The more one learns about the Jewishness of Christ, Paul, and the Apostles, the easier it becomes to understand their mindset when writing the New Testament. Situations, idioms, cultural knowledge, and history are different now than they were in the first century A.D.

Russel's proposition is this: if the Bible predicted a series of events, and if a part of history can be found in which those events were fulfilled to the letter, why presume that they haven't yet been fulfilled?

He uses Hebrew and Greek culture, historical writings, and language to map all of the predictions of the "End Time," one for one, to events and persons prominent in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

The Bible predicts an end of the old world and the creation of a new world in which Christ reigns. In A.D. 70, Biblical Judaism was wiped out. The Temple was destroyed; there have been no more blood sacrifices since then; the Priesthood was abolished. The old world was destroyed.

Christ returned as predicted. He rescued the believers by getting them out of the city and up into the mountains (clouds). From this point on there could be no doubts that God had abolished Judaism and given the Kingdom over to the Church. A new world was created in which Christ reigns.

I hope this will whet your appetite for a deeper understanding of what took place in A.D. 70, and how it fulfilled all remaining Biblical prophecy.

First of all, the "interview" with J.S. Russell presented is a different J.S. Russell from the author of this book, which was written in the 1890's and is reprinted by Kingdom Council. The Parousia is a classical and thorough, well-written example of Biblical exegesis which argues the case for full Pretorism, the view that all of the prophecies written about in the Book of Revelation were fufilled during the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This view, which is recently regaining theological popularity, was the majority view until premillenial dispensationalism took over the theological thinking of evangelical Christians in the early 1900's. Since that time we've had endless speculations about "the Last Days" or the "End Times" which have bordered on the ridiculous ("Last Days Madness") and which have discredited Christians in the eyes of non-Christians all over the globe. If you are interested in an understanding of Revelation which does not make silly claims and reduce Christian theology to the level of Action comic books, then I most highly recommend you take the time to read this book. The only downside to the book is that it is written in a highly literate, pre-television fashion that requires real thought and attention to digest. It is well worth the effort, however, both in terms of challenging your ideas and also in terms of introducing you to a mannor of civilized thinking that is unfortunately becomming lost in our increasingly barbaric culture

Commander X's "Planet X: The Coming of the Guardians" is proof positive that good things come in small packages. Despite its diminutive size, the book contains a wealth of information on the mysterious Planet X, from both ancient and modern sources, as well as providing a chilling warning about the inevitable havoc the planet's passage would have on the solar system and Earth in particular.

The basic premise is this: numerous scientists over the past several decades have claimed to have discovered a tenth planet in our solar system, located well beyond Pluto, currently the farthest out of the nine known planets. This tenth planet takes an approximate 3,600 years to complete its orbit around the sun and is thus not widely known to mainstream modern astronomers because of the great distances involved in detecting it. It is only through calculating the wobbles of other nearby heavenly bodies that Planet X has been presumed to exist at all.

Meanwhile, as astronomers in our present age struggle to bring Planet X into focus, the ancient Sumerians 6000 years ago already knew of the planet's existence and documented it in their cuneiform records. This fact was initially discovered by Zecharia Sitchin, who wrote a series of classic books on the subject of the alien origins of life on this planet as revealed in ancient religious scriptures. The Sumerians regarded Planet X as one of the gods, and it appears in later cosmologies as similarly mythically powerful.

Having established the existence of Planet X, the book moves on to offer some dire warnings as to what effect the planet would have were it to plough through the solar system on the return leg of its orbit after more than 3000 years out of sight. Freak weather, earthquakes, volcanoes, the usual apocalyptic scenarios are all predicted. This is perhaps the reason the government allegedly keeps the whole subject under wraps. Commander X even discusses the possibility that the loss of several French astronomers in a 1999 cable car crash may have been part of an effort to keep the threat of Planet X a secret from an unsuspecting world.

And is there a solution to all the future doom and gloom Commander X describes?

Perhaps our only hope in the face of mass extinction by the blundering Planet X would be benevolent aliens who intervene on our behalf, the "Guardians" of the book's title. While there are obviously no prior occurrences of the aliens saving the world en masse, the book nevertheless argues quite convincingly that there is a long history of miraculous intervention by the aliens--healing of the sick, rescuing the endangered, even breaking up a large meteor before it struck the Earth. All those stories are recounted by Commander X, and each is fascinating in its own right.

Some of the sources used by Commander X predict that Planet X could arrive as soon as this year, while other put it decades or even centuries down the line. William Kern, who contributes an excellent historical section to the book's final pages, puts the date even farther into the future--3751 AD!

