This new and thoroughly researched book on the Thirty Years' War by the creative force behind the "When Diplomacy Fails" podcast. The year is 1618, and representatives of the powerful Habsburg’s have just been thrown out of the windows of Prague Castle. What happened next took virtually everyone by surprise, as a conflict unparalleled in its intensity, cost and of course in its duration. The Thirty Years War would not end until 1648, and in those three decades of conflict, new empires would rise, dynasties would crumble, incredible new innovations would be tested in murderous battlefields, and the religious makeup of Europe itself would be forever altered. As this great European conflict spread from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, the mastery of the entire continent was at stake, as were opportunities for glory, influence and absolute power. As the war raged on, those individuals that participated within it – be they Princes, Emperors, Kings or mere subjects – would be forced to pick a side. Would they choose the side of God, or of the Devil? With this new study, Zachary Twamley examines the Thirty Years War in its entirety, following the conflict through its different phases, as new, dynamic, ambitious actors, like King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Cardinal Richelieu in France, and even the Tsar of Russia became involved. Twamley’s narration covers several watershed moments, including the rise of the Dutch Republic, the terminal decline of Spain, and the arrival of France under King Louis XIV. It was a period of profound development and change, and upon its conclusion at the famed Peace of Westphalia, Europe would never be the same again.

A Presbyterian minister defends the Harry Potter series from conservatives who denounce the books as paganism, demonstrating how they promote the values of faith and morality, and profiling the main character as a Christ figure.

"If you are looking for one book to make sense of the problem of evil, this book is for you." Sean McDowell Grasping This Truth Will Change Your View of God Forever If God is good and all-powerful, why doesn't He put a stop to the evil in this world? Christians and non-Christians alike struggle with the concept of a loving God who allows widespread suffering in this life and never-ending punishment in hell. We wrestle with questions such as... Why do bad things happen to good people? Why should we have to pay for Adam's sin? How can eternal judgment be fair? But what if the real problem doesn't start with God...but with us? Clay Jones, an associate professor of Christian apologetics at Biola University, examines what Scripture truly says about the nature of evil and why God allows it. Along the way, he'll help you discover the contrasting abundance of God's grace, the overwhelming joy of heaven, and the extraordinary destiny of believers.

God Is All There Is and The Devil Does Not Exist seeks to bring about awareness and remind us of Who We Really Are; for God is All There Is and there is No-thing else. There is only One-Consciousness that has individuated It-self and, thusly, there is no Devil in absolute form (as is taught and projected by many). All That Is, existed in a state of being, without the means to express Its being; in a state of being, God is No-thing unto Himself. Out of this conceptual knowing, God/All That Is longed to express, explore and experience It-self for what It knows It-self to be. And so the No-Thing created Some-Thing/Some-Form (all of creation), as a means or device(s), through which It can express, explore and experience It-self fully and abundantly. We live in a world driven by fear, scarcity, competition, chaos, pain, struggle, confusion and discord. It is my firm conviction that all these factors have been born and taken root because we have forgotten, Who We Really Are. God Is All There Is and The Devil Does Not Exist is directed to all the men and women around the globe, who are entangled in shackles of fear, constructed by mythical beliefs and teachings about God and the mock Devil, which have been served to us for eons. The message I bring seeks to liberate and unchain us from these restraints. "So that we can live freely and express, explore and experience That Which Is within more fully and abundantly."

In this unique and highly entertaining autobiography, Alf Taylor chronicles his life growing up in the infamous New Norcia Mission, north of Perth in the fifties and sixties. At once darkly humorous and achingly tragic, God, The Devil and Me tells of the life and desperation of the young children forced into the care of the Spanish Nuns and Brothers who ran the Mission. Their lives made up of varying degrees of cruelty and punishments, these children were the 'little black devils' that God and religion forgot. Written with an acerbic and brutal wit, Alf intersperses dark childhood memories with a Monty Pythonesque retelling of the Bible, in which Peter is an alcoholic and Judas is a good guy.As a child, underfed, poorly clothed and missing his family, Alf sought refuge in the library in the company of Shakespeare and Michelangelo. He writes with joy about the camaraderie of the boys, their love of sport and their own company, but also notes that many descended into despair upon leaving. Most died early. Alf Taylor is one of the 'lucky ones'.'At once horrific and hilarious, this ''little black devil'' has created a work unique not just in Aboriginal writing, but in Australian literature altogether.' - Dennis Haskell, Australian poet, critic and academic

Most of us are regular people who have good days and bad days. Our lives are radically ordinary and unexciting. That means they're the kind of lives God gets excited about. While the world worships beauty and power and wealth, God hides his glory in the simple, the mundane, the foolish, working in unawesome people, things, and places.In our day of celebrity worship and online posturing, this is a refreshing, even transformative way of understanding God and our place in his creation. It urges us to treasure a life of simplicity, to love those whom the world passes by, to work for God's glory rather than our own. And it demonstrates that God has always been the Lord of the cross--a Savior who hides his grace in unattractive, inglorious places.Your God Is Too Glorious reminds readers that while a quiet life may look unimpressive to the world, it's the regular, everyday people that God tends to use to do his most important work.