Many of you have been keeping in touch since the BBC 3 documentary, in 2009, called “Deborah, 13: Servant of God.” Now at 17 I thought I would write a post to let the rest of you catch up with what I have been doing.

First and foremost, I am still a servant of God and my life is buzzing with meaning, purpose and fulfillment. The more I get to know God and His word, and the more wonderful Christian people I meet on my travels, the more excited I get about what God is doing in this world. Back in April I went to a young people’s conference with the New Frontiers church and was inspired by the energy and commitment of over a thousand students and twenties, all eager to share their faith with others and to make a difference in their every day lives. Next month I will be meeting up with a young lady, traveling over from Egypt, who contacted me after seeing the documentary, desiring to find out how she can live a more biblical lifestyle. What can I teach her? She has seen some of her Christian friends killed in the Cairo troubles recently! I am sure I will learn a lot from her instead.

Home schooling has continued to be an amazing tool to help me, not only gain great and exciting qualifications but also life and character skills that I can use in any situation. Holding a Diploma in Private Investigating, I also have certificates in Criminal Psychology, Crime Scene Investigating, Evidence Law, Handwriting Analysis, and Kinesics – which is the study of body language, as well as the Maths, English, Sciences etc. But not one GCSE or A’level!! This summer I venture out to Guildford to spend a week working with a Private Investigating firm and then back home to spend a week working along side the legal advisors at Yeovil Magistrates Court, to compliment my continuing law studies.

In my spare time I am working towards my Gold Duke of Edinburgh award. So far I have completed my skills section, taking an NVQ level 1 certificate in Horse Knowledge and Care. I am a member of the Yeovil Road Running club, regularly running – well slowly jogging – 5-7 miles, and I hope to participate some races over the summer to complete my physical section. The voluntary section needs to be completed over an 18 month period so I have joined the Yeovil air cadets, squadron 1032, where I have already received the Hutchings Award for best trainee cadet and been nominated, by my CO, to attend their Personal Awareness course run at the RAF Chaplains’ School in Hampshire. While at the ATC I hope to study towards a BTEC in Public Services as well as participate in flying, drill, field training, first aid, and a kayaking expedition down the River Wye, which will also count as my gold DofE expedition.

This weekend I’m off to Stoke-On-Trent where dad and I continue to teach “Furnished,” a free, evangelism training day to equip ordinary people to share their faith and fulfill the Great Commission, using the biblical principles as presented in “Way of the Master.” On 7th July we shall be in Oxford. It would be great to see you there, but if you can’t make it then why not book us up to come and speak at your church or group.

I am so looking forward to seeing how my life unfolds this next year as I move toward my 18th birthday. Until then I shall continue my studies, including learning to drive, so that I am equipped and trained to be the best I can be, ready to serve God wherever He may call. I hope that you too are training and equipping yourself ready to serve God, the best you can,  wherever He calls you to serve.

Have a great day,

Deborah

So, I’m Deborah 15 now and still a servant of God. What has been going on in my life and what are my plans for the future?

Since the documentary was first shown in March 2009 I have been busy answering thousands of comments and emails. I have been contacted by people across the world from every continent, and from all walks of life: from professional sports personalities to housewifes; from university students to police officers; local counsellors to hurting teens; from people who think I am brainwashed to people who say I have been an inspiration and encouragement to their own faith in God. Muslims, Hindus, JWs, Mormans, Jews, Atheists, and fellow Christians have all taken an interest in my faith and life, and web forums have pages of discussion about issues the programme raised. Richard Dawkins’ supporters had a field day!!

I have been on radio and TV interviews and spoken at schools, churches, conventions, and evangelism training events across the UK. I have given out  ’Origin of Species’ books that have a special introduction by Ray Comfort, to university students in Oxford, and have spoken in London. I have travelled to America and France and spent time sharing the gospel with people in Hollywood and Nice, and done a video conference with students in Canada, answering their questions.

It has been amazing to be able to motivate young people, and not so young people, to get out onto the streets and share their faith and to start living Biblical principles in their lives. If you want me to come and speak to your youth group or school or church, or lead some evangelism training with my dad, then feel free to contact me.

God is still faithful and gracious. I am continuing with my home school studies. This last year I have been focusing on criminology and law, completing a Private Investigator Diploma, and courses in Criminal Profiling, Crime Scene Investigating, Evidence Law, Kinesics, Anatomy and Physiology, and Handwriting Analysis, as well as the usual Maths, English, Science, History, Geography, Art, Cooking, and Sport.

I’ve been keeping fit this year too, working alongside (or should I say….way behind) my older brother as he has been getting fit to join the Army.

Matthew, whose university I visited on the documentary, has finished his degree with First Class honours, and is now a Restaurant Manager.

In six months I shall be 16 and am thinking about my future. I am considering starting a Bachelor of Laws Honours Degree combined with Maths. I am also hoping to be travelling over to America to visit some amazing friends I have made there since the documentary, and touring around to see some sites and possibly the Creation Museums in Kentucky and Florida. I hope to pop in again to Ray Comfort, and Eric Hovind (who were mentioned on the documentary) and maybe attend the Deeper conference. All this depends on whether or not I get a part-time job soon so I can save up for the flights!!

