Category: Pact Blogs

Pact Blogs – Spiritual Warfare #1

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Pact Blogs

In our walk with God the enemy will try to attack and distract us.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ~ 1st Peter 5:6-8 ESV

Hello Pact Keepers.

I’m sure you have read the verse above before, if not I’m sure its pretty clear to understand, as our enemy the Devil clearly wishes to see us devoured by the sin and violence of this world a roaming lion is fitting imagery, but lets consider these words a little more before we move on with it.

The enemy our our souls will use many means to cut us off from God, its what lions do, the don’t go for the biggest, strongest well backed members of a herd, predators will always focus down on the prey that is the most vulnerable if they can and will try to cut a member of the ehrd off from the others so it is easily brought down.

When we are beset upon by dark forces it can com in many forms; Anger, Fear, Depression, Anxiety, Domestic troubles, Financial issues, Grief and more and these are the lion’s roar, these things are used to try and separate us from safety, from the closeness of God that keeps us safe. These things and more cause us stress and discomfort and when that sets in we become uneasy and begin looking for reasons to fix it or question why its happening.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Pexels.com

We as believers know for certain that God is in control of all things…So doesn’t that mean he should have been there to block this from happening? Isn’t God pay attention, why is he letting me be harassed and letting this go on? We are unnerved and begin to question the safety of the one supposedly protecting us and we panic and leave our defender making a mad dash for safety…

…Just like the lion wanted.

When the pains and stress of life sets in Pact Keepers its so easy to blame God and wander away but once we do we are playing right into the enemy’s hands.

It is never easy to suffer but when the lion roars we must hold our ground and hold to the place of safety we have found, God will not forsake us but if we leave his side he cannot force himself on us to protect us as we actively deny he is a place of safety.

As it says….

Image from DailyVerse.net

When the lion roars rather then question or get angry at God we need to lean into him, there was never a promise that trials would not come but there are many that promise a better future for the children of God and we must believe that God cam, will and wants to save us from the lion looking to cut us off Pact Keepers.

So stay vigilant, stay sober minded and hold to God when the enemy is at the door, its hard but is our strong tower and impervious shield, if you start to run away just remember you can and must run back to the safety of God’s fold as soon as possible.

Stay safe, stay cool and God bless Pact Keepers, until next time!

[Uplifting Christian Blogs] ~ The value in pursuing Righteousness.

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Lil'Blue, Pact Blogs, Uncategorized

Spiritual words of Encouragement and Strength

Christian comic books online

One of the things we learn in this world Brothers and Sisters is that all things on this world are finite, temporary, living on borrowed time.

From the stars in the sky that will one day burnout in a fiery nova to the lowly gnats buzzing outside who will live their lives in just a few days and this can be a scary thing to think about, that nothing here on this planet is permanent but in truth some things here are, they are just not OF this world.

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil—some, longing for it, have gone astray from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ~ 1st Timothy 6:11

Here we read a warning to avoid evil things, particular the pursuit of money, I can attest that being greedy and wanting money for money’s sake is a poisonous mindset, money is like food and water, its a resource we need but is not all there is, its tangible and perishes and is not worth any of our short time on Earth to idolize as something more then a resource.

So if we should not spend out time pursuing worldly things, even something as valuable as money then what is it we can pursue that is worth our important time God has given us here? Look at the verse again, we are called to pursue a set of actions, mindsets and virtues, forms of good character and love.

Photo by samer daboul on Pexels.com

But why is this of any use to us, if we have already said our time is so short why pursue these ideas and actions over things we want or can lay our hands on? The answer is simply, these things are not simple attributes, these are attributes that reflect and are treasured by God himself, these things are seen as immensely valuable to the very King of the Universe who is eternal and thus these things will live on forever with him and will not share in this world’s limited lifespan.

As children of God we are called to not only want these things but pursue them because they are valuable for all time, we will take our full measure of these things with us from this world and build on them further after the Revelation of Jesus Christ (The Apocalypse). We can only take our Faith and good character with us because it is the “Treasures stored up in Heaven” that Jesus referred to so it is our acts of charity, forgiveness, faith and other redeeming godly traits that will benefit us for all eternity and we only have so many days to stake our claim in this world.

So let us not get blinded by the perishing things of this world, let us pursue them only as far as they will help us store up our REAL treasures for the world that will remain forever after this one is gone because the next one will make this world look like a simple grain of sand on the coast line.

