the blog of Lighthouse Trails Publishing

Authors Ray Yungen and Warren B. Smith will be speaking at this year’s “Last Days Bible Conference” in Calgary, Alberta, which will be held on April 26th and 27th. Previous Last Days Bible Conferences have also included Lighthouse Trails author Roger Oakland. The theme of this year’s conference is “When He Comes” (Luke 18:8).  There is no charge to attend.

While most of our readers will not be able to attend because of distance, we hope many of you can be there. It will be a great time of teaching and also fellowship and encouragement with other believers.

The conference website states:

The Last Days Bible Conference is an annual two day event held every spring in Calgary AB. The conference is sponsored by the Last Days Bible Conference Committee, an independent, non-denominational organization based in southern Alberta.

The purpose of the conference is to provide helpful insight into doctrinal and practical challenges facing the church today and to encourage the body of Christ through the unchanging Word of God.

Note: We received the following note:

Hello Lighthouse Trails,  I note that you mentioned that “Authors Ray Yungen and Warren B. Smith will be speaking at this year’s “Last Days Bible Conference” in Calgary, Alberta, which will be held on April 26th and 27th.  Well, here’s some more good news!!!   If you open the link and click on MEDIA or just log on to http://www.ldbc.ca/ and go directly to the media,  one can listen to the past conferences on line.  The organizers are graciously making these available to the public from 2007 till 2012.  I’m sure they will put 2013 Conference teachings up on the internet as well.  Perhaps your readers would like to know about this.  Especially wonderful for those who live far away or are housebound.  God is so good to send us His servants to teach us what His word says and to encourage us in our walk. We are not alone. Scroll down to 2009 Conference for Roger Oakland’s and Carl Teichrib’s 2012 teachings at LDBC.  Bill Goetz in 2011.  The teaching is awesome and most edifying!  Charles Clough sessions 3, 8 and 12 of 2012 on Paganism and Religious Exclusivism, are most instructive also. Be ye therefore much encouraged in the LORD; you are always in my prayers.  May the LORD strengthen and encourage you daily.  With great affection in Jesus, Jeannette

Here is the schedule of talks by Ray Yungen and Warren B.Smith:

Ray Yungen – The Mystical Revolution

Ray Yungen – Energy Healing and its Implications

Ray Yungen – The “Fruit” of Contemplative Prayer – Interspirituality

Warren Smith – Lessons the Church can Learn from the Sinking of the Titanic

Warren Smith – The Emerging New Age/New World

Warren Smith – The Post-Mayan Calendar Implications for the World

Warren Smith – Standing Fast in the End Days: How Do We Do It?

By James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Small Press Bookwatch: February 2013
Midwest Book Review

Evil lurks under the most innocuous of sources. Seducers Among Our Children: How to protect your child from sexual predators is a collection of advice from retired investigative Patrick Crough, on how to not only protect one’s children, but also teach them to protect themselves from sexually abusive persons who will try to lure them. With sage advice on coping with this, Seducers Among Our Children has plenty for parents to consider on how to talk to their children about these serious issues. (source)

To order or for more information about Seducers Among Our Children, click here.

2012 marked the 10th year anniversary for Lighthouse Trails Publishing (the publishing arm of Lighthouse Trails Research Project). It was March of 2002 that we began the ministry/publishing house and September 2002 when we released our first book, A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen. There is a line from a movie we just started carrying, The Printing, that best capsulates our view of this past year. One man said to another, “I ran out of my own strength a long time ago and am going just on the Lord’s now.” We like that. It reminds us of the following verses:

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Remembering the Early Years

In March of this past year, we began a three-part article on the early years of Lighthouse Trails. The first part was titled How Lighthouse Trails Began –  “It was a dark and stormy night.” It starts like this:

Every good mystery starts off with “It was a dark and stormy night.” But this is a different kind of mystery. It’s about a church, a Bride, that was mysteriously kidnapped by a dark deceitful stranger who came as an angel of light and promised her many great things if she would just follow him. And it’s about a small insignificant publishing company who teamed up with members of the Bride who did not succumb to the angel of light, in an effort to find out what happened to her and how to bring her back to safety.

The second part, titled Lighthouse Trails, the Early Years – Part 2 – “A Hot Topic” That Just Wouldn’t Go Away, talks about our initial correspondence with Rick Warren back in 2003 when we thought we could warn him about contemplative spirituality only to find out later that he had been promoting it for a long time already.

The third and final part of our early years article was titled Rick Warren Biographer, George Mair, Passes Away at 83 – The Rest of the Story and chronicled the story of what happens when a small publishing ministry challenges “America’s Pastor.”

We wrote that three-part article because we wanted our readers to know 1)what is the motivation behind Lighthouse Trails, and 2) how faithful God is when our own strength isn’t enough but His is ample.

WHAT WE DID IN 2012

Three Important Releases in 2012

Our first new book release for the year was Muddy Waters: an insider’s view of North American Native Spirituality. Written by a Canadian Cree First Nations woman, Nanci des Gerlaise, the book fits very much in with the mission of Lighthouse Trails as it addresses a spirituality that is identical in nature to contemplative/emerging spirituality. And in fact, you’ll find Native Spirituality now interwoven into the “New” contemplative spirituality and the emerging church and vice versa. This was a brave book for Nanci to write, and we thank the Lord for her courage to say what had to be said.

