Twice failed as a Guardian Angel, Beniel is summoned to appear before the Divine Council where Yahweh entrusts him with a critical mission. Immediately he finds himself in the womb of Rebekah and face to face with his new protective charge, Jacob—still a fetus. Unexpectedly bumped by a second fetus floating in the womb, he encounters Ruger, a demon sent by Lucifer to protect Esau’s interests, the twin of Jacob. The war that spans a century and a half pits the forces of heaven and hell against each other for the life of the Patriarch of Israel and the lineage of Christ.
Violent . . . frightening . . . the otherworld beings of hell pull out all the stops as they seek to murder Jacob and annihilate his angelic protectors. To gain the upper hand, the fiercest demon hell has to offer is brought into play against Beniel. The conflict intensifies as Morax and Beniel battle to seize the victory for their masters.
There is an angel watching over you. Right now!
As real as the winds which continually circle our planet, demons circle the earth looking for weak character they can deceive. You are in their sights. We all are. A battle can erupt anytime, anywhere, as angels and demons collide for our souls. Who wins is determined by where you place your trust.
It is two thousand years later, after Jacob. Beniel, a guardian angel, is now assigned to protect the Apostle Paul—a hothead troublemaker who challenges Jewish authority and Mosaic law everywhere he travels—and has his hands full dodging the clutches of Jewish traditionalists and Roman authorities who seek Paul’s death. Then suddenly his best friend, Ruger, is captured by Hell’s Forces as Satan seeks to reclaim and punish one of his own for turning on him. Now, Beniel must also chase from one Lucifer stronghold to another as he attempts to rescue his colleague while also guarding the Apostle. It’s a wild ride as demons and angels of the otherworld fiercely fight for these two prizes, wreaking death and destruction of both earthlings and the quarreling supernatural beings.
"We're after the same thing," the demon grinned. "So, let's play a game of chess. The winner gets the Archbishop's soul."
And thus begins the most interesting assignment undertaken by Beniel, a guardian angel in the Heavenly Force. His task: to protect Thomas Becket, a self-absorbed, ambitious man who in the twelfth century rises to become the confidante of King Henry II and one day becomes Yahweh's brightest beacon in Europe, From the start, it is a match of strategy. Each move having consequences, and more than a few triggering bloodletting battles between the forces of heaven and hell.
When Henry appoints Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury to solidify his power over both church and state, Becket is at first willing to engage in this ploy, but subsequently he is touched by God and realizes his allegiance can only be to Christ. As each move in the chess match gains importance, the off board battles intensify,. Beniel is barely able to keep his head above water and his warriors from defeat.
The match demands intense strategic finesse. Beniel and his nemesis, Tamor, never seem to be more than two or three moves away from defeat.
He knew he could outfight any demon . . . strategically he had no peers; his skill in manipulating tactics to surprise and defeat his enemies were legend. What left to do? “Command,” said his boss, Uriel, one of the Archangels. What did that mean that he already didn’t know?
And then Beniel—the guardian angel—encountered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn . . . no small prize for either Lucifer or Yahweh, both determined to have his mind and soul. The warfare between the angels of heaven and the demons of hell intensifies with the advent of Soviet Communisim and never lets up—even for a moment.
Intellectual giant . . . fearless dissident . . . unyielding integrity . . . uncompromising . . . a forceful writer who was a persuasive leader swaying the opinions of millions.
Everyone wanted a piece of him. How do you protect such a man from others? From himself?
I have thousands of angel-warriors, the power of heaven, and righteousness on my side. But it’s not enough. “Command.” The word was simple enough, but its implications yielded life-long lessons in resource deployment, battlefield choices, scalpel-like use of special forces, political warfare, strategic bounce, spiritual combat, and much more.
By the time Beniel escorted Solzhenitsyn to heaven after walking the earth with the great Russian writer for almost eighty years, he had done all to it. I’m beginning to learn “command,” but I don’t think one ever masters it. He suddenly chuckled. Well, of course. There is One.
Danger lurks everywhere as he travels alone across the continent.
Strange mannerisms, frightening movements, sudden screaming--all involuntary--set him apart. Out of step with everyone, Pieter experiences a crisis of faith and eventually leaves his family, church and community to set off on his own.
The French Indian conflict with the British is beginning to gather momentum. At nineteen years of age, Pieter is swept up into the maelstrom of war. By 1757, the British and the French are in a race to claim the Great Sea of the West for their respective countries. The British capture Pieter and propose he embark on this quest on their behalf, while the French send the Senecan, a malevolent killer who is part French, part Indian, with instructions to kill Pieter to prevent him from reaching the Great Sea first.
Thus begins a multi-year pilgrimage that takes both men west along dramatically varying terrain, with unexpected experiences. Both Pieter and the Senecan change during the journey. Perhaps most importantly, Pieter learns from the many wise tribal elders he meets along the way, each who believe Pieter has special gifts and is favored by the Great Spirit. Could it be that Pieter discovers the Great Spirit in the sky not only truly exists but loves him just the way he is?
