Archive for the ‘General Information’ Category

Yesterday, after we announced Lighthouse Trails’ new division, The Shepherd’s Garden, we received an email from a Lighthouse Trails reader asking why we were “getting into the tea business.” The reader said he was very concerned that we were going to become too commercialized  and thought perhaps we had sold so many books that we had more or less struck it rich and that we saw the tea business as a lucrative business venture.  He said that perhaps we have become too “popular and famous.” We thought there may be other LT readers who share his concerns. Thus, we would like to clarify our reasons for incorporating this new idea.

At Lighthouse Trails, we have paid a high price for continuing on in this ministry. Part of that difficulty has been financial challenges.  We have given away countless books in a missionary/evangelism sense to skeptics and critics, which erodes profits; in addition, publishing in general is expensive. We began the publishing company knowing absolutely nothing about publishing, but we met Ray Yungen, who had been carrying around an unpublished manuscript for two years (A Time of Departing). After we read it, God removed a veil from our eyes, and we knew that book had to be published. We came to learn that most Christian publishers would not publish material exposing the dangers of contemplative spirituality, thus we began Lighthouse Trails. Soon after, we came under a very intense attack from the enemy. It seemed that as soon as we started Lighthouse Trails, life changed for us dramatically. I remember thinking early on, if this is what life is going to be like from now on because of LT, I don’t want to do this. But my husband, Dave, and Ray Yungen, in their leadership and guidance, assured me that this is what we were supposed to be doing. In time, we came to understand that what we were suffering was minor compared to what martyrs in the past have suffered, and we, like all Christian believers, should count it a privilege to serve Him.

We want to assure Lighthouse Trails readers that we are not becoming commercialized, in the negative sense of the word. The idea of the tea came to us several months ago, and after much thought and prayer, we felt that perhaps God had given us this idea as a way to sustain ourselves and also help sustain Lighthouse Trails. We do not depend on the income from Lighthouse Trails for our personal lives. We have never wanted to be dependent on it so that we would never be tempted to compromise just to make a living. But that means we have had to work in other capacities.  And this means very long hours, definitely no vacations, etc. etc. But we have believed so much that we are supposed to be doing this ministry that we have gone to any lengths we can to keep it going.  In the past, we made enough from book sales to put money back into the company so we could do new books and DVDs, which we felt were urgently needed. Now with the economy in its present crisis, Lighthouse Trails is not holding its own, and we must have other ways to help support it.  The tea is a pragmatic idea and also points people to the Word of God in a small way. It will also be a blessing and encouragement to those who enjoy it. We believe it does fit in with the Lighthouse Trails mission.  The typical thing for ministries to do when in financial stress is to send out pleas for donations. But because we are not a non-profit ministry, we generally do not seek out donations, and thereby see the necessity for being “tent makers.” We believe this little tea company, while blessing others, will also help assure that Lighthouse Trails can remain active for years to come.

Deborah Dombrowski
Editor at Lighthouse Trails Publishing

You might also want to read our statement on “Why Lighthouse Trails is not a non-profit ministry.”

Lighthouse Trails interactive forum is now 1 month old. We hope you will consider checking it out. We just posted this video by Roger Oakland on the forum. Forum link: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/LTForum

The 2nd issue of the print Lighthouse Trails newsletter is in the mail to those on the mailing list. We have about a thousand extra copies, and if you would like some to distribute at your church or Bible study, just give us a call, and we can send you some. This is a free 32 page newsletter that will be coming out 4-6 times a year. Each issue will carry Lighthouse Trails’ most significant stories as well as other features like Letters to the Editor, Product Catalog, Q & A, Resources and more. While the newsletter is free (on a donation basis for those who wish to help cover printing and postage), for these quantity mailings we only ask that you cover postage to send you your extra copies. Typically, we can ship 8 for $4.95 or about 45 for $10.20 for U.S. mailing. You can pay us by check, Paypal, or a credit card. If you want extra copies, call us at 866/876-3910 (US & Canada). For other international, call 406/297-7756. Or you can email at editors@ftlh.org or fax request to: 406/297-7993.

On June 22nd, 2010, Lighthouse Trails launched its first forum/message board. A great place to leave comments, talk to others, and learn more about defending the faith and understanding the look of spiritual deception. You can get to the forum by clicking here. If you want to post discussion there, you will need to register.

On April 9th, Lighthouse Trails Publishing and Lighthouse Trails Research relocated from Oregon to Montana. We have been anticipating and preparing for this move for some time. Our new contact information is as follows:

Lighthouse Trails Publishing & Research
P.O. Box 908
Eureka, Montana 59917

Main Phone: 406/297-7756
Fax: 406/297-7993
Toll Free Order Line for US and Canada (same as before): 866/876-3910
Other international orders, call: 406/297-7756

While Lighthouse Trails does not offer an interactive blog or forum at this time (because of time restraints in having to moderate such efforts), we do have a Guestbook on our research site, which allows readers to make comments and even reply to other people’s comments. We post about 95% of all comments sent to us. We do accept comments that criticize us and challenge us, but only if they are presenting these opposing views in a manner that is non-vitriolic and non-derogatory. Anyone who is familiar with the writing at Lighthouse Trails knows that while we do name names in order to identify and warn about false and dangerous doctrines and teachings, we do not speak in a mean-spirited fashion nor do we attack any individual’s person. We started the Guestbook as a way for believers and defenders of the faith to encourage one another in truth and love. Please visit our Guestbook and see what others have to say.

Other Ways to Communicate with Us:

Email, call, fax, or write

Write to our authors

LTRP Note: For those looking for ways to help the people in Haiti and give money to trustworthy organizations, we would like to recommend Moriel Ministries as one.

from Moriel Ministries

THE DISASTER TO HIT HAITI IS POSSIBLY THE GREATEST NATURAL CATASTROPHE SINCE THE TSUNAMI. HAITI IS ALREADY A ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD PLAGUED BY ENDEMIC CORRUPTION, AND THE DEMONIC HYBRID CURSE OF VOODOO AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM WIDELY PRACTICED TOGETHER.

There is however a growing population of born again Evangelicals and many truly saved missionaries serving Jesus and helping the impoverished people, especially children. Moriel will distribute all assistance collected to Bible based conservative Evangelical ministries engaged in the humanitarian effort. Click here to continue.

For coverage on the situation in Haiti, go to Koenig’s International News with Bill Koenig.

On October 27, 2009, an unknown source hacked into the Lighthouse Trails dedicated server. It was discovered that the entry point for this attack was our blog, due to older software which had caused a vulnerability. For security purposes, our server was immediately shut down when this intrusion was discovered.

Our websites have now been moved to a new dedicated server and are fully functioning again. However, even though we had a back up of the blog contents, it has been determined that the blog cannot be restored without compromising the new server.

The good news is that all of the 1700 articles that were on the original blog are also on our main research site, mostly in our e-newsletters. If you are looking for a particular article, just type in the title of the article into our search engine, and you should be able to access the article. If you are looking for information on a particular topic, then also use the search engine or our topical index. Below are some helpful links to assist you.

TOPICAL INDEX

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES

A CACHED FILE OF THE ORIGINAL BLOG THROUGH OCTOBER 2007

COMING SOON: A SPECIAL INDEX OF ALL BLOG CATEGORIES THAT WE HAVE COVERED IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS