July 2007

For summer, it sure has been busy around here. Yesterday, I signed up for Curves. My health insurance was offering a discount, and I really do need to get in shape, so I took the plunge and joined. Tomorrow is my first real workout. Maybe if I can tone my muscles they won’t hurt as often. Writing lends itself to work-related pains and strains, which the chiropractor helps with some, but regular exercise should help with more. If I can stay committed that is. But that’s the beauty of paying for a gym membership. Money is a great motivator. :)

Today I spent the day shopping. Normally, when I go to the mall with my mom, I don’t grocery shop as well. But there are always exceptions. Today was one of them. Needless to say, it was fun finding lots of bargains at my favorite store. I love shopping the clearance racks at Christopher & Banks. But grocery shopping is not my favorite thing, although I will admit I do like trying a few new items to create some new recipes. Tonight I tried a new type of fried perch. It turned out rather well, if I do say so. :)

Of course, the down side of a day of shopping is exhaustion and writing gets put on the shelf. I heard from my agent yesterday that she’s got some interest in my newest wip Buried, so I’m working to finish tweaking the proposal to make it its best. If any of you feel led to pray about this, I won’t object. :) But whether the book sells or not, I’m truly enjoying the writing and the journey toward publication. I used to fret more about it all and couldn’t understand why God keeps me in His waiting room in this desire to see my books in print. But now, I’m content in the knowledge that He knows best. For my part, I’m enjoying the story, the ability to write and create, and the satisfaction when a book is completed. Buried is over half done.

It’s hard to believe that summer is half over already. Our boys are doing another video shoot in August, reminiscent of last year’s short film Subject 74. This one is a music video, and I’ve been recruited to cater the food again.

The ACFW Conference is only two months away. Ryan and I are going again this year, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m not a finalist for any contests this year (I didn’t enter any) so no undo anxiety at the awards banquet this year. I can happily root for everyone else. :) And hopefully, find a few editors interested in Buried.

Been pondering some deep scriptural thoughts these days. When I get time to put my thoughts together, I hope to post some of them here.

In the meantime, tomorrow is another busy day. I hope you all are having a wonderful summer as well. (And if anyone is having a lot of rain, please send some my way. I would love a rainy day – not a lot of them, but one a week would be nice.) :)

As I said in yesterday’s post, I just finished reading a book by Debra White Smith called Central Park. The story, like so many of Jane Austen’s novels, which Smith has used as a pattern for her Austen series, is great on characterization. By the end of the book and even days after finishing it, I’m still thinking about those characters. There is something endearing about them that draws the reader in and makes them care.

Francine Rivers is another author who knows how to create great characters. Her Mark of the Lion trilogy sits on my shelf as a treasured keepsake. I’ve read the series twice and the characters live on in my memory.

As a writer, I understand how hard it can be to create believable, endearing characters. It’s one of my weaknesses when I first begin a story and something I’m still aiming to learn well. Some authors start a story by having a character introduce themselves to them and the character tells the author their story. I’ve only had that happen in part, once. My characters usually come to life for me differently with every story.

For Biblical fiction the characters were already in Scripture. My challenge has been to ask questions about them and the time in which they lived. What motivated them to do what they did? Since my series centers on the life of King David and four of his wives, one of the primary questions I asked was, “Why did he need so many wives?” And a greater question, “With so many wives, why did he commit adultery?”

At first, in my younger days, I thought the answer to be somewhat romantic. What girl doesn’t imagine romance as the motive for a man’s actions toward the female of the species? But the more I studied his life, the more I came to believe that the answer was as much political as it was relational. In most cases maybe more so.

In developing characters in any genre, a writer must ask similar questions. What did your character do, what are they planning to do, and why? What motivates them to act either for good or for evil? Even the bad guy needs a motive. No one acts without one. Even if the character can’t tell you what his motive is or it’s hard to figure out, as writers we need to dig deeper, keep probing, keep researching, until we find the underlying motive of our characters.

For David’s life I spent seven years in research and still changed my initial romantic opinion. (You don’t want to know how many times I rewrote that series!)

With my suspense stories, I plot first, then meet the characters, then write the book and ask the questions as I go. I have a basic idea of motive, but it’s not deeply developed. By the end, I have a better handle on the character and their motives are pretty strong, but then I go back and rewrite because I learn things about them that might have changed my initial perception. For me, characterization is like getting to know a friend. I don’t know them all at once the moment we meet. It takes hundreds of pages of walking with them through their journey to know who they are and what they’re like and why.

So one of the first things we need to learn to have good characterization as fiction writers is to figure out what makes our characters tick. Find out what they do, then ask them why they do it. And don’t be discouraged if they don’t want to tell you until they get to know you better. :)

(For all you readers out there who don’t write fiction, this post might sound a bit strange. Never fear, writers are a bit strange.)

Ah, but we do work to bring you endearing stories… :)

I’ll admit, I would have like to have been tagged, but since two authors whose blogs I frequent Robin Lee Hatcher and Angela Hunt tagged whoever was reading their blog, I’ll count myself in…

Author B.J. Hoff has come up with a new meme with the following questions. Here are my answers, for anyone who cares to know.

