This series tells the stories of generations who found their lives changed by contact with the Lord. Some are the subject of pages of Biblical text. Some are only mentioned in passing. However, all these persons are mentioned directly or indirectly in the Bible.

New Religious Movements: A Guide for the Perplexed examines the phenomenon of new faiths and alternative spiritualities which has become a feature of the contemporary world. Those interested in the spiritual dimension to life are no longer limited to the major world faiths, but can draw upon a rapidly-expanding range of new religions. Some of these are derived from the major religions, some are a re-working of ancient traditions, while others signify a completely new departure in spiritual experience. This book analyses the concepts we use to discuss new religions, and surveys a range of different movements which were established in the second half of the 20th century. Paul Oliver explores the organization of the movements, and the psychological aspects of life within them; the distribution of power and authority within movements; the position of women in relation to such organizations, and finally, the nature of the evolution and expansion of such movements in relation to post-modern society. This book is ideal for students wishing to understand the more perplexing elements of this contemporary phenomenon. >

The Cult Around the Corner is dedicated to bringing reason, understanding and open communication to an often explosive subject: the involvement of oneself, a friend or loved one in a group that might be called a "cult."

Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, has declared himself as the Messiah and Lord of the Second Advent. He claims he has come as the Messiah at the end of the world as the Bible prophesied. He saves fallen satanic people by removing the original sin from them through The Blessing of Marriage ceremony. The Blessing of Marriage ceremony of the Unification Church is directly derivative from the pigarum or yongch'e ceremony of Korean messianic groups from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. A pigarum ceremony means 'change of blood lineage' and a yongch'e ceremony means 'receiving a new spiritual body'. A male spiritual leader united sexually with his female disciples and a female spiritual leader had ritual sex with her male followers. The Unification Church practiced the pigarum or yongch'e ceremony from the 1940s until 1962 when The Holy Wine Ceremony and The Three Day Ceremony replaced this original sexual ritual. Both of these ceremonies are integral parts of The Blessing of Marriage.

A book that questions whether the current activities and practices in the Osho International Ashram in Pune, India are what Osho would really sanction today.

"Unless we cannot see religion as a form of government, then we cannot see the science in it." This book involves a formula for constructing a universal form of government. The formula generates a system of government that even the government of the kingdom of God can be patterned to it. Consequently, it leads to answer various mysteries of God's kingdom.

Franz-Valery-Marie Cumont (Aalst, Belgium, 3 January 1868 - Brussels, 25 August 1947) was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated specialties to bear on the syncretic mystery religions of Late Antiquity, notably Mithraism. Cumont was a graduate of the University of Ghent (PhD, 1887). After receiving royal travelling fellowships, he undertook archaeology in Pontus and Armenia (published in 1906) and in Syria, but he is best known for his studies on the impact of Eastern mystery religions, particularly Mithraism, on the Roman Empire. Cumont's international credentials were brilliant, but his public circumspection was not enough. In 1910, Baron Edouard Descamps, the Catholic Minister of Sciences and Arts at the University of Ghent, refused to approve the faculty's unanimous recommendation of Cumont for the chair in Roman History, Cumont having been a professor there since 1906. There was a vigorous press campaign and student agitation in Cumont's favor, because the refusal was seen as blatant religious interference in the University's life. When another candidate was named, in 1912, Cumont resigned his positions at the University and at the Royal Museum in Brussels, left Belgium and henceforth divided his time between Paris and Rome. He contributed to many standard encyclopedias, published voluminously and in 1922, under stressful political conditions, conducted digs on the shore of the Euphrates at the previously unknown site of Dura-Europos; he published his research there in 1926. He was a member of most of the European academies. In 1936 Franz Cumont was awarded the Francqui Prize on Human Sciences. In 1947, Franz Cumont donated his library and papers to the Academia Belgica in Rome, where they are accessible to researchers. His works include * Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra (1894-1900, with an English translation in 1903) is the study that made his international reputation, by its originality and massive documentation. * Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain (1906, widely translated) * After-Life in Roman Paganism, lectures delivered at Yale University, published in 1922, was cautiously expressed, but it corrected many false impressions of pagan rite that Christian apologists had made. * Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans After his death, critics of his interpretation of Mithras as the descendant of the Iranian deity Mithra began to be heard, and surfaced at the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies in Manchester England, 1971. Modern interpretation of Mithras as the astronomical bull-slayer have continued to move away from Cumont's interpretations, though his documentation remains valuable. In 1997 the Royal Library, Brussels, observed the fiftieth anniversary of Cumont's death appropriately, with a colloquium on syncretism in the Mediterranean world of Antiquity.

Laura Johnston Kohl was a teen activist working to integrate public facilities in the Washington, D.C., area. She actively fought for civil rights and free speech, and against the Vietnam War throughout the 1960s. After trying to effect change single-handedly, she found she needed more hands. She joined Peoples Temple in 1970, living and working in the progressive religious movement in both California and Guyana. A fluke saved her from the mass murders and suicides on November 18, 1978, when 913 of her beloved friends died in Jonestown.

Soon after this, Synanon, a residential community, helped her gradually affirm life. In 1991, she got to work, finished her studies, and became a public school teacher. On the 20th anniversary of the deaths in Jonestown, she looked up fellow survivors of the Jonestown tragedy and they have worked to put the jigsaw puzzle together that was Peoples Temple. Her perspective has evolved as new facts have cleared up mysteries and she has had time to reflect. Her mission continues to be to acknowledge, write about, and speak about why the members joined Peoples Temple, why they went to Guyana, and who they were. She lives with her family in San Diego.

