The Devil's Best Trick

The Devil's Best Trick PDF Author: Randall Sullivan
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802162908
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Part true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan How we explain the evils of the world – and the darkest parts of ourselves – has preoccupied humans throughout history. A sweeping and comprehensive search for the origins of belief in a Satanic figure across the centuries, The Devil’s Best Trick is a keen investigation into the inescapable reality of evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it. Instructive, riveting, and unnerving, this is a profound rumination on crime, violence, and the darkness in all of us. In The Devil’s Best Trick, Randall Sullivan travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the “Hour of the Witches” -- an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which lasted four months. And, woven throughout, he delivers original reporting on the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia and panic after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about Satanic worship and cults spread throughout the wider community. Sullivan also brilliantly melds historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil: from the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping “Black Mass” ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century French literature. He brings us through to the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and the story of one brutal serial killer, pondering the psychology of evil. He weaves in writings by John Milton, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book. Nimble and expertly researched, The Devil’s Best Trick brilliantly melds cultural and historical commentary and a suspenseful true-crime narrative. Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called “extraordinary” and “enthralling” by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world.

The Devil's Best Trick

The Devil's Best Trick PDF Author: Randall Sullivan
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802162908
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Part true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan How we explain the evils of the world – and the darkest parts of ourselves – has preoccupied humans throughout history. A sweeping and comprehensive search for the origins of belief in a Satanic figure across the centuries, The Devil’s Best Trick is a keen investigation into the inescapable reality of evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it. Instructive, riveting, and unnerving, this is a profound rumination on crime, violence, and the darkness in all of us. In The Devil’s Best Trick, Randall Sullivan travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the “Hour of the Witches” -- an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which lasted four months. And, woven throughout, he delivers original reporting on the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia and panic after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about Satanic worship and cults spread throughout the wider community. Sullivan also brilliantly melds historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil: from the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping “Black Mass” ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century French literature. He brings us through to the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and the story of one brutal serial killer, pondering the psychology of evil. He weaves in writings by John Milton, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book. Nimble and expertly researched, The Devil’s Best Trick brilliantly melds cultural and historical commentary and a suspenseful true-crime narrative. Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called “extraordinary” and “enthralling” by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world.

Christianity: The Devil's Greatest Trick

Christianity: The Devil's Greatest Trick PDF Author: Adam Weishaupt
Publisher: Magus Books
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
It's a simple fact that most Christians know next to nothing about Christianity. How many people are aware of the many heresies that were stamped out by the early Church? Had any of these heresies triumphed, the world would be a very different, and much saner place. Find out about the monstrous St Augustine and his doctrines of grace, Original Sin, Predestination and the Total Depravity of the human race. This "saint" was happy to send to hell unbaptised babies that died in infancy. His great enemy was the humane and rational Celtic monk Pelagius. The great tragedy of Christianity is that it listened to Augustine rather than Pelagius. Were the Jews advocates of temple prostitution, even within the confines of Solomon's holy temple to Yahweh? The material in this book is provided by the Pythagorean Illuminati, the oldest secret society in the world, and is not for petty, cheap, narrow-minded religious fanatics.

Outwitting the Devil

Outwitting the Devil PDF Author: Napoleon Hill
Publisher: Sharon Lechter
ISBN:
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
Originally written in 1938 but never published due to its controversial nature, an insightful guide reveals the seven principles of good that will allow anyone to triumph over the obstacles that must be faced in reaching personal goals.

The Generous Gambler (A short but grand prose poem)

The Generous Gambler (A short but grand prose poem) PDF Author: Charles Baudelaire
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN: 8074843769
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 6

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Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "The Generous Gambler (A short but grand prose poem)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Generous Gambler is written by Charles Pierre Baudelaire and was first published in 1864. Charles Baudelaire was a 19th century French poet, translator, and literary and art critic whose reputation rests primarily on Les Fleurs du mal; (1857; The Flowers of Evil) which was perhaps the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his Petits poèmes en prose (1868; "Little Prose Poems") was the most successful and innovative early experiment in prose poetry of the time. Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a 19th century French poet, critic, and translator. A controversial figure in his lifetime, Baudelaire's name has become a byword for literary and artistic decadence. At the same time his works, in particular his book of poetry Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), have been acknowledged as classics of French literature.

Spiritualism

Spiritualism PDF Author: William Ramsey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Spiritualism
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description


The Prince of This World

The Prince of This World PDF Author: Adam Kotsko
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503600211
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
“Kotsko goes beyond the biography of an icon to a provocative investigation of the devil’s many lives and effects in cultural and political ideologies.” —Laurel C. Schneider, author of Beyond Monotheism The most enduring challenge to traditional monotheism is the problem of evil, which attempts to reconcile three incompatible propositions: God is all-good, God is all-powerful, and evil happens. The Prince of This World traces the story of one of the most influential attempts to square this circle: the offloading of responsibility for evil onto one of God’s rebellious creatures. In this striking reexamination, the devil’s story is bitterly ironic, full of tragic reversals. He emerges as a theological symbol who helps oppressed communities cope with the trauma of unjust persecution, torture, and death at the hands of political authorities and eventually becomes a vehicle to justify oppression at the hands of Christian rulers. And he evolves alongside the biblical God, who at first presents himself as the liberator of the oppressed but ends up a cruel ruler who delights in the infliction of suffering on his friends and enemies alike. In other words, this is the story of how God becomes the devil—a devil who remains with us in our ostensibly secular age. “This diabolically gripping genealogy offers a stunning parable of western politics religious and secular. It tracks as has never been done before the dramatic shifts of the relation between God and the Devil—conflict, rivalry, game of mirrors, fusion. With the ironic wisdom of a postmodern Beatrice, Kotsko guides us through the sequence of hells that leads to our own.” —Catherine Keller, author of On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity in Process

Enough

Enough PDF Author: Sharon Jaynes
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN: 0736973540
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
What Can You Do When You Feel You're Just Not Good Enough? Do the voices in your head say you're not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough...or just not enough, period? It's time to stop listening to lies that sabotage your confidence and embrace the truth of who God says you are. Popular author and speaker Sharon Jaynes exposes the lies that keep you bogged down in shame, insecurity, and feelings of inadequacy. By recognizing the lies and replacing them with truth, you'll be able to silence the voice inside that whispers you're just not good enough accept God's grace and move past failures that have defined and confined you preload your heart with truth to fight your deepest insecurities Your confidence and faith will grow when you trade self-defeating thoughts for God's truth. Today is the day to embrace your incredible worth as a woman who is uniquely fashioned and spiritually empowered.

Activating the Power of God's Word

Activating the Power of God's Word PDF Author: Kyle Winkler
Publisher: Charisma Media
ISBN: 1629989711
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The confidence, courage, and resolve in many of the greatest Bible heroes and world-changers are the result of a single, powerful, biblical principle. It's a principle woven into the very foundation of creation that, when applied, has the power to calm chaos, overcome obstacles, and win every battle. The secret? Activating the power of God's spoken Word.

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost PDF Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description


Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles PDF Author: Jeffrey Burton Russell
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801497186
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Mephistopheles is the fourth and final volume of Jeffrey Burton Russell's critically acclaimed history of the concept of the Devil, continuing in this volume the story from the Reformation to the present.