Religious Deception

In 1979, a fiery preacher named Jane Whaley attracted a small group of followers with a promise that she could turn their lives around. In the years since, Whaley’s following has expanded to include thousands of congregants across three continents. Based on hundreds of interviews, secretly recorded conversations, and thousands of pages of documents, Pulitzer Prize winner Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr’s Broken Faith is a terrifying portrait life inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, and the harrowing account of one family who escaped after two decades.

In A Thousand Lives, the New York Times best-selling memoirist Julia Scheeres traces the fates of five individuals who followed Jim Jones to South America as they struggled to first build their paradise, and then survive it. Each went for different reasons - some were drawn to Jones for his progressive attitudes towards racial equality, others were dazzled by his claims to be a faith healer. But once in Guyana, Jones' drug addiction, mental decay, and sexual depredations quickly eroded the idealistic community.

Two decades after the publication of The Black Book of Communism, nearly everyone is or at least should be aware of the immense evil produced by that devilish ideology first hatched when Karl Marx penned his Communist Manifesto two centuries ago. Far too many people, however, separate Marx the man from the evils wrought by the oppressive ideology and theory that bears his name.

Many have heard of NXIVM and its creator, Keith Raniere, the unassuming Albany man now prosecuted for ensnaring tens of thousands of people in the US, Mexico, Canada, and elsewhere to do his bidding and pay millions of dollars to participate in his self-improvement methodology. But where did Keith Raniere begin? Enter Toni Natalie, Keith's Patient Zero, the first one indoctrinated into Raniere's methodology and the first one to escape.

In September 2010, at the beginning of the academic year at Sarah Lawrence College, a sophomore named Talia Ray asked her roommates if her father could stay with them for a while. No one objected. Her father, Larry Ray, was just released from prison, having spent three years behind bars after a conviction during a bitter custody dispute.

Cults prey on the very attributes that make us human: our desire to belong, to find a deeper meaning in life, to live everyday with divine purpose. Their existence creates a sense that any one of us, at any time, could step off the cliff’s edge and fall into that daunting abyss of manipulation and unhinged dedication to a misplaced cause. Perhaps it’s this mindset that keeps us so utterly obsessed and desperate to learn more, or it’s that the stories are so bizarre and unsettling that we are simply in awe of the mechanics that make these infamous groups tick.

The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus).

"One man in a thousand, Solomon says, will stick more close than a brother...But the thousandth man will stand by your side, to the gallows' feet and after." Rudyard Kipling Who is your "thousandth man?" The friend with who you can share your heart and soul? The one who knows your triumphs, your loves, your weakness, your fears? What if they betray you? Someone is trying to destroy Collin Farrell by tormenting her with reminders of the past. They are planting letters in the house—while she's home—threatening her and her children. The same someone has let loose lies and rumors that can ...

Hiding is no longer acceptable…she needed answers…but answers alone might not be enough…and they could prove deadly…there were no more secrets…they could be deadly too… Mick Johnson might be dead but his killer is unknown and the clues leading to them are non-existent. Completely non-existent…which according to Jackson never ever happens…then he finds one but how does he tell Simon…But Elijah Sullivan, the father she adored all her life left clues…she just has to unravel them even as she comes to terms with her feelings about Harper…and his for her. It’s the middle ...

I’ve been through hell to get to this place. To wear the perfect white dress and stand beside Royce Hale, the liar I tried desperately not to fall in love with and failed. Or maybe I’m still trapped in hell because the devil is here, too. He lurks at my side, plotting terrible ways to make me his. It’s win at all costs in this family, and I know now just how far the Hales will go to get what they want. But you can’t survive in a house full of lies without learning the art of deception, and once I become a Hale, I’ll show them exactly what I’ve mastered.

Less than a year after the horrific Masonville High shooting, Owen is determined to uncover why the Creepers have converged on his land and the school—a necessary step in his mission to drive evil forces out of his town. A supernatural visitor tests Owen’s ability to discern between truth and lies as the community is rocked by abductions and disappearances. While the town comes together to find those who are missing, Owen must fight to discover what is real and what is part of a strategy to distract him from his true purpose.

Actress and playwright Tina Alexis Allen's audacious memoir unravels her privileged suburban Catholic upbringing that was shaped by her formidable father - a man whose strict religious devotion and dedication to his large family hid his true nature. When Tina was 18 her father accidently discovered the truth about her sexuality. Instead of dragging her to the family priest and lecturing her with tearful sermons about sin and damnation, her father shocked her with his honest response. The two became trusted confidants in a relationship that eventually spiraled out of control.

The Duke of Portsmouth offers an impecunious half-French relative a job as his young son's nanny. What he quickly discovers is that he wants her, badly. What he discovers far more slowly is that she isn't at all what she seems. Evangeline de Beauchamps is in way over her head. She has far more to cope with than a nineteen-year-old virgin should ever have. To top it all off, she must play an experienced widow with a man who knows women as well as he knows his horses, or so he thinks.

During 51 days in early 1993 one of the most tragic events in American crime history unfolded on the plains outside Waco, Texas. An obscure and heavily armed religious sect called the Branch Davidians was barricaded inside their commune and outside were hundreds of law enforcement angry because the former had killed four ATF agents in a botched raid. Go on an engaging and captivating ride to examine one of the most important true crime stories in recent decades.

There is a new self-awareness taking place as people are starting to find their spiritual identities. As exciting as this sounds, and it really is wonderful, there are many pitfalls and cul-de-sacs along the 'New Age' path to be very wary of. This spiritual awakening is something that the 'powers that shouldn't be' have been aware of for many years, and the architects of the current system we live under know that if we figure this out then we are a lot more than just worker bees for the system than it threatens their own power.

Summary Brothers Troy and Tre Evans have been on a collision course since a tragedy separated and forced them into foster care. When they reunite as grown men, tensions and jealousies rise as Troy faces the challenges of a preacher’s life, while Tre gets pulled deeper into the pimp street life. When one woman is forced to choose between them, the brothers draw a line in the sand. Their competition for power, love, and money sets the stage for sibling rivalry, treachery, and unimaginable heartbreak. When reconciliation seems likely, a shocking family scandal could either draw the brothers ...

The symbol of the cross is often lifted high—seen as a beacon of salvation, sacrifice, and spiritual freedom. But for millions of descendants of the transatlantic slave trade, another symbol weighs just as heavy: the chains. What happens when the cross is used to justify the chains? When the name of the Savior is preached by the same empire that silenced His true name? When the gospel is spread not by love, but by ships, shackles, and rewritten scripture? This book, The Cross and The Chains, is not just about religion. It is about identity. It is about theft. It is about the lies told in ...

From one of Italy’s most renowned historians of religion, an exciting new portrait of one of Christianity’s most complex - and most misunderstood - figures: Mary Magdalene.

The Baldwins were a strong Christian family living in Plano, Texas. When their 17-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, met Aadam in a random-match online chat room, she fell for his good looks, his charm, and his respectful conversation. He told her he lived in New York, and they began an online friendship. But over the course of a few months, Aadam revealed that he actually lived in Kosovo and had only pretended to live in New York so Mackenzie would keep chatting with him.

DECEPTION IN THE CHURCH by Fred DeRuvo asks Does It Matter How You Worship? There are 41,000 different denominations that call themselves "Christian" and all would claim that they are the truth. Can just any Christian denomination please God? Can all be true or genuine Christianity if they all have different views on the same Bible doctrines? DeRuvo will answer. He will focus on the largest part of Christianity that has many different denominations, the charismatic, ecstatic Signs and Wonders Movements. These ecstatic worshipers claim to perform miraculous “healings” and speak in ...