Is it possible for a true believer in Christ to apostatize? If so, how? Also, how can professing believers know if they are truly born again? What assurance can they have that they will never renounce their faith? These questions have been asked for centuries as Christians have wrestled with what Scripture says about these matters. The search for answers has instilled strong disagreements among Christian traditions. In this book, we navigate the terrain of this debate by examining the pertinent biblical data, surveying the history of major views that have been advocated by various denominations, and offering a synthesis of all this material in the hopes that readers can see how Scripture assures believers of their security in Christ.
Nothing Hollywood has ever produced can compare with the reality of the true Christian life! There is nothing as exciting, fulfilling, or compelling as getting to know your God and King. An Enduring Vision: A 50-Day Journey is a call to arms for the 21st century Church—an exhortation to live in the power and glory He promised! Steeped in biblical truth and peppered with historical and personal perspectives, this richly spiritual, yet practical book is full of insight and revelation that will nourish your spirit day by day. Best-selling author Rick Joyner presents powerful teaching nuggets that enrich daily meditation and provide new heights of spiritual growth. Inspiring and motivating topics include: - Go to Heaven, Now - Freedom - Climbing the Mountain of God - Caught Between Heaven and Earth - Tough Love Day 50—Charting Your Course Into the Future—gives you the boost to jump into the rest of your life. The true Christian life is the greatest adventure and the most glorious quest that you will ever know on earth. Concluding each day are three food-for-thought sections designed to deepen your love for God, stir your hunger for more of Him, and frame your foundation on the solid rock of His truth.
In Better, Deeper, and More Enduring Brief Therapy Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, describes how REBT can help clients significantly improve in a short period of time and effect a profound philosophical-emotional-behavioral change-more often that can be achieved with other popular forms of therapy. In a comprehensive, accessible format, Dr. Ellis offers his theories, practices, verbatim sessions, and other materials that help describe how REBT can be a valuable asset in psychotherapeutic treatment.
What Christ suffered during his Passion — for you — is a powerful source of reflection and meditation. While we know that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem around A.D. 33, the details of his sufferings and death have been confused and obscured over the past two millennia. In What Christ Suffered: A Doctor’s Journey Through the Passion, Dr. Thomas W. McGovern provides the most accurate, up-to-date understanding of the physical sufferings of Jesus Christ, drawing on ancient Greek and Latin literature about crucifixion, discoveries of ancient images, archaeology, medical reenactment studies, and medical case reports. This volume corrects decades of myths and misunderstandings presented in books and articles and on websites — myths the author himself disseminated for years until he reanalyzed the data utilizing twenty-first-century advances in modern medicine and archaeological discoveries. This medical investigation of the Passion allows readers to enter more fully than ever into the reality of what Jesus suffered for our redemption. Drawing on the teachings of Pope Saint John Paul II in Salvifici Doloris, this book invites the reader to a deeper understanding of the meaning and value of human suffering — and how to practically apply it in their lives. By his sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus has won salvation for the whole world, redeeming even our sufferings through his incredible act of love. ABOUT THE AUTHOR A native of Escanaba, Michigan, Dr. Thomas W. McGovern completed his M.D. at Mayo Medical School. His eight years in the U.S. Army included two years of infectious disease and vaccine research and a dermatology residency at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, Denver. He trained in Mohs surgery and Cutaneous Oncology at the Yale University School of Medicine and has practiced Mohs Surgery and Reconstruction for skin cancer in Fort Wayne since 2000. He serves on the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) national board and chairs the Young Member Advisory Committee. He is “living the dream,” cohosting Doctor, Doctor, the official weekly radio program of the CMA, which airs on EWTN and is available as a podcast. He and his wife of 30 years, Sally, are raising seven homeschooled children who gladly get a break from his “dad jokes” when he speaks at conferences.
