What Our Last Words Reveal About Life, Death, and the Afterlife A person’s end-of-life words often take on an eerie significance, giving tantalizing clues about the ultimate fate of the human soul. Until now, however, no author has systematically studied end-of-life communication by using examples from ordinary people. When her father became terminally ill with cancer, author Lisa Smartt began transcribing his conversations and noticed that his personality underwent inexplicable changes. Smartt’s father, once a skeptical man with a secular worldview, developed a deeply spiritual outlook in his final days — a change reflected in his language. Baffled and intrigued, Smartt began to investigate what other people have said while nearing death, collecting more than one hundred case studies through interviews and transcripts. In this groundbreaking and insightful book, Smartt shows how the language of the dying can point the way to a transcendent world beyond our own.

Ray Stedman guides you on a verse-by-verse exploration of the book of Revelation, bringing to life the mysteries of this highly symbolic book of the Bible. God's Final Word encompasses and brings into brilliant focus the entire scope of human history—of eternity itself.

One of the most respected and influential Christian leaders of the last several decades, Chuck Colson engaged millions through his books, public speaking, and radio broadcasts. In My Final Word, longtime Colson coauthor Anne Morse has selected and arranged pieces Colson wrote mostly during the last decade of his life, spotlighting what he saw as key topics of ongoing importance for Christian cultural engagement. Some of these issues include: crime and punishment natural law Islam same-sex marriage the persecution of Christians and more Longtime readers and new readers alike will be struck by the power and immediacy of Colson’s arguments. My Final Word is a fitting end to Colson’s distinguished publishing career, a behind-the-scenes encounter with an influential thinker, and a needed call to an ongoing and relevant Christian public witness.

The book of Revelation was written for a people under pressure - a people who knew all too clearly that the world was against them. Nearly all the church leaders had been martyred. What was needed was a survival manual, explaining how to survive when the world is against you; here it is! We, too, need to know how to survive in a hostile world. Revelation is for ordinary believers, not to fight over, but to enable us to keep fighting the real fight. Although the gospel had spread throughout the Roman Empire, it had not taken it over. Persecution was looming and the law was against them. It is in that context of suffering and oppression that the Lord gives John the series of visions which he writes down in the form of this book. It is a survival manual, explaining how to survive when the world is against you. Even though it is a little harder for us to see, this is what we need to know in our day as well. We in the West are not yet being openly persecuted, but at least in the UK that is the direction we are heading. In any case, the world is against us and we have to know how to survive as believers on increasingly hostile ground. This is why Revelation is so vitally relevant for our day. The basic message can be summed up simply and wonderfully: Jesus wins, and as Christians we are safe with him!

"Final Word is about the centrality of the Bible. It covers such subjects as criticism of Scripture, the attributes of Scripture--that it is truthful and authoritative--and it introduces the benefits of the Bible for spiritual growth, faithful ministry, and personal nourishment"--

Dr O. Palmer Robertson shows from Scripture that the call today for such gifts as prophecy, instead of showing the way forward to a more biblical Christianity, represents a failure to grasp the fullness of New Testament privileges.

How leaders can achieve something meaningful—transform a brand, a workplace, a technology, themselves—beyond holding an influential position. Do you want to do work that is worthy of your time and talent? Do you want to make your mark on your industry, company, or within your community? Are you satisfied with the fact that reengineering, quality improvements, and other changes never really make a lasting impact? Then you need to go beyond the techniques of improvement and learn the skills that it takes to be extraordinary. The power to be extraordinary is not one we are born with. Rather, it is a power that one can learn, and Tracy Goss helps executives realize this power. Here in this book for the first time, Goss makes her coursework available to the general reader. Goss’s unique methodology shows how you how you can “put at risk the success you’ve become for the power of making the impossible happen.” She positions executives to take on the future that they dream about. She teaches how to behave differently so that you are free of past constraints. She shows how you can be at home in the environment in which you are constantly surrounded by threats, and how to transcend the ordinary to make the impossible happen. Her work has resulted in many important life changes and organizational reinventions worldwide. “Goss offers powerful information, far above the glib self-help mush that already lines the shelves. She answers the fundamental question of why management fads do not work: the personal work has not yet been done.” —Library Journal