Mary DeMuth

Scroll cleanse brought to you by my sweet cottage garden.

This stopped me. And certainly bothered me.

This, my friends, is a pirated copy of Boundaries in Marriage by and .john_townsend . You can tell by the typo on the bottom, and the line along the left side of the book.

I know my books are copied and pirated. But to see it up close like this—something I ordered in the normal way—discourages me.

AI has scrubbed 15 of my books. In my mind, that’s stealing.

My books are crawled, then copied, then sold. That’s pirating (stealing).

It’s disheartening to toil on the page, putting hard won words out in the world, only to have them stolen.

, you probably know about this, but in case not, here’s exhibit A of pirating of one of your more popular books.

This business is hard, friends. Hug an author today.

This business is just so hard, friends.

This book.

It started a couple years ago, actually, when I was reading the Bible in 90 days. (I try to do that 2 times a year). This time, I decided to write down every question (yes, physically write each one down) that God asked humanity.

It took awhile to fashion all that into a book proposal. There were a lot of nos for a 365 day devotional based on the questions of God. But took a risk, and , my dear agent, wouldn’t give up.

Today I typed the last word. The book became 125,911 words, my longest book. 733 pages.

I’ll need to edit it, of course, but the heavy lifting is over.

I learned that our God is curious. He is relational. And the One who asked the most questions? Jesus, of course. Isn’t it comforting that Jesus comes to us asking questions?

I believe that one of the best ways to love someone is to be curious. And Jesus demonstrated that for us.

The book will release next summer, so be looking for it. As far as my research has found, there is not one book discussing all the questions God asks us in Scripture, so this will be truly unique.

My theology brain is tired. I basically wrote an encouraging, devotional-heavy commentary of the entire Bible, word by word. I am ready for some mind rest.

But I’m grateful for this life as a writer. And I pray this book helps many understand how much God loves them.

New substack post:

The Uncreative Devil and AI And how that relates to sermon plagiarism

Dutch babies with peaches and berries I grew with a dash of theology. How’s your day starting!?

The history of Israel is steeped in the sins of idolatry. What that looked like prior to exile was simple and stark. The nation, against God’s clear commands, worshipped physical idols, bowing down to them on high places. These demonic “little gods” ruled the Promised Land prior to being conquered. They were supposed to be forsaken and destroyed, but their lure wooed many. The primary reason God sent the nation to exile was because of their adoration of lesser gods.

But something interesting happens when you get to the New Testament. You don’t really see the nation grappling with foreign gods. It’s almost as if they’ve learned their lesson. And the keepers of this better way of living were the religious leaders of the day who created elaborate sets of rules to prevent such a thing. They may have thought, hey, we conquered that one, and we learned our lesson. No more idolatry!

But they didn’t understand they were just as trapped by it. Just not in a form they expected.

We see Jesus lecturing the Pharisees in Luke 11.

Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.” Luke 11:39-41

Jesus spent a lot of time denouncing the ways of the Pharisees. He pulled away the layers, then exposed something sinister beneath: greed. Not only did the religious leaders oppress the people and tie unnecessary burdens on them, but they were greedy. They wanted more cash money!

Later, we see the Apostle Paul clearly calling greed what it is at its essence: idolatry.

“So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.” Colossians 3:5

When we look at abusive church systems, we can’t help but see the clear connection between their abuse and an underlying culture of greed.

Where have you seen this? Anything to add?

We’ve completed a lovely renovation of our downstairs, and I’m deeply grateful. My home is my peaceful refuge. We wanted the floors to look French (and they do). I eradicated nearly all gray. New paint. New baseboards. New feeling of ahhhhhhh. Happy.

We are learning about uncircumstantial joy at . It’s definitely a convicting teaching at the heart of Paul’s letter to the Philippian church. Oh that I would grow in joy despite difficulties. May I allow trials to make me more like Jesus!

I found a little cache of old paintings. Who needs a shift from chaos to love? I do.