By Ellen Pope

When I discovered that Lighthouse Trails was going to create tea by the name “Shepherd’s Bible Verse Tea,” I knew it was going to be special. Tea has been a part of so many wonderful memories: from times sharing with good friends, or sharing the Gospel with others, or just sitting quietly alone with Jesus. The combination of tea and scripture is, I think, a perfect fit.

Thanks to Lighthouse Trails, now we can use tea, read Scripture, and support a good cause all at the same time! Named for the One who created the tea, The Shepherd’s Garden offers a line of completely natural and organic teas, with each box directly contributing to the work of Lighthouse Trails.

It’s truly a rare thing to support a ministry when buying food and staples. More likely, our money is going to places you’d rather it not! Whenever we get the opportunity to purchase a product that goes toward helping spread the message of Jesus Christ, and feed yourself and family something wholesome at the same time, it’s a blessing. Shepherd’s Bible Verse Tea is one of those rare opportunities.

For a long time, Lighthouse Trails has been producing food for the body of Christ through their books and extensive research to expose the un-biblical roots of new age “Christianity” and meditation. Now, with the introduction of The Shepherd’s Garden products, readers have one more great way to share the Gospel and “feed” the body of Christ, as each verse directs its reader to the real point of “meditation:” Jesus Christ.

Don’t hesitate to try Shepherd’s Bible Verse Tea. Each one is especially tasty, marvelous in quality, completely natural, and full of the Light of God’s Word. Thanks to Lighthouse Trails for such a great product that honors God, and feeds the body in so many ways. I highly recommend Shepherd’s Bible Verse Tea.

As Lighthouse Trails soon nears the end of our 10th year (10 years this coming March), we’d like to take a moment to ponder 2011, which was a busy year for us. It’s not easy being a small publisher in today’s western society where book reading is being slowly squeezed out of many people’s lives by the Internet, television, radio, and a host of other technological inventions. Not only that, small publishing houses must compete with the large houses that seem to have marketing budgets that keep them selling thousands, if not millions, of books. And many of the more established Christian publishers have been bought out by huge secular corporations giving their marketing budgets even more clout. An article in Christianity Today this past fall titled “HarperCollins Buys Thomas Nelson, Will Control 50% of Christian Publishing Market” is a case in point. HarperCollins bought Zondervan in 1988. Thomas Nelson and Zondervan are Christian publishing’s two largest publishing house.

But in spite of the huge challenge it is for small publishers to stay in business, Lighthouse Trails is still here after nearly a decade. We believe that God has continued to provide for us; and we thank Him for giving us the wisdom to keep our overhead small, live and work as simply and frugally as we can, and never lower our standards from what we believe they should be just so we can sell more books. We’ll never be a Thomas Nelson or Zondervan (we think that might be a good thing considering their move toward contemplative and emerging), but we hope and pray we can be around another ten years and represent even more authors than we already have who have biblical and personal integrity .

Here is a recap of this past year:

In 2011, we published our second public domain book, Stories from Indian Wigwams and Northern Campfires by Egerton Ryerson Young. It’s a wonderful collection of true stories by a Canadian missionary to the Cree Native Americans in the late 1800s. The stories are fascinating and inspiring, and we think our readers will gain much from reading this book.

We also published two biographies by women – Stolen From My Armsby Katherine Sapienza (with Zach Taylor) and In My Father’s House by Corrie ten Boom. Sapienza’s book is her story of how her young son was abducted, taken to a far away country, and how with the help of a Delta Force team she decides to attempt to get her son back. This is an edge-of-your-seat book.  In My Father’s House is about the years prior to World War II in Corrie’s life. The book paints a beautiful picture of “family” from which today’s Christian families can glean valuable and eternally-lasting lessons. While this book was published a number of years ago by a couple top name publishers, we’ve been told this Lighthouse Trails edition is the nicest one that’s ever been done. We think it has more photos than any of Corrie’s other books – over 50 of them!

This fall, we published Roger Oakland’s biography Let There Be Light. The book had been published several years ago, but this new edition is about double that size with several new chapters and lots of photos. We’ve been getting some great reviews back on the book – it’s a hard one to put down, we’ve been told time and again. This book will challenge believers to stand strong in their faith and will capture the attention of non-believers, showing them what the true Gospel is and why it is worth believing.

