It appears that we are living on a run away planet that's heading for a crash-course with destruction. Is there a solution to the myriad of problems that plague us?Today we are faced with problems that would make the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah seem like picnic grounds! Crime, Violence and Immorality have reached an all-time high.We are faced with vicious acts of crime and violence such as was unheard of fifty or sixty years ago! Every ten minutes at least one-hundred people are killed or wounded by gun-violence alone! Each day over twenty are killed by drunk-driving.Then, there's our ecological problems. Polluted water. Polluted air. Nuclear waste. Food contamination. These are just some of the conditions that are the by-products of The Cosmic Conflict that began in heaven, and will soon come to a joyful, and victorious climax for the children of God.

The dramatic shifts seen over the last few years—from economic to political to moral to beyond—have set the stage for a crisis that will affect every sphere of society. But this crisis isn’t just looming in the United States; all of humanity is at a crossroads like never before. Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City, offers God’s definitive answer to this approaching global crisis. He provides a fresh biblical perspective on: The agenda to secularize and de-Christianize America What the upsurge of secular humanism looks like The rise of ISIS and Islamic extremists The looming financial crisis Readers will overcome fear and confusion in the last days and learn to pray effectively for this nation and the world.

Popular author James W. Moore recalls how several years ago, while delivering the sermon at his church one Sunday morning, he had told a moving story about a boy and his dog. The author’s then-five-year-old son, Jeff, was fascinated by the story, but feeling a bit uncertain about some of the details of it, during the family’s car ride home from church, Jeff asked his father, “Daddy, is that story true, or were you just preaching?” Highly amused by Jeff’s question, Jim Moore went on to explain to his young son that there are two kinds of stories: TRUE stories, stories that happened factually in history; and TRUTH stories, stories like Jesus’ parables, which are shared to underscore a dramatic truth in life. The several short chapters and stories in this book are designed to highlight such life-truths, with chapter titles such as “Go out Singing,” “Roadblocks,” “Should I Forgive?” “One Step at a Time,” “Who’s in Control Here?” “What Can One Person Do?” “Tell Me, Please, How to Be Happy,” “Why not You?” “Keep on Keeping On,” “Jesus: The Message and the Messenger,” “The Importance of Uniqueness,” and others. This book contains a discussion guide.

Since World War II, Protestant sermons have been an influential tool for defining American citizenship in the wake of national crises. In the aftermath of national tragedies, Americans often turn to churches for solace. Because even secular citizens attend these services, they are also significant opportunities for the Protestant religious majority to define and redefine national identity and, in the process, to invest the nation-state with divinity. The sermons delivered in the wake of crises become integral to historical and communal memory—it matters greatly who is mourned and who is overlooked. Melissa M. Matthes conceives of these sermons as theo-political texts. In When Sorrow Comes, she explores the continuities and discontinuities they reveal in the balance of state power and divine authority following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassinations of JFK and MLK, the Rodney King verdict, the Oklahoma City bombing, the September 11 attacks, the Newtown shootings, and the Black Lives Matter movement. She argues that Protestant preachers use these moments to address questions about Christianity and citizenship and about the responsibilities of the Church and the State to respond to a national crisis. She also shows how post-crisis sermons have codified whiteness in ritual narratives of American history, excluding others from the collective account. These civic liturgies therefore illustrate the evolution of modern American politics and society. Despite perceptions of the decline of religious authority in the twentieth century, the pulpit retains power after national tragedies. Sermons preached in such intense times of mourning and reckoning serve as a form of civic education with consequences for how Americans understand who belongs to the nation and how to imagine its future.

This book explores how spirituality can improve an organization’s ability to respond to a crisis. It presents biblical examples of leading during a crisis to show how faith can be relied upon to lead during crisis situations. Further, it presents examples of leaders using their faith during trying times. In recent years, organizations have begun to prepare for crises, but scholarly research has not kept up with their efforts. Exploring topics such as communication, servant leadership, and resilience, this work stakes new ground in leadership theory and will foster future research into the role of spirituality during organizational crisis.

This extract from the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible provides Prinslo’s introduction to and concise commentary on Psalms. The Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible presents, in nontechnical language, the best of modern scholarship on each book of the Bible, including the Apocrypha. Reader-friendly commentary complements succinct summaries of each section of the text and will be valuable to scholars, students, and general readers. Rather than attempt a verse-by-verse analysis, these volumes work from larger sense units, highlighting the place of each passage within the overarching biblical story. Commentators focus on the genre of each text—parable, prophetic oracle, legal code, and so on—interpreting within the historical and literary context. The volumes also address major issues within each biblical book—including the range of possible interpretations—and refer readers to the best resources for further discussions.