Book picks similar to
In Defense of Israel, Revised: The Bible's Mandate for Supporting the Jewish State by John Hagee
christian
non-fiction
judaism
politics
Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents
Rod Dreher - 2020
Identity politics are beginning to encroach on every aspect of life. Civil liberties are increasingly seen as a threat to "safety". Progressives marginalize conservative, traditional Christians, and other dissenters. Technology and consumerism hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state. And the pandemic, having put millions out of work, leaves our country especially vulnerable to demagogic manipulation.In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism. He explains how the totalitarianism facing us today is based less on overt violence and more on psychological manipulation. He tells the stories of modern-day dissidents--clergy, laity, martyrs, and confessors from the Soviet Union and the captive nations of Europe--who offer practical advice for how to identify and resist totalitarianism in our time. Following the model offered by a prophetic World War II-era pastor who prepared believers in his Eastern European to endure the coming of communism, Live Not By Lies teaches American Christians a method for resistance: - SEE: Acknowledge the reality of the situation. - JUDGE: Assess reality in the light of what we as Christians know to be true. - ACT: Take action to protect truth.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can't happen in their country. Many American Christians are making that mistake today, sleepwalking through the erosion of our freedoms. Live Not By Lies will wake them and equip them for the long resistance.
Creating Christ: How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity
James Valliant - 2016
The Romans employed a tactic they routinely used to conquer and absorb other nations: they grafted their imperial rule onto the religion of the conquered. After 30 years of research, authors James S. Valliant and C.W. Fahy present irrefutable archaeological and textual evidence that proves Christianity was created by Roman Caesars in this book that breaks new ground in Christian scholarship and is destined to change the way the world looks at ancient religions forever. Inherited from a long-past era of tyranny, war and deliberate religious fraud, could Christianity have been created for an entirely different purpose than we have been lead to believe? Praised by scholars like Dead Sea Scrolls translator Robert Eisenman (James the Brother of Jesus), this exhaustive synthesis of historical detective work integrates all of the ancient sources about the earliest Christians and reveals new archaeological evidence for the first time. And, despite the fable presented in current bestsellers like Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus, the evidence presented in Creating Christ is irrefutable: Christianity was invented by Roman Emperors. ***** ”I have rarely encountered a book so original, exciting, accessible and informed on subjects that are of obvious importance to the world and to which I have myself devoted such a large part of my scholarly career studying. In this book they have rendered a startling new understanding of Christianity with a controversial theory of its Roman provenance that is accessible to the layman in a very powerful way. In the process, they present new and comprehensive archeological and iconographic evidence, as well as utilizing the widest and most cutting edge work of other recent scholars, including myself. This is a work of outstanding and original scholarship. Its arguments are a brilliant, profound and thorough integration of the relevant evidence. When they are done, the conclusion is inescapable and obviously profound.” Prof. Robert Eisenman, Author of James the Brother of Jesus and The New Testament Code "A fascinating and provocative investigative history of ideas, boldly exploring a problem that previous scholarship has not clearly or credibly addressed: how (and why!) the Flavian dynasty wove Christianity into the very fabric of Western civilization." -Mark Riebling, author of Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Ari Shavit - 2013
Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. Through revealing stories of significant events and of ordinary individuals—pioneers, immigrants, entrepreneurs, scientists, army generals, peaceniks, settlers, and Palestinians—Israeli journalist Ari Shavit illuminates many of the pivotal moments of the Zionist century that led Israel to where it is today. We meet the youth group leader who recognized the potential of Masada as a powerful symbol for Zionism; the young farmer who bought an orange grove from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s, and with the Jaffa orange helped to create a booming economy in Palestine; the engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel’s nuclear program; the religious Zionists who started the settler movement. Over an illustrious career that has spanned almost thirty years, Shavit has had rare access to people from across the Israeli political, economic, and social spectrum, and in this ambitious work he tells a riveting story that is both deeply human and of profound historical dimension.As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? And can Israel survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing, both internal and external, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.
