What’s New in the Cross Reference Library? Safely Home by Randy Alcorn

What It’s About - “Is this the day I die?” Li Quan’s father had taught him from childhood to ask this question everyday. He told young Quan, “One day the answer will be yes, and on that day you must be ready.” 

Quan stiffened at the shout behind him. The voice rang with the authority of the Gong An Ju, the Public Security Bureau. “You meet in the night like the criminals you are. How dare you defy the law? In three minutes,”Scarbrow said matter-of-factly, “we will shoot every man and woman—and child—who does not declare himself loyal to the people rather than the gweilos, foreign devils.” Quan, Ming, and Shen clasped each other’s hands. Quan breathed deeply and braced himself, “Surely this is the day.” 

American business executive Ben Fielding has no idea what his brilliant old college roommate is facing in China. After twenty years he expects to pick up where they left off. But when they’re reunited in China, the men are shocked at what they discover about each other. The paths they’ve walked have shaped their lives and loyalties in radically different ways. Thrown together in an hour of encroaching darkness, watched by unseen eyes, both must make choices that will determine not only the destinies of two men, but two families, two nations…and two worlds.

Why Was John Called The One Jesus Loved?

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Johnathan Hernandez and Gary Schick.

Garry Schick
So we often think of John as the beloved disciple, or the disciple whom Jesus loved. And, of course, that's kind of a quote from the gospel, but why is he the beloved disciple? What did you come up with? My take on this is, we look at Peter the Rock and John the Beloved. These are the results of Jesus. This is not who they were coming into the discipleship though.

Jonathan Hernandez
You know, I always hear people say, like, "John coined himself the beloved disciple right?" Because it's only seen in the Gospel of John as him being called the beloved. He actually doesn't name himself throughout the gospel, but I think so we could look at that as, he's bragging, right? "Oh, I'm the beloved one. I'm the only beloved one." I mean, we could look at it that way. Or, you know, I think we could also look at it as he's telling, "this is who I am. This is who Jesus is. I am that beloved one." And he gives us that for us also, you know, as he's in there saying, "I'm the one that Jesus loves." We can coin that for ourselves too. "I am one that Jesus loves."

Garry Schick
Especially because he doesn't name himself. He gives the eyewitness account and we see through John's eyes and feel the love of Christ. I love that.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, and so that's the way I always look at it. He's setting up, in a sense, a roadmap for us that as he is walking through these things. He's saying, "I am the one that Jesus loved, and Peter is the one that Jesus loved. And he could go through all those and say, "Jesus truly does love each and every one of us." And so let's look at it that way as, "Jonathan Hernandez is the one that Jesus loves." And it's not a way of me bragging and saying, "oh, well, Jesus loves me more than He loves you." No, it's me grabbing a hold of that identity in Christ and saying, "I am the one that Jesus loves." And so, when I think of John and think of that, that's kind of how I think of it that way. John was called to follow Jesus with his brother, right? It was James. And I always think, in those moments, we don't hear them or we don't read them saying, "oh, should I follow him? Should I not follow him?" It's an instant, "I'm going, I'm doing this." And, you know, that really helps me too. When I feel like God has called me to step into something, I have a million questions. But also I know, am I obedient? And we see John being someone that who has been obedient. In the book of Revelation, it says, "Jesus calls him to come up here and I will show you these things." And he doesn't just say, "oh, well that sounds cool, Jesus, but I'm just going to keep on doing my own thing." No. He goes, and he witnesses and he partakes in those things. He partaked in the Last Supper. He was in all of these places where he had the opportunity to really see who Jesus truly is. Like I said, he was at the Last Supper, he was at the crucifixion, he was at the resurrection. He was at these important places and he was truly saying, "here I am, I am the beloved one because I'm following through." And so, that's what I like about John's story. Also, it's my name so that's kind of cool. But he was someone that was authentic. He truly had intimacy with Christ.

Garry Schick
He was in the top three.

Jonathan Hernandez
He was part of the inner circle.

Garry Schick
Peter, James, and John. Those were the inner circle.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, and so he was part of that circle. And it wasn't like, I don't want to say he didn't earn it. I don't know how to coin it better, but he desired to be part of that. He was part of that, and he enjoyed being part of that. And he, I hate using the words "works," but he worked within that and he knew his identity. And so when we know who we are in Christ, we can move and operate within those gifts. John operated within who he was and who God has called him to be. And when God called me to be a pastor, I truly didn't want to do it. I was like, "no, I don't want to be in front of people. I don't like to talk. I stutter sometimes. I have a learning disability." I had all these excuses, right?

Garry Schick
Yeah. You and Moses.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, exactly. I used all these excuses, but God called me. And so, out of obedience, I was like, "okay God, if this is who you've called me to be, I'm going to operate in who you've called me to be." And John, he does that. He operates in who God has called him to be. And he was there and he did the things that Christ had called him to do. Like I said, in the Book of Revelation, he penned the gospel. He was willing. And I think that's what we need to be, is we need to be willing to be who God has called us to be. And we see that with John.

