IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU
By Ada Nicholson Brownell
FREE January 25 AND 26
Will you be the
person you dream of being—or someone from your nightmares?
You don’t need a
fortune teller to reveal your future. You are the person who determines who you
will be, what your life will be like, and how your hopes and dreams will be fulfilled.
This book will
show how to make the right connections, how to grow your talents, and how to
begin believing in yourself and things greater than yourself—for a wonderful
Future You!
A Bible study available in paper or for
Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284
Ada Brownell’s author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
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AN
ENEMY IS AFTER OUR YOUTH
By Ada Brownell
Those who keep track of faith in
the United States tell us an enemy scrambled over the crumbling walls
surrounding the American church, snatching faith and carrying away hostages.
Nehemiah saw a similar situation in
Old Testament Days. Years before, enemies
sacked Jerusalem until the 22-foot-thick stone walls surrounding the city were
turned to rubble and the gates burned with fire (Nehemiah 1:3). Many Jews who
escaped exile still lived outside the walls in trouble and disgrace.
Nehemiah had an important job as
cupbearer for King Artaxerxes in Persia.
When he got the news about the sorry state of his people in Jerusalem, Nehemiah
wept. He fasted and prayed. He praised the Lord for his awesome power. Then he
repented of his sins and Israel’s sins.
Seeing his grief, King Artaxerxes gave
Nehemiah a leave of absence, so Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to rebuild the
walls.
Nehemiah was not a carpenter or a
stonemason. He’d never been a
supervisor. But he saw a need and knew
although Israel had sinned and been scattered over the nations, if they would
return to the Lord and obey His Words, the Lord would bring them back to the
land where God chose for His name to be honored.
Like
Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time, the enemy of our souls has broken down the walls
of the U.S. church. Moral decay is everywhere. The family is in trouble. Sin has invaded the pews and the pulpit. Some
churches don’t have enough young people to survive another decade.
Yet, there is hope.
Not
long before his death, I interviewed the Rev. Thomas Zimmerman, a dynamic 20th
Century Christian leader. I asked
Zimmerman if he expected the American church to pass faith to the next
generation.
“It
will,” he said, enthusiastically. “But
the church of tomorrow won’t do things exactly the way our generation did.”
I've found that to be
true. We have wonderful new worship songs, churches with multiple satellites
and powerful services on Saturday and Sunday that reach thousands of young
adults. But still the enemy is at work. More and more Christian parents and
grandparents deal with teens in rebellion who live an immoral lifestyle, and
some admit they are atheists.
I notice how schools,
universities, and government are changing the way we think. I received my
degree after age 40 from a state university and shuddered at how different the
youth came in, but how similar when they went out. In the classroom belief in
God and Christianity were ridiculed, immorality expected, and America
criticized. Most students graduated talking alike, thinking alike, believing
the same. They resembled a line of toy soldiers where it was difficult to
distinguish one from another.
I think they were brainwashed
with ungodly propaganda carefully framed to change the individual. They began
with a little truth.
“For a long time propagandists
have recognized lying must be avoided,” says Jacques Ellul, author of
“Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes”. [1]“In
propaganda, truth pays off.”
Where propaganda goes to work
to change minds is in the “interpretation” of the truth, or twisting the truth.
In today’s terms—spin.
Ellul told how the Communist
Party in France made progress between 1921 and 1936 because of election
propaganda. The same was true in other countries in the 20th
Century.
Mao Tse-tung said propaganda
can “force” people to become Marxist. His first techniques failed, but then he
went to public discussion, criticism, persuasion and Marxist education, especially for children, and he
turned China to his way of thinking.
This in spite of Mao executing
an estimated two to five million people and several million were sent to labor
camps.
To have the greatest effect, propaganda must
base its self on existing tendencies, Ellul said.[2]
Instead of going against what you believe, it gives you something else to
believe--using your own desires and needs as a basis.
Faith in God being stripped
away by secular educational systems and the media is why I wrote the
motivational Bible study for youth, Imagine
the Future You. Reviewers say the study, complete with questions and
answers, is a great source for family discussion. It's also good for parents to
read, so they'll know how to approach children before their faith is gone.
Now is the time to get the book.
The e-book will be free of charge on Amazon on Jan. 25-26. Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
©Ada Brownell January 15,
2014
[1] Vintage
Books, 1973, Random House, New York, Copyright 1965 by Alfred A. Knopf Inc.,
page 53
[2]
Propaganda, page 279
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More About Ada Brownell
Stick to your soul encouragement
Ada Brownell’s prolific
writing career began with youth publications when she was youth leader at Fruita
Assembly of God Church in Colorado. She taught youth in Arvada. Pueblo,
Minturn, Leadville, Thompson, Utah; and she and her husband had five children
of their own.
Nearly 300 articles of her
articles and stories have appeared in 45 Christian publications. Her books
include Imagine the Future You, a motivational Bible study
for youth; Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, a suspense novel; Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, a Bible study for the
grieving, support groups, religion classes, those with a troubling diagnosis,
those who fear death or are curious about it; Confessions
of a Pentecostal, published
by the Assemblies of God in 1978, recently released as an e-book.
During her years as a reporter
at The Pueblo Chieftain, she interviewed young achievers in music,
sports, academics, beauty, careers, and other pursuits. Ada wrote about the
latest fashions and how to present yourself for success. Interviewed teen moms
and those who work with them and reported on teens affected by substance abuse.
She reviewed statistics annually and talked to health experts about teen
pregnancy, abortion and Sexually Transmitted Diseases; interviewed judges who
sentence juvenile offenders; and wrote about the tragedy of mental illness and
suicide among teens. She studied, taught and wrote about how youth can discover
faith, even when society tries to keep them from believing. She believes faith
in God makes a difference in all our tomorrows.
Brownell has a B.S. Degree
in mass communications and a certificate of ministry from Berean School of the
Bible, now Global University.
Twitter: @adellerella
Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com
Stick to Your Soul Encouragement
Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
Thanks, Ada, for enlightening my readers today about your writing journey and your latest devotional for teens!
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing with my readers, Ada! God's best with Imagine the Future You!
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