The Good News Series Study Guide Read online

THE LUMENARIA

  The Lumenaria is a secret society formed several centuries ago. I patterned them after the Illuminati (which some people don’t believe exists). This group was not born out of the church but they have members in EVERY organization, club and network, including the church. They believe their main goal is to guide the world into the new age with their help. They are all about power and control and will do anything to keep it. They have a prophecy given to them a few centuries ago that leads them to watch Sidney, Cadence and others they’ve deemed “the gifted”. They don’t understand that the gifts are available to every Christian and are focused on the ones who are manifesting their gifts. So far, the Lumenaria is only mentioned in BJ, but they are always around, even when you don’t see them 

  DREAM INTERPRETATION

  Dream interpretation is the ability to discern when a dream is from God and what God is saying through the dream. In the bible, Daniel had the ability to do this. You can read the accounts in Genesis, chapters 37, 40 and 41. In the Good News Series, Sidney has the gift of dream interpretation, as does Pastor Esther Cyrus.

  ARMOR BEARERS

  Armor Bearers are a relatively new phenomenon in the church. Generally speaking, they are a small group of men assigned to help a local pastor with light duties. At this point, I’ve only seen and heard this group connected with African-American churches in the last fifteen years or so. These men provide aid to their pastors and take off some of the burdens he experiences by driving him to/from engagements, carrying things for him, etc. In the book BJ we see where this thing, meant for help, turns into something harmful.

  ANOINTED/THE ANOINTING

  In her book, The Costly Anointing, Lori WIlke states that the word anointing literally means “to rub”, and can be interpreted as meaning “to smear with oil”. In the Old Testament, when someone was anointed, they actually had oil poured or rubbed on them. Back then anointing someone usually symbolized a calling of some sort. Now that we have the Holy Spirit, He becomes the oil that is poured out to enable and equip us to complete the tasks God has assigned to our hands.

  ABSTINENCE/CELIBACY

  Abstinence is a part of Christianity that many single (and some married) people would like to leave out of their Christian walk. The bible is clear, however, that we are not to engage in sexual intercourse with anyone who is not our spouse. If we are going to surrender our lives to God, He wants it all, not just the parts we want to submit to Him. The following scriptures on abstinence will help make the matter clear:

  1 Corinthians

  Galatians 5:19

  Acts 15:20

  Colossians 3:5

  1 Thessalonians 4:3

  FASTING

  Fasting is the term used when one abstains from food. A fast may also consist of abstaining from other pleasures. The bible mentions three types of fasts: the normal fast, where no food is eaten, but water and sometimes juice and/or broth is consumed to keep up the person’s strength; the partial fast is mention in the book of Daniel where Daniel and his companions only eat vegetables; and the absolute fast is where no food or water is taken in and should only be done for a short period of time. You can do an individual fast or fast with others and make it a corporate fast. Jentezen Franklin has written a great book titled “Fasting” that explains the concepts and benefits of the practice. Some scripture references can be found below:

  Judges 20:26

  1 Sam 1:7-8

  Esther 4:16

  Isaiah 58:3-6

  Matt 4:2

  PRAYER

  Prayer is how we communicate with God. Since most people know what prayer is, I’ll just list some scripture references below:

  Philippians 4:6

  Isaiah 55:6

  Matthew 26:41

  Luke 21:36

  Proverbs 15:8

  TITHING/GIVING

  Tithing is giving one tenth of your income to God. Again it’s pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll just include scripture references below:

  Numbers 18:25-29

  Deuteronomy 14:22-26

  Leviticus 27:30

  Malachi 3:9

  2 Corinthians 9: 6-11

  STALKING

  According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, stalking is defined as the harassment or persecution of someone with unwanted and obsessive attention. If you add technology in the mix, you have cyber stalking. Stalking is a big component in the book NW. What Sidney experiences in the book shouldn’t happen to anyone. Unfortunately, people get so far away from God that they start believing their comfort or sense of power comes from their attachment to or manipulation of another person. Anytime a person becomes more focused on the creation and not the creator, this scenario is possible.

  FBI

  The F.B.I. is an American institution set up by the government to provide law enforcement. The full name of the organization is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is similar to SOCA in the U.K, the RCMP in Canada or ASIS in Australia.

  INTERCESSORY PRAYER

  I found the following definition on the website: www.spirithome.com/intercessory-prayer.html,

  “Intercessors take situations of other people to God in prayer. It’s an act of bold love that’s like God’s own. God want you to care that much.” The website goes on to explain that anyone can intercede on behalf of a sister or brother, but certain people are gifted in this area. According to the website, those gifted at intercession “often report they’re driven to their knees to pray about something they can’t otherwise have known was happening.” This is a gift that the character Liz has. We see her pray near the end of EGN but we see the gift of intercession fully manifested in LN.

  DMV

  As I explained in NW, DMV is a moniker given to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. I spent most of my life in that area, but this term is fairly recent. I first noticed it being used heavily around 10 or 15 years ago. It simply stands for D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The city of D.C. is bordered on one side by the state of Virginia and on the other by the state of Maryland. It’s very common to travel to or through all three in a day.