Friday, October 18, 2019

ETERNAL REFLECTIONS: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts





Juneau, Alaska


☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦

Be inspired...


Juneau, Alaska




Juneau, Alaska


Juneau, Alaska


Juneau, Alaska


Juneau, Alaska



Juneau, Alaska


Juneau, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska


Juneau, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska









Tuesday, October 15, 2019

LORILYN ROBERTS BOOK REVIEW: “The Divine Code, Volume 1” by Steve Cioccolanti


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 “The Divine Code: A Prophetic Encyclopedia of Numbers,” by Steve Cioccolanti, is one of the most fascinating Christian books I’ve read. Before reading “The Divine Code,” I’d never read the Bible with a focus on numerology, just as I’d never paid much attention to numbers in the world around me, except noting that I tend to reorder them.

As a student in years past, I recall my obsession with double-checking calculations on math tests. To me, numbers were a necessary evil to get through school, especially when it came to college chemistry.

Besides my issues with reversing numbers and not having a proclivity for math, my idea of numbers reflected the often held view that numerology is akin to astrology, tarot card reading, or checking one’s daily horoscope—something the Bible relegates to the occult. As a result, I never looked at numbers as having Biblical relevance. My ill-conceived notion of numbers was turned on its head when I watched some of Steve Cioccolanti’s presentations on YouTube when he occasionally touched on numerology—and God opened my eyes to what the Bible really says about numbers. When I became interested in numerology, I tried to buy an earlier version of “The Divine Code” on Amazon, but Amazon listed it as “out of print.” When Pastor Steve updated and re-published The Divine Code,” I was thrilled.

As I read “The Divine Code,” God revealed to me a new aspect of His nature through the precise prism of numerology. Numbers are exact. One plus one always equals two. God is a God of order, and God created numbers for His glory. Through numbers, He imparted orderliness to the universe that removes all randomness and invokes communion and worship of Him as our Creator.

To be afraid to study the constancy and meaning of numbers in the world around us because of a fear of numerology, I now see as an evil attack on God’s Divine Nature. “The Divine Code,” as the book is so aptly named, is inscribed everywhere—in the heavens above, in the triple helix of our DNA, and in powerful movements of music, like Handel’s Messiah. “The Divine Code” skillfully weaves a tapestry of numbers from one to one thousand that glorifies God theologically, historically, scientifically, spiritually, militarily, and even romantically. With God, there is no beginning and no end, and even scientists recognize numbers as being infinite. What else in the universe is small and large at the same time?

I imagine Steve Cioccolanti has only begun to tap into the mathematical nature of God in these two books. My mind is not like the mind of a mathematician, but in “The Divine Code,” for the first time, I see the awesomeness of God through numbers, and I would never have imagined that before reading “The Divine Code.” Understanding the value that God puts on numbers has awakened a desire in me to see the world through a numerical prism. I also have a keener appreciation for how Biblical numerology reveals the holiness of God.


Lastly, I want to emphasize “The Divine Code” is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the role numbers play in God’s prophetic timetable and future end-time events. I can’t wait to read book two.



☦☦☦☦☦☦☦




Steve Cioccolanti, BA, M.Ed., is a Christian social media influencer with over 250,000 followers on YouTube, the pastor of Discover Church (www.discover.org.au), and a prolific author of hundreds of videos and multiple books--including his critically acclaimed "From Buddha to Jesus" (translated to 6 languages to date) and his magnum opus "The Divine Code: A Prophetic Encyclopedia of Numbers, Vol 1 & 2" (now in its 10th Anniversary Edition).


Known for his unique gift of researching complex concepts and presenting them in simple and multi-sensory ways, he emphasizes Biblical balance and 'heart' transformation over 'head knowledge'. His appealing approach to End Time prophecy is both practical and spiritual: we should pray and preach the Gospel AND we should engage in the politics of Justice and honor God's chosen vessel, which in America is currently Donald Trump. His mission is to help usher in the next Great Awakening with others who feel the sense of urgency.


A sought-after speaker on history, prophecy and justice, he appears as a guest minister at big and small churches, and on international TV including Daystar. He has traveled to more than 45 countries for Jesus.

Monday, October 7, 2019

THE STORY BEHIND REAR GUARD PUBLISHING: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts


Shortly before I was diagnosed with breast cancer, during my quiet time, I had jotted down in my journal notebook Is 58:8 (New Living Translation):


“Then your salvation will come like the dawn
and your wounds will quickly heal
Your godliness will lead you forward
and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Another translation (New King James Version) renders it:

Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Today in my quiet time, I came across another passage alluding to God being our “rear guard.” I read in Isaiah 52:12 (King James Version):

For you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight.’
For the Lord will go
Before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.




Back in 2017, when I stumbled upon those words in my journal, I was quite stunned by their prophetic implications.

