Discover good news for the Christian life Understand how Christ has defeated sin's power Identify the "wretch" in Romans 7 Is the Christian battle against sin a long defeat? In Conquerors, Not Captives, Joseph R. Dodson and Mattie Mae Motl challenge the popular view that Romans 7:14–25 describes the typical Christian battle against sin. The "wretched man" of Romans 7 seems unable to do what God's law demands and, for many Christians, his inner conflict and turmoil seem all too relatable. But are we impotent before sin and powerless to do good? When we reexamine Romans 7 in light of Paul's writings elsewhere and his interpreters throughout church history, we encounter better news. emConquerors, Not Captives is an accessible and thoughtful study that rebukes our gloomy expectations and invites us to take seriously the Bible's assurances that the Holy Spirit frees us from sin's power.

"More Than Conquerors", the latest book by Veronica Fowler Warren, is a powerful piece that focuses on the God given potential we as believers possess. The Word of God clearly states, "But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. " It is my aspiration; my readers will reach for all wanted to be loved. That's truly what I needed. I couldn't seem to find that love anywhere. One day, the Lord said to me, "Are you going to waddle around in your pain while other trees wither. Or will you learn how to weather the storm?" God said to me, "You are destined to help others, but how long will you let them down basking in your own insecurities?" Until I accepted the true love of God, I was lost. I was so damaged from various life struggles. I didn't know how to receive the blessing of Love, God had to offer. I didn't have any trouble loving other people. I could do that well. To actually love someone and them love me back, was terrifying. You see for so long, I was the one always giving and never receiving. I went looking for love and it was there all the time. The Love of God was in a form I never pictured: Comfort in the storm, peace in the midst of my pain, someone I could tell just what I was feeling. I can be open with God, because He loves me. When you really look at it; often our hearts become hardened through repeated refusals to yield to God. As we abide in obedience, our hearts become submissive to the voice and will of God. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Romans 8:6-8 Our reply to God must be ''yes.'' A "yes," brings restoration, relief, and life given release to each of us. It then spreads throughout our families and friends. Are you too busy focusing on how much someone hurt you or who broke your heart ten years ago. Instead of focusing on things that are irrelevant, focus on what you can do to be of help to someone else. Forget about your discouragements and your failures. There is work for you. There is a place for you in the vineyard. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bringforth evil fruit, nether can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7: 16-20 God requires more fruit from us. We must never become content. He, who talents gained ten more, was made ruler over ten cities. What is faith without works? I believe faith and work go hand and hand. There just might be a tree, you think has withered. Maybe the tree looks dead. It may be still standing and appears to be in good shape, but its spirit has dried up. Its momentum for life may be, in some ways, shattered. Someone may have spoken condemnation to it and caused it to wither. God says these oaks are His and they are purposed to live. God wants the glory out of the lives of His disciples. We can not take credit for our achievements. God has paved the way for us all. God planted you in the body of Christ to: • Proclaim the good news • Bind up the broken hearted • Proclaim freedom to captives • Proclaim release to the prisoners of darkness • Proclaim the year of the Lord and the day of vengeance • To comfort those who mourn But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds". Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that

Even before the arrival of Europeans to the Americas, the practice of taking captives was widespread among Native Americans. Indians took captives for many reasons: to replace--by adoption--tribal members who had been lost in battle, to use as barter for needed material goods, to use as slaves, or to use for reproductive purposes. From the legendary story of John Smith's captivity in the Virginia Colony to the wildly successful narratives of New England colonists taken captive by local Indians, the genre of the captivity narrative is well known among historians and students of early American literature. Not so for Hispanic America. Fernando Operé redresses this oversight, offering the first comprehensive historical and literary account of Indian captivity in Spanish-controlled territory from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Originally published in Spanish in 2001 as Historias de la frontera: El cautiverio en la América hispánica, this newly translated work reveals key insights into Native American culture in the New World's most remote regions. From the "happy captivity" of the Spanish military captain Francisco Nuñez de Pineda y Bascuñán, who in 1628 spent six congenial months with the Araucanian Indians on the Chilean frontier, to the harrowing nineteenth-century adventures of foreigners taken captive in the Argentine Pampas and Patagonia; from the declaraciones of the many captives rescued in the Rio de la Plata region of Argentina in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to the riveting story of Helena Valero, who spent twenty-four years among the Yanomamö in Venezuela during the mid-twentieth century, Operé's vibrant history spans the entire gamut of Spain's far-flung frontiers. Eventually focusing on the role of captivity in Latin American literature, Operé convincingly shows how the captivity genre evolved over time, first to promote territorial expansion and deny intercultural connections during the colonial era, and later to romanticize the frontier in the service of nationalism after independence. This important book is thus multidisciplinary in its concept, providing ethnographic, historical, and literary insights into the lives and customs of Native Americans and their captives in the New World.