We can't know the future of Planet X, or even take for granted its existence, but the engrossing combination of myth, astronomy and skillful speculation offer in "Planet X: The Coming of the Guardians" makes for fascinating reading. Commander X, who is nearly as mysterious as the planet he writes about, has done it again.

IS PLANET X ABOUT READY TO STRIKE THE EARTH? Predictions of the end of the world are pretty old hat to anyone who has read up on the supposed END TIMES in which it is said we live. Prophets of gloom and doom and numbered in the dozens -- not withstanding Nostradamus who is quoted widely, as well as chapter and verse from the Holy Bible. But this time we could be in deep do do if Planet X really does exist and circles the solar system every ten thousand years or so. Some authorities claim that Planet X is on the way and there is little we can do about its arrival; and that even a close brush with Earth could cause the death of millions from all over the world. A number of books have recently been written on the subject; this is the only one, however, that offers a way out... Commander X suggested that a group of aliens known as the GUARDIANS might possibly destroy Planet X before it can enter the earth's atmosphere. He offers as "proof" numerous incidents in which UFOs have shot at and destroyed large bodies just before they were to crash into the earth and kill many. Perhaps one such episode transpired in Siberia nearly a century ago. Commander X summs up the subject quite well in easy to understand language. This is a work you should own.

Ms. Hatcher has a wonderful way of telling slice-of-life stories set in small town America. Promised to Me is another fine example. I felt like I was one of Jakob and Karola's neighbors, I knew them so well. I came to love each of the children and longed for this couple to discover their love for one another anew. I'll bet this is another award winner for Ms. Hatcher. It's that good. And since I was born and raised in Idaho, I loved seeing the state so lovingly and accurately portrayed in this historical setting. If you want a feel-good read, you can't go wrong with Promised to Me.

The entire Coming to America series is wonderful, and Promised to Me is no exception. I always learn something new about the grace of God from Ms. Hatcher's books. She is one of my favorite authors. Definitely in the top five. Promised to Me delivered her usual engaging characters and seamless plotting. I felt as if I knew all of the characters because the period details were so excellently drawn. This is a story to treasure and a fine addition to a terrific series.

This is the best book on prayer--period. Don't expect the normal treatment of prayer being some pious stuff. The authors have an entirely different spin on prayer and, given their background, they should know. The book is simply stated but profound. And it really shows you what prayer is and how you can pray, not the kneeling down type of praying but how to really pray and how prayer affects us. Really great stuff.

I never thought anyone could write a book about prayer and not make it religious. The Jafollas have done it. Of course I am biased. I have been a fan of their writing for years. But they have outdone themselves with this book. I think it's the best book on prayer ever written! That's saying a lot but if you read it I think you'll agree. It's spiritual but not religious and they make such sense about the power of prayer, what it does and doesn't do, how you can use it. It's really terrific.

Some people purchase a Dake Study bible yet never take the time to read his other books. The Dake Study bible is a good start of course but you shoudn't ignore his secondary work which could be considered scripture in it's own right. These writings are still deuterocanonical work and (like Bono) should be read and studied with full exegetical commitment.

This book, along with a Dake Study Bible and U2's Under a Blood Red Sky should be on you must read/listen list. I'd suggest that all of them become part of your spiritual/religous library within the first few months of studying dake-bonoist principles.

Dake spells it all out in black and white: here's a statement, and here's all the Bible verses to back it up.

For every topic he gives proofs galore. There's also several sections of "Fallacies" where he BIBLICY disproves many "assumed" beliefs.

If you need factual encouragement of your Pre-Trib beliefs or would like in-context proofs of why this is the way things will occur, I'd heavily recommend this book.

This book is an outstanding value for any investor or stock trader! I could not put it down once I started reading it. Quite simply this book could make you immensely wealthy if you studied and applied the mountains of street smarts, common sense research and wisdom contained in its pages. It breaks new ground by its unique approach to combining broad-based, macroeconomic price patterns and some traditional fundamental statistics for timing the stock market. Investors and stock traders are starting to become more keenly aware that the concept of timing indicators from the discipline of Technical Analysis coupled with key statistics from Fundamental Analysis can provide the basis for rational stock investing........in Bull or Bear markets. This may be the first book to accomplish this critically important objective for the individual investor that wants to control his or her own financial destiny.

This book contains sound advice and stock investment timing techniques from one of the most successful, highly respected and well-known investors, stock/stock index traders and educators in the business. Larry's techniques for stock selection and market timing are based on sound historical analyses and practical methods for buying and selling. I believe this material proves, once and for all, the fallacy of the "buy and hold" approach and willy-nilly diversification schemes pushed onto an unsuspecting public by the ill-informed, and sometimes unscrupulous, community of brokers and investment advisors. This book blows their cover! Markets can be timed using patterns and fundamental indicators....................and the individual investor can do it for themselves.

