Now available in PDF format, and as a "standalone" ebook file, this book takes a scripturally-based look at the steps a local church can take to prevent the fate that befalls so many churches now: closing books. From prayer to Bible study, from visitation to Sunday School, and more, every suggestion outlined is solidly anchored in the truths of the Word of God.
This is a series of three Christian novels set in the Great Tribulation Period. All of them were written by Gary W Cavendish:
The Seventh Trumpet tells the story of a Black evangelist, George Alfred, amidst the chaos and horrendous evil of the Tribulation Period. The book takes the minority position that the rapture of the church takes place at the end of the Tribulation, rather than at the beginning. It has no theological intent; it's simply a story of trial, death, and deliverance from the viewpoint of a guardian angel. From the mountains of eastern Kentucky to southern West Virginia, the theme of spiritual warfare is played out, a theme already all too familiar in our own time.
George is rescued by his guardian from his home, where he mourned over the body of his dead wife, just before it is set on fire. Taken in by his pastor, he recovers his strength and sense of purpose in a little Christian enclave, which escapes the disasters of earthquakes, fire, and hail that decimate the surrounding area. He is then commissioned as a missionary, to bring lost souls to Christ before the End. God directs his path toward the north, away from the main roads toward West Virginia. Along the way, he rescues a little girl from a giant man possessed by demons, with a taste for human flesh. The girl's grandmother dies defending her, but George undertakes to take her back to her family, only to see the beast kill her in sight of her home. He finds a town controlled by another demon-directed man and his cronies, the father of Green Halcomb, the beast-man he encountered in the forest. During a confrontation between George and the man, he and the others present see an angel of God literally strike the blasphemer down with a flaming sword. A great revival takes place in the town, but George has to flee when local authorities come to arrest him. Wherever he goes, Green is right behind him, the giant at one point surviving a fall that would have killed an ordinary man. George eventually ends up in the town of Beckley, West Virginia, where he encounters a small group of believers and an old man named Henry Camp. In the months following, George endures arrest, a severe beating, capture by outlaws, a near-death experience from stoning, and execution in a public spectacle. Along the way, he brings many to Christ, including his arch-nemesis, Green Halcomb, and makes friends with the remnants of the once-numerous Camp family.
A Prophet's Tale recounts the life story of Hank Crandall, an orphan raised by a kind woman he thought of as his mother in every way. Hank begins a Christian school during the years prior to the Tribulation, when Christians are already objects of ridicule, persecution, and contempt, as they are even now. Over a period of years, a Christian community grows up around the school, and the valley it stands in becomes a sanctuary. At one point in his career, Hank is arrested on trumped-up charges of child molestation, then turned over to a Satanic cult which tries, with some success, to brainwash him. He is rescued by some of his old friends from Misty Valley, the place where he was raised and where he raised up the school. Afraid he would be arrested again, he and Emily went to stay with the Camp family, friends of one of his students. At the last, a convoy containing almost all of his friends from the valley is ambushed with roadside bombs. The only woman who had not gone with them, save him and Emily, told them what had happened when she went to check, then drove her car off a cliff. Facing despair to the point of considering suicide, Hank is rescued, first by a visit from his old friends among the Camp family, at great risk to themselves; then by an appearance of the spirit of his beloved Mae Mae, his foster mother. With a new sense of purpose, he keeps the empty homes and buildings in the valley in shape, and does his best to keep it from being overrun. When a small band of Christians seeking refuge arrive at last, he and Emily both die at same moment, in the arms of Jesus.
Henry Gets Life takes a closer look at George Alfred's friend, Henry Camp, and his large clan in West Virginia. Henry gets into very big trouble at an early age, and leaves his family behind for what he thinks will be a better life in the nearby city of Beckley. He marries an abusive woman, whom he endures for over twenty years until she dies a natural death. They have one daughter, Lisa, who becomes a fortune teller and medium. She is delivered by George Alfred, who also leads Henry to Christ. Ultimately, they return to Henry's family, who took refuge in caves only to be taken prisoner by a band of three outlaws. The little group ultimately kills their captors. George, in his turn, is captured by a much larger band of outlaws, after he draws away a party of police on the verge of discovering the caves. After George regains his freedom and bids the Camps good-bye, the Camps decide to return once more to their home place. Henry begins a new life there with the remaining members of his family, marrying a woman who had taken refuge in a nearby church. He joins in a rescue mission for his sister Miriam's sweetheart from the jail in Beckley, and they are joined later by the son of an outlaw chieftain, who was healed and brought to Christ by George Alfred. The whole group is martyred at the end by a group of World Security Police led by Henry's childhood friend.
