Download or read book Heaven Misplaced written by Douglas Wilson and published by Canon Press & Book Service. This book was released on 2008 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though most Christians refrain from predicting exactly when our world will end, many believe that when earth's finale does arrive, it will be a catastrophe. They expect that before Christ comes back to reclaim His own, Satan will escape his chains and return to wreak havoc on our planet. Details vary, but the general assumption is the same: things will get much, much worse before they get better. But is this really what the Bible teaches? Leaving aside the theological terms that often confuse and muddle this question, Douglas Wilson instead explains eschatology as the end of the greatest story in the world - the story of humanity. He turns our attention back to the stories and prophecies of Scripture and argues for "hopeful optimism": the belief that God will be true to His promises, that His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that the peace and good will we sing about at Christmas will one day be a reality here on earth.
Download or read book No Heaven for Good Boys written by Keisha Bush and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • Set in Senegal, this modern-day Oliver Twist is a meditation on the power of love and the strength that can emerge when we have no other choice but to survive. “I loved this book because it is a story about generations of parents and children saving one another with a love so powerful that it transcends distance, time, and reason.”—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward Six-year-old Ibrahimah loves snatching pastries from his mother’s kitchen, harvesting string beans with his father, and searching for sea glass with his sisters. But when he is approached in his rural village one day by Marabout Ahmed, a seemingly kind stranger and highly regarded teacher, the tides of his life turn forever. Ibrahimah is sent to the capital city of Dakar to join his cousin Étienne in studying the Koran under Marabout Ahmed for a year, but instead of the days of learning that Ibrahimah’s parents imagine, the young boys, called Talibé, are forced to beg in the streets in order to line their teacher’s pockets. To make it back home, Étienne and Ibrahimah must help each other survive both the dangers posed by their Marabout, and the darker sides of Dakar: threats of black-market organ traders, rival packs of Talibé, and mounting student protest on the streets. Drawn from real incidents and transporting readers between rural and urban Senegal, No Heaven for Good Boys is a tale of hope, resilience, and the affirming power of love.
Download or read book Leaving Left Behind written by Mike Wilson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Positive psychologists have proven that positivity leads to success, but most Christians in America have chosen to believe a single eschatological theory that leads to pessimism and cynicism. Pessimistic Christians put themselves in Christian bubbles and focus on self-preservation, and when a mind is clouded by negativity, interpretations of biblical prophecy lean toward the pessimistic possibilities. The fantastic writing of the Left Behind books has popularized premillennial dispensationalism with good intentions, but that interpretation of biblical prophecy teaches that sinfulness will continually increase until Jesus throws up his hands in disgust and secretly raptures worthy Christians, leaving behind unworthy sinners to suffer the wrath of the antichrist. Teaching that questionable theory produces negativity that hinders the Christian mission. When Christians believe that they cannot succeed in leading most of the world to Jesus, they will fail to put in the effort that success would require. Jesus, on the other hand, taught his followers that nothing will prevail over his church, and that teaching inspired them to sacrifice everything for the Christian mission. This is not a promise of prosperity without effort or of inevitable success, but biblical positivity is an energizing force that will help Christians flourish.
