Bergsland Design shares the section of the site concerned with graphic design and book production. It’s not a legal DBA, rather a long-used pseudonym covering my graphic design work. If you’ve read my about me page, you can see it’s been a winding road to this place. This page attempts to help you sort out what I do in one part of the three basic areas: graphic design, font design, and teaching.
Bergsland Design the designer portion
Obviously I design much more than books. I’ve got designs on Zazzle—though that’s languishing for lack of attention. I design fonts, and much of my income comes from there. I design curricula and have three courses online in Udemy so far. When I’m bored I design landscapes, home interiors, and recipes.
Pages in this portion of my work
- Niche Publishing with InDesign
- Book production
- Book production charges
- Book publishing with InDesign CC
- Books on production & design
Here are some posts in this general category
Mountains and islands gotta go
Mountains and islands gotta go —for real. Scripture is clear that the mountains will be laid low, the valleys will be filled and the islands of the sea will disappear. This is a major remodeling of the planet…coming to a time near you (probably within the decade).
“For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently.
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, and it totters like a shack, and its transgression is heavy upon it, and it shall fall, never to rise again.” ISAIAH 24: 18b-20 MEV
Mountains and islands gotta go in the tear down before the remodel
“For see, the day of the Lord is coming—the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it.
I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty. I will make people scarcer than gold—more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.
For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.” Isaiah 13: 9–13 NLT
“every island fled away, and the mountains were not found” Revelation 16:20 NASB
The mountains and islands gotta go as part of the remodeling of the planet
Finally, Isaiah again: “In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.” Isaiah 2:2 NLT
The mountains of Judea and Samaria will be converted to high pastures for livestock, with springs and running water. Basically, the prophets tell us that earth will be built back into something like Eden. It should happen in the next decade or so. The great tribulation takes seven years. The bride won’t be here. We’ll with Jesus. If you don’t believe in the rapture, you don’t have to go. You’ll get to see the tribulation.
The initial assumption is that scripture is literal
The initial assumption is that scripture is literal —I’ve known the Lord for a little over fifty years. But I agree with this basic position more every year.
Every year I find more places where scripture is meant to be taken literally. That applies from Genesis through Revelation. This is not a place to argue specifics. What we want to encourage you to do is make it one of your prime tools to study scripture. “Is this passage literal?”
Always assume that scripture is literal
Let the Lord tell you specifically when it’s not. It all begins with asking the Holy Spirit to show you the Truth. What did God mean when He had it written? Don’t try to figure it out—trust the Holy Spirit to show you.
Give Him the time He needs to do that. It is important that this is learned and held by faith. The little quirks in His varied responses will cause you to rely on faith.
Another prayer that is equally important is also simple and straight forward. “Lord, I need to be able to hear your voice and communicate clearly with you. Show me how you want to do that in my life.” You will be led into your specific individualized method. You will have to work at it, and practice a lot. This is what Paul was talking about in I Thessalonians 5:17. Pray without ceasing. Pray constantly.
You will discover that an ongoing conversation works best. All day, every day, asking questions and getting help from the Holy Spirit.
This is the core of our training. This disposable universe was created to train us to be like Jesus. Our goal needs to be that we are in as good a shape spiritually as possible when He calls us home, or comes to pick us up.
Our relationship with Yeshua is all that matters while we are in the flesh. Ask Him to show you what that means.
No nation will survive
No nation will survive the times which are upon us. Even Israel must be radically changed. I know: you had no idea.
I’m not surprised. If you take the challenge, you need to come to grips with the progression upward from catholic to protestant to evangelical to pentecostal to believers. Believers is where we are now. I do not care about denominations at all.
What you need to face is that each step added some powerful doctrines to the general beliefs of the Bride of Jesus.
- Protestants: brought back the walk of faith
- Evangelicals: brought back the requirement to be reborn
- Pentecostals: brought back Jesus’ plan to baptize us with fire and the Holy Spirit
- Believers: brought us to where we are, trying to understand the changes coming almost faster than we can process them
Your nation will not survive
My task is to get you thinking about the previously unthinkable. Scripture has shown us what is happening, but the old sermons need radical revision. My first truth is:
The evil will be purged.
Scripture is clear that when our Messiah leads us back down here to be with Him while He is placed on his throne, his first task will be to kill all those who hate him. The evil will be purged and we will see it. The entire planet will be radically changed—physically. Jerusalem will be on top of the tallest mountain on earth.
