It's a simple fact that most Christians know next to nothing about Christianity. How many people are aware of the many heresies that were stamped out by the early Church? Had any of these heresies triumphed, the world would be a very different, and much saner place. Find out about the monstrous St Augustine and his doctrines of grace, Original Sin, Predestination and the Total Depravity of the human race. This "saint" was happy to send to hell unbaptised babies that died in infancy. His great enemy was the humane and rational Celtic monk Pelagius. The great tragedy of Christianity is that it listened to Augustine rather than Pelagius. Were the Jews advocates of temple prostitution, even within the confines of Solomon's holy temple to Yahweh? The material in this book is provided by the Pythagorean Illuminati, the oldest secret society in the world, and is not for petty, cheap, narrow-minded religious fanatics.
“Kotsko goes beyond the biography of an icon to a provocative investigation of the devil’s many lives and effects in cultural and political ideologies.” —Laurel C. Schneider, author of Beyond Monotheism The most enduring challenge to traditional monotheism is the problem of evil, which attempts to reconcile three incompatible propositions: God is all-good, God is all-powerful, and evil happens. The Prince of This World traces the story of one of the most influential attempts to square this circle: the offloading of responsibility for evil onto one of God’s rebellious creatures. In this striking reexamination, the devil’s story is bitterly ironic, full of tragic reversals. He emerges as a theological symbol who helps oppressed communities cope with the trauma of unjust persecution, torture, and death at the hands of political authorities and eventually becomes a vehicle to justify oppression at the hands of Christian rulers. And he evolves alongside the biblical God, who at first presents himself as the liberator of the oppressed but ends up a cruel ruler who delights in the infliction of suffering on his friends and enemies alike. In other words, this is the story of how God becomes the devil—a devil who remains with us in our ostensibly secular age. “This diabolically gripping genealogy offers a stunning parable of western politics religious and secular. It tracks as has never been done before the dramatic shifts of the relation between God and the Devil—conflict, rivalry, game of mirrors, fusion. With the ironic wisdom of a postmodern Beatrice, Kotsko guides us through the sequence of hells that leads to our own.” —Catherine Keller, author of On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity in Process
Part true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan How we explain the evils of the world – and the darkest parts of ourselves – has preoccupied humans throughout history. A sweeping and comprehensive search for the origins of belief in a Satanic figure across the centuries, The Devil’s Best Trick is a keen investigation into the inescapable reality of evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it. Instructive, riveting, and unnerving, this is a profound rumination on crime, violence, and the darkness in all of us. In The Devil’s Best Trick, Randall Sullivan travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the “Hour of the Witches” -- an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which lasted four months. And, woven throughout, he delivers original reporting on the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia and panic after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about Satanic worship and cults spread throughout the wider community. Sullivan also brilliantly melds historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil: from the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping “Black Mass” ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century French literature. He brings us through to the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and the story of one brutal serial killer, pondering the psychology of evil. He weaves in writings by John Milton, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book. Nimble and expertly researched, The Devil’s Best Trick brilliantly melds cultural and historical commentary and a suspenseful true-crime narrative. Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called “extraordinary” and “enthralling” by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world.
The inspiration to write this book was planted in my heart by the Holy Spirit over twenty years ago. I started writing chapter by chapter as the spirit inspired me. The title of each chapter was give to me by the Holy Spirit. At times I couldnt write a single word and at other times the words wouldnt stop. I was awaken sometimes in the early morning hours and midnight at times. The very title of this book was given to me a visual view. I was looking up while sitting in a warehouse when I notice that there were spider webs in the corner with an insect trapped in its web. The Holy Spirit said that mankind also is trapped in Satans web of sins. I notice that a spider was across the room in the far corner slowly making his way back to his web where upon his arrival he consumed the insect. The Holy Spirit then said that man get him or herself trapped then it may take a while for the old Devil to shows up to destroy them. Each Chapter deals with problems or demonic addictions which many in this world are dealing with. My hope is that this book will open up the eyes of ever one knowing that we all need Gods salvation and deliverance. There a many Christians walking around saved but not delivered from Generational curses and sins of their fathers and ancestors. Please understand that upon reading this book one need to eat whats for them and leave the rest for the others who needs the rest. Some readers may not be Christians or born again members of the body of Christ and may have Questions. Go to the word of God (the bible) verify scriptures and ask you pastors. We all have been commanded to study to show ourselves approved unto God.
Originally written in 1938 but never published due to its controversial nature, an insightful guide reveals the seven principles of good that will allow anyone to triumph over the obstacles that must be faced in reaching personal goals.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. John 10:10a NKJV Satan is the god of this world (see 2 Corinthians 4:4 and 1 John 5:19), is the “father of lies” (see John 8:44), and his job description is to “steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” In order to achieve his aims, he most often lies to us and deceives us. Satan often disguises his forces to make them look like natural problems so you’ll fight them with natural weapons. But you cannot fight a spiritual foe with natural weapons but with spiritual weapons, i.e. speaking God’s word to the devil and his demons. Unfortunately satan can disguise himself as an “angel of light,” so it is possible to be deceived by an innocent and apparently correct Christian teaching (see Matthew 24:4, 24:5; Mark 13:5, 13:6; and Luke 21:8). Often these inaccurate or incomplete teachings focus on God’s love and blessings (thus appealing to our flesh and so lead us astray (see Mark 13:22 and 1 Timothy 4:1) and do not mention His greatness, or our need to obey Him and have a reverential fear of Him. This book aims to help reveal satan’s lie and deception strategies and so empower Christians to live the Christian life that God intended. “Great book, interesting and well written based on solid evidence, documented, and not on flights of fancy or fanciful digressions or comforting in a fantastic book where you can find and discover the birth of the religion best known to the world. Through the dialogue structure, the reading is easier even if the terminology is researched and complex. At first glance it may seem pedantic, but you will be fascinated by the events described that so well dot the book.” -- Kalyan Panja , Booktica - Book Reviews
This carefully crafted ebook: "The Generous Gambler (A short but grand prose poem)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Generous Gambler is written by Charles Pierre Baudelaire and was first published in 1864. Charles Baudelaire was a 19th century French poet, translator, and literary and art critic whose reputation rests primarily on Les Fleurs du mal; (1857; The Flowers of Evil) which was perhaps the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his Petits poèmes en prose (1868; "Little Prose Poems") was the most successful and innovative early experiment in prose poetry of the time. Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a 19th century French poet, critic, and translator. A controversial figure in his lifetime, Baudelaire's name has become a byword for literary and artistic decadence. At the same time his works, in particular his book of poetry Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), have been acknowledged as classics of French literature.
Mephistopheles is the fourth and final volume of Jeffrey Burton Russell's critically acclaimed history of the concept of the Devil, continuing in this volume the story from the Reformation to the present.
