Is God More Tolerant than He Used to Be?

Just as the moon obscures the sun's light during an eclipse, today's radical secularism has obscured the light of God. But God's light still shines--and He is calling us to shine His light in the growing darkness.

In The Eclipse of God, bestselling author Erwin Lutzer exposes our nation's disastrous efforts to redefine God in its own image. The resulting damage has been so great that confusion about God has even crept into the church. This bold exposition will help you

• understand society's attempts to make God inclusive and sin-friendly by exploring the intellectual roots of the present darkness
• renew your faith in God by replacing worldly misperceptions of Him with the biblical truths about His unchanging character
• resist cultural conformity by counting the cost of faith as you shine the gospel's light with accuracy and grace

Instead of an Anxious Parent, Become a Praying Parent

Any Christian mother and father, or grandmother and grandfather, desires what is spiritually best for their children. However, knowing how to pray for them can often be as challenging as knowing what to pray. Without proper guidance, our prayers are prone to become dry, repetitive lists of requests.

With the help of Dr. Erwin Lutzer, you can learn how your best, loving intentions can become enriching, effective intercessions for your children or grandchildren. Trade your lists of requests for Scripturally-based prayers that will immerse you in God's promises and will. In A Practical Guide for Praying Parents, Dr. Lutzer addresses:

-How to pray when children have hardened hearts
-How to pray for children who have become wayward prodigals
-How to become a prayer warrior who prays in the face of spiritual warfare

This small guide will help you pray scriptural prayers that both bring you closer to God and bless your children. You'll also find daily Biblical prayers crafted by Dr. Lutzer himself to help you begin your prayer journey. With your love for your children, your desire to help, and Dr. Lutzer's guidance, your prayers can become effective ministry in the lives of those you care for the most.

One minute after you die you will either be elated or terrified. And it will be too late to reroute your travel plans.

Death comes to all, and yet death is not the end. For some, death is the beginning of unending bliss, for others, unending despair. In this latest edition of the bestselling book One Minute After You Die, Pastor Erwin W. Lutzer weighs the Bible's words on life after death. He considers:

• Channeling, reincarnation, and near-death experiences
• What heaven and hell will be like
• The justice of eternal punishment
• Trusting in God's providence
• Preparing for your own final moment

Though the afterlife is shrouded in mystery, the Bible does peel back the curtain. Dr. Lutzer will help you understand what is on the other side.

May the reality of eternity quicken and comfort you today.

One minute after you die you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable.

Those who find themselves in heaven will be surrounded with many friends they have known on earth. Every description of heaven they have ever heard will pale in light of reality. But others will find themselves shrouded in darkness in a region of deprivation and unending regret. For them, death will be far worse than they ever imagined.

So while relatives and friends plan your funeral, you will be more alive than you have ever been. You will either see God on His throne surrounded by angels and redeemed humanity, or you will feel an indescribable weight of guilt and abandonment. There is no destination midway between these extremes.

Unaware of Danger

I once read a tragic account about people enjoying themselves on the top stories of a tall apartment building not knowing that there was a fire burning on the lower floors. In a similar way, many people are enjoying life now, comfortably ignoring the fact that their death is not only inevitable, but much nearer than they think. Indeed, this world and all we have accumulated will eventually be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).

Don't imagine for a moment that you will get to heaven without the right credentials. You will not be there because your wife has a right to enter. You will not be there because you have a child who is already there. No, this is an individual matter, and only those with the right credentials will be allowed entry.

Our problem, of course, is that God will not accept us on our terms. We cannot arrive at heaven's gates hoping for leniency. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We cannot come pleading for special favors once we have slipped from this life into eternity.

Our Only Hope

Our only hope is for God to give us credit for righteous perfection we could never attain on our own. Once such righteousness is credited to our account we can enter heaven immediately at death without so much as an intermediate stop. As the Bible says, away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Here's how that's possible: When Christ died on the cross, He offered himself as a sacrifice for sinners, which God accepted. For our sake he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Though Christ was perfect, God made Him legally guilty of all of our sins. In turn, those who believe that Christ did this for them receive credit for his righteousness before God.

Christ was considered to be a sinner when he took our sins on himself. In turn God considers us to be saints when we receive Christ's righteousness. God has exceedingly high standards, but thanks to him, he meets them for us through this amazing exchange. It's the only way we could ever enter God's heaven!

