Showing results by author "Andrew T" in All Categories

In the winter of AD 44, Rome's plan to install a friendly king in the most hostile area of Britannia is facing a new threat. There are rumours of a traitor close to the new king, and a new enemy is gathering strength beyond the marshes. As the king continues with his plans to Romanise his subjects, Horatius Figulus, a junior officer in the Second Legion, is charged with training up the new royal bodyguard. But when a trap is sprung on the Roman army, a secretive Druid sect seizes power and takes the king hostage. Now Figulus must infiltrate the enemy ranks, release the king and track down the elusive leader of the Druids - before the whole of Britannia descends into bloody chaos....

The problem isn't sex. God designed sex, and sex is good. Sex is a powerful union that brings men and women together. But when sex is distorted by sin, the misuse of our sexuality can alienate us from one another, causing immense harm and pain. Enter pornography - the most prevalent distortion of sexual sin in America. Pornography is not only a problem in terms of personal morality but a social epidemic that is making the possibility of sexually fulfilled marriages harder to achieve.

Roman Britain, AD 44. General Plautius' hard-won defeat of Caratacus should have brought peace. But though the land is conquered, it is far from tamed. A puppet king is doing little to calm the hatred of the tribes and bring them under Roman rule. Fighting is in Optio Horatius Figulus' blood. His Celtic ancestry is mocked by his fellow soldiers, but it gives him the toughness essential for survival.

Despite defeat in battle, Britannia's natives continue to resist their Roman conquerors. All attempts to impose Roman rule have failed. A new king has been installed among the Durotriges to bring them into line, and Optio Horatius Figulus of the Second Legion is charged with protecting him. It's a thankless task, and, worse still, the Druids are rumoured to be plotting to assassinate the king. The king begins a devastating campaign of reprisals against his political rivals. Whole families are murdered, weapons are confiscated and the old gods are denounced.

How did the Cuban sandwich become a symbol for a displaced people, win the hearts and bellies of America, and claim a spot on menus around the world? The odyssey of the Cubano begins with its hazy origins in the midnight cafes of Havana, from where it evolved into a dainty high-class hors d'oeuvre and eventually became a hearty street snack devoured by cigar factory workers.

The pro-life moment didn't begin in the 1960s, but in the garden. Abortion has been a divisive issue in American culture since the sexual revolution. Yet the Bible is an unapologetic defender of human dignity. Moreover, Christians have always cared for the unborn, the orphan, and the least among us. The time is now for this generation to reaffirm what believers have always believed: everybody is created in the image of god. So, what now?

This collection contains a mixture of stories about ghosts and contacts from spirits, some by celebrated authors, together with essays on psychical research. As Joseph French notes in the preface, even for the skeptic, tales of ghostly activity retain a distinct fascination. The widespread interest in psychic phenomena in the early twentieth century proved to be a significant stimulus to literary production.

The United States is addicted to crude oil. In this book, Andrew Price-Smith argues that this addiction has distorted the conduct of American foreign policy in profound and malign ways, resulting in interventionism, exploitation, and other illiberal behaviors that hide behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The symbiotic relationship between the state and the oil industry has produced deviations from rational foreign energy policy, including interventions in Iraq and elsewhere.

Deniers of climate change sometimes quip that claims about global warming are more about political science than climate science. They are wrong on the science, but may be right with respect to its political implications. A hotter world, writes Andrew Guzman, will bring unprecedented migrations, famine, war, and disease. It will be a social and political disaster of the first order.

The Bible is unambiguously clear about marriage's definition and purpose. So, Christians are for marriage. The Bible's witness on marriage doesn't allow for same-sex marriage, not because the Bible gives attention to same-sex marriage, but because the biblical narrative on marriage doesn't conceive of same-sex marriage as within the realm of possibility. Yet, many Christians live among neighbors and under law-makers who disagree. So, what now?

T.S. Elliot was likely the best read of any of his contemporaries. In his poetry, we often find an allusion to the works of other great writers. In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" he makes reference to Dante Shakespeare and "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvel. Prufrock, as the name implies, is an indecisive wimp, whereas Marvel in his seduction poem, has his eye on the prize, and makes no bones about it.

In the kingdom of God, it is not us against them. The problem of racism stretches back as far humanity's origin in the book of Genesis. Brother pitted against brother, tribe against tribe - people have warred against one another, fueled by contempt for racial differences. Yet the Gospel is a message of reconciliation. The kingdom of God is us reconciled to one another.

Andrew lost his father a few days after Christmas in 2019. While he continues to grieve, he also continues to count the blessings that were granted in that final week in Hospice. Nobody goes through the same end-of-life experiences, but many do parallel each other in powerful ways. Sharing the blessings that occurred in the final days, and realizing the power of "3" will help you during this time.

Christianity is the faith of the poor. As Christians, we worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). How do we discern the best responses to poverty? How should we as ministers, church leaders, and businesspeople engage in our communities? Sometimes it seems that we in the modern American church stand on opposite sides of an impassible gulf as we talk about poverty and justice.

Every Christian isn't called to adopt, but everyone is called to care for orphans. The evangelical adoption movement is but one strand in a long cord of Christian care for orphans. While adoption trends have fluctuated over time in different contexts, the Bible has not changed its position. The gospel is decidedly pro-adoption and on the side of the orphan. Yet many obstacles stand in the way of the Christian's mission to provide care to the least of these. So, what now?

So often in America, we define who we are by what we do. We introduce ourselves by our job titles. We ask, "What do you do?" to be polite in small talk. We define others by their occupations. But there are good reasons to connect what you do with your time, whether that is 9-to-5 work or managing a household full of children. God created us to work, not as judgment but in cooperation with a mandate given to humanity long before the fall. Your work isn't who you are, but it is central to why you are here.

While the culture has never been more confused about the definition of what marriage is, those who are married have never been more hopeless about how marriage should be lived. The times have never been more crucial for digging deeper, past the definition of marriage to the structure of marriage, the blessings of marriage, and the opportunity for living out the image of the gospel that's embodied within marriage. So, what now?

We live in a society of broken homes. Having parents in the home doesn't mean that parenting is actually happening. Parenting is a God-given task that ensures young children are protected and nurtured into maturity in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But America and the church face a crisis of parenting: detached or absentee fathers, single mothers, and grandparents raising the next generation.

Religious liberty isn't a principle for Americans alone, though it certainly has played an important role in the history of the United States. Religious liberty is a matter of authority and allegiance for people of every land. To whom one owes ultimate allegiance is a matter of the conscience, and one that should be protected in every nation. But what if religious liberty gives way, and churches are faced with the difficult decision between allegiance to their country and allegiance to their conscience?

In Policing the City, Harris seeks to explain the transformation of criminal justice between the 1780s and 1830s in the City of London. As utilitarian legal reformers argued that criminal deterrence ought to be based on certain and rational punishment rather than random execution, they also had to control the discretionary authority of enforcement. This meant in theory and practice the centralization of policing in the 1830s, and the end of local policing, which was seen as corrupt, inefficient, and unsuitable for rational criminal justice.