Our second new book release for 2012 is of a highly sensitive issue – child sexual abuse. Written from the perspective of an Investigative Police Sergeant, Patrick Crough, Seducers Among Our Children is a book that every parent should read. In fact, anyone that is involved in children’s lives should read this book. While it is a difficult read because of true life examples that Patrick shares from his own experiences, it will create an awareness in how to protect a child from sexual abuse that is absolutely essential to have in today’s world. The book offers practical ideas as well, making this an all around top-notch resource. You may think your child or grandchild is safe from abuse, but statistics show that huge numbers of children don’t reach their 18th birthdays without being sexually abused. We have always believed that the power in sexual abuse lies in its secrecy. When such darkness is exposed to light, it loses its strength.

Our third release this year is our own issue of Roger Oakland’s powerful DVD lecture series Searching for the Truth on Origins. The set has 14 lectures with nearly 12 hours of lecture from Roger. His brilliant deductions in his always understandable manner makes this an incredibly important product. You can see a preview clip on the store product page. Roger doesn’t just talk about evolution vs creation here (although this alone makes the set invaluable), but he shows how evolutionary thinking has drastically altered the spiritual climate (and the overall morality) in our world today and then shows how we can use “creation evangelism” to win lost souls to Christ.

New Products That Can Be Trusted

Since we first began Lighthouse Trails, we have not only published many of our own titles, we have added new books and DVDs that are published or produced by other companies. While there is a wide and growing  assortment now of books, DVDs, and CDs in our collection, they all have one thing in common – they can all be trusted. We never add one single item without carefully reviewing it, researching the author’s background, and making sure it lines up with Scripture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We aren’t just hunting around for products for the mere purpose of making our collection bigger. There has to be a reason to add a new product, and that reason has to be that it will bring strength, edification, exhortation, and/or understanding to the body of Christ and/or the Gospel message to the unbeliever.

In 2012, we added 56 new items to our product list. Here’s a brief synopsis:

1. NEW MUSICIAN – We have been very blessed to meet up with Canadian musician Trevor Baker. Roger Oakland introduced us to him and his music. Trevor travels around North America sharing his Gospel message through his music. He sings about many of the things that Lighthouse Trails writes about.

2.  FANTASTIC DVD SET – Without a doubt, adding Joe Schimmel’s The Submerging Church DVD set has had a significant impact on the lives of many Lighthouse Trails readers.  Our chief editor, David Dombrowski had this to say: “A fantastic and vital contribution! Schimmel’s research of the last 30 years brilliantly connects all the dots. What he has done in The Submerging Church resonates with Lighthouse Trails, Roger Oakland, Ray Yungen, and Warren Smith.”

3. NATIVE SPIRITUALITY – The topic of Native Spirituality and what is called the First Nations Movement (or Indigenous People’s Movement) is vital for the Christian to understand. So in addition to our own Muddy Waters, we have also added the First Nations Movement DVD lecture series with Mike Oppenheimer and Sandy Simpson as well as the testimonial DVD I’ll Never Go Back by Chief Shoefoot. These have allowed us to start a new category of products – Native Spirituality. Already, we have heard from many Native American Christians who have told us how grateful they are to have these resources available.

4. COMMUNISM - Another new category we added in 2012, fitting well with our Remembering the Holocaust category, is Remembering Communism. In addition to last year’s Small Price to Pay, Nikolai, and East Wind (by Dave Hunt’s wife, Ruth), we have added God Knows My Size, The Printing, and Precious. Like the Holocaust, we should not forget Communism and what happens when a country is run by an evil, God-forsaken government.

5. NEW FREE THINGS – In 2012, we created several free PDF articles at the store, and a lot of people are getting these. We’ll be adding more in 2013. We actually just added a new category called Free Things, where you will find several items that we offer at no charge. Definitely worth checking out. We’ll be adding more to this new category in 2013, so be sure and bookmark it.

6. A VERY SPECIAL FAMILY - One of the special delights for us this year is crossing paths with the Broyden family from B.C., Canada. Jimmy Broyden, the dad, was the stunt director for the film Courageous and has been a stunt coordinator for many years. He and his wife have a bunch of children, and these are very talented kids. Their daughter Emma (18 years old)  just produced her first film Precious, and their 14-year-old son Isaac just produced his first feature length movie, The Adventure’s of Jake’s Farm.  Each film presents a solid Gospel message, and Lighthouse Trails is carrying them both. We can’t wait to see what else will be coming out from the Broydens. Be sure and watch the Behind the Scenes sections if you get these movies. Quite a blessing.

7. MISC – Along with expanding our children’s section in the store (not an easy thing to do, by the way, in today’s artificial carnal world) and our fairly new gift section (with KJV Scripture mugs for your Bible verse tea, beautiful Lighthouse watercolor notecards, and braided baskets from our widows in Kenya whom Lighthouse Trails readers support through the Bryce Home project), we have added another Bible to our small, carefully selected Bible collection. This one is a Large Print Ultra Thin KJV Reference Bible in a black genuine leather cover, a very nice Bible with easy to read lettering.

TWO IMPORTANT LISTS IN 2012:

In 2012, we added these two lists that we hope will aid Christian believers in their research for the truth and their contending for the faith:

50 Top Organizations With a Significant Role in Bringing Contemplative Spirituality to the Church

100 Top Contemplative Proponents Evangelical Christians Turn To Today

* * Spotlight Article by a Lighthouse Trails Author in 2012:

The Facts Behind My Departure from Calvary Chapel – by Roger Oakland -Part One

Part 2: The Facts Behind My Departure from Calvary Chapel – by Roger Oakland

LOOKING AHEAD AT 2013

NEW LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS PRINT JOURNAL

In November of 2012, we announced our first subscription-based Lighthouse Trails Print Journal, with the first issue coming out in mid-January 2013. You can read the press announcement by clicking here. We are excited to finally be able to offer a print journal to Lighthouse Trails readers. Just so you know, the free e-mail newsletter that you get in your e-mail box is still going to be sent out 2-3 times a month and will always remain free.