This unique text challenges the notion that absence of conflict is the foundation and norm of a stable political environment. Combining complexity theory and the notion of signature with case studies, it argues that political processes need to be understood within their social and cultural contexts. It thus develops the idea of enduring conflict, referring to both the enduring nature of political conflict and the endurance of people in conflict-ridden societies, looking at countries involved in conflict transformation, such as Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Indonesia, and South Africa. Examining debates around trauma, memory, and reconciliation, the work shows how conflicts are so socially and culturally ingrained and protracted that political agreements alone cannot bring substantive change. In addition, key texts, such as peace agreements, along with interviews of politicians, participants, and NGOs help identify the conditions under which notions like peace, democracy, and conflict resolution can even be conceived - let alone implemented. This innovative text is a significant contribution to the literature as it highlights the limitations of conflict resolution strategies and identifies the issues that pertain to conflicts throughout global politics. Written in an accessible manner, it will be highly attractive to students in conflict processes, peace studies, and international relations theory.
A crisis of faith may feel like the death of our testimony. But what if it is not the death of our testimony, but a rebirth of it? After a lifetime of being a devoted Latter-day Saint, Rico Maranto unexpectedly suffered a severe and devastating crisis of faith that plunged him into what he now calls "the dark night of the soul." Overcome with doubt and uncertainty, he began to feel abandoned by God and all that He has taught. But through the years of his dark night, Rico transitioned from nearly losing his faith to rediscovering rebirth. Now Rico shares his story and explains how his crisis transformed him and entirely changed his perspective on faith. In this inspiring book, Rico reframes our perception of doubt and alleviates the shame and guilt that many feel when experiencing similar faith crises. With his loving understanding and knowledge gained as someone who has been through the storm and come out stronger than ever, you will discover the five stages of faith as a template for spiritual development. strategies and toolsets for enduring a crisis of faith. how to help others who are struggling with their own doubts. If you or a loved one are struggling with your faith, know that the dark night of the soul is not reason to despair; it is a divinely designed spiritual chrysalis intended to transform us into all the Lord needs us to become-the best version of ourselves.
“Michael Walling has honored the American men and women who served in Operation Enduring Freedom by helping them tell their own stories. This is the war in Afghanistan as experienced by the people who fought it.” - General Tommy R. Franks, Ret. The war in Afghanistan has seen men and women thrown into America's longest sustained combat operation. For over 13 years, US military personnel have been embroiled in a conflict unlike any other, in a hostile country where danger and death lurk at every turn. The nature of the fighting has transformed not only the entire structure of the US military, but the lives of every soldier, sailor, marine, coast guardsman, and airman who served there. There have been many tales told of this most recent Afghan war, but until now no single work has combined the strategic view of high-level commanders with the perspective of soldiers on the ground. This book places the first-hand accounts of serving men and women into the context of the military operations. Drawing on gripping oral histories from theater commanders, Special Forces troops, reconstruction teams, and everyday soldiers, Michael G. Walling analyzes operations as they were experienced by individuals, from those immediately following 9/11 through to those in 2014 as US troops prepared to withdraw. He also charts the evolution of US military structure as it was forced to adapt to cope with the non-conventional, but nonetheless deadly threats of asymmetric warfare, as well as detailing covert ops, infrastructure rebuilding, and the training of Afghan forces. Resonating across gender, age, nationality, and ethnicity, this book is not just a document of US fortunes in a far-flung conflict. It is a tribute to the determination, heroism, sacrifice, and the strength of the human spirit.
Drawing on revealing, in-depth interviews, Cecilia Menjívar investigates the role that violence plays in the lives of Ladina women in eastern Guatemala, a little-visited and little-studied region. While much has been written on the subject of political violence in Guatemala, Menjívar turns to a different form of suffering—the violence embedded in institutions and in everyday life so familiar and routine that it is often not recognized as such. Rather than painting Guatemala (or even Latin America) as having a cultural propensity for normalizing and accepting violence, Menjívar aims to develop an approach to examining structures of violence—profound inequality, exploitation and poverty, and gender ideologies that position women in vulnerable situations— grounded in women’s experiences. In this way, her study provides a glimpse into the root causes of the increasing wave of feminicide in Guatemala, as well as in other Latin American countries, and offers observations relevant for understanding violence against women around the world today.