I wrote them on the gray cardboard in the back of my journal so I could go back to the passage later. I didn’t know the significance of what I wrote when I wrote it, and I had no memory of writing it after my double mastectomy—or now.

I claimed that passage throughout my one-year cancer battle that included surgery, proton therapy, chemo infusions, and reconstruction. I found great comfort knowing that God, in my words, “had my back.” I didn’t need to worry, He was protecting me, my wounds would quickly heal, and my godliness would lead me forward.


I knew whatever godliness I had was from God, so my belief at the time was that God would give me more holiness because His glory would protect me. When you face a cancer diagnosis, especially one as daunting as mine, you want all the protection from your heavenly Father that He gives you.

I’m now a two-year cancer survivor. Two people who went through treatment at the same time as me are no longer with us. I struggled with that at first. Psychologists call it “survivor guilt,” until God said to me, “They finished the job I gave to them. You aren’t done.”

I’ve thought about that since wondering what God has for me in the future. I finished the six-book Seventh Dimension Series in June. God made it clear to me that was a priority, and I’ve written a creative nonfiction novelette that will be published later this year. I’ve submitted it to the Tapestry Word Weavers Awards, and I am waiting to see if I won. I haven’t ruled out the possibility of sending it to a traditional Christian publisher.

Recently, I did some editing for a prominent Australian pastor, and when he paid me through Paypal, he was surprised by my corporation name—Roberts Court Reporters. He wanted to make sure it was me. About the same time, my representative from Lightning Source, one of my two publishers, said I would have a better chance of getting my books into bookstores if I had a publishing house associated with my name.

When I hear comments like that from two sources within a few days of each other, I have to stop and think—is God telling me something?

As I write this, I’ve now officially changed my corporation name in the State of Florida to “Rear Guard Publishing.” At first, I knew I couldn’t use a name that someone else had already claimed. I didn’t want it to be overtly “Christian” as I didn’t know what direction God was leading me, and I didn’t want to limit myself to children, YA, adult, fiction, or nonfiction. 

Roberts Court Reporters didn’t meet my current situation at all. I let my licensure lapse about a year ago because I hadn’t taken a deposition in over twenty years, and it was another expense that served no purpose except to boost my ego. It only took me about five minutes to come up with the name as I remembered the quote God had given me in Isaiah 58:8.

Click to Tweet

Despite all the mistakes we make, God gives us “a future and a hope.” Even now, God is my Rear Guard, encouraging me to look ahead. Does God want me to write articles, write for the secular market, or ghostwrite? Should I continue to blog—which I love, or does God want me to focus on copyediting?  Or, should I keep on the steady course of broadcast captioning until a robot replaces me? I wait, expectantly, for God’s reply.

I’ve spent the last nine years writing books, and at times, the lack of sales has been discouraging. As a for-profit business, sooner or later, the IRS expects you to make a profit. Reflecting on that, I sometimes wonder, when does that intersection happen?  Perhaps it never will. Before I get too sad, I remind myself, “I write for an audience of one.” When I stand before God, He will examine how well I lived my life for Him, not how successful the world says I am.

One thing I know for sure: God has called me to write. I’m an author, and whatever form that takes, God has my back. He holds my future—just as He holds yours.




Wednesday, September 18, 2019

NEW BOOK VIA STANDARD NEWSWIRE PRESS RELEASE: “Seventh Dimension - The Howling: A Young Adult Fantasy”



Seventh Dimension - The Howling: A Young Adult Fantasy, New Release, Completing the Epic Six Volume Series
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Rear Guard Publishing
Sept. 18, 2019

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Sept. 18, 2019 /Standard Newswire/ -- Seventh Dimension – The Howling, the sixth and final book in the Seventh Dimension Series, is now available wherever books are sold. Daniel Sperling, one of the protagonists, enters the seventh dimension shortly before the return of the Messiah. As one of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists called by Yeshua, the horrors of the Day of the Lord take center stage.

The Seventh Dimension Series racks up its 35th award with The Howling winning the 2019 Readers' Favorite Bronze Award for Young Adult religious fiction. The series has a 4.6 rating out of five stars on Amazon with two hundred reviews.

"The unexamined life toys with mediocrity, squelches creativity, and risks squandering God's redemptive call," Lorilyn says. "My desire in writing the Seventh Dimension Series, which took seven years, was to make the reader think. The millennial generation must be challenged to read more, question more, and consider the most critical question of all—where will he spend eternity?

"The Seventh Dimension Series invites evangelical Christians, homeschooling families, Messianic Jews, spiritually hungry young adults, and wanderers who are not lost to consider their purpose in an increasingly hostile world. Readers familiar with the works of C.S. Lewis and John Bunyan will see their influence in my words. These classical authors helped to shape my worldview and inspired me to pursue my calling as a writer.