The Prisoner of the Lord is a Christian fantasy tale from the beginnings of the Church. Lysia is the daughter of a slave, given to acts of mischief that lead to her disgrace in the eyes of her master, who had treated her like his daughter. Escaping the manor when she learns she is to be sold in the slave market, Lysia is later adopted by a family of Christians in her city of Tirzah. Her foster sister, Talitha, helps lead her to the Lord, but Christians are persecuted in a city that worships the Great Bear, embodies, as they believed, in the city's ruler. The Great Bear's Truth Police launch a concerted attempt to wipe out what they view as a cult, and Lysia's foster mother is murdered while the rest of the family is away attending Lysia's baptism. The Christians in the city have fled to the catacombs underneath it, and Lysia escape the city from there with Talitha and Portius, her foster father. To the south lies the great grassy plain of Kore, inhabited by fierce nomads, the Korei. Portius, a merchant and trader, understands the culture of the warrior clans, and has already turned one of the chiefs of a small band to Christ. Lysia and Talitha grow up learning to ride horses and shoot bows like the natives, especially Talitha. While she as still a teenager, Lysia learns she has the gift of prophecy, and she is given a vision of a great disaster that will befall her adopted people in the coming months, a drought like none in anyone's memory. The Lord directs her to tell the Korei that the only way they can escape is by gathering in the vast Mardath swamp beyond the River Kor, where he will provide for them. After she convinces the band of the truth of her vision, they convene a Great Talk of all the clans, including the feared Ghost Talkers, but the assembly of elders rejects the prophecy, and condemns Lysia to death as a witch. The men of her clan, the Horse-Eaters, rescue her, but they are killed to the last man at end of a pursuit across the Kore.
Lysia and Talitha escape across the Kor, with the ultimate sacrifice of Portius. After crossing the Mardath swamp, Lysia is captured by slave traders, and carried off to the Roman border city of Kirjath. Talitha escapes. In Kirjath, Lysia becomes the slave of Marcus, a wealthy merchant who is always greedy for more of what he doesn't yet have. He has come into possession of a map and manuscript that speaks of a great treasure lost amid the ruins of Hagath, but it is written in Tirzan, which no one else understands in Kirjath, except the slave of his arch-enemy, Crispan. To translate the manuscript for him, Lysia first has to learn Greek. Over the period of learning the language, and translating the scroll, she and Marcus fall in love, but their romance is cut short when he learns the key to opening the great slab covering the treasure is visible only on the winter solstice. He wants Lysia to stay behind, but her long-lost sister, Talitha, seeks her out, and they, too, leave for the north. The months that follow bring danger in the badlands, the dried-out swamp of the Mardath, and the scorched grasslands of the Kore. Beyond Tirzah, pursued by the Truth Police, the enlarged party, now including Marcus and other Christians from Kirjath and Tirzah, crosses a high pass through the snow-covered Parnath, and eventually reaches the land of Berith, where the Hagath ruins lie. Crispan has managed to follow along, and he joins Marcus, Lysia, and two other men in the great system of tunnels underneath Hagath. Their journey is marked by booby traps, riddles that must be solved to gain entrance to passages, and, ultimately, the reward of treasure coveted for so long by Crispan and Marcus. They are trapped in a dungeon by an old priest who serves as caretaker of the ruins, and their only escape is across a chasm. Crispan falls to his death when the refuses lose of his loot. Marcus' escape comes, not when he leaves the underground city with Lysia, but when he dumps the treasure that so long has possessed him in the center oa a nearby lake.
The articles fall into a variety of categories. These include Bible Studies, a collection of study notes on the Epistles; Devotionals, a series of daily life lessons; Poetry, especially a series called Son Shine, designed to uplift and encourage; and Spiritual Warfare, with a collection of articles about the beliefs of cult groups, and occult practices.
These are articles submitted by guests, especially Donna Kupferschmidt, and the Cavendish family.
Besides the personal testimony of webmaster Gary Cavendish, these include a series of reminiscences, and selected testimonies from others.