Garry Schick
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and it's interesting. We again, like with Peter, we call him the Rock. But when did he firm up? When Christ was raised, when he received the Holy Spirit, he was always a work in progress. And to a degree, so was John. He's called the beloved. And you're right. In a sense, it's a name he kind of gives himself in the gospel. We think John wrote it. The evidence, the witness to him as the author of the Gospel of John is universal. And he really does make sense as that person. But he is giving us a glimpse through his eyes, letting us with our own eyes, see Jesus. And it's such a beautiful thing. But when we really look at John, the man throughout the four gospels, we see that this gentle, loving, faithful follower of Jesus, he didn't start off quite that way. Faithful? Yeah, I think we could say that. But really a guy with some rough edges. I mean, he and his brother James were known as Sons of Thunder. And it is a nickname they earned. I mean, at one point, they wanted to call fire down on some people and have them utterly burned up for not letting Jesus enter their town. They were people who they were in the inner circle, but they wanted even further in. At one point, whether it was them or whether they were through their mom. But one way or another, they were asking Jesus, "Hey, when you enter your kingdom by the way, we'd like to sit at your right and your left. Can we get that done?" And they were angling for themselves, John. And if you read particularly his letters, they're powerful, but they're a little rough because he's such a black and white thinker. So John had some really rough edges, and yet as you point out, he was an authentic guy. He was passionate. We read, and we also see the balance coming. For example, the word "truth" in his writing shows up 45 times. So truth was big, and truth is tough. Truth can be harsh, you know, but he learned the balance in Jesus. In his gospel, he writes, "the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." We have seen His glory. The glory of the one only came from the Father full of grace and truth. So, we do read "truth" 45 times in his writings, but we read the word "love" 80 times. So love is something he experienced through Christ, and he grew to emulate in Christ, and he had to learn in Jesus to put himself aside, to put others first. At the cross, Jesus puts John in charge of taking care of his mom. So, I don't know what John's plans were before that, but he becomes the one who takes care of Mary until the day of her death, whenever that was. I don't know how old she lived to be, but his plans had to be put on hold. He was a man who suffered a great deal. Yes, he is the one who on that walk on the beach, we kind of talked about that last time. The breakfast on the beach that he and the other disciples had with Jesus. He and Peter take a walk. Peter learns how he's going to die. But John, Jesus says, "well, if I want him to be alive till I come, what's that to you?" Now, John clarifies, he didn't say, "I will be alive till he comes." But John does appear to be the only one who dies a natural death. You say, "oh, well, he didn't suffer much." Well, his brother was the first one to be martyred. So he suffered the loss of his brother. He stood there. He was close to the cross when Jesus died, standing there with Mary and the other women. He may not have been physically put to death. He may have lived to an old age. But we know from the gospel of John that at one point, he's exiled. He's in exile on the island of Patmos when he receives the revelation. Tradition tells us, again, is that historical? We don't know. It was written, like, 300 years later, but it was the next earliest history after the Book of Acts. Tradition tells us at one point he's boiled in oil. Now, I don't even know how he survived that. But he apparently was tortured for his faith at some level. So he suffers for Christ and sees, not only his brother die, but if he's the last remaining alive disciple, he sees all the others go to the grave for Christ. And he's still holding the torch when he is literally the last man standing. Again, this doesn't come from Eusebius, the writer of the verse history, but I think it's Jerome. He tells us that he was living in Ephesus and it seems even from the scriptures that we get the impression that John has a close connection with the church in Ephesus. And it appears that in his very old age, he's restored from the island of Patmos and literally being carried into the congregation. And as he is, and this is our final take on John, because this is who he ultimately became. He would say, "love one another." And somebody asked him one day, "why do you keep saying, 'love one another?" He said, "because the Lord commanded us, 'love one another." But that was a hard lesson for John. We kind of read it. We go, "oh, that's John." Actually, if you look back to his early life, that's not who John was. John was a self-serving, independent, fire and brimstone, son to thunder, argumentative, angry guy. But having Jesus in his life softened him, formed him, shaped him anew into this incredibly; not kind of a weak, oh, loving, gentle John. No. A strong, passionate ardent, devoted, love for Christ and because he loved Jesus, love for others. And you know what? Loving others can be so tough.

Jonathan Hernandez
It can be.

Garry Schick
But to love when you're getting knocked in the nose, that's a different thing. And that's the way Christ loves us. And you know what John did? He sat close to Jesus, and ultimately he embraced not only Jesus as Savior, but Jesus, Lord of his life. This is who Jesus is. This is who I choose. This is what the path I choose that I'm growing up to be through Him. So friends, I know you're sitting out there thinking, "man, I got some rough edges. I'm a long way from John." John was a long way from John when he started. The story's not done on any of us, but do what John's gospel just helps us do. Keep your eyes on Jesus and know that he who so loved the world, so loved you. And His love can live in you and through you. And that is the love that transforms the world. It's John who writes, "by this all will know that you're my disciples." Not by what you know, but by your love for one another, which is tough, but it's how Jesus loves us every day. Tough love, Jonathan.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah. John came from a fishing family, more than likely, a fairly well off fishing family. And when Jesus called him, he went, you know? He could have stayed there and stayed rich, but there was something rich with being with Jesus. And he ultimately got that great reward at the end.

What’s New in the Cross Reference Library? Holding Onto The Relationships That Matter

Forgiving What You Can’t Forget - Have you ever felt stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain, playing offenses over and over in your mind? You know you can’t go on like this, but you don’t know what to do next. Lysa TerKeurst has wrestled through this journey. But in surprising ways, she’s discovered how to let go of bound-up resentment and overcome the resistance to forgiving people who aren’t willing to make things right. With deep empathy, therapeutic insight, and rich Bible teaching coming out of more than one thousand hours of study, Lysa will help you: 

  • Learn how to move on when the other person refuses to change and never says they’re sorry.

  • Walk through a step-by-step process to free yourself from the hurt of your past and feel less offended today.

  • Discover what the Bible really says about forgiveness and the peace that comes from living it out right now. 

  • Identify what’s stealing trust and vulnerability from your relationships so you can believe there is still good ahead. 

  • Disempower the triggers hijacking your emotions by embracing the two necessary parts of forgiveness. 

Closer To God - A deep connection with God is not only possible, but vital to a vibrant life. And this powerful, 40-day devotional will help you enjoy the deeper life with God that you long for. Through the pages of Closer to God, written by Bible teacher Jeannie Cunnion, you will be equipped to: 

  • Remove the barriers to experiencing God in your daily life

  • Enjoy the life-altering benefits of His tangible presence, or “withness”

  • Live Spirit-strong in a profoundly new way

If you desire to feel God’s soul-refreshing presence and hear Him speaking in your everyday life, this book is for you. Join Jeannie in discovering the profound difference God’s empowering presence makes, and how we can enjoy more of it, starting today. 

What’s New in the Cross Reference Library? Who is Your Unsung Hero?

Behind the Lights - In this inspiring debut memoir, Helen Smallbone, mother of seven creative children―including Christian music artists for KING & COUNTRY and Rebecca St. James―chronicles the family’s journey of faith across the ocean to go where God was leading. Written from a mother’s perspective, Helen shares stories of peaks, valleys, and a family trusting God for provision. Helen Smallbone’s heartfelt story illustrates what it means to really let God lead, which almost always means living outside the box of how the world says to live. How did an ordinary Australian family produce two Grammy Award–winning artists―Rebecca St. James and for KING & COUNTRY? What happened to bring the Smallbones through closed doors and to new beginnings in the US? In Behind the Lights, Helen shares not only these stories of her family but of the life lessons they all learned along the way. In 1991 Helen and her husband, David, packed up their family and sixteen suitcases to move from Australia to the United States. Completely isolated from the support of family and friends, they relied on God to provide them with hope and direction. Helen watched her children join forces as Rebecca St. James’ career grew, soon followed by blossoming careers for the others―as artists, entrepreneurs, filmmakers―and the rise of Joel and Luke for KING & COUNTRY on Christian music charts. Helen shares untold stories and insights into how her family worked and stuck together, constantly relying on their faith to guide the way. No matter where you are in life, Helen shows through her own experiences that what God has done in her life, He will do in yours, too.

Unsung Hero - Based on a remarkable true story, Unsung Hero follows Helen and her husband David Smallbone as they move their family from Down Under to the States with nothing more than their seven children, suitcases, and their love of music. As Helen and David set out to rebuild their lives, they begin to realize the musical prowess in their children, who would go on to become two of the most successful acts in inspirational music history: five time GRAMMY Award-winning artists for King & Country and Rebecca St. James. 

