First Religion

1 Clement exhorts Christians to imitate the examples of Old Testament heroes like Moses and Elijah, to submit to godly leadership for the sake of harmony, and to pursue holiness in every aspect of life. Far more than a dry treatise, it pulses with the urgency of a faith tested by persecution and the hope of new life in Christ.

Cowboy Country Fellowship began with a bold vision, a determination to serve, and a deep faith in God. In this powerful book, author Cletis Coe takes listeners on an inspiring journey of faith, miracles, and hard work that transformed a small congregation into a thriving Cowboy Church. With captivating storytelling and heart warming anecdotes, Drive The First Stake is an uplifting reminder of what can be accomplished with courage, conviction, and, above all—faith.

Do not accept any statement from scripture, the church, or an individual (including the speaker) as true until you have found God or a living truth in what is being said. What I tell you I know from experience, but I ask you not to accept my words without questioning them within yourself. It is silly to accept something simply because the church said it, or you read it in the Bible, or heard it from Neville. You must pursue the thought ceaselessly by questioning yourself.

> The First Santa is an illuminating journey that celebrates the wonder, magic, and mystery of being alive. When a 9-year-old boy discovers the tooth fairy may be a sham, he questions the existence of the jolly old elf himself, Santa. The boy's colorful dad takes him to the roots of the story, encouraging him to expand his horizon. The First Santa invites the child within us all to wake up, celebrate nature, faerie, and our authentic playful selves.

If asked, most of us want to make a difference, to live and love generously. But we get caught in the crazy rush of household routines, work demands, cranky attitudes, difficult people, exhaustion, worry, and pride, and once again we fail to love the people around us at all - let alone well.

The most shocking, true encounter you will ever listen to...In the summer of 2008, Tom made the move from Wisconsin to Idyllwild, California, where he intended to embrace a change of scenery and a healthier lifestyle, while continuing to grow his successful online business. Shortly after the move, Tom began experiencing strange and grim happenings around his property. He initially presumed that someone was messing with him...that was until he came face to face with something he never thought existed.

The smoke clears. The world watches. A name is announced. A man steps forward and the earth’s gaze falls upon him. We have a Pope! And his name is Leo XIV. But who is this 266th successor to St. Peter? What is the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost’s vision for the Church, and what impact will his papacy have on Catholics and on the world? Veteran Catholic journalist and historian Matthew Bunson offers the first authoritative portrait of the new Holy Father.

Cristof needs Vicki to be the woman of his dreams. He longs to experience the release of complete surrender, to lose himself completely in the loving worship he longs to give....

Brother Gage takes a looks at the entered apprentice degree in Masonry. He explains that everything a Mason will encounter in the future is simply an elaboration of this degree, both within and without the fraternity. He talks at length on the concept of symbolism and how it relates to Freemasonry. He also walks us through the entered apprentice degree a bit and speaks of specific symbolism the candidate encounters within the first degree.

What were the most important practices in the early church? In this volume, Michael Cooper arranges the writings of the Apostolic Fathers into eight themes that provide deeper understanding about the subjects important to the disciples of the New Testament apostles.

Martin Luther with preached and written word unleashed the unconditional and uncompromising gospel of God's love for sinners in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. He exposed both man's lost condition and Christ's unfathomable love with unrelenting persistence and unmistakable clarity. An Uncompromising Gospel highlights Luther's key theological teachings, details the controversies that broke out over them after his death, and provides important lessons for our own day, as Christians still struggle to grasp and hold forth the love of Christ for sinners dead in trespasses and sins.

Gregory the Great (bishop of Rome from 590 to 604) is one of the most significant figures in the history of Christianity. His theological works framed medieval Christian attitudes toward mysticism, exegesis, and the role of the saints in the life of the church. The scale of Gregory's administrative activity in both the ecclesial and civic affairs of Rome also helped to make possible the formation of the medieval papacy.

Guided by Archangel Uriel through dreams and everyday struggles, Sasha comes face-to-face with the passions that trouble her heart—like anger, gluttony, and vanity—and learns how virtues such as humility, patience, and love lead to healing and peace. Drawing on the wisdom of the saints and the gentle teachings of the Orthodox Church, this story offers clarity, encouragement, and hope for children preparing for confession. Written for ages 8 to 14, this audiobook helps young listeners understand what sin is, how to examine their hearts, and how to approach confession with courage and faith.

How did the first believers in Jesus know that the Gospel was true? Acts 17:11 says, "The Bereans…received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” But which “Scriptures” were they examining? Paul was teaching at a Jewish synagogue, so the scriptures were the Tanakh, which we call the Old Testament. Thus, to be "true", everything Paul said had to agree with the Old Testament!

From the best-selling author of the biography of Shunryu Suzuki (Crooked Cucumber), comes a memoir and oral history of Tassajara—a monastery founded in 1967 by Shunryu Suzuki, abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. Peopled like a Sixties film of Buddhist invasion, with hippies, dreamers, lovers, a wave of serious practitioners. Nyogen Senzaki, D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and of course Shunryu Suzuki and Richard Baker are all here. This is the story of what happened at and surrounding the founding of the first Zen monastery in the West.

The Fearless Benjamin Lay chronicles the transatlantic life and times of a singular and astonishing man - a Quaker dwarf who became one of the first ever to demand the total, unconditional emancipation of all enslaved Africans around the world. He performed public guerrilla theater to shame slave masters, insisting that human bondage violated the fundamental principles of Christianity.

Beginning with the biblical basics, Jeff Lockyer walks listeners through the underlying theology and practical application of how Southridge Community Church has approached ministry for nearly a quarter century. While providing a fresh approach to ministry, the book stimulates how to think - not what to think. It's written by a local church practitioner for local church practitioners.

Over the course of a year, Michael Austin - an English professor and literary critic who was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - read the Book of Mormon for the first time in more than 30 years and wrote weekly blog posts detailing his insights and challenges with the text. The 44 essays in Buried Treasures, adapted from those original posts, show a trained scholar and literary critic grappling with the foundational text of his own religious tradition and finding surprising things that he had never seen before.

The injunction to seek God's kingdom first, implies that we seek it first in point of time. It should be the first thing attended to. It is not merely to be admitted as of first importance, but should really be put first in point of time. The first thoughts of each morning should be given to it. And whenever God's word, or his providence brings before our mind the invitations or the claims of this kingdom, we are to remember that now is the accepted time.

We live in a world drenched in shame. Shame is the core belief not that I did something wrong, but that I am wrong. It severs us from the inherent goodness of our desire, our body, our Eros. This split disconnects us from the beauty of our Unique Selves and fuels many of today's personal and cultural pathologies. Wilhelm Reich called it "the murder of Eros"-and it is not metaphorical, but civilizational.