Ancient Religion

Popular author and speaker Fr. Stephen Freeman explores the roots and meaning of both toxic and healthy shame, revealing the crucial importance of this understanding for our relationship with God.

Are you an Orthodox Christian who wonders how to explain to your Baptist grandmother, your Buddhist neighbor, or the Jehovah’s Witness at your door how your faith differs from theirs? Or are you a member of another faith who is curious what Orthodoxy is all about? Look no further. In Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick covers the gamut of ancient heresies, modern Christian denominations, fringe groups, and major world religions, highlighting the main points of each faith.

Autobiographies from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Talmud teaches that the ancient patriarchs were all prophets, and that each one of them left testaments for their descendants to read. These contain commands for their children, moral lessons, and prophecy. This legend is not only repeated among the Essene community, but fragments of 20 such records have been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls!

Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. Jodi Magness, an archaeologist who has excavated at Masada, explains what happened there, how we know it, and how recent developments might change understandings of the story.

The holy grail. The Knights Templar. The Gnostics and ancient mysteries of Greece. Discover the connection between them all with this phenomenal book written by 32nd-degree Freemason and celebrated author John Michael Greer. This book is a must-listen for seekers of the holy grail and those who want to learn about the inner workings of occult Freemasonry.

Best-selling author Richard E. Rubenstein brings the past to life in this engrossing story of social, religious, and scientific revolution during one of the darkest periods in European history. When a group of Dark Ages scholars rediscovered the works of Aristotle, the great thinker's ideas ignited a firestorm of enlightened thought. This is the endlessly fascinating account of the pivotal period in history when the modern era took root.

The Ancient Dead Sea Scrolls speak about a mysterious 364-day solar calendar used by the ancients from the time of Creation to about 170 BC. In the second century BC, it was replaced with a lunar calendar by corrupt Jewish priests. Today we know this corrupt lunar calendar as the modern Jewish calendar. In this book we will learn about God’s original solar calendar and discover what prophecies it reveals. Most Christians know that the Jewish festivals teach prophecy. Festivals like Passover, teach about the First Coming of the Messiah.

Anyone who prays or has tried to pray and given up in discouragement knows praying, really praying, is not easy. Praying consistently seems almost impossible. Too often and too easily, prayer becomes a burden: one more item on an already overcrowded to-do list. Failing to pray becomes a source of guilt and stress as we must once again admit our inconstancy and procrastination to our father confessor. The purpose of this audiobook, then, is not to add to the burden, but to ease it by distilling the advice and experience of those who pray.

There is not just a desire but a profound human need for enhancement - the irrepressible yearning to become better than ourselves. Today, enhancement is often conceived of in terms of biotechnical intervention: genetic modification, prostheses, implants, drug therapy - even mind uploading. The theme of this book is an ancient form of enhancement: a physical upgrade that involves ethical practices of self-realization. It has been called 'angelification' - a transformation by which people become angels.

Ancient Faith has produced a fresh update and redesign of a book cherished by a generation of seekers. Written in an accessible manner for the average lay person, Orthodox Worship offers insights into the Orthodox liturgy. Early Christians preserved a continuity of worship from the Old Covenant to the New, employing elements from the Jewish Temple liturgy, the synagogue liturgy, and the rituals of the Jewish home.

Although all the titles of the Nag Hammadi library are not known, many people have heard about its most famous components: The Gospel of Thomas - at one time it was discussed whether it should be included in the New Testament - and The Gospel of Philip, which tried to revive the debate around the identity of Mary Magdalene: "Why do you love her more than all of us?" asks a disconcerted Peter to Jesus. Finally, the Nag Hammadi texts have led many scholars to reconsider the rigid canons imposed by the early Church, and the readers to find a more intimate religion that turned upside down many postulates of Christian orthodoxy.

Have you noticed that President Russell M. Nelson keeps reminding us that the modern temple endowment has “ancient” roots? If you do not know what this means—if you do not have a solid understanding of what was done in the temples of ancient Israel—then you are missing many of the most basic and important aspects of your temple experience. Unfortunately, it is very common for someone to enter the temple for the first time with little to no understanding of what to expect.

Losing someone we love is never easy, but the Orthodox Church provides a wealth of resources that help us to bear it. Chaplain and bereavement coordinator Sarah Byrne-Martelli draws on these theological, scriptural, and liturgical resources, as well as the collected experience of a variety of people undergoing grief and loss, to provide a kind of road map to the grieving process. Included in the book is a guide to an eight-week bereavement curriculum that can be used in a group or on one’s own.

In order to become a healing presence for others, we must first be healed ourselves through an active relationship with the great healer, Christ. Drawing on the teachings of the fathers and saints of the church, Dr. Rossi gently points the way toward deepening our love for God and for each other so that others may experience Christ through us.

Are you frustrated with a powerless Christian walk? In the day of entertainment-driven church, pep-talk preaching, and hype replacing the Holy Spirit, do you still feel like you are missing something that the saints in the Book of Acts knew about… and experienced in their walk with God? Pastor Rod Parsley is recognized as a Pentecostal pioneer in his generation, building World Harvest Church and Harvest City Network, a movement dedicated to raising up a new breed of Holy Spirit-empowered people who change the world around them.

This fourth book in Dando-Collins’ definitive history of Rome’s legions tells the story of Rome’s 3rd Gallica Legion, which put Vespasian on the throne and saved the life of the Christian apostle Paul. Named for their leader, Mark Antony, these common Roman soldiers, through their gallantry on the battlefield, reshaped the Roman Empire and aided the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.

Forty years after the publication of Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods, Philip Coppens revisits the question of whether "ancient aliens" contributed to the birth of human civilization.

The author explores how the Anunnakis’ reliance on technology and their recurrent wars caused them to lose touch with cosmic consciousness. And she reveals how we will be doomed to repeat this dynamic until humanity awakens to our true origins.

In "The Kena Upanishad 101," Dr. Matthew Barnes, chemist, biochemist, and bestselling author of "The Emerald Tablet 101," "The Kybalion 101," "The Hermetica 101," and "The Tao Te Ching 101," brings the profound teachings of the Kena Upanishad to life. With clarity and insight, Dr. Barnes breaks down this ancient wisdom, making it not only accessible but also deeply relevant to today’s listeners.

There has always been a price for following Christ, and many have paid the ultimate price. The Voice of the Martyrs, co-authors of the bestseller Jesus Freaks, brings you a daily devotional filled with inspiring stories of courage, commitment, confession and compassion. In an age of extremes, you can find faith, strength, encouragement and hope through the stories of fellow believers from all over the world and from past centuries up to the present. These men and women, young and old, went to the outer limits of devotion. Each story is extreme. Each story will change your life.