Den Warren's Blog - Posts Tagged "gospel"
Christians: Books to Give to Share Your Faith
Christians are called by the Great Commission to share their faith. Yet, we all know that giving a gift book about "How to become a Christian" will never get read. What you CAN do is to give paperback books that are edgy and interesting to anyone where the Gospel message is not the main theme, but it is contained in the book in a concise, yet clear way. These books do not portray all the characters as do-gooders. The bad people are really bad and act and talk like real humans. While the Gospel Message is not the main theme, the Gospel is presented and the rest of the content is presented from a Christian worldview.
Is doing this sneaky? Maybe. We shouldn't care or worry about that. We should care about the precious souls to be won.
Here are some books released this year that readers will find entertaining, yet may cause them to pause and consider their own spiritual condition:
K-Tron This is an easy to read, fast moving, funny, superhero book where the intense action is constantly moving. During the story, a blunt shopkeeper tells the heroes, "I figured you boys would be in hell by now," and tells them they need to be saved. This book is also coming out in an Audio version. It has moderately rough language, but readers are spared the worst bombs and missiles. The protagonist, K-Tron, tries to decide what makes a superhero and what makes a supervillain.
Kings and Clans Trilogy This is another fast moving dystopian story that is three novels in one. In all three of the novels, There is are presentations of the gospel message, mostly at funerals of important characters.
Please consider helping edgy Christian fiction publishers by buying these books and others like it (if you can find them) and giving them out as gifts for birthday or Christmas.
Also, you may never know how important your reviews and ratings that you leave are to the success of good books that seek to do the Good Work of God. One great review by you could mean the difference of getting these books in the hands of those who would read and enjoy them, while at least opening their minds to the Truth.
Is doing this sneaky? Maybe. We shouldn't care or worry about that. We should care about the precious souls to be won.
Here are some books released this year that readers will find entertaining, yet may cause them to pause and consider their own spiritual condition:
K-Tron This is an easy to read, fast moving, funny, superhero book where the intense action is constantly moving. During the story, a blunt shopkeeper tells the heroes, "I figured you boys would be in hell by now," and tells them they need to be saved. This book is also coming out in an Audio version. It has moderately rough language, but readers are spared the worst bombs and missiles. The protagonist, K-Tron, tries to decide what makes a superhero and what makes a supervillain.
Kings and Clans Trilogy This is another fast moving dystopian story that is three novels in one. In all three of the novels, There is are presentations of the gospel message, mostly at funerals of important characters.
Please consider helping edgy Christian fiction publishers by buying these books and others like it (if you can find them) and giving them out as gifts for birthday or Christmas.
Also, you may never know how important your reviews and ratings that you leave are to the success of good books that seek to do the Good Work of God. One great review by you could mean the difference of getting these books in the hands of those who would read and enjoy them, while at least opening their minds to the Truth.
Christian Fiction Authors: How to Promote the Gospel
To a Christian author, winning the soul of a reader to the Salvation of Jesus ought to be worth writing an infinite amount of lifetimes.
But it doesn't do any good to have a good theme or message in a book, only to cause the book to suck, which it will do if it reads like a Bible tract.
The idea is to weave the message into the story. Either as a side plot, or a main theme. I have done this in my stories a few different ways.
Here is a scene from K-Tron, a Superhero novella narrated by K-Tron himself:
Then we stopped at a random town in the mountains. We went into the small local hardware store. It was real small, but it had a bunch of different stuff besides your usual hardware. They had Bluegrass Gospel music playing on a sound system.
An old guy with long gray hair and beard was sitting at the cash register staring at us. From the harsh look on his face, I figured he would pull a gun on us. I went around looking until I got some white spray paint, and grabbed some chips. Then we went up to the counter.
The clerk said, "We used to use soap and toilet paper. Never spray paint."
Retaliator said, "Huh?"
The clerk said, "Halloween ain't 'till next month, right?" He picked up the waste basket and spit a long drool of his chew juice into it.
Retaliator said, "These aren't Halloween costumes. They're our uniforms."
The old guy said, "Halloween and lyin'; they're from the Devil."
"I'm not lying. I am the Blue Retaliator."
The store clerk said, "Retaliator, huh? Revenge is of the Devil. It is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans twelve, nineteen."
"Look," Retaliator said, "This is just paint for our van, okay?"
"Uh huh. If you want a sensible paint job, you could go see my nephew over at the auto body shop. He's real reasonable. But I guess retaliatin' Holloweeners don't really care much for that, do they?"
"This will be good enough. Thanks."
The clerk acted like he was annoyed when Retaliator gave him a credit card. He swiped it and said, "You boys ever thought about what would happen to your souls after you die."
Retaliator said, "Not really, we're just mostly trying not to die."