A story of hardship, friendship and new revelations that has you cheering along the way as you travel with Pieter and the Senecan across the vastness of America to the Pacific Ocean
With opportunity and the unknown ahead, in 1870 Emily Fremont left all that she had grown up with in Missouri to head west with her husband and two adolescent children to find a new beginning in California.
One day, everything changed. After only a year on their homestead, her husband lay dead and her daughter raped before her eyes Her thirst for revenge is all consuming as she leads her two children on a journey to execute the men who turned her life upside down.
In an anxious twist of fate, she becomes the hunted and they are suddenly scrambling for their lives. Tracked by the killers who stalk them deep into the bowels of an abandoned mine, an inexplicable force prevents her finger from pulling the trigger when opportunity to kill arises. She cannot shoot! Simultaneously, events happen by divine intervention to render the killers no longer a threat. In that instant, she finds the peace that has eluded her since that horrible day over two years ago.
In the waning years of the seventh century BC, one of history's most notable and terrifying warriors succeeded to the throne of Babylon, a fledgling kingdom barely twenty-one years old. This is the story of Nebuchadnezzar growing into manhood and racing to claim the crown of his dead father from the hands of his manipulative younger brother. It is a story of wars as consumed by hatred he sought to kill a boyhood friend that had become his lifelong nemesis. An invincible warrior . . . a shrewd politician . . . and a gifted artist. Babylon was his masterpiece featuring the massive artificial mountain with its hanging gardens he built for his wife as well as fifty-four gold gilt temples and a three-hundred foot high pyramid piercing the sky to be seen for miles in the distance.
This is also the story of Daniel, a Jewish captive removed from Judah and placed in the royal palace of Babylon. Imbued with an intense faith in God, Daniel was a man of extraordinary abilities in governance and leadership.
Two men as different as could possibly be. A man of boiling passions and volatile temperament, Nebuchadnezzar would never have survived without his most trusted aide, Daniel. Daniel's closeness to almighty Jehovah was so compelling that even the arrogant and menacing Nebuchadnezzar was forced to come face to face with his Creator.
No matter who reigns or what is, God is in control.
This is a story about Daniel's and Amel-Marduk's (the Crown Prince) struggle to hold together the 6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire during a seven year vacuum of leadership created when King Nebuchadnezzar suffered a God-ordained mental breakdown and could no longer rule. The pressures are intense as they are attacked on all fronts by pretenders to the throne, by foreign enemies, by illness, by crippling accidents, and ultimately by a mutinous rebellion led by the Prince's brother-in-law aided by the high priest of the Temple of Marduk.
It is also a love story. A story of God's love and care for those seeking His sovereignty and a love story of two people who come from two very different worlds but are brought together by a tumultuous series of events not of their own doing. Their love prevails and grows from their mutual trust and respect of each other's inner character. Amel (the Prince) and Dorcas (the Jewish servant) are finally able to see each other as peers, allowing love to blossom.
Above all, it is a story about the deep friendship and respect among three differing, strong personalities each subject to the sovereign power of God: an aggressive, hard-driving king, a crown prince trained to be victorious in war by his ruthless father but tempered in spirit by the accidental deaths of his wife and children, and an exceptionally wise and unyielding administrator driven by Godly principles. For all three, there is no compromise. Each is committed to excellence. A growing mutual respect paves the way to a successful ruling partnership.
In the waning years of the seventh century BC, one of history's most notable and terrifying warriors succeeded to the throne of Babylon, a fledgling kingdom barely twenty-one years old. This is the story of Nebuchadnezzar growing into manhood and racing to claim the crown of his dead father from the hands of his manipulative younger brother. It is a story of wars as consumed by hatred he sought to kill a boyhood friend that had become his lifelong nemesis. An invincible warrior . . . a shrewd politician . . . and a gifted artist. Babylon was his masterpiece featuring the massive artificial mountain with its hanging gardens he built for his wife as well as fifty-four gold gilt temples and a three-hundred foot high pyramid piercing the sky to be seen for miles in the distance.
This is also the story of Daniel, a Jewish captive removed from Judah and placed in the royal palace of Babylon. Imbued with an intense faith in God, Daniel was a man of extraordinary abilities in governance and leadership.
Two men as different as could possibly be. A man of boiling passions and volatile temperament, Nebuchadnezzar would never have survived without his most trusted aide, Daniel. Daniel's closeness to almighty Jehovah was so compelling that even the arrogant and menacing Nebuchadnezzar was forced to come face to face with his Creator.
No matter who reigns or what is, God is in control.
This book is a departure from the imaginative fiction writing of the author. Rather, it is a guide to leading and managing arts organizations as culled from Brustad's 45 years in the performing arts industry. He emphasizes the balance of artistic vision with human and financial resources as leadership strives for ever increasing excellence.
The guiding principles are applicable to any and all organizations regardless of their mission, and is especially pertinent to nonprofit companies. Everyone plays a role to achieve success, from trustees to staff members to the audiences. But leadership must be unwavering and focused to move the company forward.