On a Pilgrimage with Augustine’s Confessions

In his ground-breaking work The Confessions, Augustine of Hippo (AD 343-430), a prominent theologian and philosopher of early Christianity, paved the way for self-disclosure and the art of writing one’s life story. In On a Pilgrimage with Augustine’s Confessions, Dr. Blom delves into Augustine’s role as both protagonist and reflective narrator, portraying him as Christianity’s original existential hero.

Blom draws parallels between Augustine’s journey and that of the wanton prodigal son, viewing Augustine’s address to God as the voice of an ‘everyday man’ struggling to find his way home – a spiritual homecoming. By masterfully weaving together Jungian archetypal psychology, mythology, biblical interpretations, and autobiography, Blom invites the reader to embark on a captivating journey that bridges the gap between Augustine’s musings and meditations from the fifth century and the present day.

On a Pilgrimage with Augustine’s Confessions offers a fresh perspective on a timeless classic, making it an essential read for anyone seeking to explore the depths of the human soul and the enduring relevance of Augustine’s wisdom.

Nigeria – Politics, Religion, Pentecostal-Charismatic Power and Challenges

Nigeria presents an enthralling case study for understanding developing architypes in interreligious encounters in Africa. The global community needs a cultural understanding and sensitivity for productive engagement with the Arab and non-Arab Muslim world. The Nigeria religious exigencies provide a requisite intelligence into the challenges facing a global community seeking to foster peace. Without a domain of tolerance, love, equity and justice, Nigeria will continually be immured by pessimism, parochialism, cynicism and mutual suspicion. Despite being the largest economy in Africa and the most populous Black country, Nigeria demonstrates incessantly an uncommon fault-line between Christianity and Islam.

The significance of this goes beyond the borders of Nigeria but has become a global showcase anywhere the two religions exist contemporaneously. Nigeria is the nexus between west and central Africa. Rooted in the dusty Sahel of the north, the savannah plains, the rich rainforests of the Atlantic coast, the rocky hills of the West, and the oil-filled swamps of the Delta. Nigeria is the beauty, sound, vision, passion and the soul of the African continent.

In Nigeria, the Nigeria Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement possesses a distinctive flair that demands a holistic understanding of the movement’s historical, cultural, fundamental and religious dimensions in a multifarious religious landscape. The disquisition of the movement’s political cognizance, identity, power, authority, theology, popular culture, ethics and missiological impact in northern Nigeria presents a fine embroidery of their trials, frustrations and challenges, but inveterate in faith, hope and love that opens up innovative panoramas of peaceful dialogical prospects and coexistence between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria.

In Nigeria - Politics, Religion, Pentecostal-Charismatic Power and Challenges, Akintayo Emmanuel reconnoiters the complex missiological hindrances challenging the Nigerian Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement. Their contextual missional landslide disheveled with complicated paradoxes in the way the Christian majority have responded to Muslims in northern Nigeria is anatomized. The Nigerian Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement’s puissance to solve some of Nigeria political, ideological, cultural and spiritual dimensions of crisis and sectarian violence is achievable if the movement can mitigate her missiological hindrances.

The responses of Nigerian Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement to Nigeria’s socio-political and ethno-religious complexities can construct a great future for the soul of Nigeria. They do not only have the capacity to provide the Christian alternatives to Nigeria’s peculiarities, they can also stimulate Nigeria’s deification among other nations by continuing to disentangle from unscrupulousness and atrociousness embedded within—a reproach and opprobrium to any people.

More Than Just Bird Poop on my Windshield

More Than Just Bird Poop on my Windshield tells the powerful story of one woman’s journey through darkness and into the light of God’s love and healing. If you’re struggling with feelings of shame, rejection, depression, or any other hindrance to your freedom in Christ, this book is for you. Through her own testimony, the author shows how God can overcome any obstacle and bring you into wholeness and joy. Don’t lose hope, dear reader. God is faithful and will deliver you. Allow this book to be a source of encouragement and inspiration on your own journey towards healing and freedom.

John's Story

My child is an intelligent man. Like many in our society today, he does not believe in God. He asked me to write him a story every day in a way he could readily understand the Bible’s words. John’s Story: Perfect Love is written from the Apostle John’s perspective. It is a daily devotional based on three books in the Bible: John, Acts, and I John. This is John’s Story.

I Heard the Angels Sing

Have you ever felt that God was not there for you? Have you ever questioned, “Why, God, why?” One man did constantly. After an experience he cannot explain, he begins to reflect on his life, and he finds answers to those questions.

An inspirational reveal of how one man begins his journey back to God. He revisits occurrences from his life, exploring his own relationship with God. In sharing his experiences, he encourages others to discover and embrace their own relationship with God. Each chapter explores his personal memories from childhood into his adult life as he struggles with good and bad things in his life. Some experiences are small, some major and some occurrences affect him forever. He encounters great highs and deep lows in his life. And some incidents come full circle. He finally comes to the conclusion that God was always there for him.

It all began when he heard the Angels sing…

I Am a Catholic in Case of an Accident

In I Am a Catholic in Case of an Accident, Catholic priest Andy Costello reflects on over 50 years in ministry, candidly exploring what it truly means to be Catholic in today’s world. With wisdom, humor and humility, Fr. Costello ponders questions of faith, doubt, and remaining devout amidst the challenges facing the modern Church.

