America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I) - From the Age of Discovery to a World at War

Respected scholar William Bennett reacquaints America with its heritage in the second volume of America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II). This engaging narrative slices through the cobwebs of time, memory, and prevailing cynicism to reinvigorate America with an informed patriotism.

Like the previous volume of America: The Last Best Hope, Volume II responds to Reagan's heartfelt call for an informed patriotism, telling the riveting story of the last century's great wars, the rise of world Communism, the struggle of freedom at home and abroad, and the triumph of liberty.

Explores the relationship between people and angels, through the eyes of the early church.

Heaven is closer than we realize. Its boundaries overlap our own, and angels move in and out of our porous present, this moment that seems to us so solid and concrete. If that reality seems dim to us now, it beamed for the early Christians. Through their writings, sermons, songs, and art, the ancient faithful confessed a powerful and vivid belief that angels help carry us on our journey to God.

Rooted in the Scripture and following this ancient understanding, Lifted by Angels reveals:

• the role that angels play in the lives of people and in God’s plan of salvation
• the different ranks and functions of angels
• how Satan and his demons fell from grace and plagued humans
• the functions of guardian angels and how God assigns them to fit our personal needs
• how guardian angels help us resist evil, temptation, and the devil
• the way angels join with us in our prayers, even adding their own to ours
• the service angels provide in worship

Featuring examples of angels in ancient icons and frescoes and supported by extensive research on the early church and its pastors, poets, theologians, and artists, Lifted by Angels answers universal curiosity about angels and the unseen world, leaving readers inspired and hopeful about the nearness of God.

“Many Christians--made uneasy by New Age or neo-pagan angel enthusiasm--are reluctant to believe in angelic interventions at all. Lifted by Angels restores to us our own biblical and historical understanding: that angels are God’s servants and messengers.”
Frederica Mathewes-Green, author of The Jesus Prayer

“A beautifully written study on the unique relationship between people and angels. I found it fascinating, challenging, and inspiring. Highly recommended.”
Sheila Walsh, author of God Loves Broken People

“Joel J. Miller presents us with a vision of angels firmly grounded in salvation history: active at the creation of the world, involved in its fall, ministers in its salvation, servants to the Lord Jesus, harbingers of the age to come. He succeeds brilliantly in rescuing angels from the distorting effects of popular culture and revealing them to be ‘more exciting, more humbling, more inspiring, and ultimately more real’ than we ever imagined.”
Metropolitan Savas (Zembillas) of Pittsburgh

“In Lifted by Angels Joel Miller examines traditional Jewish and Christian angelology in rich and extensive detail. Especially valuable and inspiring are the author’s numerous citations of beautiful patristic texts. No one will think of angels in the same way after reading this book. It is highly recommended and without reservation.”

Patrick Henry Reardon, author of Christ in the Psalms

“Angels are an important part of the Bible and of Jewish and Christian traditions, yet we have virtually ignored them. We have abandoned the angels to horror flicks and saccharine television shows. That stops here. Joel Miller’s book is a necessary act of recovery.”
Jeremy Lott, editor, RealClearReligion

“There is an unseen spiritual world with which we humans have to deal, and Joel Miller is a fascinating and skilled guide into this invisible reality. Lifted by Angels will elevate your understanding of angels and their practical role in Christian spirituality.”
Todd D. Hunter, Anglican bishop; past president, Vineyard Churches USA; author of Our Favorite Sins

“We are mostly unaware of angels’ presence in our midst and their influence on our lives. What a shame! Thank God for Joel J. Miller’s Lifted by Angels, a reminder of the role that our ‘cousins’ play in guiding us and of their exalted place in creation.”
Brad Miner, senior editor, The Catholic Thing; senior fellow, Faith & Reason Institute

“Wonderfully done and provides insight into an oft-misunderstood subject.”
Fr. Stephen Rogers, senior priest, St. Ignatius Orthodox Church, Franklin, Tennessee

“If we sometimes feel alone in our spiritual struggles, it might be because we have lost touch of what Christians of old knew about the unseen angels of God. In Lifted by Angels Miller uses Scripture, Christian art, early church writings and tradition to lift the veil between the earthly and the spiritual realms. He lifts it ever so slightly, not in speculation, but just enough for us to catch a memorable glimpse of those heavenly hosts whom God has sent to comfort and aid us on our journey home.”
James M. Kushiner, executive editor, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity

