th_goodbooks.jpgth_goodbooks.jpg

Chicken Soup for the  Soul…did you know that the author of these series of books is listed under the New Age section on the Master List from Christian Research Services?

  • UPDATE – This list is no longer available .

 

Have you ever read the shocking book “The Secret”?  Well now you can get the Christian version called “the Secret Things of God” by Dr.  Henry Cloud, a psychologist. More about this later…..

Every month I regularly receive a magazine from a well-known Christian store. I am on their mailing list because I have ordered from them in the past. I have been known to absent-mindedly just toss most of the magazines I get  into the trash.  This time I decided to take a look.

This particular christian book store has quite a few titles and many gift items.  I have purchased CD’s here also.  Now this was about two years and since, my taste in books have definitely changed with discernment and research.

 

Magazine in hand,  I decided to search for bookstore authors featuring Centering Prayer, Church Growth, Contemplative, Emergent, Labyrinth, Mysticism, and Purpose Driven systems.

Here is who I found:

Ken Blanchard

Richard Foster

Tony Jones

Keri Wyatt Kent

Sue Monk Kidd

Dan Kimball

Brennan Manning

Erwin McManus

Don Miller

Beth Moore DVD

John Ortberg

Doug Pagitt

Eugene Peterson

Leonard Sweet

Gary Thomas

Rick Warren*

Robert Webber

Lauren Winner

I only found a few authors on the New Age list online with this particular website, although the New Age authors on the Master List are blatantly New Age.  On the other hand this list will have to be closely watched because contemplative prayer is but one step from metaphysics which is entering an unknown spiritual realm.  One will need to constantly review this portion of the list to inform the reader of any New Age material in their possession.

Brooke Boon (Holy Yoga)

Jack Canfield (They Call Me Dad, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Christian Soul)

Here is a quote from Canfield which will explain why he is in the New Age category. “In USA, we have a Christian fundamentalist movement right now which is threatening other religions and I don’t like it. It’s a religious revival which is intolerant, it creates separation, pain, and is based on ignorance…What works for me is a combination of disciplines: I do yoga, tai chi which is a Chinese martial art and three kinds of medidationvipasana, transcendental and manta (sound) meditation…I meditate every day and I do something with my body every day: yoga or tai chi”.

Now on to the Word-of-Faith, New Apostolic Movement, Kingdom Now, Manifest Sons of God, Latter Rain, False Healing, False Prophets and False Teachers. This is a different story…..

Reinhard Bonnke

Charles Capps

Paul Yongi Cho

Kim Clement*

Kenneth Copeland

Creflo Dollar

Jesse Duplantis

Richard Foster

Francis Frangipane

Marilyn Hickey

Benny Hinn

Bill Hybels

T. D. Jakes

Rick Joyner

Joyce Meyer*

Miles Monroe*

Joel Osteen*

Rod Parsley*

Frederick K.C. Price

Dutch Sheets/Chuck Pierce

Tommy Tenney

C. Peter Wagner

*Authors found in catalog.

So these were all the authors I found being promoted on the Christian website even though they are classified as unfruitful works by the Christian Research Service.

There is another list of contemplative authors on http://lighthousetrailsresearch.com which serves to round off the list. I believe there to be many more. But this a very good start.  New names are sure to be added.

Now back to the featured book on the Christian website …. “the Secret things of God” by Dr. Henry Cloud. apparently Dr. Cloud a psychologist who is interested in spiritual things, was asked to write a “Christian” version of the shocking book “The Secret”. He says “This book is not a Christian argument for or against The Secret. In fact, it sometimes agrees with and sometimes differs with it.” For the record, this book needs to be totally rejected by Christians.

Here is an excerpt telling of how he became a Christian…..

I wandered across the SMU campus and found an empty chapel. It was cold and dark, and I went down to the altar and said a simple prayer. It was something like this: “God…I don’t even know if you are there. But if you are, I need your help. If you help me, I will do anything you tell me to do. Just help me. Find me.” At that point, I knew something had changed.

No — nothing happened. No lights, no burning bush, no feelings of peace. Just empty silence. Nothing on the outside was different, but I knew that inside something had changed. I had just taken a real step of faith…and I knew that if God did not show up in some real way, my life had just gotten a lot worse. I knew that if he did not answer me, I was truly alone in the universe. All my life I’d had the good ol’ American security blanket of “There is a God out there who is nice and loves us.” But now, I had actually stepped out and asked him to do something. (Emphasis mine).

It is not my place to decide if someone is living for the Lord, but where is the repentance? To belong to Christ involves admission of sin, as we are all guilty in God’s eyes. What is telling is that 25 years later he is on an airplane and describing how he usually tells a nosy passenger that he write books about God to shut them up.

Here is a video clip (1.5 min.) of the author and his book:

*UPDATE THIS CLIP IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. *

This video was  taped at a Women of Faith Conference.  I was once invited to one of these events when it was being promoted in Seattle, but when I researched the speakers, I found them to be “fluffy” with little biblical content. Max Lucado was one of the main speakers and I had been warned of him as a contemplative. I declined the invitation.

Well….. all this to tell you that Christian bookstores are promoting questionable books. You cannot trust many sources these days and I always recommend reading your Bible and pray that the Lord to open His word up to you. My  study group uses the NIV but I use the King James Version and go to the Blue Letter Bible all the time to verify a translation or to see it in Greek or Hebrew. http://www.blueletterbible.org/ Whenever I am in doubt I simply google the author and check the discernment sites.

The time has come that I no longer can go to the religion section in a big-name bookstore and just select something that sounds interesting.  Actually the New Age section is larger than the religion section, but the worst of it lies in the fact that there is a crossover of New Age and Religion titles.  I only buy books that I know tell the truth, and the truth is getting harder to come by.

Zondervan is now owned by Harper Collins, who also publishes “The Satanic Bible” and “The Joy of Gay Sex”.

Need I say more?

8/21/16.  I am adding a link of an excellent article taking a close look at his teachings.

Click to access 27%20Cloud%20Changes.pdf