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Christian Fantasy. What comes to mind? For many, the first word to pop up is, “Contradiction.” If you’re sold on Fantasy as a genre being wicked prima facie, Karen Hancock’s novel Return of the Guardian-King (Legends of the Guardian-King #4) probably won’t be able to persuade you otherwise, even if the publisher has classified the genre as “Allegory.” And it is, but if you’re in this group, you’ll still take issue. Whether you insist his name is Yahweh or Jehovah, it will bother you, as has me, that she changed God’s name to “Eidon” that this is Greek for “I saw” will not improve matters.Read More →

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In: Random Acts of Thinking

As we go through life, one by one, we are given pool balls, and the occasional bowling ball, by various folks with the instruction: Juggle. Do not ever let the balls fall to the floor. No matter what, you must keep the balls in the air. It is a matter of life and death. If you drop the wrong ones, they will explode in your face.

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If you love Christian Suspense novels with serial killers and possibly ghosts/demons running around, you’ll love Brandilyn Collins’ novel CORAL MOON (Zondervan 4/27/07), the second book in her Kanner Lake Series (note that is Kanner, not Tanner.) If your interpretation of Php 4:8 and it’s command to only think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, or praiseworthy doesn’t include reading about a serial killer lose in small town, Idaho, well, consider yourself warned. Before getting your underwear in a bunch, let’s stop and consider the first on that list: True. The truth isn’t always lovely. In fact, inRead More →

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In: Children, Dreams and Spiritual Warfare

Katherine writes: I am worried, my two-year-old daughter woke up inconsolable and screaming in terror. She had a nightmare that a vicious white dog was after her. Can you help with what this may mean? Dear Katherine, White can mean pure evil as well as the positive side of purity. Other negative associations can include leprosy (unclean), self-righteousness, and even death. Dogs are unclean creatures in the scriptures, where they have a reputation for eating people, and can represent unclean spirits (demons,) worldly/sinful passions, or strife. Unless she’s had a negative encounter with a real dog that could have spurred this, I’d thoroughly check herRead More →

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Popular wisdom is that women are more likely to read fiction and men are more likely to read non-fiction. Tom Morrisey challenges this notion with his novel IN HIGH PLACES (Bethany House March 1, 2007), and without any car chases. But definitely plenty of testosterone. To put it succinctly, if you’re not into vicarious adventure, you’ll learn more about rock climbing than you ever wanted to know.In High Places is a first-person narrative, Wonder Years style, (if you slept through 80’s television, that’s where an adult narrator regales us with tales from his formative years.) We meet Patrick Nolan, at sixteen, just coming back fromRead More →