Irish Greetings!
I will now start to divide my blog posts into three sections; Reflections, Book Signings, and OIL Press News.
Reflections: With St. Patrick's Feast Day behind us, we look onward to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. However, here at Ohio Irish Lutheran Press, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day everyday with Irish music and focusing on what Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have done for us in creating the world in 4004 B.C.E. (Before Christ's Epiphany), Jesus living a sinless life, Jesus atoning for all of our sins on the True Cross at Calvary, Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit saving us in the waters of Holy Baptism, and Jesus sanctifying us with His very Own Body and Blood in the Bread and Wine of Holy Communion. St. Patrick's Day is a unique feast day, since it is always celebrated during the Season of Lent. Lent is a time of fasting from red meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent, it is a time to focus on Jesus' Sacrifice on the True Cross for the sins of every single person, whoever lived, and it is a time of confessing our sins and receiving the forgiveness of sins from our pastors and bishops, as though Jesus was physically standing in front of every congregation in the world proclaiming the forgiveness of our sins.
St. Patrick was a bishop and a missionary in Pagan Ireland. The Irish were not yet Christians, when St. Patrick was slave in Ireland or when he returned to Ireland, after his theological education was complete. The Irish worshiped the Celtic Pagan gods and goddesses, but St. Patrick pointed them to Jesus, Who died and rose again to save every single person from death, Hell, Satan, Satan's demons, Original Sin from Adam and Eve, and their own personal sins. Jesus is the Savior of the world and, as St. Ambrose highlighted in his Latin hymn Savior of Nations, Come, Jesus came to save all ethnic groups and, as Martin Luther said in his German translation of Savior of the Nations, Come, Jesus is the Savior of Pagans. Jesus came to save every single person and people from every religion. Jesus came to save Jews, Pagans, Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, deists, Satanists, Free Masons, and "nones" aka those who are not religious. What do Jews, Pagans, Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, deists, Satanists, Free Masons, and "nones" aka those who are not religious all have in common? They ALL need a Savior from their sins, demons, and Satan himself, because people cannot save themselves.
If St. Patrick was to come back to life, then he would preach the Gospel to all of these people. How many people would accept St. Patrick's message and how many would reject it? I don't know. I would hope, that everyone would accept it and experience water Baptism, so they can be saved. Sadly so many people have become obsessed with science and they have made science into a religion. His Grace Bishop Robert Barron, an American Roman Catholic Bishop, calls this problem "science-ism" and this science-ism is America's greatest heresy destroying Christ's Holy Church. Plus Paganism, Islam, and Satanism are growing fast in both Europe and North America. If St. Patrick were walking among us today, then he would continue to point us, Christians, the Pagans, the Muslims, the Satanists, and everyone else to Jesus' Death, burial, and Resurrection from the dead for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Amen!
Book Signings: I will be having two book signings in April 2019. I'm back in my hometown of Lima, Ohio on Saturday April 6, 2019 from noon to 2 PM at Shop for Good Gifts Boutique at 215 W. Market Street and on Saturday April 13, 2019 from noon to 5 PM at Little House Specialty Shop at 1341 N. Cole Street. I will be signing copies of my Christian romance novels The Rising of The Moon Book 1: Changing Tides Part 1 and The Rising of The Moon Book 1: Changing Tides Part 2 and my first mythology book A Survey of Classical Mythology at both book signings. Moon Book 1 Parts 1 and 2 are the love story of Richard McMurphy and Emily McMermaid with a lot history and theology mixed in. Moon Book 1 Parts 1 and 2 bring in the history of the Crusades, the Knights Templar, St. Gregory of the Christmas Tree, and the Doctrine of Holy Baptism along with ancient Greek plays by Sophocles. A Survey of Classical Mythology is a college level textbook about Greek and Roman Mythology, which continues to grow in popularity among both Christians and Pagans.
OIL Press News: I wanted to let everyone know, that my next Christian romance novel The Rising of The Moon Book 2: Faith, Hope, and Love is coming out summer 2019. Moon Book 2 is a continuation of Richard McMurphy's and Emily McMermaid's love story. Moon Book 2 starts at Christmastime and I plan to start promoting it during the 2019 Christmas in July Festivities. Richard and Emily meet Santa Claus along with Richard's best friend Max Bailey and several other people from Richard's hometown, Baldwin, Ohio, which is based off of Lima, Ohio. Richard tells his friends about both Christian Saints called Saint Valentine and St. Patrick. Emily McMermaid has another dream about Richard and her during the Crusades. I also have a history book called Martin Luther, William Tyndale, James Ussher, and their Work in Classics: With Other Christian Essays in the works and this will be my first history book. I hope to have my first history book published by Christmas 2019. We'll see, what both my time and finances allow for.
Thank you,
James W. O'Flannery, President and Founder of Ohio Irish Lutheran Press (OIL Press)