Tis the season to be jolly.

Or is it?

While friends and family is the focus for most, those without often turn to TruthMedia’s websites for someone to listen to them. Whether it is loneliness, overwhelming debt, broken families or even feelings being hurt at a party, the stress of the season is overwhelming for many.

Are you interested in becoming someone that can come alongside our mentor team during this time to help carry some of the burden? Just a few minutes a week answering an email can make a difference in someone’s life.

Apply here to become a prayer mentor. You don’t have to have all the answers, you just need to be able to pray.

It doesn’t have the media storm of controversy that preceded The Passion of the Christ, or the fictional reality of The Da Vinci Code. The latest foray by Hollywood into the religious theme is called The Nativity and by all accounts, it seems to be controversy free.

The Nativity Story is a film of the greatest story ever told and most initial reports say that it is pretty accurate.

At TruthMedia Internet Group, we want to help you use movies like The Nativity as an opportunity to introduce your circle of friends or square of acquaintances to Jesus Christ. That’s why we have put together another site to let you know about movies like The Nativity.

Visit our Movie Blog at movies.thelife.com.

At TruthMedia we are privileged to have an amazing group of trained volunteers that minister to those that visit our websites. We feel that God has brought them to us so that we in turn can help them make a difference in as many lives as possible. TruthMedia is in the initial stages of developing a tool that will enable churches and other ministries to do event follow-up more efficiently and effectively. More information on this will be passed on when its ready.

We were excited to do the follow-up for the Athletes in Action Grey Cup Breakfast during the CFL’s Championship Weekend.

On Saturday November 18th, more than 800 people attended the 28th annual Athletes in Action Grey Cup Breakfast. Fans were introduced to players and coaches from the two competing Grey Cup teams, the BC Lions and Montreal Allouettes.

The theme for the morning was “Victory”; dreaming of it, achieving it and wondering how long it lasts. Co-Hosts Barrin Simpson of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Kerry Joseph of the Saskatchewan Roughriders joined Dave Johns, AIA Chaplain for the Bombers in running the program. Players Anthony Cavillo of the Allouettes and Mark Washington of the Lions spoke honestly about their desires for athletic victory, but they were also honest about how long the feelings or satisfaction last. They
then talked about the lasting Victory in their lives – through the forgiveness of, and walk with Jesus Christ.

CFL coaches, Mike “Pinball” Clemons, Wally Buono, and Dave Ritchie were also interviewed. They spoke of the elements of victory from a coaching perspective and shared how they balance their preparations with their own personal faith in God.

Milt Stegall of the Blue Bombers was presented the annual AIA Gord Barwell award for exemplary Christian character on and off the field. ‘Fresh IE’, a two time Grammy nominated hip hop singer, also performed a high-energy act along with two young performers.

Barrin Simpson, the Blue Bomber “Minister of Defence” closed the morning with a clear presentation of the gospel and an invitation to the audience to give their lives to Jesus Christ. About 30 people responded to that invitation and another 30 re-dedicated their lives to Jesus.

The video of the Grey Cup Breakfast is available here.

Visit AthletesinAction.com.

Find out more about how you can be involved with TruthMedia.

The DVD for Dan Brown’s fictional work is coming out on November 14th.

Have you thought of ways that you can use The Da Vinci Code to share the truth behind Jesus and the church?

The controversy behind the book and the movie made it a best-seller. People are going to buy or rent the DVD and some may actually see the claims as truth. (The author still believes it is.)

I have an idea! Hold a Da Vinci Debate party at your house!

Here are some simple steps I came up with.

1. Go through some of the resources at davinci.thelife.com.
2. Rent the DVD and buy food and beverages.
3. Invite your neighbours for a movie night. Tell them you want to share more on the topic after.
4. Watch the movie together.
5. When the movie ends, take 10 minutes to share about who Jesus really is and go through some of the resources you looked at previously.
6. Share your testimony and give an opportunity for people to pray.
7. Ask people to leave their name, phone number and email for follow-up if they prayed or want more info.
8. Give them a copy of The Da Vinci Code: A Companion Guide to the Movie.

If you want advice on this idea or if you think I’m nuts, let me know.

For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

As a Christian, I am not surprised that two planes were flown into the World Trade Center with the express purpose of murdering thousands. I’m not surprised at the evil that exists in the world today.

Instead, I look to the good that comes out of the atrocities. People turn to God in the midst of the struggle as they realize that there is no where else to turn for answers.

On this September 11, 2006, I invite you to take a look at one who made a life changing decision five years ago that brought meaning to the day.

Meet Shoshy.

The September 2006 newsletter is available for download here.

Campus Crusade for Christ, International’s headquarters is just outside of Orlando, Florida on a large plot of land which holds two massive buildings, home to a few thousand employees.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend a few months worth of time over the years at the location which is always a fun time due to the people I get to work with when I head down there.

This past week, my team of programmers flew down to meet with a few guys from Global Media Outreach. We partner with their ministry on working towards best practices when it comes to internet ministry and internet marketing. One of those best practices is in the use of a system that allows us to match people that email us from our sites, with a trained mentor. This trip involved coming up to speed with how the system works and how we can help them through programming availability.

