My Testimony at Living Stones

My interview with Living Stones News has arrived,where I share my story about my writing,my faith,and my long walk away from God. I spent a good many years pretending at being a follower of Jesus Christ,fully convinced that a hollow proffession of faith was the only entrance fee required. I had no interest in God,Christ,the Bible or other believers. Everything that Scripture said would become a new love for me in this new life did not; I bore no spiritual fruit.

My writing and my lifestyle were dark,and the worst of it are thing kept between my God and myself;things that He suffered me to endure and learn from. My writing is part of my witness,and I pray to God that my daily life is the better part of that witness,so it can be said of me that no one thinks me to be more than he sees or hears from me. I only hope that what believers and unbelievers alike see in me is a life saved by the Son of God.

To Christ my Lord I give the glory,who bore with me these many years and gave me a wonderful gift that I used to advance doctrines of demons. If you want to read more about my testimony and back story,follow the link to Living Stones News. I am grateful for their willingness to publish my testimony,and I pray that others (parents) find this information useful. Contact me via email if anyone has further questions regarding the subject matter.

Read the Article at Living Stones

Identity Theft

Imagine if you would if I were in a conversation with you and made mention of someone’s name that you likewise know. Further, let’s say that the someone’s name we both mention is not actually the same person at all—different personality, abilities, perhaps even gender—but we go on for a time until we realize that you and I are not speaking about the same person. This is a common dilemma in many conversations with persons of various religious views. We use the same terminology but do not mean the same person. The names God, Spirit or Jesus are empty so to speak until we fill them with content. The content of the name defines who that person is and who they are not…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

A Basis for Faith and Morality, Part 4 of 4

Love, and other abstract qualities find their meaning (both by definition and implementation) in the Biblical account. By contrast, Evolutionary thinking so permeates someone’s mind to the point where they give no regard to the powerful and devastating implications it carries. Abortion is certainly in line with Evolutionary thought, though many atheists/Evolutionists find abortion repugnant.

A Basis for Faith and Morality, Part 3 of 4

When something dead touched anything in the Old Testament law, that which was touched was always made unclean and unfit for anything useful or good. The corruption of evil in us taints every good deed we would perform, even religious deeds, making them incapable of being received by God, Isaiah 64:6. Only when we receive life and are cleansed by the blood of Christ for remission of sins may we offer to God service that God considers acceptable, Titus 1:15-16.

A Basis for Faith and Morality, Part 2 of 4

Scenario 2a: illogical faith
I will set down first the example of blind religious faith for a start, to compare and contrast against historic Christianity. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, as founded by Charles Taze Russell, is a good example of blind faith. In the late 1800’s Charles Russell became disillusioned regarding the cardinal doctrines of Christianity: the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ, the person and deity of the Holy Spirit, the atonement of Jesus Christ, the reality of an eternal Hell, and the immortality of the soul just to name a few. At odds with what the Christian church espoused and taught, he began a systematic opposition of Christianity that taught God was strictly monotheistic, Jesus was Michael the archangel, the Holy Spirit was an energy source, Christ’s atonement was only for the obedient or righteous, sinners were annihilated, not sentenced to Hell, and when the body died the soul was annihilated.

A Basis for Faith and Morality, Part 1 of 4

“Faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love,” 1st Corinthians 13:12.

The reason for quoting both the verse above, and using the title I have chosen is to demonstrate the moral, abstract qualities of these very real, very human emotions. Also, I hope to put forward the reality that such concepts cannot properly function, much less exist, in a world divorced of a transcendental power; i.e. God. For the reader’s interest, I will consider the usage of transcendental in this context to specifically identify with “giving value or authority to words that transcends human opinion.”

Are You Free?

What is freedom?

Oxford defines freedom as:
1. The power or right to act, speak or think freely.
2. The state of being free.
3. The state of not being affected by something undesirable.
4. A special privilege or right of access.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 5 of 5

3:18-19 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

The Lord has reached a point in His sermon to Nicodemus in which He reveals the reason why men would reject Him and the salvation He offers. As Jesus Himself put it: “this is the condemnation.” What might that be? That light (God’s truth, Jesus Christ come in the flesh; John 1:9) has come into the world. But men loved religious invention rather than God’s truth; men loved Satan’s lie over Christ because Satan’s lie promised self-improvement. God’s truth brings first and foremost conviction and condemnation. We are in darkness because we have received and hold as truth that man is a good creature with character flaws; instead of a sinful creature that dimly reflects the image in which he was originally cast. God needs to bring a man to his knees before He can elevate him to any useful position in the kingdom. Christ came presenting the gospel of salvation, but men were more interested in perfecting their own views on God to be interested in what God said about Himself. God’s light reveals sore truth in every life that it shines upon.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 4 of 5

3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

For God so loved the world. There is the unfortunate penchant in Scripture to sometimes read into God’s word what we want it to say. Everyone who ever approached Scripture to understand it more clearly is guilty of this; some are far guiltier than others. I think that is in part why Paul wrote that the mature should strive to be of the same mind; both among themselves and with Christ. Anyone who lacked this maturity and thought otherwise would receive clarity from the Lord, Philippians 3:15.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 3 of 5

3:9-10 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Nicodemus asked an honest question that might have been simply the first thing that happened to escape his lips. Remember that this man was a Rabbi (teacher), Pharisee and elder. He was an Old Testament scholar of sorts. But Jesus was showing that behind the Old Testament physical realities there was a spiritual truth lurking that the message was intended to convey. The juxtaposition of physical birth (born of water) and spiritual birth (born of wind), coupled with the unseen activity of said wind left him speechless and fumbling for words. Perhaps Nicodemus was prepared to talk about Sabbath keeping or dietary laws or washings. Jesus cut right to the heart of the matter and began to extrapolate with a series of comparisons that left the Rabbi filled with questions.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 2 of 5

3:5-6 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
My original understanding of verse five was that “water and the Spirit” meant hearing the gospel followed by regeneration as the Holy Spirit came to dwell within a believer through faith. This is in fact how a man is saved. See Romans 10:9-10; 17; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5. But there is another possibility that this verse suggests that I have been duly considering of late. Nicodemus was clearly stuck in a physical mentality. Jesus said he had to be born again and the Rabbi thinks of coming out of the womb a second time.

