Amazing Promise - How Sweet The Sound, The Greatest Promise God Has Ever Given Us!

Wow! "To accept the Gospel as anything less than total surrender of one’s whole heart to Jesus is to risk Jesus telling you that He never knew you, that you never allowed Him to know you fully, intimately." That says it all. I don't ever want that separation to happen to me or anyone I love. Thanks for sharing the truth. God has given you an understanding of His Spirit and the words to explain it in wonderful illustrations.
Dianna Lanser
Nothing But The Blood

Oh my goodness, Carl!

You are one, fired-up, passionate person! It comes through in your profile; it comes through in your writing; you absolutely exude joy! The introduction to your book absolutely compels the reader to hear what you have to say and it is clear that you have a gift of exhortation.

...And you listed Destined to Reign in your favorite books. Sold!

Blessings to you as you reap an amazing harvest through the gifts that God has put within you.

James Revoir

Carl, I read your opening chapters with a great hunger. Like many, I have been through the humbling process of finding Jesus and learning the truth.

Life is full of lies that remain undetected by the masses that either refuse to know Jesus or just don’t have the opportunity to know Him. They are not acquainted with the Father of Lies and the TV is always on in their house. Guided by the world, they may never know him but there are many that will. The Lamb's Book of Life is not availabe to us so we are bound by obedience and the love to share the gospel. This is a book that reveals God’s undying love, mercy and graciousness on a dying world. The book will definitely attract those who are seeking Jesus, preparing for a long journey, and the marvelous process that will bind them to Him intimately. It will encourage them to read their bibles and apply it daily. It is also a personal journey that you have shared with them and that’s what counts. Matthew 28:16-20 commands us to share and to disciple all nations. I applaud you for your hard work, dedication and love. Claire ~ Chasing Pharoahs.

Dear Carl,
I identified with many of your background stories about church, VBS, and even the potlucks! :) Growing up with Christian parents and grandparents as well, I found much of what you have chronicled here to be quite familiar. I read through chapter 3 today, and I was especially touched by the way God has revealed himself to you personally. His love is indeed the greatest gift! Thank you for sharing your story. Blessings to you!
All the best,
Faith Rose
Now to Him

Hi Carl,

I have read your book and must say I am inspired by your passion and your ability to convey this passion to the reader! You are right in saying that God has given us a mission to win souls here on earth: the fields are ready to harvest, but the workers are few and how does heaven not rejoice over one sinner that comes to repentance!

You also have a great ability to draw the reader into your life and the encounters you had with God as you describe them. Those moments in life are so precious, having myself experienced a number of them!

The style that you use in writing is inviting and I really enjoyed reading through your book! I am rating it with high stars and will soon put it on my shelf!

Blessings,

Jaco

You're very welcome, Kenneth. I appreciate the comment. I hope it is a blessing to you.
Carl

I'm at a loss for words in reply to your comment, AudreyB. All I really need to say is "Thank you!" and "Praise God!" I hope that you will read the last full chapter (chapter 13 on Authonomy). The symbolism shared in that chapter is something I want everyone to know more fully.

My dad always worked a lot and so, consequently, he didn't have a lot of time to spend with me one on one. In addition, I think my desire for love was very great and God given. Those two things in combination were really very powerful influences upon my life resulting in the paths I chose. I praise God for it, even though life seemed very, very hard to me - because it drew me to Jesus.

I don't really know what God's will is for the book Amazing Promise. God truly inspired it. But He has also allowed three different editors to come and go and not be able to help me due to their family/personal issues each time. I don't yet know what that means, other than it is building a lot of patience in me. I continue to seek His will concerning what you have described as "This is beautiful."

The book had a much higher ranking, but because I didn't continually nurture those who backed it, most of them lost interest and dropped their bookshelf support of it and moved on. That's OK. I'm not looking for HC to publish it.

I do appreciate your suggestions about the crit groups. I don't think anything less than a good editing of the entire book is warranted, though. I don't want to waste any time getting it completed, but I also don't want to publish a work that is inferior in quality.

