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Facing the Challenges of 2015

Children, Family, From the Couch, God, The Christian Life February 3, 2015 7 Comments

2015 promises to be a year to remember. This year our oldest is getting married and graduating from college and our youngest is graduating from High School. In case you are wondering, we only have two. :) I have oftentimes affectionately referred to them as “my bookends”. I came up with this years ago because of the way they used to flank me on the couch when we were saying goodbye to their papa whenever he left to photograph a wedding. We have a couch right in front of a picture window that overlooks our driveway. As my husband was heading out, we would all kneel on the couch, with me in the middle, and watch as he got in his van and drove away. We would wave, tell him we loved him in sign language, and then pray for his safe return. I cherish those memories and hold tightly to them as this new year starts. […]

Expressing Thankfulness & The End Time Blog

Apologetics, Chapter Three, From the Couch, The Christian Life June 6, 2018 7 Comments

In the past six and a half years that I have been mostly housebound and ministering online, I have “met” a lot of people. They have been from different cultural backgrounds and have held a variety of beliefs. Whether it was Muslims in Egypt, a humanist in the Netherlands, or a sister in Christ from the Midwest, the Internet has been great for connecting me with people from all over the world. Some individuals that I have met stand out quite clearly in my mind. They made a lasting impression. I know that will be true about a woman I met recently. Her name is Elizabeth Prata. She is the author of The End Time blog. […]

Bible Reading Plans for 2015

Bible, God, Studying the Scriptures, The Christian Life December 27, 2019 4 Comments

The new year will be here soon! It’s not too late to start thinking about whether or not you would like to start a Bible reading plan in 2015. I enjoy plans. They help me to be more regular with my reading.

Not all reading plans are the same. Though many are geared towards reading through the whole Bible in a year, there are more options available. There are some that will extend the reading out for two or three years or shorten it considerably. I once went through the Bible in six months. To be honest, it wasn’t planned. I was pregnant and suffering with “morning” sickness so badly that all I could do was read! Some plans focus on just parts of the Bible like the gospels, the Old or New Testament, or bring you through the same books more than once. Plans can also go through the books in the order they appear in the Bible or go through the Bible in the order that things took place chronologically in history. I prefer the latter. […]

Beth Moore 2014 Simulcast Review Part Three: Personal Revelation

Apologetics January 9, 2017 7 Comments

The following is a continuation of my review of Beth Moore’s September 13, 2014 Living Proof Live Simulcast streamed from Fort Wayne, Indiana. You may read Part One here and Part Two here. I recommend reading them in order. Part Three takes a look at the topic of personal revelation. It is the final post in this series. It will review some revelations that were shared during the simulcast as well as references to receiving “a word” from God. It is not surprising that these things would come up during the simulcast. Beth Moore has repeatedly claimed to receive personal revelations over the years. This has been addressed and documented by various people and ministries. Here are a few examples. […]

Beth Moore 2014 Simulcast Review Part Two: Bible Interpretation Issues

Apologetics October 27, 2015 4 Comments

This is Part Two of my review of Beth Moore’s September 13, 2014 Living Proof Life Simulcast streamed from Fort Wayne, Indiana. You may read Part One here. I recommend reading them in order. This part of my review takes a look at Beth Moore’s problematic practices of Bible interpretation. The kinds of problems that exist are the practices of eisegesis, proof texting, and the allegorizing of the scriptures. I became aware of these problems when I first grew more familiar with her and her ministry back in August. If you have been following my posts about this you might remember that I decided to learn more about her because our local church was going to be hosting a Living Proof Life Simulcast. Since I had only heard her name and was unfamiliar with her material, I decided it might be a good idea to check things out. I did some research which lead me to articles that listed a number of problems including those in the Bible interpretation category. […]

Beth Moore 2014 Simulcast Review Part One: General Observations

Apologetics September 15, 2016 14 Comments

Back in August, I wrote a post called A First Look at Beth Moore. It was the result of my first exploration into the ministry and teachings of Mrs. Moore, an exploration that turned up a number of problems. Please see that post for why I began looking into her ministry and what I discovered. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to become more acquainted with Mrs. Moore. I did more reading online and revisited her website. While there I discovered that it was possible to sign up and watch her Living Proof Live simulcast from the comfort of my own home. I was interested in the simulcast because I knew it was scheduled to be aired at our local church in a couple of weeks, and it seemed like a good way to follow-up and examine her ministry more. Since I would not be able to see it at church because of my health situation, being able to stream the simulcast on my laptop was very convenient. […]

Ministry Update: One Year Anniversary

Chapter Three April 19, 2020 1 Comment

Today marks one year since I started working on a website for Chapter 3 Ministries. The time has flown by! I praise God that he has allowed me to do this work and that things are going well. Since my last update in July, I moved my site from WordPress.com to a self-hosted site, this one! The move gave me more control over design and a lot more features. Making this new site was fun. I really enjoy the website layout and design work for this ministry. Code is cool. The code files are just letters, number, and symbols; but when you go live with them, they shape the look and layout of the page. If you know what line(s) of code to change or what custom code to add, you can affect the changes you want. The first time I saw how it worked, I was amazed and hooked! […]

Baring Our Souls at Church

From the Couch, God November 21, 2017 10 Comments

A special thing happened at church this past Sunday. My husband and I had the chance to testify to the goodness of God in the midst of suffering. We shared about our life situation regarding my chronic health problems and how God has sustained us through it all. It was a real blessing to be able to attend church again and to testify. We are so thankful that we had this opportunity.