My Thoughts: My first experience with music from For King & Country was when I first heard their song, “God Only Knows.” It was my senior year, and I felt like I had to make all these decisions before graduation. I was tired and overwhelmed. But then I heard this song. It talks about how God knows I’m tired and He knows what I’ve endured. His love is greater than all the pain and heartache. From there, I have fallen in love with such songs as: Together, Burn the Ships, Fix My Eyes, and What Are We Waiting For? When I heard that there was going to be a movie made about their family, I was definitely going to go see it in theaters. And what I saw was a beautiful film about faith through adversity, the power of prayer, and of course, it’s about the love of family. I am disappointed to say that I had not heard of Rebecca St. James before seeing the movie. But her song that was featured at the end of the film, “You Make Everything Beautiful,” is definitely a new favorite and I will be looking for more of her music for sure. If you would like to learn more about how Rebecca St. James got her start in Christian music, and how the Smallbone family navigated life in America, come on into the Cross Reference Library and check out Helen’s book. And don’t miss out on the amazing film as well.

Why Did God Make Things That Could Kill Us?

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Camp Pastors Adam Sanders, Colby Houchin, and Art Devos.

Art Devos
Hey, we want to welcome you to Ask a Camp Pastor podcast. We took a one month hiatus while summer camp was still going on, but I can tell you that we have way more questions. We're looking at two printed out sheets here full of questions, some of which we've already answered, but a lot of which we haven't. We're going to get to those and we are going to do our best to answer them honestly and biblically. So let's kick it off right away. We have a fun little follow-up question that we paired here with this question about creation. And it is, "why did God create things that can kill us?"

Colby Houchin
There's a few different ways that we can talk about this. And what I think is funny about it is, if you're super astute, you might be like, "doesn't that argue against something that you just said with the creation thing?" And I am going to say, "I don't think it does." I just think that's part of the, like, as we talk about how things are introduced into this world. One idea that I thought of through this, I heard somebody say that---and I don't know where I land on this. I think this is kind of kooky, but it kind of makes sense. And they're like, "you realize that carnivores and stuff would just eat grass in the garden, right?" Think of lions grazing with cows and goats and stuff. And they would look at just the, well, what did God give to animals? He gave them the things of this ground. And I don't think that lions were tearing apart animals in Eden, but were lions there? I mean, it doesn't say it, but it doesn't say they weren't. And it doesn't say that lions were introduced in Genesis four. So, you kind of have to ask those questions of like, okay, when did lions come? When did they start ripping goats in half? Or, you know, "eat of all of the trees of the garden, eat of all of this, but that mushroom will kill you though." When did the mushroom come? I don't know. And so, it's like, would that have killed Adam and Eve? Would it have given them a big stomach ache? But an apple from the tree of life would've made it all better? I have no idea. But I'm joking(I'm half joking here). But those are kind of the fun questions we can ask in this question.

Art Devos
I mean, we're told our days are numbered, right? So if I'm going to get taken out of this world because I stubbed my toe one day, so be it. I really hope that's not how I go.

Colby Houchin
I will laugh at you so bad.

Art Devos
"Remember that podcast he said he'd stub his toe and die and he did."

Colby Houchin
Your funeral is going to be so funny if you die with a stubbed toe.

Art Devos
Or, you know, I just had an amazing trip up to Alaska. I could have met a bear and also met my end because of the bear. It's just, you'll look at things like that. My days are numbered. It doesn't mean I just go out and live crazily and try to test this today. I'm not going to do that. But at the same time, I don't worry about what's going to come by and take me out of this world either. Animals have instinct, right? And their instinct for, you know, after the fall and everything, their instinct is for food. Their instinct is not just destruction. There's very few animals that actually kill for sport. Few. There are some that do.

Colby Houchin
Humans being one of them.

Adam Sanders
And Ducks.

Colby Houchin
Ducks?

Adam Sanders
Ducks are nasty animals, man. If you look it up sometime...

Art Devos
Okay, but listen, I mean, I feel like that could use some more explanation after this is done. But orcas, they play with their food. They definitely torment their food.

Colby Houchin
But it's still food. I think they just pick on 'em.

Art Devos
Right. But they're going for food. So you just kind of look at that sort of stuff, like they're out to satisfy their instinct of getting food.

Adam Sanders
I think, so, I might be misunderstanding the way this question was asked. But I do think one important part of the equation to bring into the conversation is, there are two things that are both separate, but also work together in the world that we live in. I think there is God's intended created design and order. And then there is the corruption of that through sin. We see throughout scripture the idea that sin begets death. And so we do see a direct line through there of where death is occurring. Sin is the culprit. It wasn't God's design and purpose in that thing. And so part of me thinks in that regard, there is a natural process in which we recognize that things, killing other things, are outside of their God-intended created function to do so. Another thing that kind of immediately pops in my mind when I say this is that pretty much everything can kill you. There's kind of funny stats. You can look at that. But there really are a few things that couldn't kill you if there was the right amount of them at the right time and the right place.

Colby Houchin
Is it Missouri's shark? Statistics are not zero. And by the way, Missouri does not touch an ocean. I think there's a river.

Adam Sanders
Yeah, the Mississippi great white or something like that. Yeah, for sure. And I think even within that, this kind of goes back into God taking even corrupt and sinful things and yet using it for his glory still. I just recently preached out of the book of Genesis, the flood account. I didn't preach the flood account, but immediately after that, we see the first time that God gives the prescription that you may eat of animals. What just happened with the flood, though? The entire earth was stripped of all its resources, all of its nutrients, all of its plants. There was nothing else to eat. And so in many ways, God is giving them the way to survive and stay alive. We also know in our fallen world, what happens if there are a bunch of mice running around? They bring diseases with them. Most of us here probably don't like snakes, but snakes regulate those mice. They eat 'em, keep from getting too far away. So we see even within that, there is a benefit to areas to have this process of things eating and killing. And so, not to get overly philosophical and complicated, but--

Colby Houchin
Well, maybe to get slightly over philosophical and complic complicated. I think it's worth pondering. I don't feel like we have time here, but I think it's worth pondering just the depths of just the way that our world works. And kind of what you said of what part of this is God's design and what part of this isn't. So we've talked here about the God's design of the thing within each and every one of our cells, the protein molecule that binds us together is shaped like a cross. That is a design, that is something beautiful. I kind of alluded to it. I don't think lions ripping goats in half, I don't think that was a design of God. I think that was in order for this animal to survive in a sinful, broken world, there's an act of death and destruction that is required in order to do that. And I think we can really think deeply about the tree that falls, that tree that God created, that it falls and it hits us. It's gonna kill us. But that tree that falls and dies eventually rots and it is a dead thing that also now gives life and nourishment to the land. And so God can redeem even broken things. A really good scripture that I wish I had looked up, it's spoken in biblical prophecy, but it talks about how spears and sickles, and I can't remember where it is. If you know, let me know. It's about where basically weapons are going to be used as tools for farming and tools for creation. And so the idea is that one of the beautiful things about God's redemptive plan is that humans are going to make things that are pokey and will kill each other, but in the fulfillment of God's promises, those pokey things that could kill us, they're not going to have a use. So we're going to use it to cultivate the ground, to build more life, because death isn't going to be a part of it. Life is going to be the only thing that exists after that. And we just want a beautiful picture of, yeah, this thing that could kill us, God's going to use it for good eventually, and some of this stuff that kills us is going to be damned and destroyed, but other parts of what can kill us and harm us is going to be redefined in a way that brings life. And that's just part of the promise of God and it's beautiful.

