Gospel Earth

Hidden in plain sight. Within the Scriptures are truths that our Father in heaven wants to reveal to us. These truths will challenge every human being to reconsider what we thought we knew. Since the dawn of man, theories, math, science, lies, and speculation have been at odds with Gods word. No more! Gospel Earth illuminates all the questions, including the messages that are not preached about on Sundays. The one who seeks to kill and destroy, uses false narratives and fake news to make even bold followers of Christ complacent. Liars beware: Gospel Earth is truth, and the truth will set you free.Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don't listen because you don't belong to God. (John 8:47)

Do something for the environment--pray for the earth. The icecaps are melting. The air we breathe and the water we drink are polluted. Forests are being cleared of oxygen-making trees and ecosystem-integral wildlife. Our daily lives impact our earth--mostly leaving negative footprints. The environmental challenges we face are real and almost out of control. We're free to enjoy the earth's bounty and beauty, but along with that privilege comes responsibility. How are Christians to respond as stewards of God's creation? Explore through prayer the interconnecting love that binds God, humankind, and creation--forming a sacred trust. Earth Gospel offers four weeks of prayer (seven days per week with prayers for morning, midday, and evening) to encourage care of God's creation. Each daily reading includes scripture, hymn texts, beautiful poems and reflections from sages across time, and blessings. Featured voices include Emily Dickinson, Wendell Berry, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, e.e. cummings, Julia Esquivel, Annie Dillard, Henry David Thoreau, Catherine of Siena, and many others. Conveniently sized to tuck into a backpack for a field expedition or as a companion to your Bible during prayer time, Earth Gospel will deepen your appreciation and commitment to creation. Use it daily, and it will change your life.

A much-overlooked aspect of the Gospel of Matthew is the theme of heaven and earth. Rather than being a reverential circumlocution for God, ‘heaven’ in Matthew is part of a highly developed discourse of heaven and earth language that is pervasive and important throughout the First Gospel.

God’s world is full of good things. Ice-cold lemonade. The laughter of children. College football. Scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. A late night with old friends around a blazing campfire. God certainly knows how to give good gifts to his children. But where is the line when it comes to enjoying all the pleasurable things our world affords? In The Things of Earth, professor Joe Rigney offers perplexed Christians a breath of fresh air by lifting the burden of false standards and impossible expectations related to the Christian life—freeing readers to gratefully embrace every good thing we receive from the hand of God. Helping us avoid our tendency to forget the Giver on the one hand and neglect his gifts on the other, this much-needed book reminds us that God’s blessings should drive us to worship and that a passion for God’s glory can be as wide as the world itself.

WARNING! This book could make your life messy! Today’s church is continually being confronted with the question, “What is the gospel?” Many churches answer this through strong exposition of biblical truth. Others answer with a focus on community engagement. But doesn’t Christ call us to do both? The covenant of salvation demands a radical re-patterning of relationships. Bryan Lorrits, a pastor in the heart of one of America’s historically racially divided urban centers, seizes the opportunity to engage God, the church, and culture in ways that may challenge your beliefs, practices, and relationships. A Cross-Shaped Gospel clearly articulates the vertical dimension of the Christian faith, as well as looking at the horizontal implications of salvation for growth, service, and community. It provokes readers to think about the implications of living out their faith. What does the gospel mean for issues of: Political engagement? Class distinctions? Race Relations? It is only by reaching upward that we can reach outward in power and with the proper motives, so let A Cross- Shaped Gospel help you in crafting and communicating a biblical philosophy of engaging God and others well!

