Live Fire with Chuck Holton

I’ve been getting email every day now from folks who have read Allah’s Fire and loved it. The scary thing is that everyone is already clamoring for book 2, and so I’d better hurry up and finish writing it!

Ruth Anderson calls herself the “Christian Fiction Queen” and gave a great review of the book on her blog.

Also, I saw that Allah’s Fire was ranked number 2 among Adventure Fiction novels on Christianbook.com. Whew!

As always, though, the only place to get a signed copy is right here.

In a time when the Marines are under fire in the press, it’s nice to hear some good things about our troops.

Marine Lance Corporal Tony Stephens has survived eleven roadside bombs in two tours of Iraq. This former shortstop for the Minnesota Twins minor leagues joined the Marine Corps after September 11, in a move similar to that of former NFL player Pat Tillman. Tony’s father-in-law owns Chattanooga Websites and is himself a street preacher.Click here to read about Tony’s story, or watch it on CBN’s Media Center.

You can also see more pictures of my interview with Tony and his lovely wife here.

I just returned from a week-long book publicity tour for Allah’s Fire that covered Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Benning, Georgia. I got a chance to speak to the troops at Bragg – this time the 519th Military Intelligence Brigade, then head down to Fort Benning, GA, and hook up with some old friends at the Ranger Training Brigade. I took the family along on this trip, and the boys and I had a great time meeting some Ranger legends at the Ranger School graduation on thursday. We were there to see my friend Nathan Cargile graduate after an especially gruelling time in the course, which is supposed to run 62 days, but in his case ran almost a year. I think he was going for some kind of record. You have to admire perseverance like that.

Then, Friday night I spoke for a men’s dinner hosted by Morningside Baptist Church, and got to partake in some great barbeque and finally meet up with another Ranger buddy – Zach Thomas. Zach started Ranger Coffee, and is my new best friend.

Another friend I caught up with is Trevor Williams – college student and all around stud, who is selling his own CD’s to finance an upcoming missions trip. I have to say, he’s good!

Then Sunday morning I gave the memorial day message at both services at Morningside. Click here to download an MP3 of the sermon. After church, we headed out with the pastor, Bill Shorey, and his lovely wife for Mexican food. The perfect end to a great trip.

Here’s a verse that I read last night and thought, “I want to claim this verse for my life.” I post it here as encouragement for you, and so I’ll remember it often.

Isaiah 42:6-7

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,

7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Every once in awhile when I’m flying, I get treated to a rare sight – that of a rainbow which forms a full circle. I recently found out the meteorological term for this phenomenon – it’s called a “glory.” A glory is formed by water particles reflecting sunlight back to its source.

If you grew up in church like I did, then you’ve often heard the phrase “God’s glory” or “Glory to God” or something similar. I think by these we aquire a sort of nebulous understanding of what Glory is.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say, “God shares his glory with noone,” which is apparently a paraphrase of Isaiah 42:8.

I always found this statement somewhat depressing, though. I finally decided to try and get a better handle on just what Glory is, and learn more about what the Bible says about it.

Read more

If you’ve read Task Force Valor – Allah’s Fire, you might have noticed that our Special Ops team used the new XM-8 Assault rifle. The XM-8 is a possible replacement for the current weapon of choice in the Army – the M-4. This versatile weapon has been in the testing phases for years, and was slated to be rolled out into the military in 2006. At the time we were writing Allah’s Fire, it wasn’t being used yet, but we wanted to make the book as “bleeding edge” as possible.

Unfortunately, the Army cancelled the XM-8 project in late 2005. It’s maker, Heckler and Koch, continues to develop the weapon in hopes they’ll change their mind, but at this point the weapon isn’t being used by the Army.

This doesn’t necessarily pose a problem for Task Force Valor, however, since special ops units are often used to test out new weapons before the regular units get them. Our guys really liked using them – they are quite a bit lighter than the old XM-8, and the modular design let them customize the weapon to the mission.

In book two, “Island Inferno,” the team will be back to using the old standby weapons until the Army makes up its mind.

The West Virginia State Penitentiary was built in 1866 in the small town of Moundsville, about 20 minutes south of Wheeling. I recently took a group of guys up there for a three-hour nighttime tour. Fascinating.

As we strolled through the 11-acre complex, instead of ghosts jumping out at me, I kept getting hit with powerful life truths, like how much those of us on the outside take for granted.

Case in point: Our tour guide said that the average inmate at the Penitentiary before it closed in 1995 had cable tv in his cell, but only spent about 2.5 hours a day watching it. Compare that with 4.5 hours, the average amount of television consumed by the average American – who is free to go anywhere and contribute to society in any way he pleases.

Hebrews 6:7 says this:

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.

You are the land in this word picture. You’ve received the bountiful rain of freedom. Are you using that freedom to produce a harvest for the Kingdom, or are you drinking it in while you watch television? Even worse, are those who stand in the way of those who do.

You know, Christ came and died to set us free from the prison of Sin. How sad that so many believers stay in the cell, even once the door has been thrown wide open, and the master key placed in our hand. We choose to stay in the comfortable misery of our bad habits and apathy, and pretend that the command to set the other prisoners free isn’t meant for us. When we do this, we give up the great adventure of meaningfulness and purpose that comes with being a soldier in God’s army.

You can see pictures of our trip here.

I got a call last week from a friend who asked me to accompany him to Sudan this summer. I’m praying hard about whether to go – the Darfur region isn’t conducive to friendly relations with white people nor Christians at the present time. But aside from the danger, I really need to know if God wants me to go, or if I want me to go. Am I trying to prove something, afraid to say no, or something else? Discerning one’s true motivations isn’t easy.

