Reviving Old Scratch

by Richard Beck

Author	: Richard Beck
Publisher	: Fortress Press
Total Pages	: 212
Release	: 2016-06-03
Genre	: Religion
ISBN	: 1506401368

GET BOOK

The devil has fallen on hard times. Surveys say that even the majority of Christians doubt Satans existence. Burdened by doubts, skeptical believers find themselves divorced from Jesus dramatic confrontation with Satan in the Gospels and from the struggle that galvanized the early church. In Reviving Old Scratch, popular blogger and theologian Richard Beck reintroduces the devil to the modern world with a biblical, bold, and urgent vision of spiritual warfare: we must resist the devil by joining the kingdom of Gods subversive campaign to interrupt the world with love. Beck shows how conservative Christians too often overspiritualize the devil and demons, and progressive Christians reduce these forces to social justice issues. By understanding evil as a very real force in the world, we are better able to name it for what it is and thus to combat it as Jesus did. Becks own work in a prison Bible study and at a church for recovering addicts convinced him to take Satan more seriously, and they provide compelling illustrations as he challenges the contemporaryand strangely safeversions of evil forces. The beliefs of liberals and conservatives alike will be tested by Becks groundbreaking ideas, fascinating stories, and clear thinking. Because if Jesus took Satan seriously, says Beck, then so should we. Winner of the 2017 Book of the Year Award from The Academy of Parish Clergy!

Stranger God

by Richard Beck

Author	: Richard Beck
Publisher	: Fortress Press
Total Pages	: 252
Release	: 2017-10-18
Genre	: Religion
ISBN	: 1506438415

GET BOOK

Accessible, challenging, funny, and one of the best reads on how to love others in any situation. Love and hospitality can change the way you see the world and others. That's exactly what modern-day theologian, Richard Beck, experienced when he first led a Bible study at a local maximum security prison. Beck believed the promise of Matthew 25 that states when we visit the prisoner, we encounter Jesus. Sure enough, God met Beck in prison. With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us when we entertain the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. Stories from Beck's own life illustrate this truth -- God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly. Psychological experiments show how we are predisposed to appreciate those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us. The call of the gospel, however, is to override those impulses with compassion, to "widen the circle of our affection." In the end, Beck turns to the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.

From Scratch

by Tembi Locke

Author	: Tembi Locke
Publisher	: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages	: 352
Release	: 2019-04-30
Genre	: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN	: 1501187678

GET BOOK

Now a limited Netflix series starring Zoe Saldana! This Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller is “a captivating story of love lost and found” (Kirkus Reviews) set in the lush Sicilian countryside, where one woman discovers the healing powers of food, family, and unexpected grace in her darkest hours. It was love at first sight when actress Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro’s traditional Sicilian family did not approve of his marrying a black American woman. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forged on. They built a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships, and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopted at birth. Eventually, they reconciled with Saro’s family just as he faced a formidable cancer that would consume all their dreams. From Scratch chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro’s family, now she finds solace and nourishment—literally and spiritually—at her mother-in-law’s table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro’s romance—an incredible love story that leaps off the pages. In Sicily, it is said that every story begins with a marriage or a death—in Tembi Locke’s case, it is both. “Locke’s raw and heartfelt memoir will uplift readers suffering from the loss of their own loved ones” (Publishers Weekly), but her story is also about love, finding a home, and chasing flavor as an act of remembrance. From Scratch is for anyone who has dared to reach for big love, fought for what mattered most, and those who needed a powerful reminder that life is...delicious.

Trains, Jesus, and Murder

by Richard Beck

Author	: Richard Beck
Publisher	: Fortress Press
Total Pages	: 216
Release	: 2019-11-05
Genre	: Religion
ISBN	: 150645559X

GET BOOK

"Saints and sinners, all jumbled up together." That's the genius of Johnny Cash, and that's what the gospel is ultimately all about. Johnny Cash sang about and for people on the margins. He famously played concerts in prisons, where he sang both murder ballads and gospel tunes in the same set. It's this juxtaposition between light and dark, writes Richard Beck, that makes Cash one of the most authentic theologians in memory. In Trains, Jesus, and Murder, Beck explores the theology of Johnny Cash by investigating a dozen of Cash's songs. In reflecting on Cash's lyrics, and the passion with which he sang them, we gain a deeper understanding of the enduring faith of the Man in Black.

Shanghai Faithful

by Jennifer Lin

Author	: Jennifer Lin
Publisher	: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages	: 333
Release	: 2017-02-16
Genre	: History
ISBN	: 144225694X

GET BOOK

Within the next decade, China could be home to more Christians than any country in the world. Through the 150-year saga of a single family, this book vividly dramatizes the remarkable religious evolution of the world’s most populous nation. Shanghai Faithful is both a touching family memoir and a chronicle of the astonishing spread of Christianity in China. Five generations of the Lin family—buffeted by history’s crosscurrents and personal strife—bring to life an epoch that is still unfolding. A compelling cast—a poor fisherman, a doctor who treated opium addicts, an Ivy League–educated priest, and the charismatic preacher Watchman Nee—sets the bookin motion. Veteran journalist Jennifer Lin takes readers from remote nineteenth-century mission outposts to the thriving house churches and cathedrals of today’s China. The Lin family—and the book’s central figure, the Reverend Lin Pu-chi—offer witness to China’s tumultuous past, up to and beyond the betrayals and madness of the Cultural Revolution, when the family’s resolute faith led to years of suffering. Forgiveness and redemption bring the story full circle. With its sweep of history and the intimacy of long-hidden family stories, Shanghai Faithful offers a fresh look at Christianity in China—past, present, and future.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

by Sarah J. Robinson

Author	: Sarah J. Robinson
Publisher	: WaterBrook
Total Pages	: 257
Release	: 2021-05-11
Genre	: Religion
ISBN	: 0593193539

