Liberating you from bad ideas about God
One blog I read is really more of a comic strip. It’s ASBO Jesus.
Sometimes the comic is not really even a comic. Here is a post from a few years ago that I thought was insightful. It assumes that God does not attend church, and records the reasons He gives…
What do you think? Anybody in agreement with God here? Do you think God “attends church”?
I’m on the Drew Marshall show today. Around 11:00 Pacific. You can listen live!
Philip Yancey is the special guest, along with recording artist Jon Brooks, and you don’t want to miss all the other Drew Marshall “autodidact iconoclast” antics. I will be interviewed in the “God blogger” segment of the show. Should be fun!
And hey, the Drew Marshall show is great! It is Canada’s most listened to spiritual talk show, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was North America’s most listened to spiritual talk show. I mean, do you know of another spiritual talk show? I don’t.
If you cannot make it, the shows are recorded and are posted later. I will provide the link then.
UPDATE: The Drew Marshall interview went well. There was even a joke about masturbation… Yeah, that’s the Drew Marshall Show… gotta love it! You can listen the interview here.
Here are the links we discussed on the show:
I know I have talked about my newest eBook A LOT this week. Sorry about that.
Actually, no, I am not sorry.
I try not to push my books too much on my blog. I figure that if you like what I write in my blog posts, you are smart enough to buy some of my books if you want to.
I don’t like to pressure anyone into buying my books.
But this week I have put on a lot of pressure. Why? Not because I want you to buy my book, but because I DON’T want you to buy it. I want you to get it for free!
Seriously, the reason I have written five blog posts this week about my newest eBook is because I don’t want you to have to pay for it.
It has been available on Amazon all week as a free download, but after today, it will never again be free, and I want you to get a free copy before the offer is gone for good.
Even if you don’t think you would ever read this book, or don’t think you ever want to publish a book of your own, go download it anyway. That way, if you ever decide to publish a book, you will have one to read.
Or if you ever have a family member who wants to get published, or if your pastor at church decides to pursue publishing, you will have a book to let them borrow.
I would hate it if next week your neighbor came over to you and said, “I want to get my book published. Do you know of any good books that can give me some suggestions on how to proceed?” and you had to tell them to go buy my book because you neglected to download it when it was free.
Look, I am not going to lie… I like it when people buy my books. I do. It helps pay the bills and cover all the costs of publishing a book like this.
But I also love to give my books away for free when they first come out. Most authors try to rack up as many book sales as possible during that first week of publication, but I try to give away as many books as possible. I can’t apologize for trying to give my books away.
So go download my book on Amazon right now
Also, invite others to do the same using the Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ buttons below. Thanks!
Don’t wait until tomorrow because this free giveaway on Amazon ends tonight, January 3, 2014!
If you want to get future eBooks for free, make sure you sign up for the email newsletter!
My newest eBook came out on Amazon this week. It’s called Book Publishing Instructions.
If you have already started reading it, would you mind leaving a review of the book on Amazon? Just click the link above and then click the button on that page to leave a review. Thanks.
But what if you have not yet downloaded the book?
Gasp!
Well, what are you waiting for? If you are waiting till it is not free any more so you can pay $9.99 for it, that’s cool with me, but seriously, here are 10 reasons why you should go download this book today:
You know what to do: Go download it now.
PS., I am sorry to keep writing posts about this free offer this week… I feel a bit like a salesman. Thankfully, I am not selling anything. I just don’t want you to miss out on getting this book for free. I don’t want others to miss out on it either, and you can help me spread the word by sharing this post using the buttons below. Thanks!
Last week I found a website by a person who who was offering a particular service for $1497. This was a discount from the $2497 they usually charged…
My question is… why pay that much money when you can get it for free?
Yep, my newest eBook is free this week on Amazon, and I don’t want you to have to pay for it.
…What did you think I was talking about?
The normal price for this eBook is $9.99, but this week only, I am offering it as a free download at Amazon. So go download it now!
