"God did not make us," he says. "We made God." He explains the ways in which religion is immoral: We damage our children by indoctrinating them. It is a cause of sexual repression, violence, and ignorance. It is a distortion of our origins and the cosmos. In the place of religion, Hitchens offers the promise of a new enlightenment through science and reason, a realm in which hope and wonder can be found through a strand of DNA or a gaze through the Hubble Telescope. As Hitchens sees it, you needn't get the blues once you discover the heavens are empty.

    Now, for the first time, Carlin has produced a book of original humor pieces, Brain Droppings. Filled with thoughts, musings, questions, lists, beliefs, curiousities, monologues, assertions, assumptions, and other verbal ordeals, Brain Droppings is infectiously funny. Also included are two timeless bonus items from the past, "A Place for Your Stuff" and "Baseball-Football." Readers will get an inside look into Carlin's mind, and they won't be disappointed by what they find: I buy stamps by mail. It works OK until I run out of stamps. What year did Jesus Christ think it was? A tree: first you chop it down, then you chop it up. Have you ever noticed the lawyer is always smiling more than the client? I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed. If you ever have chicken at lunch and chicken at dinner, do you ever wonder if the two chickens knew each other?

    This is true.Those were the final words Martin Luther scribbled on a piece of paper just before he died on February 18, 1546. His last words echoed the life-changing truths he'd unearthed in the Scriptures — first life-changing, then civilization-altering.Beggars, indeed, because God justly demands a righteousness sinful humans cannot produce. A righteousness, in fact, that if we could produce would nullify the grace of God and make Jesus's death be for no purpose (Galatians 2:23). Embodying deep devotion to the Scriptures, Luther came to understand that we need an alien righteousness for divine acceptance — a righteousness given to us by another. And this life-changing revelation came in no small part by means of study. Luther gave himself to the Book, which he later explained as the primary actor in the Reformation. The legacy of his dying words in 1546 find their roots in this conviction — a conviction that was beginning to emerge when he crafted 95 theses and nailed them to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, and a conviction that continued to grow and change the world in the Protestant Reformation. John Piper says we have much to learn from Luther. Originally delivered as the biographical message at the 1995 Conference for Pastors, this new ebook features five chapters that present a sketch of Luther's life and distill relevant lessons for not only pastors and leaders, but all Christians.

    The Appeal to Heaven flag holds great significance as it relates to America’s founding, God’s eternal covenants, and our present hope for this nation.In An Appeal To Heaven, Dutch Sheets takes you on a journey of discovering the role you were designed to play in America’s history. This short book is packed with powerful insights that will help you pray for America and leave you equipped to be part of her restoration. You have a role to play in this story.Are you ready to take your place?

    Sins such as jealousy, anger, pride, judgmentalism, and unthankfulness are addressed in this booklet. Jerry writes not from a height of spiritual accomplishment but from the trenches of his own battles with sin. In his admonitions, Jerry offers a message of hope in the profound mercy of the gospel and the transforming grace of God as the means to overcome our subtle sins.

    But this poignant volume is more than a sequel to the runaway best-seller, A Severe Mercy: it is a continuing autobiography, and an engrossing chronicle of Vanauken's writings, and always, a challenge to live the spiritual life. Under the Mercy also mirrors the times during which Vanauken redefined his life. He takes readers through the turbulent sixties, that decade of campus unrest when he—as a college professor—became directly involved in civil rights and the peace movement. Caught up in the Spirit of the Age, Vanauken drifted from the Spirit of God. But gentle nudges from God led him back towards the Obedience. It was a chance rereading of one page of mentor C. S. Lewis that was used as a channel of grace. He corrected his errant course and was soon again under the Mercy. His spiritual journey led him to eventually cross the English channel to Rome and become a Roman Catholic. Under the Mercy is a vivid record of a then wayward disciple's return to the Obedience—an intensely personal and moving story. What a great book Vanauken has written on plain Christianity! It's a fine work. - Dr. Clyde Kilby Thomas Howard remains one of the most insightful and delightful religious writers today. He combines profundity with genuine style. - James Hitchcock, St. Louis University Sheldon Vanauken, author of the best-seller A Severe Mercy, has been a professor of History and English at Lynchburg College, Virginia, and is also the author of Gateway to Heaven.