GET BOOK

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

The Made-from-Scratch Life

by Melissa K. Norris

Author	: Melissa K. Norris
Publisher	: Harvest House Publishers
Total Pages	: 210
Release	: 2016-02-01
Genre	: Cooking
ISBN	: 0736965343

GET BOOK

Do you long for simpler days? Do you wish you had the time to offer your family home-grown meals? Does your heart cry for a quiet place in this fast-paced world? Blogger and homesteader Melissa K. Norris inspires with practical and easy methods to help you cook from scratch, garden, preserve your own food, and see God's fingerprints in your everyday busy life. You'll learn how to plan, plant, and harvest for eating and preserving troubleshoot common gardening problems with natural solutions improve your family's health with natural cooking and cleaning methods Whether you live in the middle of the asphalt jungle or on the side of a mountain, you can experience the pioneer lifestyle and start your own homesteading journey. Because when you surround yourself with things made from the hand of God, you can't help but see Him.

Ingenious

by Jason Fagone

Author	: Jason Fagone
Publisher	: Crown
Total Pages	: 354
Release	: 2013-11-05
Genre	: Technology & Engineering
ISBN	: 0307591506

GET BOOK

An epic tale of invention, in which ordinary people’s lives are changed forever by their quest to engineer a radically new kind of car In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel 100 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world, including dozens of amateurs. Many designed their cars entirely from scratch, rejecting decades of thinking about what a car should look like. Jason Fagone follows four of those teams from the build stage to the final race and beyond—into a world in which destiny hangs on a low drag coefficient and a lug nut can be a beautiful talisman. The result is a gripping story of crazy collaboration, absurd risks, colossal hopes, and poignant losses. In an old pole barn in central Illinois, childhood sweethearts hack together an electric-powered dreamboat, using scavenged parts, forging their own steel, and burning through their life savings. In Virginia, an impassioned entrepreneur and his hand-picked squad of speed freaks pool their imaginations and build a car so light that you can push it across the floor with your thumb. In West Philly, a group of disaffected high school students come into their own as they create a hybrid car with the engine of a Harley motorcycle. And in Southern California, the early favorite—a start-up backed by millions in venture capital—designs a car that looks like an alien egg. Ingenious is a joyride. Fagone takes us into the garages and the minds of the inventors, capturing the fractious yet beautiful process of engineering a bespoke machine. Suspenseful and bighearted, this is the story of ordinary people risking failure, economic ruin, and ridicule to create something vital that Detroit had never pulled off. As the Illinois team wrote in chalk on the wall of their barn, "SOMEBODY HAS TO DO SOMETHING. THAT SOMEBODY IS US."

Demonology 101

by Daniel C Okpara

Author	: Daniel C Okpara
Publisher	:
Total Pages	: 248
Release	: 2020-10-29
Genre	:
ISBN	:

GET BOOK

Everything You Need to Know About Demons, What They Are, How They Operate, Demonic Possession, Demonic Oppression, and How to Cast Out Demons and Obtain Deliverance for Yourself and for Your Loved Ones.When it comes to the subject of demons, Christians fall into two equal and opposite extremes. The first extreme is believing that demons don't exist or that they don't have any power at all. While the second extreme is believing too much in them and attributing every problem in life to them. We need a balance between these two extremes, and this book provides the right balance needed to deal with demons, overcome them, and live a victorious life. In this Bible study, you will learn what demons are, their origins, their names, operations, and how to deal with them. You will learn that while demons are real and can cause serious trouble, we are not to be afraid of them because God has placed us in a more powerful place of authority than them. You will learn what demonic possession and demonic oppression mean, and their difference. You will learn how to discern or know when a problem is a demonic possession or demonic oppression and not just physical health or other issues. More importantly, this book will arm you with the truth, scriptures, and prayers to cast out demons, and obtain personal deliverance. Here's what you will learn... 1. What Are Demons? 2. How Did Demons Originate? 3. Old Testament References of Demons 4. What Jesus Said About Demons 5. Recognizing Demons by Their Names and by Their Works 6. Works of Demons 7. How Demons Operate 8. What is Demonic Possession? 9. What is Demonic Oppression? 10. What is Deliverance? 11. Can Christians have demons in them? 12. How can I know if I or Someone Have Demon? 13. When Does One Need Deliverance? 14. Do I Need Deliverance As a Christian 15. Can I Deliver Myself From Demons? 16. What are the Steps to Casting Out Demons or Deliverance? 17. How Can I Conduct Deliverance on Myself? 18. How Can I Know I Have Been Delivered? 19. Can Demons Come Back After They Are Gone? 20. How Can I Maintain My Deliverance? 21. Prayers for Personal Deliverance.