If you have ever thought that Scientology may not be as bad as is being reported than you need to read the latest expose on Scientology entitled, Going Clear Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2013, hardback, 430 pages, $28.95). The book is a page turner.

Author Lawrence Wright is a graduate of TulaneUniversity and the AmericanUniversity in Cairo and is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has authored six other books and has won a Pulitzer Prize. He is also a screenwriter. He is a meticulous writer and lists 6 pages of sources for this new book.

In spite of Scientology’s claim of millions of members Wright says that there really are about 25,000 that call themselves Scientologists. He explains that there are 3 tiers in Scientology. The majority of Scientologists are just average run of the mill Scientologists. Then there are celebrity and Hollywood Scientologists. Tier 1 would love to mix and mingle with tier 2 but that rarely if ever happens. The third tier consists of what might be called “clergy” that run the church mainly from Florida and California. There are approximately 3,000 to 5,000 and they are called the Sea Organization or Sea Org. The name is a remnant from the time that founder Ron L. Hubbard ran the organization while on the high seas.

Wright explains what motivated him to write this book: Continue reading …

(A Brief Review of Rough Road to Freedom: A Memoir by Neil T. Anderson; Monarch Book, 2012, $14.99)

Yiddish is a language developed by the Jews in Europe. Yiddish has some interesting sounding words. One of those Yiddish words is the word schmutz. The word schmutz has a range of meanings and can be described as soiled, icky, a mess as in “I have schmutz all over my face”. It is also used of something of inferior quality. If one is having lots of serious problems they might say they have fallen into the schmutz.

Author Neil Anderson is known as The Bondage Breaker from the title of one of his books (see our article “Cure All Bondages” beginning on page 4) . He recently published his biography entitled, Rough Road to Freedom. His forte is deliverance from demons but in a gentle low keyed style euphemistically called by Anderson, “freedom encounters.” There is not a lot of freedom felt when a Christian is told they have a demon inside of them. It is a case of saddling you with a problem that you did not know you had simply because Anderson says so. He eschews being thought of as an exorcist and is against the rambunctious, hollering commanding type of exorcist. Though there is a stylistic difference it is the same game with a different name. Continue reading …

Book Review: Buyer Beware Finding the Truth in the Marketplace of Ideas, Janet Parshall, Moody Press, 2012, 199 pages, $14.99

If you are looking for an informative and stimulating Christian book this one is instructive, thought provoking and practical. Janet Parshall is a columnist, author and radio host. In Buyer Beware she begins by taking us back to the 1600’s and John Bunyan’s classic work, Pilgrim’s Progress. She borrows Bunyan’s Vanity Fair imagery to launch into discussions about our present public square; “Vanity Fair” was and still is a rough place. Surely Christian and Faithful would have preferred the gentle countryside that lay not far beyond the fair. After all, who really wants to go into all that messy stuff – the shouting, the stealing, the lying, the sexual promiscuity, the turning of Truth on its head?

So let’s go visit Vanity Fair together. We’ll visit the booths and see for ourselves what is being bought and sold. Come and study the counterfeit goods being offered in the public square today so that you can better know how to offer the countervailing gift of truth. (Pages, 19 and 21).

Parshall transitions to the Old Testament Jeremiah Continue reading …

Where Has Oprah Taken Us? The Religious Influence of the World’s Most Famous Woman, by Stephen Mansfield, Nelson Publishers 2011, Hardback, 246 pages, $22.99

This book could be titled Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Oprah Winfrey and Much Much More.  Stephen Mansfield’s book is a insightful page turner and an incredibly interesting read. He is a New York Times Best-Selling Author and Biographer. He is well researched in Eastern Mysticism and is also a professing believer in Christ.

In the early chapters Mansfield sketches a fast moving biography of Oprah Winfrey (born February 1954) and pin points the exact time, location and decision made by her that propelled her away from her Christian roots Continue reading …

Wandering Stars, Contending For the Faith With the New Apostles and Prophets, by Keith Gibson, Solid Ground Christian Books, Birmingham, Alabama, paperback, 306 pages, 2011, $25 (Note: This book can be purchased from our friends at Personal Freedom Outreach by calling 314/921-9800)

Author Keith Gibson has produced a book on the history, heresies and aberrations of the New Apostolic and Prophetic Movement. In it he takes on every one of their claims. It is comprehensive and meticulously documented. Gibson has researched an incredible amount of material and information from first sources and from the writings and public statements of these heretical teachers themselves. It is interesting to see their own words condemn them. What Gibson exposes is a group of false teachers who are presenting an imaginary and fictitious portrait of God, Christ, the Gospel and the Christian life and who wind up in the end with a diminished God, and a diminished Bible. In doing so they work hard to exalt themselves and themselves alone. Continue reading …

I have been asked numerous times about the movement called Liberation Theology. What is it and where did it originate? Is it helpful or harmful? Or maybe somewhere in between? This movement actually sprung up in the 1960’s as some Latin American scholars attempted to address poverty and oppression perpetuated by dictatorial governments in various parts of the world especially in Roman Catholic countries in South America.. It certainly sounded like a good cause. Could social change be facilitated and people liberated out of poverty through social justice and personal empowerment helped along by Bible verses? These ideas were introduced in the United States through the writings of Gustavo Gutierrez, ( Dictionary of Christianity in America, pages 648-650). The sad fact is that Liberation Theology Continue reading …

Ephesians 4:14 tells us that there will be those who by trickery and cunning craftiness will lie in wait to deceive us. So we have been warned. This passage also warns us that of we do not take heed and allow ourselves to be taken in we will be unstable and blown around and thrown about by every false doctrine that comes down the pike. It is sad to see it happening.

In an old three Stooges skit, Curley is on the witness stand in court and asked by the questioning attorney to speak clearly so the jury can understand him. His immediate response is, Continue reading …