The
following is based on an ever saddening email conversation concerning the Shack
Hi____________,
Thank you for your encouraging words.
It is such a blessing to hear how the Lord is working through His Word. I
pray His Word continues to work in your life.
Concerning The
Shack, I have not read it all the way through and I do not plan to,
although I am aware, unfortunately, of much that is in the book. And from
what I have read, I know enough of the Word to recognize this book is
deceptive and evil, therefore I chose to turn away from it in
obedience to the Word of God.
In the context of prophetic utterances, which is
the Word of God, we see Paul telling the Thessalonians 21”But examine everything carefully; hold fast
to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.” 1
Thessalonians 5:21-22 The word
translated “examine” speaks of testing or proving. The word "abstain"
means to stay away from. Now although the shack is not the
Word of God, it is being subtly used in such a fashion. It does not
take more than a quick perusal to test it to see the overall intent of the
book, and then in obedience, turn away from it.
Now, many Christians have made much about the
specific issues within the book, such as “how could God be portrayed as a black
woman?” To me, these are sub issues and can be diversions from the
main issue, which is:
By what right does anyone have to declare truth (or
in this case mistruth) or teach about God apart from the Word of God? Let
me phrase it this way: What authority does the author have to share or
teach anything about God, apart from the Word of God.
1 Peter
4:10-11 10 As each one has received a special
gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold
grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it
were, the utterances of God; (or literally "oracles of God",
that is His Word cf Rom 3:2)
I am aware of the
arguments that the author was not intending to teach about God, and that this
is nothing more than a modern day Pilgrim's Progress.
However, the point remains, he is doing just that. He is teaching about the nature of God in
a subtle and deceptive way. We
see the fruit of such false teaching when people (including many
from Crossroads) talk about how much God "through the book" has
change their lives.
However, if we understood the Word of God, we would
never make such a spiritually adulterous statement. It is the
Word of God alone that equips us for,
not most, but every good work 16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17
that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2
Timothy 3:16 -17
Consider
the influence The Shack is
experiencing and how it has permeated the life of Crossroads. It is discussed at the pulpit by a woman and
affirmed by the pastor and by others in authority. That is a powerful testament to its
deceptiveness! Although they may state
that this book is not the Word of God, and insist that they are not granting it
status as such, yet by their outward response, just the opposite is true! As concepts are shared from the pulpit and
people give God credit for changing and healing their lives...“through the
book”.
However, God
has not left us in the dark concerning the means by which He has ordained the
transformation of our lives! Our lives are changed through Christ, by
means of His Spirit empowered written Word…
In Salvation: It is the Spirit-empowered
and inspired Word of God that He uses to bring us into a relationship with
Himself.
In Sanctification: It is the same Word of God (alone) that He uses
to grow us in respect to our salvation.
The Shack is nothing more than
a fable fit for old women; it is nothing more than a myth. Satan
and his servants actively use this type of earthly wisdom to subtly draw people
away from His Word. Indeed, throughout Paul's letters to Timothy, we
see warning and instruction concerning such false teaching. Paul reveals the stark contrast between false
teachers (as in the propagation of this type of materials) and what Timothy
should be doing: preaching the Word of God and pointing out such error.
1 Timothy
4:6-7 6 In pointing out these things to the
brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished
on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been
following. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for
old women.
4:1 I solemnly charge you in
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word;
be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with
great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears
tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their
own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and
will turn aside to myths.
When all is said and done, The Shack is a mere fable. It is a myth which subtly assaults
the sufficiency of Scripture. In the most subtle way, deceived
Christians and make-believers are looking to this book to gain insight
concerning God, and they would readily share that their lives have been changed
by it. This is evil. Certainly godly under-shepherds, who truly love
Christ, would never allow such evil to enter into the church or to be
propagated from the leadership. Those who do so are either false teachers or are
completely unqualified and sinning, thus disqualified leaders.
I have not shared all I would like to share
concerning this. However, you need to
understand and recognize that if you have accepted this book and sit under
those who would propagate it, then you need to repent also. I'm not
saying this is the case, because I do not know you. Still, I would
encourage you to examine yourself in light of Scripture to see if you desire
to have your ears tickled by attending Crossroads. You are in spiritual
danger and I must warn you.
I pray you will examine yourself and ask God if
there is any wicked fleshly way within you that is keeping you in the midst of
a church that is openly deceptive and disobedient. We cannot
follow Christ in this half-hearted way! Jesus calls us to follow Him
completely!
I do not mean to offend you, and again, though
I do not know you, I
pray that you will take to heart what I have shared, for your own good and for
those around you.
Thank you again for your email, I do
appreciate your question.
If you have any other questions please feel free to
call or e-mail.
In Him,
Greg Lundstedt
___________,
Thank you also for your response. Yet,
I must admit I am greatly grieved by it.
I need to let you know, I usually do not respond to
those whom I am not shepherding unless I can prayerfully discern a genuine
desire for obedience to God’s Word. My desire is to be a good steward of the
time God gives to me. Thus it's
important for me to attempt to understand the motive of the one who is
asking the question before I spend God’s time responding.
In your
first query, I prayerfully held back from the possibity
that you were really querying me to see if I had read the book all the way
through so that this might be the basis for you to accept or reject my opinions
concerning this book. I sensed from your query that this was
where you're coming from. But after praying, I believe that the Lord
wanted me to give you the Word of God concerning these issues.
