Charisma Magazine

Judith MacNutt

In Angels Are for Real: Inspiring, True Stories and Biblical Answers, MacNutt—a clinical psychologist and practitioner of healing prayer—introduces readers to the ministry of angels in healing and in everyday life. She discusses the creation, nature and role of angels based on biblical accounts and draws from personal experience—hers and others—of angelic activity.

Reaching back to 500 A.D., MacNutt explores the nine orders of angels as described by theologian-philosopher Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, including familiar guardian angels, the archangel Gabriel and the more obscure throne and dominion angels. She discusses the shape and size of angels, and explains that their wings or the lack thereof is dependent on God’s purpose, not on an angel’s performance.

MacNutt aims to broaden readers’ understanding and appreciation of angels by showing God’s purpose for them. Readers may find the illustrations of angelic encounters inspiring and be encouraged to see how God uses angels as His helping hands.               —Eilene Ishler

Ron Phillips

Many believers question how the Holy Spirit’s power actually works in our lives. In An Essential Guide to the Gift of Healing, Ron Phillips explains a facet of this by exploring the gift of healing and providing clear and comprehensive biblical background and support for the practice.

A Spirit-filled Southern Baptist pastor, Phillips brings balance to the topic, examining the many avenues that lead to healing and health. Filled with illustrations from Phillips’ own life and the lives of others, this guide reveals God’s power to touch and heal lives—even today. Though the Bible is filled with miraculous accounts of healing, many believers overlook Christ’s promise that they can do even “greater works than these” (John 14:12). Yet as Phillips contends, the Holy Spirit who activated miracles in the early church is the same Holy Spirit who equips believers today.

Ross Rohde

Christianity was once an explosive and viral movement that spread by word of mouth. Not even persecution could stop it; rather it helped to spread the fame of Christ. But today, the gospel is no longer spreading like wildfire throughout the Western world. Slowly, Christianity has morphed into something much different—a stable institutionalized religion that no longer grips us with the excitement and spirituality of the early years.

Ross Rohde takes a look at the excitement and passion that we’ve lost and gives direction on how we can recapture it. In  Viral Jesus, he compares examples from the Bible and today’s world to explore how we can return to our roots and once again enjoy the thrill and explosive growth of early Christianity.

Pure Flix

Perhaps best known for playing tough guys on hit TV shows—from Magnum, P.I. to The Sopranos—veteran actor Robert Loggia shows a different side in the latest production from Pure Flix Entertainment.

He stars in Apostle Peter and the Last Supper as the elderly disciple, reflecting on his life to two jailers as he awaits execution in Rome, A.D. 67. Portraying Christ is Bruce Marchiano, famous for having played Jesus in The Visual Bible versions of the Gospel of Matthew and the book of Acts in the 1990s. Apostle Peter and the Last Supperwas shot mostly on a stage in Glendale, Calif., and includes exterior scenes filmed at a ranch in the Malibu hills that director Gabriel Sabloff called “an epic, inspiring location—perfect for a Bible story.” 

Though it was challenging, the filmmakers brought something fresh to a familiar story while remaining faithful to the truth. “The Bible is very specific about the words of Jesus and certain events, and we re-created those in loving detail,” says Sabloff. “But where the Bible is less specific, we tried to give audiences a perspective they haven’t seen before.”

Sabloff hopes that viewers will finish the movie “with the sense that they have been on an amazing, emotional roller coaster,” but mostly with hope and inspiration. “This is a Bible movie about faith and redemption,” he says. “I think it will really resonate with the Christian audience, but I also wanted it to be accessible to all audiences.”          —Andy Butcher

The first family project in seven years, Together Again, releasing Feb. 7, showcases the award-winning gospel sound of The Crabb Family, who have been on their own since 2007. This time, however, each song features all of the reuinted siblings, instead of one lead voice on each track.