Tag: New Leaf Publishing

FREE Book Friday with Master Books!

Grace-Filled Writer

I’m so excited to host FREE Book Friday for Master Books (a division of New Leaf Publishing) this week! I have come to rely on this company to teach me truth as I have slowly come to understand my grade school education was filled with the errors of evolution. I’ve been slowly creating a Creation library for our family and have has the Answers Books on my wish list!

I’m so excited to give you the opportunity to win The Answers Book 2 by Ken Ham. I have learned so much as I read this. I knew no matter what my teachers told me, evolution was incorrect. What I struggled with was the absolute certainty many of them presented their so-called facts with. I was also completely unaware of the evolutionary teaching permeating so many other subjects…history, humanities, and even literature were frequently impacted by this false teaching. This book presents factual evidence which systematically breaks down all of the errors in evolution.

I appreciate that Ken Ham states up front that unless you start with the assumption the Bible is 100% accurate, you will not agree with this book. At the same time he presents compelling scientific arguments and facts which cannot logically be disputed. I was especially fascinated with the chapter which dicussed Stanley Millers experiments which resulted in the creation of amino acids in a laboratory. I was appalled to learn what I had been taught was absolute fact is in reality highly suspect evidence at the very least. The true results of this experiment as presented in the book in fact prove more for creation than evolution. How blessed I have been to read truth and arm myself with knowledge so I can discuss the topic of creation vs. evolution intelligently.

I wish everyone could win, but since this isn’t possible make sure to add this series to your wishlist for your own library!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer
I received The New Answers Book 2 in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

Indoctrination the Book: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
My husband and I recently watched an old television show which first aired in the 1970’s. In this particular episode both parents go to see their son’s principal because they know he should not be passing his junior year of high school, yet he has all C’s. The principal tries to convince the parents this is fine because the school doesn’t have any money and the only way to get more money is to graduate a certain percentage of students on to the next grade. The principal said it should be up to their son. When he chose to go on to the next grade, they were understandable upset, but it was what he chose, so they just tried to make him feel guilty. In the end he said, “Well, I’m going to do better next year.” Laugh track starts…lights fade…
The laughing has stopped and the light of truth now exposes the glaring reality of public education through brave voices like those who wrote IndoctriNation, the companion book to the documentary by the same title. The book is written as a collection of short essays from many of the individuals featured in the film. I have not yet seen the film, but I believe this is better as a companion rather than simply read alone.

I appreciated the calm, factual way information is presented in IndoctriNation. Even the skeptic reading this should not get the sense it is written by a fringe group of conspiracy mongers. Rather the book systematically provides factual information which is lies just beneath the surface. Yes, the ideas presented here are radically opposed by the mainstream voices. Our country was founded by radical opposition.

What I agreed with…
* Schools in general are not what we are led to believe they are.
* Teachers have essentially lost all rights and free speech
* Students are not ensured emotional or physical safety in our schools
* There was an agenda when public schools were created and there still is one today which goes far beyond providing quality education.
* There is an over-drugging of students, especially boys, who are just being the way God created boys to be.

What I disagreed with…
* There is a biblical mandate to homeschool
* In general Christian schools are not much better off than public schools
* Parents who do not homeschool are not living in obedience to God

Overall I highly recommend this book, but as I mentioned is is written as a collection of essays by many authors and as such holds a variety of views. While each chapter strongly advocates homeschooling, some go further and state this is a biblical mandate. My husband, a pastor, and I discussed this extensively and we do not see this as black and white and some do. Here are our conclusions…

1. Spiritual and academic education are inherently intertwined whether we like it or not.
2. Public education does address the spiritual side of education no matter how much they deny this fact. It’s just a different spirituality than we want for our girls.

Every parent ought to be armed with this information so they can make the best decision for their child’s education. For financial reasons Christian schools are out of the reach of many. For life-circumstance situation homeschooling is out of the reach of many. It is becoming easier and easier to homeschool, but for single-parents or families with one or more parents with physical needs it can be nearly impossible.

I encourage all Christian parents to read this book and watch the documentary (we plan to soon!) whether you plan to homeschool, attend private school, or attend public school. Knowledge is our best defense against a system and environment currently doing more harm than good. The breakdown in education is so much more than low test scores, more than just school shootings, more than what the politicians want you to believe.

No laugh tracks.
No fade out.

Just reality this stark reality: There is an ungodly undercurrent behind the politics of education which no amount of Christian influence in the schools can prevent. It is up to the informed to decide what to do about it, especially those with children.

