The Awakening One Man's Battle with Darkness Friedrich Zuendel   When Blumhardt, a 19th-century pastor from the Black Forest, agreed to counsel a tormented woman in his parish, all hell broke loose - literally. But that was only the beginning of the drama that ensued. Zuendel's account, provides a rare glimpse into how the eternal fight between the forces of good and evil plays itself out in the lives of the most ordinary men and women. More than that, it reminds us that those forces still surround us today, whether we are awake to them or not.   Beginning in the fall of 1841, Blumhardt was drawn into a spiritual struggle, which he referred to for the rest of his life as "the fight." At first he tried to keep a cautious distance from it, but it soon became obvious that he would not be able to stay uninvolved. Little did he know that he had embarked on an uncharted journey of the most bizarre kind and entered a battle so intense that it would demand all of his energies for the next two years. The Awakening tells what happened over their course, and beyond. A must-read for anyone who has doubts about spiritual warfare.   124 pages, 1 mb Download PDF	Action in Waiting   Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt   Ours is a time of intense searching. Few of us are satisfied with what the church and society have served up. We are desperate for something more, for a faith with the power to transform both ourselves and our world. These seventeen essays reflect the gripping reality of the living Christ. They give us a fresh look at the spiritual life as one of "active expectation" of God's kingdom breaking into this world. Blumhardt shows us that the object of our hope is no longer relegated to some afterlife, but takes effect today.   Blumhardt tells us how we can experience the future Christ promised now, in such a way that death and human misery are overcome. In his life, he experienced God's saving actions every day. Demons were cast out, sick were healed, and sinners turned from evil. Action in Waiting shatters the walls of institutional Christianity. Having been both a pastor and a politician himself, Blumhardt was qualified to say, "State and church are no soil for the fire of God." All human institutions stand in the way of God's kingdom. "Nothing is more dangerous than a religion: for that is what makes us heathens...God does not care a fig for our religion."   223 pages, 1 Mb Download PDF
Escape Routes For People Who Feel Trapped in Life's Hells Johann Christoph Arnold   After decades of being a pastor, Johann Christoph Arnold still marvels at our capacity to make life miserable for ourselves and one another. Escape Routes, his tenth book, aims to show the only sure way out of these self-made hells.   In contrast to the makeovers and quick fixes hawked by popular culture, Escape Routes offers a tougher prescription. Using real-life stories, Arnold exposes the common seeds of loneliness, frustration, alienation, and despair, and gives us tools to uproot them from our lives. The choices he presents are clear: "to be selfish or selfless to forgive or to hate to burn with lust or with love to defend your personal power, or dismantle it."   Why stake your hopes on some eternal hereafter, Arnold asks, when you can taste heaven right here and now? No matter your problems, or who you are, this book will help you on your way, provided you're ready to take its medicine.   115 pages, 555 kb  Download PDF	Why Forgive? Johann Christoph Arnold   Forgiveness has become a buzzword, but people still don't understand it. They don't realize its rewards—or the cost of refusing to forgive. Many think forgiving means excusing, forgetting, or ignoring their pain. They view it as weakness. Why Forgive? brings together survivors of crime, betrayal, bigotry, and abuse—and ordinary men and women plagued by everyday strife. Not all are ready to forgive. But all are determined not to let anger, bitterness, and despair control their lives. Together, their stories will challenge and encourage others wherever they are on the road to healing.   In Why Forgive? Arnold lets the untidy experiences of ordinary people speak for themselves—people who have earned the right to talk about overcoming hurt, and about the peace of mind they have found in doing so.   "Hurt" is an understatement, actually, for many of these stories deal with the harrowing effects of violent crime, betrayal, abuse, bigotry, and war. But Why Forgive? examines life's more mundane battle scars as well: the persistent hobgoblins of backbiting, gossip, strained family ties, marriages gone cold, and tensions in the workplace. As in life, not every story has a happy ending—a fact Arnold refuses to skirt. The book also addresses the difficulty of forgiving oneself, the futility of blaming God, and the turmoil of those who simply cannot forgive, even though they try.   In his autobiography, Bill Clinton writes that Why Forgive?, formerly titled Seventy Times Seven, helped him through the darkest days of his presidency, following the Monica Lewinsky scandal.   106 pages, 1.5 Mb .pdf file Download PDF
Be Not Afraid Overcoming the Fear of Death  Johann Christoph Arnold   In Be Not Afraid, Arnold addresses fears that every person faces - fear of death and loss, illness, aging, fear of vulnerability, and fear of suffering.   A pastor who has worked with the dying for three decades, Arnold knows that each of us must meet death in our own unique way. Yet through stories of people he has known and counseled as a pastor, relative, or friend, he shows how all suffering can be given meaning, and despair overcome. These real-life stories offer sure proof that even today, in our culture of isolation and death, there is reason for hope.   Based on his popular 1997 book, I Tell You a Mystery, this new version has been broadened in scope to include discussion of contemporary issues such as AIDS, suicide, and euthanasia.   207 pages, 902 kb Download PDF	Cries from the Heart  Stories of Struggle and Hope  Johann Christoph Arnold   Cries from the Heart answers a specific hunger millions share - a longing for a personal connection to the divine. In times of crisis, all of us reach for someone,or something, greater than ourselves. Some call it prayer. Others just do it. For many, it's often like talking to a wall. People are looking for assurance that someone hears them when they cry out in their despair, loneliness, or frustration. The last thing they need is another book telling them how to pray or what to say, holding out religion like a good-luck charm. So instead of theorizing or preaching, Johann Christoph Arnold tells stories about real men and real women dealing with adversity. Their difficulties - which range from extreme to quite ordinary and universal - resonate with readers, offering a challenge, but also comfort and encouragement. People will see themselves in these glimpses of anguish, triumph, and peace.   271 pages, 834 kb Download PDF
