Dying Religions

Have the Scriptures been twisted to keep you in bondage? The real Jesus wants to set you free. Addressing some of the controversial teachings about “striving,” “daily dying to self,” and more, Rebecca Davis untwists Scriptures by looking at word meaning, context, and the heart of God for His people. You can learn what the Bible really says about striving, what the Bible really teaches instead of dying to self, and what the Bible has to say about life, knowing that if you follow and love the Lord He does not require you to try to engage in ongoing death.

With a balance of wisdom, candor, and scholarly rigor, the beloved archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, traces the human experience from ancient times to today to find threads of connection in our yearning for God, love, honor, beauty, truth, and immortality. He looks at our modern appetite for consumption and individualism and offers a penetrating analysis of how we got here and how we can look to our roots and our faith to find purpose each day amid the noise of competing desires.

If you caught a glimpse of heaven, would you choose to comeback to life?

Investigative journalist Judy Bachrach has collected accounts of those who died and then returned to life with lucid, vivid memories of what occurred while they were dead, and the conclusions are astonishing. Clinical death - the moment when the heart stops beating and brain stem activity ceases - is not necessarily the end of consciousness, as a number of doctors are now beginning to concede.

Sparked by extraordinary experiences that occurred in her family when her father and her sister both died in 2008, Patricia Pearson was launched on a journey of investigation into what she calls "a curious sort of modern underground - a world beneath the secular world, inhabited by ordinary human beings having extraordinary experiences that they aren't, on the whole, willing to disclose".

We're all going to die. Yet in our medically advanced, technological age, many of us see death as a distant reality - something that happens only at the end of a long life or to other people. In The End of the Christian Life, J. Todd Billings urges Christians to resist that view. Instead, he calls us to embrace our mortality in our daily life and faith. This is the journey of genuine discipleship, Billings says, following the crucified and resurrected Lord in a world of distraction and false hopes.

What do you say to someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease? How can you help someone who knows they are dying or people who have just said good-bye for the last time to someone they love? You want to help, but how can you be sure you aren't doing more harm than good? What should you say about God, heaven, or prayer? Author Patrick Shawn Riecke answers these questions after 20 years of helping the sick, dying, and grieving. You will encounter the best ways to talk with people in what he calls Phase Three - life's most difficult moments.

In Diary of a Death Doula, psychic medium and near-death experience researcher Debra Diamond presents the story of life as a hospice "Death Doula," revealing 25 critical life lessons from those at the threshold of the afterlife, and those who have already crossed over, ultimately revealing a new way of understanding death.

What happens to consciousness during the act of dying? The most compelling answers come from people who almost die and later recall events that occurred while lifesaving resuscitation, emergency care, or surgery was performed. These events are now called near-death experiences (NDEs). As medical and surgical skills improve, innovative procedures can bring back patients who have traveled farther on the path to death than at any other time in history. Physicians and healthcare professionals must learn how to appropriately treat patients who report an NDE.

Living in a Time of Dying is a spiritual manifesto for our times. It undertakes the sobering task of inviting us to feel the full weight of not only the inevitability of death, but the impending collapse of our human civilization, as evidenced through the social, psychospiritual, and ecological crises that we face in the 21st century on this planet Earth. Written for all those struggling with grief and fear about the future of our world, it offers a deeply poignant and compassionate vision for how to live in such times with integrity, courage, and grace.

Contrary to popular belief, death is not a moment in time, such as when the heart stops beating, respiration ceases, or the brain stops functioning. Death, rather, is a process - a process that can be interrupted well after it has begun. Innovative techniques, such as drastically reducing the patient's body temperature, have proven to be effective in revitalizing both the body and mind, but studies show they are only employed in approximately half of the hospitals throughout the United States and Europe.

On December 10, 2009, Crystal McVea was being treated in a hospital for pancreatitis. Her heart stopped pumping for nine minutes before doctors managed to revive her. In those nine minutes, she went to heaven, stood with God, and was forever changed.

After his father died, Leon Wieseltier began to observe the traditional year-long period of mourning, going to the synagogue three times a day to recite the prayer known as the mourner's Kaddish. Struck by the profound, yet unexpected power of this practice and the poverty of his knowledge about it, Leon began to study the history and meaning of this ancient ritual.

In his acclaimed books, renowned writer, speaker, and philosophy professor Dallas Willard explored the nature of Christian life in God's Kingdom. Yet one topic remained undisclosed: Willard's understanding of heaven and eternal life. In the months before his death, Willard engaged in moving and insightful conversations about the meaning of life and the life to come with close friend and theologian Gary Black, Jr. These inspiring dialogues were steeped in biblical theology as well as practical wisdom grounded in the here-and-now.

Claire Broad, known as ''The Honest Medium'', experienced psychic phenomena from early childhood. As she grew older, communications from deceased loved ones became stronger and spirit teachers made their presence known. In this uplifting book, Claire teaches us why we may have confidence that there is an afterlife, how we can heal and awaken spiritually through the practice of mediumship and most importantly, what we can learn from those already living on the other side.

If you want to make a difference, just be kind to somebody, be kind to a friend, a fellow worker, or a neighbor. Discover the reaction you get by being kind to them. Most people are very defensive, but there's something about love that calms people down. This life isn't about how much we make. It isn't about prestige or power.

What Really Matters chronicles the life transformations experienced by Dr. Karen Wyatt, her patients, and their family members during hospice care. This book of beautiful and uplifting stories about the lessons learned from the dying is also a guidebook for those who are feeling lost or hopeless about their lives in this contemporary world.

When journalist Tom Morton suffered a heart attack in 2015, his close encounter with death led him on an extraordinary journey into the world of the dead. He decided to train to become the only independent funeral celebrant on the remote Shetland islands. Armed with a new black suit and a second-hand undertaker's coat, Tom quickly learned that death requires you to think on your feet, and often to take a magpie approach to faith and philosophy.

Life's inconveniences, disappointments, and trials can leave us confused, cynical, and eventually bitter. But the apostle Paul traces out the path of dying and rising with Jesus — what Paul Miller calls the “J-Curve” — as the normal Christian life.

The Art of Dying Well gives a rough sketch of how to live life well, so that one can die well, and have confidence before the judgment seat of Christ. It is a timeless classic of the Catholic world, and the advice St. Bellarmine gives rings as true now as it did 400 years ago.

We are all curious about the mystery of death. Whether facing our own, assisting a loved one in their last days, or grieving the loss of someone dear to us, we all have questions about dying and what happens to our soul after we depart physical form. In this compassionate and straightforward guide to the spiritual process of dying and what happens after death, psychic medium Salicrow answers the most common questions asked by her clients over her decades of work as a spirit speaker.