Tag Archives: african american christian

August 4, 2011 · 10:57 pm

Master of Disguises Blog Tour

About the Author

James Benjamin was born and raised as a Christian in Winston-Salem, NC. While growing up, James succumbed to the street life and was lured by the many faces of the enemy. Through his trials and tribulations, his faith in God ended up saving his life and provided an impactful testimony to share with others in his shoes. James has dedicated his life to spreading God’s word through his unique prospective and hopes to help change others lives as He did for him. He is also enrolled at the University of Phoenix, acquiring his associate’s degree. James Benjamin is also a student at Apostle Fredrick Price Ministry Training School class of 2013.

About the Book

James Benjamin is a living miracle. He was on a path towards destruction, and through his faith in God, was saved. In his first, self-published book titled “Master of Disguises,” James guides readers through his compelling story of struggling in the street life, and finding sanctuary through The Lord. Most importantly, he unveils the enemy, and the many disguises the enemy has. He provides inspiration where many feel hopeless, and educates individuals who are lost as he once was. James lives to tell his story to help keep young men and women off the streets and away from the grips of the enemy.

Benjamin’s story is one that attracts the groups that are hard to communicate to: teens and their parents, prisoners, people living the street life and their families, and the African American street community. Those that are experiencing hardships can easily listen to James as he used to be in their shoes. His prospective is inviting, as he leaves no secrets and lays out his life for the readers. James exposes the many faces of the enemy that he experienced to help the next individual detect and defeat them. As he learned through his own struggles, James finds it essential that Christians be aware of the enemy’s disguises. In his case, it almost cost him his life.

Purchase the Book Online at:

Amazon.com

BarnesandNoble.com

BooksaMillion.com

BOOK TRAILER for Master of Disguises

BOOK TRAILER

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Sins of the Mother Blog Tour with Victoria Christopher Murray

Victoria Christopher Murray originally self published Temptation. “I wanted to write a book as entertaining as any book on the market, put God in the middle, and have the book still be a page-turner. I wasn’t writing to any particular genre – I didn’t even know Christian fiction existed. I just wanted to write about people I knew and characters I could relate to.”

Since Temptation, Victoria has written seven other novels and was a contributor to the first Christian fiction anthology, Blessed Assurance. She was also the Contributing Editor for the Aspire Women of Color Bible published by Zondervan in 2007. All of her novels have continued to be Essence bestsellers.

In 2008, Victoria’s first novels in her Christian fiction teen series – The Divine Divas – were published. “I was concerned with what our young ladies were reading. I decided to do something about that – give them stories full of drama, but with a message.” The Divine Divas has already been optioned to become a television series.

Victoria splits her time between Los Angeles and Washington D.C. In Los Angeles, she attends Bible Enrichment Fellowship International Church under the spiritual tutelage of Dr. Beverly “BAM” Crawford and in Washington, D.C., she fellowships at Metropolitan Baptist Church under Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. She is also a member of the Long Beach Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Visit Victoria online at http://www.victoriachristophermurray.com/

About the Book

Have the sins of the mother come upon the daughter?

Jasmine Larson Bush is finally living a drama-free life. She’s left her lying, cheating, stealing stripper days behind and is standing by her husband’s side as the first lady of one of the largest churches in New York City. The Bushes have been blessed with the best of everything—including two lovely children.

But just when Jasmine has committed her life completely to God, her daughter Jacqueline is kidnapped from a mall the day after Thanksgiving. The police and the church community join in the frantic search to find the four-year-old. As the days pass without any sign of her daughter, Jasmine begins to crack under the strain and turns to Brian Lewis, Jacqueline’s biological father, for solace.

Has Jasmine’s past finally caught up to her? Will her daughter be found or will Jasmine pay the ultimate price?

Book Review by Linda Fegins

Victoria Christopher Murray has done it again. Having read at least four of her books, I admire her skill of spinning a redeeming story of victory over obstacles and sin through her colorful characters. “The Sins of the Mother” was an enjoyable, yet arresting story. The characters are vibrant, realistic, memorable and entertaining, even if you can’t stand one of them, such as the recurring Jasmine Cox Larson Bush.

This book realistically demonstrates through Jasmine how Satan will draw upon our weaknesses, if we are not truly grounded in God in devastating times. During difficult seasons in our lives, even when we believe we have grown in the Lord, we are tempted to rely on man and to revert back to our old ways, rather than to trust God and to hold on to God’s hand. Do our past sins come back to haunt us? Does Jasmine finally learn the essence of a personal relationship with God?