Check out some more reviews by clicking the image below! 
Disclaimer
I received IndoctriNation in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

Chronicles of Dinosauria from Master Books: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
Photo Credit: Creation Museum

When I was a kid I was provided with two separate world views. My parents and church taught me God was our Creator. My science classes taught me to trust in the irrefutable evidence that all life was evolved by chance from non-life. I was blessed my senior year to be taught AP biology by a strong-in-her-faith Christian, Mrs. Lowe. It was the late 90’s and evolutionary teaching was forging ahead at full-force, but despite this Mrs. Lowe firmly told us she believed God was our Creator and she taught about evolution simply because she was required to present all theories. I believe I am one of the few students from the 90’s to have a teacher so bold and brave, yet all the evidence she presented still pointed towards evolution. How could all this scientific fact be wrong?

A few years ago I would have laughed at someone saying dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together. I had come to believe that since all the evidence I had ever seen pointed towards evolution and because I couldn’t reconcile this with my biblical world-view I had to just accept both were accurate and there were just missing millions of years in Scripture. Through research for homeschooling I found Answers in Genesis. For the first time in my life I had real answers and they weren’t a matter of reconciling contradictory belief systems. I finally saw the evidence from a biblical perspective and realized starting assumptions determine how scientific discoveries are interpreted. 
I have been systematically devouring science and history books which deal with this evidence and understanding of young-earth creation. My mind has been blown over and over as I see the so-called proof provided by scientists that we are not created, but rather evolved with new eyes. The Chronicles of Dinosaur from Master Books (a division of New Leaf Publishing) has been one of the most interesting reads I have had the opportunity to encounter. This stylistic rendering of the evidence showing how we know dinosaurs did indeed walk among men is as fascinating to gaze at as it is informative.

Presented in the style of a scrapbook this beautiful piece of literature covers an amazing array of evidence in just 74 pages divided into eight chapters. The clear explanations in each section helped me understand how I no longer have to reconcile science and the Bible. I always knew the Bible was truth, but now I understand more fully how science in fact supports the Bible rather than contradicts it. I am thrilled to be so well equipped to teach my children the truth and the compatibility of science and Scripture.

My favorite aspect in addition to the beautiful illustrations is that the biblical evidence is presented last. This may sound a little odd since the interpretation of the entire book firsts starts with the assumption of biblical truth. Because of this I feel I can loan it out to any number of my friends who are curious and they won’t automatically assume it is from the perspective of a fairy tale as many who do not follow Christ feel. Christianity is not a religion for our family; it is a relationship with the one true God made possible by His Son, Jesus and revealed to us through Scripture. Beginning with the very Book for which those who are not following Christ hold disdain would be ineffective since they cannot help but scoff at the seemingly outlandish notion of creation and the flood. This intentional and logical presentation will pull any reader in whether or not they are a believer.

I also love, love, that the gospel is presented clearly at the close of the book. What a wonderful witness for Christ. There is no Bible thumping, no arrogant claims of superiority, not even a hint of prideful knowledge. At the end of this wonderful book all which is left is the truth and grace of the Word of God after the curious reader has seen page after page of true evidence pointing them to the true Creator.

Click here to read what others have to say about The Chronicles of Dinosauria! 

Big Book of Earth and Sky: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

I typically don’t teach science in our homeschool because we utilize a learning center which provides classes for homeschoolers. One of those classes is science and it is incredibly thorough and advanced in what they learn. I do, however, like to provide my girls with science resources so they can explore on their own terms. We love looking up information when we have a question and I want to provide materials which point my girls to God as the Creator.

The Big Book of Earth and Sky from Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group, by Bodie Hodge and Dr. Carolyn Reeves (View her website here!) grabbed my girls’ attention as soon as I opened it! I put it on a shelf intending to leave it there until I had a chance to look at it with them, but I kept finding one or another reading it and learning on their own. The gigantic, colorful poster/book immediately draws the students (and teacher!) into curiosity mode. The illustrations are beautiful and written content is concise and clear.

By the time I started using this with my daughters I was happy to discover that a teacher’s guide had been published. You can purchase this separately or go follow the link to download it for free. While there are many ways this book can be used and incorporated into your current studies, I like having the teacher’s guide to give me a starting point. This guide includes a section on a variety of topics and provides a glossary of words for each topic as well as suggested activities. The topics included are caves, oceans, meteorology and paleontology. The book is designed to be a springboard for learning and the teacher’s guide greatly aids this process. There are also corresponding charts for students to fill in as you study. My oldest two really enjoyed this part!