The clerk was staring and blinking his eyes for some reason. "Well then you probably ought to be thinking about your souls right away. You know Jesus is the sinless Son of God and paid for all your sins on the Cross. We all got 'em. Sins, that is. You need Him, and from what I can tell, right quick. You ought to seriously think about accepting Him ASAP."
"No thanks, I'm good," Retaliator said.
"You're never good enough. You need Jesus if you want to go to God's Heaven. We all do."
"Thanks, but I'll just be happy with the paint."
We hurried up and got out of there.
A couple of things about it. The Christian is not a perfect body image type that Christians usually portray themselves as. We are all sinners saved by the Grace of God. Another thing is that this is a side plot that doesn't take of much space and does not interrupt the flow of the story. Also, the superheroes did not accept Christ after the encounter. The important thing is that the reader considers the message.
There are a few other opportunities that I create for characters to hear the Gospel in my stories. The main way is after funerals. I do have a fairly high body count in my stories so I can always have a funeral for a key character. On another occasion, in the Kings and Clans Trilogy, a woman would not marry a man until he became a Christian. After a monster massacre in "Scorc Hunters" the main Christian character wondered about the eternal destination of some of the casualties. In an unorthodox situation in the novel Metahuman Wars, a woman held another woman at gunpoint while she lectured her, and told her about God's Plan of Salvation.
I believe it is the responsibility of all Christian authors to try and include God's Plan to their readers. Why would we write in such a way to impress them yet not care for their souls? I try to write my books so if a non-believer gets one as a gift, they may read . . . and believe.
But it doesn't do any good to have a good theme or message in a book, only to cause the book to suck, which it will do if it reads like a Bible tract.
The idea is to weave the message into the story. Either as a side plot, or a main theme. I have done this in my stories a few different ways.
Here is a scene from K-Tron, a Superhero novella narrated by K-Tron himself:
Then we stopped at a random town in the mountains. We went into the small local hardware store. It was real small, but it had a bunch of different stuff besides your usual hardware. They had Bluegrass Gospel music playing on a sound system.
An old guy with long gray hair and beard was sitting at the cash register staring at us. From the harsh look on his face, I figured he would pull a gun on us. I went around looking until I got some white spray paint, and grabbed some chips. Then we went up to the counter.
The clerk said, "We used to use soap and toilet paper. Never spray paint."
Retaliator said, "Huh?"
The clerk said, "Halloween ain't 'till next month, right?" He picked up the waste basket and spit a long drool of his chew juice into it.
Retaliator said, "These aren't Halloween costumes. They're our uniforms."
The old guy said, "Halloween and lyin'; they're from the Devil."
"I'm not lying. I am the Blue Retaliator."
The store clerk said, "Retaliator, huh? Revenge is of the Devil. It is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans twelve, nineteen."
"Look," Retaliator said, "This is just paint for our van, okay?"
"Uh huh. If you want a sensible paint job, you could go see my nephew over at the auto body shop. He's real reasonable. But I guess retaliatin' Holloweeners don't really care much for that, do they?"
"This will be good enough. Thanks."
The clerk acted like he was annoyed when Retaliator gave him a credit card. He swiped it and said, "You boys ever thought about what would happen to your souls after you die."
Retaliator said, "Not really, we're just mostly trying not to die."
The clerk was staring and blinking his eyes for some reason. "Well then you probably ought to be thinking about your souls right away. You know Jesus is the sinless Son of God and paid for all your sins on the Cross. We all got 'em. Sins, that is. You need Him, and from what I can tell, right quick. You ought to seriously think about accepting Him ASAP."
"No thanks, I'm good," Retaliator said.
"You're never good enough. You need Jesus if you want to go to God's Heaven. We all do."
"Thanks, but I'll just be happy with the paint."
We hurried up and got out of there.
A couple of things about it. The Christian is not a perfect body image type that Christians usually portray themselves as. We are all sinners saved by the Grace of God. Another thing is that this is a side plot that doesn't take of much space and does not interrupt the flow of the story. Also, the superheroes did not accept Christ after the encounter. The important thing is that the reader considers the message.
There are a few other opportunities that I create for characters to hear the Gospel in my stories. The main way is after funerals. I do have a fairly high body count in my stories so I can always have a funeral for a key character. On another occasion, in the Kings and Clans Trilogy, a woman would not marry a man until he became a Christian. After a monster massacre in "Scorc Hunters" the main Christian character wondered about the eternal destination of some of the casualties. In an unorthodox situation in the novel Metahuman Wars, a woman held another woman at gunpoint while she lectured her, and told her about God's Plan of Salvation.
I believe it is the responsibility of all Christian authors to try and include God's Plan to their readers. Why would we write in such a way to impress them yet not care for their souls? I try to write my books so if a non-believer gets one as a gift, they may read . . . and believe.