NEW BOOKS in 2013

We are happy to announce that Berit Kjos’ book How to Protect Your Child from the New Age and Spiritual Deception will be released this spring. This 300+ page manual-for-parents is a must for every parent’s library. Berit has a long-held reputation of upholding biblical truth while having the courage to expose the hidden things of darkness that are hurting our children. In her book, she covers various categories including the media , T.V., the Internet, books, magazines,  the New Age/New Spirituality in the schools and in churches, movies, toys, and more. Each chapter is followed by a chapter with practical ideas and suggestions on how parents can protect and equip their children. This is really a packed and powerful book.

In the fall of 2013, we are releasing a new book by Ray Yungen – Spiritual Formation: Model of Apostasy. This book will be a companion book to his earlier book, A Time of Departing, which uncovered the truth about the contemplative prayer movement. Spiritual Formation, as it is being called, has impacted nearly every facet of modern day Christianity, from colleges to youth organizations to publishing houses to churches to Bible study leaders and even to homeschoolers. Spiritual Formation: Model of Apostasy takes the whole movement head on. This long-needed book will describe what the movement is all about, how it is tied in with last days Bible prophecy, and it will name the names of those who are bringing it to pass.

We have a few other books we are presently working on but do not yet have a release date for them. One of these is the sequel to Castles in the Sand by Canadian author Carolyn A. Greene; another is a new edition of Day of No Return by Kressmann Taylor; and we are working on three Spanish translated books: El Color de Dolor (The Color of Pain), Un Tiempo de APOSTASÍA (A Time of Departing), and Atrapada en el infierno de Hitler (Trapped in Hitler’s Hell) by Anita Dittman. Sally A., our Spanish translator, is a retired missionary to Columbia and a faithful member of the Lighthouse Trails team. She has worked tirelessly on these translations, and we plan to have these three in print in 2013.

NEW PRINT BOOKLET TRACTS

Lighthouse Trails Publishing is pleased to announce the start of print booklet tracts that can be used for sharing important truths with others. The booklets are printed on  high quality 60#white gloss paper with a color cover and are 5.5″ x 8.5″; each booklet is between 12-24 pages (prices will vary depending on number of pages). We will be adding new booklet titles frequently. These will be great to buy in bulk and give out. Topics will include: contemplative prayer, spiritual formation, emerging church, Purpose Driven movement, dominionism, labyrinths,the road to Rome, lectio divina, and many other topics that Lighthouse Trails covers. Click here to see our starting collection. We’ll be adding more titles frequently so be sure and bookmark this page. Each one will be offered in bulk rates with as much as 50% off retail, depending on the quantity ordered. If you have requests for particular topics to be made into booklets, please drop us a line at editors@lighthousetrails.com.

TWO NEW BIBLE VERSE TEA BLENDS

As many of you know, at the close of 2010, Lighthouse Trails launched a “tent-making” business called The Shepherd’s Garden. We created our very own blends of healthy organic tea. Each tea bag has a small tag attached on a string, and each tag has a Bible verse on it. This was a way we have felt would help sustain the ministry of Lighthouse Trails and also have a small part in getting people to think about God’s Word. In 2013, we are going to be announcing two new blends. In addition to our Cranberry Orange Rooibos, Chai Green, Peach White, and Peppermint teas we already have, we are currently preparing for production of Vanilla Almond Rooibos and Red Chai. A lot of people have told us how much they love our tea. Click here to read some of these comments.

That’s a recap of what Lighthouse Trails Publishing was up to in 2012 and what we anticipate doing in 2013. There are lots of others things we could tell you about, but we’ll save those for upcoming issues of our e-newsletter and our print journal. May the Lord bless you and your family this new 2013 year with His wisdom, His guidance, and His peace.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

Note: To view our 2012 Year in Reviews, click here.

From a Christian seminary professor on the new Lighthouse Trails release, Seducers Among Our Children  by Ret. Investigative Sergeant Patrick Crough

Thank you so much for publishing this work!  What a breath of fresh air from the often mean-spirited or biblically void works that are out there!

We will be carrying the book in our campus store.  I will be using it for a text in my graduate crisis counseling course, and I’m sending copies to my married daughters and their husbands.

Just wanted to thank you for your work and for the foresight in publishing this book. I hope it gets a wide circulation. May God continue to bless you.

________________

A professor from a Christian seminary

Dear Lighthouse Trails:

A Small Price to Pay

I just finished reading A Small Price to Pay. It really touched a chord with me. Back in the ’80s we had a large poster on our wall that had photos and and descriptions of pastors and other Christian workers who were facing persecution in the Soviet Union. We prayed for those folks regularly. Then during our time of serving in Russia we visited a “House of Prayer” in the town of Rybinsk that had recently been given back to the church after years of being shuttered by the authorities. That church had a huge depiction of that same poster up on their wall.Anyway, all that to say that I think that Mikhail Khorev was one of the faces on that poster. In the book he talks about a time in prison when things were at their worst and then all of a sudden his treatment improved. He attributed that in part to those who were praying for him around the world. I gotta tell you that kind of gave me a thrill to think that I might have been praying for him at that time.

