Books published by Lighthouse Publishing

The Wish Sisters, an endearing fairy tale, brims with heartwarming exchanges between two sisters. Vibrant illustrations enrich the charming telling of wishes granted. Joan Schoettler APALA Award

Joey and Natalie's home is bursting with excitement as their family prepares for Christmas Eve. But, what is most exciting is a surprise visit from carolers with one special gift…a beautifully wrapped gift box. What's inside the box, represents the family's past, as well as the true meaning of the Christmas season.Come along and enjoy this Christmastime story that shares the good news of the season. It is sure to have a special place in your home & in your heart.

Running to escape the past, determined to stop a generational cycle of abuse, Kathy marries at eighteen, seeking to build the best possible life. Twenty-one years later, a change of direction, a new beginning has her returning to the thing she has tried to escape for years. Betrayed by lies and fake smiles, Kathy finds herself back in a dysfunctional family environment when she opens up her heart to a widowed, handicapped man and his motherless daughter. However, their honeymoon reveals Kathy’s new life would be one of domestic violence. Violence that would make the abuse of her childhood seem almost nominal.  Haunted by the fear of a once again failed marriage, burdened by her desire to help this man and his daughter, Kathy struggles to make things work. Huddled in the corner of a dark closet, alone, physically bruised and emotionally scarred far deeper than the visible evidence; Kathy is controlled not only an abusive husband, but also by his child who learned all the ropes of abuse and manipulation from her father. Under their cruel rule of authority, for five years Kathy lives in a dominating, dictatorship household. Remorse overwhelms, she questions her faith, where is God in all of this? “Who Will Hold the Ladder?” A final abuse drove a broken woman to wander for days trying to fill memory voids.  A relentless faith and a realization of wanting to live; Kathy walks away from the domestic violence. A walk that takes her down a path of newfound inner courage and strength. Once again she begins to climb up the ladder of her life with God steadying the ladder, His tender, soothing voice encouraging each of her fragile steps towards the top and freedom.

Solve for X? What a horrible task to assign to an English teacher! Yancey Phillips, murdered outside her 24th Century classroom, finds an impossible problem on her hands: How can one be DEAD but not dead?  Parties as yet unknown snatch Yancey before she reaches the oblivion she expects death to bring. She lands on an alien planet—Planet X, in fact. Quite a challenge for a dead woman! At least her “deadpan” sense of humor transports with her!  Launching her on a mind-boggling quest in this alternate reality, the aliens require Yancey to search for an unexpected x-factor. She must seek the unknown quantity she missed from her life’s equation as she lived it back on Earth.  Yancey’s journey to a mystery-city called Leapside exposes her to danger, an arch-enemy, aliens big and small, a lost love, and…eventually…to understanding.

Dr. Gary G. Cohen says, "Dr. Ralph Curtin's new book, Waking the Sleeping Church, should be read by every pastor and church leader in America! It may be compared to the warning horn that a pilot hears when the plane is descended dangerously too low. This book alerts Christians to awaken to what they know they are witnessing today, a general malaise throughout the land - typified by what we have seen so recently; top company executives taking care of themselves instead of their employees or customers! Curtin's book strengthens our Christian prophets to summon godly courage to speak up while there is still time against the moral decay that the world is attempting to push upon the church as normal and OK. Dr. Curtin identifies topics which people need to hear. His words are sober, yet sane, and like the letters from Christ in Revelation chapters two and three, they come with a remedy and hope."

Sam gave Willie a hard push, sending him sprawling. “All right, Andy, he’s all yours,” he encouraged. Andy slowly walked up to Willie, “You gonna fight me or not?” “Not,” he answered, picking himself up off the ground. Andy turned, “He’s not gonna fight.” “So?” Exclaimed Gabe, “Hit him!” Andy marched right up to Willie and balled up his fist, but Willie looked him in the eye. It wasn’t a challenge. He didn’t smile. He just waited.  Thirteen-year-old Hildi Barnum has faced a lot in the last six months. She saw her best friend shot, was held captive, twice, and then was wounded by the murderer, Emmit Romney, before being rescued. The ordeal robbed her of a normal summer vacation with her best friend, Willie Cooper.  Now, with a new school year beginning, comes the chance at a fresh start. But a new face has joined her eighth grade class, Andy Porter. His father has taken on the project of restoring the old Crenshaw mansion in Ridgeview. He brings tales of strange happenings at the old house, the sight of a grisly suicide fifty years ago. But what troubles Hildi is not the rumor of paranormal activity, but the reality that Andy and his brothers are bullies of the most dangerous sort. Moreover, she questions Willie’s response to being the target of their assaults when he refuses to fight back. Has her brave friend suddenly become a coward? Or is he up to something else that takes far more courage?

