This is a cute poem my talented dad wrote after watching Biruk obsess about being a pirate. Enjoy it and share it, but please be sure to attribute it to my dad!
October 2009
Voddie Baucham is known for his teachings on family and the church. We have enjoyed many of his sermons and appreciated his willingness to speak out boldly with Biblical truths and precepts.
I just found his sermon on racial issues this morning, and I highly recommend it. Pastor Baucham goes through the reasons people insist on separating "the races" physically and theoritically. He teaches the Biblical view of race (there is one race, the human race).
You can download and listen to it for free HERE. I encourage you to do so!
Per the new regs: This book was provided for review by Kathy Carlton Willis Communications.
Leave a comment for a chance to be entered into the Grand Prize Contest described at the end.
|
About the Book:
An arranged marriage, a runaway bride, and an ugly family heritage of brutal and inhumane slavery operations leave no room for a fairytale story. Grace Winslow, daughter of an English sea captain and African princess, finds herself in a horrific position of betrothal. Doomed to marry an obnoxious white man, whom she does not love, Grace runs away to escape the slavery she’s been surrounded by all her life. Instead, her journey from home brings her face-to-face with issues of extreme slavery, abuse and human trafficking. In the end she discovers slavery is more than just chains and finds grace that exceeds a name given to her by her parents.
Written by Kay Marshall Strom, The Call of Zulina links historical slavery issues with the modern-day crisis tainting many countries. On the heels of important legislature regarding human trafficking, Strom tackles the subject boldly as she sheds light on the practices and techniques used by angry slave traders. Seen as an advocate for those who have no voice, Strom finds words to communicate the message of history to today’s readers. While this book shines the light on an uncomfortable subject, the message of hope, freedom, and justice prevail and eternal truths discovered. *
|
|
About the Author:
Author Kay Marshall Strom has two great loves: writing and helping others achieve their own writing potential. Kay has written thirty-six published books, numerous magazine articles, and two screenplays. While mostly a nonfiction writer, the first book of her historical novel trilogy Grace in Africa has met with acclaim. Kay speaks at seminars, retreats, writers’ conferences, and special events throughout the country and around the world. She is in wide demand as an instructor and keynote speaker at major writing conferences. She also enjoys speaking aboard cruise ships in exchange for exotic cruise destinations.
|
|
Blog Tour Interview:
1.How did you come up with the storyline of The Call of Zulina?
While in West Africa working on another project, I toured an old slave fortress and was struck dumb by a set of baby manacles bolted to the wall. The characters of Lingongo and Joseph Winslow, Grace's parents, are modeled after real people who ran a slave business in Africa in the 1700s. I "met" them when I was researching Once Blind: The Life of John Newton, a biography of the slaver turned preacher and abolitionists, author of Amazing Grace. The more I thought about them, the more I wondered, "If they'd had a daughter, who would she be? Where would her loyalties lie?"
*
2.What inspired you to write a book so entrenched with uncomfortable issues?
I used to think that non-fiction was the meat and potatoes of writing and fiction was the chocolate mousse dessert... fun, but not of much value. But I've come to understand that truths can be revealed through fiction just as powerfully as through non-fiction. Sometimes, more so! The fact is, for so long we have tried to look away and pretend that this horrible chapter in history never happened. But it did, and we still feel the effects today. Moreover, the roots of slavery--hunger for power and money, fear and diminishment of people unlike ourselves, and humanity's endless ability to rationalize evil actions--abound today. The time seemed right.
*
3.How have your travels around the world equipped you for writing such a historical novel?
People ask me where my passion for issues such as modern day slavery come from. To a large degree it is from the things I have seen and heard on my numerous trips to India, African countries, Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, and other places around the world.
*
4.Tell us a personal story regarding modern day slavery.
A most pervasive type of slavery is what is known as bonded servitude, where entire poor families are bound into virtual slavery--sometimes for generations--because of a small debt. This is especially common in India. I visited a village in central India where the women had been freed from bondage and set up with a micro loan that allowed them to raise a small herd of dairy cows. They worked so hard and saved every rupee. When they had enough saved, they persuaded a young teacher to come and start a school for their children. Then they used further profits to make low interest loans to others in the area so they could start their own businesses, too--a little bank. I sat in a circle with the five women who made up the "board of directors." Only one could read and write. I asked, "How will the next generation be different because of what you have done?" They said, "No more will be like us. When people look us, they see nothing. But when they look at our children, they see real human beings with value."