So do not be afraid of the setting sun or the ticking clock, do not shed to many tears for the things you may or may not get in this world that cannot be invested in your eternity, live your best life each day and make wise choices in how you act and treat others, in your thoughts and actions for it is always of value when we pursue righteousness!

Hey Pact-Keepers, if you enjoyed this blog please leave a like and or share it around, its truly helpful to me and its ALWAYS appreciated.

If you can’t follow us here consider liking us on FACEBOOK today to stay up to date on new posts and comics!

God bless and have a great day!

[Lil’Scriptures] Isaiah 58:11

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Lil'Blue, Pact Blogs

Children’s Bible Study comics.

Christian Comics For Youth

As easy as it is to feel lost in this world its a comforting fact that as God’s chosen ones, his family here on Earth he has seen our days from first to last and will guide us through each according to his plan.

Worry won’t make life easier or the path smoother, give it to God and trust him to guide you, even when you yourself can’t see the path!

God bless Pact Keepers!

[Pact Comics : Quick Encouragement] Deuteronomy 31:6

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Pact Blogs

Message from God to you

Photo by Wendy van Zyl on Pexels.com

Chazak! Be courageous! Do not be afraid or tremble before them. For Adonai your God—He is the One who goes with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.” ~ Deuteronomy 31:6

I’m the first to admit that life CAN be scary, there is so much wrong in the world and so much pain within in us from trying to live in this broken world. There will eventually come a time where you feel like you cannot do this and fear grips you.

It happened to Moses, his brother Aaron, Abraham, Jacob and all of the Disciples but like these memorable figures God will strengthen us if we come to him with our fears and THAT is the most important part, we have to come to him!

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

When we approach God with our fears and uncertainties on ANY matter it shows that while we may be afraid we honor God by coming to him with it because it is an act of faith that HE is grater then that fear no matter how bad it is.

So trust the God who has promised NEVER to leave your side and bring your fears to him as an offering of faith and you see as you trust him with these things he will strengthen you to face them and to see them pass either by calming the storm or calming you during it.

God bless Pact-Keepers, until next time!

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#Christianselfhelp #comfort #Christianlifehacks #dailyprayer #Christianblog #christianlifeblog

Pact Blog: Waiting on God even when it hurts.

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Pact Blogs, Uncategorized

God’s timing is surprising; he usually seems late but always arrives just in time.

Photo by Adrien Olichon on Pexels.com

Dear Child of God, are things taking longer then you expected, are your prayers seemingly bouncing off the ceiling and the pain of following God more then you thought you could or would have to bear? I know it is, I stand in this wilderness with you as well as I wait for my prayers to come to pass as well and I want to tell you that this pain and time lost, is exactly what you need.

You don’t want to hear that, heck, I don’t wanna say it, but it is true because while we are God’s beloved treasures, his dearly loved children we are akin to gold just dug from the ground; we are dirty, rough and mixed with impurities that hold us back from being truly valuable. God mines us from this fallen world and as we know all of Heaven celebrates us being found but after that joyful victory there is much to do.

Gold needs to be put into the furnace, broken down and cleansed through fiery ordeal and then molded into a new thing and while for the gold this is an intense experience, afterwards it is now truly ready to be called treasure!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

But don’t take my flowery metaphors for it, scripture is full of esteemed Believers who display this very thing!

Let us look at a person who was literally as close to Jesus as a person could get, Peter, the rock on which Jesus would build his church but the absolute joy he had in discovering Jesus was not the end, no, it was only the beginning because you cannot just grab a rock at random and build on it, it must be cut and repurposed from how you found it. We see this in Peter’s life when just before Jesus was crucified we read this interaction between Jesus and Peter…

“Simon, Simon! Indeed, satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

But Simon said to Him, “Master, I am ready to go with You even to prison and to death!”

But Yeshua said, “I tell you, Peter, a rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.” ~ Luke 22:31 TLV

We see many things here so lets break it down!