But No nation will survive, the AntiChrist has that job
Sorry Satan has just been one of the prime tools used in our training. His usefulness is almost over. And He volunteered for the position. He can comfort himself in Hell with “I almost got it done.”
Even his final effort, possessing the AntiChrist, will be used to gather what used to be the nations into his empire. I must admit, it will probably make Nero, Hitler, and all the rest look like amateurs.
But then Jesus will eliminate his empire. The Jews will recognize Jesus and accept His Lordship over them. Israel will be absorbed into the Kingdom of the Messiah.
The nations will all be gone.
The evil will be purged
The evil will be purged coming soon to a planet near you. The Creator has been patient waiting for us to repent. There is still a little time, but it’s running out.
Isaiah warned us, about 2700 years ago, in chapter 24:
“Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled;
for the Lord has spoken this word.”
The evil will be purged…
“The earth mourns and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.” ISAIAH 24 EDITED FOR IMPACT—RSV
This is not a surprise for those of us who have been studying the scriptures. Read Isaiah and Revelation, plus the Prophets and Psalms.
But it is time to get the word out
Tell your friends and enemies. Everyone needs to know that there is not much time left. If you do not repent in time. Sorry. It’s too late.
The Lord does not want anyone to perish. But He created the universe. He knows how it is supposed to work. It’s time for a little wisdom to sneak into your mind. This is serious. We never die, but we do have a deadline. You get to choose where you want to go. The default is not good. So, repent (turn to Jesus) already.
I hope to see you there. It’s your choice. Jesus made it possible by paying the penalty for our sin. All we have to do is turn to Him and repent… or maybe that’s repent and turn to Him. I know either way works. He loves you.
New Styles for ePUBs in InDesign
New Styles for ePUBs in InDesign —this is one of the wonderful things I discovered while I was researching and testing for the revised procedures for making excellent ePUBs in my new book, Niche Publishing for Believers Using InDesign.
I was just going edit/proof my old Book Publishing book. It’s twelve years old or a little more. But as I got into it, I ended up with a massive revision. I have learned so much in the past decade—I had no idea how much.
But one of the biggies for me was how you can use paragraph Borders & Shading to produce not only the illusion of Paragraph Rules. But more than that I made several paragraphs for Tips, tricks, & comments. They really look good.
Look at the capture above—it’s from an ePUB I just made to test some more things out. As you can see, four of the first five paragraphs are using Borders & Shading. The one with “New try” as the copy looks remarkably like a subhead using a gradient paragraph rule. I just made the ePUB to proof my little things I put together.
But it’s a simple two word paragraph with shading (the gradient box) and a left border (the thick read line). The capture is what you see in the ePUB in Books on my iPad.
New Styles for ePUBs in InDesign only work in Books and Thorium Reader
I have always used Books and have been appalled by Kindle. But I discovered that if you embed fonts and convert your lists to text that Books and Thorium are the best, but Kobo and Nook do very well as well. Kindle still strips a lot out when you convert your uploaded ePUB. But you can do a lot better with Kindle as well.
An ongoing ePUB proof helps a lot while you design
I think you’ll really enjoy the new book.
My prayer is that it’s truly helpful to you as you publish. I’l be doing small posts like this just to show you some of the new stuff. It’s really been fun.
The Age of Reason started it
The Age of Reason started it. Started what? The Great Falling Away, of course. The beginning was well hidden by civilization. The plan is the complete rejection of God and Truth.
It’s so outrageous that a small beginning was required. But once you think about it at all, nothing less will do for the Lawless One. In the seventeen hundreds, these concepts had already been stirring around throughout the Western world for quite a while—beginning in the middle of the seventeenth century. In Peter Coker’s essay on Experiential Religion, [in a post on Gospelbbq.wordpress.com] he says it started with the Enlightenment Movement. “The Enlightenment movement advocated “Reason” as the primary basis of ultimate authority. Enlightenment thinkers embraced either Deism or secularized human reason and denied any supernatural authority. As a result, Christianity became more inward, seeking supernatural experience (in place of doctrinal validation). The supernatural experience was mainly limited to salvation by way of emotional appeals to one’s eternal destiny.”