Imagine shaking your fist at God in anger, then having him show His eternal love to you. Christine, an embittered elderly woman, has just this experience. In this book, the reader can follow Christine as she has the chance to see what life might be like if Jesus came for the first time today. God gives her the opportunity to find out for herself whether or not Jesus is a myth. The reader can also, through Christine, experience the emotions the disciples must have felt when they saw firsthand the miracles Jesus performed. Will this experience change Christine's life? Read and find out.

Anna’s Family is a tale of adventure set in the late 1800’s. Part One, The Journey relates the exciting journey across the south, as Anna’s father, Dr. Joseph Warren gathers a diverse group of people who are melded into a wonderful Christian family. They are hindered in their journey by many obstacles including: a train wreck that leaves Anna’s nursemaid, Sheba, grievously injured, chiggers, a lost child and a mysterious wedding.  Part Two, The Abduction, begins with the family’s exciting discovery of many unique locations in Arkansas, but their lives are turned upside, when they arrive in Fort Smith during the preparations of one of the Land Runs into Oklahoma Territory. One of their wagons is stolen along with five-year-old Anna, her three-year-old cousin, Joshua, her toddler brother Jeremiah and Sheba. The children’s captivity and harrowing attempt to escape their kidnappers, along with the family’s valiant efforts to locate them, unites them in faith and god’s power.

The story begins with the opening of the Kansas-Nebraska Territory in 1864, and follows a family of pioneers who leave their comfortable farm and neighbors in Illinois to claim a piece of the new territory in what is now southeastern Kansas. The first person account of ten-year-old Arvilla tells of her experiences on the journey and the challenges of settling a new land. Her parents, her sixteen-year-old twin brothers, and baby sister Ann are the center of her world, with new friends and neighbors playing an ever-increasing role as she grows to be a young woman. The events of the time, racial and political controversy, and all the difficulties that the Kansas climate can produce work together to challenge the lives and faith of the family. Interactions with the local Native Americans are an important part of her story.

Is the earth really just 6,000 years old, as many conservative Christians believe? Or is it really 4,500,000,000 years old, as the vast majority of scientists believe? It is a big difference. Almost a million times different! The purpose of this book is to assist pastors and other church leaders who may lack appropriate scientific qualifications to deal with that important question. The book is short and uses a Question/Discussion format to help readers think for themselves. Its balanced approach which appreciates both Biblical and scientific knowledge helps the reader see that the Genesis account is not speaking about a recent creation at all.

Whatever noxious vapors, accordingly, exhaled from philosophy, obscure the clear and wholesome atmosphere of truth, it will be for Christians to clear away, both by shattering to pieces the arguments which are drawn from the principles of things-I mean those of the philosophers-and by opposing to them the maxims of heavenly wisdom-that is, such as are revealed by the Lord; in order that both the pitfalls wherewith philosophy captivates the heathen may be removed, and the means employed by heresy to shake the faith of Christians may be repressed. We have already decided one point in our controversy with Hermogenes, as we said at the beginning of this treatise, when we claimed the soul to be formed by the breathing of God, and not out of matter. We relied even there on the clear direction of the inspired statement which informs us how that "the Lord God breathed on man's face the breath of life, so that man became a living soul"-by that inspiration of God, of course. On this point, therefore, nothing further need be investigated or advanced by us. It has its own treatise, and its own heretic. I shall regard it as my introduction to the other branches of the subject. -Tertullian