  • We see Jesus clearly stating that Peter’s walk with him will include trials: It strikes me as so odd that we has believers seem to forget how clearly the Word of God warns us not to be surprised when trials and hardships befall us and yet somehow we always seem to be at least somewhat confused when they do and further more we seem to forget that God is assuring us he is on our side and actively helping us even before they come.
  • God intends these things to not only strengthen us but others after we have passed through the trials: This is the first thing that Jesus instructs Peter to do meaning that MANY believers are going through hard and confusing times, as we grow and are strengthen by our ordeals we must pass on the wisdom and hope we have taken ahold of and pass it down the line so others can benefit from it as well so that perhaps we can serve as stable footing for those trying to find solid ground in their journey.
  • Simon-Peter is clearly a great example of the common believer, he is passionate, confident….And brushes the idea of trials under the rug as if he is above such things: As I mentioned earlier, our zeal and conviction as followers of Christ often gets deluded by our human pride and confidence in ourselves and we ignore clear warnings and seem to believe ourselves invincible until we are knocked off our lofty perch. Yes, this is wrong of us but God does not see us humbled out of anger but love, Peter is warned you will “Sifted” not “Put in your place” one does not sifted wheat to destroy it but to get the best out of it after all.
  • Jesus knows we will fail him, but he is already looking towards our redemption and not lingering over our failure: Again, let me remind you that Peter is as close to Jesus as one can get, they are dear friends, Master and Apprentice and have spent many, many months together on the road and the fact Jesus KNOWS Peter will deny him as Jesus goes to be tortured and killed is a massive betrayal perhaps even on par with Judas’s betrayal (At least on a personal level for the two.). Despite this however Jesus is already looking past it here and telling Peter what must be done once he has the wind back in his sails, this is because Jesus died for our sins, our failures and shortcomings, he has gotten rid of them and does not want to waste time on moments of forgiven failure but wants to move forward with us to our moments of growth and strength.
Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

So there we see it.

God is not leaving us to die in the wilderness, he is not ignoring us and he has not forgotten us to time, pain and trials but is purifying us as we learn to wait in him and trust his process and timing so that we can learn to put our own visions and ideas of him and ourselves away and discover who God truly is and what it means to be a true child of God, to have faith that stands both in the days of ease and the torrent of trials.

As long as we seek God, learn to trust his timing despite how long the wait or how weary the trial has been we will, like Peter and the men and women before him, have the desire of our hearts, have all we need here on Earth and a bright endless future in the world to come.

Until next time, God bless Pact-Keepers!

Pact Blogs: Who is Lil’Blue?

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Lil'Blue, Pact Blogs, Uncategorized

Christians, chibis and the reader’s voice!

From mascot to Christian chibi and fan favorite

Odds are even before you clicked this link you have seen this little character hanging around this site, my social media accounts and in many comics I’ve done before but Lil’Blue was not an intentional character, in fact I never meant for him to become more then a logo but Lil’Blue would prove to be uncontainable!

So lets take a look at the face of Pact Comics, The character that started the charge for my Christian chibi hoarde, the one who has been in the most pact comics and the character who by far has gotten the most love over the years…

In The Beginning

Lil’Blue met paper for the first time in 2014, roughly a year after I started my comic studio under the name Dy Comics and I was studying branding pretty heavily then and I remember reading that a mascot was a good way to get people to personalize your brand and make it more memorable.

The article cited Disney’s Micky Mouse and Pikachu from the Pokemon series as examples and I saw their point, these characters had long put a face to the names they were associated with and with this thought in mind I went ahead and began shaping my own brand face, taking the beloved fanatsy icon of the dragon and adding elements from my characters both past and current and before I knew it I had…Yudra?

This was the name of my very first series and I thought it would make a nice homage to my humble beginnings BUT readers, some of you no doubt, began referring to this little guy by the common moniker “Little Blue” and after several months of this I decided it was the people’s will and Lil’Blue was officially born.

But as people latched onto this little blue critter I found myself being encouraged to show more of him and little by little blue made more and more quest appearances until finally he began getting his on series.

Lil’Scriptures

Lil’Blue made his official debut as a Pact Comics character in his Christian Children comic series “Lil’Scriptures” where a one panel comic depicting Lil’Blue themed by a bible verse. These quick little comics served as fast and easy additions to my otherwise slow and painful upload schedule and served as center pieces to many blogs in the past.

Christian Comics for kids

Modern Day

Lil’Blue after more then eight years has grown from cute logo decoration to the heart and soul of the Pact Comics in many ways, hes a little idea God gave me that turned into a flagship that has gone on to be the most successful character I’ve had to this day with Lil’Blue comics and merch being more and more common with each passing year.