In the United States, this was all going on beneath the notice of the major ruckus we call the First Great Awakening—which was the major societal move leading up to the American Revolution. But during all of this, Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason also brought a revival of deism to the States. The results are stunning to the modern believer of the 21st century.
The starting beliefs of the age of reason
His book was very popular. But almost unnoticed were the following beliefs:
- The most important position was their call for “free rational inquiry”: into all subjects, especially religion.
- Deists rejected the claim that there was only one revealed religious truth: or “one true faith”.
- They were skeptical of miracles.
- They thought Christianity taught irrational doctrines: the worst of these doctrines was original sin.
- They called themselves free thinkers: who rejected any belief which was not rational.
The basic assumption was the rejection of revelation, prophecies, and miracles. One of the first major successes to become visible was Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. But it also struck in theology with Higher Criticism. Mankind assumed that we had the authority to critique and even modify the Bible. We now know this belief system as the new religion of Secular Humanism.
But they were having little luck integrating it into the cultural mainstream. The breakthrough victory was their integration of these ideas into the curriculum of the now required public school system. I experienced the results as I grew up in the 1950s. In the 1960s, I found myself consumed by rage over the lies I had been taught. But I assumed the problem was caused by the outdated assumptions of the American culture. It became so bad that I tuned in, dropped out, almost successfully destroyed my mind with the psychedelic drugs of the counterculture that inevitably resulted.
Now, in the middle of the third decade of the new millennium, it is hard to comprehend how this has resulted in what we are living with by the assault of lies and delusion upon the culture of the entire planet.
The doctrinal warfare ends for good
The doctrinal warfare ends for good. Good riddance, that is. It was necessary for a while. But now it increasingly inhibits the believer’s life. How can I possibly say that? Because it has changed from a necessity to a blockage.
The doctrinal warfare ends for good, no longer needed
Churchians cannot even imagine the freedom of following the Lord more directly. Doctrines brought the church into feudalism. Armed fortresses with doctrines forming the outer defensive walls.
The age of doctrine is nearly completed
Doctrine is used to build a denomination. It’s necessary for a group which is breaking off from the overall church as a result of the effort to reform it. In a real way, Luther was the impetus for the beginning of the denominational wars. Don’t tell him, though. He’d be upset.
It was necessary because he was talking about a radical change in focus—something which had been lost by the church. It was basically a simple scriptural teaching. The problem was that no one had the scripture at their disposal. It was not available except to church-trained clergy. The doctrinal wars are still mostly on that level. It’s a battle between seminarians. But now they are denominational seminaries. Because of that, most of the Truth the Holy Spirit shows us has been reduced to a denominational stance.
The problem is that doing this to something important, like the necessity of being born again, renders it lifeless. Rebirth is not a doctrinal stance. It is an essential requirement to enter the Kingdom of God. But, it happens differently with every believer. The process of being reborn gives us the Holy Spirit as the Lord moves inside us. The Holy Spirit teaches us all things, so doctrine is no longer necessary—at all.
Of course, the Lord is not restricted. In the midst of all this He stepped outside the denominations and started something new to bring back the Holy Spirit into the church. In places like among the Cherokee in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and then in the livery stable on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, the Lord brought the Holy Spirit back into the life of the church.
The Holy Spirit had been driven out of the church well before Constantine. He just made the church leadership too uncomfortable. The Holy Spirit was a level of power that an institutional church could not allow. Of course, the loving Lord we serve just went along and stepped outside the walls of the churches. He didn’t need the church. We needed Him.
Without the Holy Spirit the problems like what Luther dealt with were inevitable. But the church had learned. You can control the church with man made doctrines. They were like defensive walls of rigid containment.
The doctrinal stances of various denominations made it very difficult for believers to receive the teaching of the Holy Spirit within the church. Most of us have experienced the pain of rejection by the church which results from listening to the Holy Spirit. But thankfully, that is almost over forever.
Once we are pulled out, we’ll just be the Bride of the Messiah—no denominations any more. The time of denominations is almost over! Praise the Lord! They were necessary—but no longer needed… The freedom of the Kingdom of God is such a joy.
A little touch of reality
A little touch of reality from the latest novel being published. This is not Truth, but it touches it. Reality is truly amazing.
A little touch of reality to counter the media
Maja shook herself. With a large smile she replied, “The Lord just gave me a glimpse of that reality. I have seen other glimpses in my new relationship with Antonne. This new life in the Kingdom is truly amazing.”