Modesty, the flower of manners, the honor of our bodies, the grace of the sexes, the integrity of the blood, the guarantee of our race, the basis of sanctity, the pre-indication of every good disposition; rare though it is, and not easily perfected, and scarce ever retained in perpetuity, will yet up to a certain point linger in the world, if nature shall have laid the preliminary groundwork of it, discipline persuaded to it, censorial rigor curbed its excesses-on the hypothesis, that is, that every mental good quality is the result either of birth, or else of training, or else of external compulsion. But as the conquering power of things evil is on the increase-which is the characteristic of the last times-things good are now not allowed either to be born, so corrupted are the seminal principles; or to be trained, so deserted are studies; nor to be enforced, so disarmed are the laws. In fact, (the modesty) of which we are now beginning (to treat) is by this time grown so obsolete, that it is not the abjuration but the moderation of the appetites which modesty is believed to be; and he is held to be chaste enough who has not been too chaste. But let the world's modesty see to itself, together with the world itself: together with its inherent nature, if it was wont to originate in birth; its study, if in training; its servitude, if in compulsion: except that it had been even more unhappy if it had remained only to prove fruitless, in that it had not been in God's household that its activities had been exercised.

The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry. For, although each single fault retains its own proper feature, although it is destined to judgment under its own proper name also, yet it is marked off under the general account of idolatry. Set aside names, examine works, the idolater is likewise a murderer. Do you inquire whom he has slain? If it contributes ought to the aggravation of the indictment, no stranger nor personal enemy, but his own self. By what snares? Those of his error. By what weapon? The offense done to God. By how many blows? As many as are his idolatries. He who affirms that the idolater perishes not, will affirm that the idolater has not committed murder. Further, you may recognize in the same crime adultery and fornication; for he who serves false gods is doubtless an adulterer of truth, because all falsehood is adultery. So, too, he is sunk in fornication. For who that is a fellow-worker with unclean spirits, does not stalk in general pollution and fornication? And thus it is that the Holy Scriptures use the designation of fornication in their upbraiding of idolatry. The essence of fraud, I take it, is, that any should seize what is another's, or refuse to another his due; and, of course, fraud done toward man is a name of greatest crime. Well, but idolatry does fraud to God, by refusing to Him, and conferring on others, His honors; so that to fraud it also conjoins contumely. But if fraud, just as much as fornication and adultery, entails death, then, in these cases, equally with the former, idolatry stands unacquitted of the impeachment of murder. - Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (Tertullian)

Earthquakes are occurring in diverse places, famine is surfacing in new world regions, nations rage against nations and lawlessness abounds worldwide. As the planet hastens toward the end of this age, on the horizon is the establishment of a new kingdom where the solution to the human problem of its inability to govern itself, will be instituted. The new kingdom, the fifth and final kingdom will come, but what happens in the period prior.   Between the covers of Kingdom Planet read about the extraordinary events that surface within the functions of a major worldwide chemical corporation. The diabolical plot of the firm that is actually run by Satan’s soldiers, will astound and challenge your thinking regarding workplace realities. How the plot impacts the coming new kingdom and the discovery by one man about his own faith shortfalls will draw you into the adventures as the resolution of the enigma “P.T.D.T.Y.” plays out.

Young J.R. has become highly skilled at one of the world’s oldest trades - printing - but what he desires to print is far from Gutenberg’s Bible. With the help of a smart and lovely accomplice, J. R. creates outstanding duplicates of the US twenty dollar bill and it is real touch-and-feel money, not just digits on a computer screen. Much superior to what a digital copier can do, his high-tech printing press duplicates can pass all the conventional checks done at any cash register. His small-time operation is foolproof and exciting as they exchange his money for genuine currency. The pair go unnoticed as they carefully pass it together one bill at a time with no violence and no harm done to anyone on their cross country romantic spending sprees. While they quickly accumulate bundles of genuine currency, J.R. battles his conscience and his ego until it reaches a momentous breaking point…  In Dog We Trust – The Big Collapse chronicles the tripping dominoes that start with a loss of confidence in the foundation of the American economy -faith in cold hard cash - and ends up with a third-world type of survival of the fittest; a survival existence that uses gasoline, guns and gold for currency.  What emerges is a sobering snapshot of a hi-tech society that is violently thrust backwards to confront its downward spiral all the way from the leaders at the top to the small-town folks struggling to keep a lid on their American Dream.

