Religious Crime

In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier’s death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. She also came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute - men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.

Cults prey on the very attributes that make us human: our desire to belong, to find a deeper meaning in life, to live everyday with divine purpose. Their existence creates a sense that any one of us, at any time, could step off the cliff’s edge and fall into that daunting abyss of manipulation and unhinged dedication to a misplaced cause. Perhaps it’s this mindset that keeps us so utterly obsessed and desperate to learn more, or it’s that the stories are so bizarre and unsettling that we are simply in awe of the mechanics that make these infamous groups tick.

At the core of this book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism.

★★★★★ “A great job of modernizing a difficult parable” Pastor’s Comment Ever wonder how one of Jesus's parables might be told today? Five compelling stories that illustrate how our faith is tested every day! Crossroads of Faith is five modern-day retellings of biblical parables. These stories illustrate and remind us of the wonderful lessons taught by the parables of Jesus and other Biblical events. We all reach times in our life when our faith is tested and our convictions are revealed by the decisions we make. Whether you call them crossroads or maybe forks in the road, ...

One Click. One Catastrophe. One Desperate Mission. In the digital age, where shadows harbor unseen dangers and terror knows no borders, one man and his team stand as the last line of defense against an insidious threat. Cyber mayhem threatens when a religious zealot is recruited to drive fear and terrorism across the Western world. When a controversial male-supremacy platform is hi-jacked to be the messenger to coordinate international acts of mass violence, Max and the team have to act. Their fight against evil leads them to a sextorionist loverat, a ravishing, calculating cougar, a ...

Hiding is no longer acceptable…she needed answers…but answers alone might not be enough…and they could prove deadly…there were no more secrets…they could be deadly too… Mick Johnson might be dead but his killer is unknown and the clues leading to them are non-existent. Completely non-existent…which according to Jackson never ever happens…then he finds one but how does he tell Simon… But Elijah Sullivan, the father she adored all her life left clues…she just has to unravel them even as she comes to terms with her feelings about Harper…and his for her. It’s the middle ...

Will the contents of dozens of old trunks filled with century’s old and fragile dresses, antique books and journals, and an even older jeweled sword, provide the answers to any of Mae’s well-guarded secrets?Sisters of the Heart is the fifth book in the ongoing story of the Engstrom family in the Mae’s Second Chance series. In the small ghost town of Mae’s Second Chance, where centuries old secrets remain hidden and the surrounding hills continue to guard another woman’s treasures, Julie Engstrom brings her family in search of a place that can replace what they had to leave behind....

Mission at Nuremberg is Tim Townsend's gripping story of the American Army chaplain sent to save the souls of the Nazis incarcerated at Nuremberg, a compelling and thought-provoking tale that raises questions of faith, guilt, morality, vengeance, forgiveness, salvation, and the essence of humanity.

When he believed there was little time left, there were only two people he wanted to talk to while he still could. One was the only woman he’d ever loved. And always would. Rendon was seriously wounded…in searing pain, and up until the last hour, exposed as he’d never been before. Getting himself to the little known and forgotten small town in the middle of nowhere had been a risky choice, and taken the last of his quickly dwindling strength. It was the last place anyone would think to look. He never expected to survive. After a brazen rescue, Rendon is determined to be part of the ...

Sí, Señor es la historia de cómo Dios tomó el control de la vida de Fermín IV. Parte de una memoria y parte de una historia de redención, este libro es una crónica de la vida de Fermín: desde ser un famoso rapero que hablaba sobre drogas y alcohol hasta ser el pastor de una de las iglesias más grandes de la ciudad de México que ahora habla sobre el amor y la redención de Dios.

Haunted by childhood abuse, Veronica Howe is hell-bent on revenge. She confronts her abuser on the day he's released from prison, but events quickly spiral out of control. Suddenly on the run, and also desperate to retrieve a beloved necklace that belonged to her late mother, Veronica embarks on a dangerous mission, but realizes she can't do it alone. Olivia Darby overcame childhood obesity to blossom into a gorgeous young woman who is desired by all. But the solace she found in the church during her early days of torment, inspires her to become a nun instead of pursuing ordinary romantic ...

