf whom she constantly sees in the woods behind her house. One day, after being shot by a hunter, Grace sees the wolf change into a man, Sam. Since Grace's parents are never home and don't care about parenting her, it's easy for Grace to hide Sam in her room for the next several weeks. During this time the become co-dependent on each other as they try to keep Sam human while helping the rest of the "pack". While Sam is living with Grace, she begs him to sleep with her which he ends up doing right before he rejoins his pack as a wolf.

Philippians 4:8
"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 Harris Twins

I just got back from a book tour by Alex and Brett Harris (brothers of Joshua Harris, writer of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye") And it was one of the best things I've ever gone to -- I wish CHURCH was this good!!!

The seminar was from 9am to 4pm and did the Holy Spirit move!

Alex and Brett have started a movement called "The Rebelution" a movement targeted at teens. The Rebelution seeks to break the low expectations the world has set before us and change us into the best that God would have us be...

Alex and Brett have written two books thus far, their first being "Do Hard Things." "Do Hard Things" is really the core of the Rebelution. It gives insight and stories to a time before complacency and ways to become people of God driven excellence. This book shows that giving in to "the easy way" and accepting the attributes that the world had ascribed to us (rebellious, lazy, irresponsible, childish) is giving in to low expectations. Low expectations that channel the way our entire lives will move. And how having high expectations for ourselves will grow us and change us into real fighters for Jesus Christ, and true threats to the enemy.

Their second book, "Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are." Answers many of the questions a person starting to seek high expectations and do away with the low.

As for the actual seminar, Alex and Brett are amazing speakers; their passion and energy flows into the room -- both entertaining and educating the audience. They share spiritual truths and don't hold back when it comes to saying what we may not want to hear. They led the room in the most beautiful alter-call I have ever heard -- not sugar coating anything for the new-coming believers. Their brother Joel led the band in several worship songs through out the day, and Joshua closed the evening.

I STRONGLY recommend these books to anyone who is sick of
a) sleepy Christians in the world
b) non-Christians in the church
c) both

Check out their website at TheRebelution.Com.

Are you part of the Rebelution?

Truth vs. Certainty

What should we pursue? Truth or Certainty? What's the difference? And how will it affect my view point?

"Truth: what is true, what is correct, what is known to be right with or without physical evidence or actual proof.

"Certainty: the ability to say with 100% accuracy, evidence, and proof that something exists."

Did you catch it too? As Christians what do we need to pursue? Truth or Certainty? Answer: Truth. We cannot produce scientific evidence that God exists, but we KNOW that God in fact does exist. This is a Truth. We cannot persure certainty with something we cannot witness, but that doesn't meant that it isn't true.

Were you there when Washington crossed the Delaware? How do you know it happened? Do we have live video? Or photos? Nope, but we do have documents, eye witness accounts, and history.

What about the bible? Documents? Check. Eye witness accounts? Check. History? You betcha!

Did you know we only have a few documents that prove Plato's existence? (I believe it was either less than a dozen, or less than a hundred.) When was the last time you doubted that Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, or Confucius were indeed real people. The number of historical documents on these people is surprisingly small -- I'm talking TINY! But what about Jesus?

Did you know that when an archeologist find a historical document, he has to believe what ever it says UNTIL it is proven false? It's the old, "innocent until proven guilty" theory. Makes sense, right?

Number of Historically Accurate Documents Referring to Jesus: well into the hundreds of thousands -- literally so many that we cannot put a number on them!

Paige Armstrong

I discovered this artist when I was at Sunday school. My family and I all attend the same class Sunday morning with a bunch of other adults (my sister and I are the only "youth"). A gentleman came up to me and started telling me about his daughter's, Paige's, music. I listened to it and I was hooked!

Paige Armstrong is a 19 year-old cancer survivor with a heart for America's youth. Her rock-with-a-message music is great and one of my new favorites!

Visit her Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and here is her testimony...



And here is some of her music (live)...



And if you like better sound (like I do)...

