Browsing Tag

Apologetics Press

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Family Bible Time…It’s THAT Important! (Bookmark this one if you have little people in your life!)

Posted on January 28, 2026

I always love it when a young mom comes asking for Family Bible Time help. “What materials would you recommend?” …”I’ve never done this and my baby is now two. How do I begin?” … “Can you help me know what a five-year-old should know?”

If you’re a young mom trying to mold hearts for him, I think age-appropriate informal time in God’s Word every day is your greatest tool. Today, I want to throw just a few ideas your way. Let me know if I can further help, because there’s no greater calling, Mom, than yours –to put the souls in those little bodies you’ve borne (or adopted, or fostered) around HIs throne for eternity. YOU are key in that forever accomplishment. You really are more than “key.” You are primary.

Here goes:

  1. The fundamental purpose of the book “Picking Melons and Mates” is to give parents a 21-day guide for beginning Family Bible Time. You can’t mess this up. It’s step-by-step instructions and they are in the back of this colorful story book. https://thecolleyhouse.org/
  2. Kids Sing cards. Kids love the drill and reward system. This is not wasted rote memorization. I know middle-aged people who routinely use what they have learned from these cards in their evangelism. If kids repeat, they retain. You can watch a video about how to use these cards here: https://westhuntsville.org/kid-sing/
  3. That They May Have Hope” and “That They May Believe” series by Caleb and Rebekah Colley.

    One night, they got to jump on bubble wrap if they answered correctly. That was epic!

    These have study guides, timelines, flash cards, a memory game, etc…And I have watched pre-schoolers get very excited about Bible characters and accounts when mastering this material. https://thecolleyhouse.org/ 

  4. Hannah’s Hundred for Bible memorization through songs. This one’s classic by now: https://thecolleyhouse.org/ 
  5. In my blog, search for “Family Ties in the Social Distance,” Created during the 2020 Covid isolation time, each of these segments are catered to rich Family Bible Time. They have step-by-step instructions. https://thecolleyhouse.org/category/bless-your-heart
  6. Use one night a week for service. Also in the blog, search Mama’s K.I.S.S. You will find just under 100 ideas for kids to develop servant hearts. You don’t have to fit all of a project in your short FBT. You can introduce it there and incorporate into your week.https://thecolleyhouse.org/category/bless-your-heart
  7. But in all of the doing and learning and getting, don’t miss the ordinary games like Twenty Questions, Charades,  “Who am I?”, and scavenger hunts Kids love to play Bible guessing games and they are such  great family bonding tools!
  8. Then turn your board games into FBT tools, too. Kids get to move or spin or collect or toss when they answer correctly. All the classic games can be turned  into spiritual “play” that’s not really play at all. And you can adapt the questions/challenges to the age of each child.
  9. Those AP Discovery trading cards. I can’t really say enough good things about these for your elementary and middle-school kids. Each card can easily become a Bible Time. http://www.apologeticspress.org

    This night was the lame man in Acts 3–out on the trampoline.

  10. Don’t discount the value of good sound Bible story books. Face it. Every now and then, we need a little chill time, and it’s pretty nice to cuddle up and read what someone else has put together for us. https://sainpublications.com/product/bible-stories-from-a-rocking-chair/
  11. Finally, check out the treasure trove at Families of Faith. This young mama is busy, but she’s packing this little store with very valuable tools for people like herself! https://familiesoffaith.store/?srsltid=AfmBOorzzIX_RPrqE8zX6KEWdw8JQuJ4wsZ54wl9p4g3N1FEKVKryTXU 
Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Tragic and Trending Atheism

Posted on October 25, 2023

It seems to be a tragic and trending phenomena in the church. Hundreds of millennials and those just younger, are turning to atheism. These are not always children of careless or inattentive parents. Further, they are often those who have graduated from Christian universities—even those who have shown great potential and talent as they worked in the kingdom. But something went terribly wrong. And parents in their fifties and sixties are deeply hurting. 

Sometimes, it’s an incremental journey. Parents and elders and friends can sometimes detect that the ship is sailing toward unbelief when a person begins to take issue with what he calls “traditional viewpoints” in classes or private studies. These “traditional  beliefs” are often those that are grounded deeply in Scripture and have irrefutable divine authority behind them. Often the dissenter will then begin absenting himself from worship services, first on occasion and then more often. He will distance himself from the close friends (people of faith) with whom he once spent lots of time. All too often, it is during this time that the world’s immorality pulls hard and begins to slowly destroy the moral and ethical compass of these precious souls. Faithful people of God need to  be sacrificial in spending time with these skeptics and confronting the growing unbelief with reasoned Biblical teaching, done in love. 