Many Bible study guides lead you to an initial emotional response to a text, but don't really get at the deeper details of the Bible. Academic studies ask the difficult intellectual questions, but too often fail to ask how these texts relate to your life. This study combines both ways of looking at the Bible. As a professor and pastor, Wes Bergen is able to look at the stories of Jesus' death spiritually and intellectually. Each chapter begins by connecting you to the gospels in a personal way. It then goes on to ask the kinds of questions that stimulate the mind to explore new ideas. The chapters conclude by bringing the two kinds of study together, as the best kind of study always does.

In Mathew 28:19-20 Jesus commands us to go and teach all nations "to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." One definition of "observe" (Webster) is to "conform one's actions to or to comply with". One might interpret that to mean that we are to go out and teach people to "do whatever it is that He commands" or, in effect, to "follow His will" And surely if God intends for you do something for Him He will equip you with the talents necessary to accomplish it. And so it would seem that the first clue to a life full of meaning and purpose, to a life of joy and accomplishment, would lie in the special talents that He gave you. After that, His direction should be recognizable by the things that bring you happiness -- if you are following His will He will fill you with that joy and satisfaction. At least the first half of my life seems to have followed that path rather clearly. Very early I began to recognize certain special talents and capabilities, then He urged me along the way and strongly supported me when I was truly doing what it was He wanted me to do. And for me that early objective seemed to be, as a "rocket scientist", to save the life of Neal Armstrong on the moon. The overall (wonderful) personal result -- a life full of meaning and purpose, of joy and accomplishment beyond my wildest dreams.

"I know there's something bigger." Gabriel, the silver angelfish, is certain that there is more to life than the lush, watery world he shares with his friends. Although they doubt and challenge him, Gabriel maintains his belief. This heartfelt story captures the innocence and wonder of faith.

Socrates, Einstein, and Jesus of Nazareth all tell us something about ourselves and our world. We all find ourselves in the mysterious process of living a human life. Does it have meaning or is it just a bit of empty cosmic drama? Can we merely say on our deathbeds, “Now that was interesting; I wonder what it was all about?” Perhaps a profound adventure and a deep purpose and direction can be found in it. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Albert Einstein said that believing our world happened by chance is like saying an unabridged dictionary could result from an explosion in a print shop. Jesus of Nazareth said that this life is merely a preparation stage for another life based on how we live this one.  Enough mystery surrounds life for us to take seriously the question, “Why are we?” Challenged by the wonder of our very own existence, we seem to be only being polite to Whoever we came from to spend a little time trying to answer the question. Socrates would applaud us. Einstein would say, “Good question, but not in my field.” Jesus of Nazareth said, “I come that you might have life, and have it in abundance.” This little book tries to find the meaning of abundant life.

An avalanche slammed Alyce Gross into a new reality on December 14, 2008, when it killed her daughter. In this nonfiction work, Alyce climbs from the lowest pit to an eleven thousand foot tombstone. Two parts show the dark depths of Sheol compared to the brilliant light shared by her agape filled daughter.   Her hope is to inspire the reader to stay in communion with God while facing death and grief. She explains what gave and continues to give her comfort, and she boldly shares her struggle with prayer, faith, and doubt.   The second and longest volume is about the deceased daughter, Heather, as told through letters, emails, and Facebook comments from friends showing her unusual capacity for love. A good portion is written by Heather in a small amount of childhood poetry and pros as well as her many entertaining travel emails as an adventurous young adult. A dark side is also shared through some of Heather’s journal entries. Her death, at age twenty-seven was extraordinary and is covered by news articles and reports. Although her challenging life was short, her mother’s hope is that Heather’s example will last long, spread far and wide, and continue to motivate others to live life abundantly as God intended.