Wondrous Strange

I thought I'd try my hand at writing a book review, so here it goes!

Wondrous Strange by Leslie Livingston was a book I decided to try reaading when I was at my local library. Leslie Livingston is "a professor" in faeriology and Shakespeare and her book shows it. Her novel is about a 17-year-old girl, Kelley, living in Manhattan who is trying to make it in a theater play of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The play ends up coming to life when she meets a young changeling by the name of Sonny. He shows her that characters of the play (Oberon, Titania and Puck) are actually REAL. Wrapped up in a giant faerie conspiracy to reawaken a faerie death hunt against humans, Kelley and Sonny must use what they know of faeries to their advantage...

The book itself is VERY well written with 50/50 perspectives from both Sonny and Kelley (making this a both girls and guys book.) There's a touch of romance, with the sum total of about 2 kisses, and lots of semi-graphic battle scenes (blood is spilled, but I wouldn't label it "gory"). The BIGGEST problem I have with the book is its language issues. The book uses the "B-word" and "S-word" at least once and "D---it" is used well over a dozen times.

From a secular point of view it's a very good book -- however! -- because there is so much perverse language, I would NOT suggest reading it.

HB

I love this band! I'm crazy about the "Orchestra Rock" sound (as I call it). This band from Finland has the perfect blend of music and meaning: the music itself is awesome and the lyrics are hymnal-holy! Their English album, Frozen Inside, was released in 2008. The only technecal glitch I've come across is, in the recording, the studeo didn't mix the vocals with the instruments as best as they could have (the singing should have been a touch louder.) My Dad was a musician so that is the only way I would have noticed. OTHER THAN THAT, this is probably my new favorite band!

Fireflight/Flyleaf and Skillet/Decyfer Down

So, here are two amazing girl rock bands and two amazing guy rock bands I wanted to give props to. I love all four of these guys' music! The only thing I would change about them (and I know I'm going to get booed for this) is that I would personally like their lyrics to be more vocal about Jesus as in actually saying the name "Jesus Christ". Another thing is that some of their music (namely Flyleaf) can get a little on the "dark" side. Other than that, Fireflight, Skillet, Flyleaf, and Decyfer Down are great bands to add to your stash of good-sounding Christian bands!

Fireflight!


Skillet!


Flyleaf!


Decyfer Down

Decyfer Down - Fight Like This (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: Decyfer_Down

Julian Drive

Ah. More music! Here's another Christian band I am quite fond of: Julian Drive. If you are into lyrics that are really meaningful (and I mean as in with meaning behind the music) this is a great band!

Petra!

I know that there simply isn't enough good christian rock bands; so I am going to share one of my favorites: Petra. Petra has liricks as "holy" as the hymns you sing on Sunday morning, but a hard rock feel of BonJovi or Deaf Leopard...

Here is "Think Twice"


...And here is "Judas Kiss"

On Vampires and Werewolves

What is with our obsession with vampires? Doesn't anyone remember what a vampire is?

According to Dictionary.com --
"Vampire: a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night."

Now think about everything ever to be associated with vampires: lust, drinking human blood (an act expressly forbidden in the Bible), pentagrams, giving the soul over to demonic principals. Vampires ARE evil. What could possibly convince us that vampiric ideologies are something to be emulated?

Answer: Romance. What person (especially girls) wouldn't love to read about that forbidden love story? Rat poison is 99.99% good food, only .01% is poison. Whenever someone mixes something evil with something so captivating to read, we instantly become hooked. Anyone who believes vampires are good does not have the facts. Vampires promote that which God despises. How could we wish to support books or movies that go against our Lord?

I don't mean to pick on this series in particular, but take the book/movie rage saga Twilight. What is it really telling us? Evil can be trusted. Evil is misunderstood. Evil isn't really evil. Evil is beautiful. Evil is wiser than good. And Evil should be joined. How will this affect our thinking? Could it ever be positive? Could it ever bring us closer to God? Not in the slightest. In fact, if anything, it would be like eating rat poison, slowly wearing your spirit down.