Best Religious Reference

Wiccans celebrate and share many of the same beliefs our ancestors held, with practices that honor the old ways while being compatible with contemporary life. The divine is worshipped as both masculine and feminine, with a focus on balance and harmony with Nature, and a recognition of the magical power inherent in the Universe as well as in ourselves. Whether you're just looking to learn more about the Wiccan way of life, or you want to start practicing Wicca yourself, you will have a solid understanding of the essence of Wicca after reading this book: The history of Wicca: its modern foundations as well as its ancient inspirations An introduction to the God and Goddess and their multiple aspects The Wiccan holidays of the Wheel of the Year: the Sabbats and the Esbats Core elements of Wiccan ritual, including an overview of ritual tools Principles of magic—both ancient and modern An overview of Wiccan covens, circles, and solitary practice Example ritual and spellwork suitable for beginners Sample tables of correspondence identifying the magical properties of selected colors, crystals, herbs and oils. Lisa is very unbiased, and uses a very practical approach in her books, which I absolutely love! -- Amazon Customer "Lisa's style is easy to read, packed with information that is usable and actionable. My sister and I love Chamberlain's books and recommend them to any beginner searching for knowledge!!" Although I am no longer a beginner, I still learned a great deal from this book and I really love how the author kept reinforcing how personal and flexible this path is." -- Jessica Kruzinski, Good Reads "As a fledgling Wiccan/Witch, I found Lisa's book to be very concise and simple. The author provides straightforward descriptions of the major points of Wicca, while making it absolutely clear that there is no one true way."

The compilation of ancient manuscripts that constitute The Nag Hammadi Scriptures is a discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about the early Christian church, ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman religions. It includes the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and the recently discovered Gospel of Judas, as well as other Gnostic gospels and sacred texts.

A complete reference edition of the 60-volume Thru the Bible commentary series, this five-volume set is an excellent choice if you need a complete Bible commentary in durable hardcover bindings.

This Bible is filled with references and study aids to strengthen your Bible reading.

