Sex on the Altar by Wencke Braathen

A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups... Built on satire and a robust prose, Sex On The Altar by Wencke Braathen is the first volume in the Adventures of Sam and Emily series, a debut that sings a sultry tale of power, faith, and mystery. The story blurs the line between the seen and unseen worlds as God and mythological deities interact with humans in a commentary about modern life.

The Queen of Heaven has been sucked into the center of the earth due to man’s lack of devotion, and God is beside himself with grief. Something has to be done. God puts his trust in the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis, - she puts hers in a middle-aged woman named Emily. Sparks will fly with the help from the gods, as Emily and her new beau Sam’s lovemaking awakens the Queen from her slumber. But it isn’t until Virgin Mary starts her Dandelion Campaign, and Jesus and Mary Magdalene are on a bus to Nashville, that the fate of mankind changes course.

Sex on the Altar is available in traditional print and eBook formats at fine online retails such as Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Google Books, Scribd, and Smashwords.

About Author Wencke Braathen

Wencke Braathen was born Oslo, Norway and grew up on an island in the Oslo fjord among esoteric books and homespun wool. She came to the United States in 1978 and holds a BA in art. Her practice meditation inspired further investigations into ancient history and alchemy. The mystery of creating harmony between male and female gave the premise for Sex on the Altar. Ms. Braathen is also the author of Rituals in Sacred Stone – Mary Magdalene, Divine Priestess. In 2007 she spent five weeks in Languedoc region of France walking in her protagonists footsteps. She is currently working on the sequel; Secrets in Sacred Stone following the body of knowledge established by Mary Magdalene thousand years forward in time and finding the connection between the Vikings, the Cathars and the Celtic Church. To find out more about Wencke Braathen and her work, visit her personal blog by clicking here.

Mary Magdalene: Revelations from a First Century Avatar Volume I by Gloria Amendola

Grave Distractions Publications has published Gloria Amendola's third book, Mary Magdalene: Revelations from a First Century Avatar. Currently this text is available in both print and eBook formats. Here's a bit about the book from the back cover:

In Mary Magdalene: Revelations from a First Century Avatar, Mary comes to life right before your eyes. Through the author, as a channel for her voice, Mary shares fascinating and intimate details of her early life, esoteric life, and walk with the master teacher and healer–known to us as Jesus.

Through discussion of her gematria–an ancient form of numerology–the author makes a strong case for the true identity of this Mary. She is not who you’ve been told she was, but rather a woman of extraordinary spiritual power who would be considered, in her time, as the equal to Jesus.

Mary then answers specific questions that were asked of her. She explains the differences between the fabled civilizations of Egypt and Atlantis, the Mystery Schools, the process of initiation into expanded awareness, and how we can begin to learn the ancient wisdom of the Mysteries. Find out why Mary believes the time is now for people to rediscover these incredible teachings!

In this riveting account, we are given a glimpse into the life of the Magdalene, of what she and Jesus believed about their mission, and what they foresaw for the future of humanity–a future that Mary says is unfolding right now…

James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls Volume II by Robert Eisenman

In this concluding volume of James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II: The Damascus Code, the Tent of David, the New Covenant, and the Blood of Christ, renowned biblical scholar Robert Eisenman compresses in a more reader-friendly format the results of previous work, creating a more comprehensive picture of Jesus’ brother James as “the pivotal Opposition Leader” of the time leading up to the War against Rome (66-70 CE).

Is there an interconnecting code between the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls? Eisenman – who broke the Scrolls monopoly and was the first to identify the so-called “James Ossuary” as fraudulent – shows that there is. Moreover, in this newly-revised volume, he ‘decodes’ many beloved and famous sayings of the Gospels, such as “Every plant which My Heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted,” “A man shall not be known by what goes into his mouth but by what comes out of it,” “Do not throw Holy Things to dogs”, etc. including chapters like “The Dogs who Licked Poor Lazarus’ Sores” or “Rabbi Eliezer’s Bad Breath and Lazarus’ Stinking Body”.

In identifying the Scrolls as the literature of “the Messianic Movement in Palestine”; he not only connects “James the Brother of Jesus” to the Leadership of ‘Early Christianity’ in Palestine, but also to "the Righteous Teacher” in the Scrolls.