The Chosen: 40 Days with Jesus
Amanda Jenkins - 2019
Every follower of Jesus in the Gospels had a not-so-great “before”: A brash fisherman. A pious religious leader. A demon-possessed woman. A thieving tax collector. Christ’s love saw beyond their brokenness and forgave. Jesus revolutionized the lives of those who followed Him. And He’s still doing it today. Each of the forty devotions in The Chosen contains a Scripture, a unique look into a Gospel story, suggestions for prayer, and questions that lead you further in your relationship with Christ. See Jesus through the eyes of those who knew him best, and explore the backstories of people like Mary Magdalene, Peter, Matthew, Nicodemus, and more. It’s hard to relate to the sinless Son of God, but we can all identify with the sinners. You too can be transformed: Jesus sees past your "before" to the person He is creating you to be.
Raising Giant-Killers: Releasing Your Child's Divine Destiny Through Intentional Parenting
Bill Johnson - 2018
"Parents, we rule for the purpose of protection, but we also serve with the purpose of empowering," they write. "We want to release our children into their destiny--that's the privilege of parenting."In these pages you will gain the wisdom, kingdom concepts, and practical tools you need to help raise your children to their best. You'll discover how to parent to their uniqueness, gifts, and strengths, as well as how you can demonstrate and reveal who God is to your kids. The authors also address pressing issues parents face today, including how to - be fully engaged in hearing what the Lord is saying over each child- maintain relationship and discipline- develop character- train your children for worship- fan the flame of what God has put in their hearts- and moreNo matter what age your kids are, you have an incredible opportunity to shape their hearts, minds, and values. Here is everything you need to help your children walk into the destiny of their lives and see them become the awesome people they were created to be.
The Left's Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-Semitism
Dave Rich - 2016
And while the election of Jeremy Corbyn may have thrown a harsher spotlight on the crisis, it is by no means a recent phenomenon.The widening gulf between British Jews and the anti-Israel left - born out of antiapartheid campaigns and now allying itself with Islamist extremists who demand Israel’s destruction - did not happen overnight or by chance: political activists made it happen. This book reveals who they were, why they chose Palestine and how they sold their cause to the left.Based on new academic research into the origins of this phenomenon, combined with the author's daily work observing political extremism, contemporary hostility to Israel, and anti-Semitism, this book brings new insight to the left's increasingly controversial 'Jewish problem'.
Crash Course in Jewish History: The Miracle and Meaning of Jewish History, from Abraham to Modern Israel
Ken Spiro - 2010
Praying Circles around Your Children
Mark Batterson - 2012
You'll see how prayer is your secret weapon. Through stories of parents just like you, Batterson shares five prayer circles that will not only help you pray for your kids, but also pray through your kids.Batterson teaches about how to create prayer lists unique to your family, claim God-inspired promises for your children, turn your family circle into a prayer circle, and discover your child's life themes. And he not only tells you how, he illustrates why.As Batterson says, 'I realize that not everyone inherited a prayer legacy like I did, but you can leave a legacy for generations to come. Your prayers have the power to shape the destiny of your children and your children's children. It's time to start circling.'
The Jewish Study Bible: Featuring the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation
Adele Berlin - 2003
Nearly forty scholars worldwide contributed to the translation and interpretation of the Jewish Study Bible, representing the best of Jewish biblical scholarship available today. A committee of highly-respected biblical scholars and rabbis from the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism movements produced this modern translation.No knowledge of Hebrew is required for one to make use of this unique volume. The Jewish Study Bible uses The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.Since its publication, the Jewish Study Bible has become one of the most popular volumes in Oxford's celebrated line of bibles. The quality of scholarship, easy-to-navigate format, and vibrant supplementary features bring the ancient text to life.* Informative essays that address a wide variety of topics relating to Judaism's use and interpretation of the Bible through the ages. * In-text tables, maps, and charts. * Tables of weights and measures. * Verse and chapter differences. * Table of Scriptural Readings. * Glossary of technical terms. * An index to all the study materials. * Full color New Oxford Bible Maps, with index.
God's Lavish Grace
Terry Virgo - 2004
This concise survey of the impact and outworking of God's grace in the life of the believer will revitalize the most threadbare faith.
Unleash!: Breaking Free from Normalcy
Perry Noble - 2012
But too often the things of our past--fear, anger, bitterness, worry and doubt--hold us back. Rather than focusing on the reality of who Christ is and what he has done for us, we allow ourselves to be identified by all the things we aren't. But we are not who our past says we are, and we are not who the enemy says we are. We are who God and his Word say that we are.Pastor Perry Noble challenges all followers of Christ to make a bold move by fully embracing the exciting adventure God has called us to. Are you ready to unleash all the life he has created you to live? Join Perry on this journey as he digs into the major barriers holding people back and shows how Jesus calls and equips his followers to experience a life most of us never dreamed possible.