Adam Sanders
Yeah, I was actually thinking of that same passage. I believe it's in Isaiah. I'm not entirely sure, but I also think I was thinking with that too. There is a reference to, children will be playing next to the nest of an asp, which is a very poisonous snake and they won't be bitten, right? And so yeah, just to piggyback on what Colby said with that redemptive nature of it.

What’s New in the Cross Reference Library? What It Means to Lead

Beneath A Golden Veil - As elegant as the Sacramento residence she operates, Isabelle Labrie keeps her past concealed, like the treasure she hides under the Golden Hotel. It’s 1853, the heyday of the California Gold Rush. Isabelle is full of hope, staking her claim on the city’s refined clientele and her future on a sweetheart’s promise to marry her when he returns from the gold fields. Then, unexpected guests—fugitive slaves seeking safe passage to the North—force her to confront her past and reconsider her path. While Isabelle learns to trust God’s provisions, a law student in Virginia must confront his father’s cruelty and rescue a young slave from his family’s tobacco plantation. As the two escape to freedom, and Isabelle risks everything to harbor runaway slaves, the past and present are set on an inevitable collision course—one that reveals hidden treasures of the heart.

About The Author - Melanie Dobson has written fifteen historical, romance, and suspense novels—including Chateau of Secrets and Shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor—and three of her novels have won Carol Awards. Her first novel featuring the Underground Railroad, Love finds You in Liberty, Indiana, won Best Novel of Indiana in 2010, and The Black Cloister was named Foreword Reviews’ Religious Fiction Book of the Year in 2008. “My desire,” Melanie says, “is that the stories God has etched in my heart will give readers a glimpse of His love and grace, even when they don’t understand His plan.” The former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and owner of Dobson Media Group, Melanie now writes full time. She and her husband, Jon, and their two daughters live near Portland, Oregon, where they enjoy hiking and camping on the coast and n the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. When she isn’t hiking, practicing yoga, or reading with her girls, Melanie loves to explore old cemeteries and ghost towns.

A Fine Sight to See -  With relatable stories and disarming grace, popular podcaster and author Sophie Hudson cuts through the confusing, differing stances on Christian women in leadership and offers a resource that empowers women to embrace their roles as leaders. Drawing from the book of Exodus, and using her trademark humor, Sophie skillfully helps you

· identify the leadership traits you already possess

· serve with boldness inside and outside the church

· lead faithfully and consistently

This is your invitation to embrace leadership with confidence and to find joy in understanding how God sees you. Prepare to be inspired, encouraged, and equipped to embrace the truth that you are uniquely made to lead.

About the Author - Sophie Hudson is a bestselling author who began blogging at BooMama.net way back in 2005, and she has cohosted The Big Boo Cast since 2007. These two things basically make her feel like the internet’s mama. Sophie loves cheering at live sporting events, cooking her mama’s recipes for a crowd of friends, and watching entire seasons of TV shows in record time. As someone who loves to laugh more than just about anything, Sophie hopes that women find encouragement, comfort, and connection through her books. She lives with her husband in Birmingham, Alabama, where they enjoy any opportunity to spend time with their college-aged son.

Does God Exist? (a list and short summary of the most common arguments for God's Existence)

This is just a simple brush through of the most commonly used arguments for God’s existence. The descriptions here are as basic and simple as I could make them and each of these areguements are way deeper and more complex than appears here.

Every human mind is different. We each understand certain things better than other things. The purpose of this list is for you to see which one sparks interest in your mind. You can use this list as a diving board as you delve deeper into the studies surrounding whichever thought process appeals the most to you.

The Cosmological Argument

Something must have caused everything else.

Everything that happens has a cause and that thing has a cause and that thing has a cause—>does this go on forever?

It’s not possible for this to go on forever. At some point there needs to be a first cause of everything else, there needs to be an unmoved mover, an uncaused causer, an unchanged changer. 

William Blake ”The Ancient of Days”

This uncaused, causer needs to be:

  • Eternal because if it ever stops or starts existing that’s change and it can’t do that.

  • Outside the universe because everything inside the universe is caused. 

  • All-powerful because if it can’t be moved but it can move everything else then it is all-powerful. 

This is what we would call God.


Another way to explain this idea goes as follows:

In Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy, act and potency are terms that describe the relationship between being and change:

Everything is a mixture of “act” (meaning what it is) and potency (meaning what it could be).

Act: What a thing is in the present moment.

Potency: What a thing could potentially be.

For example, an oak tree's act is its color, density, branches, and it has the potential (potency) to become a table, firewood, or a child's toy.

So if you eat an apple you are actualizing its potency to be eaten, but you also are a mixture of act and potency. For example you have the potential to be strong but you’re not, every time something changes you it’s actualizing a potency in you.

Anytime a change happens you have one thing actualizing another, but if you follow all the actualizing events back in time, you either have to go back for eternity, never stopping, or you will have to eventually come across an unactualized actualizer. That’s what we call God. 

  • God is a being that is pure Act, meaning He already is everything He could be. So, He has to be eternal because if He is not then He has the potential to not exist, but there is no potential in God, so He has to have always existed. 

  • Also, if God is already everything He could be then no one can do anything to Him because that would cause Him to change, so He has to be all-powerful, making it impossible for anyone to do anything to Him.

The Moral Argument

This argument claims that God's transcendent character is the source of morals.

People often disagree on what is right and what is wrong (i.e. abortion, cannibalism, the death penalty, etc.). Everyone thinks they have the moral high ground. But, for the moral high ground to even exist—in order for there to be an answer to these disagreements—an ultimate right and a wrong—there has to be something outside of us all—something above us, greater than us—some sort of higher power determining what is right and wrong (a moral lawgiver determining objective morality).

This higher power is God.

  1. Good and Bad (objective morality) are real. When people are honest with themselves, at the core of our being we know there is a right and a wrong (otherwise it’s might makes right, or survival of the fittest and we would have no right to tell anyone they are wrong for anything they do).

  2. For right and wrong to exist, a higher power declaring what they are has to exist.

  3. That higher power is what people consider to be God. So, therefore, God is real.

Teleological

Stuff in the universe seems to have a purpose so that means the universe must have had a designer.

  • If  you found a machine lying around you would assume that someone designed the machine.

  • The universe works like a machine so somebody must have designed the universe.

  • Things in nature, like the human cell or the ecosystem of the world, are very complex and they work like a machine.