There were other Russian Christians that we prayed for regularly (the Vachshenkos, Valerie Barinov) that the Lord allowed us to spend some time with. We knew that our prayers (and the prayers of others) resulted in their release from prison. It’s such a blessing to learn that Khorev may be another testament to the fact that God hears and answers my prayers.

I love books like that. Keep up the good work.

In Christ,

S.M.

Seducers Among Our Children – A Police Investigator’s Perspective by Patrick Crough
RELEASED BY LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS PUBLISHING ON OCTOBER 10TH, 2012

SECTION I: UNDERSTANDING THE SEDUCER
Chapter 1: Mother’s Intuition
On a warm spring night in May 1994, 5-year-old Kali begged her mom, Judy Gifford, to allow her to go outside to play on her Big Wheel tricycle. Judy was preparing magazines that she was to deliver that evening. The two would go together for the deliveries. The small amount of money that this single mother made from her second job was to pay for a family trip to Disney World the following summer. As Judy put the flyers together, Kali became more and more anxious to go outside. She was looking forward to going to McDonald’s after the deliveries were completed. Finally, Judy relented and told Kali to stay right near the front door. Five minutes later, she went to check on Kali, and she was gone. It was the last time she would ever see her daughter alive.

Chapter 2: Recognizing a Seducer
There are some key elements in being able to recognize a child predator. The book explains the difference between pedophiles, sexual offenders, child molesters, and child predators. It also examines reasons that cause some men to begin molesting children, addressing the huge role that pornography plays in this deviant behavior.

Chapter 3: Ways of the Seducer: Predatory Stages
Lists and describes in detail the following phases used by sexual predators to seduce their potential victims:

a/the trust phase: First, the predator must win the trust of both the parents and the child. This is done through various means, and the predator often patiently takes his time to accomplish this.
b/the courtship phase: The predator’s sole purpose in the courtship phase is similar to that of a young male suitor courting a young woman who has captivated his interest.
c/the seduction phase: After the predator has “groomed” the victim, he then begins to introduce the child to inappropriate behavior, for example, allowing the child or young teen to watch an R rated movie with sexual content at the predator’s home.
d/the offending stage: This is where the predator actually commits the abuse. Many times the child can be silenced because he has been made to feel guilt, shame, and responsibility for what has happened.
e/the control phase: “The control phase can last a lifetime. Long after a child has broken free from the actual abuse, he or she may still feel the almost too-heavy-to-bear ball and chain of despair, resentment, hopelessness, and hatred that connect him or her to the abuser.”

SECTION II: CASE EXAMPLES

 Chapter 4: The Helpful Neighbor
A helpful and friendly neighbor and his bed-ridden wife befriend a young neighbor couple and their son. The unsuspecting parents allowed the man to take their son on frequent walks around the apartment complex so they could have some time alone on occasion. The results of this “friendship” were disastrous.

Chapter 5: The Stepfather Who Liked to Watch Porn
A thirty-year-old stepfather began introducing his stepdaughter to porn as a way to groom her for his planned sexual abuse. The victim was alone with her stepfather for a considerable portion of the day while her mother was at work. The man did not possess a criminal record nor had any sexually related allegations ever been made against him. In fact, he was even on friendly terms with a few of the Northeast district uniformed patrol officers who patronized the restaurant he worked at. In time, the stepfather began to carry out the abuse.

Chapter 6: The Highly Esteemed Coach
The predator in this case was a thirty-nine-year-old former Olympic champion gymnast from an Eastern European nation. His wife (and business partner) was also a world champion gymnast, and they had three children of their own. They had established themselves as a highly respected, successful coaching tandem, both nationally and internationally. The thirteen-year-old victim in this case was a member of an elite junior female team of approximately ten gymnasts who competed internationally.

Chapter 7: “Time to be Nice”
In this case example, the predator was the girl’s biological father. The suspect was a successful homebuilder and businessman, living in an upper middle-class community with his family. The young woman had experienced a psychological breakdown and disclosed to her boyfriend, and later to a school counselor, that her father had been sexually abusing her for the past nine years (since she was about 9 years old). Her father’s favorite phrase, “time to be nice” was the girl’s cue that her father wanted something.

Chapter 8: Child Predators & Day Care Facilities
A four year old girl is sexually abused by the father of one of the other little day care girls. The young victim told the investigators that her classmate’s dad took her into the bathroom and told her it was a “special check day.”

Chapter 9: “My Best Friend’s Dad”
The victim’s best friend’s dad was a successful OB/GYN doctor. The abuse took place over a three-year period during sleepovers at the doctor’s house. The suspect constantly spoke with the victim over the computer. He insisted she call him by his first name. The suspect became very openly affectionate toward the victim as her sleepovers increased in frequency, many as the result of his personal invite. At times, they were alone. When Investigator Crough heard about the abuse from the victim and her mother, it was obvious that the doctor was grooming her for sexual intercourse.

Chapter 10: The Popular School Teacher
The male teen victim told the investigators that the teacher, who was friendly with his parents, had recruited the victim to work part-time for him at his residence and car business. Over the late spring and summer months while he was working for him, the teacher engaged him in nearly a dozen separate incidents of sexual activity that included oral sex and sodomy. First, he began to show the victim photos, videos, and computer images of men and boys having sex together. He would reward the victim for his silence by buying him gifts and taking him out to eat, all while he was getting paid.