Pact Store

This has slowly led to the Lil’Blue we come to today, a sweet, helpful if not precocious little chibi that acts as the anchor and moral compass for his often foil and counter part Dunk and making sure that no matter how dark things can get there is always something to laugh about, an icon that no matter what happens we need to make sure we keep a little hope and humor with us in the good times and the bad.

As a comci creator and a Christian its important to remember that God gave us imagination for a reason that part of creativity is flexibility, it means starting over, it means sticking to our guns, it means grabbing every idea and letting go of some and most importantly it means being able to let the other creative minds around you help shape the clay God has given you because God gave them a creative outlook just as valuable as yours!

So next time your sketching up a character you don’t will amount to to much, stick with them a little longer because you never know what God will turn that seed in your mind into, it might end up being the best thing you ever made!

Christian chibis

So that is a look at Lil’Blue, let me know what you think and what character you want to see in our next bio blog Pact-Keepers, until next time God bless and be safe!

Making Christian Comics: Where to host your comics

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Pact Blogs

Where to post your artwork so it gets seen?

Image from Melville Books using Google’s CCL Search

Now, before we move on to making actual comics there is a few details we should go over for the beginning of your comic making adventure, lets start with “Where should I host my comic series?” because as I learned when I was getting started, this is VERY important.

The answer for this can fall into one of TWO answers as a whole with exceptions but it mostly depends on what your series is going to be; Are you goin to post a webcomic when you can, keep a loose schedule and do it for fun mostly? I recommend making a dedicated social media page to host it on. Social media profiles are easy to make, have high populations of people casually browsing them for things related to their interests and are generally low maintenance for you to work with until your ready to move up to more serious hosting.

PLATFORMS THAT MAY WORK FOR YOU

  • Deviantart: This is where I got my start, its easy, looks good, built for sharing art and has tons of groups for people with the same interests as you where you can join and share your art for a traffic boost.
  • Facebook: Odds are you already have a Facebook account, as do millions of people looking for something to see on there! To host here all you have to do is venture to the options on the left of your feed and find the “PAGES” option and from their you will easily find how to create a Facebook page for your comic.
  • Twitter: Twitter is a heated place and home to a lot of drama these days but it is also home of millions of people and even more content, word travels fast and sharing interesting things is the nature of the little blue bird so perhaps it worth considering.
  • GAB: A new but growing social media platform that as soon a big boom in new users in the last few months. GAB is the social media equivalent of the Wild West right now but from personal experience hosting here can be freeing if your not afraid of a place with loose posting guidelines that many content creators are finding to be a breath of fresh air.
  • Pinterest: Pinterest is sort of a mash-up of Twitter and Deviantart, here people post and collect images onto “Boards” and it is easily one of, if not the most, used imagery related social media platforms today and while not as simple to get started with as Deviantart or Facebook it’s high focus on art and image related content makes it a valuable consideration for hosting your webcomics.
Image from Interesting Engineering via Google CCL search.

Or perhaps you are more serious about making comics into something MORE than a hobby, you want to focus on building a fanbase, having a consistent update schedule and trying to find a way to make a profit off your work be it commissions, Crowdfunding or ad revenue on your website.

If your looking to take your comic creating seriously then a simple social media platform won’t be enough, it will be important but your going to need something more. Your going to need to start building up your own website or blog to host and archive your works.

Creating is a website is a more time consuming, may require some money to get you going and will come with more responsibilities such as learning to track your stats, learn how to create a clean, easy to use design and experience for visitors and will require at least monthly maintenance to keep it running smoothly.

While a website is an investment and requires commitment it gives you more room to build your brand and heighten your reader’s experience with your works, so where is a good place to find hosting?

HOSTING THAT MAY WORK FOR YOU

  • Wix: Is not the most beginner friendly webhosting site but it does allow for more creative and personalized designs, customization and content posting as well as allows for a wide range of useful programs that can help you grow your site.
  • Weebly: A very user friendly and simple webhosting site that has a good range of themes, customize options and is great for simple webpage organization and makes for one of the better blog style site builders. (A word of caution, the build in stat tracker is not reliable and will require you to use a second party for more accurate numbers)
  • WordPress: Widely considered the industry standard for webhosting WordPress offers a wide range of design options and website themes, a wide array of add-ons available and built in site stat tracking that is by far the best of the recommended sites. (Note: WordPress is not the most friendly in terms of images sizes so be very aware of how to format your pages when you upload to WordPress)
  • Squarespace: Squarespace lands itself somewhere between Weebly and Wix in my opinion, it offers good design and freedom of creation but is not the most user friendly for some beginners and is a tad lacking compared to some other webhosting sites in my experience.
Photo by Sam Lion on Pexels.com

For hosting your works online these are your best options for a focused and strong start to building up your work online, finding a point of operation and building your work up from there is going to be the best first step you can plan when starting out.

