In his collection of short stories, the author charts the life of Shay Elliott, Ireland's first professional cyclist, as he struggles to compete against riders in a peloton saturated with performance enhancing drugs. After he returned to Ireland he died in a shotgun accident while making plans to coach amateur cyclists. We are taken to a meeting of Washington politicians, which culminated in the unlawful invasion of Iraq; a tragic, obscene war encouraged by Pentagon hawks and self-serving gentlemen of the right. Commandeered oil, outsourced waterboarding and enhanced torture techniques in defiance of Article One of the Geneva Convention, are imprimatured in cautious Machiavellian dialogue. We witness the insane cluster bombing of the virtually defenceless city of Baghdad; with its medieval clay and plaster dwellings that crumble to dust in air raids. We visit broken, mutilated children in Baghdad's Al Kindi Hospital. We are taken to a chateau on the outskirts of Paris, the headquarters of the Aryan Brotherhood in France. The Aryans have devised a new strategy, a panacea to erase the simmering tensions of class warfare in French society. The goal is to create a new social order by restoring the privileged bourgeois to power; condemning the general populace to serfdom, through the science of eugenics. In 'Up at the Palace', Borstal detainees face the darkness of unspoken cruelties; a dignitary of the church faces his demons. We visit Alaska, the last remaining wilderness left on earth. Raging storms in the Bering Sea threaten life and limb aboard the good ship ' Tacoma.' A super sleuth, Marc Claudel, of the French Surete, becomes involved in terrorism and murder.

A series of questions about the New Testament to make reading harder -- and therefore fresher -- by giving readers such questions for study.

Weber’s classic study which deals specifically with: Types of Asceticism and the Significance of Ancient Judaism, History and Social Organization of Ancient Palestine, Political Organization and Religious Ideas in the Time of the Confederacy and the Early Kings, Political Decline, Religious Conflict and Biblical Prophecy.

Spirit of Mammon - Mike Connell (4 sermons) Finance Seminar - Shane Willard (2 sermons) Spirit of Mammon (1 of 4) The number of times Jesus talked about wealth and possessions, stewardship and accountability, far exceeded any discussion on any topic. In fact there's about 10 times the number of references to finances and stewardship and resources, than there are to faith and salvation, and yet all of these go together. Often the moment we start to talk about money, people freeze - and we will see why... Put God First (2 of 4) I've seen too many rich people who had miserable lives to believe that money can really make your life happy. It just can't. God can make you happy, money can't. Money is just a piece of paper. It's some numbers in the bank. It cannot make your life happy. What it does instead is it tends to create problems. Generosity (3 of 4) We have seen many people that have had much money and yet they didn't have what money seemed to promise, health and prosperity and every good thing. It seems like it still eludes them, so we looked at that and saw that Jesus taught very specifically about us placing God first. To be generous is to be liberal. It's an attitude of heart that shows up in every area of your life including finances. Generosity exposes selfishness! Generosity (4 of 4) There's something about generosity that creates a very sweet fragrance. When people give and there's nothing in it for themselves, they've just given unexpectedly to you, then there's something sweet about it. Generosity usually exposes greed. God is love and you can't love without giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving, so the greatest way we express the love of God to people is when we can be generous and kind to them with no agenda. That's when people see God, because that's what God is like. Shane Willard offers a unique Jewish/Hebraic perspective for Christians on Finance and Giving. Shane is mentored by a pastor with rabbinical training, and teaches the context of the Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective. This perspective helps people to see God's Word in a completely new way and leads them into a more intimate relationship with the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Finance (1 of 2) There's a great cure for poverty, it's called get a job, work hard. God never set himself up as the cure for laziness, or the cure for stupid. There is no supernatural, super-spiritual thing that over comes a lack of hard work or laziness. We've got to be wise, which means staying out of debt, not putting money in things going down in value, not trusting the government to do it for us, live on a budget, take charge of your finances, show self-control! To know God, is to take care of the poor and the afflicted. Tsedaqah (Hebrew) is introduced, equating Righteousness with Generosity/Charity Finance (2 of 2) We're called to live on a circle in a square. A circle inside of a square is 79%. The math from the commands matches the illustration from agriculture. 2.5% is put in the hands of the Priest; then a tenth is given to the church; and a tenth for yourself, in the form of savings, but one third of that is given to the poor. He doesn't want you just to go to heaven one day, he wants you to bring heaven to earth now. If your first fruits are in the right hands, your finances can't die. You sanctify everything else in your life by honouring the lord with your first fruits. James 1.26 If anyone considers himself religious and does yet not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that our God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress. The religion our father sees as pure is generosity.

The time is the early eighteenth century, and two young brothers are the sole survivors of a brutal attack perpetrated on their New England village by the French. They eventually are reunited with some members of their extended family, but will the two boys be able to make their way in the world without the loving guidance of their parents? This detailed historical novel is a gripping, emotionally engaging read.