Download or read book Faith Misplaced written by Ussama Makdisi and published by Public Affairs. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative account of the decayed relationship between the U.S. and Arab world, and a powerful recommendation for how it can be salvaged
Download or read book Heaven Is Here written by Stephanie Nielson and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Go on an unforgettable journey, with a woman who has unimaginable strength. Stephanie Nielson began sharing her life in 2005 on nieniedialogues.com, drawing readers in with her warmth and candor. She quickly attracted a loyal following that was captivated by the upbeat mother happily raising her young children, madly in love with her husband, Christian (Mr. Nielson to her readers), and filled with gratitude for her blessed life. However, everything changed in an instant on a sunny day in August 2008, when Stephanie and Christian were in a horrific plane crash. Christian was burned over 40 percent of his body, and Stephanie was on the brink of death, with burns over 80 percent of her body. She would remain in a coma for four months. In the aftermath of this harrowing tragedy, Stephanie maintained a stunning sense of humor, optimism, and resilience. She has since shared this strength of spirit with others through her blog, in magazine features, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, in this moving memoir, Stephanie tells the full, extraordinary story of her unlikely recovery and the incredible love behind it -- from a riveting account of the crash to all that followed in its wake. With vivid detail, Stephanie recounts her emotional and physical journey, from her first painful days after awakening from the coma to the first time she saw her face in the mirror, the first kiss she shared with Christian after the accident, and the first time she talked to her children after their long separation. She also reflects back on life before the accident, to her happy childhood as one of nine siblings, her close-knit community and strong Mormon faith, and her fairy-tale love story, all of which became her foundation of strength as she rebuilt her life. What emerges from the wreckage of a tragic accident is a unique perspective on joy, beauty, and overcoming adversity that is as gripping as it is inspirational. Heaven Is Here is a poignant reminder of how faith and family, love and community can bolster us, sustain us, and quite literally, in some cases, save us.
Download or read book Give Them Jesus written by Dillon T. Thornton and published by FaithWords. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh, clear, joyful guide for parents on how to teach their children to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Give Them Jesus aims to help parents not simply add to their children's stockpile of knowledge, but to cultivate children-disciples who are able to display Christ-likeness in every situation. Parents are the ones primarily responsible for opening up the Scriptures to help their children understand God, the world, and themselves. The family is the divinely appointed discipleship program; the home is first and foremost a place of worship. The introduction of the book discusses the four vital components of family worship: teach, treasure, sing, and pray, and offers practical suggestions for beginning and prioritizing family worship in the rough and tumble of life. Subsequent chapters guide parents to a deeper understanding of the core truths of the historic Christian faith, as summarized in the Apostles' Creed, arming them with appropriate language, helpful illustrations, and relevant object lessons, so that in the end they will be better prepared to pass these truths on to their children. Each chapter concludes with a family worship guide, which includes: 1) family memory verses, 2) nuggets of truth from the chapter, 3) questions for family discussion, 4) songs that celebrate the truths of the Creed, and 5) prayer prompts. Give Them Jesus equips parents to prepare their children to leave home and go out into the world as faithful participants in the great gospel story. "Never stop telling the gospel story to your kids," Thornton says. "Give your children Jesus. Again. And again. And again. And you'll see them walk in the truth."
Download or read book Surprised by Hope written by N. T. Wright and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Award-winning author N. T. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright, who is one of today's premier Bible scholars, asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection. He provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus and shows how this became the cornerstone for the Christian community's hope in the bodily resurrection of all people at the end of the age. Wright then explores our expectation of "new heavens and a new earth," revealing what happens to the dead until then and what will happen with the "second coming" of Jesus. For many, including many Christians, all this will come as a great surprise. Wright convincingly argues that what we believe about life after death directly affects what we believe about life before death. For if God intends to renew the whole creation—and if this has already begun in Jesus's resurrection—the church cannot stop at "saving souls" but must anticipate the eventual renewal by working for God's kingdom in the wider world, bringing healing and hope in the present life. Lively and accessible, this book will surprise and excite all who are interested in the meaning of life, not only after death but before it.
Download or read book A View from Above written by J. W. Murphy and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2014-10-10 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine what your Christian development would be like if ? you grasped the true character of God. ? you were captivated by appreciation of and love for God's Word. ? you were not frightened away by the ?haunted house? of Revelation. ? you appreciated how the early church's experience influenced the message of Revelation. ? you understood how various viewpoints on Revelation developed over time. ? you enjoyed a perspective which prevents tunnel vision. ? you understood viewpoints about which you were previously unaware. ? you esteemed fellow believers who have different understandings of Revelation. ? you appreciated how the meaning of Jesus? sacrifice is pictured in Revelation. ? you practiced the message of Revelation in everyday life. ? you were strengthened by an unshakable faith in God. ? your faith was heartfelt and growing rather than formal or ritualistic. ? you were strong enough to stand firm in the face of any and all spiritual opposition. ? you were known for your moral and spiritual purity. ? you were able to resist the seductions of our culture. ? you demonstrated the sacrificial style of Jesus rather than the self-serving style of society. ? you enjoyed the blessings of those who ?keep the words? of Revelation's message. ? your anticipation of Jesus? return rose above a distracting concern with earthquakes, wars, and developing social events. ? you appreciated your present and future spiritual realities. ? you were eager rather than fearful about the future. ? you enjoyed the depths of the relationship toward which God is moving us.