So give it some thought and go explore these options to see if you can find a good place to start hosting comics, there is no wrong answer but it takes some time and exploration to find the BEST answer for you and your personal style. Deep roots in solid ground make for strong trees and strong trees often produce excellent fruit, so go find some promising ground and God bless Pact-Keepers!

Until next time!

Photo by Tom Swinnen on Pexels.com

Pact Blogs: God and Gratitude

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Pact Blogs, Uncategorized

Why Gratitude is essential to walking with God.

Photo by u0158aj Vaishnaw on Pexels.com

Rejoice always, pray constantly, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua. Colossians 3:17

Hello Pact Keepers!

We see the call to be thankful often in scripture, it directs us to focus on being thankful in and through Christ for all things but sometimes its easier said then done, right now I know people dear to me struggling with the covid virus, there is unrest in my life and needs that have yet to pass, feeling grateful for anything with so much hanging over us can be hard.

I will profess this as well, when you take the time to be grateful in face of these challenges who are greatly honoring God and when you truly decide to honor God and not idolize our issues we can better see that while our problems are finite God has been here before them and will be here with us after them!

So today if you think on matters and remember all the problems and hard times you have already come through with God you will surely find old and new reasons to be grateful and give God the trust and love we are called to hold to in our walk with him. This will give us hope, resolve and new strength to wait on the Lord and shows God how we are growing in him, something that will lead to God’s favor and blessings both now and down the road.

When we choose to rest in the memory and gratitude of God’s past actions and kindnesses on our behave it helps us to remember these new moments of uncertainty or pain are usually no more then passing things and always shows us that since we are still here we have survived ALL of our worst days and can trust God to carry through the ones to come until it is our spirit’s turn to be called back to hi, even then knowing we will be grateful to see our Father at long last come for us at the end of all things of this world.

Take some time to dwell on these things Pact Keepers and until next time GOD BLESS!

Making Christian Comics: Inspiration.

by Uncle Duncle, posted in Christian Blogs, Pact Blogs

How to get started making Christian Comics.

Digimon is owned by Saban Brands and not Pact Comics

I remember the scene above vividly even though its been more then two decades, my little sister and I had just finished playing “The Floor is Lava” and we needed a break after jumping all over the furniture around our living room. We decided to see what was on TV and as we skipped through the channels we I saw this scene, a giant cyborg dinosaur shooting shark shaped missiles out of it’s chest at a masked vampire that swatted it away with a blood red bolt of lightening….I was so enthralled by this admittedly bizarre thing I not a day would go by where I was not working on some kind of story again or doodling a comics in a notebook.

I was inspired.

Wolverine is owned by Marvel/Disney

Granted my inspiration was not just this, the 90s were such an interesting time as anime and manga began getting a real foothold in America, the internet was spilling into more and more homes rapidly and some of the best Marvel and DC content was being produced as well.

But there was something about that fight between Metalgreymon and Myotismon that seemed to seal the deal, God had filled me with more then a desire, it was a need to be apart of this custom of adding my on twist on the Creative Realm and years later I made the move to take it a step further and pledge my gift back to him in exchange for his support.

Pokemon is owned by Nintendo

So if you want to be Creative for Christ as well my advice is to remember moments like mine, moments you knew you you wanted to create fantastical things and give them to the God that inspired you through sometimes the oddest things…Like a dragon fighting a lava duck with a butt shaped head!

Be it comics, manga (Yes there is a difference), animation, music or writing you got to start by remember what lit a fire inside of you, why is it important to you? When did the feeling that you wanted to do this not just for God but with God come? Which of your ideas makes you the most excited?

Odds are when you know these you will know where to start, so take your time, think back and get ready to move forward!

Until next time Pact-Keepers, God bless!

Sailor Moon is owned by Toei