New Book Release: Defying Deception

Defying Deception: A Field Guide to Understanding and Countering Satan’s Strategy of Deception by Jonathan K. Corrado

Comprehensive training and well-established tactics are the trademark qualities of a solid and robust military training program designed to win wars. As a result, well-trained soldiers can think and act soundly while engaged in warfare. Like soldiers, Christians must similarly train to become prepared to make biblically-sound choices while engaged in spiritual warfare--specifically, deception. Deception, as clearly conveyed in the Bible, is Satan's weapon of choice, therefore, if understood properly, can be thwarted effectively. Defying Deception: A Field Guide to Understanding and Countering Satan's Strategy of Deception is a book for those who want to raise their awareness of the enemy's strategies and to mature their spiritual walk by offsetting the enemy's deceptive methods with practical means. That said, this field guide establishes a parallel between Satan's deceptive tactics and military Psychological Operations (PSYOP), operations to convey false information to influence emotions, motives, and reasoning because both seek to lead people into falsehood to influence decision-making in a destructive way. This field guide discusses Satan's deceptive strategy within the context of PSYOP. Armed with this information, practical defensive strategies are developed using well-established, effective military tactics to assist readers in overcoming spiritual deception.

New Book Release: Kingdom Journey

Kingdom Journey: A Call to Recover the Central Theme of Scripture by Sean P. Finnegan

News flash: "The Bible doesn't teach that people go to heaven or hell when they die." Rather, it teaches that God's kingdom will come to this earth in judgment and restoration, making everything wrong with the world right. The doorway into the age to come is not death but the return of Christ when his followers experience resurrection rather than disembodiment. This simple idea is not only the key to understanding the biblical vision of the future, but it also formed the core of Jesus's gospel message, and it provides the motivation to live out your faith today. The goal of this book is nothing short of igniting a revolution in the church's understanding of the kingdom of God. Kingdom Journey marries a biblical exploration to a historical investigation to explain not only what the kingdom of God is, but also how Christianity lost this precious pearl of great price. Thankfully, several movements over the past five centuries have initiated recoveries of the kingdom idea, but many Christians remain in the dark, beset with medieval folk theology. This book will open your eyes to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness with clarity and vigor.

New Book Release: Decolonizing Wesleyan Theology

Decolonizing Wesleyan Theology: Theological Engagements from the Underside of Methodism by Filipe Maia et al., eds.

What can movements for decolonization teach Wesleyan theology? This book faces this question to show that decolonial voices are reshaping the contours of Methodist and Wesleyan traditions. Contributors to this volume include theologians, pastors, and leaders in the Global South who are leading the people called Methodists to encounter the tradition anew in the radical spirit of decolonization.

New Book Release: Toward a Singular Goal

Toward a Singular Goal: 100 Years of the New York State Land Association

A century in existence is no small feat for this organization; it has been a journey of education, advocacy, and commitment to its goals. Researching this book has served as a reminder to us that the title insurance industry consists of many accomplished, committed, and proactive individuals working in unison to positively shape the work we all do.

The future of the New York State Land Title Association is informed by its history. Our leaders recognize that it took the concerted efforts of many devoted members to serve our industry in the past and they will continue to focus on supporting the success of all our members going forward. Together, our group of capable and skilled agents and underwriters have pursued a vision of achievement and executed a new, proactive approach that will help us face the inevitable trials and tribulations we’ll encounter as we embrace what is to come.

Just as the foundation of our work begins in the soil of the communities in which we reside, the foundation of the New York State Land Title Association is our people—those who will safeguard our industry and continue to educate, advocate, and support our best interests.

Cheers to another 100 years!

New Book Release: Before Maimonides

Before Maimonides: A New Philosophical Dialogue in Hebrew by Tzvi Langermann

All can agree that the achievement of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204) set the standard for subsequent works of “Jewish philosophy”. But just what were the contours of philosophical-scientific inquiry that Maimonides replaced? A fairly large array of diverse texts have been studied, but no comprehensive picture has yet emerged. The newly discovered Hebrew dialogue published here has points of contact of various depth with most of the major works of pre-Maimonidean thought. It shares as well influences from without, especially from the Islamic kalam. The dialogue thus presents, in an engaging literary form, a clear and detailed snapshot of pre-Maimonidean philosophy and science.

New Book Release: Family, Friends and Neighbors

Family, Friends, and Neighbors: Stories of Murder and Betrayal by Richard Estep

Delve into the chillingly true world of murder and deceit. Explore the twisted paths of those driven by dark motives of control, money, social status, and revenge, and the unsuspecting victims who placed their trust in them.

Discover the dark secrets that lurk behind closed doors in Family, Friends and Neighbors: Stories of Murder and Betrayal. You will be left questioning just how well you truly know those around you in this gripping true-crime collection. Dive into infamous cases such as Richard “Alex” Murdaugh, the Menendez Brothers, and Lizzie Borden, and also examine lesser-known crimes that will send shivers down your spine. You'll investigate thirty-four shocking tales of mind-boggling acts of violence, such as …

• The captivating downfall of prestigious attorney and community figure Alex Murdaugh, whose addiction spiraled into a web of deceit, fraud, and murder.
• The heartbreaking story of Michael and Robert Bever, brothers driven to commit unspeakable acts due to a lifetime of torment inflicted by their own parents.
• The macabre case of Heather Mack and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, who were entangled in a web of greed and trust funds leading to a gruesome discovery inside a suitcase.
• The shocking crimes committed by Lyle and Erik Menendez, whose privileged lives culminated in the massacre of their own parents, forever shocking the nation.
• The accused Victorian-era serial poisoner, Mary Ann Cotton, and the mysterious deaths of her husbands and children.
• The troubled Florida teen Tyler Hadley and his wild house party that went on while his parents' bodies bled in the master bedroom.
• The bank vice-president-turned-embezzler Steven Sueppel, whose mounting debts compelled him to commit a desperate act of murder.
• And dozens of other intimate murders and webs of deceit!
  
  
  Murders committed to escape a marriage, or out of dire desperation, or from an insane separation from reality, these and other less comprehensible motivations fill the pages of Family, Friends and Neighbors. It’s an unflinching look into humanity’s dark side! Read the stories, investigate the facts, and meet the vicious killers who murder the people who should have been nearest and dearest to them.

New Book Release: Rethinking Gender in Orthodox Christianity

Rethinking Gender in Orthodox Christianity by Ashley Purpura, et al., eds.

What is the role of gender in Eastern Christianity? In this volume, Orthodox experts of different disciplines and cultural backgrounds tackle this complex question. They engage critically with gender issues within their own tradition. Rather than simply accepting pervasive assumptions and practices, the authors challenge readers to reconsider historically or theologically justified views by offering nuanced insights into the tradition. The first part of the book explores normative positions in Orthodox texts and contexts. From examinations of Scripture and hagiography to re-evaluations of monastic, patriarchal, and legal sources, it sheds new light on gender issues in Orthodox Christianity. The second part considers how gendered expectations shape individuals' participation in Orthodox liturgical life and how ecclesial contexts inflect gender theologically. The chapters reflect diverse Orthodox voices brought together to foster new understandings of the ways gender shapes Orthodox religious lives and beliefs. Rethinking what has been inherited from tradition, the authors proffer new perspectives on what it means to be a man or woman within Orthodoxy in the twenty-first century.