"As a former homeschooling mother, I've become more reflective in my golden years. When my children reached adulthood, I embarked on a deeper spiritual quest. A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, Nabeel Qureshi, Chuck Missler, Dr. Michael L. Brown, Pastor Steve Cioccolanti, Amir Tsarfati, Pastor J.D. Farag, researcher/author Thomas Horn, as well as many others, living and deceased, inspired me to live more passionately for Jesus Christ. Without their spiritual insights, forward-thinking, and apologetic approach to Scripture, I could not have written the Seventh Dimension Series. May God receive the glory."

Seventh Dimension - The Howling: A Young Adult Fantasy, Book 6, $14.95 (print), $4.95 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-7171430-2-0
ISBN: 978-1-7339989-0-1
ISBN: 978-0-9965322-9-7
ISBN: 978-0-4633008-2-4

Lorilyn Roberts is available for interviews and personal appearances. Learn more about her books at https://LorilynRoberts.com.

SOURCE Rear Guard Publishing

CONTACT: Lorilyn Roberts, 352-359-6941, authorLorilynRoberts@gmail.com

Related Links

https://LorilynRoberts.com

Monday, July 29, 2019

BOOK REVIEW: “Seventh Dimension - the Howling: A Young Adult Fantasy,” Five Stars from Readers’ Favorite Reviewer Romuald Dzemo


    BOOK REVIEW
Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite




The Howling: A Young Adult Christian Fantasy is the sixth book in the Seventh Dimension Series by Lorilyn Roberts, a story told in atmospheric prose that follows the spiritual journey of a compelling character — Daniel Sperling. The Kingdom of God draws near and the spiritual landscape changes, with untold challenges and a prevalent culture of deception and evil. It is shortly before the arrival of the Messiah when Daniel receives a great mission. But he is shaken by a powerful revelation concerning the fate of his father. Follow him as he navigates great challenges, faces the horrors of the Day of the Lord and remains steadfast in his love for Shale and Shira. 



When the story begins, readers are treated to a wonderful racing experience, with Daniel competing against the ruthless Tariq in a chariot race that ends in a way no one expected. The religious symbolism of the race is beautifully captured and the reader immediately understands that time doesn’t exist in the spiritual realm — it is an illusion. I enjoyed the powerful use of religious symbolism and allusion, and the relationship between Daniel Sperling and Shale Snyder, a love so strong it continues to inspire the hero of the story and acts as an anchor for him. The author uses visions and supernatural experiences to lift the minds of readers and transport them from their immediate surroundings, just as the case of the protagonist. 

The writing is gorgeous and crisp and filled with wonderful descriptions, from action-packed scenes to emotionally rich encounters, to awe-inspiring moments of spiritual ecstasy. The Howling is a book that will inspire readers and make them look beyond their physical experience of pain to find delight in the hope of a spiritual world that could be theirs. Highly imaginative and skillfully written, the message can’t be mistaken and the reader feels compelled to be one of the Followers of the Way.
☦☦☦☦

To sample or order from Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books or Barnes & Noble, visit my website:  bit.ly/LRHowlingWord


Sunday, July 21, 2019

THERE SHALL BE TWO MEN IN ONE BED: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts


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Luke 17:34 reads: “…in that night there shall be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.” Recently I read that verse and I needed to think about it. Why did I not remember reading that before? Something seemed unnatural to me about it. When has it been a norm that two men sleep in one bed? Could that passage be signifying another sign of the end times—that it would be natural for men to have unnatural sleeping relations?



The passage disturbed me so much I went to a King James Bible published in the late 1800s to make sure the passage read the same way. To see God’s unchanging Word from a Bible over a hundred years old reminded me that no matter how much things around us change, God’s Word is unchanging.
In the last days, God has promised to reveal himself to those who are wise. When Jesus came the first time, he physically opened the eyes of the blind and shut the eyes of those who refused to receive him—the lost sheep of Israel. As the return of Jesus nears, discernment will be given to those who have the Holy Spirit. Their eyes will be opened.

Recently I watched a Youtube video, and a pastor made the same observation—he did not remember that verbiage. He wondered if it could be because of the Mandela effect—an event where many people incorrectly remember something from the past in the same way. 



Perhaps people had misremembered that verse. However, if God’s Word is unchanging, it must be because our eyes have been given more discernment.

In the United States, as of 2015, all fifty states allowed same-sex marriage. The boundaries between right and wrong and pure and profane have become blurred. In the Scriptures, profane usually refers to unnatural sexual relations.

2 Peter 3:3 states: …there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts.”  The question becomes, if two homosexual men are in one bed and one man is taken and the other is left, why would God take one and not the other? 2 Cor 5:21 states, “For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Homosexuality is not the unpardonable sin.

Luke 17:34 gives much insight into what the world will be like before the return of Jesus. His shed blood has freed us from the bondage of homosexuality and many other sins the Bible says will be rampant in the last days. 


Click to Tweet:  I always remember, the deeper my own sin, the greater the opportunity for God to show his amazing grace to me—and that same grace is available to all who repent and ask for forgiveness.