Discipleship Living for Christ in the Daily Grind J. Heinrich Arnold   Perhaps the hardest thing about following Christ is translating our good intentions into deeds. Christ calls us, and we yearn to answer him, but time and again we lose resolve. Is discipleship possible amid the stresses of modern life? Can Christ bring about lasting change in our lives? How can we be centered on him, when everything seems to pull us apart?   Also available, a free Study Guide for personal or group study, and a Leader's Guide to facilitate group discussion. Download Study Guide     Download Leader's Guide   From Henri Nouwen's Foreword: Discipleship is a tough book. As I began reading it, Heinrich Arnold's words touched me as a double-edged sword, calling me to choose between truth and lies, salvation and sin, selflessness and selfishness, light and darkness, God and demon. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to be confronted in such a direct way, and I discovered some resistance in myself. I want the good news of the Gospel to be gentle, consoling, comforting, and to offer inner peace and harmony. But Arnold reminds me that the peace of the Gospel is not the same as the peace of the world, that the consolation of the Gospel is not the same as the consolation of the world, and that the gentleness of the Gospel has little to do with the "free for all" attitude of the world. The Gospel asks for a choice, a radical choice, a choice that is not always praised, supported, and celebrated.   Heinrich Arnold does not speak in his own name. He speaks in the name of Jesus. He has heard clearly the words of Paul to Timothy: "Before God, and before Christ Jesus, who is to be the judge of the living and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement - but do all with patience and with care to instruct" (2 Tim. 4:1-2).   It is Arnold's deep rootedness in Jesus Christ that makes him a very wise, a very safe, and a very challenging guide in our spiritual journey. But there is more: his rootedness is not simply a rootedness in the Christ who lived long ago it is a rootedness in the Christ who is present today in the life of the community of faith.   I am very grateful for this book. It is a prophetic book in a time in which few people dare to speak unpopular but truly healing words. I pray that those who read this book won't be afraid to be confronted, and I trust that the word of God that comes to them through it will bring true comfort, true consolation, true hope, and true courage.   298 pages, 1.4 Mb Download PDF	Sex, God, and Marriage   Johann Christoph Arnold   In this groundbreaking book, Arnold, a pastor for almost forty years, addresses the pain resulting from broken relationships and the misuse of sexual intimacy. He provides fresh biblical insights into critical issues including the sacredness of sex, the struggle against temptation, the decision to remain single or to marry, child rearing, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage. Sex, God, and Marriage offers healing to anyone who has known discouragement or guilt - and hope to anyone who is willing to take a bold new look at a topic of universal interest and concern.   Unlike the vast majority of "marriage books," Sex, God, and Marriage digs deeper than the usual "issues" and goes to the root: our relationship with God, and the defining power of that relationship over all others in our lives.   "More than ever, we need to come back to an understanding of the church as a living body of committed members who share life in practical deeds of love...We must show the world that the unique teachings of Jesus and his apostles are the only answer to the spirit of our time...Sadly, too many people today have simply given up on the possibility of a pure life. They have bought into the myth of sexual ‘liberation’ and tried to live with its disappointments, and when their relationships fall apart, they explain away their failures. They fail to see what a tremendous gift purity is...Wherever there is a faithful church—a community of people who are committed to living in genuine and honest relationships—there is help and hope for every person and every marriage."   Sex, God, and Marriage carries a Foreword by Mother Teresa and was formerly titled A Plea for Purity.   Also available, a free study guide (English) to facilitate group discussion or personal study.   “I am very happy for this book and for its moral conviction. It will inevitably arouse hatred. But we must continue in trying to overcome evil with good.” —Pope Benedict XVI Download PDF
God's Revolution Justice, Community, and the Coming Kingdom Eberhard Arnold   God's Revolution, a collection of topically arranged writings from Eberhard Arnold, a maverick theologian and co-founder of Church Communities International, challenges readers to break out of the stifling complacency of conventional life and live out the uncompromising but healing truths of Christ.   Be warned: Arnold doesn't approach discipleship as a benign route to religious fulfillment, but as revolution - a transformation that begins within, with the purging of self, and spreads outward to encompass every aspect of life. Here is the raw reality of the gospel that has the power to change the world.   175 pages, 1.7 Mb Download PDF	Homage to a Broken Man The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold Peter Mommsen   Without your wounds where would you be? The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children of earth as can one human being broken in the wheels of living. ~ Thornton Wilder   People who knew J. Heinrich Arnold (1913-1982) say they never met another person like him. Some speak of his humility, sensitivity, and compassion; others of his frankness and earthy humor. In his presence, complete strangers poured out their darkest secrets and left transformed. Others wanted him dead.   Writer Henri Nouwen called him a "prophetic voice" and wrote of how his words "touched me as a double-edged sword, calling me to choose between truth and lies, selflessness and selfishness...Here was no pious, sentimental guide; every word came from his experience."   Few knew Arnold's past, or could have imagined the crucibles he had endured. Until now.   Homage to a Broken Man is a remarkable story of betrayal and forgiveness. Read it, and you’ll never look at your own life the same way again.   331 pages, 4.3 Mb .pdf file Download PDF