Paul, a religious teen living in a small conservative town, finds his world turned upside down when he meets Manuel—a young man who says he’s both Christian and gay, two things that Paul didn’t think could coexist in one person. Doesn’t the Bible forbid homosexuality? As Paul struggles with Manuel’s interpretation of the Bible, thoughts that Paul has long tried to bury begin to surface, and he finds himself re-examining his whole life. This is an unforgettable book on an extremely timely topic that strives to open minds on both ends of the spectrum.
The greatest calling we can have during our brief journey here on Planet Earth is to earnestly yearn and search, without prejudice, for an intimate relationship with the one and only true Creator God, outside the box. The vast masses of humans never get this deep and blindly believe whatever they have been taught about God, often out of fear of rejection by family or peers. Others see God as a Heavenly Version of their earthly fathers. Paul Meier, MD, is a psychiatrist and theologian whose books have been read by over seven million people in over thirty languages all around the world, and he describes the many prejudicial mountains that must be climbed to become intimate with the real God. Dr. Meier also gives many positive ways to assist you to make that earnest search for "Experiencing God Outside the Box".
E. D. Arrington returns with: Forever Was A Day, the sequel to her spellbinding novel, Stay The Course. In this continuing saga, Lori faces possibly the toughest challenges of her short life's journey. Mere hours after attending her grandmother's ("Ma") funeral, Lori is sent away from the only home she knows, away from the only people she loves, to live in Alexandria, Virginia, with a relative she has just met. A relative who comes from the white-looking side of the family. A relative who has neglected to tell her husband one minor detail...that Lori looks like...a Negro. What Readers Said About Stay The Course: Stay The Course is a magnificent book. It's the kind of book that should be in every school in this country. Our children need to know what it was truly like in the '60s and '70s, and Stay The Course does just that. Our children need to know their history, and Stay The Course is full of facts.-Isolene Taylor, (Retired Teacher) Snow Hill, N.C. I enjoyed Stay The Course very much, chuckling at times and crying, too. The author tells a story of love, devotion, hope, despair, faith, and triumph. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel.-Beverley Brown, Falls Church, VA. I am a reading enrichment teacher. My students enjoyed Stay The Course. They learned so much about segregation.-Uzal Daniels, Los Angeles, CA I am overwhelmed at the impact Stay The Course had on me. The author really captured the "Old South" style.-Kris Chinn, Washington, D.C. As an assistant principal, I would recommend Stay The Course to be included as required reading for all children. It teaches so much about how to overcome life's challenges in a positive way-Tonya Johnson, Wilson, N.C.
It used to be that providing clear evidence for the resurrection of Jesus or the reliability of the Bible was a pretty effective way to reach people with the Good News. But today, many folks think all truth is relative, even our historical and scientific data about Christianity. So how can we reach them? We need new ways of telling people the old, old story. We need to look again at our usual mental habits if we want to reach people who have a brand new mindset of their own. We need to get outside the box of ideas and practices that are sacred to us but are not sacred to God. That's what Rick Richardson's book is all about. Here are fresh perspectives on relying on the Holy Spirit, awakening spiritual interest in others, appealing to what they value (instead of what we think they should value) and leading them into a transforming experience with God. Also included is Richardson's Circles of Belonging, a new, straightforward presentation of the message of Jesus (yes, it can even be sketched out on a napkin!) that is true to Scripture and true to the new way people live and think. As an experienced evangelist and leader of evangelism programs, Richardson offers in this helpful book the principles and practices that will help us all grow in love for--and communicate effectively with--people who need Jesus.
Jesus Outside the Box is a re-released, re-titled version of the author's previous book The Magician's Tale. It a short book of twelve incredible stories written from the perspective of some of the lesser known characters of the New Testament. Each story offers an exciting and radical new portrait of the one we call The Christ. The author's intention was to present a picture of Jesus, without the 2,000 of Christian doctrine and dogma that have put him some great ecclesiastical box (and suffocated him the process). The Jesus of these tales has broken free from that box of Churchianity and will help readers do the same. This Jesus is human yet magical, gentle yet dangerous, distrustful of religion, yet unconditionally loving. He is exciting beyond our dreams. You may just discover that you'd thrown the divine baby out with the holy water.
God Out of Control shouts the fact that God’s Presence is not constrained by time, manmade walls around Him, or self-limiting and God-constraining mindsets. Statistics abound about the large numbers of people leaving organized religion and the general disenchantment with all things spiritual as presented by Western religions. Secularists, politicians, political correctness police, public education, government, and law enforcement have all stepped up unwarranted persecution of religion in general and Christianity in particular. These anti-Christ systems are encouraged to continue by the obvious lack of push-back by the religious machines in the United States. Genuine believers, the grassroots movement of quiet anarchy, are quickly dismissed as fringe groups with no real power or organization. Little do the masters of deception understand the inner workings of the Holy Spirit that are reminiscent of the times of the apostles and the early church founders. These early believers knew and understood that He who was in them was greater than who was in the world (1 John 4:4). They could not be bullied, silenced, or ignored. They escaped from legalistic traditions and the mind-numbing status
What's in your God-box? Each of us, says author Anne Robertson, builds our own way of understanding God-our God-box-- and fills it up with bits of scripture, wisdom, and our experiences of God at work in our lives. It's a perfectly good way to puzzle out what God means to us. Encountering God through our human limitations, we learn something about the meaning of Incarnation. But to say that our experience of God is the only valid one is to put a lid on the box and create an idol. This book is about examining our God-boxes and bursting them wide open. Blowing the Lid Off the God-Box starts with the ministry of Jesus - who blew the lid off everyone's God-box by constantly challenging his followers with the unexpected. Subsequent chapters examine the God-boxes we create with scripture, worship, and political and social agendas.
The faithfulness of God is something that you have to experience not read about in our lives and when I was young I knew that God was real and some thing's I would not do and things that I wouldn't say because I was always aware of His presence, God spoke to me when I was drowning and from that day until now, His presence is what I desire. Psalms 42:1-5, is one of my favorite Scriptures because as Moses said Lord if I have found favor in your sight, show me your Glory, this is what I desire more than anything. The reason I'm writing this book is to that degree, I want to see the body of Christ functioning as I see in the book of Acts. When I was in this certain denomination 20 years ago I read the book of Acts and something was different and so I begin to seek the Lord more and more to answer this burning in my heart for more, in that Church I didn't see what I was seeing in the Bible and it seem like only a few was really hungry for more.
