Giveaway- The God I Was Given by Scot Loyd

This is only open to those with a USA mailing address. There is absolutely no cost to enter. (Be sure to read to the bottom of this post to discover seven other books we are giving away this year.)

This is your chance to receive a new copy of the memoir, The God I Was Given: Looking for Faith After Losing My Religion by former United Pentecostal Church minister Scot Loyd. This copy was donated to us by Scot and is signed by him.

Then, one day you discovered something about these recipes.. something not so wonderful.

You discovered that the recipes you’d spent your entire life learning, preparing, and perfecting were actually recipes that were used to abuse, poison, and, in some instances, kill others. You learned that generations of people grew up in homes where they were force-fed these dishes, the same dishes that were the signature dishes of your family kitchen.

For so long, you and your family believed these dishes to be good, but in reality, so many others suffered because of them. After learning all this overwhelming information, you decided that you no longer wanted to cook these meals, nor eat any of the food that was produced by your traditional family recipes.

So you just stopped.

Your family and friends were, of course, concerned. They protested, insisting that you were turning your back on your calling and talents, and on the traditional recipes that nourished your family for generations. They dismissed the information you obtained as “lies.”

They suggested that those who were hurt by the dishes prepared by your family simply didn’t follow the original recipe, or that they never actually even tasted any of the food. Then, when you presented plenty of evidence showing that many were harmed by eating the food, they’d say, “Nonsense! The food isn’t the problem. There must have been something wrong with how they ate it!”

Or, “They should have tried harder at preparing their palette to be worthy of such delicacies. Obviously, their systems weren’t ready for such delights. There isn’t anything wrong with the food… others have eaten it and haven’t died!”

Now, what if this wasn’t actually about a family of chefs sticking closely to generational recipes? Imagine this was really about religion and a family of well-intentioned people who truly believed they had the equivalent of a recipe that would send people to heaven in the afterlife. That this recipe for religion, if followed closely, would help them avoid the literal burning lake of fire for all of eternity.

These good people were so convinced of their faith in the recipe given to them that they lived every aspect of their lives by this refined recipe. Any deviation from the instructions was frowned upon, with the person who deviated shamed and often ostracized by their community.

This giveaway is a drawing. To enter, just leave a comment to show you wish to be included. The drawing will close on January 9, 2026 at 6pm (eastern time), after which I will draw a winner.

Be sure to check back to see if you have won as in the past some people have not responded after winning and so a new winner had to be drawn. You will then need to email me your mailing address if I do not already have it, so be sure to watch your email and check the spam folder. If I know your Facebook profile, I will message you there.

Don’t be alarmed if your comment does not immediately show as it may require approval.

You may want to subscribe to the email notifications of new blog posts in order to not miss these. While we try to share about our giveaways on social media, those platforms often do not show the posts to many people.

In 2026, we’ll be giving away one copy of each of Thomas Fudge’s books on the UPCI/Oneness Pentecostalism (Christianity without the Cross: A History of Salvation in Oneness Pentecostalism, Heretics & Politics: Theology, Power, and Perception in the Last Days of CBC and C.H. Yadon and the Vanishing Theological Past in Oneness Pentecostalism), plus Women and Worship at Corinth: Paul’s Rhetorical Arguments in 1 Corinthians and Unveiling Paul’s Women: Making Sense of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 by Lucy Peppiatt, as well as Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination: Volume 1: The Modern Redefinition of Tongues and Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Volume 2: Tongues through Church History by Philip E. Blosser & Charles A. Sullivan.

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