Family Friendly Online Bookstore Holds First Kids’ Choice Book Awards

ABUNGA.COM CALLS KIDS TO THE VOTING POLLS:
Online Bookstore Holds First Kids’ Choice Book Awards

Press Release

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 8, 2008 – Abunga.com, the family-friendly online bookstore, is hosting their first Abunga.com Kids’ Choice Book Awards. Now through Sept. 1, children pre-kindergarten through 12th grade can log onto Abunga.com/kidschoice and nominate their favorite summer reading book.
“Abunga.com wants to encourage children of all ages to dive into a few good books this summer,” said Abunga.com Chairman Lee Martin. “With families cutting down on summer travel due to the rising cost of gas and food, reading offers children the opportunity to journey to another time and place and experience the many adventures of a book.”

Nominations for the 2008 Abunga.com Kids’ Choice Book Awards will be accepted in the categories of grades pre-kindergarten through first, second through third, fourth through fifth, sixth through eighth and ninth through 12th. All children who log onto Abunga.com with their parent’s permission and provide a nomination and parent’s contact e-mail address will be eligible for a $20 Abunga.com gift card. One gift card will be awarded in each category. Printable summer reading bookmarks that include a place for children to write down their favorite books will also be available at the site.
The winning books and authors will be announced Sept. 15. Winning authors will receive a feature spot on the Abunga.com home page from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 and will be listed on the Abunga.com Kids’ Choice Awards Web page for one full year until the 2009 awards. Children awarded Abunga.com gift cards will also be recognized by first name on the Abunga.com Kids’ Choice Awards Web page.

“We are eager to see the variety of books that so many young readers will take the initiative to nominate,” Martin said. “Summer reading helps kids stay at the top of their academic game when school is out, and we hope this award adds a little extra incentive to discover a good book.”

Abunga.com is an online bookstore founded to provide families a protected shopping environment. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Abunga.com offers more than 1.6 million family-friendly books, savings through distributor-direct prices and support to nonprofit organizations by donating 5 percent of each transaction to a customer-selected charity. For more information, visit www.Abunga.com or read the blog about this here:

Book Awards Poll PLUS a $20 gift certificate for the kids.

Spurgeon’s Devotional – Teach Your Children Well (A case for the spiritual instruction of the gospel to their children by the parents)

Joel 1:3
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

In this simple way, by God’s grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land-the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord’s arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday School Teachers, or other friendly aids, these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty-who so fit to look to the child’s well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents’ prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive His smile.

From Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotional. You can get your own copy at Christianbook.com

The Great and Powerful Evolutionists – Expelled, The Movie.

By The Reformed Faith Weblog Administrator

While many detractors believe this movie is an attempt to prove Intelligent Design, in reality it is mainly about academic freedom and the monopoly that humanist/evolutionist philosophers have had for so many years and will do anything to maintain. I mean, if you were getting (all the billions of dollars in) scientific grant money given out every year to research facilities and that money was gotten with the assumption you must continue maintaining that Darwinian Evolution is the only way life could have “evolved” on earth (or else look like a theorist – GASP! The Horror!), wouldn’t you defend your job, even if it meant lying or trying to “scientifically discredit” a film that threatened your monopoly before the film was ever even released into the theater?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few years… (how long has it been since they’ve “proven beyond a shadow of a doubt” that Richard Dawkins uncle was actually a monkey?)… the state of our culture is reflective of the humanistic belief that morals are an invention of man, and not instituted by a sovereign and almighty God… and so everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Ben Stein obviously is a firm believer that our schools system should be teaching children HOW to think instead of WHAT to think. In Expelled, Ben simply pulls back the curtain to show the world that the wizard is simply a desperate old codger who stands to lose the satisfaction of having a fearful and trembling public stand in awe of him – the public that he has been duping for so many years as he shouts imperiously, “I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ!”

I submit that the “first cause” of the demise of the evolutionary monopoly is… this great and powerful film. Way to go, Ben!