  • Darwinian evolution can claim to try to explain why that is, but there are other things it definitely can’t explain like the four constants of the universe:

  • Gravitational Constant

  • Electron Charge

  • Strong Nuclear Force

  • Weak Nuclear Force

These are perfectly fine-tuned–if there were even the slightest bit of difference the universe would immediately collapse in on itself. The way evolution works is these all would have had to build to perfection with time and random mutations. But, the reality is if any of these universal constants existed alone or at a slightly different state than they are, nothing would exist at all. They had to come into existence fully formed and functional in just the right way at just the right time.

This is the argument of “Irreducible Complexity” which states that things cannot exist at a less complex state.

Evolution requires things to have existed at a less complex state. So, evolution cannot be true and things had to be created complete in all their complexity. This argument works on smaller scales as well with things like animals, the human eye, or even human cells.

Transcendental

Without God nothing can make sense at all. God's unchanging nature is the foundation for the laws of logic, which are necessary for deductive reasoning.

There are a lot of things we assume but can’t prove scientifically, some of these things are necessary conditions for knowledge and experience.

For example, there are basic assumptions we need to make to do science:

  • Logic works

  • There’s consistency in the natural world

  • Truth exists

We can’t prove these things scientifically and yet we need them to be true to do any science.

These things all make sense if we presuppose a worldview where God exists, because we can say these things are set up by God.

If God doesn’t exist then we have no justification for the things we assume, it would be impossible to prove anything because universal laws cannot be justified or accounted for in an atheistic world, and everything just collapses.

Ontological

God exists because of the way He is. If you can imagine the ideal of something, it must exist.

God is defined as “that of which nothing greater can be conceived”. That means God must be:

  • All-powerful–because it’s greater than having limited power

  • All-knowing–because it’s greater than having limited knowledge

  • All-good–because it’s greater than being flawed

  • Exist–because existing is greater than not existing 

Let’s take a look at how this is described by princeton.edu:

(1) Suppose that God exists in the understanding alone (people understand that the concept of an all-powerful God exists but they don’t believe He actually exists).

(2) Given our definition, this means that a being than which none greater can be conceived exists in the understanding alone.

(3) But this being can be conceived to exist in reality. That is, we can conceive of a circumstance in which theism is true, even if we do not believe that it actually obtains.

(4) But it is greater for a thing to exist in reality than for it to exist in the understanding alone.

(5) Hence we seem forced to conclude that a being than which none greater can be conceived can be conceived to be greater than it is.

(6) But that is absurd.

(7) So (1) must be false. God must exist in reality as well as in the understanding.

This reading of the argument is amply confirmed by the final paragraph:

Therefore, if that than which nothing greater can be conceived exists in the understanding alone, the very being than which nothing greater can be conceived is one than which a greater can be conceived. But obviously this is impossible. Hence there is no doubt that there exists a being than which nothing greater can be conceived, and it exists both in the understanding and in reality.

Mind/Consciousness

This isn’t exactly an argument for God but it is an argument for the human soul because it says you need something immaterial to explain consciousness. 

Consciousness cannot be explained by the natural world.

The atheist explanation of consciousness is that our brain is a very advanced biological machine, but unlike our minds, machines can be reduced to their parts. Our brain can be reduced to its brain cells but that’s not the same as our experiences of consciousness. For example: you could find the part of our brain that sees the color yellow but that’s not the same as the experience of seeing yellowness. 

You cannot study consciousness scientifically because one can only observe one’s own consciousness.  For example there is no way to know if we all see the same colors.

A single atom is not conscious. Two atoms are not conscious. A bunch of atoms are not conscious. So even if you have a complex system, it’s still just a complex arrangement of atoms which aren't conscious.

So where does consciousness come from? It has to be supernatural.

Personal Experience

I’ve seen God do something so I believe He exists.

  • Supernatural Experiences

  • Answered Prayers

  • “Coincidences”

These types of arguments are good for convincing oneself, but not good for convincing other people. There are exceptions to this, however. For example: if someone really trusts you as a friend/mentor/parent, then your opinion and experiences may actually mean more to them than anything else. But, even if you open the door to their relationship with God by using your personal experiences, you shouldn’t leave them with only that. They will need to start building their own personal foundation of knowledge about why they believe in God as well in order for them to continue standing strong in the future.

Don’t underestimate the importance of this in your own life. Keeping track of the ways you know God has helped you in your life gives you a solid foundation to fall back on when life gets hard.

Pascal’s Wager

(more of a thought experiment than an argument)

This is the idea that if you’re going to “gamble” on your eternity, choosing to believe in God is the better/safer bet.

  • If you’re an atheist and atheism turns out to be correct, then you don’t really gain or lose anything.

  • If you’re an atheist and atheism turns out to be wrong, then you may lose everything for all eternity.

  • If you believe in God and it turns out atheism is correct, then you still don’t gain or lose anything.

  • If you believe in God and God is real, then you could gain everything for all eternity. 

So, between these two possibilities, which one do you want to bet on?

The worst case scenario for a theist is that nothing happens to them in the end, while the worst case scenario for the atheist is that they suffer punishment for all eternity. Meanwhile, the best case scenario for the theist is that they exist in paradise for all eternity, while the best case scenario for the atheist is that nothing happens to them.

Believing in God gives you a much better chance at getting the best outcome while avoiding the worst outcome, so it is better for you to believe in God.

Math

There’s an infinite reality higher than our physical universe which determined how our physical universe functions and math is one of those set functions.

(This is a combination of the Intelligent Design argument, the Irreducible Complexity argument, and the “supernatural things we can’t explain naturally” argument.)

There’s basic math which isn’t all that special.

For example the number 5 corresponds to five kittens and five times two correspond to two groups of five kittens.

Then there’s advanced math and the more you get into advanced math the more it starts to get disconnected from our physical world. And, yet, it still works.

For example: there’s real numbers which correspond to real things, but there are also imaginary numbers that are just as mathematically real but don’t correspond to the real world. But they still exist mathematically even though they don’t exist in the real world.

Let’s look at two specific equations which are argued to be proof of God’s existence:

1) Euler’s Identity:

5 Most Important Numbers in Mathematics:

  • 1 (basis for all real numbers)

  • 0 (necessary for doing algebra)

  • i (basis for all imaginary numbers)

  • e (important for doing exponential functions)

  • Pie (necessary for doing math with circles)

All these numbers are seemingly unrelated to each other but they fit together in the equation named “Euler’s Identity”.

This equation was discovered by Euler–one of the greatest mathematicians in history–and he saw this as proof that math was created by God.

2) The Mandelbrot Set:

Set= a collection of elements with a common defined property.

  • In most sets, some numbers are included while others are excluded (i.e. an even numbers set, an odd numbers set, a negative numbers set).

  • In some sets you can easily tell if a number belongs just by looking at it, other sets are more complicated than that, like the Mandelbrot Set.

