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"Beyond the Ancient Door" by James A. Durham follows the story of a young boy named Samuel who discovers a mysterious portal in his grandmother's attic that leads him to a hidden world filled with magic and danger. As Samuel navigates this new realm, he learns about his true origins and must confront dark forces threatening both his world and the one beyond the ancient door. The novel is a captivating blend of fantasy, adventure, and self-discovery.

Lee Strobel

Lee Strobel Lee Strobel (Lee Patrick Strobel) is a former American investigative journalist and a Christian Author who has written several books, including four which received ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) Christian Book Awards (1994, 1999, 2001, 2005) and a series which addresses challenges to the veracity of Christianity. He is a former host of the television program called Faith Under Fire on PAX TV and he runs a video apologetic web site. Lee Strobel Age He was born on January 25, 1952 in Arlington Heights, Illinois, U.S. Lee Strobel Family | Chicago Tribune Less information has been revealed about his father, mother and siblings if he has any. He attended the University of Missouri where he received a Journalism degree. He later earned his Masters of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School. He became a journalist for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers for 14 years. The UPI Illinois Editors Association newspaper award program gave him a first place for public service (the Len H. Small Memorial award) for his coverage of the Pinto crash trial of Ford Motor in Winamac, Indiana in 1980. Later, he became the assistant managing editor of the Daily Herald, before leaving journalism in 1987. Lee Strobel Wife | Daughter He married Leslie Strobel and they are blessed with two children; a son called Kyle who is an an Assistant Professor of Spiritual Theology and Formation at the Talbot School of Theology and a daughter called Alison who is a novelist. Lee Strobel Church He was an atheist when he began investigating the Biblical claims about Christ after his wife’s conversion. Prompted by the results of his investigation, he became a Christian on November 8, 1981. He was a teaching pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, from 1987 to 2000, before shifting his focus to writing and producing his TV show, Faith Under Fire. He later was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by Southern Evangelical Seminary in recognition of his contributions to Christian apologetics in 2007. Lee Strobel Books He has written several books just to list a few. 1998 – The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus 2000 – The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity 2004 – The Case for a Creator 2005 – The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger 2007 – The Case for the Real Jesus 2013 – The Case for Grace: A Journalist Explores the Evidence of Transformed Lives 2014 – The Case for Christianity Answer Book 2015 – The Case for Hope: Looking Ahead with Courage and Confidence 2018 – The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural Lee Strobel Net Worth From his work as a former investigative journalist and from his work as a Christian apologetic author, he has gained a great fortune. Besides that, he lives with his wife in his home that he bought. He has an estimated net worth of $8 million. Lee Strobel Movie His movies include; 2004 – Jesus: Fact or Fiction. 2007 – Jesus: The Great Debate. 2017 – The Case for Christ Lee Strobel The Case For Christ The Case For Christ is one of the books that Lee has written. This book summarizes Lee’s interviews with thirteen evangelical Christian scholars—Craig Blomberg, Bruce Metzger, Edwin Yamauchi, John McRay, Gregory Boyd, Ben Witherington III, Gary Collins, D. A. Carson, Louis Lapides, Alexander Metherell, William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, and J. P. Moreland—in which they defend their views regarding the historical reliability of the New Testament. His personal encounters with these scholars and their beliefs led to the 2017 film of the same name. Lee Strobel The Case For Miracles The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural is one of the books that he has written. This book starts with an unlikely interview in which America’s foremost skeptic builds a seemingly persuasive case against the miraculous. But then Strobel travels the country to quiz scholars to see whether they can offer solid answers to atheist objections. Along the way, he encounters astounding accounts of healings and other phenomena that simply cannot be explained away by naturalistic causes. The book features the results of exclusive new scientific polling that shows miracle accounts are much more common than people think. Lee Strobel Testimony This is a summary of the detailed transcript of his testimony; For most of my life I was an atheist. I thought the idea of an all-loving, all-powerful creator of the universe–I thought it was stupid. I mean, my background is in journalism and law. I tend to be a skeptical person. I was the legal editor of the Chicago Tribune. So I needed evidence before I’d believe anything. One day my wife came up to me–she’d been agnostic–and she said after a period of spiritual investigation she had decided to become a follower of Jesus Christ. And I thought, you know, this is the worst possible news I could get. I thought she was going to turn into some sexually repressed prude who was going to spend all her time serving the poor in skid row somewhere. I thought this was the end of our marriage. But in the ensuing months, I saw positive changes in her values, in her character, in the way she related to me and the children. It was winsome; and it was attractive; and it made me want to check things out. So I went to church one day, ah, mainly to see if I could get her out of this cult that she had gotten involved in. But I heard the message of Jesus articulated for the first time in a way that I could understand it. That forgiveness is a free gift, and that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that we might spend eternity with Him. And I walked out saying–I was still an atheist–but also saying, “If this is true, this has huge implications for my life.” And so I used my journalism training and legal training to begin an investigation into whether there was any credibility to Christianity or to any other world faith system for that matter. Lee Strobel The Case For Easter The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection is one of his books that answers the following questions. Did Jesus of Nazareth really rise from the dead?Of the many world religions, only one claims that its founder returned from the grave. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very cornerstone of Christianity. But a dead man coming back to life? In our sophisticated age, when myth has given way to science, who can take such a claim seriously? Some argue that Jesus never died on the cross. Conflicting accounts make the empty tomb seem suspect. And post-crucifixion sightings of Jesus have been explained in psychological terms.How credible is the evidence for—and against—the resurrection? and many others. Lee Strobel Quotes “Only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist.” “If your friend is sick and dying, the most important thing he wants is not an explanation; he wants you to sit with him. He’s terrified of being alone more than anything else. So, God has not left us alone.” “Faith is only as good as the one in whom it’s invested.” “To be honest, I didn’t want to believe that Christianity could radically transform someone’s character and values. It was much easier to raise doubts and manufacture outrageous objections that to consider the possibility that God actually could trigger a revolutionary turn-around in such a depraved and degenerate life.” “Abruptly, Templeton cut short his thoughts. There was a brief pause, almost as if he was uncertain whether he should continue. ‘Uh … but … no,’ he said slowly, ‘he’s the most …’ He stopped, then started again. ‘In my view,’ he declared, ‘he is the most important human being who ever existed.’ That’s when Templeton uttered the words I neer expected to hear from him. ‘ And if I may put it this way,’ he said in a voice that began to crack, ‘I … miss … him!’ With that tears flooded his eyes. He turned his head and looked downward, raising his left hand to shield his face from me. His shoulders bobbed as he wept.” Lee Strobel Website His website is leestrobel.com