A New Nature

When we receive Christ's righteousness, God also changes our whole perspective. Christ said, Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). So, how can we receive the gift of righteousness and be born again?

The answer is to admit our helplessness and sinfulness to God, and to acknowledge that we are dependent on his mercy. We must have a complete change of mind about whatever we were believing would make us acceptable to God. Instead we must transfer all of our trust to Christ as our sin-bearer. We must believe in Him as the One who did all that we will ever need to stand in God's holy presence. To believe in Christ means that as best we know, we trust Him alone for all that we need to please God in this life and to live with him forever in heaven.

Here is a prayer that you may want to use if you desire to transfer your trust to Christ alone for your eternal salvation. And if you pray in faith, God will receive you.

Dear God, I know I'm a sinner and there is nothing that I can do to save myself. I confess my complete helplessness to forgive my own sin or to work my way to heaven. At this moment I trust Christ alone as the One who took on all my sins when he died on the cross. I believe that he did everything necessary for me to live someday in your holy presence.

I thank you that Christ was raised from the dead. As best as I know how, I transfer my trust to him. I am grateful that you have promised to receive me despite my many sins and failures. Father, I take you at your word. I thank You that I can face death now that Christ is my Savior. Thank you for the assurance that you will walk with me through death's door. Thank you for hearing my prayer. In Jesus' name, amen.

Where will you be...one minute after you die?

This excellent book is so important. It clearly and powerfully explains what the parallels are between Germany's fall from grace and the beginning of our own fall. - Eric Metaxas, author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

In When A Nation Forgets God, Erwin Lutzer studies seven similarities between Nazi Germany and America today--some of them chilling--and cautions us to respond accordingly. Engaging, well-researched, and easy to understand, Lutzer's writing is that of a realist, one alarmed but unafraid. Amidst describing the messes of our nation's government, economy, legal pitfalls, propaganda, and more, Lutzer points to the God who always has a plan.

At the beginning of the twentieth Century, Nazi Germany didn't look like a country on the brink of world-shaking terrors. It looked like America today. When a Nation Forgets God uses history to warn us of a future that none of us wants to see. It urges us to be ordinary heroes who speak up and take action.

The story of Nazi Germany is one of conflict between two saviors and two crosses.

Deine Reich komme, Hitler prayed publicly--Thy Kingdom come. But to whose kingdom was he referring?

When Germany truly needed a savior, Adolf Hitler falsely assumed the role. He directed his countrymen to a cross, but he bent and hammered the true cross into a horrific substitute: a swastika.

Where was the church through all of this? With a few exceptions, the German church looked away while Hitler inflicted his Final Solution upon the Jews. Hitler's Cross is a chilling historical account of what happens when evil meets a silent, shrinking church, and an intriguing and convicting exposé of modern America's own hidden crosses.

Erwin W. Lutzer extracts a number of lessons from this dark chapter in world history, such as:

• The dangers of confusing church and state
• The role of God in human tragedy
• The parameters of Satan's freedom

Once a person faces death, he or she will either enjoy being in God's presence or be separated from him for eternity. This tract calls readers to place their trust in Christ alone for their eternal salvation.

To their own detriment, many Christians have emptied the judgment seat of Christ of its meaning, living like they will never meet His knowing gaze. For this they may have tears in heaven.

In this provocative book, Dr. Erwin Lutzer argues that remorse in heaven awaits those who don't live fully for God on earth. Exploring the often-overlooked Scriptures about reward and judgment for Christians, Dr. Lutzer answers questions like:

• How will believers be judged?
• Do rewards for faithfulness vary?
• If heaven is perfect, why do rewards even matter?

His answers are immensely practical. Your Eternal Reward will prompt you to live more faithfully, whether in your conduct, your speech, or even your use of money, that you might enjoy heaven all the more.

What is sown on earth is reaped in heaven, and Dr. Lutzer will have you taking this truth to heart.

In a culture with an ever-narrowing definition of tolerance, Christians can no longer stay silent about the divide between the Bible's truth and the world's lies. From bestselling author Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, No Reason to Hide examines the toxic roots behind the alarming symptoms of a nation in spiritual freefall--and why your faith must empower you to engage rather than hide.