Christian Cyberpunk Evangelism
Cyberpunk is the science fiction world of androids, clones, cyborgs, synthetic presences, nanites, virtual reality simulations, or any other such high tech thing that affects Man's reality.
I contend that cyberpunk is the perfect vehicle to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our world where the populace spends its time consuming the far-out products of pop culture.
Why?
1. Cyberpunk is the most relatable speculative fiction sub-genre. It is more relatable and realistic than space travel or any fantasy. Unlike Amish romances, It is something men may read.
2. It is easy to believe that a cyberpunk setting, in its high tech attempts to make a perfect world, will have severe problems resulting in dystopia. We know from our current situation (sexual identity, same-sex marriage, abortion, etc.) that Man typically messes things up.
I have spent a lifetime reading Christian Apologetics, and I believe that I have written a compelling case for the Gospel in my novel: The Lucid Series: Android Uprising. My goal is to win souls with it.
So I prayerfully request the help of Christians with:
1. Please pray for my work like you would any other missionary.
2. Please get my book and do a review on it. Reviews are what keeps the book in the front of the lists. My book is competing against many books in the "Christian Fiction" category that never even mention Jesus. My e-book is priced as low as is allowable on Kindle. But to show you my sincerity, I will gift you a copy if you will review it.
3. Consider giving paperback copies as gifts, especially to young adult readers.
4. Consider writing your own Christian cyberpunk novel. Please give me lots of "competition" for winning souls.
5. Join the Goodreads Christian Cyberpunk Books Club in Goodreads for information on more titles in this sub-genre.
The Lucid Series: Android Uprising
Den Warren
I contend that cyberpunk is the perfect vehicle to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our world where the populace spends its time consuming the far-out products of pop culture.
Why?
1. Cyberpunk is the most relatable speculative fiction sub-genre. It is more relatable and realistic than space travel or any fantasy. Unlike Amish romances, It is something men may read.
2. It is easy to believe that a cyberpunk setting, in its high tech attempts to make a perfect world, will have severe problems resulting in dystopia. We know from our current situation (sexual identity, same-sex marriage, abortion, etc.) that Man typically messes things up.
I have spent a lifetime reading Christian Apologetics, and I believe that I have written a compelling case for the Gospel in my novel: The Lucid Series: Android Uprising. My goal is to win souls with it.
So I prayerfully request the help of Christians with:
1. Please pray for my work like you would any other missionary.
2. Please get my book and do a review on it. Reviews are what keeps the book in the front of the lists. My book is competing against many books in the "Christian Fiction" category that never even mention Jesus. My e-book is priced as low as is allowable on Kindle. But to show you my sincerity, I will gift you a copy if you will review it.
3. Consider giving paperback copies as gifts, especially to young adult readers.
4. Consider writing your own Christian cyberpunk novel. Please give me lots of "competition" for winning souls.
5. Join the Goodreads Christian Cyberpunk Books Club in Goodreads for information on more titles in this sub-genre.
The Lucid Series: Android Uprising
Den Warren
Christian Cyberpunk Evangelism 2
Christian; Do you know of someone who would read an E-book (or paperback) which has been described as ". . . a truly fun book of solidly Christian cyberpunk dystopian YA."?
See full review HERE.
This award-winning, vetted novel, suitable for young adults has the Gospel message appearing throughout The Lucid Series: Android Uprising in as natural way as possible.
This E-book is now FREE. You could tell everyone on your mailing list about it. All you have to do is go to the Lucid Series: Android Uprising page, and click the button that says "Give as a Gift", then enter your Amazon password and enter their email (and a message if you want) and BAM! they can claim the E-book, which they can easily read on their device, even if they have to download the Kindle Reader which is free and only takes a couple of clicks.
I pray that by this time next year there will be several accounts of life-changing testimonials that I can add to this blog. Maybe your friend or relative can be one of them.
This book is also available in paperback, which could be used to lend out to multiple readers.
Please pass this message along on your social media.
God Bless,
Den
See full review HERE.
This award-winning, vetted novel, suitable for young adults has the Gospel message appearing throughout The Lucid Series: Android Uprising in as natural way as possible.
This E-book is now FREE. You could tell everyone on your mailing list about it. All you have to do is go to the Lucid Series: Android Uprising page, and click the button that says "Give as a Gift", then enter your Amazon password and enter their email (and a message if you want) and BAM! they can claim the E-book, which they can easily read on their device, even if they have to download the Kindle Reader which is free and only takes a couple of clicks.
I pray that by this time next year there will be several accounts of life-changing testimonials that I can add to this blog. Maybe your friend or relative can be one of them.
This book is also available in paperback, which could be used to lend out to multiple readers.
Please pass this message along on your social media.
God Bless,
Den
