Why I Chose the Pen Name J.B. Cyprus for Letters to Bentrock
I chose the pen name J.B. Cyprus in honor of the first century Christian Joseph of Cyprus. The name is surprisingly unfamiliar to many...
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Website of Christian Author Joseph B. Cyprus
In the tradition of C.S. Lewis’ classic work The Screwtape Letters, Lucifer’s tempters pursue a new generation of "Prey" inside a Texas prison.
"Letters to Bentrock is, all at the same time, insightful, hilarious, serious and brilliant."
"a very modern and different take on the Screwtape format ... which today’s younger and more jaded reader may find more engaging"
“J.B. combines profound insight into the human psyche, a deep understanding of the Scriptures, and a real grasp of the false promises of a hedonistic culture."
Illustration by Yevhen Stepanov
BIO
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Joseph “J.B.” Cyprus is a pen name for someone who is not famous and whose real name would certainly not help sell books. He lives in Houston, Texas, is an executive in the renewable energy industry, a part-time venture capitalist, a repentant former management consultant, and a veteran of the US Military. Most of all, he is a person who strives and often fails to faithfully follow Jesus. He wrote a book about temptation and sin because it is the one theological subject about which he knows a great deal.
J.B. holds an MBA from one of those snooty, overpriced Ivy League universities and an undergraduate degree from a somewhat less snooty public university.
He was born in the Northeast US and has lived in Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina before settling in Texas. He has also lived or worked in several countries in Europe and in Asia. He is married and has two adult children.
J.B. has spent more than a decade as a volunteer in both the Jubilee Prison Ministry and the Kairos Prison Ministry and has served at numerous Texas prisons.
All author proceeds from Letters to Bentrock go to help support prison ministry programs.
Bio
LETTERS TO BENTROCK
An old devil's letters to young tempter
Paperback & Kindle
Paperback & Kindle
Book
From the Publisher
A brilliant and satirical look at today's spiritual warfare—told through letters written by a Senior Tempter to a new, Junior Tempter under his tutelage. In the tradition of C.S. Lewis' classic work The Screwtape Letters, Lucifer's tempters pursue a new generation of "Prey" inside a Texas Prison.
The Evil One has updated and modernized his lies and temptations, but his objective is the same: steer one more soul onto the broad road that leads to his home Below.
Follow along as Senior Demon Deumus teaches fledgling tempter Bentrock how to steer his Prey, a Texas prison inmate, toward the wide gate that leads to destruction. One would think that securing the damnation of this "bunch of criminals, thugs, and addicts" would be an easy task, but, as Deumus notes, it is not. "If they start to consider themselves - now naked and in a cage - the terrible, awful, incontrovertible truth occurs to even the hardest heart: I was made for more than this."
Readers will find themselves immersed in this realistic look at how tempters cynically leverage the modern culture and our human weaknesses to pursue their prey, both inside prison and out here in the "free world". Fortunately for our inmate, he is not alone in this fight. None of us are.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
“
Letters to Bentrock is, all at the same time, insightful, hilarious, serious and brilliant. The author has a keen understanding of the psychological and spiritual climate in a prison. It’s also true that, contrary to popular belief, prisons are some of the most challenging places for the underworld to do their work: The upper world is exceedingly active in this most unlikely of environments.
Highly recommended.
Dr. VANCE L. DRUM
Former Director of
Chaplaincy Operations
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
“
Wise and practical counsel for all who are or who have been imprisoned by desires of the flesh, the lies of the culture and the schemes of the Evil One. In his explanation of how followers of Jesus are so easily deceived and tempted, “J.B.” combines profound insight into the human psyche, a deep understanding of the Scriptures, and a real grasp of the false promises of a hedonistic culture. What results is a work too rich to be called a primer to the Christian life but that functions as a textbook for avoiding “the sin that so easily besets us” so we may live faithfully for the One who loves and saves us.
Rev. ROB RENFROE
Cyprus has a very modern and different take on the “Screwtape” format in that it takes place inside a prison (Cyprus was a prison ministry volunteer), which today’s younger and more jaded reader may find more engaging.
Author of Unfailing: Standing Strong
on God's Promises in the Uncertainties of Life, The Joy Stealers, A Way Through the Wilderness, The Trouble With The Truth, and others
J. ANTONIO JUAREZ
Senior Editor at The Everyman Commentary
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