Most twelve-year-old boys are preoccupied with comics and playing with their friends. Twelve-year-old Frank Heeney, however, is about to start three years of hell at Ireland’s notorious St. Joseph’s Industrial School in Letterfrack County Galway. St. Joseph’s is an inferno of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of the administrators. Many children, some as young as four, die from such conditions and are secretly disposed of in the surrounding wilderness. As Frank spends three years at St. Joseph’s Letterfrack and two years at St. Patrick’s children’s prison, he is...

Like the biblical Job, John Ramsey had it all - wealth, social position, a loving family. And like Job, Ramsey was destined for great affliction, as many of the most precious things in his life were cruelly taken from him.

Meet Serafina Trent. A woman about to take 19th Century London by storm. It's London, 1857, and everything is at stake for Serafina Trent. A woman of means...but not the typical Victorian lady who feels her place is to be seen and not heard. When her brother's most recent female dalliance, a beautiful actress, is found murdered, all evidence points to him. Especially since the actress had just rejected him in a most public manner. Now everyone believes Clive is headed for the gallows. Everyone, that is, but Serafina.

Why does a Church Cardinal, a man of the cloth, need a fixer to retrieve a package for him? What could possibly be in the package requiring such secrecy? Charlie Franklin’s clients are usually unsavory denizens climbing from the underbelly of Cleveland, Ohio. He would like to believe the Cardinal is different but, early on, he has his doubts. Follow Charlie as he searches for the truth while dodging a growing number of curious characters who, quite suddenly, are very interested in Charlie’s mission: a local mob boss, the quirky T.K. Constantine, and the mysterious little man all dressed...

When Charlie Dodge gets a phone call from a frantic woman stating her daughter has been kidnapped by her ex-husband and taken into a cult called Fourth Dimension, he takes the case without hesitation. The cult’s rumored purpose is to gather men with psychic abilities with the goal of breeding a race of people who have supernatural powers. Once accepted into the cult, men are given a young girl to marry in exchange for one of their own daughters.

For Ava Sullivan...everything changed between one moment and the next. Disappearing wasn’t going to be enough…they needed a plan…some answers…and a safe place so they could stop running in circles trying to stay one step ahead of the guys who seemed to want her dead. Simon Sullivan might not be who Ava always believed him to be, but along with his brother, he’d spent his life trying to protect her. That wasn’t going to change especially now when everything they’d planned for, hoping against hope it would never be needed, was playing out exactly as they’d feared. But he’s ...

Hiding is no longer enough…she needed answers… What did Jackson see on the video…and how does he tell Simon… Daman and Niall are asking all the right questions...will they survive to find the answers... Mick Johnson might be dead but his killer is unknown and the clues leading to them are non-existent. Completely non-existent…which according to Jackson never ever happens… Elijah Sullivan, the father she adored all her life left clues…Ava just has to unravel them even as she comes to terms with her feelings about Harper…and his for her. It’s the middle of the twenty-third ...

Centuries ago Thomas Dyersen left behind the information needed to find Sanctuary…the safe refuge where he once took his family…Now hundreds of years later another Dyersen is in great need of the information that Thomas Dyersen left behind. In the twentieth century the danger is not from someone close as what his ancestor faced…but an unknown threat…still unnamed but dangerous to all he loves. Fury of the Storm continues the ongoing story of family, friends, and strangers who come together at a time when the unknown is their greatest enemy…and their hidden sanctuary is their ...

How did Charles Manson inspire his "family" to launch a campaign of murder? What twisted ideology lay behind horrific events like the Waco Siege, Aum Shinrikyo's poison-gas attack on the Tokyo metro, and the mass suicides and murders of Jonestown? Why did the suicidal adherents of Heaven's Gate believe doomsday was at hand? How did the idealistic commune of Rajneeshpuram collapse into shocking controversies, involving biological terrorism and attempted murder? The shocking truth about some of the most disturbing criminal cults that have ever existed are discussed in this audiobook.