why god’s will isn’t always clear

If God wants us to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” (Colossians 1:10), why doesn’t he give us more specific guidance in our decisions? The Spontaneous 95% Consider all of the decisions you make during a typical day. Most are quick and spur-of-the-moment. John Piper estimates “that a good 95% of [our] behavior [we] do not premeditate. That is, most of [our] thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous.” That’s true. And it’s a bit unnerving when you think about it. The majority of the decisions that end up becoming the bricks in the building of our lives are just “spillover from what’s inside.” Even if we do stop and pray about such decisions, it is very rare that we discern God’s specific leading regarding what we should wear, what or where we should eat, if we should respond to  this instance  of our child’s sin with correction or forbearance, if we should put off that time-consuming errand till tomorrow, or whether we should check our email  again . The Massive 5% But what about the other 5% of our decisions? Some of these are massive and life-shaping. Should I marry this person? How much money should I give away and where? How much should we save for retirement? Should we adopt a child? Should I pursue a different vocation? Should we homeschool or not? Should I pursue chemo or an alternative cancer treatment? Should we buy this home? Which college should I attend? Is it time to put my elderly parent in a nursing home? Should I go to the mission field? Shouldn’t we expect God to direct us more explicitly in these? A Concealing Design “God doesn’t always make his will clear because he values our being transformed more than our being informed.” The answer is no, not necessarily. Why? Well, the short answer is because he is God, and we are not. “It is the glory of God to conceal things” (Proverbs 25:2). His wisdom and knowledge are unfathomably deep, his judgments are unsearchable, and his ways are inscrutable (Romans 11:33). Considering all the factors in play in the universe, it is likely no exaggeration that there are trillions of reasons for why God directs the course of our lives, and he prefers to carry out his purposes in ways that confound, surprise, and humble humans, angels, and demons. There is a tremendous glory that God displays when, without tipping his hand to us in advance, we suddenly recognize that he was working his will all along when we couldn’t see it. And he is also merciful to withhold information from us that he knows we aren’t ready to know, even if we think we really want to. A Revealing Design But one reason why God usually doesn’t give us specific guidance in our sometimes perplexing decisions is that he places a higher priority on our being transformed than our being informed in order that we will be conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). That’s why Paul writes, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2) What does this mean? It means that God has a design in the difficulty of our discerning. The motives and affections of our hearts, or “renewed minds,” are more clearly revealed in the testing of ambiguous decision-making. In Scripture, God reveals to us everything we need to know to live godly lives (2 Peter 1:3) and to “be complete [and] equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). But the Father is not seeking workers, but worshipers (John 4:23). And he knows that if he made his will for our specific decisions more explicit more often, we would tend to focus more on what we  do  rather than what we  love . Like the Pharisees, we would tend to focus more on our actions, rather than our affections. But in decisions that require discernment, the wheat is distinguished from the tares. When we’re not quite sure, we end up making decisions based on what we really love. If deep down we love the world, this will become apparent in the pattern of decisions that we make over time — we will conform to this world. But if we really love Jesus, we will increasingly love what he loves — we will be transformed by renewed minds. And our love for him and his kingdom will be revealed in the pattern of small and large decisions that we make. The Pattern of Our Decisions I say “pattern of decisions” because all of us sin and make mistakes. But conformity to the world or to Jesus is most clearly seen in the pattern of decisions we make over time. “Conformity to the world or to Jesus is most clearly seen in the pattern of decisions we make over time.” That’s one reason why God makes us wrestle with uncertainty. He wants us to mature and have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). The wonderful thing to remember in all of our decisions is that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He laid down his life for us so that all of our sins are covered — including every sinful or defective decision. He will never leave us or forsake us. He has a staff long enough to pull us out of every hole and a rod to guide us back when we stray. And someday, if we truly seek to love him and trust him, we will see that he really was leading us through the confusing terrain of difficult decisions all along.

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