If I had the space I would have hung it up on the wall with the land starting at the floor. You can watch the video below to see how this works. I don’t have a good spot to do this, so we stretched the entire book and I thought it would be fun to show how it compares to the height of my girls. They all thought this was fun, but Grace especially got a kick out of it. She’s at the bottom with the biggest smile of the three! The top of the chart starts with the uppermost layers of the atmosphere. It then systematically moves through meteorological and geological information all the way to the earth’s core.

I printed out my teacher’s guide and made the girls their own packets to study with. I used the same picture from the teacher’s guide to make the cover. Beth especially liked this because she felt very grown up having her very own packet to complete.

We started at the top with the layers of the earth’s atmosphere. One of the reasons so many of my friends give for why they couldn’t homeschool is because they aren’t smart enough. While I think each family must choose their own educational course, I try to encourage them that they don’t have to know everything. Wonderful resources like this are available so we can learn alongside one another. I’m sure at some point I had to learn the layers of the atmosphere during my education, but they didn’t stick. I loved how not only were the layers labeled in a vivid way, but they also included the types of things you would find in that layer. Our local children’s museum has a wonderful hands-on weather exhibit. I plan to take this with us the next time so we can look at some of the information along with the displays!

We moved a little farther down and took a look at the mountain zones. We live in the area of North Carolina known as the Piedmont, or foothills. We had a wonderful conversation about our location and how that relates to our family who lives in the mountains of North Carolina. Beth loved that there was a snow zone. The girls love snow even though we don’t see it very often!

The last area we looked at (on this day!) was the core of the earth. Rose studied this in her science class and told us lots of information she had already learned, which inspired Beth to become more interested in reading more on the page. You can see that this folds up nicely so if you don’t have a large floor space it is still easily usable and enjoyable.

This is a fabulous resource with a years-worth or more of curriculum ideas. For me, the best part is I know I can trust what is written within these pages to engage and enlighten my girls while staying within our beliefs that all living things were created by God within a literal 1-week period. I know this makes our family in the minority within our culture and I am forever grateful to New Leaf Publishing for providing amazing resources like this one to teach my girls.

Read the book release blog here and take some time to watch this fun video to see even more of The Big Book of Earth and Sky!


You can read more reviews here!

Disclaimer
I received The Big Book of Earth and Sky in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

Attic Book’s Advice for Seekers: Book Review

Grace-Filled Writer

When I was growing up I only vaguely knew who Charles Spurgeon was. I remember hearing him quoted in sermons so I knew he was someone worth quoting with godly wisdom, but that was pretty much it. When I got to Bible college I heard all my pastoral major friends discus Spurgeon as well as other great pastors from over dinner and my interest was piqued. Since then I began reading about Charles Spurgeon and other great pastors of his time. While I learned about his life, I never got around to reading any of his books or sermons. I was very excited to read this newly released Advice for Seekers from Attic Books, a division of New Leaf Publication Group.

This beautifully bound book is a rare gem in an age of e-books. The rough edged pages gives the tangible awareness that you are opening a treasured book of wisdom passed down through the decades. Attractive enough to leave on your coffee-table and small enough to fit in your purse…but for all it’s outward beauty, it is the wisdom inside which is the true treasure.

Spurgeon originally wrote for those who were looking for Jesus, so although I was looking forward to this read, I didn’t expect to be as drawn is as I was. The language would be considered old fashioned, but it isn’t too difficult. In fact, the more I read, the less I noticed the difference from modern language. My faith was encouraged as I read through this short work, reminding me of some of the vital, yet simple truths that all seekers must accept.

The other helpful purpose of this book was to help me better understand those who are seeking Christ as adults. My path to salvation started before I was born. It started with my great-grandfather who turned his life toward God for his wife who died soon after their marriage of consumption. When he married my great-grandmother he was a different man and eventually became a pastor. His son, my grandfather, was also a pastor and my own father became a pastor and now trains future pastors at a seminary. I have a deep spiritual heritage and because of that understood the truths in Scripture long before most. Although I have a deep desire to see the lost come to Christ I cannot exactly relate to the struggle with doubts, misunderstandings, and hindrances which can cause adults to hesitate in giving their lives entirely to God. Advice for Seekers has given me greater insight and understanding into these things.

