Showing results by narrator "Boyd Barrett" in All Categories

The scriptures are an essential aspect of the Christian faith. But we have often equated them with the living Word himself, even elevating them above the One to whom they point. In doing so, we have distorted their central message - and our view of God. Tragically, this has caused multitudes of people unnecessary doubt, confusion, and pain in their encounters with the scriptures.

Everlasting hell and divine judgment, a lake of fire and brimstone—these mainstays of evangelical tradition have come under fire once again in recent decades. Would the God of love revealed by Jesus really consign the vast majority of humankind to a destiny of eternal, conscious torment? Is divine mercy bound by the demands of justice? How can anyone presume to know who is saved from the flames and who is not?

Kain Asheld put a marker to the three people closest to him on a quiet ridge overlooking the valley where they'd always promised to meet. His brother Mark never wanted the mercenary life. He wanted to farm. He never got the chance. Kain bought the land with his share of a final bounty and a desperate need for silence. The locals call it Madder's Place. Ten acres of rotting floorboards, a collapsed roof, and fields the wild took back a decade ago. They'd been talking about burning it down.

What is God like? A punishing judge? A doting grandfather? A deadbeat dad? A vengeful warrior? 'Believers' and atheists alike typically carry and finally reject the toxic images of God in their own hearts and minds. Even the Christian gospel has repeatedly lapsed into a vision of God where the wrathful King must be appeased by his victim Son. How do such 'good cop/bad cop' distortions of the divine arise and come to dominate churches and cultures?

How far would you go to save the thing you cannot lose? Violent seeds grow bloody trees. In an instant, with a choice he never had the chance to make, Cole Traeger's life was ripped apart. Now, set on the path of revenge, he must reckon with his past, mistakes made, and games still to be played. But more than Cole's life hangs in the balance. This brutal story of family, grief, and revenge will take readers on a journey from grimy city streets and shootouts between rival gangs to the sprawling southwest and into Mexico.

Destined for Joy is a collection of essays devoted to the theme of the absolute love of God and the gospel of universal salvation. Written over a period of 10 years and revised for publication in this volume, they represent the fruition of the author’s theological and spiritual development over a span of four decades in parish ministry. If God has truly revealed himself in his incarnate Son Jesus Christ as absolute and unconditional love, does this not mean that he intends the salvation of all?

Crisis! An explosive public meltdown. A violent incident in the psychiatric ward. Now the Pastor stares into the abyss of his own secret shame. Before he can be free, he must confront his demons and find grace. But will he let go? Will he allow himself to be healed?

In Out of the Embers, Bradley Jersak explores the necessity, perils, and possibilities of the Great Deconstruction—how it has the potential to either sabotage our communion with God or infuse it with the breath of life, the light and life of Christ himself.

The question I address in this brief work is how Christ-followers might hold the tension of these two abiding and complementary truths: 1. Christ’s one-of-a-kind revelation 2. Abba’s all-inclusive love. I believe that Sacred Scripture and Christ himself affirm both these doctrines in a mind-blowing fullness. And yet those who enthusiastically profess either one of these two truths frequently do so at the expense of their complement.

In the late 19th century, academics scoffed at the notion that the people of Acoma Pueblo once inhabited the unscalable Katzimo Mesa. In 1897, Frederick Webb Hodge proved them wrong by finding signs of habitation atop the plateau. Today called Enchanted Mesa, it presents one of the better examples of a lost world to be found in New Mexico. But there are so many more.

People don’t stumble into the Cloaked City of BethEl. They’re brought there for a reason. But for Cohen, it's been seven years, and he still hasn't discovered his purpose or his Gifting. So when he finds a bloodied young woman on the outskirts of town, he wonders if their encounter is doomed or destiny. After a violent accident, 16-year-old Rachel awakens with no memories and is shocked to find herself inside the invisible walls of a mystical, hidden city.

This book introduces the new and fascinating field of Clinical Neuroscience, which argues that the brain has the power to prevent and treat a variety of neurobiological disorders, from autism to attention deficit disorder. With ground-breaking neuroscience research presented in an accessible, easy-to-understand way The Brain Code teaches listeners how to get the most from their brains and how to access their peak cognitive function.

When Technology Is Hard To Come By, It Helps If Yours Is Built In. Saddle up for a wild ride through the alien world of Blanken 9 in this electrifying fusion of Sci-Fi and Western! Zestrum Doniphon is a good man with a bad reputation. A job offer from Claude Etcheverry, a wealthy rancher who has amassed a private army of cyborgs to monopolize Copperbank’s water supply, pulls Doniphon into a budding range war.

This contemporary Christian novel with an international setting is both spiritual journey and an adventurous romance story. But beyond that it is a challenge to discover a faith that can withstand disillusionment, deconstruction, and spiritual abuse. It is an invitation to follow Jesus with authenticity and humility and in doing so, discover a love of God that transcends any doctrine.

After an insightful introduction on Tolstoy and his writing, Part 1 begins with Bradley Jersak's essay on Tolstoy's Confessions, a nonfiction memoir of Tolstoy's faith journey. Jersak (author of Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction, 2022) presents what he describes as an "Anatomy of a Great Deconstruction." He offers a description of each bend on the Tolstoy's spiritual path, along with some reflection questions that ask listeners to ponder their own spiritual progress or regress.

In these four supernatural dramas, first broadcast on radio in 1984, a house hides more than meets the eye; a B & B landlady helps her guests forget their troubles; a Japanese man inadvertently awakens a vengeful spirit; and a mother and baby become unsettled in remote mill.

Over the 20-year period that I was trapped in an abusive marriage, I left and reconciled with my husband many times before God gave me the courage to break free once and for all. I wanted to find a book that would soothe my troubled spirit and show me clearly the Scriptures that speak of God's heart for hurting and abused women. I could not find such a book and so, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I wrote this 40-day devotional. This devotional aims to comfort and uplift the hurting heart of any woman who, like me, was overwhelmed by the pain of an abusive marriage.

Abandoned in Place is a work of cultural criticism that traces the pattern of institutional abandonment from the personal to the political. Beginning with the author's own childhood, the book identifies the grammar by which abandonment is disguised: the passive voice that removes the actor, the euphemism that renames the departure, the appeal to inevitability that converts a decision into a condition, and the therapeutic instruction that recruits the abandoned into the management of their own forgetting.

If golf is the unforgiving game… then these twelve players, in Three Angry Foursomes, are the unforgiven. Rooted in humor, irony, and truth-based fiction, Three Angry Foursomes follows a dozen men chasing a two-inch ball across a four-hundred-yard obstacle course toward an impossibly small five-inch hole — partially blocked by a flagstick. It’s a story about the search for meaning, redemption, relevance, and the elusive par, all played out on a desert course as merciless as the game itself.

The Relic, book one of the Krigere and Voktere trilogy, is the suspenseful story of Tyr, a young Kriger who is on the cusp of adulthood when his village is attacked by their longtime enemies, the Voktere. Determined to defend his people and rescue those taken hostage, Tyr embarks on a perilous journey that will reveal unexpected truths about himself and his past. With courage and determination, Tyr endures violence, heartbreak, and betrayal to overcome obstacles and become the man he was born to be.