Rachael began, “Lord Jesus, I am asking that you guide Jacob and me to give Maja and Antonne the truth, so, they can understand what you designed into marriage. Show them both what the enemy is trying to do with marriage in his world. We need all your gifts to get this done. We trust you to give them when they’ll help. Touch Maja and Antonne by your Holy Spirit.”
Maya asked, “I need a little something about the enemy and his world.”
Jacob explained, “Satan won the right to rule the world when Adam and Eve chose to follow him and sinned. He put together an incredibly evil world system designed to separate people and frustrate them to a place where he can control them easily.
“His system is what we now call Western Civilization: religion, government, entertainment, the economy, the legal system, communication, travel, and all the rest. Everything in our daily lives which doesn’t need or want Jesus.” Jacob smiled.
“However, Jesus won back the rulership of the world, by shedding his blood on the cross. He now uses Satan’s system to train and discipline us. Satan and his demons have no power over believers. In fact, they have no power over anyone unless the Lord allows it and a person gives them power by handing over control to a demon.”
Maja just fell into worship.
Have a day of wonder in the Spirit.
The Kosmos will be eliminated again
The Kosmos will be eliminated again and few know about it. The world in Greek is kosmos and it is described as the entire world system, including: the economic system, the legal system, government, law enforcement, politics, the health system, the educational system, the entertainment system, and all the rest. What the world calls civilization.
The kosmos is designed to make men and women frustrated, enraged, picked on, helpless, fearful, confused, and hopeless. The Enemy knows that he does not have the power to simply kill you. He has to get people to do that for him. His basic strategy is sin. If he can trap you in sin, then he has killed you—because you are going to hell.
So, as in the days of Noah…
The first time the Lord needed to get the kosmos eliminated, He sent the Flood.
Only Noah and his family were saved. He had to kill everyone else.
The only way to deal with the kosmos is war. The world system must be destroyed. That is what the Lord will do very soon, before He comes back to reign as King over the entire planet. To repeat, the first time the Lord needed to get the kosmos eliminated, He sent the Flood. Only Noah and his family were saved. He had to kill everyone else.
More than that He had to radically rebuild the entire surface of the planet. He needed a planet which could train mankind on a very deep level. Our fallen world does that very well. The same thing will happen again in the near future—resulting in a very different type of training. We know this as the Reign of the Messiah in the Millennium.
The Kosmos will be eliminated again and few know
Just before the end, the planet will be remodeled: “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were noises and thundering and lightning and a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake, as had never occurred since men were on the earth. The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the Great was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Great hail, about the weight of a hundred pounds, fell from heaven upon man. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because that plague was so severe.” Revelation 16: 17–21
God calls this Kosmos, Babylon the Great.
David Blatner defines design
David Blatner defines design in his latest weekly posting on Linked-In. It seems good enough to me so I decided to share it with you. It’s not earth shaking, and has nothing to do with spiritual reality. But my hope is that you find it helpful.
David Blatner defines design
What is design? Design is not about making stuff look pretty. It’s not about making it “pop” or look cool. Design, at its core, is the practice of enhancing and improving communication. That is, you want to get a message from your head or heart to someone else’s head or heart, and design is how you package it up in order to make it transmit as smoothly and accurately as possible.
Bad design causes friction and confusion; good design leads to ease and clarity.
Bad design distracts or hides; good design focuses and reveals.
This applies to any kind of design: graphics, typography, architecture, music, video, fashion, signage, and more — each medium offers its own unique opportunities for enhancing and improving communication. A song, a painting, a business card, a presentation, a social media post, a book… these are all packages that work better when they’re designed better.
This is important because you are a designer, even if you don’t think you are.
You design how you talk about something, you design the food you prepare, you design the photos you share. So: design is easy, but good design is hard. Good design requires clear thinking, an understanding of psychology, and often a surprising amount of technical skill.
For example, take graphic design. We use graphic design to improve and enhance communication, so it encompasses accessibility (enabling that message to reach more people), color smarts (being clear how color is perceived and reproduced), data visualization (converting raw numbers to intelligible graphics), and much more.
You want your house pipes to flow better? Call a plumber. You want the electricity to flow? Call an electrician. But if you want your ideas to flow smoothly, easily, and with clarity, it’s time to [call or •ed.] become a better designer.