In addition to the new books wepublished ourselves in 2011, we also added several products from other companies or ministries to our Lighthouse Trails online and catalog store. We want to say, we don’t just add products for the sake of adding products. Every single item has been chosen with much care, thought, and prayer, and always with the best interest of our readers in mind. One of the most exciting names we picked up this year was Canadian song writer and singer, Trevor Baker. Roger Oakland told us about him, and we came to love this brother in the Lord and his music immediately. He sings about many of the things that Lighthouse Trails Research writes about, and it doesn’t take too long listening or watching Trevor to know this is man after God’s own heart. You can listen to 30 second clips of all his songs that we carry on the store, and there is also a full Trevor Baker in Concert video on the store site – definitely worth watching. You won’t be sorry you did.

Harvey Yoder, a biographer, is a new name in 2011 to Lighthouse Trails. We now carry three of Yoder’s books, and every one of them is a book you will never forget. Heavy stories of people who are going through some kind of persecution: A Small Price to Pay (Behind Iron Curtain), God Knows My Size (Behind Iron Curtain), and A Good Difference (Kenya). Harvey Yoder is an excellent writer and captures the essence of life and faith  in these difficult places.

Just recently we added two young people’s books by Patricia St. John: Treasures of the Snow (we also carry the movie) and The Tanglewood’s Secret. We decided to add these books when we learned that both books have a wonderful Gospel message. It has been our desire to build our children and youth section – a bit of a challenge for sure.

A new project we have just launched is our handcrafted wood-framed pictures with Scriptures. These are absolutely stunning and made right here in Montana by some of the Lighthouse Trails team. The photographer, Dan Morgan, is giving 10% of the proceeds to Understand the Times Bryce Lodge Orphan Home project. You might want to check out these beautiful rustic frames and pictures. The framed photos are part of our new gift section; each item in this collection is really very unique. One of the new product lines that we are just getting started with is baskets made by the widows in Kenya. We should be receiving our first batch in the next few weeks. We are paying the widows a fair market wage to make these beautiful hand-woven multi-colored baskets, which we believe will improve their lives and give them the chance to support themselves.

In 2012, we’ve got some very interesting projects lined up so far. We will be publishing Nanci Des Gerlaise’s book, Muddy Waters: an insider’s view of North American Native Spirituality. This apologetics biography is important and  ties in with much of the evangelical church today. Not only is the evangelical church embracing a mystical spirituality through Native Spirituality, but many First Nations Christians are being led into a very spiritually dangerous situation by Christian evangelical leaders. This book addresses these issues.

We are also planning to release Berit Kjos’ book, How to Protect Your Child From the New Age and Spiritual Deception. When it is released, it will be worth the wait. Berit Kjos has a succinct understanding of spiritual deception in today’s world and how it is affecting children. We consider her work to the body of Christ vital and trustworthy.

Roger Oakland is working on a new book, one he is co-authoring with the editors at Lighthouse Trails. We’ll announce more about this apologetics book later in the new year. We’ve got some other projects on the burner and hopefully those will come to fruition in 2012. We’ll keep you posted.

Thank you to all of those who have supported Lighthouse Trails Publishing these past nearly ten years. We hope we can continue to be a publisher that you and your families feel good about and can trust. May God bless you, your loved ones, and your churches in this New Year with the truth of His Word and the power of His Gospel.

Lighthouse Trails Editors
Eureka, Montana

P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to try our Shepherd’s Bible Verse Tea, remember, you can send us your name and address with a self-addressed stamped envelope, and we will send you a free sample.

By Corrie ten Boom
(from chapter 1 of In My Father’s House)

Willem ten Boom, my grandfather, was not strong like his father, so he chose a work which was not physically difficult. In the year 1837, Grandfather purchased a little house in Haarlem for four hundred guilders and set up shop as a watchmaker.

It was in 1844 that Grandfather had a visit from his minister, Dominee Witteveen, who had a special request. “Willem, you know the Scriptures tell us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the blessing of the Jews.”

“Ah, yes, Dominee, I have always loved God’s ancient people —they gave us our Bible and our Savior.”

Beginning with this conversation, a prayer fellowship was started, with Grandfather and his friends praying for the Jewish people. This was an unusual idea among Christians at that time. The Jews were scattered throughout the world, without a country or a national identity; Jerusalem was a city torn by centuries of conflict. The attention of the world was not upon the Middle East, and yet a small group of Dutch believers met in a little Haarlem house, a watchmaker’s shop (later called the Beje), to read the Scriptures and pray for the Jews.

In a divine way which is beyond our human understanding, God answered those prayers. It was in the same house, exactly one hundred years later, that Grandfather’s son, my father, four of his grandchildren, and one great-grandson were arrested for helping save the lives of Jews during the German occupation of Holland.

Another strutting dictator, more arrogant and insane than Napoleon, had planned to exterminate every Jew in the world. When Holland was controlled by Hitler’s troops, many Jews were killed.

