Skip to main content

Guest blogger Brandilyn Collins and book giveaway!

Captain's Log, Stardate 02.16.2006

I'm thrilled and excited to have Brandilyn Collins write a guest blog post for today. She's uber-cool, peeps.

Her suspense novel WEB OF LIES was just released. It's the fourth book in her Hidden Faces series, and it also ties up her previous two books EYES OF ELISHA and DREAD CHAMPION.




Here's Brandilyn!

Web of Lies is my "spider book" that carries the message of God's Truth vs. Satan's lies. Strange venue for such teaching, I know. But such is the wonderful genre of Christian suspense.

I have told the story both on my blog and on the Charis Connection blog of how the plot and theme for Web of Lies was given to me. (www.forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com--three posts, starting on Thursday, May 26, '05.) No need to repeat the whole story here. Suffice it to say that God made clear to me the theme He wanted for this creepy novel. And once people started reading the book, I immediately began hearing from them about how God spoke to them through the story.

Satan is called the "Father of Lies," and that he is. Yet his lies are alluring. We Christians end up believing them without even consciously thinking about it. And once we start believing them, we start walking in them. Our Christian lives are hampered by the fears and accusations that Satan heaps upon us.

If we know that Satan always speaks lies, why do we Christians so often fall for what he says?

Because his lies are based on truth.

God is Truth. God's "bottom line" is to pull us closer to him through His Truth. Satan's bottom line is to pull us away from God. What better way to do that than to take God's very Truth . . . and warp it?

Biblical truth: No one is worthy of God's salvation. For by grace you were saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is a gift from God. Not as a result of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Satan's lie, based on that truth: You are not worthy to be loved. Never have been, never will be.

Biblical truth: We have original sin in us, and need Jesus' salvation from that sin. For I know that nothing good dwells in me . . . for the very good that I wish, I do not do . . .Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:18-19, 24-25)

Satan's lie: You are a sinner, and you will always be a sinner. What makes you think, after all you've done, that God can forgive you?

See the pattern? Satan takes the biblical truth that we all need Jesus because of our depravity--and leaves it there. In fact, expounds on it. The promise of Jesus' grace and mercy to save us is dropped.

How can we discern God's voice from Satan's voice? You figure Christians should be able to tell right off, right? Apparently we don't, because time after time we fall for something Satan and his demonic world is whispering to us.

You're not good enough to do that task God expects of you.

You're a failure and you know it. Everybody else knows it, too. They're all talking about you.

You haven't been healed from your illness because it's YOUR fault. You don't have enough faith.

God doesn't really love you. You're unlovable.

And on, and on.

When God points out a fault in us that He wants to help us change, His voice may be firm, but it's also loving and nurturing. We are left to feel that He loves us but is disappointed in what we're doing. That we're capable of so much better.

When Satan tells us a lie, he points directly at us, personally. The thing we're doing isn't wrong; we're wrong. Our action isn't unworthy; we're unworthy. We're failures. Our whole being, our very soul is accused and blackened.

Dear ones, God will never do that to you.

If you start feeling down in your Christian walk, if you start to believe that you "can't do it"--whatever it is, that you're no good, that you're a failure, that you're a poor Christian and always will be--these are lies of Satan. Go to your Bible. Find references that speak directly against whatever Satan is telling you--and pray those verses out loud. You may have to do this a dozen times a day. Maybe even for many days. But in time, you will learn to walk in God's truth--regardless of what you feel. Thanks be to God that His Truth remains true, regardless of our emotions. Would you want to worship a God whose Truth depended on how you feel?

Walk in God's Truth. Refute Satan's accusing lies with God's Truth. Over time, you'll be able to discern God's voice from Satan's--and you can immediately tell the latter to shut up.

Camy here:
WOW. Thanks for the reminder that God is Truth. You rock, Brandilyn! Thanks!

Bible in 90 Days: Day 39. I ended today in Psalm 119. I absolutely love that psalm. It completely speaks to me and expresses the desire of my heart. I want to love God's Word like that and trust His promises that fervently.

Writing: Got some crits done last night, and hope to get more done on my chicklit today. I'm still outlining scenes.

Diet: I had a good lunch of vegetable soup (500) and I went walking with the dog for about an hour. My leg feels SO much stronger than it did just a couple days ago. I think the walking is really good for it, although I have to ice my knee after the walk because it swells like a balloon.

My husband wants dinner at Kirk's Steakburger tonight, and I can't deny him. So I'm glad I walked, and I'm going to stuff myself with celery before I go to pick him up from work (his truck is in the shop overnight).

Popular Posts

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

Excerpt - A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS by Nicole Seitz

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.05.2009 Update: Sorry, this giveaway is closed. A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole Seitz A beautiful young woman. An American soldier. A war-torn country. Nearly forty years of silence. Now, two daughters search for the truth they hope will set them free and the elusive peace their parents have never found. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, a young mother named Katherine Ann is struggling to help her tempestuous father, by plunging into a world of secrets he never talks about. A fry cook named Lisa is trying desperately to reach her grieving Vietnamese mother, who has never fully adjusted to life in the States. And somewhere far away, a lost soul named Ernest is drifting, treading water, searching for what he lost on a long-ago mountain. They're all longing for connection. For the war that touched them to finally end. For their hundred years of happiness at long last to begin. From the beloved author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass...

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

I sold to Steeple Hill!

Captain's Log, Supplemental Remember that romantic suspense proposal I blogged about earlier? Well, it just sold to Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line! I am so jazzed! I am beyond jazzed! The story’s working title is Sinister Spa The story's title is Deadly Intent and here’s a blurb (but it’s probably not what will appear on the back of the book): Massage therapist Naomi Grant could use a massage herself. With her father at home recovering from a stroke, Naomi is put in charge of the family’s elite day spa in Sonoma county. The new responsibilities sit awkwardly on her shoulders, and things only get worse when handsome Dr. Devon Knightley breezes into the spa, demanding to see one of the female clients. And the woman is found dead in Naomi’s massage room. Suddenly, Naomi is a suspect and her family’s spa is shut down. How could God let this awful thing happen? Devon only needed to see his ex-wife about a family necklace she still hadn’t returned, but when she dies and...