Larry Williams proves that market timing can significantly improve your investment results. As an example, using just one of the techniques in this book, I did an independent, blind, unbiased five year simulation of a strategy adapted from the High Yield Investment Strategy (p. 185) using the five lowest-priced, highest-yield stocks in the Dow Industrials and Dow Utilities (this is not the Dogs of the Dow strategy). This strategy returned $6,560 for each $1000 invested from October 1998 to June 2003 (an average 46%+ return per annum). While that kind of return may not be possible in all time periods, it certainly provides a high degree of credibility for the results that this book claims can be achieved. Contrast this with the severe losses many people have suffered in the last three years using other investing approaches. Remember 1998/1999 were two highly volatile, bubble years and 2000 to the present is a secular Bear. The strategy worked extremely well in both types of markets. What impressed me most was that gains were pretty evenly spread throughout the five year period (only the year 2002 had a loss and that was only -7.4%). Actually, the gains from the three Bear market years were nearly the same as those from the two Bull years. This is a great testament to how robust Larry's techniques are. The bottom line is this is how I will invest my money and retirement funds, and I would strongly suggest it would be the right thing for many other individual investors to do, as well.

If you are looking for a sound and safe way to invest, grow and protect your money in the stock market, this book is for you!

This book delivers on its promise...Williams gives clear and concise rules of market timing, tells why he bought at the 2002 lows and lays out when he thinks the next major bottoms will come.

I loved his ideas on what stocks to buy...lots of research here
that presents a convincing case of what values and ratios are found in stocks that go up, not down. The book also references great free resources to update his ideas on all my stocks.

All this is salted with some words of wisdom on trading and investing that sure makes sense to me.

I have traded the stock market for nearly thirty years. I have always been on the lookout for a basic approach that makes common and fundamental sense on how to position oneself in the market. In this book, Larry details precisely HOW to pick stocks - which ones to pick, and WHEN to pick them. If you had used this approach in the past few years, you would have essentially missed the entire NASDAQ debacle from 1999 on. In fact, since 1999 you would have actually made money. And in the good times, this approach really shines.

Larry Williams is concise, clear and easy to follow. He shows you how to pick the most solid stocks that are making money, have good prospects and (generally) pay you a dividend that makes current bank rates pale in comparison. The book is a wealth of information that no serious stock investor should be without. Do so at your own risk.

This book helps anyone on the journey through life. It helps you find center and to me helped me grow spiritually. Finding self and the reason why we are where we are, having help to answer questions,we may not know. Its a wonderful book for evolving souls..Thanks

It is a road map for understanding your journey on the planet at this time. As a reader who went through an intense personal psychological process in healing this book is like icing on the cake, in terms of pulling all the pieces together to make sense of the journey.

K.P. Yohannan is a threat to hypocritical Christianity, but be warned before you read this book: you will not escape unscathed. With a focus on saving the lost that is both singleminded and pure of heart, K.P. rips through every pretense of the American Christian experience. He also rips through the wheat to reveal the tares. This book is a wonderful witness to a specific calling within the Christian body. I am fully convinced that he is right to expect us to aid him in his calling, but if God is using you, for His will, in any other area than missions to the lost of Asia, do not expect K.P. to acknowledge your vision or encourage you in it. Read the book; let it change your life; follow K.P.'s every footstep if that is your calling; let God shake you out of compromise and shallow Christianity. Just remember, ask God for His wisdom, that you will follow His will and not man's, not ANY man's: not yours, not mine, not K.P.'s. If you've never heard of K.P.'s Gospel For Asia, by the way, for $30 dollars a month you can support a missionary in Asia. All funds go directly to missionary support. There is no percentage taken away for administration work! You can contact them at 1-800-WIN-ASIA or www.gfa.org. Even if you don't buy the book, decide today to support one or more missionaries and make a change for God in the lives of people who have never heard the name of Christ.

K.P. Yohannan doesn't mince words in this powerfully annointed book. He challenges our comfortable Christian lives as we have separated what we do from what we know. Christians in America *say* they believe the Bible, but somehow manage to ignore the call to sacrificial living. Jesus said "sell your possesions and give to the poor." The author shares a convicting message that is scripturally sound.

Science Fiction, Children's Literature And Popular Culture proves a college-level cross-section analysis of representative works of science fiction, children's literature and popular culture to examine depictions of coming of age in the modern world. From picture and comic books which appeal to the young to films, videos, and popular novels and writings, this covers everything from juvenile series fiction's changing presentations to multimedia presentations.