Drawing on a lifetime of experiences as a priest serving diverse parishes across America, he offers relatable insights on Catholic identity, sharing personal stories and perspectives that will resonate with Catholics and spiritual seekers alike. Through short vignette-style chapters, Costello examines Catholic traditions, the humanity of Jesus, models of the Church, and staying connected to one’s faith.

I Am a Catholic in Case of an Accident is an inviting, introspective read that will inspire readers to contemplate their own religious journeys and what being Catholic means to them. Fr. Costello’s conversational musings provide a compassionate guide for anyone navigating the joys and struggles of a life of faith.

Hug the Moments

Hug the Moments invites readers to discover the extraordinary adventures, miracles, and revelations bubbling beneath the surface of our world.

Amidst the constant barrage of negative news, there exists a faith-based love force, alive and in motion moment-to-moment.

Featuring powerful, heart-stirring dramas filled with suspense, this book aims to instil in readers the most desirable goals in life – a sense of optimism, peace, and hope.

By revealing uplifting narratives hidden within everyday life, Hug the Moments calls us to pause and embrace the beauty around us.

How to Read the Psalms

In an easy-to-read style, Earl Banks has provided us with a very important book for people who have wondered, ‘what are the first five books of the Bible all about?’ Or, ‘what are the Psalms all about?’

Earl answers these questions beautifully. Most Christians spend their time reading the New Testament because that’s the Word of the Lord to the believer in Christ. But Earl shows that the book of the Law was the Word of the Lord to the Psalmist. The more we understand the Book of the Law, written by Moses, the more we can understand the Psalms. Earl shows how to read those books of Moses, and how to understand the Psalms.

This is a must read for anyone who would like a deeper understanding of the Old Testament, and especially the book of Psalms.

God's Presence in Creation: A Conversation with Philo, Paul, and Luke

God’s Presence in Creation: A Conversation with Philo, Paul, and Luke is for anyone who has an interest in understanding how the authors of the New Testament perceived the world as God’s creation, our home from “the beginning” (Gen 1:1).

The book lucidly engages in conversation three 1st century CE authors Philo, Paul, and Luke, to offer a new and fresh understanding of the environmental theme, care for creation. The inclusion of Philo, a Hellenistic Jew and philosopher, adds uniqueness to the distinctive approach of this book and enriches the discussions of the two New Testament authors, Paul and Luke. Four “environmental” Greek terms are carefully analyzed— kosmos (world), ktisis (creation), pronoia (providence), and oikonomos (steward)— to show how these authors viewed the created world within their own Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts. The analysis is enhanced with an impressive exploration of a threefold relationship: creation-and-God, creation-and-mediator, creation-and-humanity.

God's Plumb Line

In a highly polarized society, how are we to know which position on an issue reflects God’s will? Christians commonly appeal to what the Bible says to determine God’s will. “The Bible says!” They assume it must be God’s will because the Bible says it.  

The Bible does teach us how to know God’s will, but it points beyond itself to a way of thinking shaped by the Spirit—what the book of Colossians calls spiritual wisdom and understanding. We discern God’s will by thinking theologically. Knowing God’s will requires more than knowing what the Bible says. How to think theologically about what the Bible says is needed.

God’s character as reflected in Jesus of Nazareth is the key to thinking theologically. In our efforts to know God’s will, we Christians must interpret what the Bible says in keeping with who Jesus revealed God to be. We must embrace understandings and positions that reflect the spirit of Jesus.

This book presents seven markers, grounded in the character of God as revealed in Jesus, for understanding what the Bible says, so that our understanding reflects the love of God we see in Jesus. Borrowing an image from the prophet Amos, these seven markers make up God’s Plumb Line. They outline a way of thinking theologically so that our hearts align with the heart of God and our minds with the mind of Christ.

From the First Nightingale to the Last

“In the darkness of the night, the nightingale sings with wondrous splendor,

A beckoning songbird calling the world to feel peaceful surrender.

The nightingale’s beauty lives in the essence of his melodic voice,

Leaving listeners disarmed by its power, making sweetness their choice.”

From the poem, Splendor in the Night’s Light, D. Ferris Arfaa arouses our awareness that life’s true meaning and effect emanates from our inner beauty, not outward appearance! Furthermore, we are left with the personal choice of whether to receive and surrender to the power of redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ.

This book contains poems that reflect on the lives of Jesus and His original Twelve Apostles. The poems carry us from their callings by Jesus into apostleship and, finally, martyrdom. They are intended to spark a personal revival in each of us to answer God’s calling no matter our personal limitations. From the First Nightingale to the Last emphasizes that, like Jesus and His Apostles, we all share a common nature, but we can move beyond our personal shortcomings to a powerful purpose in service to others. The reader cannot fail to be motivated to a new level of living through the power of faith and a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Feel It, See It, Send It

You and I can change the world with love. God is love—it’s that simple. We all have work to do! Feel it, See it, Send it… Yes, God’s love!

What I have learned is to take indifference and change it to love—it can be a small annoyance or a large disappointment. It takes practice, but you can do it! You will find that you will love yourself more, not give others the power, and put it in the hands of the one who can make the change. You can also use this to send love whenever and to whoever you want.

We all need to love more, and you can do it with this powerful technique!

I also added a section for the precious young on how to give their insecurities away and truly see themselves as God sees them—perfect, a precious gift that needs to shine in the way they were created to, a loving soul with so much to offer; it is true!