As you read, you'll be equipped to defend your biblical beliefs with confidence and compassion. You'll also identify how you can respond to the battleground issues of today, including

• identity-driven social justice ideologies that seek to divide rather than unite
• cultural attacks on the definitions of sex and gender that turn language into a war
• progressive pushes within the church that ultimately desecrate the Bible's teachings

Exchange Your Guilt for True Freedom and Forgiveness

Do you struggle with feelings of guilt about your past? Or are you bogged down by a conscience that haunts or imprisons you?

This is not how God intends for you to live. Your conscience was not created to hold you prisoner, but to guide you and point you to freedom from guilt and bad habits. It's designed to tell you the truth so you are not held in bondage to lies or sin. A clear conscience enables you to live in the present without being distracted, both mentally and emotionally, by your past.

Longtime pastor and bestselling author Erwin W. Lutzer shares what it means to live in the power of a clear conscience as you

• learn how to deal with guilt and replace it with joy
• discover how the truth that can hurt you can also heal you
• realize the incredible extent of God's forgiveness and love for you

You'll find yourself encouraged by the truths that no failure is permanent and no life is beyond God's power to bring about change.

You've been wronged.

Have lies have been told about you? Have you been rejected? Maybe you've been the victim of abuse. Perhaps it's a broken promise. Or someone betrayed your confidence.

It's only natural that you would be angry. These wounds cry out for justice But what if justice isn't possible this side of heaven? What if the damage can't be undone? What then?

You have a decision to make.

You can hold on to your anger until your anguish builds a prison of bitterness, where you will live a diminished and pain-filled life. Or you can choose to forgive.

Erwin Lutzer discusses dealing with difficult people such as spear throwers and destroyers, as well as handling conflict among family members and Christians in the courtroom. In this concise, quickly readable volume, you'll learn how to move from bitterness to blessing by choosing forgiveness.

By choosing forgiveness you are choosing abundant life. It's a decision you can make today

Get ready for life after death.

Combining three books that together have sold nearly 1 million copies, Heaven and the Afterlife gives you Erwin Lutzer's best reflections on eternity and what it means for you today.

The trilogyincludes:

1. One Minute After You Die. A simple and moving explanation of what the Bible teaches about death, this book makes you consider a sobering truth: one minute after you die, your life will not be over. Rather, it will be just beginning--in a place of unimaginable bliss or indescribable gloom. Are you ready for that moment?
   
2. How You Can Be Sure You Will Spend Eternity with Godsummarizes the Bible's teaching on salvation, answering questions like, What role do I play in my own salvation? Can I lose my salvation if I commit a serious sin? What if I doubt that I'm saved?
   
3. Your Eternal Reward. This book explores the often-overlooked Scriptures about reward and judgment for Christians, answering questions like, How will believers be judged? Do rewards for faithfulness vary? If heaven is perfect, why do rewards even matter?

Together these books will help you live faithfully today, readying you for that final hour when you meet your Maker.

Addiction. Abuse. Broken relationships. Greed. Gluttony. Gossip. Sexual immorality. Decisions made from fear or despair. Is there a place to begin again?

We can't go back to the starting line in the race of life. What's done is done. But we're not tied to our past mistakes. By following God's instructions and allowing Him to heal our wounds, we can be freed from the weight of guilt, regret, and bitter heartache.

In Putting Your Past Behind You, Dr. Erwin Lutzer shows how to make a clean break with the past. People just like you have experienced the same trials, addictions, and injustices. Many have traveled beyond the pain to become blessed servants of Christ. God is faithfully standing ready to help, and He uses His people to share in His work of restoration and healing.

Find encouragement, wisdom, and new direction as you experience the blessing of a healed past.

Be wrong about social security, be wrong about baseball, be wrong about your career choice, but don't be wrong about where you will spend eternity.

How You Can Be Sure You Will Spend Eternity with God--it's a big promise, but this short book delivers. It answers a host of questions, such as:

• Will good deeds help me get into heaven?
• Who goes to heaven and who doesn't?
• What role do I have in my own salvation?
• Can I lose my salvation if I commit a serious sin?
• Is it wrong to doubt my salvation, and what should I do if I doubt?

Dr. Lutzer takes many scriptural teachings and siphons them into clear, cohesive truths. The result is a concise, accessible book about how to be saved and be sure you are saved. It is straight gospel--applicable to the skeptic, newly saved, and long-time believer alike.

OVER 50,000 COPIES SOLD!

How do we live faithfully in a country becoming more and more hostile to our faith in Christ?