Related articles and links of interest:

Expelled The Movie Comes Out Friday, April 18th, 2008!

Expelled, The Playground – View Trailers and other fascinating phenomena.

R.C. Sproul Interviews Ben Stein

‘Expelled’ Producers Deny Deceiving Scientists to Appear in Film

California Children Forced to be Indoctrinated by the State? Who’s Next?

As many of you may already know, a recent ruling by a district judge effectively “outlawed” home based education in the state of California. This would force all parents who believe that educating their children at home using individualized curriculum that reflects their values and caters to their child’s particular strengths and interests to place their child in an expensive private school that is accredited by the secular state accrediting agency (which in most instances would put the parent under undue burden) OR force the child to be enrolled in a public school run by the secularized state.

The parent may opt to earn their credentials from the state, (also putting the parent under an undue burden) but since being educated in political correctness and secular worldviews are essential to getting these credentials, most Christian parents would consider this a waste of both their money and their time. In most instances, it is the very reason they’ve opted to homeschool in the first place.

Fortunately in most other states, homeschooling is an accepted practice, and it is understood that parents are the ones who should have the right to decide how their child is educated and trained for their intellectual and moral well being. (Deuteronomy 11 ; Proverbs 22:6…)

You can find out more about this court decision and what you can do about it by going here:

ReverseTheRuling.com

Free To Express Yourself… Unless You’re a Christian!

Apparently your First Amendment rights don’t apply in school. According to a recent story,

School officials in Tomah, Wisconsin, are facing a lawsuit after a high school teacher there failed a student’s art project because it included a cross and a reference to John 3:16. The school district argues that the student voluntarily waived his First Amendment religious freedoms when he entered the classroom…

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

Tiller The Baby Killer Speaks at NEA Sponsored Event

For all you Christian public school teachers who are members of the National Education Association (NEA), and have been looking for an excuse to remove yourself from membership, now’s your chance to speak out…

The National Education Association is being denounced for hosting an event honoring infamous abortionist George Tiller who is facing 19 criminal charges for performing illegal late-term abortions.

George Tiller, a man many pro-lifers call “Tiller the baby killer,” received a standing ovation at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference held recently at the NEA’s headquarters in Washington, DC. During his talk, Tiller attempted to justify his work by showing the approving audience pictures of babies he had aborted who had fetal abnormalities. The Feminist Majority Foundation then announced it was launching a new campaign designed to keep Tiller’s Wichita, Kansas, abortion mill open…

Read the rest of the article HERE.

Be sure to visit the Reformed Faith Weblog Home Page for devotionals, news and commentary.

Christian Media Resources

For immediate release:

THE APOLOGETICS GROUP ANNOUNCES A
Newly Released DVD Presentation:

The Real Jesus: A Defense of Historicity & Divinity of Christ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Who is the real Jesus?

Since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archaeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the “historical Jesus”: a wise teacher who said many wonderful things but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin.

Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archaeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regrettably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as the popular media. As a result the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the Church.

The Real Jesus explodes the myths of these critics and the movies, books and television specials that have popularized their views. Presented in ten parts – perfect for individual, family and classroom study – viewers will introduced to the One who is “able to save to the uttermost” through “the power of an indestructible life.” (Heb. 7:16, 25) He is the real Jesus.

Featured Scholars:
Dr. George Grant (King’s Meadow Study Center)
Dr. Ted Baehr (Christian Film and Television Commission)
Dr. Stephen Mansfield (Bestselling author and historian)
Dr. Raymond C. Ortlund (Author and Old Testament scholar)
Dr. Jay Grimstead (International Council on Biblical Inerrancy)
Dr. Phillip G. Kayser (Biblical Blueprints)
David Lutzweiler (Lamplighter Educational Service)
James P. Holding (Tektonics Ministries)

Product Details
Producers: John Rogers & Eric Holmberg
Written and Directed: John Rogers
Studio: The Apologetics Group
Format: Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English
Running Time: 139 minutes
DVD Extras: Red Pill Forum “Who Is Jesus” by Erik Hollander and Eric Holmberg
Region: Region Free

Right now get 20% Off retail price!