Thanks again.
Carl

Carl,
It might be unusual for a writer of historical fiction fraught with sexuality and violence, to be commenting on your work, but I feel a compelling need to, so here goes. Certainly the amazing promise you speak of takes shape in increments each time one experiences an encounter with God. Your straightforard writing style is easy to follow and digest, making the read delightful. Thank you so much for the eye-opener.

Kenneth Edward Lim
The North Korean

Thanks for the note, Tom. You are very kind. I hope to read your testimony soon!
Carl

Hello Carl-
book- The amazing Promise--------- -- --- -.

one of the more down to earth Christian books on this site, and I have read many- why- well
i believe in Our Lord, Jesus Christ-
You write this book with great conviction, as the stories flow so well, I have no doubt that everything you say is true-
You are gifted and it so nice to have that rock solid faith- as you have in abundance-Long may you keep that spirit and the strength to tell others.
In it's genre, i highly recommend this read-

tom bye
book- from hugs to kisses-
oblige, if time Carl and read about my trip to heaven in chapter 16 and more chapters-19 and 23 thanks

This is beautiful. As I read your story of growing up in a large, loving, Christian family in a small town, I felt envy for you and your great good fortune. I grew up with an alcoholic father who was in the military, and it was easy to believe that kids who never moved and who had 'good' dads were blessed with the self-esteem that I lacked. What your story does is make clear that our circumstances matter little--if at all--when it comes to believing and receiving the love of Christ.

You are generous to share your many stories of feeling the voice or hand of God. He speaks to us in so many ways, and we tend to be too busy or self-absorbed or too unaware of our special-ness to recognize them. Your stories will help me feel the hand of God and hear His voice as I go about my daily life.

I think your book deserves a higher ranking. One way to get more exposure would be to join one of the Christian crit groups. We have two. You've received reviews from many members already but there are lots more.

One group is for giving crits on your own timetable and you can find it at http://www.authonomy.com/forums/threads/84425/christian-critique-and-review-group/

The other group focuses on one book each fortnight: http://www.authonomy.com/forums/threads/90961/christian-lit-forum/

Best wishes to you with this worthy book.

~AudreyB
Forgiveness Fits

God bless you Carl. I love your story. I smiled all the way through because I too am filled with the joy of knowing God's Love in my life. Your story is shared in such a clear, easy to read manner. I'm sure it will be a blessing to many.
Kerrie Price
'The God Pleasers'

Dear Carl, You are an inspiration. I have read all 14 chapters and my spirit agrees with what was said. Your taking us to the Word of our Lord Jesus in scripture and it gave me such joy. I relate to your description of low self esteem. I grew up with a sister that always told me that I was ugly and she would not play with me or have anything to do with me. Now we are married. She is unhappy and I found Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I came to love my sister even more than ever in His Love. I am praying that she will meet Jesus and be born again and experience that wonderful love that has overtaken you and me. Keep telling people about Jesus and how much He loves them. I have learned from your story that I need to love me more. God Bless You!

I have read another chapter today. I liked that you included a reference to the popular "I'm just a sinner" mentality. The ramifications of this can be that we excuse our propensity to sin. Actually, we WERE sinners but now we ARE saints. Paul addressed his epistles to the SAINTS.
There's a beautiful passage this brings to mind: when the angel came to Mary in Luke 1:28, he greeted her by saying, "Hail, highly favored." This is the same Greek word used by Paul in Ephesians 1:6 for "accepted": --"He has made us accepted in the beloved.". We AREN'T sinners anymore. We are the highly favored, beloved, children of the Most High. Isn't that beautiful?
~Hannah

