book reviews

Revisiting the Shack

/ E Bishop Wooten / Leave a comment

I finally got around to reading this book by Wm. Paul Young and even found his blog (everybody has one these days). I can’t figure out why many professing christian’s disagree with the theology of this book. Maybe because it borders on being a Universalist?

Jesus, in the book, referred to people of other religions seeking to follow God. When Mack (the lead character) asked if that meant that all roads lead to Rome (heaven), Jesus said not at all. When you think about it you can find God in any religion so you are held accountable if you choose to reject Him by being self-reliant and making yourself a god; i.e. establishing your own righteousness rather than seeking after the Righteousness and the Kingdom of God.

Even though you can find God through any religion, all the world’s wisdom trace back to Ancient Judaism which promises the coming of the Messiah whom the Jews are still waiting for and Christians are waiting to come again. You can find God in any religion so all roads to lead to God but salvation comes through faith in the Messiah.

As the Lord Jesus/Yeshua declared to the Samaritan woman in John 4, salvation is of the Jews but a day is coming when true worshippers/followers will worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for He seeks such to worship & follow Him.

It doesn’t matter what religion you practice. Paul says in Romans 10:9,10 that all you have to do to be saved is believe in your heart and confess your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ (or Yeshua Mashiach). Matthew 7:21 is perhaps the scariest verse in the Bible because Jesus (the real one) declares “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those who do the will of the Father.” His half-brother says the same in James 2:24-26 when he says that we are justified by our works and not by faith alone in contradiction to Paul. Paul and James were actually agreeing because James was basically defining what faith is. Faith is an active trust in a living God.

We are saved by God’s Grace & Mercy. Grace in the Strong’s Concordance is defined as “a divine influence on the heart that is reflected in the life.” Now that’s a definition you’ve never heard in the church. They have it half-right. It is unmerited and unearned because you don’t have to merit the love of you parents if they love you unconditionally. Also no human can love you unconditionally like your Heavenly Father.

God has mercy on whom He has mercy. You can’t respond to the call of salvation unless you hear His call which you won’t if you get too deep in your own sinful and selfish way of living. God doesn’t show favorites. Jesus said “many are called but few are chosen.” The chosen are those that stand on the Word of God. The ones who possess and not merely possess salvation.

COMMENTS

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  • Lori Colbo 7 years ago from Pacific NorthwestWow, I have a few comments. First of all, I read the book a couple of years ago, against better advice. Although there was stuff I really loved in this book, what bothered me most was the depiction of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The God of the Bible is nothing like the Jamacian woman and the Holy Spirit is not an etheral weirdo.Your declaration that God can be found in any religion, and all roads lead to God completely contradicts that salvation can be found by faith in the Messiah. The problem with those statements is that other religions do not worship or consider Jesus Christ as anything but a good moral teacher or benevolent prophet. Buddists do not claim Jesus Christ as God in the flesh, and Lord and Savior, they don’t even look for Him, so how can you say they can find God in their religion? Nor do Hindus, Jehovah’s Witnesses, New Age, Wiccans, Muslims, and many cults. Chrisitanity is not just an intellectual acknowledgment that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. It is a whole being, whole life belief that He is Lord of their lives and they will give up all to follow Him. One cannot serve two Gods. I have an acquaintance who says Jesus is her Lord and Savior, but follows are kinds of New Age practices in which she claims to find all sorts of enlightenment in objects and other nonsense. If one claims faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, they will not deviate from His teachings. Paul’s writings are very definitive as well as to how we are to live unto Christ. Your view is very universalist.Having said all this, I did not wish to come out in attack mode. Just to explain what I know of walking with Christ for 30+ years and studying His word. Paul warned the churches not to follow any other gospel other than the one he preached. I see in your message that you have a great heart. Thank you.
    • DenyStatus: Approved.

An American Family Heritage: The fictitious Morgan family by Jack Cavanaugh

/ E Bishop Wooten / Leave a comment

I first read this series in a library back in 2004. I’m a slow reader and these 500 page novels I still managed to finish within two weeks each. There were eight books at the time:

  1. The Puritans-set around the time the first colonists’ arrived in America and follows Drew Morgan who is the Patriarch of the fictitious Morgan family and the legacy he passed down with a 1611 King James Bible he inherited from his Father-n-law and spiritual mentor, Christopher Matthews.
  2. The Colonists’-Fasts forward to the early 18th century with the three kids of Drew’s great-grandson Benjamin Morgan. That would make the kids 5th generation Morgans in this series. This is by far my favorite novel and I sincerely felt a spiritual revival reading this and the one to follow.
  3. The Patriots-Jared and Anne Pierpont Morgan (Ben Morgan’s youngest son and his wife) and their twin boys Jacob and Esau Morgan. This story is set in the time of the American Revolution and features a cast of characters that make up our founding fathers. Each son makes up one side in the American Revolution.
  4. The Adversaries-Fasts forward to the Civil War with the surviving twin’s grandson the honorable Reverend Jeremiah Morgan and the founding of the Heritage Churches of America and his four kids. There’s a surprise heir to the Morgan line at the end.
  5. The Pioneers-Takes place around the turn of the century with Jess Morgan pursuing a woman halfway across the early settlements of the U.S. territory. Jess is the son of the surprise heir in the previous novel and the 10th generation in the Morgan line with the same Bible.
  6. The Allies-Features Jess’s and his wife’s son and daughter during the time of the Great War of the early 20th century.
  7. The Victors-Jess Morgan’s four grandkids by his son during the time of World War Two.
  8. The Peacemakers’-Jess’s great grandkids Travis and Paige Morgan and features Paige as a college bound hippie and Travis lost in the world of the Vietnam War Era. My second favorite novel.
  9. The Guardians-Came out around the time of the 21st century and is the more recent novel which means it classifies as contemporary fiction now with the 14th generation of the Morgan clan nearly 400 years after Drew Morgan set foot on American soil. The family in the last two book have migrated all the way to Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada with Travis Morgan’s twin boys and a suprise trip to the ruins of Edenford where the legacy started with Drew’s salvation.

I bought the latest book for $2.99 on my free Amazon kindle for pc and I intend to reread this entire series. Only this time I will be purchasing each book so I can reread once every decade for spiritual enlightenment. Maybe I’m weird but I felt a spiritual revival just reading this series. It actually got me into historical fiction.