G.A. Henty Radio Show: The Dragon and The Raven
April 27, 2009

The Henty show has returned. This afternoon, at 5 p.m. central, I will once again have the privilege to go on the radio with Mr. Bill Potter and Mr. Adam McManus of KSLR to talk about the book The Dragon and the Raven, by G.A. Henty. This is part of a series of "G. A. Henty" interviews that I have been doing over the course of the lest year with a number of friends.

The Dragon and The Raven takes place in the late 9th century and follows the adventures of a young man, Edmund, who is fighting under King Alfred "The Great" for the freedom of England from the Danish invaders. This book covers almost 15 years of wars under Alfred. In my opinion this is one of Henty's best out-lined books.

This is a really fun book that touches on the life of Alfred, the marauding Danes, and the early history of England. Henty does a great job as usual. This is also a good book for anyone who is interested in early British history.

-JT

P.S. If your not in the San Antonio area you can listen live here.

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 01:25 PM |

Happy Birthday Mr. Ballantyne!
April 24, 2009

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 03:02 PM |

New Book Review of The Norsemen In The West
April 24, 2009


Huzzah! A new book review has been posted on The Norsemen in The West. In this story Ballantyne paints a very interesting description of what The Vikings may have experienced during their first years in "Vinland." To read the book review by Dakota Grady you can click here.

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 02:41 PM |

Book Review of The Norsemen in the West

By Dakota Grady — April 23, 2009

"The Norsemen in the West" is a tale of a settlement in Vinland under a man named Karlsefin. The story begins in the [Read more...]

. . . Our Freedom!
April 23, 2009

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Those of you who read the BTB blog have probably noticed that I tend to enjoy writing about freedom, bravery, independence, etc,. About a month ago, I wrote a little piece about the importance of not being wimps and saps and rather fighting for "victory or death!"

On the 15th of this month, I had the privilege of attending the San Antonio Tea Party. The event was held right in front of the Alamo, and I am proud to say that more than 16,000 loyal Texans came out to stand against the monster that our political system has become. The Phillips family arrived at noon and stayed 'til long past 9:00pm. From the time we arrived tol the moment we left the Alamo, we were surrounded by thousands of Texans. It was great to see so many people looking to our constitutional heritage and our states' rights, whether they fully understood the Biblical-Christian implications or not, and thinking about the role of just government.

One of the gents putting the event on was Mr. Glen Beck of Fox News. My perspective differs from Mr. Beck's on multiple points, but I was thankful for the honest historical view of the Alamo and its defenders which was evident during his Television show live in front of the Alamo. It's not often that you catch the media being honest about history.

This was all great, but, for me, the climax of the day was at about 8 p.m. when my dad had the opportunity to speak to the thousands gathered in the square. After all of the good ideas and "fight for freedom" sound bites which were thrown around during the course of the day, it was very helpful to hear everything explained in terms of our duty as Christians.

I think this was a pivotal message for the events that day.

A very important point that I took away from the rally was that true Texan-Christians can't just scream against "tyrannical government," though we must speak out against it. True Texan-Christians need to look to the biblical roots of our state government.

If you haven't watched the four minute video clip of Dad's message at the Alamo, you can watch it now. (You can also download the entire talk free off of Behemoth.com.)


Posted by Joshua Phillips at 03:35 PM |

April 24: Happy Ballantyne's Day
April 23, 2009

Tomorrow, April 24, is R. M. Ballantyne's 184th birthday. He has been called the "rip-roaringest, globe-trekkingest, Christian boys adventure writer of the 19th century."

...he was perhaps the most influential writer of boys' literature from his generation. He was also a devout Christian of the Scottish Covenanter kind, and a globe-trekking adventurer whose sturdy prose earned him the moniker "Ballantyne the Brave" from none other than Robert Louis Stevenson.

<center> Ballantyne </center>
Ballantyne

He, self-consciously, wrote Christian tales of bravery, resourcefulness, and fearless exploration. He inspired hundreds of thousands of boys to embrace the call of manhood to its fullest, noblest capacity. And, even more important than the excitement and intrigue of his stories, Ballantyne's heart for evangelizing and discipling young men shines brightly as his books powerfully reveal that the sole safeguard against evil is the redemptive love of God. He said:

...In all my writings I have always tried -- how far successfully I know not -- to advance the cause of Truth and Right and to induce my readers to put their trust in the love of God our Saviour, for this life as well as the life to come. --R.M. Ballantyne, from Personal Reminiscences in Book-Making

One of my favorite things about Ballantyne is his fearlessness as regards manhood. II love this quote:

If there is any boy or man who loves to be melancholy and morose, and who cannot enter into the regions of fun, let me seriously advise him to shut my book and put it away. It was not meant for him.

Not that Ballantyne is telling people not to read his books. Rather, he is just saying 'be prepared for what I have to say about sappy blokes.'

Manliness. A good thing to remember every once in a while since we live in this culture of effeminate men. (Ballantyne surely would have called them "saps," "whimps," and anything else that would have come to mind.)

So, if you don't have the entire Ballantyne collection (And your not afraid to read what he's got to say) I would say GET IT NOW. Vision Forum is holding a 50% savings on the Ballantyne series. To find out more about boys & girls literature sales read here.

-JT

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 02:27 PM |

Coming Soon...
April 23, 2009

Need more be said?

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 12:29 AM |

Battling With. . . Tadpoles
April 22, 2009

Honor begins the vigil to guard against the intruding Tadpoles.

An invading "tad-thing" is spotted!

After chasing the invading creature into an "inlet", Lucas maneuvers in for the nab.

Lucas scores a victory! Time to move on to the next water-spot. (I hesitate to call anything this small an actual pond.)

Virginia, apparently, wants to hunt tad-things too.

Lucas spies another tad-thing hiding place. "Catch it, quick! Its another big tadpole..."

A nice drop and a slimy plop, in to the bucket he goes!

On the far shore we discover some already-dead tadpoles. Soon-to-be food for the crows.

Texas flowers.

A catch indeed!

Good times were had by all the warriors and the band came away victorious from the "battle of the tad-things."

-JT

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 09:09 PM |

Updates
April 22, 2009

A lot has been going on down here at the BTB headquarters. More travels and adventures (which I hope to post about soon.) More ideas and stories, and more emails. I hope to get to all of this in the next couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled! -JT

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 03:31 PM |

April 22, 2009

Previously unreleased image of R.M.Ballantyne!

This picture was sent to me a number of months ago by a gent in Oxford who apparently found it at a bookshop near to where he lives. I don't know where this image originally came from but it looks like the original had been signed by RMB. It seems that nobody knows anything else about the image. If you happen to recognize it or know where to find an original please don't hesitate to email me.

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 08:59 AM |

Are You A Fool?
April 01, 2009

Here's a great quiz that the Botkin family just put up on Visionary Daughters. This is not just a "Test your knowledge and find out how much smarter you are than the rest of the world" quiz. This test is a very revealing tool to check where we are as fools or wise young men and ladies.

Do remember that the only way to get results that reflect reality will be if you answer all the questions honestly. The point of this is not to rush through just putting in the "right answers." That would defeat the entire goal of the quiz. It is often hard to swallow the pride and give the hard answers but that is the only way we can hope to be wise men who hearken unto counsel or depart from evil. -JT

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 04:34 PM |