Chapter 11: “In Just Twenty Minutes”
The suspect was a thirty-eight year old male who befriended a group of single mothers. He became particularly friendly to a five-year-old girl and her mother in the duplex next door to him. One winter evening, the suspect transported his neighbor, her daughter, and a ten-year-old mutual female to a friend’s house in a suburban neighborhood. Once they arrived, the girls went down to the playroom in the basement with the friend’s children while the adults remained upstairs in the kitchen and visited over coffee. Eventually, the suspect went down to the basement to “check on the kids.” The suspect sat on the sofa and watched the children play. A short time later, one of the mothers went downstairs to check on things and returned upstairs. That was when the suspect made his move.

Chapter 12: Two Legacies of Evil
In case one, a thirty-nine-year old adult male befriended neighborhood seven and eight year old boys, often playing basketball with them. Eventually, he began showing the boys pornography in order to arouse their sexuality. When the abuse was finally disclosed, it came out that over thirty one boys had been sexually assaulted by this man. This became a high profile case.

With case two, a twenty-seven year old male worked at the local middle school and was also a deacon at his church. He particularly sought out young males who were lacking a father figure at home. The suspect would gain the trust of the boys’ mothers by offering his time and attention to their sons to help groom them into productive young men. What struggling mother would not have welcomed assistance from someone who seemed so nice and so caring? He pledged to be their personal mentor, kept an eye on them at school, and steered them away from trouble. Sadly, his intentions were sinister and evil, and he found opportunity to act out on these intentions. As many child predators do, this suspect placed his confidence in believing that shame, embarrassment, and fear of exposure would prevent these witnesses from testifying against him.

Chapter 13: Three Trampled Roses
This chapter is about three girls who were kidnapped, raped, and murdered in the 1970s in the Rochester, New York area. Investigator Crough was part of the investigating team. The victims were identified as Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz, and Michelle Maenza.

SECTION III: PREVENTIVE TOOLS, RESOURCES, & PRACTICAL ADVICE

Chapter 14: What Can You Do to Prevent Your Children from Being Seduced and Molested?
There are some practical and down to earth ideas that can help you protect your children. Investigator Crough talks about some of these ideas, which include things like sharing a special meal out with your child, keeping the communication lines open, and monitoring Internet activity carefully.

Chapter 15: Common Risk Factors for Sexual Abuse
There is a high correlation between the breakdown of the family institution and sexual abuse of our children. With more single parent homes and two working parent homes, children are in more danger of being abused by stepfathers, live in boyfriends, day care providers, older children, and others.

Chapter 16: Parents and Guardians – The Lord’s Shepherds
Parents and guardians have been appointed to feed and care for God’s children, both physically and spiritually (1 Timothy 5:8, Ephesians 6:4). It is up to us to lay the right moral foundation and encourage them to cultivate a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. It is wise for us to take a look at each verse of this psalm and consider how we should incorporate it into caring for our assigned flock of lambs.

Chapter 17: Protect Your Children With Prayer & the Word
As parents, we know that many dangers, both physical and spiritual, surround our children. It is for this very reason we should call upon God’s Holy Spirit to protect our children, comfort us, and take away our needless worry. And we should bury deep within our hearts God’s Word that is a “twoedged sword” that will give us discernment.

Chapter 18: Safety Check List
As you make decisions and monitor your children’s activities, consider the Safety Check List that Investigator Crough has developed. Be diligent in safeguarding your children from those inside their social circles using these principles, and you will automatically protect them from those outside their circles.

Chapter 19: Potential Signs of Sexually Abused Child
Frequently children who have been sexually offended will display changes in their behavior long before they verbalize what had occurred. Many times parents of victims have observed one or more indicators, but understandably, they never suspected it was the result of being sexually abused.

Chapter 20: Safety Tips for Churches & Community Organizations
If your children are involved in a church or community organization, check to see if a policy is in place to prevent children from being molested by an adult or older child. If a policy is in place, take a close look at it. Is it sufficient to keep your child safe? Is it being followed? When it comes to the safety of your children, don’t rely on others to address the weaknesses of the safety policy. Roll up your sleeves and work to implement a better one.

Chapter 21: Reporting & Investigating Crimes Against Children
Often, someone who has learned that a child is being sexually abused is not sure what to do. But child sexual abuse needs to be reported to authorities. It is a crime. The Bible tells us to submit to the government and its laws as long as they do not order us to break God’s laws.

Chapter 22: Discerning the Voice of a Child
Unfortunately, too many juries have believed a child who is on the stand at a trial but felt led not to convict on the grounds there wasn’t any physical evidence to corroborate the child’s testimony. However, most sexual abuse cases don’t have physical evidence. They rely solely on the voice of a child. And studies have proven that children rarely lie about sexual abuse.

Chapter 23: Consequences of Abuse in Our Homes, Our Churches, & Our Communities
The fact is, where there is sexual abuse, there is upheaval, violence, and the demise of a home, a church, or a community. The connection is there.

Chapter 24: Closing Arguments
This chapter is written by an assistant district attorney in New York. She gives various examples of actual abuse cases in an effort to show the reader that abuse does happen and in the most unsuspecting situations.

SECTION IV FINAL WORDS

Chapter 25: A Mother’s Final Words
A moving and emotional letter written by Kali Poulton’s mother to her murdered five-year-old daughter.

Chapter 26: A Calling, a Ministry, & a Mission Field
Patrick shares some of his testimony in this chapter and how he came to see the work he does as a calling and a ministry. He also talks about the heart of God when it comes to abused children.

