Böcker av Robert Alan Ward

In ancient times, Melitene is ravaged by violence, poverty, addiction, and unrest. The new governor, Trebonius, is charged by the emperor to bring stability to the island. He seeks the counsel of two leading Melitenians who represent diametrically opposed world views. Solon is a humble seeker of his Creator. Alacerius believes only in man-made solutions, with himself in charge. Alacerius wins the governors favor and begins implementing his program of atheism, the corruption of morals, collectivization, coerced population control, and imprisonment or worse for all who oppose him. Trebonius sends his seventeen-year-old son, Publius, to live incognito among the people to gauge how Alaceriuss reforms are affecting them. At the school in the main city of Mathos, Publius meets sixteen-year-old Amoenitas and her temperamental younger sister, Eletia. Publius and the two sisters soon find themselves entangled in a labyrinth of murder, deception, intrigue, real and misplaced romance, a prophetic dream about a messenger of hope, and historical events that affect the world to this day. The players on the world stage have changed with the generations. Science has advanced. But one constant has always remainedthe relentless struggle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.

The England of the seventeenth century, with its political and religious turmoil, was really not so different from the America of the twenty-first. Since the fall in the Garden of Eden, there has always been Gods way and mans. Hence the timelessness of John Bunyans allegorical masterpiece, The Pilgrims Progress, which first appeared in 1678. Forged from the Wilderness is the story behind the book, the story of John Bunyans life and of a little-known woman named Elizabeth, whom God much used to help shape him into the man he was called to be. By earthly standards, theirs was an unlikely union. Yet she became the dedicated stepmother of his four children, a courageous champion for her husbands freedom from prison, and a catalyst for the publishing of his works.Through meticulous research, I have endeavored to capture the real John Bunyan, the real Elizabeth, the real hardships they faced, and the real England of their time. How they lived in their world has much to tell us about how we ought to live in ours.

Seeker, a young woman from the city of Commonplace, wanders into the Lifestyle Shoppe, seeking a life. The shopkeeper explains to her its three rooms: Broadway, Striveway, and Narrow Way. Seeker resolves to try out each room before deciding where to buy. On her journey through each room, she encounters people engaged in various attempts to discover that elusive commodity called happiness.Told with the feel of a modern-day Pilgrims Progress, Seeker and other Lifestyle Shoppe characters, by the choices they make, ride a roller coaster to pinnacles of joy, both real and temporary, or plunge to the depths of anguish and sorrow. Plot twists throughout promise to keep the reader guessing as to how the story will end. The only certainty is that sooner or later, everyone buys from The Lifestyle Shoppe.