In 2009, we released our first novel, Castles in the Sand by Canadian author Carolyn A. Greene. As far as we know, Castles in the Sand is the first and only novel to address the dangers of contemplative spirituality. Many families have contacted us to say how this book has helped them as parents and also their teens and college children understand the contemplative issue.
We also released A “Wonderful” Deception by Warren B. Smith. This book is vital to understanding the nature of the New Age/New Spirituality that has pervaded the Christian church through various avenues including the Purpose Driven movement, the emerging church, and the “new science” (which states that God is IN all things).
Also in 2009, we presented The New Face of Mystical Spirituality, the 3-DVD lecture series by Ray Yungen. Filmed at the Faith at Risk conference at Twin City Fellowship in Minneapolis, MN, these DVDs are packed with Yungen’s research on the New Age, contemplative spirituality, and the emerging church and its interspiritual implications.
Here are a few other things we worked on in 2009 and will continue in 2010:
CHILDREN’S COLLECTION
Our motto at Lighthouse Trails is “bringing light to areas of darkness in the church and in our society.” We seek always to do this with the preaching of the Cross as our motivating drive. As we are approaching the end of our 7th year, we have stayed within the parameters of this mission. But we have broadened the scope of this mission. For instance, in 2009 we began developing a children’s collection of books and DVDs. In this new collection, we are trying to choose books and DVDs that will help build the faith of children by introducing them to stories of courage in the faith. This is why we have added the Kids of Courage books by Voice of the Martyrs, which include the stories of John Bunyan, William Tyndale, and Richard Wurmbrand. While we are being very careful and prayerful about which books and DVDs to add to our children’s collection, we hope to add more in 2010.
LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS MUSIC
We have also begun to build a small music collection. Lighthouse Trails music is going to be by believers in Christ who are not compromising their message in order to gain popularity and whose lyrics have a clear message of the preaching of the Cross. And, while we will have a variety of music style, we will choose musicians who seek to glorify the Lord both with their lyrics and their instruments, not succumbing to the worldly confusion and upheaval that so much of modern-day music has. We have also been blessed to have found some extremely gifted singers and musicians. Our present collection includes Amanda LeBail from the UK, whose Irish-styling sound is absolutely beautiful and comforting with hymns and worship songs, James Sundquist, who is an incredible classical guitarist, and Bob Ayanian, whose Americana gospel folk music always points to the Cross in an uplifting and inspiring manner, not to mention the astounding musical talent of his music team. And the latest music we are adding to our collection is Dwayna Litz’s new CD, My Prize. Dwayna is an evangelist, who speaks up against spiritual deception and ministers to many people through her street ministry, Lighting the Way International. Dwayna was a child music prodigy who started singing at the age of 2. She gave up a promising country western singing career to serve the Lord in street ministry. Dwayna not only has courage and determination, she has a very beautiful voice and song-writing ability.
THE PERSECUTED CHURCH
Persecution of the saints has happened since the inception of the church. Many people don’t even realize it has and still is happening. We believe that as we draw closer to the time of Christ’s return, this persecution will only increase. For the most part, believers in the Western world have not had to suffer serious persecution for their faith, but that could easily change at any time. We are presenting this collection with the hope of helping believers to have courage and stand strong in their faith.
In 2009, we added a DVD called The Radicals, a true, independent film about a nun and a priest who left the Catholic church to follow biblical Christianity and who paid dearly for it. We are hoping to add Foxe’s Book of Martyrs to this collection, but as of yet we have not found an edition that is not compromised in some fashion. One edition we found had the endorsements of several Christian leaders inside its cover, but a number of these leaders are promoting the contemplative/emerging spirituality. It is very sad, and wrong, when Christian publishers do this to otherwise valuable literature. Since Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is in the public domain, we are considering publishing our own edition of this book.
HAUNTING BUT NECESSARY
One of the areas that Lighthouse Trails has hoped to “bring to the light” is the area involving the sexual abuse and pornography of children. This is one of the reasons we report on the present-day homosexual movement – we believe our society has so devalued the sanctity of life and also of marriage that children have become the greatest victims of such immoral attitudes. This is why we decided to add The Kinsey Syndrome, a haunting but necessary film, to our Sensitive Issues collection. This film documents how our Western society changed its views regarding sexuality and children, with a subsequent deterioration in our nation’s effort and ability to protect its children.
CREATION/EVOLUTION
We believe that evolution, homosexuality, mysticism, panentheism, pornography, and abortion are all the “fruits” of the New Spirituality, which is a “religion” against our Creator and His plan for salvation (Jesus Christ). One of the films we began carrying this year, God of Wonders, is an extraordinary project that points to God, the Creator with magnificent footage of various aspects of creation. This DVD is evangelistic to the unbeliever and uplifting and informative for the believer. We are grateful to Eternal Productions for producing it and allowing us to carry it.
MAILING LIST & CATALOG
We hope our growing collection of books, DVDs, and CDs will help you and your families stand strong in the faith and be encouraged in these perilous times in which we live. If you are on our customer mailing list, you will receive new catalogs and flyers throughout the year. If you aren’t receiving our catalog/product mailings, you can request a free catalog and that will get you on the list.
Finally, we wanted to mention that in 2009 we created a blog for our publishing company. It is interactive, which means you can leave comments.
Lighthouse Trails author, Caryl Matrisciana (
[A] believable, action-packed plot … [a] fantastic effort. “Castles in the Sand ” is definitely an eye-opener!