1. What’s the one book or writing project you haven’t yet written but still hope to: I’ve written two books in my Biblical series on King David’s wives. If the series ever sells, or even if it doesn’t, someday I’d like to write the other two.

2. If you had one entire day in which to do nothing but read, what book would you start with? The Bible — probably read through the book of Ephesians where I’m at right now. Then I’d choose my next novel, as I just finished a wonderful story by Debra White Smith called Central Park, a take off on Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. I need to pick up the other two books in her Austen series.

My next novel of choice is a toss up between a Clive Cussler novel my chiropractor handed me and said I must read and my overflowing TBR pile.
Tamera Alexander’s Remembered, Jane Orcutt’s All the Tea in China, Jenny B. Jones’s In Between,
Nancy Moser’s Mozart’s Sister, or Ginger Garrett’s Dark Hour.

Anyone have a suggestion?

3. What was your first writing “instrument” (besides pen and paper)? An old Underwood typewriter. (I think that was the name.) I typed my first poetry on it.

4. What’s your best guess as to how many books you read in a month? If I’m really absorbed in the story, maybe two novels a month. Non-fiction – do websites count? I read a lot of sites during my research, but my non-fiction reading is slower than fiction (other than the Bible). A couple of books a year, usually books on Bible topics, not counting resource books that I don’t read all the way through.

5. What’s your favorite writing “machine” you’ve ever owned? My Dell laptop.

6. Think historical fiction: what’s your favorite time period in which to read? (And if you don’t read historical fiction–shame on you.) Biblical fiction, especially those set in the Old Testament though I like New Testament stories as well, and other ancient history.

7. What’s the one book you remember most clearly from your youth (childhood or teens)? Marjorie Holmes Two From Galilee. That book profoundly impacted my view of the Bible, bringing the pages of Scripture to life for me. Those people suddenly leaped off the pages at me, real in every aspect. I’ve loved Biblical fiction ever since.

People who were tagged are supposed to tag others, but since I wasn’t officially tagged, I’m doing as Angie and Robin did. So if you have a blog and love to read or write, consider yourself tagged. How would you answer these questions?

And feel free to post a link to this site if you respond.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Ephesians 1:17

How well do we really know God? Nowadays, in our culture, you would have to ask, “which God?” But I dare say, the gods of other religions aren’t all that knowable. Their gods are mystical, sometimes fearsome, to be appeased. In ancient times people sacrificed their children to the flames to appease the wrath of their god. Today, people engage in all kinds of works or practices to do the same thing, to become one with their chosen deity.

The apostle Paul ran into the problem of foreign gods when he visited the city of Athens. “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17:22-23

The people of that day worshiped every god imaginable, even one they didn’t know. Perhaps they just wanted to cover their bases, kind of like people today who add Jesus to the mix of their religious experiences, as if he is just another way to get to heaven. People who do that don’t know the true, Biblical Jesus.

Paul prayed for the Ephesian church, begging God to give them wisdom and understanding so that they might know Him better. God wants to know us, to have a living relationship with His children. Paul said again in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ…”

To know Him is essential for salvation.

One day everyone will stand before the risen Christ and find out just how important knowing Him is. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! Matthew 7:22-23

All the experiential religions with all their false teachings about Christ might appear on the outside to do wonderful things in His name. They might even talk like Christians, walk like Christians, and look like Christians. But God knows the heart. And in that day, He isn’t going to judge us based on what we did in His name. He’s going to examine whether we knew Him and whether He knew us.

“but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:26-28

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:24-31

We can know Him, but it starts by repenting and believing in the man He has appointed, the one God raised from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then once we begin that relationship, we seek to follow His commands, which in turn leads us to His Word where we come to know Him better. Exactly what Paul prayed for.

To discern what is truth and what is error. How do we do that? In a world of “everything is relative,” is there truth to be found?

Proverbs 9:10 says: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

The dictionary says: Wisdom: the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.

A discerning heart, a heart that can know what is true, starts with wisdom. And wisdom begins with fear of the Lord.

But once you have an honest, healthy, reverent fear of God, then what? Proverbs goes on to tell us to seek wisdom, to search for her as for hidden treasure. And the book of James tells us “if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God and it will be given to him.”

I grew up believing the Protestant doctrines found in the Apostles’ Creed and the Westminster Confession. I haven’t studied the whole confession, but most of the doctrines I learned from childhood were based on these teachings. Things like the ability of Scripture to make us wise unto salvation, God’s Triune nature, man’s fall into sin and need of a Savior, Christ’s promise to return to earth to establish His kingdom.

In recent weeks as I’ve been researching cults and false teaching for my work in progress, I’ve reexamined some of those beliefs. Why? Because other teachings out there can come across as quite convincing.

For instance, there is a teaching that is becoming stronger today than it was when I first heard of it several years ago. It is the teaching of Apostolic churches and Oneness Pentecostals. Several well-known people espouse this teaching, and its popularity appears to be growing.

If you read the doctrinal statements of some of these churches that teach the Oneness doctrine, their belief sounds on the surface to be very Biblical, even Christian. But are they?

