U2’s ongoing popular appeal is constructed in the spaces between band and fan, commercialism and community, spirituality and nihilism; finding meaning in a surface-oriented popular culture and contradiction in the depths of political and faith-based institutions. The band’s long-term success and continued relevance is a result of their ability to hold these energies in tension without one subsuming the other—to live in the liminal space that such contradictions invite. U2’s mythic trajecto...

Elisha prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant so he could see the reality of God's army with them. The apostle Paul prayed that the eyes of the hearts of the church in Ephesus might be enlightened and no longer blind to the reality of the spiritual blessings he'd list in his letter. Do our eyes, our hearts, need opening to some spiritual realities, too? In this book, Brian Johnston outlines 8 spiritual realities that could easily be missed: the reality of being dead in our sins...

This book has recently been recommended by David Icke (Robots Rebellion, et al) "I strongly recommend you read it, take it very seriously, and apply it to everything else that has been taught..." David Icke.An apt desciption of this book would be The Tao of Physics meets The Philosphers Stone and Don Juan. It is the description of the authors experiences, discoveries and theories on the nature of reality, our relationship with spiritual and demonic beings, the other realms of the mu...

Drawing on texts and theorists of Greek myth, psychoanalysis, and masculinities, Susan Mackey-Kallis and Brian Johnston develop and offer a model of rhetorical and mythic criticism to analyze popular American film. In this book, Mackey-Kallis and Johnston focus their analysis on films that point to the need for father atonement, ego-decentering, and the resurrection of the lost feminine to heal our collective gendered cultural wounds. Many of these “mystic” films, they contend, affirm the ...

Following the success of A Delicious Slice of Johnners, Barry Johnston has edited another delightful anthology based on three of his father's most popular books, Brian Johnston's Guide to Cricket, Chatterboxes and It's Been a Piece of Cake.

On a few occasions in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul urges his readers not to lose heart - in particular in evangelism. This appeal can be found – twice in fact - in 2 Corinthians 4. If we're in the western world today, it's not hard to appreciate why he had this concern. Paul encountered in certain places the same stony indifference we can come up against, ranging even to outright hostility at times. We can all too readily identify the same features in society around us that the Apos...

"They said to one another, 'Were our hearts not burning within us when He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?'" (Lk.24:27:32) Burning hearts! The inevitable result of having the Bible explained so it all begins to make sense and the person and work of Christ, its central character, comes into sharper focus. I used to think it would be wonderful to know what Old Testament incidents, symbols and themes the Lord unpacked for them. The way to do it see...

Volume 128 (2021/2022) of Needed Truth, the Bible teaching magazine of the Churches of God since 1888. Along with interviews and mission updates, key series in this volume include Ecclesiastes, image bearing, Job, the justice of God, knowing God, Paul's travel companions, preparing for the Lord's return, the Atonement, and the Holy Spirit.

Daily headlines remind us that this world is broken in so many different ways; an honest look within ourselves reveals deep problems, too. Bible teacher and missionary Brian Johnston pinpoints the same cause and the same solution – God's sending of His Son on a mission that would lead to a cross to save us from the consequences of sin – and offers a challenge to accept or reject it.

When Brian Johnston was a schoolboy, his reports were full of phrases such as 'talks too much in school' and 'apt to be a buffoon'. Later millions of radio listeners would be delighted to discover that some things never changed! Johnners brought his unique wit and personal charm to an enormous range of BBC radio and television programmes for nearly 50 years, from In Town Tonight and Down Your Way to Test Match Special. After Brian died in 1994, Christopher Martin...

Time is running out for Hecate, queen of witches; to live, she must find a suitable sacrifice and vessel for her soul. So when Elena miraculously survives the Black Death, she is plunged into a dangerous world of witchcraft and demons, where she must learn the skills of a warrior and the arts of a sorcerer. Aided by her friends Armando, a soldier and Khalid, an alchemist, Elena must fend off Hecate’s acolytes and her legions of fire demons, until she can discover a way to destroy the great...

Down Your Way was one of the most popular programmes on radio and spanned six decades. Every week the presenter would visit towns and villages throughout the UK, discovering fascinating people and places. Brian Johnston presented the series for fifteen years and 733 programmes. For this recording, his son Barry has selected the most eccentric, famous and interesting people, and the most colourful places, that his father visited on his travels. Along the way Brian meets such famous...