Chapter 27: Ask Jesus for Help
A special personal note for those who have been sexually abused as children.

“Kids are going to love this film! (and parents will too)”
A wonderful family film that permeates with the Gospel. Lighthouse Trails is pleased to now carry Broyden Bros. Pictures new film, The Adventures of Jake’s Farm, a story about an 8 year old boy named Jake, who lives in a Christian family through the everyday trials of life while growing in his relationship with Jesus Christ.

DVD Information:
93 minutes long with 68 minute bonus DVD, Released 2011
$16.95 Retail
Produced by Broyden Bros. Pictures and On Fire Films
Written and Directed by Isaac Broyden
Executive Producers: Isaac Broyden, Jimmy Broyden
Click here to order or for more information.

“It’s wonderful to see the ways you and your family have become such a strong witness to the truth.” Dean Jones (actor)

“This is a terrific movie . . . About kids who love each other and love God. How cool is that?” The Dove Foundation

Trailer and Promo of Adventures of Jake’s Farm:

In September of 2002, the then-new publishing house, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, released its first book, A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen. Since then, over 32,000 copies of Yungen’s book have been sold or given away. While that may not be considered a high number in comparison to New York Times best sellers (such as The Purpose Driven Life and The Shack), which sell tens of millions of copies, A Time of Departing, we believe, has had a far reaching effect around the world.

Many of the people who have purchased the book over the last ten years are committed believers in Jesus Christ and His Word (the Bible) and have worked tirelessly to warn others of the contemplative prayer (i.e., spiritual formation) movement. We could give countless examples of these scenarios: the church in Hawaii that gives a copy of A Time of Departing to each visitor who comes to the church, a Bible college teacher in California who has purchased several hundred copies of the book and given them away to pastors within his denomination, a former Central American missionary in Portland, Oregon who hands out the book to various ministry figures where she lives, the Sunday School teacher in Nebraska who used the book to teach his class on spiritual deception, a pastor’s wife in Illinois who orders sets of A Time of Departing and Faith Undone and then has them sent to pastors and church leaders around the country, and on and on the stories go. Because of the efforts of these people, contemplative prayer and the emerging church (i.e., the “new” spirituality) are being challenged and biblically refuted throughout the globe, especially in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Northern Ireland.

At its ten year anniversary, A Time of Departing is still being printed, sold, and given away. We believe the reason the book has remained so active is simple – virtually no other publishing company we know of has published a book challenging the contemplative prayer movement.* And frankly, when we first started out, that wasn’t what we expected. We naively thought that once Christian leaders (and publishing houses) learned about this dangerous and anti-biblical spirituality, they would begin to warn their followers (and thus, we even thought Lighthouse Trails might be a short-lived ministry after spawning an initial warning). To the contrary of what we anticipated happening, contemplative spirituality has exploded worldwide within mainstream Christianity. Rather than Christian publishing houses releasing books that take issue with the movement, the majority of Christian publishing companies are publishing books that support and embrace contemplative spirituality (e.g., Thomas Nelson, Baker Books, Zondervan, InterVarsity, NavPress, etc.). And rather than Christian leaders understanding the message of A Time of Departing then sharing it with others, a great number of Christian leaders and organizations are either promoting the movement (e.g., Rick Warren, Beth Moore, In Touch magazine, Charles Swindoll, Focus on the Family, etc.) or simply ignoring it altogether (and that is almost as damaging as promoting it). And of course, as we have often documented, most Christian universities, colleges, and seminaries have begun to promote contemplative spirituality through the spiritual formation movement (even though many professors and college presidents and chaplains have received a free copy of A Time of Departing and Faith Undone (the companion book to A Time of Departing)).

Skeptics may be thinking to themselves, “Well, if all these Christian leaders, professors, and publishing houses have rejected the message of A Time of Departing, then there must be something flawed about Yungen’s message, and they may see it as a fundamentalist conspiracy theory. That could be a legitimate conclusion to draw if what we are accused of by critics is true: one, that A Time of Departing takes quotes out of context; two, that it often uses guilt by mere association to indict someone; and three, Scriptures can be used to support contemplative prayer and thus refute the overall message of A Time of Departing. But the problem for the critics is this – none of these criticisms can be upheld in the light of facts.

In ten years, not one critic has been able to give us a legitimate example of where Yungen took a quote out of context or where he used mere guilt by association. He has used guilt by promotion or guilt by proxy, a very valid form of proof, but that is much different than guilt by association. He has sometimes used guilt by association as a reinforcement of what has already been proven but never as a stand-alone argument. As for taking things out of context, Lighthouse Trails checked every single quote that Ray Yungen cited in the book, and not one quote was taken out of context. When Brennan Manning or Henri Nouwen or Gary Thomas told readers to repeat a word over and over for twenty minutes to enter “the silence,” that is what they meant. When the contemplative mystic Thomas Merton said he believed that every human being has divinity within, that is what he meant. And when Rick Warren said that the spiritual formation movement (i.e., contemplative prayer) is a “valid message for the church” that has “given the body of Christ a wake-up call” (PDC, p. 127 ), that is exactly what he meant! These quotes in A Time of Departing were not taken out of context by any means.