Awesome, Hannah. If you like this, then some of the later chapters are going to blow you away. Thanks for the feedback. I was really hoping and praying that the book would be a GREAT help, unto salvation, for those who are hurting, lonely, and lost. I actually had more than a problem of ultra-low self-esteem. I was in grave bondage to sin as well, but I never mentioned what it was in order to protect the innocent. Actually, without Jesus, everyone has an identity, a self-esteem, issue. :-) People instructing me to focus more on Jesus never helped me because I focused on Him all the time because I was so religious. The problem was I didn’t know the real Jesus, the One Who loves us fully, completely, unconditionally, before we’re saved as well as after. Therefore, I couldn't focus on the real Jesus. You are exactly right about what “the church” preaches! What’s being preached is almost always NOT the Gospel of Grace. Concerning the tetragrammaton, yes, I actually have done quite a bit of reading on the subject. Most believers (I wouldn’t call them Christians, even though they THINK they are saved) are spoiled brats in that they only want the “finer things in life,” wealth, basically, and if not so much that, then mainly God’s blessings instead of wanting GOD HIMSELF! What they don’t realize is that they can’t have God and His Kingdom, including Heaven, unless they want God with all of their being first. They fail to realize you can’t separate the King from His Kingdom. A distorted view of God is truly the problem. That’s why the Gospel, the LORD’s Name, the Promise, begins with HE IS… (I AM). I’m convinced there is no way a person can miss this and still be able to focus on God, and be saved.
Carl

Chapter 3: I really liked the progression of ideas here, and the focus on God's Promise, Jesus.
This is a very encouraging book!
There are a couple of things I wanted to comment on.
At first I wondered where you were going with the saying "I love you" aloud; but you brought it right back to focusing on Jesus and His sacrifice. I have my own theory of the dangers of low self-esteem, so-called. The primary problem with it is the same as with pride: excessive focus on oneself. Anytime we focus on ourselves our flesh will demand its pleasure, and we will fall into sin. If we are constantly looking at our sin, instead of at our Saviour, we will certainly fall back into that sin. It does not help that the church "forgets" to remind all of us about focusing on Jesus alone, and instead tells us how to be healthy, wealthy, and wise by our own efforts. The ONLY solution is to always look up, not back, and put all our faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Did you know that the Jews spelled Y'hw'h without vowels because they considered the Name so holy? I wish more Christians had a sense of the true holiness of God.
~Hannah

Thank you Wordworker Joyce for the feedback. I will press on and not allow any discouragement to cause me to quit. Ohhh, I needed your comment very much, Joyce!

Hi Hannah. Thanks for your comment and suggestion. It's very helpful. God bless you too.
Carl

Thanks for the feedback, Shaun, and the encouragement.
Carl

Hi Carl.

I like your message. Your passion spills off the page and into the reader's soul. Its obvious how enthusastic you are about what you are writing, and that is helps make the reader enthusiastic too. I didn't see much wrong with the writing in terms of grammar, except for the few "And's" that began sentences, and some repetition. But your message carries strongly through your writing, and it is very well done.

God bless.

Shaun Holt
"Waiting for the Rain"

Hi! I'm new here, and just came across your book. I've read the first two chapters, and love it so far. I love the message; so few people even think of wanting this anymore. I'm blessed to be in a church that preaches true discipleship. I wish you all the best!
The only editorial comment I have is that you start a good many sentences with the word "and". You might consider removing it; most of your sentences don't need it.
God bless you.
~Hannah

"So far, my thoughts on your draft are very simple ... you write clearly with a keen insight and a fine sense of what God is saying to His people. Your voice is unmistakably yours and the message is positive and direct.
Don't quit writing and DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! Satan would love to discourage you because you are saying something that needs to be said ... don't let that happen!

Dear Carl,

Absolutely love your passion. Suffered with you through your angst as a young child while reading. Sounds like you've found the peace you've been searching for and now you're blasting what you've found from the rooftops. Jesus is Lord!

I wish you the best with your writing and promoting the King! ~Kady Colter, Shakespeare's Pink Cadillac

P.S. You might like to read Ravi Zacharias's book "From East to West" - He too wished to take his life as a teen. His story is amazing and God's done incredible things with the man.

Thanks Elsie! Great comments; these are very helpful. Even though I relentlessly pursued love all my life, I was still blinded by works based teaching for 37 years straight. So, the Lord had me strongly focus the book on the very foundation of salvation; Jesus! and on not missing Grace Himself! Grace is soooo easy to miss. There is so much more improvement that I want to do with the book, but I also feel the urgency of getting it out. I'm being very patient and not willing for it to be less than the best tool it can be to reach the lost - even those who think they're not lost, which is what 98% of everyone thinks. I would have never known that if God hadn't filled me with so much love, His Fire is what I call it, that I couldn't keep myself from talking to many hundreds of people about their salvation.