Murray loves God and is grounded enough to keep her stories from sounding preachy or too goodie-goodie. She writes about true saints who are sinners that are saved by grace. However, I still don’t trust Jasmine.

“Beautiful Ugly” by Shelia Lispey

Win an autographed copy of Beautiful Ugly by Shelia Lipsey
See contest details below.

About Beautiful Ugly
Three friends with different struggles rely on God and each other to get by. Layla Hobbs has so much to offer, including a beautiful singing voice, but obesity and low self-esteem hold her back from life and finding true love. Envy Wilson has always been Layla’s backbone. But what about her own dark secrets? She won’t share them with anyone, and it’s starting to eat away at her from the inside. And then there’s Kacie Mayweather. Stricken with cerebral palsy, she’s had her share of men—five baby daddies for six children, in fact. But she’s never had one man to call her own. They’ll need plenty of faith and support from each other to see the real beauty that lies within each one of them and fulfill their deepest desires at last.

My Book Review by Linda D. Fegins
This heartfelt story chronicled in “Beautiful Ugly” reminded me of a song by one of my favorite male groups, the Temptations. “Beauty is only skin deep. Beauty is only skin deep. But ugly is to the bone. So if you looking for a lover, don’t judge her by her cover. She may be fine on the outside but….” I really paraphrased the words or may have misstated them. The essence of the song reminds me that we must be so careful not to allow the physical trappings of a person to determine or define the quality and content of their character and heart. Furthermore, one cannot hide behind one’s outward appearance and neglect addressing the inner woman or man when one’s actions and conduct result in negative and painful consequences that reveal that on the inside he or she is in a poor or “ugly” condition. Many times society places emphasis on the outer appearance while we dress up or neglect the development of our spiritual character. “Beautiful Ugly” by Shelia E. Lipsey is a unique name for a book that follows the lives and friendships of three women, each facing low self esteem, insecurities, and hurt from the past. Through these believable church going women characters, we see that it is possible to believe there is a God, yet fail to trust God and to truly believe His Word that He loves us and will forgive our sins and that through Him, not food , sex or a man ,we can be made whole.

Layla Hobbs use her angelic voice to sing praises to God at church ,but who due to her obesity she settles for less in a man and does not have the faith to do something about her weight.

Kacie Mayweather was born with cerebral palsy. She wants to believe that she can have a man to love her despite her disability, just like any woman without such a disability. She has six children and five babby daddies in her attempt to find love and a husband.

Envy Wilson is considered pretty and has a successful career. She may be pretty on the outside, but she felt ugly on the inside and suffered from guilt and rejection as result of a secret sin of the past. While she looks like an angel, she cannot cover up her past and she acts out by engaging in a secret life of sexual promiscuity.

Through their experiences each one of them comes to realize that they must confess their sin, cling to God and come to understand that each of them needed to be made whole and to have a spiritual beauty makeover to be delivered from the shackles of sin , shame and low self-esteem. This thought provoking book will serve as a good teaching tool to discuss issues of self –esteem and relationships for those who are battling these issues. The characters were believable and it will make an interesting read for those who would like to see how low esteem issues affect how respond to the every day life experiences.

Win an autographed copy of
Beautiful Ugly by Shelia Lipsey
Shelia Lipsey is the author of three other Christian Fiction novels. The trivia question below is from one of those novels. Leave your response to the trivia question below in the comment section.
Name Aisha Carlisle’s best friend in Sinsatiable.

About the Author
Author Shelia E. Lipsey is a multi-award winning author. Her novels are available at most bookstores nationwide as well as online. Lipsey’s books have been called gripping, life-altering, memorable and realistic. Lipsey was recently awarded the 2009 Top Shelf Award for Beautiful Ugly by Black Pearls Magazine. She also won 2009 Shades of Romance Readers’ Choice Awards for My Son’s Wife in the following categories: Author of the Year, Christian fiction Book of the Year, Christian Romance of the Year, Best Book Cover of the Year, Best Fiction Book of the Year, among several other awards for her novels, Into Each Life and Sinsatiable.
Lipsey is the proud mother of two sons and the grandmother of three blessed young men. She is president of UCHisGloryBookClub.net, founder of Living Your Dreams Now a non-profit organization and MAAW (Memphis African American Writers).

Read an excerpt and check the tour schedule at http://bit.ly/BeautifulUgly

For more information, visit www.shelialipsey.com.