From invisible slaves to human beings... all in one generation!
*
5.Grace, the lead character in The Call of Zulina, forsakes all to escape the slavery of her parents and an arranged marriage.How common is this scenerio today in other countries?
Horrifyingly common. Slavery today takes many forms. According to UNICEF's more conservative count, there are about 12 million people living as slaves today--three times as many as in the days of the African slave trade. As for child arranged marriages, I have talked to girls "enslaved" to husbands in many countries. Examples include a girl in Nepal married at 9 to a middle-aged man, one in India married at 11, a 13-year-old in Egypt married to a man older than her father. I've seen it in Africa, Eastern Europe... so many places!
*
6. What about in America, are there slavery and trafficking issues here?
Unfortunately, there are. The U.S. State Department estimates between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the Untied States each year, although it concedes that the real number is actually far higher. And it's not just states like New York and California that are affected, either. According to the U.S. Justice Department's head of the new human trafficking unit, there is now at least one case of trafficking in every state.
*
7. You've had 36 books published, and more written and contracted for future release. How has this one impacted your own life?
Some books report, some tell stories. This book has torn my heart.
*
8.Briefly tell us about the next two books in this Grace in Africa trilogy.
In Book 2, Grace watches her reconstructed life smashed by slavers and revenge, and she is forcibly taken to London. There she faces a new kind of tyranny and another fight for freedom... and for her husband, who is enslaved in America.
Book 3 is set in the new United States of America, in the heart of the slavery. It is a story of slavery at it's worst and redemption at its best.
*
|
|
|
What Can Concerned Citizens Do to Raise Awareness?
Grand Prize Giveaway!!!
Leave a Comment for a chance to be entered
Kay Marshall Strom is giving the following books to one fortunate commenter from The Call of Zulina blog tour. The prize package includes several of Kay's books:
|
As per the new FDA rules: These books were provided for review by WaterBrook Press/Random House
When I first started reading Wisdom Hunter (by Randall Arthur), I was feeling a little defensive. Sometimes I think we conservatives get a little picked on. I don't believe that having standards of dress or behavior is inherently wrong or damaging.
However, I have to admit that there are churches and cults which do take legalism to a level that tears families apart and damages hearts. And that is what this book is about: A husband and father who doesn't realize the damage he has done until the death of his daughter, and then his wife, shakes the very foundations of his world.
Publisher's summary:
Pastor Jason Faircloth knows what he believes. His clear faith, in fact, is why he is one of the most prominent pastors in Atlanta . He relies on it to discipline his daughter, his wife, his church. He prays daily that others would come to see God’s ways as he does.
And it is about to cost him everything. Groping for answers in the face of tragedy, Jason begins a search for the only family he has left: the granddaughter kept hidden from him. Soon he finds himself on an international adventure that will take him straight into the depths of his soul. He is determined not to fail again.
A fast-paced suspense novel rich in spiritual depth, Wisdom Hunter explores what it means to break free of Christian legalism--and discover why grace can mean the difference between life and death.
Shadow Government is a conspiracy theorist's dream. I am not sure what to make of it except that I have a lot of trouble swallowing many of the claims made. Are there evil people in the world? Sure. Can technology be abused? Are there current instances of abuse? Absolutely. I'm still not sure I can draw the same conclusions as this author, though. I am also not a fan of "ripped from the headlines" eschatology.
Here is the publisher's summary:
Security cameras, surveillance of private financial transactions, radio frequency spy chips hidden in consumer products, eavesdropping on e-mail correspondence and phone calls, and Internet tracking. No one is protected, and privacy is a thing of the past.
An ultra-secret global elit, funcitoning as a very real shadow government, controls technology, finance, international law, world trade, political power, and vast military capabilities. These unnamed, unrivaled leaders answer to no earthly authority, and they won't stop until they control the world.
In Shadow Government, prophecy expert Grant Jeffrey removes the screen that, up to now, has hidden the work of these diabolical agents. Jeffrey reveals the biblical description of Satan's global conquest and identifies the tools of technology that the Antichrist will use to rule the world.