Carl, I kept thinking, as I was reading your book, of how valuable this teaching will be to both new babes in Christ and seasoned warriors. We all need reminders at times that Jesus loves us with an everlasting love. The scriptures you used completely backed up your message. Many of the songs are favorites of mine. I love music. I write songs and sing. I'm on YouTube singing a song I wrote, Sleep Soundly Baby Jesus if you ever want to listen to it. Maybe one reason you were tormented may be explained by something I heard a preacher say one time, that satan knows those children whose hearts are bent toward God and that he relentlessly pursues them. I believe that was true of myself. Spiritual warfare is real and we need to fight in the strength of the Lord. Thank you for bringing us such a beautiful picture of the God who always wants to have intimacy with His children. I loved the book. Just a couple of things I'll point out. Where you say 'seemed to me like..." it might sound better to say 'that' instead of like. And in Chapter 3 you might consider saying, 'I first found the answer to my two questions,' instead of starting that sentence with 'Where I first...' Beautiful book. Elsie

@Danehagen Will do, Elsie. Thanks!
Carl

Carl, in Paragraph 2.. I suggest you change to "sacred commodity over which only you have control (not end in preposition). I love the word beggar. I think it makes a really strong image. One of the songs they played at my grandson's funeral was the rendition of Amazing Grace you mention. I have a wooden plaque with his picture lasered onto it and the words 'My chains are gone, I've been set free.' I share your zeal for wanting everyone to love the Lord and be saved. Danehagen

I think I already warned you that I am a "mechanics" person ... I find the misspellings, grammar errors and awkward punctuation and point them out. Just because i may find a lot of these does NOT mean I am not enjoying or learning from what you write. I am a trained proofreader and those things are what I see. There are many folks here to speak to tone, timing, plot, etc. For the most part, I leave those things to others and concentrate on the little things that can smack an editor right between the eyes. So, here we go:
Ch. 2 Para starting: "I remember many details..." you write "baptistery" (no E)
Para starting, "The church in the city ..." you have a lot of "in"s in a row ... try this: "The city church where we were in the youth group ..."
Para starting: "As soon as I finished saying ..." you have a double "that" "...I concluded that that there was ..."

Carl,
I am thrilled with your book! It is definitely a thorough expression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His amazing promise of love is true. I call this an "always" relationship with Him. I count on the always relationship through all I say and do each day. Jesus has been washing me in His Word like the Jewish bride's promises. I appreciated your book taking me deep into this Amazing Promise of God. God bless you in your writing.
MaryBe

Carl,

This is a truly amazing, beautiful and inspirational work! As I read I see God's love in your writings. It's there to inspire us and to teach us and it really feels good to read something like this tonight. This is one of those works that has purpose and that purpose makes it a truly valuable read!

Each of your stories about your life that I've read so far have made me think both about my life's stories and about how God is with us, moving us and teaching us about his love and the importance of embracing it. I think my favorite story so far is the one about your experience in the hospital. It is truly amazing, isn't it, that God will find us and rescue us with his love in moments when we could have been taken away from the world or steered in the wrong way. This story reminds me of a story from my past and really touched my heart.

I especially enjoyed this read and have rated it six out of six stars. I have loved coming across a work fused so well with God's love and his hopes for us and I am anxious to return and read more soon. Thank you for the wonderful read!

Have a blessed day!

- Scott, The Ark of Humanity

P.s. I would be honored to hear what you think of my book, The Ark of Humanity, as well! Have a wonderful day!

