Suffering and the Thesis of Purgatory


Book Description

This book brings to life the Prophecies of Fatima and unfolds the Book of Revelation in the messages revealed by the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Victim Soul Iveta 'Cleophas' Fernandes. It reveals that great powers are given to the 'adversary' in these times and speaks of the Great Tribulation and of the Birth pangs of the Great Apostasy - the first being the 'diabolic pandemic', the second birth pang being the fall out of a diabolic nature - of which we are at the threshold! This book also contains prophetic messages of the impending Schism of the Catholic Church and of the Persecution that will befall to purify the Church before the promised Era of peace! In revealing the spiritual battle that we are currently engaged in, the messages contained in this book give us a spiritual roadmap for the times ahead and calls for the proclamation of the fifth Marian Dogma: 'Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, Co-Redemptrix and Advocate'. The first part of this book outlines the profound value of suffering when this suffering is united to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Mother of God. The second part reveals precious insights into the realms of Purgatory, of Souls serving Divine Justice and of the process required to attain their Crown of Glory! Readers are advised to exercise spiritual discernment as some of these prophecies and warnings to be fulfilled soon are quite disturbing! Some of their consequences can be mitigated if we choose to pray, offer up our suffering and convert!




Love Wins


Book Description

Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God's love and God's judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this "good news"? Troubling questions—so troubling that many have lost their faith because of them. Others only whisper the questions to themselves, fearing or being taught that they might lose their faith and their church if they ask them out loud. But what if these questions trouble us for good reason? What if the story of heaven and hell we have been taught is not, in fact, what the Bible teaches? What if what Jesus meant by heaven, hell, and salvation are very different from how we have come to understand them? What if it is God who wants us to face these questions? Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance. The result is the discovery that the "good news" is much, much better than we ever imagined. Love wins.




Hungry Souls


Book Description

After a week of hearing ghostly noises, a man is visited in his home by the spirit of his mother, dead for three decades. She reproaches him for his dissolute life and begs him to have Masses said in her name. Then she lays her hand on his sleeve, leaving an indelible burn mark, and departs... A Lutheran minister, no believer in Purgatory, is the puzzled recipient of repeated visitations from "demons" who come to him seeking prayer, consolation, and refuge in his little German church. But pity for the poor spirits overcomes the man's skepticism, and he marvels at what kind of departed souls could belong to Christ and yet suffer still... Hungry Souls recounts these stories and many others trustworthy, Church-verified accounts of earthly visitations from the dead in Purgatory. Accompanying these accounts are images from the "Museum of Purgatory" in Rome, which contains relics of encounters with the Holy Souls, including numerous evidences of hand prints burned into clothing and books; burn marks that cannot be explained by natural means or duplicated by artificial ones. Riveting!




Practicing Prayer for the Dead


Book Description

Throughout history Christians have prayed for the dead. This book challenges Protestants, who seldom pray for the dead, to begin doing so, and Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, who pray only for the Christian dead, to include the unsaved as well. Gould discusses the meaning of prayer for final consummation of all things, growth of the blessed in heaven, purification of the imperfect in purgatory, and salvation of the unsaved in hell--identifying the necessary conception of the afterlife required by each particular prayer. He also reflects on the spiritual value of prayer for the departed--how it enhances faith, builds hope, and sharpens discipleship--and provides some sample prayers for public liturgy and private devotion. In essence, Practicing Prayer for the Dead offers an outline of theology from the perspective of death, arguing that prayer for all the departed is one aspect of a tightly knit web of doctrines. The argument, while revisionary in some respects, is orthodox, ecumenical, and integrative, engaging a range of academic disciplines so as to be biblically accurate, historically informed, and philosophically reasoned.




Understanding the Divide


Book Description

In Understanding the Divide: A Presbyterian Elder, a Roman Catholic Theologian, and Basic Questions of the Christian Faith, a Presbyterian Elder and a Roman Catholic theologian reflect in dialogical fashion on basic but critical dimensions of contemporary Christian faith. How should we interpret the Bible? How do we get to heaven? What are sacraments and what is their function? Who are the saints and what role if any do they continue to play in the life of the Christian community? Tom Tasselmyer, a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, and Lyle K. Weiss, a Roman Catholic theologian, respond to these and other questions offering two distinct contemporary visions of an ancient faith. In alternating chapters, Tom and Lyle engage in dialogue concerning basic questions of Christian faith from Reformed and Roman Catholic perspectives, providing readable, intelligible, and accessible answers to questions believers are asking while simultaneously stimulating ongoing thought and fostering mutual respect between two rich traditions within the broader Christian family.




The Problem of Hell


Book Description

How can a perfectly good God justifiably damn anyone to hell? This is one version of the problem of hell. The problem of hell has become one of the most widely discussed topics in contemporary philosophy of religion. This anthology brings together contributions by contemporary philosophers whose work shapes the current debate.




Purgatory


Book Description

Companion to: Heaven: The logic of eternal joy (2002).




The Skeletons in God's Closet


Book Description

How can a loving God send people to hell? Isn’t it arrogant to believe Jesus is the only way to God? What is up with holy war in the Old Testament? Many of us fear God has some skeletons in the closet. Hell, judgment, and holy war are hot topics for the Christian faith that have a way of igniting fierce debate far and wide. These hard questions leave many wondering whether God is really good and can truly be trusted. The Skeletons in God's Closet confronts our popular caricatures of these difficult topics with the beauty and power of the real thing. Josh Butler reveals that these subjects are consistent with, rather than contradictory to, the goodness of God. He explores Scripture to reveal the plotlines that make sense of these tough topics in light of God’s goodness. From fresh angles, Josh deals powerfully with such difficult passages as: The Lake of Fire Lazarus and the Rich Man The Slaughter of Canaanites in the Old Testament Ultimately, The Skeletons in God's Close uses our toughest questions to provoke paradigm shifts in how we understand our faith as a whole. It pulls the “skeletons out of God’s closet” to reveal they were never really skeletons at all.




The Reformation of Suffering


Book Description

Protestant reformers sought to effect a radical change in the way their contemporaries understood and coped with the suffering of body and soul that were so prominent in the early modern period. This book examines the genesis of Protestant doctrines of suffering among the leading reformers and then traces the transmission of these doctrines from the reformers to the common clergy. It also examines the reception of these ideas by lay people.




Does the Pro-Life Worldview Make Sense?


Book Description

This book looks at a family of views involving the pro-life view of abortion and Christianity. These issues are important because major religious branches (for example, Catholicism and some large branches of Evangelicalism) and leading politicians assert, or are committed to, the following: (a) it is permissible to prevent some people from going to hell, (b) abortion prevents some people from going to hell, and (c) abortion is wrong. They also assert, or are committed to, the following: (d) it is permissible to use defensive violence to prevent people from killing innocents, (e) doctors who perform abortions kill innocents, and (f) it is wrong to use defensive violence against doctors who perform abortions. Stephen Kershnar argues that these and other principles are inconsistent. Along the way, he explores the ways in which theories of hell, right forfeiture, and good consequences relate to each other and the above inconsistencies.