The Universal
Church
We've taken great care to keep the stories away from
individual doctrine within various denominations and
uphold the beliefs and traditions that have sustained us
as a faith for over 2000 years. Knowing that each
of us travels our own journey, the book is written and
edited to appeal to Christians during all stages of
their relationship with Christ. We know there are Christians who maybe haven't
been as consistent in their worship as they'd like.
Others are turned off by preaching and aggressive forms of
evangelizing common today. Storybook Advent
doesn't do that. However
we've kept it faith focused enough for the more
diligent devotees without being overbearing. The
stories address the themes in which every Christian can
agree by highlighting many Christ's key messages. We've
also included a few stories to assist in your understanding of our
sister faiths and some of the struggles Christians
currently endure elsewhere in the world.
My prayer is this book will bring
us, meaning mankind, together as a community by focusing on what we have
in common, rather than what makes us different. Jesus
was all about bringing people together, tearing down
misconceptions and celebrating the good in each,
despite the fact we are all works in progress and mired
in sin. Jesus didn't say follow me when you are
perfect. He invited the most flawed and despised
of the time, the tax collectors, prostitutes and lepers,
non-believers and others shunned by society and the
Pharisees. Jesus knew through His love, even the
most reviled could be transformed into the most
righteous, that through Him all can be reborn.
The stories in Storybook Advent
also support a passion of mine, education. Stories are from around the
world and the many great authors. With the republished
stories, we've included historical
notations about the author, his/her other works and the
year the story was published. This addition makes these bedtime stories and enjoyable
experience for parents and adults.
I sincerely hope that reading
these stories and those in the next books will become an
advent tradition and a useful means for churches and
non-profits to evangelize, celebrate Christmas and raise
the much needed funds to carry out their mission.
In summary, the
underlying beliefs that round out our Kingdom Principles
and define our faith are:
- The Bible – The Bible is the
inspired, infallible word of God (2 Tim. 3:16; 2
Peter 1:20-21).
- The Trinity – God eternally
exists as the perfect love of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1,26; Matthew 28:19; John
1:1,2; 4:24; Acts 5:3,4; Romans 1:20; Ephesians
4:5-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14).
- Jesus Christ – Jesus is fully
God and fully man. He came to earth, was conceived
in the virgin Mary and lived a sinless life. He died
and rose again to reconcile all people to God and to
free them from the power of sin and the devil.
(Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38; Romans 9:5; Titus
2:13).
- The Fall of Humanity - Whether
man or woman, Christian or other faith, we are all
sinners and loved by God. Daily we engage in
spiritual warfare and tests of our faith. (Genesis
1:26,27; 3:1,24; Romans 3:25; 5:12-18; 1 John 1:8).
- The Holy Spirit – is part of
the Trinity. The Holy Ghost is how God draws people
in and how He works through others. (John 16:5-15;
Romans 8:16, 23, 26, 27; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31)
- Baptism and Communion – How we
are reborn in Christ and how we Remember Him and
God's final sacrifice for all mankind. (Acts
2:38-41; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:26-40; 10:47;
18:8; Romans 6:3-4. Communion: Acts 2:42-46; 1
Corinthians 11:23-29)
- The One Universal Church – though
we may call ourselves by different denominations, if
we have a relationship with Christ, we are all
Christians. (Romans 12:4-6; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6;
Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:12-16; Hebrews 10:24-25).
The final belief behind this book is
that we only fear what we do not understand.
Understanding unfolds with knowledge. The only
people who fear knowledge are those profiting from
ignorance.
"As Christians it is our duty to love
our neighbor as ourselves in addition to loving God. The
ministry I've been guided towards focuses on helping people, all people,
understand and appreciate each other, to seek out what
in common and celebrate our unique differences. I
sincerely believe the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus speaks of
looks like Jesus and that our battles are not to be
fought with guns, hatred, lies, deceit and defamation.
Our battles are spiritual and each day we are on the
frontlines. The truth is our sword. Our enemy is
not each other. Our enemy is evil. I believe
when you see loving acts, compassion, charity,
sacrifice, humility, understanding and collaboration you
are seeing God at work. I also believe that when
you witness murder, theft, destruction and deception,
you see the devil at work. We live in a fallen world
where evil abounds. But God through Jesus gave us
the tools to overcome. Through faith and by emulating
His teachings, we know in the end we shall win."
--Laura D Lewis
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