One of the most respected and influential Christian leaders of the last several decades, Chuck Colson engaged millions through his books, public speaking, and radio broadcasts. In My Final Word, longtime Colson coauthor Anne Morse has selected and arranged pieces Colson wrote mostly during the last decade of his life, spotlighting what he saw as key topics of ongoing importance for Christian cultural engagement. Some of these issues include: crime and punishment natural law Islam same-sex marriage the persecution of Christians and more Longtime readers and new readers alike will be struck by the power and immediacy of Colson’s arguments. My Final Word is a fitting end to Colson’s distinguished publishing career, a behind-the-scenes encounter with an influential thinker, and a needed call to an ongoing and relevant Christian public witness.
Dr O. Palmer Robertson shows from Scripture that the call today for such gifts as prophecy, instead of showing the way forward to a more biblical Christianity, represents a failure to grasp the fullness of New Testament privileges.
What Our Last Words Reveal About Life, Death, and the Afterlife A person’s end-of-life words often take on an eerie significance, giving tantalizing clues about the ultimate fate of the human soul. Until now, however, no author has systematically studied end-of-life communication by using examples from ordinary people. When her father became terminally ill with cancer, author Lisa Smartt began transcribing his conversations and noticed that his personality underwent inexplicable changes. Smartt’s father, once a skeptical man with a secular worldview, developed a deeply spiritual outlook in his final days — a change reflected in his language. Baffled and intrigued, Smartt began to investigate what other people have said while nearing death, collecting more than one hundred case studies through interviews and transcripts. In this groundbreaking and insightful book, Smartt shows how the language of the dying can point the way to a transcendent world beyond our own.
If there is such a thing as reason, it has to be universal. Reason must reflect objective principles whose validity is independent of our point of view--principles that anyone with enough intelligence ought to be able to recognize as correct. But this generality of reason is what relativists and subjectivists deny in ever-increasing numbers. And such subjectivism is not just an inconsequential intellectual flourish or badge of theoretical chic. It is exploited to deflect argument and to belittle the pretensions of the arguments of others. The continuing spread of this relativistic way of thinking threatens to make public discourse increasingly difficult and to exacerbate the deep divisions of our society. In The Last Word, Thomas Nagel, one of the most influential philosophers writing in English, presents a sustained defense of reason against the attacks of subjectivism, delivering systematic rebuttals of relativistic claims with respect to language, logic, science, and ethics. He shows that the last word in disputes about the objective validity of any form of thought must lie in some unqualified thoughts about how things are--thoughts that we cannot regard from outside as mere psychological dispositions.
Are you passionate to know what the Bible says about worship and music? Confused by the myriad voices trumpeting their opinions about worship and music? This book not only gives you a Genesis to Revelation concordance of passages dealing with worship and music but also explores many texts critical for the church today. Practical and heartfelt applications from a pastor's heart punctuate the book, always with an eye to the final authority, the inspired Word of God. "What saith the Scriptures? Many preferences and opinions have been expressed, but the important source has not always been considered. Dr. Kurtz makes clear principles and patterns of music in worship that we need to make basic and should keep primary as we endeavor to honor God." - Dr. Warren Vanhetloo, Retired Seminary Dean "It is with great joy and excitement that I heartily recommend Brother Dean Kurtz's book to all pastors and musicians! We have been longing for, desperately needing an exegetical study of music and worship from the Word of God. You will find his insights right on target, his theological perspectives sound and his musical expertise encouraging. Your heart will be blessed." -Dr. Robert Loggans, Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Watertown, WI Dean Kurtz, (BS Music Education; BS Bible; MA Sacred Music; Doctor of Ministry) has been passionate to communicate the Word about worship and music for over twenty-five years. His heart for ministry has taken him to classrooms and churches on five continents teaching and preaching to elementary students through seminarians. After twenty-five years at Calvary Baptist Church, Lansdale, PA, Pastor Dean currently serves Calvary Baptist Church, Watertown, WI. He also teaches as adjunct professor at Maranatha Baptist Bible College. He and his wife Brenda have two daughters. For more information on worship and music visit worshipintheword.org.
Ray Stedman guides you on a verse-by-verse exploration of the book of Revelation, bringing to life the mysteries of this highly symbolic book of the Bible. God's Final Word encompasses and brings into brilliant focus the entire scope of human history—of eternity itself.
The book of Revelation was written for a people under pressure - a people who knew all too clearly that the world was against them. Nearly all the church leaders had been martyred. What was needed was a survival manual, explaining how to survive when the world is against you; here it is! We, too, need to know how to survive in a hostile world. Revelation is for ordinary believers, not to fight over, but to enable us to keep fighting the real fight. Although the gospel had spread throughout the Roman Empire, it had not taken it over. Persecution was looming and the law was against them. It is in that context of suffering and oppression that the Lord gives John the series of visions which he writes down in the form of this book. It is a survival manual, explaining how to survive when the world is against you. Even though it is a little harder for us to see, this is what we need to know in our day as well. We in the West are not yet being openly persecuted, but at least in the UK that is the direction we are heading. In any case, the world is against us and we have to know how to survive as believers on increasingly hostile ground. This is why Revelation is so vitally relevant for our day. The basic message can be summed up simply and wonderfully: Jesus wins, and as Christians we are safe with him!
Today, hell is a front-burner topic, thanks to media attention stirred by megapastors Rob Bell, Francis Chan, and others. But, between the extremes of universal salvation and everlasting torment, a third view known as conditional immortality, claims the most biblical support of all.
"Final Word is about the centrality of the Bible. It covers such subjects as criticism of Scripture, the attributes of Scripture--that it is truthful and authoritative--and it introduces the benefits of the Bible for spiritual growth, faithful ministry, and personal nourishment"--