I don’t like accusing groups or people of false teaching without some serious research. After all, there are such things as misunderstandings, and I don’t want to be guilty of bearing false witness against my neighbor. But the more I research and read, the more I’m convinced that these are groups to stay away from.

Why? Because they are teaching another gospel.

The Oneness doctrine taught by United Pentecostals and United Apostolic churches denies the Trinity and teaches that baptism and speaking in tongues are necessary for salvation. In their doctrinal statements they might sound like they believe in the Triune nature of God, but they don’t. The difference is in the word “manifestation.”

Here’s a quote from a Pentecostal church website: “God -There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

The Westminster Confession states: “In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.”

Did you catch the difference? According to the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, “Oneness teaching says that God exists as one but manifests himself in three ways. Oneness theology teaches that there is only one person in the Godhead whose name is Jesus. Jesus is the Father and the Holy Spirit. Regarding His incarnation, oneness people say that Jesus was in heaven at the same time that He was on earth.” If you really think about it, that makes no logical sense. For more on the subject, check it out at Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.

One other thing to keep in mind when discerning truth or error. If a teaching is wrong in one point, it will likely be wrong in more than one as well. The Oneness doctrine is a case in point. Besides denying the Trinity, they believe baptism is essential for salvation. And they believe that if a person is truly saved, he or she will speak in tongues to show they have the Holy Spirit. If they don’t speak in tongues, then that teaching logically leads to the belief that people who don’t speak in tongues cannot be truly saved. That brings up a host of Biblical problems – for instance, did Jesus then lie to the thief on the cross when He promised that “Today you will be with me in Paradise”? The thief was unable to be baptized and the Bible makes no mention of him speaking in tongues. Besides, the Spirit had not yet been given.

Or what of the Old Testament believers, like Abraham, who “believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Paul used Abraham’s example in refuting the belief that circumcision saved. Abraham was justified by his faith, not by the rite of circumcision.

Hopefully, you can see that these beliefs add works to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. If it’s not clear to you, I encourage you to check out the above sites or contact me and I’ll try to help.

So why did this research cause me to look again at my own beliefs? To make sure of what I believe and why I believe it. In this day and age, we can’t take our faith lightly. If we believe something, we need to understand why. Why is the Trinity important? Is it Biblical? Why does it matter if we add baptism or tongues or works to salvation?

Paul was persecuted for telling Gentile believers they didn’t need to be circumcised. “Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.”

When you add anything to Christ’s atoning death on the cross, you take away the cross’s offense. And if we think for one minute that we can be saved by our own works, if that indeed were possible, then Christ died for nothing! …for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:21b.

Today, more than ever before, we must be discerning of every doctrine, especially so-called “Christian” doctrine that sounds so right but it oh so wrong. Jesus said the gate to heaven is narrow and few there be that find it. The apostles worried about false teachers destroying the faith of some in the church. They were right to worry.

In the last days, false teachings will increase. Oneness doctrine is only one of them.

I decided to take my son’s advice to heart this week and begin the long process of de-cluttering our home. This week’s project is to clean my bedroom, sort the clutter, toss the stuff that we’ve held onto for too long. Better to do so now than to wait until I’m too old or too ill to do so and my kids get stuck with the task. It’s not a legacy I wish to pass on.

In the process of cleaning, this “book collector/book pack rat” has had to make some tough decisions to part with books I’m simply never going to read. I have the best of intentions, but even if I can read a book in two weeks, (sometimes it takes me longer) that’s only 24 books a year, and my to-be-read pile is already past that number with more coming all the time. So I packed up a box to donate to the church library.

Some books remain as reference materials though, and I noticed how many of them I’ve saved that deal with false teaching and heresy in the church. It’s a subject that I’ve been drawn to often over the years and am finding it surfacing in my fiction. The more I research, the more concerned I am for the church and her apparent inability to discern truth from error.

Galatians talks a lot about being careful not to believe another gospel. Paul says in chapter one verses seven and eight: “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!”

He repeated the warning again in the next verse, and if you study the epistles, the letters from John, Peter, Paul, and Jude, each one of them is concerned about three things: love, truth, and false teachers.

False teaching abounds today, maybe more so than it did when Paul issued that warning. In 2 Timothy, Paul tells his young disciple, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power…But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 2:1-5a, 13)

We are living in perilous times.

The worst part? False teaching is infiltrating Christian churches, changing the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is coming in through respected teachers and authors whose books have enough truth to sound good and enough error to be eternally dangerous.

In future posts I’ll try to point out some of the error I’ve been finding in my research. One thing it has taught me though, that I would urge us all to be aware of is this: writers and teachers and pastors and any other spiritual leaders are just men or women. They are not God, and they don’t always have an accurate handle on His truth.

Each one of us is responsible to study the Word of God for ourselves, to know the Author of the Book above all else, and to pray for His Spirit’s discernment.

Without it, we can become like the gullible women of 2 Timothy, of which Paul wrote they were, “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Despite what relative thinkers might want us to believe, truth does exist and we can know it. But it starts with a discerning heart. So where do we get a discerning heart? More on that later…