Truth be told, though, it’s probably late for apologetics teaching when the skepticism develops after college. I’ve come to see more and more that it is extremely critical that the probing questions of children find answers from parents who are not afraid to go digging, themselves, for the evidences that solidify faith. This has to be done, of course, one question at the time, as kids grow up. My son, who just turned 40, noted recently that, while teaching a class of teens, who were believers, he asked them questions about how they know the Bible is the Word of God. While their answers were Biblical, they were cyclical. They know that the Word is from God because it says it is from God. “All scripture is given by inspiration…and is profitable…” (2 Timothy 3:16). When a child asks how we know the Bible is different from all of the other books on our shelves at home, we have to be willing to do whatever it takes to be sure those answers are presented to them in understandable form. This involves researching the accuracy of Scripture—its foreknowledge and predictive prophecy, learning about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the evidence for things like the flood of Noah’s day and the resurrection of our Lord. It’s the stuff of great home education term papers or science projects. It takes time to prepare kids for the barrage of neo-”science” that the university peers and professors will present. The skeptics will speak in terms that will make your kids’ faith appear very backward. Students must  understand the apologetics behind faith and be able to articulate the arguments for the authenticity of Scripture in order to survive the criticisms of faith in the classrooms of non-believing academia or in the high tech workplaces after graduation.

The pulpits and classrooms of congregations should be full of the Bible, but also, they should be full of apologetics resources. Bible Land Passages, Apologetics Press and Christian Courier are excellent sources of curriculum for the foundational evidences kids need as they grow.

 

www.christiancourier.com

www.apologeticspress.org

www.biblelandpassages.org

It’s unfortunate, but true, that every single argument postulated by atheists to discredit creationism, or the authenticity of Scripture must be answered individually. There is no “one size fits all” answer for the many arguments made to discredit belief in God and the Bible. Every perceived Biblical contradiction, every historic or archaeological discovery that seemingly contradicts the Biblical account must be countered with study and reason. That takes a massive amount of time. But it’s also true that one plausible rectification—one possible explanation—for any contradiction is enough to nullify any argument’s power. It just takes one possible and reasonable way that the Bible could be accurate on any point to sustain its claims of inspiration (until the next argument is presented. Then the diligent parent does it all over again, researching and answering.)

Moms and grandmothers, I am praying that more of us in the body will have the grit and determination it takes to be sacrificial in fortifying the faith of our children. The house, the job, the health, the entertainment, the education, the popularity, the money…nothing else matters if sustained without faith. All is vanity without faith. 

  

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

“She did not wash away her sins…”

Posted on September 24, 2020

Tonight,Maggie, my grand-daughter who just turned two, prayed that “Mammy will be baptized so her sins can be washed away.”

Her mother told her immediately that “Mammy has already been baptized.” Apparently she thinks my sins are still there because she replied “ But she did not wash away her sins.” 

When you are two, it’s a big and daunting theological world. When you are 61, it is even more complicated and daunting. When you are two, you cannot understand exactly what’s washed away in that water. When you are 61, you can’t understand how. When you are two, you’re afraid of the water. When you are 61, you are afraid of challenges of the path you walk after the water (Romans 6:4). Maggie is two and she can’t wait to be baptized “to wash away your sins” that do not yet exist. I’m 61, and I just praise Him ceaselessly for the constant washing of sins that I wish did not exist (1 John 1:7). 

I’m so thankful Maggie’s parents are putting the Word in her diligently and directionally. This week she’s told me about the father of the twelve tribes, the faith of Rahab, the man in the big fish and the one in the lion’s den, the small man in the Sycamore tree and the apostle to the Jews and the one to the Gentiles. I’ve heard her say the books of the New Testament from Matthew to Colossians and I’ve heard her talk about Moses the lawgiver and Jesus, the triumphant Savior, as he rode over palm branches and heard the words “Hosanna in the highest.”  The biggest blessing of spending a week with their little family has been watching their sweet family Bible time. Tonight was a scavenger hunt outside finding and praising God for the items on the Creation cards from Apologetics Press (https://store.apologeticspress.org/products/apcmst001). There have been various games and challenges, lots of laughter and reverent prayers at least five times each day. 