For helping and hiding the Jews, my father, my brother’s son, and my sister all died in prison. My brother survived his imprisonment, but died soon afterward. Only Nollie, my older sister, and I came out alive.

So many times we wonder why God allows certain things to happen to us. We try to understand the circumstances of our lives, and we are left wondering. But God’s foolishness is so much wiser than our wisdom.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

From generation to generation, from small beginnings and little lessons, He has a purpose for those who know and trust Him.
God has no problems—just plans!

Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. (Psalm 40:4)

(from chapter 1 of In My Father’s House by Corrie ten Boom)

“The Color of Pain: Boys Who are Sexually Abused and the Men They Become” by Gregory R. Reid (Lighthouse Trails Publishing, $10.95),

Young boys who are sexually abused are not likely to talk about it as adults, much less to report it. Such abuse may involve ordeals of extreme brutality meant to injure the body and destroy the psyche.

Gregory R. Reid knows this firsthand. He is a survivor who has written a book about the harrowing experiences he lived through in hopes that others like him will reach out for and receive healing.

The book, “The Color of Pain: Boys Who are Sexually Abused and the Men They Become” (Lighthouse Trails Publishing, $10.95), will evoke strong emotions from readers — who will prefer to believe they are reading fiction instead of someone’s memoir.

Some passages in Reid’s book are repulsive. They are supposed to be that way. Society recoils at the thought of children being attacked in any way.

“I’m a male sexual-abuse survivor,” Reid writes. “I am also a ritual abuse survivor. I am rare and belong to a company of men and boys, mostly silent and scared.”

The El Paso author tells his story in only 104 pages that are hard to forget. The account of incidents he describes are riveting and make the reader want to follow along to find out whether he ever recovers the childhood he lost in California. Some events he chronicles occurred within the context of ritual abuse.

The book comes with warnings that its contents should not be read by young children and that adults should use good judgment in deciding the right age for young people to read it. Click here to continue reading.

Lighthouse Trails is pleased to announce the release of our latest biography, Stolen From My Arms by Katherine Sapienza with Zach Taylor.

Book Information:
ISBN: 978-0-9824881-6-4
Retail: $14.95, illustrated, photos
Table of Contents and Prologue

Book Overview: When Katie Sapienza’s six-year-old son is kidnapped by his estranged non-custodial father and taken to a foreign country, Katie’s world falls apart. Leaving her California home and her supportive and frightened parents, Katie, in a state of panic and near hysteria, hops on a plane and flies half way around the world. She presents a meaningless warrant for Massimo’s arrest to the Italian court system, but is immediately “legally” assaulted by them. She is shocked to learn that the Italian judge on the case has sided with the father and makes it clear that Katie is not welcome there, nor will they return her son to her.

In despair, anguish, and heartbreak, Katie, who does not know of God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice, decides she must remain in Italy, figure a way to support herself, and develop a plan to get Alex safely back to the U.S. In her desperation and grief, Katie turns to alcohol and sedatives to make it through each torturous day and sleepless night. Forbidden unsupervised access to her son, kept under the watchful glare of suspicious Italian relatives, and emotionally withering under the barrage of false accusations and misrepresentations, Katie suffers both regular anxiety attacks and deep depression. Plan after plan to legally retake her son fails. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months. When three years have passed, Katie now realizes she will never get her son back–at least not through the Italian legal system. She decides she must take a different course of action–a dangerous one, a very dangerous one, but this is her son, and she must do this.

When she is introduced to an international team of covert operatives who specialize in rescuing kidnapped children, she arranges a secret meeting and pleads with them to help. The paramilitary team are committed Christians, and their hearts go out to this mother who has been driven to the edge of madness through the ordeal. If the money can be raised for the expensive and risky rescue attempt, they agree to do it. Their hope and prayer is that they can not only return to Katie her beloved son, now nine years old, but also lead her to the One who can rescue her as well from the anguish and desperation of her soul.

A true, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat, heart-rending story, which illustrates God’s mercy and redemption. Click here to order or for more information.

The Other Side of the River by Kevin Reeves is now available on Amazon in Kindle and also on our website as both a pdf and an e-pub book.

Book Information:
ISBN: 978-0-979-1315-0-9
248 Pages
Retail $12.95

When mystical experiences and strange doctrines overtake his church, one man risks all to find the truth—A true story.

Description: A compelling and deeply personal account of a young man’s spiritual plunge into a movement called the “River.” Sometimes referred to as the River Revival, the Third Wave or the Latter Rain, this movement is marked by bizarre manifestations, false prophecies and esoteric revelations. Warnings of divine retribution hold many adherents in a bondage of fear, making them afraid to speak out or even question those things they are taught and are witness to.