The Mandelbrot Set also includes the “complex” and “imaginary” numbers.

The Mandelbrot Set is generated by a simple equation in the complex plane but it produces infinite detail. You can keep zooming in on the shape it creates and it'll keep showing more and more complexity even though no human designed this.

It is infinite and not found anywhere in our universe, so whatever created it needed to be infinite and not from our universe. 

Evidential

Giving Evidence of Supernatural Events

This method obviously includes all other methods, but I included it in order to cover a few more reasons to believe in God which haven’t been pointed out yet. (Note: this is not even close to an extensive list of the Evidential proofs for God’s existence, just a small taste)

Historical Example:

Roman Sleptsuk, The Resurrection

(Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ” Series; Gary Habermas “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus”, etc.)

Archaeological Evidence:

Scientific Examples: 

Supernatural Evidence:

  • Demonic/Angelic Encounters

  • Near Death/Temporarily Dead Experiences

For even more information about why you should believe in God, visit our “Why Should I Accept What the Bible Has to Say?” page which answers the question “Why Should I Believe God Exists?” along with many other related questions.

(Just Click Here.)

Click here for a printable version of this to hand out.

This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.

What’s New in the Cross Reference Library? Do Great Things for God book series

Corrie ten Boom: The Courageous Woman and the Secret Room - During World War II, Corrie had built a secret room to hide as many Jewish people as possible from the German soldiers. But then Corrie herself was caught and sent to a horrible, scary prison camp…Discover what happened next in this inspiring true story. Includes notes for parents, a photograph of Corrie, and a timeline of her life. 

  • “You are my hiding place and my shield,” Psalm 119:114

Joni Eareckson Tada: The Girl Who Learned to Follow God in a Wheelchair - Joni loved riding horses and going swimming. But one day, she dived into the water…hit her head on the bottom…and couldn’t move. Discover how Joni learned to live a very different kind of life, and how she came to understand that God was caring for her even though she had to use a wheelchair. And be inspired by how she has used her life to love Jesus, and to help others whose bodies don’t work as well as they’d like. This amazing kids book includes a timeline of Joni’s life, questions to think about, and a photograph of Joni. 

  • “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him,” Romans 8:28

Susannah Spurgeon: The Pastor’s Wife Who Didn’t Let Sickness Stop Her - Susannah was married to a very busy and gifted pastor, Charles Spurgeon. Though she longed to help in his work, she was often so unwell that she had to stay in bed. But she didn’t let that stop her! Discover how Susannah found ways to help Charles, look after her twin boys, and even create a Book Fund that sent out over 200,000 free books to pastors who were too poor to buy them. In this book, you find a photograph of Susannah, a timeline of her life, and a map showing where she lived. 

  • “My times are in your hand,” Psalm 31:15

My Thoughts: For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved inspiring stories like these. From a young age, I had heard about Corrie ten Boom through Focus on the Family’s audio drama titled The Hiding Place. Through the great voice-acting and amazing sound effects, Corrie ten Boom’s life story truly came to life for me. And thanks to that audio drama, I will never be able to hear the hymn, Rock of Ages, the same way again. When I found this kid’s book online about Corrie’s life, I knew I had to get it for our library. 

Now, to be honest, I didn’t know much about Joni Eareckson Tada until I read this children’s book by Kristyn Getty. I mean, I knew that she was a famed Christian speaker in a wheelchair; but I’m ashamed to say that I never made the effort to read about her testimony before. When we got Joni Eareckson Tada: The Girl Who Learned to Follow God in a Wheelchair in the mail, I was brought to tears as I read about her accident and how she continued to praise God through it all. But the thing that really got me was at the end when it says that when Joni gets her new legs in heaven, the first thing she’s going to do is kneel before the Lord and praise Him. 

When I was searching for more books from this series, I stumbled upon the one about Susannah Spurgeon. I honestly have no idea why this one, out of all the rest, caught my eye. Why didn’t I click on Fanny Crosby, or even Amy Carmichael’s biography? Was it because I didn’t realize that the infamous Charles Spurgeon had a wife? I don’t know. But what I do know is that once I read the synopsis for this children’s biography, I wanted to know more about this amazing woman. As a book enthusiast, I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement when I found out about Susannah’s book fund. I loved how she saw the need pastors had for reading material and took the initiative to get those books to them(all while being sick at home). This one particularly inspired me, because the Cross Reference Library lends out free books to pastors and community members as well. 

I think every parent should check these books out for their kids. They’re well written, the illustrations are quite good, and I can’t forget the interactive downloads found in the back of these awesome books. Through these free resources, your kids or grandkids can think about what they learned through these stories and how they were impacted by these amazing women. I hope that through reading these books with your kids or grandkids, that you’ll be as inspired by their stories as I was. 

What’s New in the Cross Reference Library? Books from Local Author Lauri Matisse

A few months ago, local author, Lauri Matisse joined Russ on The Coffee Break to talk about her life story and about her gallery here in Scottsbluff. While she was here, she gave us three of her books: Eve’s Memoirs, No More Dark Days, and The Passion of Jesus. So, I was wondering: How do I make this post unique? It’s a rare occasion to write a blog about books from a local author. So I called Lauri Matisse, went to her gallery, and talked to her about being a writer and what inspired her to write these three books. Please enjoy!

Q: What made you want to be a writer? 

A: So, when I was a kid I had a vision that I was going to be an author and write books about God. I was here in Scottsbluff, and I was just in the alfalfa field up the hill where my sister and I used to play. And we were playing out there, and I had this, I call it now, kind of maybe an open vision. All of a sudden, I just saw thousands of people and they were reading my books about God. And so I told my sister, "I think I'm going to be writing books about God." I did a lot of writing. I wrote diaries and journals and poems. I was constantly writing, so it was just something I did naturally.

My Comment: That's awesome! That’s really inspiring. I love stuff about authors and writing.

Her Response: Yeah, it's really weird, because people say, "oh, I want to write a book,” and, “I wish I could write a book." But writers, they just write. We have to write. Some authors out there get scared, or it is hard to put your work out there. It was hard to put my first book out there, because it was very personal. But I really felt like, if I couldn't expose my personal journey, then how would it reach people? But I think people get afraid that it has to be perfect. Or, "I can't publish a book until it's just right." But I think it's better to just do it. Just get it done. But I think people who aren't natural writers, I kind of feel like they're probably not authors. They're probably not writers, because writers that I know, all of us are just like, "we just write, because we have to write." 

Q: You are an artist, an architect, and a songwriter along with being a writer. Have you always wanted to pursue the arts as much as you do now? 