This came about because my husband Butch sent an e-mail to the pastor. The pastor is currently preaching a series on suffering called “Hope in the Midst of Suffering: The Gospel According to Job”. Without me knowing about it, Butch wrote to him to share our story with him and to thank him for the series. […]

Knowing the Real Thing from the Fake

Apologetics, Bible, Studying the Scriptures, The Christian Life September 29, 2015 Leave a Comment

Counterfeiting is alive and well in America and across the world. The International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), an organization dedicated to fighting counterfeiting and safeguarding intellectual property, reports that the Department of Homeland Security confiscated counterfeit goods worth more than $1.7 billion at our borders in Fiscal Year 2013. The coalition also reports that counterfeiting is a major problem worldwide.¹ When I think of counterfeiting, I immediately think of money; but all sorts of goods are also counterfeited including car parts, handbags, watches, and jewelry. I wonder if 3D printing technology will open up a whole new world for counterfeiters. If so, the government and the IACC are going to be quite busy.

Being aware that there are fakes out there can go a long way in protecting us from being taken. This is true not only for consumer products but also for matters of faith. We need to look out for counterfeit Christianity. […]

Crash Course in the Bible

Bible, History, Studying the Scriptures March 8, 2019 6 Comments

With 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and 31,102 verses¹, the Bible is a considerable read. I have seen word counts of approximately 780,000.² War and Peace “only” has 561, 304 words!³ Have you read The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy? Combined they are only 576,459 words.³ The Bible exceeds this by over 200,000 words! The Bible is a thick book, but it is wonderful. It contains words of eternal life and the greatest story ever told.

Since the Bible is so big, it is helpful to have resources that summarize things for us. […]

Powerful Help in Times of Suffering

From the Couch, God, Jesus, The Christian Life June 24, 2019 6 Comments

Suffering is universal. It is experienced by all who live and breathe upon our planet Earth. It cannot be avoided or paid off or scammed. It comes and for some it comes often and brutally. There are many ways to suffer be it emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually. I would not dare to choose which is the easiest to deal with, because suffering is very personal. Some of us can handle physical pain better than emotional or vice versa. In my mind, neither the type nor the amount of suffering can be truly weighed by anyone but the person experiencing it. When people apologize for telling me about their troubles in light of my own suffering, I always tell them there’s no need to apologize. Their troubles are troubles to them. They experience whatever sorrow or pain they do in their own being. If they think it’s bad, then I want to be there for them. I don’t minimize any suffering in light of another.

What I do try to do is share what has helped me through my trials with suffering due to chronic pain. […]

Our Last “Back to School”

Children, Family, From the Couch September 7, 2014 4 Comments

This past week students everywhere went back to school. New milestones were reached as some started their first day of kindergarten while others started high school. Our family reached our own milestone this past week. We have begun our final year of homeschooling! We started eighteen years ago with our daughter and now we are finishing with our son. He has begun his senior year.

It is not easy to describe what homeschooling has meant to me all these years. I believe it is one of the best decisions my husband and I have ever made. It was right for our family and has brought many blessings. […]

A First Look at Beth Moore

Apologetics September 11, 2018 6 Comments

Beth Moore is a name that many women are familiar with. She is the founder of Living Proof Ministries and the author of many books and Bible studies. Her name is familiar to me as well. I have heard her name off and on through the years, though I have not taken any of her studies. I do know women who have used her material. Some of those women participated in studies offered through the Women’s Ministry at our church. I never pursued her studies there because they didn’t appear to be the kind of studies that I prefer. Recently, I became a lot more interested in Mrs. Moore. This is because I learned that on September 13 our local church is going to be hosting a live Beth Moore simulcast. […]

Obstacle to Submission: Perceived Intelligence Gap

Headship, Marriage, Submission April 12, 2018 Leave a Comment

In my post God-Fashioned Living I mentioned that there are obstacles that can interfere with submission. Some come from the world around us and some come from within us. Not every wife will experience the same obstacles, but I think it’s safe to say that we all face them. Even when our heart fully desires to follow the Lord’s will, we can still face challenges that hinder our submission. Thankfully with the Lord’s grace and help we can grow in those areas.

This week I’d like to take a look at one obstacle that some wives experience: A Perceived Intelligence Gap. […]

New Site for Chapter 3 Ministries

Chapter Three August 5, 2014 Leave a Comment

Welcome to the new home of Chapter 3 Ministries! I recently made the move from Chapter 3 Ministries on WordPress.com to chapter3min.org. I am excited about the opportunities this brings. I invite you to take a look around.

My next few posts will be posted here and on my old website. I am doing this to provide readers a few opportunities to connect with me here. After that, I will no longer be posting there and will set up a redirect. […}