To Order or for more information go to The Apologetics Group (TAG)
official website:

The Real Jesus DVD

**********************
**********************

Amazing Grace – The History and Theology of Calvinism ReMastered

 

This is anything but a dry treatise on theology. Clever analogies, thoughtful commentary by some of today’s great reformed theologians and creative production will keep you engaged… and as always, Eric Holmberg’s gentle, sure voice of reason breaks through even the most dense fog of doubt or misunderstanding about the great gospel truths of the doctrines of Grace. Dr. George Grant, the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, Dr. Stephen Mansfield, Dr. R.C. Sproul, and others lend their voices to this colloquium…

This is undoubtedly a superb study tool that takes the deep doctrines of the great reformers and breaks them down so well that anyone with even a rudimentary Bible knowledge can understand it. I believe this should become a standard part of any church-goers library, whether you’re a leader or a layman. Another great production from The Apologetics Group – Way to go, Eric!

( Eric Holmberg is the founder and director of The Apologetics Group/ Reel to Real Ministries. He has been in ministry for nearly 30 years and lives with his wife and 5 children in Middle Tennessee.

First released in 2004, the newly Remastered version of Amazing Grace – The History and Theology of Calvinism can be had at a fantastic discounted price at the Official Apologetics Group website… The Apologetics Group

To see a clip of this video go here: Amazing Grace : Jesus Christ’s Limited Atonement?

Alarm Bells Should Be Going Off Now… A 2007-08 NEA Resolution and New California Law

This blog comment was posted on one of my many social networking sites I like to frequent… I felt it had significance for this forum in that many of my Christian friends are also homeschoolers. I will post what my friend Carla posted, and then my reply to it that I believe connects the NEA statement and another recent event regarding law…

The National Educational Association in their 2007-2008 Resolutions has taken a stand against homeschooling.

It reads “The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians. Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used.

The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools. The Association further believes that local public school systems should have the authority to determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting.”

Statistics have shown that homeschooled students do exceptionally well. They excel (and win) spelling bees, score high on tests like the SAT, and go on to be accepted into many colleges. One Source: http://www.chec.org/Legislative/News/HomeschoolingStatistics/Index.html

Homeschoolers also find benefits in co-op classes contrary to the NEA belief that students should only be instructed by their immediate families.

Take a moment to tell the NEA that homeschooling is a real option that does produce wonderfully rounded and educated members of society.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/homeschoolers-against-nea-philosophy?page=%2051

And my post:

Thanks for sharing this, Carla. I hope that people see the agenda in this statement, and understand the underlying motives for making such a statement. Namely, they are losing federal monies for each student pulled out of their godless system and that they want to have total control over all students in the U.S. in the same way that the socialist government schools have total control over students in Germany, where parents can be put in jail for trying to homeschool their children, especially for religious reasons.

If anyone noticed, California just passed a law prohibiting the use of the words “Dad” and “Mom” in the public school system… ON ALL LEVELS…. which means that these words will be extracted from all textbooks (Hmmm, do you think the textbook publishers will complain about that?)

Swartzy also signed into law that boys can now use the girls locker rooms and restrooms – and visa versa. Think about that. That includes the showers, folks.

Swartzenegger has been pushed to the public as if he is a conservative republican, when in reality he is not. He is a fiscal conservative in many ways, but otherwise he is a RINO. Passing this type of legislation off as law proves that.

The resolution from the NEA is geared to try and force Christians to be subject to all policies deemed appropriate by the state. If someone in a position of power takes this NEA resolution statement and runs with it, everyone could be in real trouble.

Unless there is a huge outcry by Christians about these issues, one day we will wake up and have to hand over our kids for the government to raise. (Of course that is a bit of an exaggeration, but not really.)

Go here to hear commentary on the California law that passed…

http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/radio-show-episode.php?EpisodeID=2592