A: Yeah. I think I wanted to be a playwright. So writing was kind of my main thing, but my dad was like, "you’ve got to be a professional." I'm was like, "what's that?" And he told me, "you know, medical, accounting or whatever." So I started out in theater, art, and writing. And then practicality wise, I looked for something that maybe had arts in it, but was still professional. So that kind of pushed me into architecture. The art was…I think I always loved doing art. I really loved art in high school and middle school, but I think the architecture was great because we would have to go out and draw stuff. So I think that got me to be more of an artist too. But then when my kids were born, I was a stay-at-home mom for a while. So I got the chance to go to art classes, and then I got really passionate about all kinds of art. I have to learn every kind of art, and that's what I did. I know I'm super prolific, meaning I have to learn it. I study it and then I do it. I practically put it out. I can design a bunch of houses, or a bunch of paintings or write a bunch of books. And some people are like, "you need to focus." And I'm like, "that is focusing for me." It is prolifically producing something that I've learned. And I wrote a musical. The musical has 28 songs. It's just natural for me to do that.

My Comment: That is so awesome and inspiring.

Her Response: Yeah, some people's eyes just blaze over that. When they come, they think, "well, you can't really do all those things and do them well." But I have.

Eve’s Memoirs - Eve’s wit and wisdom from the 100th year of the dawn: It is here I met Eve. Yes, Eve of Genesis, Eve of the Garden of Eden. She came alive to me from the Garden where there were no religious walls, no racial separations, no caste systems, no language barriers, no pain in childbirth…Just Eve. With her perfect Adam and God in the Garden…and the talking animals, of course! The answers I needed to know as a woman, I found back in the Garden. 

Q: Where did you get the idea for Eve’s Memoirs?

A: So, as a woman, I had a lot of frustrations with the Bible being written by men. And so, it really was so hard for me. And I'm also, I'm a woman that teaches the Bible, so I had a lot of questions with God about women in general: "why did we kind of have to be second to the men in history. And why is Jesus a man? And the Bible is written by mostly men. There was just a lot of stuff. So then, I'm also trying to guide young women on how to navigate their career, marriage, and kids. But then one day, I was just sitting there writing, because I wrote all the time at this place called The Novel Café, where all these famous writers write. It's really fun and really cool.

My Comment: Awesome!

Her Response: Yeah, it's like a two story coffee shop with little tiny tables, and little stairs you can go up and they don't mind if you sit all day and it's just the coolest place.

My Comment: That sounds so amazing!

Her Response: I know! I started writing there in the eighties, and I'd be sitting there and I'd be hearing people writing a really famous movie or writing books and talking about stuff. It was so fun. So I was writing there one day, and I got my little tea (or coffee) and sat there, and I started writing Eve's diary. And I thought, "oh my gosh! I'm writing Eve's diary." So really, Eve's voice just found me. And then once I started writing her diary I realized, "oh my gosh! That's the perfect voice for women." So that was really inspiring. And I was also trying to find a way to share with women in Islam and women in harsh cultures. I thought, "how do I tell women God loves them in a culture like that?" I personally know women from those cultures, and I've helped a lot of them. So I was like, "well, how do you tell them, "Jesus loves you." So, when I started writing Eve's Diary, I realized, "oh, it's all about going back to the garden." And then that enabled me to have a voice to give to those women too. So it was a really powerful voice, I think, to write Eve. 

Q: Was it difficult to put together since all we know of Eve in the Bible spans from Genesis 2:18 to the beginning of Genesis Ch. 4?

A: Yeah, I think I took a lot of artistic license, obviously, and I tried to really get into her character. I really tried to think, "wow, what would it be like?" And then of course, we don't know, because it's all these years later. But I really, really tried to get into Eve and just be kind of Eve/me. And the chapters really came naturally. I wrote the first five diary entries easily, and then I embellished on them later. So that kind of gave me the groundwork. And I started a lot of different books, a lot of different projects, and I have all kinds of stages that they're in. So I went through my projects and I was like, "which ones would be the most viable to actually get out there and that people would like?" So Eve was one that, I had written those five chapters, and I thought, "I think people would like this." And then for that one, I got two editors. I had a developmental editor, who was a Jewish believer. I just wanted her thoughts. I asked her, "Do you think I'm keeping this on track?" I think her notes really helped me. And then I got a really good editor called, The Wordsmith, and I had a guy's point of view, which was kind of interesting. He really helped me hone in on phrases and wording, which really helped me a lot.

Q: So, how did you come to the decision to have animals talking? I know that some folks say that they probably did because that's how the serpent talked, but then that's also just a theory that I've heard. So how did you come to that decision? 

A: I think, probably because of the serpent. I'm always thinking, "well, why would she listen to a serpent?" She'd think that was weird if all the animals weren't talking.

My Comment: That's fair.

Her Response: So, that's kind of probably just what a lot of people might think. I know that, and I wish I would've had more in the book. I had more of them talking in the musical. The animal characters are full-on characters in the musical. So I've got Lola the Lamb, and I've got this lion, and they do a duet. It's so cute.

My Comment: Okay. Well, that answer was so much better than I expected. So I do have a couple of questions about No more Dark Days. 

No More Dark Days - Complete freedom from eating disorders, depression, and other compulsive behaviors. No More Dark Days is a gut-level heart-gripping and inspirational journey through eating disorders and depression…Experience a sigh of relief and a spark of hope. My journey from darkness to light, to bring light to your journey…Lauri Matisse is an award winning architect, author, artist, singer/songwriter and mother of four beautiful souls. 

Q: What made you want to write a book about your journey?

A: When I had eating disorders, there were other people who had it, but nobody talked about it. It was very hush-hush. There was a stigma that it was bad. So I knew other girls that had eating disorders when I was in college. But if you told anybody, then it was like, "well, stop it. Just eat or stop throwing up." And it was just like, nobody really understood it. And then the books that were out on it were just clinical, and they made no sense, because nobody really knew what was happening. I was in London going through my last year of college, and Karen Carpenter died. She was a very famous musician. So, when Karen Carpenter died from eating disorders, everybody was like, "oh wow, we need to pay more attention to eating disorders." So the whole journey, I felt really alone. I couldn't talk to anyone about it, and psychiatrists didn't understand. They just wanted to give you pills, which didn't have anything to do with anything. So, feeling really alone made me want to publish the book. I had heard stories about its impact. For example, a lot of teenage girls read the prayers and sleep with the book under their pillow. Just stuff like that. It really was just…there was a hole in the market. There was nothing like it at all. And we didn't have social media back then, so you couldn't look up something on people knowing how they felt. And it was a hard book. I felt the Lord really wanted me to put it out. I remember thinking, "I don't want to put this book out. Everyone's going to know my story, and it's so vulnerable." But I really felt like the Lord was like, "if you just put it out, I'm going to be glad you did." 

Q: How did you feel to have Princess Diana read your book? 

A: I was married to a really oppressive guy who was older than me, and she was married to a really oppressive guy who was older than her—even though he was the king. My heart just went out to her; I knew she had eating disorders. So I sent No More Dark Days, but nothing happened. And I was like, "I bet she didn't get the book." And I got a scripture, there's a proverb that says, "my long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and the soft tongue breaks the bone." So I thought, "I'm going to send her a book again. I bet she didn't get it. I really feel like she was supposed to read the book." And that's when I got the letter back from her lady-in-waiting that said later on that she got the book and that she liked the book.

