Replacing the Fallen Angels gives a deeper understanding of God's ultimate purpose for creation and man's role in God's ultimate purpose. The book explores God's purpose from a time prior to creation as He with subtlety reveals to Isaiah, Ezekiel and then John the Apostle in the book of Revelation the real heart of a dilemma that arose in Heaven before the creation of the world. God found himself needing to replace some rebellious angels and man would be his solution. In order to select from His creation those who would qualify for His Heavenly Kingdom, God had to give man something that he did not give His created angels. He gave man the opportunity to make choices between right and wrong, good and evil. This book explores this divine purpose of God and the effects of man's use of the choices that are before him. William A. Shackleford, Sr. has served as the pastor of the St. Paul High Street Baptist Church in Martinsville, Virginia for the past 21 years and served 4 years at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Charles City County, Virginia. The author has served for over thirty-five years in The Baptist Sunday School and BTU Congress of Virginia, the Christian Education Auxiliary of the Virginia Baptist State Convention. He has served as the president of the congress, the chairman of the executive board and staff instructor. He has served for over 20 years as a regular staff instructor for the Christian Education Institute of the congress and has taught in many seminars and workshops in Virginia, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. Pastor Shackleford has served on Martinsville City School Board and as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Seminary and College (VA Univ.) of Lynchburg, Virginia.

The Owner of the vineyard is coming to gather in His harvest. The Rich Man is returning to His estate. The Landowner is coming to distribute our wages. In all these prophetic parables, His arrival brings mixed results. Everything depends on whether or not the Master is loved. There is coming a time when He will be returning. That, He has assured. For some, it will be a time of great joy; for others--great woe. When He does, much like what was done at the Temple, our God is going to clean house on a very imposing scale. Jesus did a little 'Father's house dusting' with some hastily braided cord, but that's only a sneak preview of what needs to be done; and, upon His return, will be. Part of that refurbishment is going to require the correction of false practices and errant theologies; to get the stench of worthless sacrifices out, and the graffiti of friendly bloodshed off the walls. It is the end result that will have the most significance. We will end up with only one religion, one truth and one faith. The question for you to contemplate is...Will it be yours?

The early Christian writer Tertullian first applied the epithet "bride of Christ" to the uppity virgins of Carthage as a means of enforcing female obedience. Henceforth, the virgin as Christ's spouse was expected to manifest matronly modesty and due submission, hobbling virginity's ancient capacity to destabilize gender roles. In the early Middle Ages, the focus on virginity and the attendant anxiety over its possible loss reinforced the emphasis on claustration in female religious communities, while also profoundly disparaging the nonvirginal members of a given community. With the rising importance of intentionality in determining a person's spiritual profile in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be applied and appropriated to laywomen who were nonvirgins as well. Such instances of democratization coincided with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. These factors helped cultivate an increasingly literal and eroticized discourse: women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also became increasingly intimate with their confessors and other clerical confidants, who were sometimes represented as stand-ins for the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic merging of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity made church authorities fearful, an anxiety that would coalesce around the figure of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

At sixteen, Elizabeth Howard envisions a glorious life as lady-in-waiting to the future queen, Catherine of Aragon. But instead, she is forced to marry Thomas Boleyn, a wealthy commoner, and stagnate in the countryside while her husband pursues his ambitions. There, she raises Mary, George, and Anne, while entertaining a string of admirers. When Henry VIII takes the throne, Thomas brings his highborn wife to London, and Elizabeth indulges in lavish diversions and catches the lusty king's eye. But those who enjoy Henry's fickle favor must also guard against his wrath. For although they are at the pinnacle of power, the Boleyn family's fortune may be turning...

This first volume of our Great Falling Away Series biblically explicates both the beginning and the end of the biblical age, while also revealing mankinds great falling away from a biblically-defined faith in God and His mortal, immortal, and eternal Messiah - Jesus the Christ of Bethlehem/Nazareth/Judea. The full title for this first book of our series is: "The Great Falling Away Volume I: The Biblical Age". This book is now available directly from Xlibris, as well as from on-line booksellers and retail bookstores everywhere. The second book of our Great Falling Away Series is entitled: "The Great Falling Away Volume II: Anti-Christ, Babylon, and the Bride of the Lamb". This second and final book in our Great Falling Away series is now completed, and is now also available directly from Xlibris, as well as from booksellers everywhere.