Thank you for your comments, Laila! You have added some necessary details to the one or two sketchy comments I received earlier. I definitely plan to rewrite the book once again, especially the one autobiographical chapter 2 because so much more can be done with it, just as you pointed out. Please let me know what you think of the logic and flow of the following chapters; they are the most critical for the critical thinkers, for those who are really seeking the LORD, because they REALLY explain the Gospel in a very unique and honest way - especially chapter 13, The Wedding Of The Lamb, because it is so relational. Thanks again, Laila!
Carl

I love the heart behind your story. You have a lot of memories and great encounters with the Lord. I do also catch that you want people that don’t know the Lord to know him and those are the readers you want to reach.
I think perhaps it is wise to not start with “ I want to be perfectly honest with you, and what you want…. etc” I do think this can scare the little “birds” off. Because they don’t know you and they don’t trust just because you say you want to be honest. I would have re written the second paragraph a bit and started with that one. The love of Christ that He has for the hurt and the broken. The fact that His love is a free gift. One thing we know is that those who are not saved they have no idea of this Love that they actually are searching for. I do believe you then will draw the reader in to want to know more of your story. Because the end of the day, the “world” don’t give a *** what we think do they lol? So the approach to reach the unsaved needs to be based on what He have done for us and the overwhelming news that HE loves everyone.

One thing i have learned since i joined authonomy is how certain ways to start a sentence. Unfortunately i joined authonomy after i had self published my book so it was too late for me to change anything and i would have written loads in a different way if i did know.
Instead of starting sentences with “ I remember” i have learned on authonomy to avoid using that phrase again and again, the story needs to be “shown” not told. I made a mistake on this one myself. I have too often used I remember this and that. Just another way of showing your story instead of saying “I remember many details of meeting in that small country church” you could say it differently.
“ there was so many details that have stayed with me for many years at that small country church, the name of the ministers was Adairs, one you can call a hell and brimstone preacher. Mr Adair was a bit of a scary type for a little child because he was sweating a lot and wiping his face continually, while he literary screamed and shouted out to the shivering congregation “turn or burn”
I have defiantly not managed to explain properly how to do this, because i am not a writer myself also because it is difficult having a different language. I am just passing on valid things i have learned on authonomy, hope it is helpful to you!
Bless you with your work and this book.
Laila

Thank you for the kind words, Pastor Scott.

However, this book is really not about developing a greater passion with the LORD. It presents the unperverted Gospel of Grace, the very foundation of the Gospel, that is sorely missed and overlooked by so many. It's about how to be saved, how to have a real, life-changing relationship with the LORD. It's about opening the eyes of the huge masses of believers who think they are saved but also feel that God will let them into Heaven on their terms: because they are good, do enough good deeds, or do more good deeds than bad, and end up not giving all of their heart to Him. I speak with believers every day about Jesus right here in the Bible belt and I know this is the case. The book is a big, giant, wake-up call for the lukewarm and religious - anyone who truly wants to have the seal of the Holy Spirit and the irrefutable evidence in their heart and life that only He can bring, that can't be manufactured by man's efforts to be godly.

The book explains in detail the process of salvation and why so few believers ever get past the first step in the process (mental accent that Jesus died for their sins, which BTW is NOT salvation, that's just head knowledge of who Jesus is) and why far fewer ever make it through the final step of the process and enter into the most intimate relationship of all with Jesus (that of Husband and Wife). Read Dianna's "Wow!" comment to see what I'm talking about. Psalm 141:5
In all love and humility,
Carl

Hello there
Your book is good! The gospel is free yet not cheap! the grace of God is truly amazing and I get frustrated when people imply that God's grace covers sin persisted in. Deliberate sin is anathema and a slap in the Father's face. Pride can corner us and cause us to challenge God with, "God will just have to forgive me but..." He-lo-ooo. I used that phrase often enough in my BC days. Did I have a lot of repenting to do when my spiritual eyes were opened!
Today there seems a tendency for preachers to apologise for being preachy... "That's so preachy!" People complain. God is preachy! His commands are not friendly suggestions! Sin opens a door to the Father of lies and God does not want that for us.
Renewal of the mind is so essential and a hard, rocky road but there is victory ahead.
Ah well... God bless you abundantly.
'tisha

Thank you for chapter 13 of your book – The Wedding of the Lamb. Step by step you have laid out each step of the Jewish Marriage in order to show how Jesus completed every detail in order to demonstrate His great love for us. You have included teaching, scripture and music. Your book is filled with detail and very readable.