We enjoyed our time with the guys and had a blast with a number of team building times.

At TruthMedia Internet Group, we work with other ministries and organizations to reach the world.

This past month I was able to assist Lift Up America with a design for their email newsletter. Lift Up America encourages every corporate leader to become more involved in acts of generosity and kindness to those who need a helping hand.

With sponsors like Tyson Foods and LensCrafters, and sports teams like the San Jose Sharks and the Miami Dolphins involved, it will be exciting to see how the organization can meet the needs of America’s communities.

Did you know that TruthMedia Internet Group now has two devotional blogs?

In a partnership with Dr. Charles Stanley, we syndicate his daily devotional for men and allow our reads to comment. We also have a number of authors that write high quality devotionals for women.

Women especially are finding community amongst other TM Devotional readers and we are seeing people open their hearts and lives to others.

For example, when one reader found it difficult to forgive her neighbour that had committed adultery with her husband, another reader responded,

Some of the best advise that I ever received on this issue was from an associate pastor at my church. He said “fake it till you make it�. Forgiving is a verb, just like run or jump. We make a choice to forgive, the feelings will come later. We may have to “fake it� for awhile. When we “bless� the person who offended or hurt us (ie- say nice things to them, pray for them, treat them with respect) those feelings will eventually follow. I have been doing this for almost 2 years in a situation I am in and I am just now finally seeing a little progress in my own attitude. Read Psalms! David raged a lot and God still loved him. I KNOW that God loves all of us just as much. Don’t give up! Keep on, keeping on!

It always amazes me how people will open up their hearts to each other on the internet. Our mentors see amazing things happen as people feel free to share their life stories with us.

If you are interested in either the men’s or women’s devotional, you can subscribe to receive them in your email or if you are able, we have subscription feeds for men and women.

Can you honestly prove, with 100% certainty, that the Bible is true? Well no, sometimes you have to have faith.

It is very unusual for people to have an “Open Mind,” on any topic. I’d probably say it is impossible. Sure, minds can be changed but it usually comes down to arguing, not just the initial idea, but the presuppositions that people believe.

The reason we got involved in the controversy surrounding The Davinci Code, was it allowed us to talk about what people believe. In a world whose media bombards us with secular beliefs, claiming that they are facts, it is important for Christians to do what Paul did in Athens, and become apologists for the Gospel.

On our Discuss Davinci Code blog, we talk about facts and what people believe, not only about The Davinci Code book, but about the Bible.

For example:

â€? Test everything. Hold on to the goodâ€? again from The Bible. My point is The Bible has not been proven to be the 100% truth and so the above quote can not be proven to be 100%. In other words it is having faith in a quote that comes from a book that you have faith in. Don’t know if that makes sense but can’t think of another way to put it. – Chris (England)

Emmzee, a TruthMedia intern responded,

Chris, the thing is, most of the things we cannot be proven to be 100% truth, depending on how much “proof� you need. Let’s take a look at this fictional dialogue:

Fred: I have a brother named Jim.
Skeptic: I don’t believe you.
Fred: Ummm … why would I lie?
Skeptic: I don’t know. Maybe you’re crazy. You made the claim. Prove it.
Fred: Well … I have a picture of him in my wallet. Here, look. See it says “Fred & Bob June 2005″ on the back.
Skeptic: That could be anyone. How do I know it’s your brother?
Fred: But here’s one of us when we’re kids too …
Skeptic: Buh. That could be your cousin, not your brother. Or maybe your parents were just good friends. Besides pictures can be edited; I know how to use Photoshop and could make a picture like that in an hour.
Fred: Okay, what if I arranged a meeting, where you could meet him for yourself?
Skeptic: This “Jim� as you call him could just be lying. Or he could be crazy too.
Fred: But we have the same last name! And we look the same!
Skeptic: Could just be coincidence that your last name is the same. Or you could have changed it, it’s easy to change a person’s name. You could have just styled your hair, etc to make yourselves look similar, and/or had plastic surgery.
Fred: Argh!!! Okay what if we had a DNA test done? That would prove it!
Skeptic: Those tests could be faked. What if this “Jim� guy is a scientist? He could fake them himself. Or what if he’s a master forger? Or he could just bribe someone to fake them. There could be a whole conspiracy behind this!
Fred: You’re an idiot.

Of course this is a somewhat frivolous example. But it demonstrates that everyone believes things we can’t prove 100% and that we are quite right to do so The evidence in the article I posted above indicates that the Bible has been reliably transmitted to us (it suggests it is 99% accurate with regards to the original manuscripts). This should at least to consider its claims seriously.

These two comments were #150 and #151 on the article, “Did da Vinci paint Mary Magdalene in The Last Supper?”

It’s amazing how a conversation can get to the underlying issue. Honestly, does it matter what Leonardo painted? Of course not! What matters is whether the Bible is the foundation for what we believe.