Cognitive Wanderers: Minds Steeled Against Truth

Some people write books to entertain. Others write to make money. Still others write to make you think, to challenge you, to stir your spirit. Some, on a deeper level, write to stir your spiritual imagination to embrace biblical thinking!

Many, within the Christian community, have protested through pen and pulpit their concerns about the derelict state of the Christian mind. With one voice, they and their peers, like refugees from the past, mourn and weep through their pens and pulpits, seeking to astonish and awaken God's church. Some of you are old. Some are young. Even now you are shaping the future of God’s church in significant ways, some through preaching; some through poetry; and. still others through prose and the writing of books.

“As cognitive wanderers we have often searched for answers where there were none. Our dialectic has been one of despair. We are the self-inflicted victims of philosophical history, walking in the dimness of our cherished ideologies, proclaiming light where there was none. In spite of all our boastings we can neither explain ourselves, nor our universe -- much less reality…” The Last Martyr, Dr. John Dee Jeffries

The biblical understanding of Who God is and how He is experienced is being shaped, reshaped, and shifted devastatingly by tumultuous theological and philosophical winds as Truth is cast about in spiritual chaos. In the storm center of swirling spiritual confusion stands God’s church. Under her umbrella, entrusted to her care, are the people of the next generation.

With the destructive uprooting of once carefully sown biblical understandings planted by pious hands, the church of this generation is confronted with the necessity of defining and clarifying the historic, revealed identity of the God of Scripture and the truth of how He is experienced.

With one voice our spiritual predecessors mourned and wept through their pens and their pulpits. We can do no less. Indeed, we must do all that we can in every way that we can. To that end, the primary mission of Published By Parables, a Christian publisher, is to publish Contemporary and Classic Christian books from an evangelical perspective that honors Christ and promotes the values and virtues of His Kingdom.

We fulfill our mission best by providing Christian authors and writers publishing options that are uniquely Christian, quick, affordable and easy to understand -- in an effort to please Christ who has called us to a writing ministry. We know the challenges of getting published, especially if you’re a first-time author. God, who called you to write your book, will provide the grace sufficient to the task of getting it published. We understand the Value of a Dollar; We Know the Importance of Producing a Quality Product; and We Publish what we Publish for the Glory of God.

In the excerpt that follows one of the main characters in The Last Martyr, a Father Paneloux, is about to open a sealed envelop. The opening of this envelop will move the reader to explore some of the classic questions of philosophy and Bible theology: Who am I? Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where will I go when I die?

He had maintained his integrity. The envelop was still sealed, just as it was when he received it from me several days earlier.

The moment of truth, he thought to himself. The moment of truth.

“The moment of truth,” he heard himself say out loud to no one. “The moment of truth.”

The contents of this envelope had the potential to rip apart everything he ever believed about life, about faith, about himself, about God. He knew that; and he feared it. As he anxiously contemplated that thought even more frightening thoughts surfaced: There are some things in life that, once taken apart, can never be put back together again. Shattered people become fragmented, fall apart, becoming a mere shadow of what they once were. They try to pick up the pieces only to discover that they cannot. Then, they literally fall to pieces. They never recover.

The above excerpt set the stage for a deeper understanding of the classic questions mentioned earlier….

“Hear me, Father Paneloux. Hear me. Who you are and why you are, are significant questions. I intentionally began with Plato more for the sake of Dr. Rieux because he rejects the Bible and the God of the Bible. Now, for your sake, Father, let us move from Plato to the Bible. As you are aware, the Bible reveals that in the beginning God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’

Some of us are called to write stories. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction – what you write is your story – given to you by God. Know this: If God has called you to be a Christian author-writer and you’ve taken the first steps into that calling, know this, God will open doors for you to walk through to enable you to fulfill your call.

Dr John Dee Jeffries

fbc.chalmette@gmail.com

It is never too late to do what God wants you to do.

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