Witnesses To Faith

"À la Tara Westover's Educated, Scorah's pensive, ultimately liberating memoir chronicles her formative years as a Jehovah's Witness...and captures the bewilderment of belief and the bliss of self-discovery."--O, The Oprah Magazine, Named one of "The Best Books by Women of Summer 2019" "Scorah's book, the bravery of which cannot be overstated, is an earnest one, fueled by a plucky humor and a can-do spirit that endears. Her tale, though an exploration of extremity, is highly readable and warm."--The New York Times Book Review A riveting memoir of losing faith and finding freedom while a covert missionary in one of the world's most restrictive countries. A third-generation Jehovah's Witness, Amber Scorah had devoted her life to sounding God's warning of impending Armageddon. She volunteered to take the message to China, where the preaching she did was illegal and could result in her expulsion or worse. Here, she had some distance from her community for the first time. Immersion in a foreign language and culture--and a whole new way of thinking--turned her world upside down, and eventually led her to lose all that she had been sure was true. As a proselytizer in Shanghai, using fake names and secret codes to evade the authorities' notice, Scorah discreetly looked for targets in public parks and stores. To support herself, she found work at a Chinese language learning podcast, hiding her real purpose from her coworkers. Now with a creative outlet, getting to know worldly people for the first time, she began to understand that there were other ways of seeing the world and living a fulfilling life. When one of these relationships became an "escape hatch," Scorah's loss of faith culminated in her own personal apocalypse, the only kind of ending possible for a Jehovah's Witness. Shunned by family and friends as an apostate, Scorah was alone in Shanghai and thrown into a world she had only known from the periphery--with no education or support system. A coming of age story of a woman already in her thirties, this unforgettable memoir examines what it's like to start one's life over again with an entirely new identity. It follows Scorah to New York City, where a personal tragedy forces her to look for new ways to find meaning in the absence of religion. With compelling, spare prose, Leaving the Witness traces the bittersweet process of starting over, when everything one's life was built around is gone.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

Rejuvenate your faith through the stories of the faithful. Throughout Scripture we find countless stories of God’s faithfulness—we also find countless stories of the people who remained faithful to Him. To strengthen and deepen your own faith, enter the stories of God’s imperfect yet faithful people in A Great Cloud of Witnesses, a six- or eight-week Bible study by Trillia Newbell. This study dives into Hebrews 11, examining the lives of Rahab, Enoch, Gideon, Sarah, and many more whose faiths withstood the tests of their days. Each devotional invites you into the lives of ordinary people who lived by faith and concludes with reflection questions so that you can consider how your story connects with those found in Scripture. By studying the great cloud of witnesses found in Hebrews 11, and others who have gone before us, you will learn to imitate their faith while clinging to the One who is always faithful as you run the race God has set before you.

This statement by the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis on the New Evangelization focuses on reaching out to Catholics, practicing or not, who have lost a sense of the faith and seek to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church. This resource examines what the New Evangelization is, its focus, its importance for the Church and how dioceses and parishes can promote it.

Reproduction of the original: The Finished Mystery by Charles Taze Russell

What was the early Church like? Contrary to popular belief, Rod Bennett shows there is a reliable way to know. Four ancient Christian writers - four witnesses to early Christianity - left us an extensive body of documentation on this vital subject, and this book brings their fascinating testimony to life for modern believers. With all the power and drama of a gripping novel, this book is a journey of discovery of ancient and beautiful truths through the lives of four great saints of the early ChurchClement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons. "A treasure! The early Church and its teachings come to life in this story. Did the first Christians believe what you believe? Buy this book, read the words of the early Church Herself, and fall in love with the historic Church that Christ Himself founded." - David Currie, Author, Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic "Rod Bennett has immersed himself in the fascinating writings of four early Fathers of the Church and has made the discovery from reading them that sincere and attentive readers of them ought to make. The author's imaginative account of these four great Church Fathers is not only an excellent introduction to their work; it is a convincing rendering of what the early Church must really have been like. This is an important new contribution to Christian apologetics." - Kenneth Whitehead, Author, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

Here is the long-awaited sequel to Rod Bennett''s Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words, a page-turning spiritual adventure following the lives and words of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons. Four More Witnesses invites readers to enter again the world of the early, influential Christian writers, this time meeting Hermas, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, and Origen. What did these witnesses have to say on the necessity of baptism? What did they think of "eternal security" and confessions to Church elders? What about Mary and her role in salvation history? Christian writers addressed all of these questions, and many more, in the decades following the Apostles—an era when even the Creed was still a work in progress. Like Four Witnesses, Four More Witnesses is a moving chronicle of the Christian Church in the flower of her youth.

The Foundation for Evangelism and the evangelism staff of the General Board of Discipleship were in conversation, prayer, and development of this study for over two years. We hope you will share in our excitement and commitment to exploring and sharing the Christian faith. This resource was written by Dr. Ronald K. Crandall, McCreless Professor of Evangelism in the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, Asbury Theological Seminary. Dr. Crandall is the author of There's New Life in the Small Congregation (Discipleship Resources, 1983), Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church (Abingdon Press, 1995), and The Contagious Witness: Exploring Christian Conversion (Abingdon Press, 1999). In addition, he has written numerous articles and other publications for The Upper Room and The United Methodist Church. Each participant will need a workbook (168 pages) and journal (80 pages).