WRITE:TALK is a blog series about the craft of Christian writing.
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Christian fiction helped convert me. As a nine-year-old boy, I loved Swiss Family Robinson by J. Wyss. After seeing the Disney production in a theater, I wished that I could be stranded on a deserted island. Mom bought me the book with illustrations. It was great. At one point in the story, the shipwrecked family made it to shore, knelt down, and prayed to God. The running theme through the story was that your family is important, and with God's protection and guidance, you can be happy anywhere. That affected me, along with The Greatest Story Ever Told (religious drama), about the life of Christ, Ben Hur, and The Late Great Planet Earth. These works of fiction, using the writer's vivid imagination, played a part when I made my decision to believe in Jesus for eternal life. Later, The Left Behind Series and others strengthened my resolve to be a light in this dark world.
"The written word is God's choice for converting most of us."
Larry C. Kitchen
Moses, Paul, and Luke are just a few authors used by our Creator in the past. When God speaks to us, he usually finds a writer. It makes sense when you think about it. Speaking is important too, but the written word has hang time. It is there, ready to convince the most hardened person of God's love and plan. And it's not just in the past, is it? As a writer, called by God to share with others, we have a high calling. Take it seriously. God wants writers, today. Of course, we are not writing new scripture. We are his children and can share what we know. We have read and witnessed things, and the jury is listening. Whatever we write can be driven with His message as an ongoing motif. We call that Message First.
Don't you think that God wants Christians in the Marketplace, among all of the other books? I do. Knowing that we have the truth and that our worldview is salt and light to the world should help convince us that we need to be in the bookstores and on Amazon. We should provide the best reading material for people who are hungry for good stories that are flavored with the truth.
The world is huge, and finally, we can reach it. With the advent of the internet, for the first time in history, you can say something to a person in India right now. I'm stating the obvious, but for writers, this is powerful. In Paul's time, it took a minute to transport that letter to a sister church. Your words can reach thousands tomorrow. And for some writers like Jerry Jenkins of the Left Behind Series, millions. It is impossible to measure how his work of fiction changed the world. I know it changed me. With his organized approach he plotted his way through a fascinating story of how the rapture might happen. He used lots of imagination and the real truth behind the fiction came through. Just like a parable. How 'bout that?
God does want writers for his message in the entertainment business to reach the people He loves.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
The first words I saw in the FGI Update I received in my email were, "The written word is God's choice for converting most of us." And my immediate response was, "That's the way God got through to me."
It was Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth that God used to open my eyes to the fact that salvation is free because God has already done in Christ everything that needs to be done for my eternal well being. Hal Lindsey's written words were the instrument God used to open my eyes so that I could see and believe. I've never met Hal Lindsey, but someday, perhaps it will be in eternity, he's got a big bear hug coming his way!
And then as I read your blog I saw that Late Great Planet Earth was instrumental in your life as well. Praise God! I know that He has used that book powerfully in the lives of many, many people.
Thank you so much Rich. That does my heart good.
Good words Prof. Kitchen, I enjoyed reading this!
Thank you Matthew! Nice hearing from you.