The Passion of Jesus - An inspirational journey with Jesus from Gethsemane to Calvary. “The full moon lit up the long ridge paralleling the eastern part of Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemane as I knelt beside a rock, all alone, praying and thinking of you…” In The Passion of Jesus, Lauri Matisse knits together historical facts with imaginative insight regarding Jesus’ thoughts of devotion for those He loves as He journeys from Gethsemane to Golgotha. 

Q: After making a memoir for yourself and one for Eve, what ultimately inspired you to write one about Jesus?

A: So I went to do a radio show, and I was getting interviewed about Eve's Memoir and No More Dark Days. I wanted to do some dramatic readings for the radio show, and then I started writing The Passion of Jesus. But that came really naturally too. Just like Eve's Diary, I was excited to find, "oh my gosh! I'm writing Jesus’ diary." And I did 12 chapters and then 12 shows. People loved the shows. I got letters all the way from India and China.

My Comment: Oh, cool!

Her Response: It was very cool. All the letters said things like, "you just brought me into this personal place with Jesus." And it was just so cool. And so then I got letters that also said, "you should write the whole thing through to the cross." And I was like, "no, I can't. Nobody can write that." I guess they did with The Passion of Christ. But I thought, "I can't write that." That just seemed like something that I could never write. But the Lord really wanted me to write it. I also went through a lot of suffering, and so I was able to go through it, and I just kept asking him every time I sat down to write, "what is your heart? What do you want to say?" Just, kind of being an open vessel. And then, of course, using my artistic license cause, I'm me. But it was tough to write. It took me 17 years.

My Comment: Wow! 17 years?

Her Response: Seventeen years, yeah. From the beginning to the end. I even lost it. My computer got stolen at one point, and I had the book on there. I ended up losing a lot of it. And then I was able to retrieve it off of the radio shows.

My Comment: That's amazing! I guess it was just meant to be written.

Her Response: Yeah. And I think it has touched a lot of people. The guy that did the audio book, he broke down in the middle of the book. And you can hear it, he completely broke down and had a personal experience with Jesus. So, his voice actually changes in the middle of the audio book. I just love how God works.

Q: How did you grow in your faith through the writing process of The Passion of Jesus? 

A: Oh, that's a really good question. I really grew a lot. I think the most profound part of the book is when I'm trying to figure out, "how does he stay on the cross?" Because he didn't have to stay on the cross. He could have just been God. And I had gone through a lot of things that Jesus went through, like betrayal and a lot of physical suffering. People turned against me. And I'm like, I deserve to suffer. I mean, we're just sinners. So how did God do that? How did he do it? But it was really love. I have a part where it's the love that kept him there. But that really profoundly impacted me. That he loved us so much that he just went through that, and it made me just have a deeper faith as well.

My Thoughts: From the moment I walked through the front door of Lauri Matisse’s gallery, I was welcomed by all sorts of gorgeous art. Before we even started the interview, Lauri took the time to show me all of her paintings from the past 20 years. Lauri had clearly poured her heart and soul into each and every beautiful piece of art. She specifically noted larger than life pieces, which she named, “The Tears of God,” “The Heart of God,” and “Jesus Carrying the World.” So, when we finally sat down for the interview, I should not have been surprised to discover that she has put the same amount of passion and heart into her books as well. As an aspiring author myself, her journey from where she started to where she is today, really inspired me. So, go check out the MOO Gallery in Scottsbluff. Or come on into the Cross Reference Library and check out these three inspiring stories.

What’s New at The Cross Reference Library? Something Pretty Awesome!

Let Me Explain: It is pretty guaranteed that when someone comes to the Cross Reference Library looking for book recommendations for their older kids, or even a fun read for themselves, I usually feel inclined to point them toward The Chronicles of Narnia. Over the last few years though, I’ve noticed that the Narnia books that I would point people to were not in the greatest condition. So, you can imagine my excitement when I found the box set of The Chronicles of Narnia on sale when I was searching the internet. And since the books came in the mail last week, I thought I would explain what they’re about, why I love them so much, and how I would rank these seven books from top favorite to least favorite. Here we go!

What Are The Chronicles Of Narnia? From 1950 to 1956 the seven books that are the Chronicles of Narnia, were created by renowned author, C.S. Lewis. At age 16, Lewis was inspired by a vision he had of a faun carrying parcels through the snow. For over 20 years, he carried this idea, which birthed The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. The most well-known out of the seven, The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe tells the story of the four Pevensie children who enter the magical land of Narnia through a mysterious wardrobe. Through their adventures, they meet talking animals and learn of a prophecy that speaks of them defeating an evil witch who has terrorized Narnia with an eternal winter. With the help of a powerful talking lion named Aslan, the children defeat the witch and become kings and queens of Narnia. And so followed a prequel story and five more adventures in the magical land of Narnia. These books are known for their religious themes. Featuring parallels to Genesis, Revelation, Jesus’ resurrection, and several stories about redemption as well.

Here’s Why I Like Them: I was introduced to these books at a young age, with my dad reading them to me before bed every night. And when I was able to read by myself, I found myself rediscovering the magic. By the time I was 13 years old, I had read The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy three times each. And yes, I was definitely one of those kids that was constantly wanting to check my closet for a hidden world. I loved them so much because, just for a little while; I wouldn’t be picked on by my siblings, or working so hard for everyone that I found myself in an anxious frenzy. But for me, really, The Chronicles of Narnia was a story about escapism from the horrors and trials of life, and discovering that you can’t really escape those trials. And the children discovered that once they trusted Aslan, they knew that they could push through and endure. "I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia. That by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” The final thing I’ll say about why I love these books is their parallels to Christianity. My favorite example of this is from the last page The Last Battle. All of our beloved characters from the six books that came before have gone, “Further Up and Further In,” to Aslan’s country. Their time on Earth was over, and the Old Narnia was destroyed, but as they stood in that heavenly place Aslan says, “The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream has ended: this is the morning.’ And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

So, How Would I Rank Them? Just because this is my favorite book series, that doesn’t mean I would exactly give each book five stars. The books that I placed in the top four spots are the ones that I’ve at least read twice and enjoyed those stories the most. 

  1. The Horse and His Boy

  2. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

  3. The Last Battle

  4. The Magician’s Nephew

  5. Prince Caspian

  6. The Voyage of The Dawn Treader

  7. The Silver Chair

With the last three places, on the other hand, the last time I tried to read them, I was easily bored with their stories and they don’t excite me as much as the others do. Now, does that mean I hate them? No. But strangely enough, I’d sooner watch the movies for Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader than read the books. 


In Conclusion: I hope I was able to portray how excited I was for our new copies for The Chronicles of Narnia. These books have really inspired me and I hope that I have inspired you, oh reader, to read them as well.