Westfahl's essays in Science Fiction, Children's Literature And Popular Culture, range widely over American children's and YA popular entertainment, starting with a little known children's series but covering Superman, Horatio Algier and the Hardy boys, SF film (esp. the fifties) Star Trek and even music video in the context of film and advertising. Westfahl, a well known SF critic, allows himself more free-play in these essays. His playfulness gives rise to many intriguing speculations, connecting popular culture phenomena in convincing but previously unarticulated ways.

I greatly enjoyed each of the essays, even the first one about a now-obscure children's series that features a too good to be true boy called Charlie ("How Topsy Made Charlie Love Him," from the Better Homes and Gardens Story Book), which he analyzes from a developmental and a feminist perspective. The chapter "Giving Horatio Alger Goosebumps," supplements the Sands and Frank book referenced above with critical perspectives on both production and marketing and social contexts for YA series fiction. "Opposing War, Exploiting War: The Troubled Pacifism of Star Trek," should be read alongside Bartter's essay in Sullivan's collection, listed below. "Legends of the Fall: Going Not particularly Far Behind the Music," offer basic analyses of MTV and VH1 stories of rock star legends, asking basic questions about their accuracy and comparing different 'kinds' of stories told about these famous people. My favorite essay is "Even better than the Real Thing: Advertising, Music Videos, Postmodernism and (Eventually) Science Fiction." In this essay, he describes for us the similarities in the stories told within advertising on the media. Media-based advertising for products tells stories within which the products are set, just like music videos which are used to promote artists and to promote music sales, and film trailers use some of the same techniques to summarize or condense the film, telling a story about it that may or may not be true.

Westfahl makes a convincing argument for their inter-related development (similar to the critical argument made by Palumbo on comic books in the Sullivan collection) and this is only one of several insights provoked by this essay. As Westfahl's fifth through eleventh chapters emphasize, there are many more intersections between media which can be productively explored, from the realization of written as film to the expansion of television SF through written series fiction. More than any other sub genre, SF has adapted itself to the new media and made them an intimate link in the definition of the genre. The links between fiction and other popular culture phenomena are pervasive, fascinating, and in need of further attention. Thus, in addition to addressing age-based demarcations of SF, the critical works address defining moments in the history of SF are we know understand it's ability to expand and adapt to changing tastes, habits, and indeed needs, of its audience.

Westfahl does not attempt a summary chapter, but ends with an analysis of The Time Machine and its many permutations in cinematic productions, giving us, by example, a socio-historical perspective on the film industry that also reflects on the history of science fiction. Since Wells' story is so tied up with the history of SF as a genre and with all the media carrying the SF story, including radio, television and film, the final essay does give us some sort of summary in that it covers the earliest and the latest forms for the story.

Jan Bogstad, Reviewer

Two worlds. Two brothers. An ancient book of prophecies, a mystery-shrouded priesthood, and a time of cosmic reckoning bearing down on an unsuspecting populace. Samuel Dalton takes these ingredients, and uses them to weave a tale so original (despite its initially familiar sound) that I don't know when I've enjoyed one this much...Then I started reading, and discovered that this"Second Coming" doesn't take place in my own star system. I found myself pulled by my shirt-front into a Dalton-created universe, caught up in an age-old conspiracy, and not sure until the final chapter how the archaeologist protagonist could save his (presumably human?) species from extinction.

No, 500-plus pages is not too long for this one. "Second Coming" features strong, yet realistically flawed characters of both genders, completely believable world building on its author's part, and a satisfying yet surprising conclusion. My only criticisms are an occasional pacing problem (rather hard to avoid when writing at this length), and a cast so large that when I had to leave the story and come back to it I sometimes had trouble sorting them all out.

BUY THIS BOOK, if you're a hard SF fan who nevertheless demands a character-driven tale. The old masters, writers like Heinlein and Clarke and Anderson, never did it better.

Imagine if you will, two worlds at war; one advanced civilization, encroaching upon the other, a place of nomads, of underground cities now desolate, and in ruins. A dark secret lies within the artifacts found in this treacherous place, and reveals both the origins and fates of these two civilizations at war. In order to uncover the mystery and the truth, an archaeologist, in pursuit to justify his father's unfinished work, brings an unlikely group of experts together to help him recover the truth of their existence, and the cataclysmic event that may destroy them. On this quest wrought with peril, they discover from the military, and the dark, powerful lunar monastary, that in order to escape certain anihilation, they must unite these estranged worlds.

The characterization is impeccable, and Mr. Dalton's use of the religious history, the Vesanic verses, a triumph. I highly recommend this sci-fi thriller.