Wonderful book of God’s grace. We are truly loved by God, who teaches us to love Him. Reminds me of the Thank Offering (last part of http://www.authonomy.com/books/38776/spring-connecting-with-god/read-book/?chapterid=368084#chapter ). Thank you for this book and Testimony.

This is a great message. It seems your audience are the pew-sitters, lukewarm to God's love. How do you make this accessible for those who didn't grow up in Sunday School classes? There's a whole generation of people wounded by the church, avoiding the church and ignoring the church that need to hear this message.

Scott, "Servant Leadership Practice..."

The most direct answer is that I give everyone a business card with the URL to my one page blog of the unperverted Gospel printed on it (see the link on my bio page). This is the "tract" I use. And I disciple men who I pray will one day "get it" and receive a tongue on fire to spread the unperverted Gospel.

Actually, everyone who is not in Christ, whether they're on a pew or not, is lukewarm to God's love; they just don't know it. Everyone, those in church and those outside, needs to hear the same message, the same Promise, the same Gospel over and over in order to truly believe it with all of their heart. We tend to believe, and live in the context of, whatever we hear over and over. If you tell a child or anyone over and over he/she is no good, they will believe it and it will affect their entire life. Tell them over and over that you love them no matter what and that you couldn't be more proud of them, and it will affect their entire life as well. Luke 3:22

This is a great message. It seems your audience are the pew-sitters, lukewarm to God's love. How do you make this accessible for those who didn't grow up in Sunday School classes? There's a whole generation of people wounded by the church, avoiding the church and ignoring the church that need to hear this message.

Scott, "Servant Leadership Practice..."

Amazing Promise is a book filled with the love of God for His people. Even a superficial reading reveals the tremendous passion Mr. Garrett has for his Lord and Savior. Anyone looking to develop greater passion with the LORD would benefit from this book.

Scott LaPierre
Jesus in the Old Testament

Hi, Carl. I very much like the message of your book. It is spot on. I remember when I first realized the same thing and accepted it, that it also removed a lot of obstacles. He is still working on me, but I believe in His promise to love me always. I hope your book does well.

Wow! "To accept the Gospel as anything less than total surrender of one’s whole heart to Jesus is to risk Jesus telling you that He never knew you, that you never allowed Him to know you fully, intimately." That says it all. I don't ever want that separation to happen to me or anyone I love. Thanks for sharing the truth. God has given you an understanding of His Spirit and the words to explain it in wonderful illustrations.
Dianna Lanser
Nothing But The Blood

Thank you, Dianna. Your editorial comments and encouragement are very helpful! Your book Nothing But the Blood is on my watchlist and I'm taking a look at those books first whose authors have backed and/or commented on my book.

Dianna, you totally get it. Many people "try" to be obedient and they even "try" to surrender, but, unfortunately, without yet having received the power of the Holy Spirit, which is God's love living inside of us. You and I have discovered, after many years of pain and failure, that head knowledge of His love is TOTALLY different than a major heartfelt experience of His love, His Spirit. For me, that initial experience of grace that came with so much power for holiness was fairly subtle but totally unmistakable. That's what started me on my journey. The second experience 9 years later came as a result of total surrender. This is amazing: I wasn't even really focusing on surrender! Surrender was just happening in me over time because I was constantly seeking Him, but now I had His power to surrender! That second experience was like being set on fire. It was so powerful and so real that it totally changed everything; my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength.
Carl

Hi Carl
I have just read the first three chapters of Amazing Promise. I could so relate to your struggle of faith. I too have always wanted to please God. But despite all my best intentions, I kept messing up everyday. I’d been a Jesus follower for forty years! When was I ever going to get it right? The reason I wrote my book was to find some answers to my questions. Through my pastor’s teaching and time in The Word, God showed me exactly what he showed you. And the heroine in my book discovers those answers in chapter four, I believe. I have learned that it is a daily, sometimes moment by moment, surrendering of myself to the Spirit. I must be willing to let Him change me. And that takes practice - surrender, surrender, surrender. Sometimes I yield, sometimes I don’t. But God still loves me and Jesus’ blood still covers all my sin. When my pastor journals, he always signs his prayers with “Jeff, Your beloved son.” It is a reminder to him that he is infinitely loved and adored by the Creator of the universe. How’s that for boosting your self-esteem!