Offering a point-by-point analysis of James' relationship to the Habakkuk Commentary, The Damascus Document, The War Scroll, etc., he also illumines the subjects "the Pella Flight and raising the Fallen Tent of David”, “Paul as an Herodian,” “the Wilderness Camps,” and “Peter”’s role as “a prototypical Essene” but in Acts as a mouthpiece for anti-Semitism. In doing so he, not only clarifies the true history of Palestine in the First Century, but deciphers the way ‘the picture’ of “Jesus” was put together in the Gospels and, as a consequence, what can be known about the real “Jesus”.

He also covers subjects like “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus” and Paul’s attack on James on the Temple steps, extending it to the competition between Paul and “the Party of James” over “Circumcision” in Antioch and the conversion of Queen Helen Adiabene and her sons in Northern Syria, who led the “famine relief” effort ascribed to Paul in Acts. Moreover, he will show the figure of James to have been so influential and highly-regarded in the Jerusalem of his day that his death was the capstone event leading up to the Jewish Revolt against Rome.

In making these arguments and exposing actual ‘overwrites’, a crucial new point that emerges is his identification of the Qumran document called by scholars “MMT” as a ‘Jamesian’ Letter to “the Great King of the Peoples beyond the Euphrates.” At the same time, he unravels the real “code” behind the pivotal New Testament allusion: “This is the Cup of the New Covenant in My Blood,” connecting it to “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus” and “giving the Cup of the Right Hand of the Lord ( "the Cup of Divine Wrath”) to drink” in both the Damascus Document and Habakkuk Pesher in the Scrolls.

Did Paul know the meaning of the famous Damascus Document (discovered in Cairo in the Nineteenth Century) “to set the Holy Things up according to their precise specifications” – or the reverse of it, as Peter is presented as being made to understand by “a Voice out of Heaven” and “a Tablecloth” descending out of it – “to make no distinctions between Holy and profane” – on a rooftop in Gaza?

In this series, Eisenman’s revelations will extend far beyond these examples. James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, both I and II, will complete the task of rescuing James from the oblivion into which he was cast, either intentionally or via benign neglect. His conclusion will, therefore, definitively bear on the problem of “the Historical Jesus”: “Who and whatever James was, so was Jesus.” Eisenman’s many readers will not be disappointed.

This title is available in traditional print and eBook formats at fine online retails such as Amazon, Amazon Canada, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Book Depository, Google Books, Kobo eBooks, iBookstore, Scribd, Smashwords, and Tower Books.

Grave Distractions Publications Welcomes Dr. Robert Eisenman

The staff of Grave Distractions Publications is happy to announce that we will be working with biblical scholar Dr. Robert Eisenman. Instrumental in securing the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the public, Dr. Eisenman pairs his academic work with first hand experiences at many sites in the Holy Lands. Grave Distractions Publications will be publishing a number of texts for Dr. Eisenman over the next year beginning with James the Bother of Jesus Condensed. Dr. Eisenman is also working on a chronicle of his experiences with expediting the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the general public. To find out more about Dr. Eisenman, visit his author page at the Grave Distractions Publications website. Welcome to the Grave Distractions Publications family Dr. Eisenman!

Faith for a Dark Saturday to be Re-Released

Grave Distractions Publications will assist Green Hills Press in re-releasing an updated version of James T Baker's 1973 title Faith for a Dark Saturday.  eBook and print versions will be out soon pending some final work on the title.  If you'd like to be emailed when Faith for a Dark Saturday is released, drop a line to info@gravedistractions.com with the subject line "Faith for a Dark Saturday".  We will promptly email you the release information.

Synopsis of Faith for a Dark Saturday

Everyone, sometimes in his life, experiences a dark Saturday of despair like the Saturday between the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. In Faith for a Dark Saturday, Dr. Baker imaginatively tells the stories of persons in the Bible who experienced severe testing of their faith and reached the darkest hour of despair. They were not aware of the dawn of the resurrection day that was soon to follow.  Even though they could not see into the future, their faith sustained them through these dark hours.