Like the Israelites in Babylon, we must find a way to maintain our faith in the midst of a pagan culture. But that requires we answer two crucial questions:

• How did we get here?
• How do we prepare for the dark and difficult days ahead?

In The Church in Babylon, Dr. Lutzer answers both of these questions. He will walk you through the many parallels between the church in America and God's people in Babylon, and embolden you to be a gospel witness. You'll be encouraged not to compromise your faith even when under constant pressure from all corners of society. And more than all this you will have a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ, as you consider the biblical role of those in exile.

If I could, I would put this book into the hands of every Christian in America.
--Dr. David Jeremiah

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed,
for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).

Each day, you watch America turn further from Christian values and the core principles of liberty. It's frustrating to feel you can't assert biblical truth without facing condemnation, and fearful to witness outrage and victimhood replace respect and reason. Amidst this dissent, how can you not only stay rooted in your own faith, but continue publicly testifying for Jesus?

In We Will Not Be Silenced, Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer prepares you to live out your convictions against a growing tide of hostility. Gain a better understanding of nonbelievers' legitimate hurts and concerns regarding issues like racism, sexism, and poverty--and identify the toxic responses secular culture disguises as solutions. In the process, you'll see how you can show compassion and gentleness to those outside of the faith without affirming their beliefs.

We Will Not Be Silenced will ready you to move beyond fear and boldly accept the challenge of representing Christ to a watching world that needs Him now more than ever before.

Many answer this question with a staunch No Critics increasingly attempt to poke holes in the authority of Scripture and deflate faith among believers. But ask Dr. Erwin Lutzer if you can trust the Bible, and he'll give a resounding Yes

In this revised and expanded edition of the popular book 7 Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible, Dr. Lutzer offers seven foundational arguments for the reliability of Scripture. In clear, easy-to-follow language, he explores:

1. The Bible's claims about itself
2. The historical reliability of the Bible
3. The prophetic predictions of the Bible
4. The claims of Christ concerning Scripture
5. The harmony between science and the Bible
6. The providence of God in preserving Scripture
7. The power of the Bible to change lives

In the court of truth, the Holy Spirit testifies to the authority of Scripture, and all the evidence lines up. Read 7 Reasons and let your confidence in God's Word increase.

Dig deeper with the 7 Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible DVD and Study Guide.

In No Reason to Hide, bestselling author Erwin W. Lutzer examines the culture-wide spiritual freefall that has left Christ-followers misplaced and targeted. With this companion workbook, he leads you deeper into the chaotic tides of today, preparing you with biblical responses for when you encounter the toxic fallout of an aggressively secular society.

Take a closer look at the battleground issues Christians face and prepare to minister with conviction and compassion to those who believe differently. As you go through this study, you will be...

• empowered to withstand the cultural tsunami of secularism and remain faithful to God, no matter the cost
• alerted to the trends that undermine Christian principles and discover how to effectively proclaim the truth
• reminded that God is present with us in every challenge, helping us not only survive but thrive in a hostile society

Can you trust the Bible?

Many answer this question with a staunch No Critics increasingly attempt to poke holes in the authority of Scripture and deflate faith among believers. But ask Dr. Erwin Lutzer if you can trust the Bible, and he'll give a resounding Yes

In this accompanying study guide to the popular book Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible, pastor and scholar Erwin W. Lutzer helps you internalize exactly why you can trust God's Word. Through summary questions, discussion points, and personal reflection, you'll become more familiar with:

1. The logical claims of the Bible
2. The historical reliability of the Bible
3. The prophetic predictions of the Bible
4. The authority of Christ
5. The story of creation
6. The role of God's providence in creating the Bible
7. The power of God's Word in your life

Let this guide--ideal for group and individual study--increase your confidence in God's Word.

Intended to be used with the 7 Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible DVD.

Every Christian longs for a better and more intimate prayer life. And one of the most effective ways to grow more powerful in prayer is to learn from the prayers of others. In this way they discover new ways to pray--new requests, concerns, and thanksgivings they can bring to God's throne of grace. That's what makes Covering Your Life in Prayer so special. It's an opportunity to listen in to a wide variety of personal and heartwarming prayers--prayers for...

• personal peace and faithfulness in difficult situations
• wisdom when making tough decisions
• a better understanding of our place in God's plans
• a willingness to cease struggling and let God be God
• God's work in the lives of both loved ones and unsaved friends

Readers will find this a wonderful resource for expanding their prayer horizons and enriching their relationship with God.