Visioneering, according to bestselling author Andy Stanley, is “a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be.” With warm, down-to-earth practicality, Andy Stanley explores the ordinary life of Nehemiah and his God-given vision for accomplishing the extraordinary. Whether you’re a parent with a vision for your children or a CEO pursuing a corporate vision, Visioneering is the perfect tool to help you develop and maintain God’s unique purpose for your life. Andy Stanley is a pastor, communicator, author, and the founder of North Point Ministries (NPM). Andy and his wife, Sandra, live in Alpharetta, Georgia, and have three children. On December 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., Orville Wright secured his place in history by executing the first powered and sustained flight from level ground. For twelve gravity-defying seconds he flew 120 feet along the dunes of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But what most children abandon to the domain of fantasy, Orville and Wilbur Wright seized upon as potential reality. Wilbur described the birth of their vision this way: Our personal interest in it [aviation] dates from our childhood days. Late in the autumn of 1878, our father came into the house one evening with some object partly concealed in his hands, and before we could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. It was a little toy, known to scientists as a “hélicoptère,” but which we, with sublime disregard for science, at once dubbed a “bat.”. It was a light frame of cork and bamboo, covered with paper, which formed two screws, driven in opposite directions by rubber bands under torsion. A toy so delicate lasted only a short time in the hands of small boys, but its memory was abiding. This childhood experience sparked in the boys an insatiable desire to fly. In doing so, they stumbled upon the principles of physics that would pave the way to their first successful manned flight. If I were to boil it down to a formula, it would look something like this: VISIONEERING = INSPIRATION + CONVICTION +. ACTION + DETERMINATION + COMPLETION Destinations Life is a journey. Where you will end up in the various roles you play; what you will accomplish personally, professionally, domestically, and spiritually. A clear vision, along with the courage to follow through, dramatically increases your chances of coming to the end of your life, looking back with a deep abiding satisfaction, and thinking, I did it. Without a clear vision, odds are you will come to the end of your life and wonder. And let’s face it, much of what we do doesn’t appear to matter much when evaluated apart from some larger context or purpose. But take the minutia of this very day, drop it into the cauldron of a God-ordained vision, stir them around, and suddenly there is purpose! It is the difference between filling bags with dirt and building a dike in order to save a town. Building a dike gives meaning to the chore of filling bags with dirt. Too many times the routines of life begin to feel like shoveling dirt. Specifically, vision weaves four things into the fabric of our daily experience. The thing that makes daydreaming so enjoyable is the emotion that piggybacks on those mind’s-eye images. When we allow our thoughts to wander outside the walls of reality, our feelings are quick to follow. A clear, focused vision actually allows us to experience ahead of time the emotions associated with our anticipated future. Even the most lifeless, meaningless task or routine can begin to “feel” good when it is attached to a vision. Through the avenue of vision, the feelings reserved for tomorrow are channeled back into our present reality. Being the preacher’s son, my primary realm of influence (and acceptance) was church. So I would put up with the traffic, the gas bills, and even leaving their houses early enough to be home by curfew. I was committed to what could be (being on the other side of Atlanta) as opposed to what was (sitting at home in Tucker). The details, chores, and routines of life become a worthwhile means to a planned-for end. Find me a man or woman who lacks motivation and I’ll show you someone with little or no vision. Vision is a big part of the reason you completed college or graduate school. Think of all the seemingly wasted hours of study and class time. Even then you knew that much of what you were memorizing for tests was a waste of time and effort. long years you endured science labs, European history, research papers, and lectures. Like most serious musicians, I accumulated quite a collection of gear: recording equipment, guitars, keyboards, drum machines, and several miles of cable. When Sandra and I were married, she allowed me the luxury of setting up a small studio in the basement of our condominium. It was not unusual for me to retreat to my studio after dinner and emerge just in time for breakfast. As Andrew began to look less like a baby and more like a little boy, I started to give serious thought to my relationship with my children. Having spent ten years working with teenagers, I had a frighteningly clear picture of what could be and what should not be! My vision for my family dictated that I put musical pursuits on hold. There was no way I would be able to develop the relationship I envisioned with my children while pursuing my musical aspirations. A clear vision has the power to bring what’s most important to the surface of your schedule and lifestyle. A clear vision makes it easy to weed out of your life those things that stand in the way of achieving what matters most. A vision makes you an important link between current reality and the future. The Divine Element Granted, you have probably heard or read this type of stuff before. Honoring God involves discovering his picture or vision of what our lives could and should be. With that in mind, rethink the implications of this familiar verse: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. And through Christ he has brought about, and continues to bring about, changes in you in accordance with his picture of what you could and should be. More to This Life All that to say, as Christians, we do not have a right to take our talents, abilities, experiences, opportunities, and education and run off in any direction we please. Missing out on God’s plan for our lives must be the greatest tragedy this side of eternity. Granted, this world offers a truckload of options when it comes to possible visions to pursue. But you were tailor-made, carefully crafted, minutely detailed for a selected divine agenda. His individual vision for your life is a small part of a plan he envisioned and put in motion long before you or I came on the scene—but now I’m jumping ahead. Without God’s vision, you may find yourself in the all too common position of looking back on a life that was given to accumulating green pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them. But let’s face it, at each milestone in your pursuit of more stuff, you feel like you did as a kid after all the presents were opened on Christmas morning. This is why it is imperative that you discover and participate in God’s multifaceted vision for your life. Your uniqueness and individuality will reach its pinnacle in the context of your pursuit of God’s plan for your life. _ _ _ In the pages that follow, you will encounter several features that will assist you in establishing or clarifying God’s vision for your life. Here is where you can start laying down the details of a plan that will insure activation of your vision. Finally, at the end of the book is a small group discussion guide. A small group will help you sharpen your vision and provide accountability as you pursue God’s plan for your life. Let’s face it, if we could heal at will, part the Red Sea with the flick of a wrist, or walk on water, it would make the process of accomplishing our goals much simpler. Vision is born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be. It is this element that catapults men and women out of the realm of passive concern and into action. Vision requires visionaries, people who have allowed their minds and hearts to wander outside the artificial boundaries imposed by the world as it is. Once upon a Time… Around 587 BC, the Babylonians invaded Judah and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, along with Solomon’s temple. On all three occasions the Babylonians took a number of Israelites as captives and resettled them in Babylon. Under the leadership of a man named Zerubbabel, these exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. But the people refused to turn away from. the very sins God had judged their ancestors for in the days of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews continued to adopt the religious practices and culture of the surrounding nations. By the time our story begins, the political, social, and spiritual conditions in Jerusalem were deplorable. Meanwhile, back in Persia, a Jewish fellow named Nehemiah heard about the plight of his homeland—and he felt something. Little did he know these deep feelings were the initial birth pains of a vision that people would be reading about thousands of years later. In fact, for anyone trying to clarify the right vision to pursue, a good question to ask is simply this: “What breaks my heart?” Most social reform movements that have made a positive impact in the world began with a broken-hearted leader. I think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his heart for the oppressed in black America. Every significant nonprofit organization that has positively impacted this world began with a brokenhearted leader. He then went on to found World Vision so the same kind of help could be offered to needy children around the globe. But neither did he allow his daily responsibilities to distract him from the burden that had gripped his heart. Developing or discovering a vision for a particular area of our lives takes time. But it is a process that yields a product worth every bit of the agony along the way. Revving our vision engines at the starting line feels like a waste of time. This sense of “time is awasting” is the very thing that compels people To move out too soon. Time allows us to distinguish between good ideas and visions worth throwing the weight of our life behind. Waiting gives us a chance to examine our emotions and sort our minor concerns from major ones. Knowing these guys as well as I did, I’m sure that if they had had the opportunity to sign up and ship out on the day they sensed God’s call on their lives, they would have both headed for the airport. During the process of finishing college, Chip slowly began to lose interest. But Chip followed through with that vision and became active in his local church and effective in the ministry of lifestyle evangelism. Let’s face it, a good motivational speaker can cast such a compelling vision that before you know it you feel like it is your own. As we wait, God will shape and mature ideas into visions that can survive in the real world. If you saw The Empire Strikes Back, you remember the scene in which Luke wants to go rescue his friends before he has finished his Jedi Knight training. They are my friends; I must help them.”. Yoda finally issues a dire warning, “If you leave now, help them you could, but you will destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.”. But Luke is determined to go. In the case of a divinely ordered vision God goes to work in you to prepare you for what he knows lies ahead. Maybe that’s why he inspired the apostle to write the next phrase: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing” (verse 14). My guess is that without a vision, our willingness to allow God to prepare us would be greatly diminished. Who would suffer the headache of college or graduate school without the vision of job opportunities? Now I don’t know if he actually sat down and calculated how long it would take to deliver Israel by killing one Egyptian at a time. It took Moses forty years to grow into the vision God had designed for him. Meanwhile, back in Egypt, another generation or two dies at the hands of Egyptian taskmasters. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident his service to the king of Persia was in fact his desert experience. For this was a man with immense leadership ability who awoke every day to do a job that tapped little or none of those skills. Do you wake up every day to circumstances that have absolutely nothing remotely to do with the vision you sense God is developing in you? David, the teenage king, spent years hiding in caves. And Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the very king whose ancestors had destroyed the city he longed to rebuild! But from what I read in the Scriptures, I would guess the time required for God to grow you into his vision for your life will be somewhere between four months and forty years. There seems to be a correlation between the preparation time and the magnitude of the task to which we are called. Leading God’s people out of four hundred years of slavery required more than a four-year degree. In the case of a divinely ordered vision, God is working behind the scenes to prepare the way. Ultimately, we are taking part in a massive assault that began one dark afternoon on a hill just outside of Jerusalem. Apart from his intervention and preparation, you and I are incapable of pulling off even our small part of the operation. And he knew that apart from divine intervention there was no way in the world he would be able to take part in the reconstruction of Jerusalem. In fact, as we will see in the next chapter, he went so far as to think through exactly what it would take to pull off a project of that magnitude. Once they feel their idea is from God, they assume all systems are go and they need to quit their jobs, step out on faith, and begin. But the story of Nehemiah, along with numerous other biblical accounts, illustrates the truth that a clear vision does not necessarily indicate a green light to begin. In fact, I have witnessed a good many people with what seemed to be God-ordained visions charge out of the starting gates too early. As a pastor I have counseled with dozens of men and women who were in the process of determining the source of a concern or burden they carried. While developing the material for this book I interviewed several Christian men and women who have visioneered ideas into successful enterprises. If it is God who has begun painting a picture of what could and should be on the canvas of your heart, over time you will begin to sense that not to follow through would be tantamount to an act of disobedience. Time allows your heavenly Father to transition what begins as an idea into a moral compulsion. A second indicator is that there will always be alignment between a divinely originated vision and God’s master plan for this age. As we said at the outset, at Calvary we lost our right to devise our own plans and pursue our own agendas. All divinely inspired visions are in some way tied into God’s master plan. Whether it is loving your wife, investing in your kids, witnessing to your neighbor, launching a ministry, or starting a company, every divinely placed burden has a link to a bigger picture. It was Israel’s strategic role in God’s plan that made Nehemiah’s vision so compelling. Visions are often born in the soul of a man or woman who is gripped by a tension between what is and what should be.