Most of what I have learned about publishing books was learned through lots of trial and error, buying and reading similar books by others (none of which are as complete as this book), and spending hundreds of hours reading and deciphering thousands of blogs posts and instruction guides from the internet. I boiled all that information down into 184 pages of step-by-step Book Publishing Instructions.
As indicated above, I found a website last week which will help you publish your book on Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble, for about $1500.
I completely agree that such a service is worth that amount of money. It literally takes scores of hours to turn a manuscript into a publishable book and then prepare it for distribution on Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble.
So I think you will agree that the $9.99 price I set for this eBook is a screaming good deal.
Fifteen years ago when I first started pursuing publishing, I probably would have been glad to pay $1497 for all the information I have packed into Book Publishing Instructions.
You want to know why I didn’t? Two reasons:
Today, while the information is probably worth $1497, I still probably wouldn’t pay that. Why not? Two reasons:
Or better yet…
OK, OK, I won’t show that annoying graphic again…
Look, Book Publishing Instructions contains everything I have learned so far about publishing books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google, and Apple. It also teaches you to publish your book as a paperback. It is incredibly valuable information, and I am giving it away for free this week only.
Book Publishing Instructions is primarily written for people who want to self-publish their book, but even if you are pursuing traditional publishing with an established publishing company, this book will provide valuable insight and resources for helping you prepare your manuscript and build your reading audience so that you have a better chance of getting your book picked up by a publisher.
As for me, I always self-publish my books (though that might change in the future) because traditional publishers would never allow me to give my books away for free, and right now, that is something I really enjoy doing with all the books I write.
Giving away my books doesn’t make much sense (or cents!) from a business perspective, but I try to write and publish my books from a Kingdom perspective, which for me (this doesn’t mean this way is for everyone!) means that I initially give every new book away for free. (If you want to get notified of future book giveaways…. and immediately get a second free eBook, make sure you subscribe to my free email newsletter.)
So anyway, while most of my books deal with Scripture and theology, this current free eBook is intended to help you get your books into print as well. I want you to be as successful as possible in getting your words and your ideas into the minds and hearts of others…. do these three things:
P.S., If you have already downloaded it… Thanks! Would you mind inviting others to do the same using the share buttons below? Double Thanks!
I don’t know how many books I have written. Twenty or so….
Nine have been published.
Like most authors, I have about 97 other book ideas on my computer that I want to write. This is part of the reason I struggle so hard to finish books. I get half-way through, and then a new book idea comes along which I just have to work on right now!
As I mentioned a few months ago, I am half-way through three big book projects… and as you can see, I put them all aside to write this current book which I am giving away for free this week… At least I finished this one though. Now I hope I have the perseverance to get back to one of the others.
Over the last ten to fifteen years of writing, I have learned a lot about publishing. I wrote a few books, got published in a few theological journals, worked for a publishing company, wrote a few more books, and even started my own publishing company (more on that at a later date).
This book I am giving away for free this week contains all the information I have pulled together over the past fifteen years of writing. Book Publishing Instructions contains almost everything I have learned about publishing. I am sure I will learn a lot more in the future as I continue to write and publish books, but this book contains what I know up to this point.
And I want to give you a copy FOR FREE.
How can you get it? Easy. Just go to Amazon and download a copy for yourself. You can read it on a Kindle or any computer, phone, or eReader with a free Amazon Kindle App.
Here is a screenshot of the table of contents so you can see roughly what sort of information the book contains.
Does this new book look boring?
Be honest…
Of course it looks boring. It’s a “How to” book! It’s definitely not full of intrigue, suspense, and plot twists. But the information this book contains is invaluable.
Frankly, $9.99 is a fantastic deal for this book. But this week, you get an even better deal. You can download it for free.
So don’t delay. Go download it now:
How about telling others on Facebook and Twitter to go download it as well:
You might have missed out…
Earlier today I sent out a free PDF copy of my newest eBook, Book Publishing Instructions, to all my email newsletter subscribers.