In Peace on Earth Joseph Grassi emphasizes the practical means Jesus suggests to make peace a reality. He focuses on the roots of peace and justice found in the non-violent and compassionate life and teachings of Jesus. Grassi teaches that Luke's summary of Jesus' teaching in the "Sermon on the Plain" has a central place as a practical guide for believers to develop a life of peace and non-violence in imitation of Jesus as a non-violent Messiah. Luke's Jesus goes to the roots of true peace through the practice of non-violence, love, compassionate justice, true repentance, and forgiveness. External power and domination are renounced and replaced by inner power, humble service, and a priority for the needs of the poor and marginalized. Chapters are" 'Peace on Earth'-Luke's Subversive Christmas Story," "Jesus, Messiah of Peace and Non-Violence in the Passion Story," "John the Baptist: The Mission to 'Guide Our Feet in the Way of Peace, '" " 'Justice and Peace Shall Kiss One Another'-Luke's Gospel of Justice," "The Inner Sources of Peace: Forgiveness and Metanoia," "The Sermon on the Plain: Part I. Roots," "The Sermon on the Plain: Part II. Praxis,"" 'Love Your Enemies'-Responses to Violence from a Gospel of Peace," "The Sign of Jonah, the Comic Prophet of Metanoia," "Women of Peace and Courage," "An Upside Down World: Peace and the Priority of Little Ones," "Bread and Circuses versus Jesus' New World Food Language," "Jesus' Last Passover Supper and Testament for Continuity," "Jesus' Compassion for Animals: A First Step Toward a Non-Violent World," and "Spiritual Combat for Peace: The Power of the Holy Spirit and Prayer."

Beginning at the turn of the century, Rudolf Steiner began to express a passionate interest in Christianity. For him, the event he called the “Mystery of Golgotha” is more than the central event of Christianity; it is, in fact, the turning point in time for all human and earthly evolution. In his Autobiography, Steiner clarified his views on Christianity: Some of what I said and wrote during that period [1890s] seems to contradict the way I described Christianity later on. This is because, when I wrote the word Christianity, I was referring to the teachings of a “world beyond” that was active in all Christian doctrines at the time. The whole meaning of religious experiences pointed to a world of spirit, one that was supposed to be unattainable by human intellect. Whatever religion might have to say and whatever precepts for moral life it might offer arise from what is revealed to human beings from outside. My own direct, inner perception of spirit objected to this; it wanted to experience the worlds of both spirit and the physical in perceptions of the human being and nature. And my ethical individualism objected to this. It rejected the external support of commandments for morality; such support came instead as the result of spiritual soul development within the human being, where divinity lives. That was a trying time for my soul as I looked at Christianity. This period lasted from the time I left the Weimar work until I wrote my book Christianity as Mystical Fact. These kinds of tests are obstacles, placed in one’s path by destiny (or karma), and they must be overcome through spiritual development. In these talks, Rudolf Steiner offers his profound insights into the essential truths behind the Christ event, as well as the historic and prehistoric events—on Earth and in the spiritual worlds—leading up to the turning point in time. He shows that the ancient mysteries of the East, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the streams behind those impulses—going back to Atlantis and Lemuria—all lead to the event of Christ’s incarnation and the Mystery of Golgotha, through which the Earth became the body of Christ. Further, Steiner talks about what those events mean for the future of humanity and the Earth. The Gospel of St. John and Its Relation to the Other Gospels is an essential document in the literature of Christology and for understanding the central place of esoteric Christianity in Anthroposophy.

‘Human evolution has now arrived at a decisive crossroads. The future of humankind on Earth depends on whether people recognize their determining role in the evolution of the consciousness of Earth.’ – Marko Pogačnik Humanity today faces a unique task: to overcome the thousand-year-old division between heaven and earth, spirit and matter. This, says Marko Pogačnik, is our present-day challenge. But we have an important ally in this work in the being of Jesus, also known as Christ, whose teachings are intended to help us at this critical time of human development. Historically, however, Jesus’ words of wisdom were harnessed to the construction of an earthly religion, and much of their deeper meaning was lost in the process. Christ Power and Earth Wisdom is the story of the author’s discovery of a ‘Fifth Gospel’, woven invisibly into the four canonical Gospels. It teaches humanity how to live positively in the third millennium. Bringing together knowledge of elemental beings, Earth science and Christ, the author has translated over one hundred of Jesus’ sayings into a language that the modern mind can understand. He identifies blockages in the Biblical gospels that have prevented the Spirit of Christ from manifesting in the past era. But the time is now ripe for understanding the multilayered reality of these teachings. Based on methods of investigation and perception that Pogačnik has developed over many decades of work in healing the various dimensions of Earth’s landscape and nature, he deciphers the hidden, holistic messages in Christ’s teachings, dismantling the obstacles that have arisen through outdated interpretations. The text is complemented with Pogacnik’s energetically-charged drawings, forming a feeling counterpart to the thought flow of the book. A new Postscript offers an important update relating to methods of gaining a broader, spiritual perception of reality in the present.