Religion Saves

April 7, 1944 - This date marks the successful escape of two Slovak prisoners from one of the most heavily-guarded and notorious concentration camps of Nazi Germany. The escapees, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, fled over 100 miles to be the first to give the graphic and detailed descriptions of the atrocities of Auschwitz. Originally published in the early 1960s, I Escaped from Auschwitz is the striking autobiography of none other than Rudolf Vrba himself. Vrba details his life leading up to, during, and after his escape from his 21-month internment in Auschwitz.

Couples can get beyond their old marriage and its destructive habits and build a brand-new one with the same spouse. And they can do it in just 90 days, even if only one spouse is committed to change. Thousands of couples in marriages that are on the brink of divorce will never enter a therapist's office. For more than 20 years, David Clarke has seen marriages turn around in just three months. In I Don't Want a Divorce, he takes his practical plan and presents it using wit, Scripture, and personal stories to help couples turn difficult marriages into great ones.

Grace is amazing. About this all Christians agree. Yet nearly all forms of Christianity put significant limits on grace. In Grace Saves All, David Artman argues that grace saves alone and goes to all. This inclusive approach to Christianity is variously called universal reconciliation, universal salvation, or perhaps most accurately, Christian universalism. He contends that the inclusive/Christian universalist approach is necessary because it offers the only Christian theology that successfully defends the goodness of God.

Following the death of his little sister and the publication of his New York Times best-selling memoir The Little Way of Ruthie Leming, Rod Dreher found himself living in the small community of Starhill, Louisiana, where he grew up. But instead of the fellowship he hoped to find, he discovered that fault lines within his family had deepened. Dreher spiraled into depression and a stress-related autoimmune disease.

Every excuse, reason, and roadblock for not coming to Christ is examined and duly dealt with. If you think you may be too bad, or if perhaps you really are bad and you sin either openly or behind closed doors, you will discover that life in Christ is for you too. You can reject the message of salvation by faith, or you can choose to live a life of sin after professing faith in Christ, but you cannot change the truth as it is, either for yourself or for others.

When did kindness become a sign of weakness? These days we view kindness as an inert act based solely on the absence of being a jerk, or as heroic and herculean, beyond the reach and capability of mere mortals. But what if kindness actually had the power to save the world? In his engaging new book In Defense of Kindness, leadership coach and pastor Bruce Reyes-Chow shows how being kind (which is different than being nice) has the power to transform our relationships in all arenas of our lives.

Bring Me the Rhinoceros is an unusual guide to happiness and a can opener for your thinking. For fifteen hundred years, Zen koans have been passed down through generations of masters, usually in private encounters between teacher and student. This book deftly retells more than a dozen traditional koans, which are partly paradoxical questions dangerous to your beliefs and partly treasure boxes of ancient wisdom. John Tarrant brings the heart of the koan tradition out into the open, reminding us that the old wisdom remains as vital as ever.

The Last Arrow is your road map to a life that defies odds and alters destinies. Discover the attributes of those who break the gravitational pull of mediocrity as cultural pioneer and thought leader Erwin McManus examines the characteristics of individuals who risked everything for a life they could only imagine. Imagine living the life you were convinced was only a dream.

What drives all of your life’s priorities, values, and decisions? In the sequel to An End to Upside Down Thinking, Mark Gober builds a science-based worldview from which we can create a compass for living. In stark contrast to his prior belief system, Gober explains why life is actually full of meaning. From this perspective, he lays out how we might approach life accordingly, along with the well-traveled “awakening” path that we’re likely to encounter. Approaching life in a new way is the antidote that our civilization desperately needs.

Deborah, a mother of two young boys with autism, is heartbroken, perplexed, and exhausted. Through her diary, we feel her gut-wrenching agony as she helplessly watches her family disintegrate under the ruthless oppression of autism, as it cruelly invades every facet of her children’s lives, their minds, bodies, senses, and emotions. Refusing to make peace with the diagnosis, and in a place of unutterable despair, Deborah has an encounter with God, which ignites a fire of hope in her heart.

Rob Bell’s highly-praised third book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, is his most political yet. Published as part of the Rob Bell Classics re-launch, this is an inspiring call-to-arms for Christians to tackle poverty, inequality and oppression. ‘There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building,’ writes Bell.

The unequivocal answer is an emphatic "yes" answers Dr Patrick Johnson, a long-serving minister of the gospel well-versed in scripture, who has also been on his own faith journey and taken a long, hard look at this vital question for himself.

Ten years ago, Hosanna Wong packed her life into suitcases and started traveling the country to talk to people about Jesus. She quickly discovered lies she had believed that held her back from actually sharing God’s love.

It turns out, believing lies that you’re not enough, your story doesn’t matter, and there’s no way for you to make an impact… that’s how not to save the world.

Stories tether us to what matters most: our families, our friends, our hearts, our planet, the wondrous mystery of life itself. Yet the stories we've been telling ourselves as a civilization are killing us: Fear is wisdom. Vanity is virtuous. Violence is peace. In Between the Listening and the Telling, author and activist Mark Yaconelli leads listeners into an enchanting meditation on the power of storytelling in our individual and collective lives. We tell stories to remember who we are. We tell stories to savor the pleasure of living.

In How Jesus Saves, Joshua McNall unpacks the meaning of Jesus’ life and death for everyday people. Taking listeners on a journey through Scripture, McNall brings together the primary models of atonement doctrine making the latest theology accessible.

In Beauty Will Save the World, Brian Zahnd presents the argument that this loss of beauty as a principal value has been disastrous for Western culture, and especially for the church. The full message of the beauty of the Gospel has been replaced by our desires to satisfy our material needs, to empirically prove our faith, and to establish political power in our world - the exact same things that Christ was tempted with and rejected in the wilderness.

From the creation of man to the current ecclesial infiltration and world revolution, the devil and his minions have sought to destroy the human race made in the image of God. No longer attacking from without, they are now secretly laying siege from within the Holy Roman Catholic Church. But why is God allowing this? He loves to see souls heroically battle for the faith.

In a series of reflections on every part of the Mass, author Tim O'Malley challenges us to turn the idea of boredom on its head, calling boredom the good boredom that opens us to the quiet interior space where we can encounter God. It is there that full participation in the Mass becomes possible the potential to be transfixed by a ritual, to contemplate the readings, and to savor the Eucharist. Become a Bored Again Catholic and rediscover the power of the Mass to change your life and the entire world.

This audiobook tells the surprisingly exciting tale of Justin of Neapolis, known today as St. Justin Martyr and his encounters with the vigorous early heresies that threatened to paralyze the young Church just as she was struggling to her feet. Scripture Wars is an inspiring, true-life testimony to our Father's providence, a tale that has the power to strengthen the faith of Catholics even today, 18 centuries later.

Journey with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem with these reflections for Lent by Sinclair Ferguson. As you walk through the second half of Luke’s Gospel, you'll meet the people Jesus encountered on the way to the cross and prepare your heart to appreciate his death and resurrection afresh. Pithy yet profound, these devotions will hold up a mirror to your own heart and, more importantly, give you a window into the heart of the Lord Jesus - the one who came to seek and to save the lost at Easter.