Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Publishing" in Christian Living

The true story of how a demeaning nickname opened amazing doors for the gospel—and how you can overcome your own fears in sharing your faith. Millions came under the sound of the everlasting gospel, all because of that humiliating name: Banana Man. Learn how being christened “Banana Man” by Professor Richard Dawkins and being mocked worldwide by the atheist community led to a worldwide evangelism ministry. Be inspired, fascinated and delighted while this autobiography brings your own fears into perspective.

Kahlil Gibran's aphorisms, stories, and poetry on a theme remain among some of those best known to Western readers. His views, however, extend beyond the most-quoted "greeting card" sayings to a wide realm of human emotions and relationships - passion, desire, idealized love, justice, friendship, and the challenges of dealing with strangers, neighbors, and enemies. This little book captures love and life in all of their complexities and nuances.

There’s a quiet epidemic in our culture: The fastest-growing type of family unit is grandparents charged with the task of raising their children’s children. Though there are myriad reasons for this—the death of one’s adult child, parental drug addiction, abusive living situations, or incarceration, to name a few—the effects tend to be the same: senior citizens who expected to spend their golden years relaxing or traveling are now seeing their dreams dashed. Those on limited incomes are feeling the strain and are frightened about their futures.

In Still, Jenny Donnelly teaches you how to experience true, life-giving rest even in the midst of chaos. While most of us think of rest as something we do, Jenny shares how rest is a place from which we live and work. Sharing her own personal story of struggling with life’s pressures and spiritual exhaustion, she introduces you to the source of peace and rest: Jesus. She shows you the steps to take to access rest anytime, anyplace, under any conditions.

Strong men are not “toxic.” If they go away, evil men take their place, and weak men offer no resistance. The idea that masculine men—assertive, risk-taking, single-minded—are a problem to be solved threatens our whole society. The cultural elites cheering the decline of men are trying to erase God’s design for half of the human race—the half that historically provides, protects, and leads for the good of others. The disappearance of the masculine ideal is bad news for men, and it’s terrible news for women. What will happen without men of courage and conviction?

In the spring of 2020, government mandates forced churches across North America to close their doors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As societal fear and unrest increased, Christians were forced to grapple with how God wanted them to respond to these state-imposed restrictions. After all, didn’t the closure of churches pose a serious threat in a time when people needed spiritual direction more than ever?

Jeremy Peckham shows us how we have become seduced by progress, embracing AI applications for their convenience, yet unwittingly diminishing our ability to be God’s image-bearers and losing moral responsibility. Rooted in the biblical truth that humanity is created in God’s image, Masters or Slaves? explores six ways in which AI has an impact today. We are challenged where, and how, to set boundaries, both privately and as a society, in order not to fall into addiction, slavery and idolatry.

Fred Rogers was one of the most radical pacifists of contemporary history. To critics who dared call him “namby-pamby”, Rogers said, “Only people who take the time to see our work can begin to understand the depth of it.” This is the invitation of Peaceful Neighbor, to see and understand Rogers’ convictions and their expression through his program. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, it turns out, is far from sappy, sentimental, and shallow; it’s a sharp political response to a civil and political society poised to kill.

The Bible tells us that as far as it depends on us, we’re to be at peace with all people. But what happens when conflict is unavoidable? Here’s some good news: There are sociologically sound ways to deescalate conflict and win negotiations without acting like a jerk. Even better, you can actually emerge from conflicts with a stronger relationship with the person who was your adversary - whether it’s on the job, with your neighbor, in your marriage, or in a dark parking lot. When it comes to your current (or next) conflict, remember that resolution starts with de-escalation.

A single mother of four, Angie Cella, dreamed one night about a device that put gems in her hair. She woke up thinking she would invent it, because she loved what she had seen. A few weeks later, she had a second dream. In this one, God told her, “I want you to make this product.” As a woman with a burgeoning faith who’d been waiting for just this kind of direction, Angie spent the next several years navigating the tough and often painful - yet ultimately gratifying - road to success.

Financial crisis, political crisis, environmental crisis - the list goes on. We’re confronted with calamity every time we read the headlines. But behind each of these lurks another kind of crisis, one we find harder to define: a moral crisis. In this wise and practical audiobook, Pastor Jonathan Dodson takes us back to the Beatitudes, the centerpiece of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. Dodson examines each of the Beatitudes in the context of the new morality that buffets our society today, presenting a compelling portrait of the truly good life, both personal and social.

For many, "being rich" could be defined simply as the accumulation of money. For others, it has become the ultimate goal of life. CEO of Crown Financial Ministries Chuck Bentley writes of his own life, admitting, "the desire to be rich...grew beyond a mere financial goal; it became a status and an identity that I hungered to achieve. Although my relentless pursuit of it eventually drove me to the brink of financial ruin and beyond, I could not rest until it was mine."

Here is a gripping analysis of the brutal landscape of the criminal justice system, as well as an ode to the richly complex interior lives of people struggling to become free. Dustin Feddon, a Catholic priest, and founder of Joseph House in Florida, tells it like it is, taking the listener with him on his journey, capturing the heart-wrenching realities of those incarcerated, yet bearing witness to the transcendent love manifest among those the state calls “the worst of the worst.

Public schools are indoctrinating a generation of children to see themselves as either victims of systemic racial oppression or members of a wicked oppressor class. Leonydus Johnson, a black writer and podcaster, exposes the poisonous ideology embedded in "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" programs. We must teach our children the truth that their identity comes not from their race but from Christ.

When his truck slammed into a telephone pole and burst into flames, the seventeen-year-old became pinned in the driver seat. Moments before the vehicle was consumed by fire, Mike was pulled from the burning wreckage of twisted metal as his body burned. After his guitar was incinerated in the blaze, Pete Townsend from The Who, a musical inspiration, sent him a new guitar, offering, “This is the Phoenix.” In the wake of his Phoenix moment of rising from the ashes, Mike wanted to believe that his life had been saved for a unique purpose.

From beloved author Elizabeth George comes a wealth of bite-sized wisdom for your daily living. These powerful and easy to understand devotions celebrate God’s provision for you. The scriptures and thoughts in this book will also encourage you to become a woman who demonstrates Jesus’s grace and love in every circumstance.

Ted Kluck, Ronnie Martin, and Barnabas Piper, hosts of the Happy Rant podcast, take their faith-based back-and-forth from the recording booth to the book chapter with this collection of insightful and often hilarious takedowns of pastor trends, personality tests, political engagement, and more.

By the time Harvard-educated John Schlimm turned thirty-one-years-old, he had worked with some of the biggest superstars in Nashville and served under the most powerful people in the White House. But something was missing. His life had come to a standstill, lost in a whirl of questions about belonging, faith, rejection, and purpose. He soon decides to return to his small-town roots in search of a new beginning. Returning home, John meets eighty-seven-year-old Sister Augustine, the beguiling self-taught artist-in-residence on the sprawling grounds of the local 150-year-old convent.

Being a mom is challenging no matter how long you’ve been doing it. You want to give your best to your family, but pouring yourself out each day can leave you exhausted, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have nothing left to offer. In Unraveled, authors and fellow moms Stacey Thacker and Brooke McGlothlin encourage you to start finding strength and peace in the One who loves you most.

Drawing on ten years of survey data with over three thousand teenagers and over two hundred interviews, God, Grades, and Graduation offers a revealing and at times surprising account of how teenagers' religious upbringing influences their educational pathways from high school to college. Dr. Ilana M. Horwitz estimates that approximately one out of every four students in American schools are raised with religious restraint. These students orient their lives around God so deeply that it alters how they see themselves and how they behave, inside and outside of church.