Download or read book When the Man Comes Around A Commentary on the Book of Revelation written by Douglas Wilson and published by Canon Press & Book Service. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Though St. John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators." ~ G.K. Chesterton The book of Revelation was written to do just that: reveal. But most commentaries nowadays either engage in bizarre speculations about the future, or they keep an embarrassed distance from all the apocalyptic events that the apostle John says will “shortly take place.” In this commentary, Douglas Wilson provides a passage-by-passage walkthrough of the entire book, showing how John’s most notorious prophecies concern the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Explaining symbols and characters as he goes, Wilson shows from the text that not only is this book not an elaborate code, but that Revelation is not even ultimately concerned with the end of the world as we know it. Revelation is about the triumph of the Church, which always happens when the Man comes around.
Download or read book Papa Don t Pope Why I m Not Roman Catholic and Why the Future is Protestant written by Douglas Wilson and published by Canon Press & Book Service. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Papa Don't Pope evaluates some of the most important issues between Roman Catholics and Protestants, including personal interpretation, apostolic succession, sola Scriptura, and so on. So this little book should be a huge help for anyone (Catholic or Protestant) with honest questions, as well as for anyone looking to interact with the original Protestant vision. But what's the point in stirring up differences between Geneva and Rome? Don't we have enough division over church and theology already? The truth is, we don't have nearly enough clear disagreement--because clear disagreement is a necessary step on the way to agreement. So you could say this book has a catholic purpose (even if the future is clearly Protestant). The classical Protestant expression is Soli Deo Gloria. Roman Catholics might prefer Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam. May God hasten the day when we can say 'amen' to both.
Download or read book Artillery of Heaven written by Ussama Makdisi and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-15 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complex relationship between America and the Arab world goes back further than most people realize. In Artillery of Heaven, Ussama Makdisi presents a foundational American encounter with the Arab world that occurred in the nineteenth century, shortly after the arrival of the first American Protestant missionaries in the Middle East. He tells the dramatic tale of the conversion and death of As'ad Shidyaq, the earliest Arab convert to American Protestantism. The struggle over this man's body and soul—and over how his story might be told—changed the actors and cultures on both sides. In the unfamiliar, multireligious landscape of the Middle East, American missionaries at first conflated Arabs with Native Americans and American culture with an uncompromising evangelical Christianity. In turn, their Christian and Muslim opponents in the Ottoman Empire condemned the missionaries as malevolent intruders. Yet during the ensuing confrontation within and across cultures an unanticipated spirit of toleration was born that cannot be credited to either Americans or Arabs alone. Makdisi provides a genuinely transnational narrative for this new, liberal awakening in the Middle East, and the challenges that beset it. By exploring missed opportunities for cultural understanding, by retrieving unused historical evidence, and by juxtaposing for the first time Arab perspectives and archives with American ones, this book counters a notion of an inevitable clash of civilizations and thus reshapes our view of the history of America in the Arab world.
Download or read book Israel the Church and Millenarianism written by Steven D. Aguzzi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the calls of the Second Vatican Council, Roman Catholic theologians have sought to overcome an overarching problem facing Jewish–Christian relations, the concept of "supersessionism"; the idea that God has revoked the spiritual and historical promises made to the Jewish people in favour of granting those same privileges to a predominantly Gentile Church. Israel, the Church, and Millenarianism breaks new ground by applying an ancient principle to the problem of Israel’s "replacement": the early Church’s promotion of millennialism. Utilizing the best in Patristic research, Aguzzi argues that these earliest Christian traditions made room for the future of Israel because Christ’s reign in the Church was viewed as provisional to his historical reign on earth—Israel’s role in salvation history was and is not yet complete. Aguzzi’s research also opens the door for a greater Catholic understanding of the millennial principle, not shying away from its validity and relevance for understanding the importance of safeguarding Jewish particularity, while concluding that the Synagogue and the Church are indeed on a parallel trajectory; "...what will their...[Israel’s]...acceptance be but life from the dead?" (Romans 11:15). Ultimately, the divine will is fulfilled through both Christian and Jewish means, in history, while each community is dependent, in different ways, upon the unfolding of God’s future and the coming Parousia of Christ.