From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of God Is Not Great , a provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages--with never-before-published pieces by Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices--past and present--that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. "Religion invents a problem where none exists by describing the wicked as also made in the image of god and the sexually nonconformist as existing in a state of incurable mortal sin that can incidentally cause floods and earthquakes." All are enjoyable to read and will make even religious believers envious of the talent gathered for this anthology.

The Christian church has a long tradition of systematic theology, that is, studying theology and doctrine organized around fairly standard categories such as the Word of God, redemption, and Jesus Christ. His Systematic Theology provides the core theology content for all my classes and most of the other undergraduate theology courses at the University. No other theology text combines readability, range of views, and the ever-essential quality of reinforcing our systematic theologies with scripture… Each chapter closes with application questions, special terms, additional bibliography, a cross-section of other systematic texts with page numbers, a passage for memory, and a hymn…all centered on the theology of that chapter.

Lewis, one of the most renowned Christian authors and thinkers, examines a universally applicable question within the human condition: “If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?” With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C.S. "Love, in its own nature, demands the perfecting of the beloved; that the mere 'kindness' which tolerates anything except suffering in its object is, in that respect at the opposite pole from Love." The mind is expanded, God is magnified, and the reader is reminded that he is not the center of the universe as Lewis carefully rolls through the dissertation that suffering is God's will in preparing the believer for heaven and for the full weight of glory that awaits him there. It says so many things which seem to me to need saying today.

Thousands of people have had them, but many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible. A highly trained neurosurgeon who had operated on thousands of brains in the course of his career, Alexander knew that what people of faith call the “soul” is really a product of brain chemistry. NDEs, he would have been the first to explain, might feel real to the people having them, but in truth they are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. Today he is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition. He writes that he attended his Episcopal church even as he questioned how God, heaven, and an afterlife could exist, yet the heaven he describes seeing certainly seems like a biblical one; a typical line is, “the visual beauty of the silvery bodies of those scintillating beings above.” His story includes interesting asides about past struggles with alcohol and with adoption. It ends with a request to support Eternea, Alexander’s nonprofit that has as its mission, “increasing global acceptance of the reality of our eternal spiritual existence . --Karen Springen "Eben Alexander brings a unique perspective to the sacred world combining a glorious, personal vision of spiritual consciousness with patient, insightful scientific inquiry. His honest struggle to make sense of this unforgettable journey is a gripping story, unique in the literature of spiritual experiences, that may well change how we understand our role in the universe."

Millions of readers have thrilled to bestselling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln , page-turning works of nonfiction that have changed the way we read history. “O'Reilly is the natural choice to narrate this work… he carries the work along and the audiobook is a good introduction to the Synoptic Gospels.” ― AudioFile Magazine Bill O'Reilly is the anchor of "The O'Reilly Factor," the highest-rated cable news show in the country.

2) This Bible further benefits from a fully interactive Table of Contents which allow users to select specific books AND chapters in BOTH the Old and New Testaments. The Authorized King James Version Holy Bible for Kindle Edition offers readers the full, unabridged text of the King James Version in an exceptionally clear, LARGE PRINT and readable type in a single, easy-to-carry download. Masterfully edited with a facsimile illustration of the original opening page of the King James Version, the economical price of this Authorized King James Version Holy Bible for Kindle represents truly exceptional value. The Authorized King James Version Holy Bible for Kindle Edition offers reader special Kindle enabled features, including interactive table of contents, MasterLink(tm) Technology, text-to-speech capabilities which enable audiobook features, as well as words that can be looked up on the Kindle supplied built in dictionary. ABS has a number of "firsts" in its record books: the first Bibles in hotels, the first pocket Bibles for soldiers (during the Civil war), and the first Bibles provided for the U.S. Military in 1817. The Society extends its outreach internationally through the United Bible Societies (UBS), a fellowship of 126 international Bible societies, and was instrumental in founding this global fellowship in the interest of greater ministry impact and efficiency.

This extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities, where some 40,000 people still practice polygamy. --John Moe Using as a focal point the chilling story of offshoot Mormon fundamentalist brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty, who in 1984 brutally butchered their sister-in-law and 15-month-old niece in the name of a divine revelation, Krakauer explores what he sees as the nature of radical Mormon sects with Svengali-like leaders. Through interviews with family members and an unremorseful Dan Lafferty (who is currently serving a life sentence), Krakauer chronologically tracks what led to the double murder, from the brothers' theological misgivings about the Mormon church to starting their own fundamentalist sect that relies on their direct communications with God to guide their actions. According to Dan's chilling step-by-step account, when their new religion led to Ron's divorce and both men's excommunication from the Mormon church, the brothers followed divine revelations and sought to kill, starting with their sister-in-law, those who stood in the way of their new beliefs.

This well-researched examination of human moral impulses will appeal to liberals and conservatives alike following the 2016 presidential campaign and election. That's what makes The Righteous Mind well worth hearing...a landmark contribution to humanity's understanding of itself.― -New York Times Book Review “Haidt is looking for more than victory. That’s what makes The Righteous Mind well worth reading…a landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself.” – New York Times Book Review “Jonathan Haidt is one of smartest and most creative psychologists alive, and his newest book, The Righteous Mind, is a tour de force—a brave, brilliant and eloquent exploration of the most important issues of our time. This penetrating yet accessible book will help readers understand the righteous minds that inhabit politics.” —Larry Sabato, University of Virginia, author of A More Perfect Constitution “A remarkable and original synthesis of social psychology, political analysis, and moral reasoning that reflects the best of sciences in these fields and adds evidence that we are innately capable of the decency and righteousness needed for societies to survive.” —Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University. “[Haidt’s] framework for the different moral universes of liberals and conservatives struck me as a brilliant breakthrough… The Righteous Mind provides an invaluable road map.” –Miller-McCune.com. “A much-needed voice of moral sanity.” – Booklist "An important and timely book…His ideas are controversial but they make you think…Haidt has made his reputation as a social psychologist at the University of Virginia, where he and his colleagues explore reason and intuition, why people disagree so passionately and how the moral mind works."

A preeminent scientist -- and the world's most prominent atheist -- asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. He says it's the scientist and humanist in him that makes him hostile to religions—fundamentalist Christianity and Islam come in for the most opprobrium—that close people's minds to scientific truth, oppress women and abuse children psychologically with the notion of eternal damnation. While Dawkins can be witty, even confirmed atheists who agree with his advocacy of science and vigorous rationalism may have trouble stomaching some of the rhetoric: the biblical Yahweh is "psychotic," Aquinas's proofs of God's existence are "fatuous" and religion generally is "nonsense." Richard Dawkins, in The God Delusion, tells of his exasperation with colleagues who try to play both sides of the street: looking to science for justification of their religious convictions while evading the most difficult implications—the existence of a prime mover sophisticated enough to create and run the universe, "to say nothing of mind reading millions of humans simultaneously."

This well-researched examination of human moral impulses will appeal to liberals and conservatives alike following the 2016 presidential campaign and election. That's what makes The Righteous Mind well worth hearing...a landmark contribution to humanity's understanding of itself.― -New York Times Book Review “Haidt is looking for more than victory. That’s what makes The Righteous Mind well worth reading…a landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself.” – New York Times Book Review “Jonathan Haidt is one of smartest and most creative psychologists alive, and his newest book, The Righteous Mind, is a tour de force—a brave, brilliant and eloquent exploration of the most important issues of our time. This penetrating yet accessible book will help readers understand the righteous minds that inhabit politics.” —Larry Sabato, University of Virginia, author of A More Perfect Constitution “A remarkable and original synthesis of social psychology, political analysis, and moral reasoning that reflects the best of sciences in these fields and adds evidence that we are innately capable of the decency and righteousness needed for societies to survive.” —Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University. “[Haidt’s] framework for the different moral universes of liberals and conservatives struck me as a brilliant breakthrough… The Righteous Mind provides an invaluable road map.” –Miller-McCune.com. “A much-needed voice of moral sanity.” – Booklist "An important and timely book…His ideas are controversial but they make you think…Haidt has made his reputation as a social psychologist at the University of Virginia, where he and his colleagues explore reason and intuition, why people disagree so passionately and how the moral mind works."

In Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, now expanded with bonus content, Nabeel Qureshi describes his dramatic journey from Islam to Christianity, complete with friendships, investigations, and supernatural dreams along the way. -- Mark Gabriel, , Author and former lecturer, University of Cairo. Fresh, striking, highly illuminating, and sometimes heartbreaking, Qureshi’s story is worth a thousand textbooks. His quest brought together several exceptional features: a very bright mind, extraordinary sincerity, original research, and a willingness to follow the evidence trail wherever it took him. This book gives westerners a glimpse of the richness of family and love in a devout Muslim home; it is an enviable picture of respect, devotion, and society. But Christians and Muslims alike are told stories about their religions when they are young, while few have ever personally researched the writings of their founding fathers to assess the validity that undergirds their respective faiths. But it is also a deeply personal heart-wrenching and tear-evoking saga of the life of a young Muslim growing up in the West, a gripping biography that is impossible to put down. We are introduced to the depth of spirituality, the love and honor of family, and the way a person “sees” and “feels” in a devout Muslim home. It reaches both East and West, teaching Christians about Islam from an insider’s perspective and helping Muslims understand the love and truth of Jesus. Nabeel Qureshi masterfully argues for the Gospel while painting a beautiful portrait of Muslim families and heritage, avoiding the fear-mongering and finger-pointing that are all too pervasive in today’s sensationalist world.

The world-renowned classic that has enthralled and delighted millions of readers with its timeless tales of gods and heroes. Fans of Greek mythology will find all the great stories and characters here--Perseus, Hercules, and Odysseus--each discussed in generous detail by the voice of an impressively knowledgeable and engaging (with occasional lapses) narrator.

His quest takes him on a detective journey from the stunningly beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of South Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of "supernatural beings" identical to the animal-human hybrids depicted in prehistoric caves. "Graham Hancock is no stranger to controversy.

Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale defend the absolute claims of Christ against modern belief in the "secular gods" of atheism, scientism, relativism, and more. ― Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City RAVI ZACHARIAS is the founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in Canada, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. DR. VINCE VITALE, born in NYC and raised in a family one generation removed from Mafia heritage, went to study philosophy at Princeton University and then took an unexpected journey that led him to God.

The compilation of ancient manuscripts that constitute The Nag Hammadi Scriptures is a discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about the early Christian church, ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman religions. It includes the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and the recently discovered Gospel of Judas, as well as other Gnostic gospels and sacred texts.

Lewis, the most important writer of the 20th century, explores the common ground upon which all of those of Christian faith stand together. In 1943 Great Britain, when hope and the moral fabric of society were threatened by the relentless inhumanity of global war, an Oxford don was invited to give a series of radio lectures addressing the central issues of Christianity. He describes those doctrines that the four major denominations in Britain (Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic) would have in common, e.g., original sin, the transcendent Creator God, and the divinity of Jesus as well as his atonement and bodily resurrection.

Thousands of people have had them, but many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible. A highly trained neurosurgeon who had operated on thousands of brains in the course of his career, Alexander knew that what people of faith call the “soul” is really a product of brain chemistry. NDEs, he would have been the first to explain, might feel real to the people having them, but in truth they are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. Today he is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition. He writes that he attended his Episcopal church even as he questioned how God, heaven, and an afterlife could exist, yet the heaven he describes seeing certainly seems like a biblical one; a typical line is, “the visual beauty of the silvery bodies of those scintillating beings above.” His story includes interesting asides about past struggles with alcohol and with adoption. It ends with a request to support Eternea, Alexander’s nonprofit that has as its mission, “increasing global acceptance of the reality of our eternal spiritual existence . --Karen Springen "Eben Alexander brings a unique perspective to the sacred world combining a glorious, personal vision of spiritual consciousness with patient, insightful scientific inquiry. His honest struggle to make sense of this unforgettable journey is a gripping story, unique in the literature of spiritual experiences, that may well change how we understand our role in the universe."

Evangelical churches emphasize the importance of Scripture and preaching. As the church navigates the unique global challenges of pluralism, secularism, and fundamentalism, the need for an integrated vision of the community as evangelical, sacramental, and pentecostal becomes ever more pressing. (Glen G. Scorgie, professor of theology and ethics, Bethel Seminary San Diego). "In Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal , Gordon Smith is a constructive provocateur. Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal is a wise and thoughtful invitation, accompanied by concrete suggestions, for churches to enter more fully into the grace that is found in union with Christ." In this timely pastoral appeal to overcome historical and theological divisions, Gordon T. Smith invites believers to be drawn into the fullness of life―fellowship with the living God―by embracing the divinely appointed means of grace." This kind of perspective is absolutely in tune with what the church in post-Christendom needs in these days when we are redefining our identity as God's people and need resources to help guide us in that important work." He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a teaching fellow at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.