When I look into those big brown eyes and think about the world in which Maggie will grow up, I am profoundly grateful for her mother and daddy; for the church of which they are a part in their community —an eldership and a body that supports their family in the greatest ministry on earth. Most of all, I’m so thankful for the great gift of the Holy Spirit: the Word, that we open each day to find the keys to victorious living in a spiritually war-torn world.  As Maggie, said her “Bible words” for this week, I reflected on how very central they are to the work her family is striving to do in the Lord’s church. She really summarized the plea that encompasses their work:

“He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7).

May Maggie always hear with child-like faith what the precious Holy Spirit says to the churches!

I love you, Mags, and I am already missing you! Let’s talk on the phone.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Just a Minute for Apologetics Press

Posted on June 16, 2016

Banner-APEarlier this week the good folks at Apologetics Press (www.apologeticspress.org) were targeted by Facebook trolls who made it their goal to post many negative reviews and to, in the most vulgar terms imaginable, openly criticize the site and revile the good work it does. My husband took the opportunity to say some good things about the work at AP and, almost immediately,  a response appeared on his Facebook timeline that also spewed hate and vulgarity toward AP.

I cannot think of a tool that did more, as my children were growing up, to put faith in them, than the materials from Apologetics Press. I visit the site regularly, cite it often in writing and speaking and recommend it almost everywhere I go to talk to groups of women. My husband and I are indebted to the men at AP for the research and writing (and fundraising) that have produced volumes like “How Do We Know the Bible is from God?” and episodes of “Digger Doug”  and the various series of AP readers and many more volumes that developed faith in the hearts of Caleb Colley and Hannah Giselbach. Their materials were core to out homeschooling endeavors, our classroom teaching in the church and our Family Bible Times in our home. Currently our daughter is using one of the books to answer questions from little people in her class of nine-year-olds in Montgomery, AL. and as they find the real evidence to answer the question “How do we know the Bible is true?” They are making their own newspaper chronicling their discoveries to share with the congregation. When nine-year-olds are inquisitive about such an eternally important matter, the time to stop and answer is now. Apologetics Press has, through the years, made for parents and teachers, preachers and elders and, yes, our children seeking truth an indispensable resource.

It’s no wonder that forces of the devil regularly attack the work at AP and it is bound, as our country becomes more thoroughly secularized, to happen all the more often and with a greater vengeance. I hope every Christian mother and grandmother reading will go to the AP website (linked above) and give a brief positive review of the site. Further, I hope you will share this article in support of Apologetics Press on your Facebook wall. Two clicks and you’ve publicly stood for something great while standing against wickedness. Further, you’ve done it in a very public forum.

I know some of you may be thinking, “But I don’t want to share something that will draw the ire of wicked people and I surely don’t want vulgarity on my timeline.” That’s precisely the kind of thinking that’s silenced many people of God for way too long. Persecution like this is going to be more and more commonplace and, if we fail to stand together as the people of God, we let the devil have his way. On the other hand, when we are reviled and persecuted (and that’s exactly the intent of this attack on AP), we are blessed. I hope you will share (or write your own positive review about the work at AP).  You can do this on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ApologeticsPress/?fref=ts. Persecution is coming our way. Now is a good time to start reacting with meekness and boldness. (When you encounter those who post vile language on your wall, simply go to the right hand corner of their “comment”, click on the arrow and then click on “hide” and the comment will disappear. You can elect also to “block” this person from further commenting on your timeline.)

For an even more effective show of support, go to the site and do a little summer-reading-shopping for those children in your world who need to be prepared for the obstacles the devil has planned for them. (Here’s the store: http://www.apologeticspress.org/store/Store.aspx.

And most importantly, pray for the blessed men who continue the work at AP for the sake of our families and congregations. Know they are blessed because our Lord characterized them exactly that way.

“Blessed are ye when men shall revile and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.”

 

Caleb Colley Published Works

Amazing Migrating Animals, Designed by God by Caleb Colley

Posted on December 31, 2011

For ages 7-9

Parents and Grandparents, get ahead of the game! Your kids can know the answers before their faith in God is challenged. This selection from Apologetics Press’ “Advanced Readers” series explains how animal migration demonstrates God’s design in nature. The 32-page book includes vivid images, fun descriptions of animal migrations, and a Scriptural foundation.

Price: $ 2.00

Go to product page