“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). When a person’s life embodies the pursuit of wisdom, it bears among its fruits the deep love and respect of family, friends, and colleagues. Derived from The Way of Wisdom, a book honoring biblical scholar Bruce Waltke, whose personal character and biblical study alike display wisdom, this short piece explores what can be learned about wisdom from the fall of Satan. Displaying a high level of scholarship and broadly useful insights, Ronald Youngblood’s piece both stretches and informs. May you, the reader, benefit.
Over half of Americans believe in a literal heaven, in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. Ehrman shows that eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament, and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught. He recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. Ehrman shows that competing views were intimately connected with the social, cultural, and historical worlds out of which they emerged. -- adapted from jacket
In the beginning… Three brothers – Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer. Royalty. Archangels. United in devotion to their father and all his works. But when Lucifer learns of their father’s latest creation – a new race, fashioned from crude matter and yet made in his image – he is consumed with resentment. Why have he and his angelic kind been overlooked? After a bitter confrontation, Lucifer is cast out, doomed to an eternity of exile and punishment. Unrepentant, he vows he won’t suffer alone. Mankind has made a powerful enemy – one determined to lure it into darkness and torment any way he can… “There could be no bigger canvas for film-making.” – Mark Ordesky (Executive Producer – Lord of the Rings); “Alec not only re-frames pre-history; she also imaginatively illustrates how the realm of spirit impacts the contemporary material world.” Ileen Maisel (Executive Producer for the Golden Compass) “This is the best work of fiction I have read since the last installment of Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein series” Jim McDonald – 1340Mag – Online Entertainment Magazine.
I was raised to believe that there was a God and that He was a personal being. As a child, you don’t really question what your parents tell you. If they say there is a jolly, three-hundred-pound man who delivers all the Christmas toys in one night on the backs of flying reindeer with one red headlight, you believe them. When I reached adolescence, however, I felt compelled to question everything. I challenged the picture of God that emerged from the instructions given by my parents, teachers, and pastors. And these questions weren’t all of the trivial type, such as, “Can God create a rock so heavy that He can’t lift it?” Nope, they were: “Why do bad things happen to good people? Does everything happen for a reason, and according to God’s will? Everything? Including all the bad stuff?” Then there were the highly polarizing views that never appeared to be questioned, such as, “Trust, love, worship, and serve God, or else He’ll send you to hell.” Views like that were terrifying. If God is supposed to be our caring and loving Father, how could He burn to death His disobedient children? I didn’t think the worst parent on earth would do something that ghastly. This picture was beyond toxic and left me in state of fear. The fear of God made me feel small and worthless and that my only value to Him was worship and obedience. I’m sorry to say, but God seemed like a big bully, and pushing me around didn’t win over my heart. Sure, pushing one another down in a demonstration of strength was how my classmate Max and I became best friends in third grade, but I wasn’t in third grade anymore! Even when I was told that God loved me, and because of that love sent His Son to earth to save us all, it still sounded fearsome and gruesome. Did God have to torture His Son on a cross, otherwise He couldn’t accept me for who I am? Why would God have to do that if He’s the most powerful being in the universe? If He wanted to save us from the “pitchfork guy,” then He should rescue us with His superpowers instead of some bloody, seemingly orchestrated, sacrificial ritual. At the heart of all my questions, there was essentially just one question I was asking: Do I matter to God, or is it only what I do for Him that matters? To think that our service to Him is our only value, places us as nothing more than servants, or even worse—slaves. Yet I was assured as an adolescent that God wanted to be friends. He wanted to be my best friend, in fact. But how many friends do you have who would kill you if you weren’t their friend? Zero! You’d call the cops if that scenario were ever presented to you. However, we can’t call law enforcement on God. He is the law! And if you don’t obey His law, you get a divinely enforced death sentence. Thanks . . . friend? In the end, it left me stuck. How do you tell someone who can detonate you, “Thanks, but no thanks”? I eventually arrived at the conclusion that communicated exactly what I was reaching for: If God wants to truly be my friend, then He should be more friendly. Worth Every Drop is a journey of faith—discovering a God who is consistent, friendly, and trustworthy. It is a deep dive into the Bible to make sense of who God is, and who we truly are to Him. Whether you are a boomer or a millennial, agnostic or a believer, this book is for you.
A lady will do anything—even fake an engagement to the duke she despises—to save her sister in this fun and flirty historical rom-com from the bestselling author of A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem, perfect for fans of Evie Dunmore and Netflix's Bridgerton! England, 1867: Miss Poppy Delamare is living a lie. To escape an odious betrothal, she fled to London where she’s been hiding as the unassuming secretary Flora Deaver. However, when her beloved sister is accused of murder, Poppy cannot leave her to the wolves. Only a most unexpected—and unwelcome—collision interrupts her journey home . . . Despite a rather dismal first meeting, Joshua Fielding, the Duke of Langham, has no intention of abandoning a lady in need. But he’s not above asking a favor. A fake betrothal will give Poppy and her sister the power of the dukedom and protect Langham from the society misses intent on becoming his duchess. Yet the longer the ruse goes on, the more Poppy and Langham realize how false their first impressions were—and the less pretend their engagement feels. But before Langham can propose in truth, their search reveals a tangled web of lies and betrayals. With time running out, can Poppy and Langham find the real culprit—before Poppy becomes the next victim?
Profiles the most notorious mischief makers in Western culture from 1600 to the present day and explores how pranks are part of a long tradition of speaking truth to power and social critique.
Leap of Faith is the second novel from Matthew Munson, following the adventures of characters we first met in Fall From Grace – human and angel alike. The lives of Paul and Joseph have changed over the past two years; Paul is on Earth, living a new life with his girlfriend, while Joseph is in heaven, living as an angel and still mourning the loss of his sister, Lauren. But war is once again on the horizon of the two worlds. Barriers between the realms are breaking down, and humans, angels and spirits have set their sights on a catastrophic course of events that will result in the destruction of everything around them. That is, unless Paul and Joseph - with some divine intervention – can stop a war between an angelic army and countless spirits.
Jesus was God in the flesh. He was just as human as you and I. Hebrews 4:15-16 states “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” One who was not fully human could never truly be an example for those of us who were bound to our human nature. God, understanding just how disconnected from Heaven that humanity had become, sent someone that we could see and relate to in order to reconnect again. Jesus came to show us how we, as humans, created in His image could overcome our weakness and walk in victory and authority. Italics mine Christianity is simply a one on one relationship between you and Jesus who gave His life to free you from the bondage of this world, (man’s world). Jesus opened the way for you to enjoy an eternity filled with peace and happiness that surpasses our understanding. Enjoy the journey, beginning now. This book only touches on the few of the subjects that we all deal with in our lives. How you handle them is a choice only you can make.
As the dust settles after the school fire, an unexpected visitor appears in South Coast with an infernal warning for Cassia. Cassia Reid wants nothing more than to help others with her gift. She has lost enough people in the past, so uses her ability to see the future to do what she can to save them. That is until her visions suddenly start to cause her physical pain. As the supernatural world collides with the divine, Cassia and her friends face a diabolical enemy who is threatening them all. With the lives of everyone she loves in danger, it’s a race against time to save them from a fate worse than death. Can Cassia keep them out of harm’s way? Or will she lose everything she holds dear?
