Who I am

 

This is a bit strange, trying to write a bio about myself! After all, I see myself as just another guy out there in the world trying to live an authentic Christian life. I am an avid outdoorsman, lay speaker, and writer with a background in various blue collar industries as well as in stage and the motion picture industry. I have over 27 years experience working in the explosives industry. I live in a beautiful part of the south-central region of Pennsylvania with my lovely wife, young son, and our pets.

 

I think there were indicators early in life that I might one day be a story teller. I've always had a knack for daydreaming for one thing. I grew up listening to my paternal grandfather, a man who always seemed to me larger than life, tell stories of days gone by. Whatever the cause of it all, great stories have always fascinated me, whether tall tales of grand adventures, classic literature, or the retelling of real historical events.

 

I have a deep love for history, especially as it relates to the founding of America and our religious Christian heritage. I also have a passion for science, especially as it relates to creation. I maintain a deep commitment to the truth, authority, and accuracy of God's Word as it is revealed in the Bible. I think too many people take a low view of Scripture and argue against its infallibility and inerrancy without truly understanding the definitions and various aspects of those terms.

 

My work tends to reflect my convictions, sometimes subtly and at other times quite pointedly, however I always strive to avoid letting my stories become too preachy. It is important to me that my fictional books are a vehicle for proclaiming the Gospel, but I always want to see that happen as part of a great story. Likewise, it's important to me that my nonfiction work is enjoyable and accessible, so I always try to write those books in a way that makes them conversational and easy to read. As for my blog, well, it touches on an array of topics from the technical to the theological, but hopefully always in a way that is honoring to God.

 

What I Do & Why

 

If you are anything like me, you most often find yourself entrenched in a world that is far from Jesus Christ and dying without him. Our world is hurting, hopeless, and, to be honest, becoming more tasteless by the day. What's more, the world, including many in the church, are rejecting the truth and authority of God's word, willingly embracing naturalism, Christian idolatry, and the whims of humanity as truth. If you are like me, you want to see Jesus touch your world in a powerful way, bringing the lasting hope, joy, and peace only he can offer. That is why I do what I do. As a blue collar, everyday Christian guy, I want to encourage, inspire, and equip other everyday Christian people to embrace the fulltime ministry of reaching their own world for Jesus. I want to provide sound, relevant resources to the church and the seekers of our world. Whether I am presenting live, penning a new novel, writing non-fiction, or putting together a new resource or article, that is my goal and hope.

 

Mission & Statement of Faith

 

Stories and non-fiction tomes are wonderful vehicles for the proclamation of God's amazing story. In all of my works the proclamation of the Gospel is of primary importance. Other issues, while important, are secondary to the Gospel message. Below is a series of brief statements that should help you understand my Christian beliefs. Undoubtedly, there are some who will disagree with me on certain topics, however I believe the thoughts below align with God's holy, infallible, inerrant, and precious Word.

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My mission is...

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• To strengthen and edify Christians everywhere;

• to convict the wandering Church and call her back to sound doctrine;

• to call the lost to Christ, in so doing, build the church;

• to minister through the written word, live presentations, and direct interaction,

 

as a layperson in Christian ministry.

 

I believe... 

 

The sixty-six books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs. It is the supreme authority in everything it teaches. Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science. Furthermore, the Bible is to be interpreted in light of itself, as Scripture is in fact the final guide to the interpretation of Scripture. Therefore, all of the elements of God's Word, including Creation, the Noacian Flood, the Dispersion at Babel, the Virgin Birth, the miracles of Christ, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, and the coming final Judgement, are simple yet factual presentations of actual events. This being the case, all of Scripture provides a reliable framework for understanding our world, the human condition, and scientific research into such questions as the origin and history of life, mankind, the earth, and the universe.

 

The physical universe of space, time, matter, and energy has not always existed, but was supernaturally created by a transcendent personal Creator who alone has existed from eternity.

 

Therefore, in the beginning...

 

• The various original life forms (kinds), including mankind, were made by direct creative acts of God. The living descendants of any of the original kinds (apart from man) may represent more than one species today, reflecting the genetic potential within the original kind. Only limited biological changes (including mutational deterioration) have occurred naturally within each kind since creation.

• The great Flood of Genesis was an actual historic event, worldwide (global) in its extent and effect.

• The special creation of Adam (the first man) and Eve (the first woman), and their subsequent fall into sin, is the basis for the necessity of salvation for mankind.

• Death (both physical and spiritual) and bloodshed entered into this world subsequent to and as a direct consequence of man’s sin.

 

Each of us is separated from God and carries the inherited guilt of Adam's sin. Humans are in need of a savior because of the consequent spiritual death. This and all of Christian theology (the doctrines of Christianity) finds its basis in Scripture, including in the early chapters of Genesis. The accounts of Creation, the Noacian Flood, the Dispersion at Babel, the Virgin Birth, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, and the coming final Judgement, among others cannot be divorced from the Gospel without doing violence to the whole of God's Word.

 

Therefore, I  believe...

 

• The Godhead is triune: one God, three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

• All mankind are sinners, inherently from Adam and individually (by choice), and are therefore subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.

• Freedom from the penalty and power of sin is available to man only through the sacrificial death and shed blood of Jesus Christ and His complete and bodily resurrection from the dead.

• The Holy Spirit enables the sinner to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

• The Holy Spirit lives and works in each believer to produce the fruits of righteousness.

• Salvation is a gift received by faith alone in Christ alone and expressed in the individual’s repentance, recognition of the death of Christ as full payment for sin, and acceptance of the risen Christ as Savior, Lord, and God.

• All things necessary for our salvation are expressly set down in Scripture.

• Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

• Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, ascended to heaven, and is currently seated at the right hand of God the Father, and shall return in person to this earth as Judge of the living and the dead.

• Satan is the personal spiritual adversary of both God and mankind.

• Those who do not believe in Christ are subject to everlasting conscious punishment, but believers enjoy eternal life with God.

• The only legitimate marriage sanctioned by God is the joining of one naturally born man and one naturally born woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman who are married to each other, and has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. Any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, the practice of homo/bi-sexuality, bestiality, incest, pornography, or any attempt to change one’s gender, is sinful and offensive to God.

• It is the duty of Christians to regularly attend a local Bible believing church, as portrayed in the New Testament.

• All human life is sacred and begins at conception (defined as the moment of fertilization). The unborn child is a living human being, created in the image of God, and must be respected and protected both before and after birth. The abortion of an unborn child or the active taking of human life through euthanasia constitutes a violation of the sanctity of human life, and is a crime against God and man.

 

The ultimate restoration of the original perfect intent for Creation is still to come. All those who place their love and trust in Jesus the Christ as Lord, God, and Savior will live and reign with Him forever. All who do not will be subject to the final judgment of the one righteous, just, and holy God. In that day the curse will be lifted, all things restored, and those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will reside with their Redeemer and Heavenly King.

 

Until that day...

 

it is the duty of all Christians to love, honor, and serve the Lord God Almighty in spirit and in truth, calling all people to faith in the Lord Jesus, stewarding the Creation, and edifying the Body of Christ.

 

All honor, glory, power, praise, and majesty be His, now and forever, Amen!