Download or read book What I Learned in Narnia written by Douglas Wilson and published by Canon Press & Book Service. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One rainy day, years ago, a little girl named Lucy discovered that the back of a wardrobe isn't always just the back of a wardrobe. Sometimes, it's a door into another world.In Lucy's case, that other world was called Narnia, and though she was among the first to enter it, she was by no means the last. Millions of children (young and old) have followed her there and met its strange but wonderful inhabitants--Mr. Tumnus, Reepicheep, and Puddleglum, among others. But the lessons of Narnia don't just belong to the world of fiction and fantasy. We may never meet fawns, talking mice, or marshwiggles in our ordinary lives, but the lessons they teach in The Chronicles of Narnia are the very lessons we need to fight the battles we face in our everyday lives. Douglas Wilson begins this series of meditations on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia with the observation, "This is not intended to be an introduction to Narnia at all, but is rather more like a conversation between good friends about some other good friends, talking about what a good time we all had and why." Wilson highlights the practical themes of mature, Christian living that emerge from these classic tales--nobility, confession, complete grace--a joyful contrast to the thinness of modern life. A must for any Narnia fan, young or old.
Download or read book Seventeen written by Shan Serafin and published by Bancroft Press. This book was released on 2005-10-06 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ultimatum: Show me a reason to live or I kill myself in seven days. When seventeen-year-old Sophia dares life to prove to her she should stay alive, her suffering is at its climax, her predicament at its worst, and her adolescence at its crescendo. Sophia is taking summer courses at a New York City college between her junior and senior years of high school, lured to the program by Shauna, her best friend from California. Constantly reminded of her own perceived lack of beauty and brains, haunted by pangs of worthlessness, and noticed only by her lanky friend J.P., Sophia begs life for a single decent reason to stick around. Days slip by and she continues her silent countdown until...the greatest hope she can find becomes the deepest threat imaginable. As she makes her final attempt to confront life among adults, this bold adolescent and feisty storyteller shreds the hypocrisy and inequities of the adult world she yearns to inhabit."
Download or read book The Gargoyle written by and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Easy Chairs Hard Words written by Douglas Wilson and published by Canon Press & Book Service. This book was released on 2011-06 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Easy Chairs, Hard Words is a dialogue on God's sovereignty and predestination.
Download or read book Gone to the Stars written by Henrik Barkley de Pearson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2009-12-19 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Gone to the stars’ is the story of a young man who grew up in a privileged world but gave it all up to go and search for a deeper spiritual meaning to life. After being raised in the most beautiful palace on Earth, the young man goes to work for the richest chairman of the board in corporate America and gets involved in high-stakes takeovers, living the super jet-set life. One day, while on a business trip to New York City, his soul separates itself from his body and rises up into the sky along a beam of light. His soul travels to a bright star, which is the entrance to heaven. Returning to Earth, the young man has realized that he now has a soul that is eternal. So he decides to renounce his lifestyle and go look for proofs to what is eternal in man: his soul. This begins a pilgrimage throughout the great American and Mexican wilderness, looking to strip his soul down to its naked essence and travel to the star again, among a string of colorful characters whom he encounters living on the margin of society. Critics comments on ‘Gone to the stars’: “A loveable adventure story, wonderful insight, great art”; “extremely persuasive and in places highly emotive”; “deeply inspirational fiction”; “ambitious and eventful”; “very well written, eloquently and confidently, and a great spiritual adventure”; “a clever idea, with fast-paced narrative that is easy to get into and laced with satire”; “excellent, gripping, exciting, powerful, frightening, beautiful.”