So life is full and exciting. I don’t know exactly what God has in store for the future for my life, but I know for all of us it is going to get tougher as the return of Christ gets closer, and until that time comes I will do my best, with God’s strength and help, to serve Him and Glorify His name and share the law and the gospel while we still have freedom to do so.

Have a great day,

Deborah Drapper

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8v38

I know you might be confused – “What? Deborah is giving out Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’! Are you kidding me?”

Well, I think it is only fair to give both sides of an argument. Ray Comfort, of Living Waters, has taken Charles Darwin’s original book and added a 50 page special introduction. This includes the History of evolution, Timelines of Darwin’s life, Intelligent Design vs. Evolution, as well as a clear gospel message. You can hear more about the Special Edition here.

If you want to buy some to donate to your library or local school then you can buy them here.

You can see how God blessed us in Oxford below.

Have a great day,

Deborah Drapper

Tony Miano and Me

Eric Hovind practicing openair preaching and me pretending to be a heckler.

Me trying to witness to some girls. But they weren’t very open to the gospel.

August Academy 2009

All these people mean so much to me now.

Me in Hollywood

As a result of the Documentary “Deborah 13: Servant of God” I have been invited out to meet with some of the people who have most influenced my Christian life. The first week I meet with Ray Comfort and the ‘Way of the Master’ team, and even get to join him on the streets doing outreach. Then I fly over to Florida to meet with Eric Hovind from Creation Science Evangelism ministry and then Rick Wiles of TruNews.

If you want to keep up with our trip you can see what we’re up to on Bible-matters twitter. Look down the left hand side of the Bible-Matters page and follow our tweets.

Thank you to everyone who has made this trip possible and I’ll try and write again after I get home.

Have a great day,

Deborah Drapper

Have a great day,

Deborah Drapper

The first week will be spent with some very good friends then Dad and I go to meet Ray Comfort and the Way of the Master evangelism team while Kirsty continues with our friends. Ray Comfort will let you know more about what we will be doing as you listen to a short clip from a recent radio interview below….

TruNews 23 June 2009

The second week we all fly from Los Angeles, on the West coast, across to Florida, on the East coast, and share a few days fellowshipping with Eric Hovind from Creation Science Evangelism ministry. I am really looking forward to being able to ask him lots of questions about creation and evolution and visit their creation museum/Dinosaur Adventure-land.

From here we fly again down to West Palm Beach where we meet Rick Wiles from TruNews Radio and may be his son who has been researching Noah’s Ark. On the Saturday Rick will be showing us his new 1000 seater mission tent.

We set off from America on the Sunday evening and arrive back in Great Britain at lunch time on Monday!!

It will be such an amazing opportunity and privilege to meet so many Godly people who are excited about God and the Bible.

So many of you have invited us to pop in and stop off at your houses. Thank you, but unfortunately there just wouldn’t be time on this trip. If anyone happens to be in Los Angeles, Pensacola, or West Palm Beach when we are then please contact me and it would be great to meet up and chat if we can fit it in.

Have a great day,

Deborah Drapper

This week I have been working on an article for a magazine called Earthen Vessels. This is a quarterly print magazine edited and published by an 18 year old, homeschool graduate, Emily Berge, and it’s purpose is to encourage, educate, and strengthen our commitment, as Christians, to the Great Commission.

Articles are written by adults, youth, and children, and frequently include topics such as large families, adoption, missions, and teens who are pro-actively making a difference.

If you would like to order a copy of this magazine then send your details to: Earthen Vessels, c/o Emily Berger, RR4, Lacombe AB, T4L 2N4, Canada

Or email djberger@platinum.ca

I hope you manage to get your own copy of this magazine and encourage Emily in her amazing publication.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

Have a great day,

Deborah Drapper

“If God is the so called “Supreme Being”, why is there War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption?”

This is a question that I have received several times in my emails so I thought I would post the answer on here so others can read my answer.

There hasn’t always been War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption. In Genesis Chapter one we hear the account of how God created the Earth. Several times He says that it was good, but in Verse 31 it says, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Everything that God made was perfect.

So what happened?
Adam and Eve, the first Man and Woman, were allowed to live in the garden of Eden and were given the fruit of EVERY tree in the garden to eat, except for ONE: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

But Satan, disguised as a serpent, tricked Eve by lying to her, and she disobeyed God. She ate the fruit from that tree and gave some to Adam to eat too. They had disobeyed the one rule that God had made. They had disobeyed God. Now because God is Holy and righteous (without sin) He has to punish sin and He judged Adam and Eve. (You can read these judgements in detail in Genesis Chapter 3) Basically their sin brought death into the world. Instant spiritual death and also the beginning of physical death.