As for Scriptures that can be used to support contemplative prayer – well, there aren’t any. For example, Psalm 46:10, the most popular verse used to “prove” that contemplative prayer is a scripturally mandated practice, has been manipulated and twisted by contemplative advocates, as Ray Yungen points out:

On the surface, this argument can seem valid, but once the meaning of “still” is examined, any contemplative connection is expelled. The Hebrew meaning of the word is to slacken, cease, or abate. In other words, the context is to slow down and trust God rather than get in a dither over things. Relax and watch God work. Reading the two verses just before Psalms 46:10 puts it in an entirely different light from that proposed by mystics:

“Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

This isn’t talking about going into some altered state of consciousness! (ATOD, pp. 34-35)

Another Scripture that is often used by contemplatives to “back up” their position is I Kings 19:12. However, this passage in no way indicates that Elijah was practicing a mantra exercise. On the contrary, it was the prophets of Baal who “called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear us!” (I Kings 18:26). Now Elijah was in a cave, not to practice contemplative prayer, but to hide from Jezebel’s threat to take his life. Also, his encounter with God was something he did not initiate but God initiated Himself, thereby emphasizing that Elijah was not practicing a mantra. If anything, from his conversation with God, we might conclude that he was also hiding from his ministry and God Himself, as he was feeling hopeless (taken from “A Few Commonly Asked Questions” in ATOD).

When David and Deborah Dombrowski, founders and editors at Lighthouse Trails Publishing, first read the unpublished manuscript of A Time of Departing in the fall of 2000, it seemed to them so unlikely that this mystical spirituality with such interspiritual panentheistic roots could ever be popular within Christianity. But because they could see how subtle and disguised contemplative spirituality was, they saw the need for the warning so this deception wouldn’t enter the church. What they didn’t know then was that ground had already been broken over twenty years earlier through Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline, and then later reinforced in the 90s with Rick Warren’s endorsement of Foster and spiritual formation. By the time A Time of Departing came along, contemplative spirituality was intricately woven in the underlying infrastructure of Western Christianity, only to “come out of the closet” and reveal itself by 2012.

Why do we care so much about exposing this mystical spirituality? It’s because we know at its root the Gospel is being altered, twisted, and disposed of. And that is why Lighthouse Trails will continue to bring light to this area of darkness for as long as the Lord sees fit.

The following two quotes, one from A Time of Departing, sum up and exemplify the need for this warning:

During a conference on contemplative prayer, the question was put to Thomas Merton: “How can we best help people to attain union with God?” His answer was very clear: We must tell them that they are already united with God. “Contemplative prayer is nothing other than ‘coming into consciousness’ of what is already there.” (Spoken by William Shannon, Thomas Merton’s biographer, cited in ATOD, p. 83).

And from a contemporary mystic:

God’s hope for humanity is that one day we will all recognize that the divine dwelling place is all of creation. Christ comes again whenever we see that matter and spirit coexist. This truly deserves to be called good news. – Richard Rohr (National Catholic Reporter) (Rohr is on Richard Foster’s editorial team)

*Note: While there are now on the market a few books on the topic (such as David Cloud’s book, Contemplative Mysticism), we know of no mainstream evangelical publishing company that has published a book exposing contemplative spirituality. On the contrary, almost all of them have published books promoting the contemplative prayer movement.

Today’s children are at high risk of becoming victims of sexual abuse—learn how you can protect your children from the predators who will try to seduce them.

Seducers Among Our Children, the latest Lighthouse Trails release, has gone to press and will be available on October 10th, 2012. Written by retired investigative police sergeant, Patrick Crough, the book is a handbook for parents on how to protect their children from sexual predators.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Countless numbers of children will be sexually abused by the time they reach their 18^th birthday. Sadly, most parents won’t even see it coming. They don’t realize that sexual predators of children are often friendly, helpful, and attentive, drawing in a child, not by force but rather through enticing seduction.

Seducers Among Our Children is the personal perspective of an investigative sergeant who knows first hand the inner workings and methods used by sexual predators. This book offers a practical, simple presentation of how child predators operate in today’s society. It will educate concerned parents and guardians about how to recognize when a child predator is in their midst, how to protect children from predators, how to recognize if a child has already been offended by a predator, and what to do if a child discloses he or she has been offended by a predator. For the adult reader who was sexually molested as a child, this book may assist you in making some sense out of what happened and help you understand it wasn’t your fault.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Retired Investigator Sergeant Patrick Crough has thirty years of law enforcement experience, including twenty years as a Major Crimes Investigator and Hostage Negotiator with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Rochester, New York. He and his colleagues in the Major Crimes Unit investigated murders and other reported homicides, suspicious deaths, physical and sexual assaults, crimes against children, police-involved shootings, and conducted covert special investigations. He is also the author of Chronicles of a Rochester Major Crimes Detective: Confronting Evil and Pursuing Truth. Patrick is married with three grown children and two grandchildren. Today, he is in full-time ministry with Millstone Justice, a non-profit, child advocacy group.

BOOK INFORMATION:

272 PAGES, $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-9846366-5-5
Front Matter including Preface and Table of Contents
Quantity discounts available
Order through Lighthouse Trails or through most online or walk in bookstores.

By Lighthouse Trails Editors

The book commonly known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and originally bearing the title Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church has been an invaluable addition to the libraries of faithful Christians for almost five centuries. Chronicling the suffering and brutal deaths of those who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, John Foxe has captured the Spirit-inspired courage of these noble souls. Though sometimes difficult to read because of the inhuman cruelty depicted in its pages, the images which truly endure are those of the victorious faithfulness of these heroes.