God Made Me This Way!

This is a famous statement nowadays, and it can be used one of two ways.

#1: God made me in the condition that I am. I am naturally a (fill in the blank); this is the way God chose to make me, you make me ashamed of who I am; you should accept me as such.

#2: I am already a child of God. We are all part of a universal brotherhood of man, and we function under the universal fatherhood of God. I do not need Christianity, because Christianity suggests that I am not already one of God's children, which I am.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 1 of 5

Sitting under some convicting preaching about the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, the teacher (a gentleman named Bill) touched on a few verses in John chapter 3 that set me to serious thinking. This series of posts is the result of meditating on John 3, and I pray that the results are mutually beneficial. I expounded verses 1-21, which contains the whole of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This section is an amazing passage in which the gospel is clearly, plainly, and vividly given to Nicodemus. Let us see what else there is to see, God willing.

The Bond of Peace, Part 1 of 2

Mark 9:38-40 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.


I have addressed this issue in my series of Posts entitled “Simply Christian,” but I felt it worthy of further discussion and consideration. I felt it appropriate to examine this passage of Scripture in light of denominational boundaries, since this was one of the very first examples of “denominational” differences between followers of Jesus Christ.

Unless They are Agreed (Amos 3:3)

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? This is the question God poses to Amos; it is a rhetorical question that God expected Amos to have a ready answer for. The essence of the question is the spirit of a believer's fellowship with the Lord. Can two walk together--can we be yoke fellows with Christ--unless we are agreed with Him? Now, I am not asking, can you truly be saved? If you heard and believed the gospel of salvation you are saved forever; there are literally hundreds of verses throughout the New Testament that testify of this simple, blessed and God-given truth.

Conflicts in Genesis

Evolution is just one of many ways of trying to explain our existence without a Creator (Charles Darwin simply updated a very old belief with some scientific-sounding words). Mankind has been trying to explain life-without-a-creator for thousands of years and none of this caught God by surprise. Since God created our minds He knows how we think; and how we will think when we separate ourselves from Him. God wants us to believe He is our Creator but will not force us. Romans 1:20 tells us that God provided the physical creation so that we could “clearly see” His invisible attributes by looking at what He made.

Interview & Book Giveaway on Faith, Fiction, Friends

Greetings everyone! If you are interested in learning more about Dragonsong and a little more about me and my inspiration, click here to visit Glynn Young's blog: Faith, Fiction, Friends. Glynn contacted me and wanted to conduct an interview, which will be in two parts. The first part of the interview is posted today, and part two will follow tomorrow as he asks me a series of questions about the characters and realm of Andurun, and about the events and choices that led to writing this fantasy novel.

Oh yes; Glynn is also conducting a book giveaway. Anyone who registers a comment on the interview (either part) os registered for a chance to win a free copy of Dragonsong! Glynn will announce the winner on April 4th, so check in, read and enjoy, and don't forget to comment on it for your chance to win Dragonsong. God bless!

Andurun Explored: A Book Review of Dragonsong.

Greetings friends.

I had recently sent Dragonsong to a book reviewer and magazine editor, Glynn Young, for his perusal and professional opinion. His initial review and impression of Dragonsong has arrived, and here is what Glynn had to say:

"I’ve been reading a new fantasy novel called The Canticles of Andurun: Dragonsong by Ian Thomas Curtis. I’m about halfway through it, and I’m completely enthralled with the world Curtis has created. The sheer imagination involved boggles the mind. A big story like this also requires a very tight control of the fictional world that’s been created, or otherwise the story will get away from the author and the reader. Curtis has pulled it off; it’s an amazing novel. The author blogs at What’s in a Name."

If you want to visit Glynn for the rest of his article, as well as other book reviews and more, you can find him at Faith, Fiction, Friends; his blog dedicated to literary work. I'm glad to know that Dragonsong is being read and enjoyed. As any more book reviews arrive I'll keep you posted!

Update: if you wish to read the full review Glynn gave Dragonsong click here. God bless!

Lessons from a Chair

Let us, for the sake of demonstration, look at a common chair. Say you wanted to sit down in your living room. You approach the nearest chair, place your faith in that object, and seat yourself. If it holds you upright, your faith has been well placed; the chair is a worthy object of said faith. If it begins to wobble you realize that you may have to switch seats: that chair is not providing the assurance that it can perform the function it is accredited with. If it falls straightway out from beneath you, and you find yourself sitting on the floor, then the chair was indeed a poor object to trust that it might hold you up.

To Judge or not to Judge, Part 2 of 2

Yet this passage in Matthew was not given to teachers (those the Holy Spirit gave the gift of teaching to) specifically; it is addressed to all Christians who attempt to reprove or admonish. If you do not “practice what you preach” as the saying goes, you have disqualified yourself from ministering in this regard to another believer. You, in fact, need the gentle ministry of one who is spiritual, Galatians 6:1! This verse is extremely informative, so it would be helpful in the context of “judging” to quote Paul: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Note that Paul addresses this counsel to believers alone (brethren) and instructs spiritual believers (those in fellowship with the Holy Spirit) to restore the straying Christian to a right relationship with his God; taking care that his sins do not tempt you to do likewise.