So what has that to do with War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption?
The events that took place in the garden of Eden were the beginning of all these things. Sin, hatred, sickness disease etc all became worse and worse and all people will now die. The ultimate proof of your sin is your death. (Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”)

In a way death was a gift from God to escape from this wicked sinful world. Possibly God had to throw Adam and Eve out of the garden so they didn’t eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life because if they had they may have been stuck on this earth forever. Now we can get rid of these sinful bodies and be given new bodies. This world is going to get worse and worse until finally Jesus returns to destroy this fallen earth and make a new earth. In the meantime if we recognise our sin, repent of it, ask Jesus to take our punishment for us, then trust in Him, we can have eternal life with God.

Why is it God’s fault?
If you drive down the road and see a car all crashed up and bent with it’s windows smashed, do you say, ” Hey, Henry Ford, why is that car like that? You made it, it must be your fault!!” No! It isn’t Henry Ford’s fault that the car is in a mess. Neither is it God’s fault that the world is in a mess. When He made it, it was perfect. He gave man the opportunity to live in the garden of Eden, in a perfect paradise, for as long as they wanted. No suffering, no weeds, no backache!! But they chose to sin against God. They only had one rule and they sinned!! Just like you and I would have done too. Wars are caused by hatred and greed in man’s heart, as is hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption.

As well as God’s curse on mankind He also cursed the ground, and the earth is groaning as it falls apart. There are going to be more earthquakes, disasters, disease, etc. The only thing God promises He will never do again is flood the whole earth with water, as He did in Noah’s day. The flood was God’s judgement on wicked man and He gave mankind the chance to start again and guess what we did? Exactly the same as we did before. The Bible says that God is going to destroy this earth, and make a New Heaven and a New earth. We don’t know exactly when God is going to do this, but He gives us signs to look out for and it appears that there isn’t much time left. God is very patient and is giving people the chance to turn to Him first, but one day He will keep His word and it will be too late.

So instead of asking, “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” shouldn’t the question be, “Why doesn’t God just destroy us all? Why does He allow us to drink a cool glass of water and see a beautiful sunset?”

God is very patient. As we see a glimpse of what God’s wrath is going to be like we need to count it as a warning of what is to come. God made Hell for the devil and his angels, but God can’t and wont let sinners in to Heaven. The results of our sin is hurting others around the world, but most of all it is hurting God. He will not force anyone to come to Him, but He wants us to look around and see the results of our sin and call out to Him.

If you want to follow through a study that will help you understand better you can go to Finding God’s Way. This is a 4 lesson study from the Bible that will explain what God has done for you in more detail.

I hope this has helped to answer some of your questions. If you have any further questions after you have gone through Finding God’s Way then let me know.

Have a great day

Deborah Drapper

Take a look at Paul Grover’s website and see some of the suffering caused by wars and conflicts around the world today. Paul is an amazing photographer that I met when “The Telegraph” did an article about me back in March. Thanks Paul for letting me use your photo.

It started on Monday speaking with the Christian Union at Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis, then Tuesday was my Brother, Joel’s, sixteenth Birthday, and then Wednesday to Friday I was in London helping at the Living Waters Europe stand at the Christian Resources Exhibition.

Woodroffe School
Dad and I turned up early to make the most of the limited time we had at the lunch-time CU. After some games run by the Christian School’s Worker we ended up with only 30 minutes to answer questions that the students had about the film, my faith and other issues. There were a few questions on the filming and then about evolution v creation and one about hell. Then I was able to share the gospel and motivate the Christians to stand up for Christ even in the crowd with their friends. It felt so short, but we had to stop because their next lessons were calling!

There were around 30 students all together and I think about 20 of those were unbelievers. Several went home with Finding God’s Way books and Bibles and most took my contact details. I have been contacted by a few with further questions and am hoping to meet up and talk more about evolution and creation with one student.

Now I’m getting ready to do a web Conference with a Christian School in Canada on Thursday, so please pray for me. It will be great to be able to inspire and encourage them in their outreach using WOTM.

Christian Resources Exhibition
This was brilliant. A massive room full of Christian’s all sharing resources with each other and encouraging one another. Well, that is what it should have been!! But it was full of some very strange people, beliefs, and ideas, as well as the Bible believing Christians.

I was able to show people how to use the WOTM tracts and encourage them in their evangelism, but what was most fun was the fellowship with other like-minded Christians.

Dad got his video camera and I set off with microphone in hand and started to chat to Christians around the hall. I wanted to get different people’s opinions about their Christian faith and wasn’t surprised with what I heard.

The most interesting was a conversation I had with a New Testament Lecturer for Christian Theology form a University in Wales. After asking him a few basic questions about creation, Heaven and Hell, the Bible, Jesus etc, it was obvious that he had his theology up-side-down, in-side-out, and back-to-front. After 30 mins into the interview I was wondering why he wanted to lecture on the Bible when he didn’t even appear to believe or understand it himself? What was funny was that after the camera was off he handed me a leaflet and said – when you are older you can come along and study Theology for yourself. Oh, boy! You must be kidding me!!

I hope to get the interviews edited together and put them up here soon, so keep an eye out.

Have a great day

Deborah Drapper