A fast-paced, highly informative, no-holds-barred look at the world of modern anti-Masonry. In an ongoing confrontation with what he calls the "cottage industry of anti-Masonry" by "businesses masquerading as ministries," V. W. David S. Julian, Grand Musician, Past Master, Past Grand Organist, Past Grand Bible Bearer, and Past District Deputy of the Grand Master in District 5 of the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Washington gives the definitive answer to the question: Can a Christian be a Freemason?

Flying Free thoroughly covers the background of the Worldwide Church Of God (WCG) cult - its history, leadership, doctrines, beliefs and its membership. This book contains never previously published research explaining Herbert Armstrong's Holiness Quaker upbringing. It also includes extensive research on the WCG's comparison to a cult, and the characteristics that actually define a cult. Flying Free documents the impact of the Armstrong teachings on individual lives, but then goes on to show a priceless freedom - found in life beyond fundamentalism. Flying Free is a valuable, practical resource for ex-WCG members and for relatives or friends attempting to come to terms with the reality of loved ones joining a cult. It should serve as a warning to those contemplating entering a fundamentalist church. The book also includes a balanced assessment of the origins of the Bible, the authority of the Bible, and an appraisal of organised Christianity's influence on the individual Christian.

Written for Christians who have been manipulated in a church, group or home fellowship setting, Pigs in the Pulpit provides a "road map out" for victims. It shows, step-by-step, how people can get hooked into a fraudulent and deceptive system, the impact of controlling leadership, and how the abused follower of Jesus Christ can find peace and recovery.

One of the great books of our time, Principia Discordia is the official bible of the most relevant religion ever conceived, Discordianism. This legendary underground classic contains absolutely everything worth knowing about absolutely anything. Discordianism is the religion for these screwed-up times, and Principia Discordia reveals it here for your enlightenment, confusion and entertainment. --(Text refers to a previous edition)

1930. Among primitive races, in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. This volume is a survey of the history of possession from the most ancient times down to the present day and in all countries of the inhabited globe, together with an analysis of its nature and relationship to other phenomena, such as hysteria and the manifestations of spiritualism. The subject treated is a very fascinating one, to the general reader as well as to the student of psychology and ethnology. It would be difficult to see the human race in a more fantastic light than that cast by these stories of possession.

SOULS OF TERROR is a fast-paced, well-researched thriller with fascinating characters whose lives become strangely entwined as they unravel a frightening mystery. The surprising climax will leave you forever questioning the thin line between fact and fiction. In the beginning . . .

A brilliant university student is brutally killed in New York as a young boy from an Oregon private school is whisked off to Switzerland. What is the connection and why is it so important to millions of people? Chris Thompson is ridden with guilt while searching for his son. Is young Michael the key to a deeply spiritual and terrifying mission?

Michael's attractive aunt Kate has a penchant for profanity and martial arts . . . and carries a heavy secret from her past. Dr. Paul Sung is an atheist and authority on the history of the New Age movement. His unfulfilling life in academia is about to change. Detective Mark Julian needs to solve a string of gruesome New York murders, so why was he sent to Europe?

Karl Heisman and his Group of Forty-Eight are a covert sub-group of a spiritual movement known as Anthroposophy. Does their strange karma include links to Freemasonry and the dawning of a New Age? Are they racist terrorists or is there a method to their madness? And who was Rudolf Steiner?

At this very moment, there are millions of cult members world-wide. Do you think you could never become one of them? Think again. Brenda Lee has written a heart-wrenching, yet inspiring tale about her battle to escape from a religious cult after enduring decades of dysfunction and abuse. "Out of the Cocoon" is a remarkable story about how a single visit from two seemingly "nice" strangers nearly cost her everything, including her life. This story begins at the pinnacle of the authors desperation, by relaying a chilling fantasy she created when she was twelve years old. After accomplishing her grisly, murderous task within the security of a dream, she poses a disturbing question that sets the stage for the rest of her story: What could make a child so angry that she would fantasise about taking away the lives of the two people who gave her life? To understand Brendas fragile emotional state, we have to go back to the beginning, when her childhood innocence reigned and unconditional love was abundant -- when she didnt feel all alone in the world. In subsequent chapters, author Brenda Lee transports the reader back in time to relive the innocence of her childhood on a 100-year-old farm in rural Pennsylvania, where her carefree days were filled by swinging from vines, raising farm animals as pets, romping through the forests with her cousins, and plunging from the hayloft. Once "The Friends" knock on the door, however, her childhood and innocence dramatically disappear. But Brenda Lee refuses to become a victim and, like a butterfly, she learns to change the world within her when her external world becomes unbearable. After surviving years of stifling oppression and isolation, Brenda emerges from her cocoon and struggles to take flight. As she tries to fit into society as a young adult, she learns some startling things about her family, this "wicked world", and herself. In time, she learns to forgive not only those who tormented her, but also the mother who disowned her.

The Ancient and Mystic Order of Rosae Crucis bills itself as a nonsectarian group whose members study the mysteries of the universe. Through weekly monographs, AMORC dispenses lessons in telepathy, telekinesis, and other supernatural activities.

Spiritual seekers might believe that AMORC can deliver on its promise to help them achieve cosmic consciousness. Skeptics might dismiss it as harmless nonsense.

Both would be wrong.

A former AMORC member, Pierre S. Freeman reveals the cult's hidden agenda, along with the advanced hypnotic techniques it employs to slowly gain control over the people who join. If you are thinking about becoming involved with the order, or you want to free yourself from its grasp, you will find the insider knowledge within "AMORC Unmasked" invaluable.

About the Author

Pierre S. Freeman was exposed to AMORC's mind-control techniques for twenty-four years. In his first book, "The Prisoner of San Jose," he describes his experiences with the order, and how he finally deprogrammed himself. Freeman is currently a successful analyst for several large financial institutions in the Minneapolis area.