I like to paraphrase John Piper in my speaking engagements – “Risk is right when it demonstrates God’s value, not our valor.”

I would love to see Africa. Never been there. But is this the right time, the right reason? I still have obligations to live up to – with my writing and such. On the other hand, my work with CBN allows our family to eat in between book advances. Please agree with me in prayer that God’s will must be done in this. I’m not afraid to go – I’m afraid to go outside of God’s will. And I’m afraid to give up the potential blessing of participating in what God is doing in Sudan, if that’s where he’s calling me. Not because going may result in my being killed or injured – that could just as easily happen if I’m where I’m supposed to be. I don’t want to give up a second of God’s purpose working in me and through me. (though, to my shame, I do so every day.)

As I think about it more deeply, I may be afraid of the effect that this experience could have on me. I’ve read the articles – the Sudan is about as close as one can get to Hell on earth. Anytime I travel to third-world countries, I’m struck by how fat, lazy and whiny I really am. What will it do to me to visit a place that isn’t even third-world, but more like stone age?

Looking back at my previous post, if anyone feels a scripture being impressed upon them about this situation, please feel free to share it with me.

Thanks.

Sometimes when you want to encourage someone, there’s nothing better than to simply read them a verse of scripture that applies to their situation. I had an email conversation today with my good friend, Jack.

Some of you may remember Jack – he was the young man whom I met in Jordan in 2004 - a former Muslim who was being persecuted for his faith, he had been arrested, beaten, and disowned by his family, but refused to recant. At that time, he was in his early 20’s and scraping by on a very meager income in Amman, Jordan.

At that time, he expressed to me that his greatest fear was that he would never be able to marry. After all, what Christian woman (if he could find one) in Jordan would want to marry a man with virtually no livelihood, whose children would, by law, have to be raised as Muslims?

But God’s ways are higher than ours – just a few months after we left Jordan, Jack met Rowena, a beatiful Christian girl from the UK.

Jack was a big help when we were writing Allah’s Fire – he gave me accurate translations whenever we needed words in Arabic. In the book, the Hotel Rowena is named for his new bride.

Fast forward two years – Today Jack and Rowena are married and living in London, where Jack is working on his master’s degree. Not only did God fulfill the desires of his heart in sending Rowena, but he brought Jack to a place where he was free to worship as he pleased. And now I get to jokingly call him “Jack London.”

But now Jack faces a new challenge – from his email today:

We did find a Church, the pastor were an american couple, we decided to leave after a few months though because they were, in our opinion, too focused on prosperity teaching. You’d hear odd sentences such as, if owed money to a bank, then you are less Godly than those who don’t, God wants all to be Rich, If we are not rich, then we need to review our lives. I don’t disagree with everything, but I do believe that God wants the rich and poor to act as brothers towards each other be it financial love or else. I have been very poor in the past and it is very hurtful to hear someone saying it was my fault and criticise those who helped me through my ordeals. I also understand, because I did it so many times, how one can be judgmental when s/he aren’t in a hard situation.

My answer to Jack went something like this:

God wants our lives to be profitable – he wants us to be rich in Grace and Mercy. But many people try to fulfill this desire (to be rich) in worldly ways - God wants us to be rich HIS way – by pouring all that we have into other people. I’m not speaking just of money – all of our resources belong to Him. It is a mistake to say that God wants you to have an easy life – He doesn’t. In fact, it is an insult to someone like you, who has suffered greatly for your decision to follow the Most High God, to say that having enough faith will make your life smooth sailing. I really believe that the more faith you have, the more hardship will likely come your way. Because hardship follows adventure, and the Christ-centered life is the greatest adventure you will ever find.

May His word live in your heart – may it flow from your mouth and bring light to everyone you meet. And may we see each other again soon. I still tell your story to people all the time. You have encouraged many. Do not ruin that witness by falling away now that you have been given the thing you so badly desired – a wife and a country where you are free to worship and tell others about His love.

I left Jack with this scripture from 1 Peter, which I find very encouraging personally: (click here to listen to this passage)

1Pe 1:13 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the special blessings that will come to you at the return of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 1:14 Obey God because you are his children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn’t know any better then.
1Pe 1:15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God-who chose you to be his children-is holy.

Sometimes being single can make you feel like a googly bird – strange and different.

This past Sunday I was asked to preach at our home church on the subject of Singleness. This had everything to do with the fact that I recommended the pastor do it, and he smiled graciously and said basically, “thanks for volunteering.” I am not an expert on singleness by any stretch. I’ve been married for over twelve years.

Anyway, if God’s strength is indeed made perfect in weakness, then perhaps I was the right guy for the job.

It was clear at the outset as I started studying the topic that “singles” encompasses many, many different types of people, in vastly different circumstances and stages of life. So it would really be impossible to cover all types of singles in one message. But I took three main types to speak about:

1. Young people who have every intention of getting married at some point.
2. People who see the window of opportunity for marriage is narrowing or perhaps closed altogether.
3. People who are single again – either through the death or sin of a spouse, or through some fault of their own.

The message started in 1 Corinthians 7 and referenced Ecclesiastes 12, Psalm 37, and Romans 8:37, among others.

Some quotes used were from John Piper.

I also told the story of my friend Cathie Burke and showed this video of a German Missionary in Panama named Charlotte Teubner. (.wmv file, 9 meg download)

You can also listen to this mp3 recording of the message.