Anyway, you said you wanted a little editing help. I think your first chapter is very heartfelt and personal. Very convincing like Paul who had suffered all kinds of troubles because he was so sure of His encounter with the Christ. I would leave it as is.

Chapter two 2nd paragraph. should be me and my brothers. In the same paragraph, maybe replace "Churches of Christ" with "that denomination"

I would remove all the "I remembers" and simply tell us your story like you do further down in the chapter.

In the last paragragh of the Baptism encounter in the 3rd sentence is a little confusing. Maybe just say "the next three boys in line, including me should be baptised"

In the you kicked me encounter, the sentence starting "But I still have..." is kind of complicated. Maybe shorten this or break it into two.

Finally, in God's beautiful give to me Our fist date (first)

Everything else was very smooth and readable. I loved your references to the songs. I have them in my book too. I believe your book is going to make a big difference and help a lot of people to simply trust in the love of God.

Dianna Lanser
Nothing But the Blood

Thank you James, Faith, Su Dan, Claire, Sergev, Kaye, Ashley, Ophelia, and everyone, for your feedback and your blessings, and to everyone who has backed the book. The feedback I've received makes me think that it should be published (after much editing still). I am thrilled to know that!

Blessings to everyone of you, and to everyone who chooses to hear the Lord tell them directly how He feels about them from their own lips!
Carl

Oh my -
What a true blessing -

Oh my goodness, Carl!

You are one, fired-up, passionate person! It comes through in your profile; it comes through in your writing; you absolutely exude joy! The introduction to your book absolutely compels the reader to hear what you have to say and it is clear that you have a gift of exhortation.

...And you listed Destined to Reign in your favorite books. Sold!

Blessings to you as you reap an amazing harvest through the gifts that God has put within you.

James Revoir

Dear Carl,
I identified with many of your background stories about church, VBS, and even the potlucks! :) Growing up with Christian parents and grandparents as well, I found much of what you have chronicled here to be quite familiar. I read through chapter 3 today, and I was especially touched by the way God has revealed himself to you personally. His love is indeed the greatest gift! Thank you for sharing your story. Blessings to you!
All the best,
Faith Rose
Now to Him

fascinating book, great subject, and l will read more; for now this is on my watchlist...
read SEASONS..

Claire, Your comments are every encouraging to me! It is encouragement like yours that makes me want to complete the editing of the book and get it into the hands of those who are seeking Him. I firmly believe it's not the number of bookshelves our books are on that will matter in the end. It won't be about how popular we were, or how financially successful we were. It will be all about how many friends we brought with us on that Day. And it's easy to see that you have the same eternal perspective. You are an amazing author but an even greater encourager, Claire.
God's love and best for you always, Carl

Carl, I read your opening chapters with a great hunger. Like many, I have been through the humbling process of finding Jesus and learning the truth.

Life is full of lies that remain undetected by the masses that either refuse to know Jesus or just don’t have the opportunity to know Him. They are not acquainted with the Father of Lies and the TV is always on in their house. Guided by the world, they may never know him but there are many that will. The Lamb's Book of Life is not availabe to us so we are bound by obedience and the love to share the gospel. This is a book that reveals God’s undying love, mercy and graciousness on a dying world. The book will definitely attract those who are seeking Jesus, preparing for a long journey, and the marvelous process that will bind them to Him intimately. It will encourage them to read their bibles and apply it daily. It is also a personal journey that you have shared with them and that’s what counts. Matthew 28:16-20 commands us to share and to disciple all nations. I applaud you for your hard work, dedication and love. Claire ~ Chasing Pharoahs.