If you are an email newsletter subscriber, your copy should be waiting for you in your inbox.
If you are not a subscriber…. I have two things to say:
You may have missed out on this free PDF copy of the book, but I try to send out a new free eBook every few months or so, and you don’t want to miss out on the next several eBooks I will be publishing later this year.
Last year I gave away about 6,000 eBooks. This year, I plan to give away between 10-12,000. And some of those can be yours!
In fact, you can get a free eBook right now.
Though you missed the free PDF copy of my newest book, I will give a free copy of a different book simply for subscribing. All new subscribers get a free copy of Skeleton Church, one of my most popular eBooks.
So don’t delay. Go right now and subscribe. I’ll wait.
Make sure you come back though, because although you missed the free PDF copy of Book Publishing Instructions, there is still a way for you to get a different version for free…
Though nobody except my newsletter subscribers gets the PDF copy for free, anybody can go download a free copy of my book at Amazon.
The version I am giving away on Amazon is for the Amazon Kindle, but even if you don’t have a Kindle (I don’t have one), you can still read Kindle books on your iPad, Blackberry, Android, or even on your PC or Mac. Just go download a Kindle Reading App to read Kindle books on almost any other device.
So whether you received the free PDF or missed out on that free eBook, you can still download the Kindle version from Amazon.
This is a one-time offer, and after this week, you will never see me giving away this book again for free.
P.S. Please tell others about this free eBook offer as well… just use the sharing buttons below. Thanks!
Dr. C. Marvin Pate has written an excellent volume on the theology of the Apostle Paul. It is titled, Apostle of the Last Days. Kregel sent me a review copy, and it is already one of the best books I have read in the past year.
I had Dr. Pate as a professor when I was a student at Moody Bible Institute, and really enjoyed his insights into Scripture, his wit, and his quirky personality. I only took him for one or two classes, but consider him to be one of my influential professors from college. He challenged me to really consider the historical and cultural background material of Scripture.
Grammar and word studies are nice, but if you don’t know the history and culture behind a biblical book or passage, you will never really understand what Scripture teaches.
This book by Dr. Pate provides excellent historical and cultural background into the life, thinking, and theology of the Apostle Paul. Though I have not yet read N. T. Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God, this volume on Paul’s theology is by far one of the best on this topic I have found.
Apostle of the Last Days challenged me to read Paul’s letters not just in light of the history and culture of Judaism, but also in the history and culture of Graeco-Roman thinking, and most importantly of all, in light of the eschatological expectations of both groups.
Eh… what?
Let me put it in simple terms:
Both the Jews and the Romans had hopes and dreams for what would happen at the end of days. Pate shows that Paul wrote to reveal how Jesus fulfills and completes these hopes and dreams.
After a chapter of introduction about the views on the theology of Paul and some of the central tenants of Pauline theology, Pate goes letter by letter through the writings of Paul to show how Paul tied together Jewish and Graeco-Roman hopes about what would happen at the end of days, and shows how these hopes were fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.
Serious students of Pauline theology must not overlook this important volume by C. Martin Pate. Pate is on to something about Paul’s thinking and theology that is often missed by Pauline scholars: Paul is not only writing a response to Jewish theology, but is also writing a response to Greek and Roman theology, and especially the Imperial Cult of Caesar worship.
It could probably be said that the letters of Paul are not only intended to show how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, but how Jesus also fulfills the Graeco-Roman expectations for what Caesar was supposed to be and do.
This is a challenging idea on multiple levels, and if true, the ramifications are far-reaching. As such, Apostle of the Last Days is a critically important book for thinking about Pauline theology and teaching. If you are preaching or teaching on any letter of Paul, I highly recommend this volume. You can get Apostle of the Last Days at Amazon.
I liked this book by C. Marvin Pate so much, it inspired a book idea of my own which I really want to write. First, however, I have to finish with the five books I am already writing… sigh…
I have published nine books and have contributed to several others. My most recent book, however, is written to help YOU get published.
