Just Deceivers

Does the Bible allow us to deceive? Is it ever right to lie? These are perennial questions that have been discussed and debated by theologians for centuries with little consensus. Entering this conversation, Just Deceivers provides a fresh analysis of this important topic through a comprehensive examination of the motif of deception in the books of Samuel. While many studies have explored deception in other Old Testament texts--especially the patriarchal narratives of Genesis--and a few articles have initiated examination of this motif in Samuel, Just Deceivers builds upon this groundwork and offers an exhaustive treatment of this theme in this important portion of the Hebrew Bible. Newkirk takes the reader through the books of Samuel, investigating every occurrence of deception in the narrative, exploring how the author depicts these various acts of deception, and then synthesizing the results to offer an exegetically based theology of deception. In so doing, this study both challenges commonly held views concerning the Bible's stance on falsehood and illustrates the importance of attending to the sophisticated literary character of biblical narrative.

The second book in the Greystone Secrets series from the master of plot twists, Margaret Peterson Haddix—perfect for fans of A Wrinkle in Time and The City of Ember! Until their mother vanished, the Greystone kids—Chess, Emma, and Finn—knew nothing about the other world. Everything is different there. It’s a mirror image, except things are wrong. Evil. Their mother tried to fix it, but she and an ally got trapped there along with Ms. Morales, their friend Natalie’s mom. Now the four kids—brave Chess, smart Emma, kind Finn, and savvy Natalie—are determined to rescue everyone. To do so, they have to go back: into the other world, where even telling the truth can be illegal. But in such a terrifying place, Chess doubts he can ever be brave enough. Despite all her brains, Emma can’t seem to break the code. With everything spiraling out of control, Finn has to pretend he’s okay. And for Natalie, the lies of the other world include some she wishes were actually true. What if she’s gotten so used to lying she no longer knows what to believe? The second book in the Greystone Secrets series, The Deceivers, by bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix, continues the twisty and suspenseful story of the Greystone kids and examines the power of the truth—or a lie—to alter lives, society, and even an entire reality. Praise for Greystone Secrets #1: The Strangers *Winter 2018-2019 Kids' Indie Next List Pick* “A secret-stacked, thrilling series opener.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “An engrossing mystery with a cliff-hanger ending to raise the stakes and delight fans new and old.” —Booklist “Maintains suspense from the beginning to the cliffhanger ending. A high-stakes adventure full of teamwork with a multifaceted mystery and complex themes.” —Kirkus Reviews

The roles of pastor and theologian have gone their separate ways. Throughout much of the church's history, these two roles have been deeply intertwined, but in our contemporary setting, a troubling bifurcation between them has developed. The result has been a theologically weakened church and an ecclesially weakened theology. The Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) seeks to overcome this divide by assisting pastors in the study and production of biblical and theological scholarship for the theological renewal of the church and the ecclesial renewal of theology. Based on the first CPT conference in 2015, this volume brings together the reflections of church leaders and academic theologians to consider how pastoral ministry and theological scholarship might be reconnected once again. The contributors consider several facets of the complex identity of the pastor theologian, including the biblical, public, and political dimensions of this calling. In addition, the essays explore the insights that can be gained from historical examples of pastor theologians—including John Calvin, John Henry Newman and Dietrich Bonhoeffer—as well as the essential role of Scripture within the ministry of the pastor theologian.

Kristen Simmons, the author of the Article 5 series and Metaltown, brings her remarkable imagination to this intrigue-filled contemporary drama where good kids are needed to do some very bad things in The Deceivers. Welcome to Vale Hall, the school for aspiring con artists. When Brynn Hilder is recruited to Vale, it seems like the elite academy is her chance to start over, away from her mom’s loser boyfriend and her rundown neighborhood. But she soon learns that Vale chooses students not so much for their scholastic talent as for their extracurricular activities, such as her time spent conning rich North Shore kids out of their extravagant allowances. At first, Brynn jumps at the chance to help the school in its mission to rid the city of corrupt officials—because what could be better than giving entitled jerks what they deserve? But that’s before she meets her mark—a senator’s son—and before she discovers the school’s headmaster has secrets he’ll stop at nothing to protect. As the lines between right and wrong blur, Brynn begins to realize she’s in way over head. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Interfering with the presidential election was just the first step. The target was the American Airlines Center, the home of the Dallas Mavericks. The FBI had told Ahmed Shakir that his drug bust would go away if he helped them, and they'd supply all the weaponry, carefully removing the firing pins before the main event. It never occurred to Ahmed to doubt them, until it was too late. When John Wells is called to Washington, he's sure it's to investigate the carnage in Dallas, but it isn't. The former CIA director, now president, Vinnie Duto has plenty of people working in Texas. He wants Wells to go to Colombia. An old asset there has information to share--and it will lead Wells to the deadliest mission of his life, an extraordinary confluence of sleeper cells, sniper teams, false flag operations, double agents high in the U.S. government--and a Russian plot to take over the government itself. If it succeeds, what happened in Texas will be only a prelude.

“Alfred Bester was, and remains, long after his passing, the preeminent Class Act of imaginative literature. Bester was the mountain, all the rest of us merely climbers toward that peak.” —Harlan Ellison “Alfred Bester was one of a handful of writers who invented modern science fiction.” —Harry Harrison, author of The Stainless Steel Rat Alfred Bester took readers where none had gone before in his seminal fifties novel, The Stars My Destination— the story of a young man's desperate journey from adolescence to most-wanted-man of the 25th century. In The Deceivers, Bester reinvented the space opera for the late 20th century. The hero is Rogue Winter—King of the Maori Commandos... His lover is the beautiful Demi Jeroux, who has been kidnapped by... The villainous, demonic Manchu Duke of Death. Rogue must search through the entire solar system to find the missing Demi Jeroux, from the Paradise of Carnal Pleasures to the bloody torture chambers of Triton. It is in the subterranean chambers beneath the surface of Triton that the key to the whole adventure lies. Buried here is the sole source of the newly discovered Meta-crystals, which hold the secret to unlimited energy for all mankind. Demi Jeroux is merely a pawn in the Duke of Death's gambit to seize control of the crystals and place the entire solar system at his mercy. Rogue's final confrontation with the Duke will determine not only the fate of his beloved, but the future of the system and its freedom from the evil Manchu Empire.

The knock on the door of struggling art expert Madison Dupre's low rent New York apartment is that of a Thai café deliveryman—but instead of succulent noodles, he has a rare work of art from the incredible Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia. Angkor Wat, a wonder of the ancient world, is considered by many antiquity experts to be even more majestic than the monuments of the Egyptian pharaohs. Left unprotected, the vast complex has been a treasure trove for thieves who mercilessly cut off pieces, mutilating thousand-year-old sculptures with chainsaws. Madison knows there is no possibility that this artifact could have been acquired legally. That knock on her door sends her to one of the most dangerous places on the planet: Phnom Penh, the sex-sin-drug capital of the Far East. Stepping into a cauldron of murder and antiquity-looting that takes her from New York to Cambodia, Hong Kong to Thailand, Madison keeps one step ahead of temple robbers who kill as easily as they steal. She finds comfort in the arms of a soldier of fortune; tangles with a Russian model and her stud "bodyguard," who introduce her to the New Eroticism; and gets entangled with a Cambodian prince whose sex moves not even the worldly Madison had tried. But how much is Madison willing to sacrifice in order to protect her priceless, irreplaceable antiquities...? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.