As I shared earlier, I was greatly grieved by
your response because it was centered around a
discounting of what I said, simply because I have not read the book all
the way through. What was absent from your response was anything
related to Scripture and to the arguments I
gave.
Let me give you an extreme example of where you are
in error, which I hope makes the point: Do you believe the Book of Mormon is erroneous? On
what basis do you say so? Have you read through it all the way?
Does one need to read through it completely to recognize it is erroneous?
Certainly not. If
someone reads portions of the book of Mormon and discovers error, and then
puts it down and turns away from it, is the error they found discounted simply because
they did not read the entire book? Absolutely
not! There are Mormons who use your same line of reasoning to
discredit anyone who addresses their error. Do you see the fallacy in that? How about the Koran? Does one need to read it through all the way in order to
give it an adequate judgment? Not at all.
Once unbiblical, heretical things are found, (which by the way, will be found) it
should be put down immediately. We should, as we are commanded in
Scripture, to "abstain from every form of evil."
What about The Purpose Driven Church? Or the Purpose Driven Life?
If I were to read portions of it and find it to be un-biblical (which it is!) would the fact that I
did not read it through completely, be enough to discount the error
that was found? Obviously not.
Besides the fact that your argument is based on a
fallacy rather than Scripture, as I have exemplified, what grieves me
the most is that you did not respond one bit to the Scripture and the explanations that I have
given concerning this book. This is telling, and
reveals how deeply and subtly you have been wooed away from the Lord and the
authority of His Word. The very way you have answered is an
illustration of how dangerous this book is.
Your statement that one must read the entire book
in order to make an accurate judgment, is a total
fallacy and is an evidence that you have bought into the very thing I am
warning you about.
I believe your comments reveal that you are
deceived, but God is gracious to warn you. Although, unfortunately, your
elders have not warned you, nor have they sought to protect you. Thankfully, God is good and gracious and
He has warned you through the Word that I shared with you in my last e-mail.
***You may attempt to simply write-off all that I
have said, wrongly thinking that since I have not read the book in its entirety, I am unable to make
an adequate judgment. Still, you cannot
write-off the truth of the Scriptures that I have shared regarding this
book. For a woman who has been in the
Scriptures for 30 years, I find it very odd that you do not address the
Scriptures that I have shared with you, and the context in which I shared
them. If I am wrong, show me from the Word
of God that I sent to you, and from my explanations, where I am wrong. What Scriptures do you have that validate
your view of the book?
It is ironic that you "cannot accept what I
have to say" simply because I haven't read the book in its
entirety, and that I am unwilling to listen to what you say because you
have not shared from the Scriptures. This should be an eye opener to
you.
________would you please ask the Lord, with a
humble heart, if the specific Scriptures I have given to you and their application to The
Shack are from Him, or from man?
I do thank you again for responding, and please
know that I am praying for you. If you desire to have an honest
conversation concerning the Word of God (not your own opinion) I am willing to
do so.
In Him,
Greg
________
Okay,
so you don’t want to address the main issue as I have laid
forth through Scripture: that the author has no right to teach about the nature
of God apart from the Word of God. The fact remains, that this book is, above
all, an attack on the sufficiency of Scripture.
Who
has the right to make up a story to teach about God, let alone misrepresent Him,
through human concepts? Bringing Him
down to man’s level is pure idolatry!
God
has never, ever approved of man describing Him through his own wisdom. This is idolatry! God has condescended to reveal Himself to
man via His Word, not by man’s own wisdom or understanding.
This main
point alone should have been enough to warn you to set the book down, but you
did not. ***You continued on, and now you are reaping
the consequences of your own choices through being deceived by obvious error.
By the way,
you are wrong and have misquoted Scripture. Believers do judge the church when sin is
involved. (In this case, Idolatry)
1 Corinthians 5:11-13 11 But actually, I wrote
to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral
person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a
swindler-- not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the
church? 13 But those
who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
Besides the
obvious point that I made, which would not require a full reading of the book, since
you know the book so well, let me ask you: What about the heretical false teaching in the
book?
Can you
prove to me that these heretical concepts concerning the nature of God (as
Michael Yousef has rightly pointed out (1)) are not
subtly taught in the book?
1. That God the Father was
crucified with Jesus.
2. That God is completely limited
by His love and would not practice justice
3. That God on the cross God
forgave all humanity regardless whether the they repent or not
4. That any hierarchical structure
whether it be in the church or in the government is
evil
5. God will never judge people for
their sins
6. That there is no hierarchical
structure in the Godhead,
just a circle of unity
7. God submits to human wishes and
choices
8. Justice will never take place
because of love
9. There is no such thing as
eternal judgment in torment in hell
10. Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God and
it doesn't matter which way you get to Him.
11. Jesus is constantly being transformed with us humans
12. No need for faith or reconciliation with God because everyone will make
it to heaven
13. The Bible is not true because it reduces God to paper
The
author of The Shack is a false teacher,
you are deceived, and
your elders are disobedient and disqualified.
I am judging you and your elders concerning your
idolatry. You are placing The Shack on the same level as
Scripture…as something that can change your relationship with God. You
need to repent now.
You are also propagating this heresy with your
approval of this book. And if you have caused
any one of the Lord’s sheep to stumble, it is better that a millstone be hung
around your neck…you would be better off dead!
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble,
it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that
he be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling
blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that
man through whom the stumbling block comes! Matthew 18:6-7
Repent now of your idolatry and God will
graciously forgive you.
(1)
Pointed out in another email http://www.leadingtheway.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sto_TheShack_13heresies