In the Likeness of God: The Dr. Paul Brand Tribute Edition of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image
Paul W. Brand - 2004
Paul Brand—the brilliant hand surgeon who devoted his life to the poorest people of India and Louisiana—was also a likeness of God, living the kind of Christian life that exemplified what God must have had in mind. In the Likeness of God combines the complete texts of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image—both Gold Medallion Award–winners which together have sold more than half a million copies—into one volume. Also included for the first time are eight beautiful litanies of praise on the human body by Dr. Brand.In Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Paul Brand and bestselling writer Philip Yancey explore the wonder of the human body and uncover the eternal statements that God has made in the very structure of our bodies. Their remarkable journey through inner space—the world of cells, systems, and chemistry—points to a still deeper unseen reality of God’s work in our lives. In His Image takes up where the first book leaves off. In five sections—Image, Blood, Head, Spirit, and Pain—the authors unlock the remarkable living lessons contained in our physical makeup.
Breaking Pride
Heather Bixler - 2012
The freedom from the burden of our sin, the need to be “good enough”, anger, jealousy, and envy.Even though we are believers we would be ashamed to say that we don’t always experience peace, contentment, and joy in our life. We are looking for the grace that God has so graciously given to us to be real in our life…Breaking Pride is an eBook based on one simple truth:In order to walk in God’s grace we need to tear down the the walls of pride.A lot of believers, even though saved by God’s grace, are still walking in pride rather than walking in His grace. Knowing what pride is and learning to identify pride in your life is the first step to overcoming a life filled with pride.Pride is rooted in fear and leads to anger, jealousy, and envy.Sin isn’t keeping us from having a relationship with the Lord, it’s our pride.So many of us long to have an authentic and REAL relationship with the Lord, and we long to have the fruit of the spirit filled in our heart. Our desire is to achieve these fruits through will power. But we do not even realize that the pride that lives within our heart is what is blocking the fruit of the spirit from living within us.In Breaking Pride you will learn to identify different areas of pride in your life. Filled with encouragement, Breaking Pride will take you through a practical reading of what pride may look like in your life…Let’s stop building walls of pride and start building the foundation of grace within our lives…
Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns
Marian Jordan - 2008
Whether it’s relationship drama, the constant pull of our sinful nature, a health issue, or any variety of unmet dreams, Jordan turns readers to God’s Word as the ultimate wilderness survival guide.Conversational and self-deprecatingly confessional in her delivery, this young writer finds ways to have fun with delicate subject matters, using wilderness analogies to great effect in chapters titled "Drink Plenty of Water," "Seek Shelter," and "Don’t Eat the Red Berries."
Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation
Elaine Pagels - 2012
Through the bestselling books of Elaine Pagels, thousands of readers have come to know and treasure the suppressed biblical texts known as the Gnostic Gospels. As one of the world's foremost religion scholars, she has been a pioneer in interpreting these books and illuminating their place in the early history of Christianity. Her new book, however, tackles a text that is firmly, dramatically within the New Testament canon: The Book of Revelation, the surreal apocalyptic vision of the end of the world . . . or is it?In this startling and timely book, Pagels returns The Book of Revelation to its historical origin, written as its author John of Patmos took aim at the Roman Empire after what is now known as "the Jewish War," in 66 CE. Militant Jews in Jerusalem, fired with religious fervor, waged an all-out war against Rome's occupation of Judea and their defeat resulted in the desecration of Jerusalem and its Great Temple. Pagels persuasively interprets Revelation as a scathing attack on the decadence of Rome. Soon after, however, a new sect known as "Christians" seized on John's text as a weapon against heresy and infidels of all kinds-Jews, even Christians who dissented from their increasingly rigid doctrines and hierarchies.In a time when global religious violence surges, Revelations explores how often those in power throughout history have sought to force "God's enemies" to submit or be killed. It is sure to appeal to Pagels's committed readers and bring her a whole new audience who want to understand the roots of dissent, violence, and division in the world's religions, and to appreciate the lasting appeal of this extraordinary text.