About the Author

Joel J. Miller has worked as a writer and editor for more than a decade. As the author of three previous books, including The Revolutionary Paul Revere, his work has been acclaimed as “lively” (World), “vibrant” (William J. Bennett), “well-researched and bitingly written” (Publishers Weekly), and “powerful” (The Washington Times). Joel’s articles have been featured in Reason, The American Spectator, National Review, RealClearReligion, and other outlets. He blogs about faith and spirituality at JoelJMiller.com. Joel and his family live in Nashville, Tennessee. You can contact him at JoelJMiller.com or via Twitter: @JoelJMiller.

Prager—a bestselling author, columnist, and nationally syndicated radio talk show host who is read and heard by millions of people in America and abroad—makes the case for the American value system as the most viable program ever devised to produce a good society. Those values are explained here more clearly and persuasively than ever before.

Still the Best Hope deals with three huge themes: The first is perhaps the most persuasive explanation for why Leftism has been and will always be a moral failure, despite its acknowledged appeal to many people of goodwill. The second explains why fundamentalist Islam, despite its historic and growing appeal, cannot make a good society. But Prager holds out hope for an open and tolerant Islam and explains why it will emerge from faithful American Muslims. The third is a singularly persuasive defense and explanation of what Prager calls the "American Trinity": liberty, values rooted in the Creator, and the melting-pot ideal. These values are inscribed on every American coin as "Liberty," "In God We Trust," and "E Pluribus Unum," and they are the reasons for America's greatness. Without them, America will cease to be an exceptional nation, and therefore cease to be America.

Prager shows why these values can and must be adopted by every nation and culture in the world, why Americans must relearn and recommit to these values, and why America must vigorously export them. For if the world does not adopt American values, the result will be chaos and barbarism on an unprecedented scale.

HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE COMPLETE VOLUMES 1 - 6 [Deluxe Annotated & Illustrated Ultimate Edition] Including Many Colorful Timeline Maps, Illustrations, Photographs, Plus BONUS ENTIRE Audio Narration.

"Enjoy the most thorough & complete edition of this book anywhere to be found!"

*** Featuring Dynamic Chapter Navigation and Professional Formatting for a Premium Reading Experience.

This edition also includes an illustrated history of BOTH the RISE and FALL of the Roman Empire from the very beginning. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (sometimes shortened to Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) is a book of history written by the English historian Edward Gibbon, which traces the trajectory of the Roman Empire—and Western civilization as a whole—from the late first century AD to the fall of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. Published in six volumes, volume I was published in 1776 and went through six printings.  Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89.  The original volumes were published in quarto sections, a common publishing practice of the time. The work covers the history of the Roman Empire, Europe, and the Catholic Church from 98 to 1590 and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire in the East and West. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources, at the time its methodology became a model for later historians. This led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian of ancient Rome".

Gibbon offers an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell, a task made difficult by a lack of comprehensive written sources, though he was not the only historian to tackle the subject.

According to Gibbon, the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in large part due to the gradual loss of civic virtue among its citizens.  They had become weak, outsourcing their duties to defend their Empire to barbarian mercenaries, who then became so numerous and ingrained that they were able to take over the Empire. Romans, he believed, had become effeminate, unwilling to live a tougher, "manly" military lifestyle. In addition, Gibbon argued that Christianity created a belief that a better life existed after death, which fostered an indifference to the present among Roman citizens, thus sapping their desire to sacrifice for the Empire. He also believed its comparative pacifism tended to hamper the traditional Roman martial spirit. Finally, like other Enlightenment thinkers, Gibbon held in contempt the Middle Ages as a priest-ridden, superstitious, dark age. It was not until his own age of reason and rational thought, it was believed, that human history could resume its progress.

Gibbon sees the Praetorian Guard as the primary catalyst of the empire's initial decay and eventual collapse, a seed planted by Augustus at the establishment of the empire. He cites repeated examples of the Praetorian Guard abusing their power with calamitous results, including numerous instances of imperial assassination and incessant demands for increased pay.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Edward Gibbon (27 April 1737 – 16 January 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. The Decline and Fall is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of organised religion.