In a biographical setting, The Other Side of the River, is a powerful and needed warning to the body of Christ. In a day and age when church-growth techniques mixed with mystical practices are leaving a wreckage of human lives littered with the debris of false doctrine. For Kevin Reeves, his determination to rescue his family came to the forefront, even if the cost was high and even if he had to stand alone. His journey back into the freedom and simplicity of Jesus Christ would be worth the price.

Author Bio:
Kevin Reeves has been a free lance writer for nearly twenty years. His articles and columns have been featured in various newspapers and magazines, including Alaskan Southeaster. His articles on heretical church movements have been translated into three languages. Kevin lives in Alaska with his wife and daughter.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Media Sheet

Reviews

From In My Father’s House by Corrie ten Boom
(released 2011 by Lighthouse Trails Publishing)

A child is not fearless, contrary to what his parents may think at times. A child is often a bundle of unexpressed fears, unknown terrors, and shadowy worries. I was afraid of the doctor’s office, my family’s leaving me, and the mystery of death.

Nollie’s nightgown was my contact with security. We slept in the same bed, and I can remember clinging to Nollie’s nightgown as long as she would allow me. Poor Nollie, when she would try to turn, she would be anchored by my little fist clasping her tightly.

One time, Mother took Nollie and me to visit a woman whose baby had died. I wished Nollie had been allowed to wear her nightgown on that journey, because I needed desperately to hang onto it.

We climbed a narrow staircase and entered the poorly furnished room of one of Mama’s “lame ducks” (the name we children had given to her protégées). Although we often did not have sufficient money for ourselves, Mother always found someone who was in greater need.

In that shabby little room was a crib with a baby inside. It didn’t move at all and its skin was very white. Nollie stood next to the crib and touched the baby’s cheek.

“Feel that,” she said to me, “it’s so cold.”

I touched the little hand and then ran to my mother and buried my face in her lap. I had touched death for the first time, and it seemed that the impression of cold remained with me for hours and hours.

When we returned home, I ran up the narrow stairs to my bedroom and leaned against the antique chest of drawers. There was an enormous fear in my heart—almost terror. In my imagination, I pictured the future in which I saw myself all alone, my family gone, and I left desolate. My family was my security, but that day I saw death and knew they could die, too. I had never thought about it before.

The dinner bell rang downstairs, and I was so grateful to go to the big oval table, get warm again, and feel the security of being with my family. I thought how stupid the grown-ups would think I was if I told them about the fear which was still in my heart.

I ate dinner quietly that night, which was not easy when you are in the midst of such a lively family. Our dinner table spilled over with conversation.

After dinner, Father took the Bible, as he always did and began to read the lines from Psalm 46:2:

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

I sat up straight in my chair and stared at my father. I didn’t know much about mountains, living in flat, flat Holland, but I certainly knew a lot about fear. I thought Papa must have known exactly what my problem was that night.

My faith in Papa, and in the words he read from the Bible, was absolute. If they said not to fear, then God would take care of it. I felt secure again. (from chapter 2 of In My Father’s House)

Just as a reminder, the books and DVDs that are published directly by Lighthouse Trails Publishing are  available to order through most online and walk in stores. Even if a particular bookstore does not actually carry one of our titles in their stores, a store can order a title for you through SpringArbor or Ingram (or directly from Lighthouse Trails). Libraries can order our titles from Baker & Taylor (or directly from Lighthouse Trails). Ordering through a bookstore may take a little longer to get, but you won’t have to pay shipping costs this way.  Below is a list of the titles published by Lighthouse Trails available to order through stores. Also click here for ISBN numbers, authors, prices, and release dates.

Tapestry: The Journey of Laurel Lee

Trapped in Hitler’s Hell

A Time of Departing

Laughter Calls Me

The Other Side of the River

For Many Shall Come in My Name

Faith Undone

Another Jesus?

Things We Couldn’t Say

Standing Fast in the Last Days

La Fe Desechada

Castles in the Sand

The New Face of Mystical Spirituality – The Emerging Church & Interspirituality

The New Face of Mystical Spirituality – Contemplative Prayer

The New Face of Mystical Spirituality – The Invisible Denomination

Good News in the Badlands: Americana Gospel Folk Music

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

The Color of Pain: Boys Who Are Sexually Abused and the Men They Become

Strength for Tough Times: Encouragement from God’s Word

Stories from Indian Wigwams and Northern Campfires

In My Father’s House

Stolen from My Arms

Let There Be Light