The perfect Thanksgiving recipe for disaster — means, motive…and opportunity. As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, Selena finds herself soothing the nerves of her friend Josie, who’s now Globe’s newly minted mayor. Popular television preacher Aaron Galloway is bringing his traveling prayer gathering to town, and Josie is worried Selena’s New Age shop will attract negative attention. Josie’s concern is touching, but Selena can’t imagine her humble little shop being any more than a blip on the faithful’s radar. Still, she does a quick Tarot reading, just to be sure. To her dismay, the cards warn there’s trouble brewing. What kind and how deep it goes is anyone’s guess. Until Galloway falls over dead of arsenic poisoning — and Josie is accused of murder. Holiday plans are put on hold as Selena races to prove Josie’s innocence. And as she begins unearthing something rotten under the megachurch’s squeaky-clean veneer, the real killer is getting nervous...and determined to mow down anyone who gets too close to the truth. KEYWORDS: witch, warlock, wizard, sorcerer, psychic, medium, telepath, cop hero, sheriff, detective, police, tarot, crystal ball, wicca, small town romance, small town mystery, fish out of water, opposites attract, cozy mystery, cozy dog mystery, cozy witch mystery

From the 1910s to the mid-1930s, the flamboyant and gifted spiritualist Deguchi Onisaburô (1871–1948) transformed his mother-in-law’s small, rural religious following into a massive movement, eclectic in content and international in scope. Through a potent blend of traditional folk beliefs and practices like divination, exorcism, and millenarianism, an ambitious political agenda, and skillful use of new forms of visual and mass media, he attracted millions to Oomoto, his Shintoist new religion. Despite its condemnation as a heterodox sect by state authorities and the mainstream media, Oomoto quickly became the fastest-growing religion in Japan of the time. In telling the story of Onisaburô and Oomoto, Nancy Stalker not only gives us the first full account in English of the rise of a heterodox movement in imperial Japan, but also provides new perspectives on the importance of "charismatic entrepreneurship" in the success of new religions around the world. She makes the case that these religions often respond to global developments and tensions (imperialism, urbanization, consumerism, the diffusion of mass media) in similar ways. They require entrepreneurial marketing and management skills alongside their spiritual authority if their groups are to survive encroachments by the state and achieve national/international stature. Their drive to realize and extend their religious view of the world ideally stems from a "prophet" rather than "profit" motive, but their activity nevertheless relies on success in the modern capitalist, commercial world. Unlike many studies of Japanese religion during this period, Prophet Motive works to dispel the notion that prewar Shinto was monolithically supportive of state initiatives and ideology.

Christians in general--and preachers of prophecy in particular--attribute the fulfillment of hundreds of Old Testament messianic prophecies to Jesus of Nazareth. Often these claims arise in the uncritical environment of Christian churches or popular literature that is treating messianic prophecy. People with critical thinking abilities, and those endowed with a skeptical nature, often have key questions that remain unaddressed in such environments. These thinkers and skeptics are the people that will be most interested in this work. The primary question addressed is this: "Do critically acceptable historical-evidential reasons exist for believing that Jesus Christ is the direct fulfillment of some specific Old Testament messianic texts?" Approaching this question within a framework that eliminates any possibility of staged prophetic fulfillment, and those that may occur by mere chance or collusion, produces results that must be taken seriously. Even with these strict criteria, Jesus emerges as the only viable candidate to fulfill some of the prophecies included in this study. For other prophetic texts, the evidence is not as abundant or convincing. However, even these texts yield several minimal facts that directly impinge on New Testament claims about Jesus.

Learn to Discern So You Won't Be Deceived!Never before has culture had a greater need for clear, prophetic insight while never before has so much prophetic error and controversy swirled around us to discredit legitimate prophetic voices. Now, more than ever, true biblical prophecy must take its place at the forefront.Joseph Z—an international...