“Would you dare put your miserable life in comparison with the life of God’s obedient Son, who gave himself even to death? Does it not strike you that you are insulting God?” 
My favorite quote actually comes from the first page. One of the most often exhibited attributes of those who have grown up in the culture of the church is the feeling that it is something we have done which has caused us to find favor with the Savior and allowed our salvation. This could not be further from the truth, but it is so very easy to fall into this trap. Just take a poll of the average church. When asked to share the story of their conversion my pastor husband has often heard responses such as, “My parents brought me to church from the time I was born,” and, “I’m basically a good person,” even from those who have heard the true gospel preached all their lives. I too need to be reminded that it is by the grace of God alone which has saved me from eternity apart from Him.
Although this may be most appropriate for a more academically minded reader, I believe the truth imparted here by the great Charles Spurgeon can benefit anyone no matter their educational background or where they are on their journey with Christ. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and plan to read it again each year to keep the thoughts imparted here fresh in my mind. 

Click here to read more reviews!

Disclaimer
I received Advice for Seekers in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Tower of Babel from New Leaf Publishing: Book Review

Grace-Filled Writer
My daughters, especially Rose, love history and science. They love it to the point of wanting to read and study things on their own outside of our curriculum. Since homeschooling seems to be an indefinite path for our family at the moment my husband and I decided it would be good to make sure we had resources available for our girls which were quality and in accordance with our beliefs for science. Companies like Master Books (a division of New Leaf Publishing) fit that criteria. We purchased a handful of science books published by this company last summer because I knew I wanted books with creation at the center. What I didn’t know was I would be learning some things.
I received an excellent public-school education by a wonderful group of Bible-believing teachers. Many even told our class they didn’t believe in evolution but were required to teach it. I knew I believed the Bible’s authority of the account and I just brushed the text-book accounts of where we all came from off as nonsense, not thinking much more about it. As I began to read through the resources we purchased for our girls last summer I had a sudden realization that all the things I had been taught concerning science (geology, chemistry, biology) and history had been first soaked in an evolutionary belief-system without my even knowing it. I began to dig deeper and search out resources so I would be fulled educated and equipped with an accurate understanding of history, not simply the one taught to me from text books who created the Bible as historical fiction and the beliefs of Christianity as outdated. When the opportunity came up to read and review Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of our Ancestors I jumped at the chance to embark on my own new study of history, and I was not disappointed.

This historical study of what happened at the Tower of Babel written by Bodie Hodge covers an incredibly wide range of information from how to actually pronounce the name to what happened to all the people groups. I plan to reread this again over the summer simply because there was so much good stuff in here and I don’t want to miss any of it!

While it is a history book, the majority of it is not difficult to read. The references to the Scriptural account are abundant, but equally so are other historical documents which help to uncover a deeper understanding of the history. I was taught that Babel was just a myth which people used to explain away the variety of languages found all over the world. I didn’t believe this, but what I didn’t realize what how this impacted other teaching like when writing first began, how language developed over time, and even why some languages are clearly related. I was told that the reason other groups had similar “stories” in their cultures was because other had taken the story as they traveled toward people groups and the biblical account was probably not the original source.

As I read I felt as if I were myself digging in the desert to uncover the truth of ancient history. I learned why the biblical account is clearly the source of all the other accounts found in other cultures. I already knew this was true, but now I’m equipped with the reasons why it is true beyond simply my understanding of the truth of Scripture. Now I can answer the questions of unbelievers who care nothing about the Bible in an informed way.

The only chapter difficult for me to get through was chapter 17 which explained where each of the family groups traveled to as they dispersed. It was fascinating, but the amount of information and variety of names started to all run together. I would have preferred to see a separate chapter for each family group, but I understand the reasoning behind putting it all in one chapter. This is one I would like to revisit so I can better understand the dispersion.

I had two favorite parts as I studied. One was learning of how the names in various cultures related back to Noah and his sons. Even accounts of the flood in China have similar names. The other was learning how people would have been able to disperse more quickly than I was taught. When you have been taught history from a millions-of-years-old perspective these thing are taught very differently.

Now, I want to clarify that I do believe in a young-earth, but I don’t believe that Christians who don’t hold to this view are not saved. I have studied the evidence for myself because I was taught that evolution and the biblical account of creations, the flood, and the tower of babel could all co-exist. I no longer believe this and I’m so thankful for companies like New Leaf Publishing who provide resources which give extra-biblical proof and reasoning for that which I know to be true.

Take a look at this preview of the book and then go buy it! I think you’ll enjoy this enlightening read as much as I did. 

You can read more reviews by clicking here! 

Disclaimer
I received The Tower of Babel in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.