Dystopian novels typically depict a nightmarish society in a science fictional, futuristic setting. Prole Nation depicts a nightmare world but not one in the distant future or one requiring great stretches of the imagination. RC Murray's novel depicts today's world from a Christian perspective. Prole Nation takes place just prior to the 2020 elections. It's a time of natural and man-made disasters on a biblical scale. It's a time when economic collapse has created a desperate people whose lives are controlled by its socialist government. It's a time when Big Brother is attempting to crush all remaining opposition through repressive legislation like the Patriot Act, NCIS Improvement Act (a.k.a., Veterans Disarmament Act) and Hate Crimes Protection Act. "Tea partiers will love this book. A skillful combination of fact and fiction, this is a real page-turner. The setting is America a year down the road - an America beset by natural disasters and a vicious police state. The hero is a deputy sheriff who spends most of his time and effort defending citizens from federal agents. He is also a Christian, which makes him an enemy of the New World Order. Altogether an exciting and entertaining read (especially when the feds get theirs)." L.J. House, Washington "Prole Nation is a man's book. Even better, it's a Christian man's book. Every Christian man who is not content to sit on a padded pew and be entertained each Sunday should read Prole Nation….Women [however] should understand this book has some accurate descriptions of what happens when a bullet hits a human. Those scenes are important and infrequent. Tender-hearted readers will cry during the sad parts much more than shutter at the few incidents of violence. Prole Nation leaves Left Behind behind. No one knows exactly how end times events will transpire, but Murray provides a believable description of what everyone living in the next few years will experience…It will be difficult to read this book and not be moved to protect America's children as biblical predictions of world events occur right before our eyes." Karl Priest, West Virginia RC Murray is a disabled vet, former paratrooper and English teacher. He is the author of Golden Knights: History of the U.S. Army Parachute Team and Legally STUPiD: Why Johnny doesn't have to read.

The Apology (Latin: Apologeticum or Apologeticus) is Tertullian's most famous work, consisting of apologetic and polemic; In this book Tertullian defends the Christian Church, demanding legal toleration and that Christians be treated as all other sects or religions of the Roman Empire. It is in this treatise that one finds the phrase: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church".

The treatise of Origen Against Celsus is, of all his works, the most interesting to the modern reader. It is a defense of Christianity in opposition to a Greek philosopher named Celsus, who had attacked it in a work entitled, The True Word, or The True Discourse. Of this work we know nothing, except from the quotations contained in the Origen Against Celsus answer given to it by Origen. Nor has anything very certain been ascertained respecting its author. According to Origen, he was a follower of Epicures, but others have regarded him as a Platonist. If we may judge of the work by those specimens of it presented in the reply of Origen, it was little better than a compound of sophistry and slander. But there is reason to be grateful for it, as having called forth the admirable answer of Origen. This work was written in the old age of our author, and is composed with great care; while it abounds with proofs of the widest erudition. It is also perfectly orthodox; and, as Bishop Bull has remarked, it is only fair that we should judge from a work written with the view of being considered by the world at large, and with the most elaborate care, as to the mature and finally accepted views of the author.  His great apologetical work was the treatise undertaken at the special request of his friend Ambrosius, in answer to the attack of the heathen philosopher Celsus on the Christian religion, in a work which he entitled A True Discourse. Origen states that he had heard that there were two individuals of this name, both of them Epicureans, the earlier of the two having lived in the time of Nero, and the other in the time of Adrian, or later. Redepenning is of opinion that Celsus must have composed his work in the time of Marcus Aurelius (161–180 a.d.), on account of his supposed mention of the Marcionites (whose leader did not make his appearance at Rome before 142 a.d.), and of the Marcellians (followers of the Carpocratian Marcellina), a sect which was founded after the year 155 a.d. under Bishop Anicetus. Origen believed his opponent to be an Epicurean, but to have adopted other doctrines than those of Epicurus, because he thought that by so doing he could assail Christianity to greater advantage. The work which Origen composed in answer to the so-styled True Discourse consists of eight books, and belongs to the latest years of his life. It has always been regarded as the great apologetic work of antiquity; and no one can peruse it without being struck by the multifarious reading, wonderful acuteness, and rare subtlety of mind which it displays. But the rule which Origen prescribed to himself, of not allowing a single objection of his opponent to remain unanswered, leads him into a minuteness of detail, and into numerous repetitions, which fatigue the reader, and detract from the interest and unity of the work. He himself confesses that he began it on one plan, and carried it out on another. No doubt, had he lived to re-write and condense it, it would have been more worthy of his reputation. But with all its defects, it is a great work, and well deserves the notice of the students of Apologetics. The table of contents subjoined to the translation will convey a better idea of its nature than any description which our limits would permit us to give.