Readers will have their eyes opened to the real power that is working behind the scenes to destroy America and merge it into the coming global government. Armed with this knowledge, readers willbe equipped to face the spiritual darkness with the light of prophetic truth.
All I can say is, read it and judge for yourself.
We all remember the 8 years of George Bush's (Jr.) presidency, when we rolled our eyes and complained at the ridiculous conspiracy theories and downright hatred spewed at him. Those of us who actually listend to his speeches were aware that many of the things he was mocked about were either not said by him, or were manipulated and changed on tape to make him sound stupid. There were blatant lies and rumors spread about him. Ridiculous charges. Hatred bordering on the insane. If one didn't know better, one might have been excused for thinking that he had commissioned the creation of a dastardly weather machine and aimed it at New Orleans himself because he hates black people, having gathered as much from the accusations leveled at him after that fiasco.
As much as I dislike most of what President Obama stands for, part of me was relieved when he was elected. I thought: "At last, we'll have a little break from the insanity. The Democrats will be busy lauding every golden word that drops from the mouth of the new POTUS. Maybe the Republican party can pull itself together and give us a great candidate four years from now."
Clearly, I live on a different planet. All by myself. It's lonely out here.
It seems that the disease which infected the left during George Bush's has "crossed species" and infected the right. People who's books I have read and enjoyed, people who's articles and speeches I have applauded, people who I have considered intelligent, thoughtful, and reasonable....some of these people now have succumbed to the idea that anything that is in any way related to the current administration is something to be feared and hated. Opposition to the current administration are also accusing the government of things, sometimes in a very contradictory way, with very little basis. For instance, the government is simultaneously pushing the H1N1 vaccine down our throats and maliciously slowing down the H1N1 vaccine production. Goodness, even the most evil entity can't do both of those at the same time! And don't even get me started on the birth certificate thing. Oy.
I am not the least bit opposed to protest, and vocal opposition. Not at all. I thought the Tea Parties were a great idea. I think attending Town Hall meetings and voicing one's opinions is important. I think blogging, writing, speaking, and organizing are necessary for the continuation of our country's freedom. However, I think that we had better make pretty darn sure that what we are saying is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We start to look clownish when we try to make arguments like "They say [insert conspiracy theory]" or "They [undefined, generalized They] are trying to do such-and-such to us." or "I've heard.....[no source given]" or any such thing.
I will give you a non-political example of a very imprecise and damaging statement. The statement is: "Vaccines are made from the bodies of aborted babies".
The problem with such a statement is that while it contains a teeny, tiny kernel of truth, it has been distorted, generalized, and falsified to the point that any pro-choicer who's thought about their position for more than 10 seconds will be able to laugh it off, and rightly so. The tiny kernel of truth is this: 40 years ago, some women were told that therapeutic abortion was necessary after they contracted Rubella (German Measles). Some cells were taken from a single infected (and "terminated") baby, and were used to culture the disease in order to create the vaccine for Rubella. These cell-lines are infinitely self-replicating, requiring no "fresh" cells, ever again. No further aborted babies were used for this or any other vaccine, and babies are not currently aborted or sold for the purpose of creating vaccines. Additionally, during production the vaccine is purified of all traces of the cells in which it was grown, so there are no actual human cells in the MMR vaccine.
If you know me, you know I am adamantly and vocally pro-life. I think abortion is a horrendous evil perpetrated on the unborn, and their mothers. But I believe it is both unethical and terribly counter-productive to make an argument based on falsehood in an attempt to horrify a person into changing their position. The statement above is not a valid argument against either abortion or vaccination. One could make other perfectly valid statements in the debate against either, but this one doesn't work and shouldn't be used.
Such is the case with our political debate. We must make absolutely sure that any argument or protest we make, is made on the basis of fact and evidence and truth. We must be ready to present the evidence. (Side note: An "evidence" record consisting of an unending round-robin of opinion pieces does not count, even if the opinionators are eminently smart and eloquent people, even if they have letters after thier name) Anything else will backfire, and not just cause the other side of the debate to look on us as idiots, but cause people (like me) on our own side to question whether the hype and rhetoric has any basis in reality at all.