Thanks for the comment, Ashley. A lot of people read it and say "Wow!" Others read it and say "What's different about it?" I think the reason is because of where people are at in life. Some people are desperate and are willing to say the Promise over and over for three to four weeks and some are not. There's really no magic there; just a huge revelation that the statement "I love you," your name, is what His name of Yahweh means. It's Jesus' marriage vows to us that He will love us forever. We tend to believe what we hear over and over, if our heart is really ready to receive it, if we've been humbled to the max and want it more than anything. That's what the other chapters are about - preparing your heart. And they're about the perversion of the Gospel that goes on every Sunday: mixing a little "works" (what you have to do for God to love you) in with the Gospel. That strips away the Gospel's power and it's why our churches are not exploding with the Holy Spirit. It's why not many people are sharing their faith with everyone they can. But many can't see this. They're too religious to see it. They're depending on their performance, on their obedience, which causes them not to "get it." Read the blog linked on my profile to see what I'm talking about.
God's love and best for you always, Carl

I'm going to preface this by saying that I hope this isn't too blunt. But, I think you can handle it. Anyways, I came here wanting to hear this message that hasn't been preached in church. I was thinking something radical would happen or be introduced at least in the first two chapters. I was thinking there would be perhaps some "A Course In Miracles" ideas weaved in here, "New Age" Christian thought, and perhaps there is but I just need to read further. However, what I'm trying to say is that there is nothing that hints to me that there is something different and there should be at least a few hints that you are about to tell me something life changing other than literally telling me. The old "show don't tell propaganda."

IF you are going where I think you are going with this... I think the hand holding moment and "God" holding your hand through your brother and then wife could be hinted to as one of those moments. If you are going with the ACIM principles, you'll know what I mean by this. If not, ignore my comment on that part. I love seeing a person writing about their faith and bringing other people into seeing a spiritual side of life. Now, it's just executing it correctly! I look forward to seeing where this can go!

Best,

Ashley

@Ophelia, I DEFINITELY appreciate your honest feedback! That's exactly the kind of feedback I need. Plenty of people have given me feedback on the message content of what I've written and those are all glowing reviews. I know the uniqueness of the message. Now I need to know if people will stay "hooked," as you say, to keep reading through to the end. I obviously feel that this is a hugely important message for me to invest so much time to write it down.

That said, I could REALLY use yours and everyone's help pointing out the specific phrases in the preface that are too preachy. The preface is really short and easy to fix (improve). My concern is lessened somewhat by your comment that a lot of people skip the preface. :-)

And I'm good with critiques of the highly personal chapter 1. This is the only highly personal chapter in the book. I'm totally out of my league in that chapter because I'm not a novelist. I debated whether to even include it. But without it, there's nothing to give me credibility for saying the things I do later on. But as you pointed out so well, that chapter puts me squarely in the novelist "camp." One short term solution may be to utilize an expert in that field. One thing to consider though, is that I'm not trying to entertain at all, which seems to be one of the underlying goals of a lot of fictional works. I just want to keep the reader "hooked."

Thank you so much for the book suggestions for "voice" training. Excellent. Have you read Radical or Crazy Love? They are very preachy in nature, but are also very popular in this genre. Radical is a NYT Bestseller and it is EXTREMELY preachy. Hey, David Platt and Francis Chan are both preachers themselves! I won't be able to keep from sounding preachy in the remainder of the book. But with extremely helpful feedback like yours, I should be able to tone it down - especially if I'm directed to some specific lines or examples that open my eyes a little wider.

This is cool. I'm loving Authonomy!
Carl

Chpt. 1

I think, in general, accepting critique on a highly personal piece such as this will be difficult for you. Also, in gerneral, I think you're doing way too much "telling" and not enough "showing". Engage your reader in non-fiction the same way a writer does for fiction. God's story is amazing, more amazing than most fiction, the really, truly thing that makes it so amazing is that it is real.

May I suggest you read two books? First off, anything by Rob Bell. he is a genius at drawing in readers. Secondly, Mark Batterson's book called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, an excellent example of how the "voice" of the writer pulls in the reader.

God bless & happy writing!