I have learned quite a bit over the years about the process of publishing my own books, and very early on, I created a little guide to help me remember the steps to preparing my manuscript, editing it for publication, and submitting it to the various websites on which I sell my books. This little guide has helped me get published.
As of last July, that little publishing guide of mine was 8 pages long.
But it was cryptic, messy, disorganized, and not very clear.
So last August, I decided to rearrange the guide to make it more useful. As I began to do this, I thought, “You know what? I bet author new and aspiring authors would like to have some of this information. As long as I am organizing it for myself, I might as well do a little bit of extra work and make a little book out of it. Why shouldn’t I help other authors get published?”
Five months later I sent a 184-page book to the printers.
Yes, my little 8-page guide turned into 184 pages of detailed instructions, screen shots, publishing tips, and suggestions for helping you get published, get your book into print, and ultimately, get it into people’s hands.
And guess what?
Though this book is already available on Amazon (Go ahead on over there to get a sneak peak inside the book)….I will soon be sending out a FREE PDF copy via email… but ONLY to those who have subscribed to my email newsletter!
So do me one of two favors:
If you have not yet subscribed to my email newsletter and want to get published in 2014, then…. subscribe already! Here’s the form:
And just for subscribing, you will immediately get a free copy of Skeleton Church, one of my most popular eBooks!
If you have already subscribed and appreciate getting my free eBooks, please invite others on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to subscribe by using the sharing buttons below. This is especially true if you know anyone who wants to get published. Thanks!
I once heard that an active reader only reads 2000 books in their lifetime. I found that depressing at the time, since I already owned at least 2000 books. If the statistic was correct, that meant that I would never be able to read all the books I already owned…. let alone the books I might obtain in the future.
A few years ago I decided to sit down and figure out if it was true. It turns out that 2000 books was probably a bit of an overestimate…. especially considering the fact that most people probably don’t read more than a dozen books a year or so (the median is 8, the average is 17). If you read 17 books per year from age 20 to age 80, you will read just over 1000 books.
I read a lot, but wanted to make sure that I read more than 1000 books in my lifetime. I think I can read about 4000 books. The problem is that there are so many really good books out there! So I decided to start keeping track of how many books I have read. And I am doing it on this blog.
Here are the posts from previous years, and the lists of books I have read, with the total count so far:
I don’t count the books I write in that list, which really should count for about 10 books each (I wrote 3 in 2013), since not only did I read the book while writing it, but I also read it and re-read it in the process of typesetting, editing, and proofreading the book….
It’s a little crass, but did you ever see that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine hears a rumor that the birth control sponges are going to be discontinued, and so she buys every one she can find in the entire city? Then, to conserve her sponges, she has to decide if each boyfriend is “spongeworthy” or not?
Yeah, it is strange, but that is how I have come to view books. Though there are millions of books available to read, I can only read 4000, so I have started to try to decide if each book is “readworthy” … that is, does it deserve a spot on my list of 4000 books I will read in my lifetime?
Anyway, here is a bit more about how I choose which books to read:
I do accept review books, but I am doing this less and less. I probably received and read about ten books in 2013 that I read and reviewed on this blog and on Amazon.com. A few years ago when I first started this list, I was happy to receive any free book that any author wanted to send me to review on this blog. I read dozens. But it got to be that these were the only books I was reading…
So this past year, I was much more selective in which books I accepted for review. I turned down a lot of offers. I feel bad about that, but it is what I have to do to read the books I really want to read.
Of course, I often accept review books from people who read my blog, because if you take the time to read my stuff, I definitely want to take the time to read yours. So if you have a book you want me to read and review on this blog, contact me through the About Page.
Here are some of the books that are “Next Up” in my Reading Queue:
Oh, and are you curious what books I have read that I highly recommend for others to read? I made a list of them at this page: Books Every Christian Should Read.
How about you? How do you decide which books to read, and which books are on your “Must Read NOW” stack for this coming year?