John Foxe was born in Lincolnshire, England in 1517, and educated at Oxford University. During his residence at this place, he was distinguished for the excellence and acuteness of his intellect. It appears that the first display of his genius was in poetry; and that he composed some Latin comedies. But he soon directed his thoughts to a more serious subject—the study of the sacred Scriptures. To divinity, indeed, he applied himself with fervency. He discovered his partiality to the tenants of the Reformation, which had then commenced; a circumstance which proved to him the source of both his troubles and his fame.

His first care was to look into both the ancient and modern history of the church; to ascertain its beginning and progress; to consider the causes of the controversies which had sprung up and to diligently weigh the shortcomings of those doctrines and practices.

Before he had attained his thirtieth year, he had studied the Greek and Latin fathers and other learned authors, the transactions of the councils and decrees of the ecclesiastical courts, and had acquired a very competent skill in the Hebrew language. In these occupations he frequently spent a considerable part or even the whole of the night; and in order to unbend his mind after such incessant study, he would resort to a grove near the college, a place much frequented by the students in the evening on account of its sequestered gloominess. In these solitary walks he was often heard to render heavy sobs and sighs, and with tears to pour forth his prayers to God. These nightly retirements gave rise to the first suspicion of his alienation from the Church of Rome. Being pressed for an explanation of this alteration in his conduct, he scorned to call in fiction to his excuse. He stated his opinions and was, by the sentence of the college, convicted, condemned as a heretic, and expelled.

By and by, life in England became more and more unpleasant for the adherents to the Protestant Reformation. Foxe, seeing the dreadful persecutions then commencing and warned of his impending doom and imprisonment, fled his home and landed in Germany. There he found a number of English refugees, who had quitted their country to avoid the cruelty of the persecutors. With these he associated, and began to write his History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church, which was first published in Latin in 1554, and in English in 1563.

In the meantime, after the death of Queen Mary, the reformed religion began again to flourish in England and the popish faction much to decline. This induced the greater number of the Protestant exiles to return to their native country.

Foxe resettled in England and employed himself in revising and enlarging his admirable Martyrology. With prodigious pains and constant study he completed that celebrated work in eleven years. For the sake of greater correctness, he wrote every line of this vast book with his own hand and transcribed all the records and papers himself. But, in consequence of such excessive toil, his health was so reduced and his appearance so emaciated and altered that his friends and relations, who only conversed with him occasionally, could scarcely recognize him. Yet, though he grew daily more exhausted, he proceeded in his studies as briskly as ever, and he could not be persuaded to diminish his accustomed labors. The papists, foreseeing how detrimental his history of their errors and cruelties would prove to their cause, had recourse to every artifice to lessen the reputation of his work. But their malice was of little use, both to Mr. Foxe himself and to the church of God at large, as it eventually made his book more intrinsically valuable by inducing him to weigh, with the most scrupulous attention, the certainty of the facts which he recorded and the validity of the authorities from which he drew his information.

Although the recent recollection of the persecutions under Bloody Mary gave bitterness to his pen, it is singular to note that he was personally the most conciliatory of men, and that while he heartily disowned the Roman Church in which he was born, he was one of the first to attempt the concord of the Protestant brethren. In fact, he was a veritable apostle of toleration.

When the plague or pestilence broke out in England, in 1563 and many forsook their duties, Foxe remained at his post, assisting the friendless and acting as the almsgiver of the rich. It was said of him that he could never refuse help to anyone who asked it in the name of Christ. Tolerant and large-hearted, he exerted his influence with Queen Elizabeth to confirm her intention to no longer keep up the cruel practice of putting to death those of opposing religious convictions. The queen held him in respect and referred to him as “Our Father Foxe.”

Mr. Foxe had joy in the fruits of his work while he was yet alive. It passed through four large editions before his decease, and it was ordered by the bishops to be placed in every cathedral church in England, where it was often found chained, as the Bible was in those days, to a lectern for the access of the people.

At length, having long served both the church and the world by his ministry, by his pen, and by the unsullied luster of a benevolent, useful, and holy life, he meekly resigned his soul to Christ, on the eighteenth of April, 1587, being then in the seventieth year of his age.

Foxe’s legacy, his Book of Martyrs, consisted of well over 2,000 pages in the final edition published in 1583. It contained intricate woodcuts such as scenes depicting triumphant saints singing as they perished in flames.* Foxe had these included so that even the unlearned and illiterate could know the truth of the history of the church and the difficult path many had to tread.

Most of the editions of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs that are published today (including this one) are quite obviously greatly abridged. For this we owe thanks to the labors of William Byron Forbush (1868-1927) of Philadelphia. Forbush’s contributions were threefold: he greatly reduced the size of the manuscript; he modernized the language; and he provided additional material including a biography of Foxe and accounts of incidents that occurred after Foxe’s demise.

Lighthouse Trails Publishing, in seeking to add Foxe’s Book of Martyrs to our book collection, has sought to maintain the eloquent word pictures painted by John Foxe, while at the same time making the stories understandable to our readers. We have omitted some accounts and shortened others. Some archaic words were substituted with their modern-day equivalents. Great care was taken to not alter the original meaning or intent of the author in the editing process. It was a difficult task to decide who among these glorious martyrs we would leave out. We have tried to include accounts that exemplified true martyrs of Christ in each period of history and in each nation, as well as stories of both the well known and the unknown.

The stories told here are painful and may seem most unbearable. But let us remember the words in Scripture, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). May the memory of these martyred Christians live on in the minds and hearts of believers today. (From the Introduction of the Lighthouse Trails Edition of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs)