What is religion?

What is religion?

It is a set of beliefs that explain what life is all about, who we are, and the most important things that human beings should spend their time doing. ~The Reason for God, Timothy Keller

Man created religion. Going back to ancient times, man needed to explain life and the things around him. Thus he invented the various gods. One for every phenomenon of nature.

If the gods are happy, man will prosper, live longer and have good relationships. Man also invented ways to make the gods happy – animal even human sacrifices, burning incense, bowing down, worship and prayer. Read: How many gods?

However, the One True God, He created Christianity. He gave life to man and woman and they screwed it up by disobeying Him. From then on, and you can read the stories of the Old Testament, man continued disobeying Him. He gave us the Ten Commandments, yet man still wanted to do what pleased him and not God.

Statue of Mary in San Juan Cathedral

God sent the flood and spared only Noah and his family because Noah was the only righteous man around. You’d think that would have done it, but no, then God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

God sent prophets and kings to show humankind the right way to live, but nope, man still disobeyed.

Then God sent His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ to save mankind from themselves. All the sins mankind has ever committed – no matter how bad – were wiped clean when Jesus died for us on the cross.

God loves us. We have sinned, but our sins are forgiven and we have a ticket to heaven when we die as long as we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. This was the ultimate act of unconditional love from a God we disappointed time after time by our actions.

Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ is the one and only savior and the one and only way to have eternal life in heaven.

Just being good doesn’t cut it. Read: How good is good enough?

Click here to accept Christ as your savior.

Like what you read? Then you’ll love my award-winning Christian novel: Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century a historical novel about the early church check it out: www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=singresoguid-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1449718280&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award Winning Christian Author
Follow Giselle on Twitter
https://twitter.com/giselleaguiar

Catholicism vs. Christianity

San Juan Cathedral

Christianity came first. In the 300s Emperor Constantine called together Bishops of all the Christian Churches in the Roman Empire and they established the Nicene Creed — known today as the Apostles Creed. Later on the Pope came to be the head of the church and at times the head of some European countries establishing the Holy Roman Catholic Church. In the 1500s, a Catholic monk named Martin Luther was disillusioned with the Catholic Church and the way it was extorting money from believers and he started the Protestant Reformation. He wasn’t the only one, the Methodists, the Puritans (who became the Pilgrims) also weren’t happy with the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church over the years has tried to make sense of divine things to make them easier for the people to understand. They invented Purgatory. Purgatory doesn’t exist in the Bible.

Neither is confessing your sins to a priest who then forgives your sins. Only God can forgive your sins and He sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross and rise again so that our sins could be wiped clean and we could conquer death like He did. Nor is saying 5 Hail Marys and 4 Our Fathers and 2 Acts of Contrition as penance. Jesus provided the penance when He died as the Sacrificial Lamb. Read: I Confess

Their rule of not being able to receive communion unless you confess your sins is also not in the Bible. All believers should partake in communion as Jesus called us to do.

They also give Mary, Mother of Christ, and the saints the power of being intercessors between us and God. You don’t need them. God sent us Jesus and Jesus is all you need. God hears our prayers. As is praying to the saints for help and worshiping statues. That’s idolatry. Read: So Many gods.

That Catholics also believe that you can work your way to heaven by being good. Martin Luther realized that was wrong when he read this passage from Romans:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

Luther wrote, “I felt myself reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning…This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”

So which denomination is right? As someone who was raised Catholic, then converted to Protestantism and now attends a non-denominational church, I say find a good bible-based church. One that doesn’t follow doctrines created by man, but the Word of God.
Source(s):
http://millennium.giselleaguiar.com/1500s.html

Like what you read? Then you’ll love my award-winning Christian novel: Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century a historical novel about the early church check it out: www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=singresoguid-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1449718280&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award Winning Christian Author
Follow Giselle on Twitter
https://twitter.com/giselleaguiar

So Many Gods

In doing research for my novel, Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century, I had to study Roman Mythology. The Romans stole the gods from the Greeks. The objective of having so many gods was to explain natural phenomena.

Statue of a god in a house in Herculaneum that was preserved by the flow from Vesuvius.

There was a god for everything and a festival for every god.

Ironically, the day that Vesuvius erupted was the festival of Vulcanalia celebrating the god of fire, Vulcan. (No, Spock’s planet had nothing to do with it.). During this festival, participants would build large bon fires and throw fresh fish into it as a sacrifice to that god in gratitude for a season without crop-devastating wildfires and hoping for no fires in the next season. And they’d drink a lot of wine.

Pompeiians were probably wondering what they did wrong when Vesuvius erupted. Didn’t they sacrifice enough of their fish to Vulcan? Didn’t they hold enough festivals?

All the Roman festivals reminded me of the festivals of the saints in Puerto Rico. Every town, city or municipality has a patron saint and once a year is their festival. They parade through the streets with a statue of the saint and burn candles and incense. Oh, and they party.

In Naples, Italy, every year they hold the festival of their patron saint who keeps Vesuvius from erupting. Right now, several million people live in the shadow of Vesuvius and though it is dormant, it may wake up and it’s due to wake up soon. The church of this saint has a “relic” vial of the saint’s blood and supposedly, because of the festival and “patronage” to this saint, that’s why Vesuvius hasn’t erupted since the 1940s.

Commandment:

All these saints are just gods. Oh, and the Virgin Mary falls into this category, too. There is only one TRUE God, the Triune God – the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Mary and the “saints” are dead. Only Jesus rose from the grave and is alive in heaven. He sent His Spirit to be with His believers and Jesus will come back for His believers in the Rapture.

Dead people can’t be intercessors between you and God. Only Jesus and the Holy Spirit can. Oh, and you really don’t need an intercessor, because you have a direct line to the Father 24/7.

Festivals of the saints are just reasons to party. They mean nothing and go against God’s commandments. Celebrate Jesus every day with gratitude and prayer and  remember that He was the ultimate sacrifice so we never have to sacrifice anything to appease a god or hope for a good harvest. God is in control. Trust in Him.

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Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award Winning Christian Author
http://www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1
Follow Giselle on Twitter
https://twitter.com/giselleaguiar

I can relate to Luke

This evening we had the first meeting of our bible study small group at my house. There were just 5 of us, but we enjoyed getting to know each other and growing closer in Christ.

In a new way (for us) to study the bible, we’re going story by story. With my church’s direction, we started the Gospel of Luke. We’re to read the passage, the retell it and ask

1. What does God want us to know from this story / passage?
2. What are the principles / truths here for us to understand?
3. What does God want me to do? (Wisdom – put into practice)

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. ~Luke 1:1-4

Luke was a historian. I consider myself a historian. Before writing the novel, I researched and put together pieces of other peoples’ research and it was important to the all the facts. The last thing I wanted was an expert in the Roman Empire or volcanology, to tell me that I missed something or got something wrong.

One of my goals in writing the series is to teach while I entertain. So the key phrase from this passage is the last part: so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Comments and reviews of my novel, Deo Volente! praise the research and someone said that I wove the time period into the story and almost made it a character in itself.

Funny, I didn’t know that’s what I was doing!

God works in mysterious ways. He inspired Luke to follow Paul and interview eye witnesses to write the true account from the birth to the death of Jesus Christ.

 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.~2 Timothy 3:16-17

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And it can be believed!

God Bless,
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award Winning Christian Author
www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1
Follow Giselle on Twitter
https://twitter.com/giselleaguiar

Women of Faith Writing Contest Winner Releases

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

Phoenix writer wins Women of Faith Writing Contest – Now Available on Amazon

Phoenix, AZ – Christian writer Giselle Aguiar’s first novel, Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century, won second prize in the 2011 Women of Faith Writing Contest sponsored by Westbow Publishers (a division of Thomas Nelson).

Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century is an historical romantic adventure set in Puteoli, Italy, in AD 69, a few years after the Apostle Paul arrived there on his last trip to Rome. (Acts 28:11-14)

Claudia, 20-year-old daughter of the Roman magistrate, is invited by her cousin, Paolo, to a clandestine meeting of a Christian church. There she meets and falls in love with Anthony, the son of a local merchant, and a leader in the church.

Unbeknownst to Claudia, her father, Marcus, has betrothed her to his middle-aged assistant, Darius. Meanwhile, her aunt Aurelia returns from 30 years of service as a Vestal Virgin hoping to marry her childhood sweetheart, Darius. At Aurelia’s welcome-home party, Marcus announces the betrothal, shocking everyone including Claudia.

Betrothed to a man she doesn’t love, in love with a man her family would disapprove of, told that the gods she grew up believing in are false, Claudia learns to seek and follow God’s Will while coping with her tyrannical father’s plan for her future.

The fact-based, historical setting details the lives of Roman nobility, their pagan beliefs, their homes, culture, mythology, a Roman wedding, the baths, government, and the eruption of Vesuvius and its aftermath. It provides a look into the early Christian church – where the people met, what they did, how they converted pagans and how the early church developed. There is also a fictionalized account of the Apostle Paul’s visit.

Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century is the first in The Christian Centuries series. Each story takes place in successive centuries, focusing on pivotal points in Christian history. “I am a seeker, on a journey, seeking a more intimate relationship with God.” Aguiar states. “As I seek, I find stories – stories that need to be told – messages of love from God directed through my words to be shared with the world.”

Deo Volente! won a full self-publishing package from Westbow Publishers and may be purchased in paperback and hardcover formats from Ms. Aguiar’s website: www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1 and now available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other outlets and also as an ebook for Kindle and Nook and other ereaders. Subscribe to the author’s email list to be informed of availability, special events and book signings. Discounts for churches and bookstores are available from WestBow Press. Visit the novel website for details. 

With the extensive research Ms. Aguiar did for the novel, she has become an expert in the Roman Empire and early Christian Church History. She is preparing several presentations for various types of groups. Visit her website for details and booking information.

One dollar from the sale of each book benefits Streetlight Phoenix to help combat child rape for profit.

Ms. Aguiar is available for media interviews, and her final galleys are available for review in pdf format. Please contact Ms. Aguiar at icreate@yahoo.com.

Paperback: ISBN: 9781449718282

Hardcover:  ISBN: 9781449718305

ebook: ISBN: 9781447118299

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Soon, very soon!

I thought I’d have it by now, but the publishing process takes time. It was cool to see the galley proofs of the cover and the inside of the book. The final is approved and submitted and I should have an “author’s copy” in about 2 weeks.As soon as I approve the final, then it will be available through the publisher’s site and in the major outlets (Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, etc.) 2 weeks after that.

Once the regular book is printed, then they create the ebook.

I will soon have bulk prices then I’ll start contacting local churches with bookstores.

My first book signing will be at my church, stay tuned for details!

Please go to the Facebook page and “Like” it to have a chance to win a signed hardcover copy! 

God Bless!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author
www.giselleaguiar.com  

It’s Not Too Much to Hope For — An End to Slavery in the World

$1 from the sale of each book benefits StreetLight Phoenix

Updated: 11/13/11

…“In heaven we’ll be all equal in God’s kingdom. Here in the Roman Imperium, there are still slaves and masters.”

“If it were up to me, I would free all our slaves.” As she said that, Claudia looked up to see Anthony standing next to her smiling.

“Hello, Claudia, you’ve learned quickly. I believe there will come a time when there will be no more slavery in this world.”

“Is that too much to hope for?” she asked him.

“No, Claudia, it’s not. If we work to spread the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, people will start to change the way they live. I’ve seen it already. Many Romans who joined the church gave their slaves their freedom.” … (from Deo Volente! [God Willing] the soon-to-published novel)

Author’s Note

This passage stood out for me as I reread the novel in preparation for publication. I wrote it years ago and since then, I’ve become aware of the gruesome fact that slavery still exists in the world – more now than ever before. Even in the city where I live – Phoenix, Arizona.

It’s child rape for profit. Girls – average age of 13 – are enticed, captured, branded and forced into prostitution.

When the pimps are caught, these girls had no where to go until Streetlight Phoenix came into existance. It’s a safehouse where police can take these girls and they get help, rehabilitation, education, counseling and spiritual guidance. Some have children. Some are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Some are malnourished. All are traumatized. All get help.

Streetlight Phoenix is a non-profit organization and it’s model is being replicated in cities across the nation. It’s not too much to hope for – help stop child rape for profit – modern-day slavery.

One Dollar from the sale of each book, no matter what format, will be donated to Streetlight Phoenix. 

For more information visit: www.StreetlightPhx.com

Just today, April 11, 2011, the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign launched from the Demi and Ashton Foundation. The law of supply and demand applies here. As long as there is a demand, the pimps will be looking to supply. I salute the Demi and Ashton Foundation for this effort and I pray that it goes viral.

Update: 11/13/11: www.StreetlightPhx.com launches Campaign13 a national movement to eradicate child sex slavery.

Watch this video:

Now, become an abolitionist.

Like what you read? Then you’ll love my award-winning Christian novel: Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century a historical novel about the early church check it out! $1 from the sale of each book – not matter what format benefits StreetLight Phoenix to help eradicate child sex slavery. www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=singresoguid-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1449718280&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award Winning Christian Author
Follow Giselle on Twitter
https://twitter.com/giselleaguiar

Novel submitted

Well, the publisher has it now. I decided to let them design a cover to see what they come up with and then I’ll choose to use my design or theirs. Now I get to start thinking about marketing.

First is updating my website. I plan on doing that this weekend. Then I need to contact a few people who I’d like to review the book hopefully to get some quotes for the back cover.

So check the website: www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1 after Sunday.

Looking at a June release

Have gone into production mode.

Re-editing, cover design, back cover content, acknowledgements, formatting…. there’s a lot to do to prep the book for self-publishing. The folks at Westbow are great and are walking me through the process.

Once the book is uploaded, then I have to go into marketing and publicity mode.

When the book is post-production, it will be available for sale in 3 formats – hardcover, paperback and ebook through Amazon, Barnes & Nobel and the Westbow site.

To be placed on the mailing list to be notified of the release date, please either leave a comment below with your name and email address or go to my website: www.giselleaguiar.com.

This past weekend I attended the Luis Palau City Fest and made great contacts with Family Life Radio, K-Love and Berean Christian Stores.

Because I feel so blessed, I’ve decided to donate $1 from the sale of every book – no matter what format – to StreetLight Phoenix. I’ll go into more detail on why in my next blog.

Stay tuned as I post the progress. You can subscribe to this blog, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Giselle Aguiar
Soli Deo Gloria!

Deo Volente! Wins 2nd place in the Women of Faith writing contest!

9 years ago I started writing my novel. 7 years later I found an agent who believed in the story. 2 years later, I attend the Women of Faith conference at the invitation of a church friend who had extra tickets and saw that they were having this writing contest and it was free to submit.

2 weeks ago, I was notified that I had made the 30 finalists and today I found out the novel won 2nd place. Praise be to God!

The story was His inspiration and finally, FINALLY it will be published. Stay tuned to this blog for news and information on when it will be available. You can read about the novel here and you can sign up to be on my mailing list and get updates by going to http://www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1/Contact.html.

Hallelujah!

Soli Deo Gloria! To God Alone be the Glory!

Giselle