by Ted Dekker
RADICAL!!!!!
I give it 10 out of 10.
Ted has challenged Western Christianity to its very core.
*spoiler alert*
The main character, Alice, is kidnapped by her birth mother and step-father. She goes to live with them and their son Bobby on a property surrounded by swamps, under the control of a man called Zeke. Alice then suffers 5 years of religious abuse. She is given an exorbitant list of rules and rituals to follow and is expected to be the perfect, spotless lamb. She is baptised every Sunday to cleanse the whole family of sin. If she suffers from any temptation to be rebellious she is expected to confess and repent for hours in her prayer closet, not to mention suffer other consequences to keep herself pure.
But she is growing into an adult and she is attracted to Zeke’s son Paul. It seems she is forbidden to ever marry, and yet she wants to know what it would be like to be married to Paul. She feels guilty for even imagining these things until Paul tells her that he loves her. They see each other in secret, but Zeke mysteriously (or supernaturally) finds out. Zeke’s response is to take his wrath out on Paul and beat his own son in the face!
This is a poignant description of how most of Western Christendom views God-the-Father. God is so angry at our sin, our lust, our imperfection; that he beats his son to teach us a lesson. Zeke, who represents God-the-Father, sets all the rules. He wants people to be perfect. And when they fail, someone must be punished.
Next, Alice tries to run away, but she is caught by Zeke. Then Zeke tells Alice’s mother, Kathryn, to break Alice’s leg. From my perspective, Kathryn represents the church. She is the enforcer God-the-Father’s rules and punishments. She is convinced that if she doesn’t break her daughter’s leg, their fate will be even worse and their punishment eternal. She wants to be like Abraham who didn’t hesitate to offer up his son Isaac on an altar. But she feels torn because she loves her daughter. So she twists her daughter’s ankle instead.
When Alice tries to escape again, Zeke comes and breaks her leg himself. If the church won’t punish the disciple, then God-the-Father will do it himself. What a sick and twisted view of God we have! But Ted Dekker doesn’t stop there.
Alice has visions of a man named Stephen who represents Jesus. Stephen is coaxing Alice to walk on the water of her troubles. The only way to overcome trouble is take no offence to the trouble and stop perceiving it as trouble. Trouble only exists in the mind. The true power of a Christian is in forgiveness. The true representation of Father-God is that he is always forgiving, never offended by our sin, and does not require punishment or appeasement for sin!
Ted has contrasted the widely accepted gospel, with a higher truth that Christianity has so often overlooked! God is unconditionally loving and forgiving. As soon as Alice embraced this truth, it changed her relationship with her mother by spilling love over into Kathryn’s life. Then Kathryn was able to free her daughter and they both truly repented (changed their minds) about who God is.
Ted Dekker I cannot thank you enough for writing this book! I am so proud of you for contrasting these two gospels that are in complete opposition to each other. The first is truly a satanic version of the gospel, for only Satan requires that we be abused for our sins–he is the accuser who comes to steal, kill and destroy! The real Jesus is our forgiveness, love and peace. You are very brave. Traditional Christians will hate this story if they can see it for what it truly is.
In writing water walker, you have become a water walker. You have been my favourite author for many years, but now you have become my hero and an even greater inspiration. I want to write books like this. I admire you. I praise God for you. I hope that I will meet you some day–if not in this life, then in the next.
Teach Only Love by Gerald Jampolsky
The overall message and essence of this book is phenomenal. I cried through the introduction and first few chapters as well as many of the stories to follow, because Jerry put words to something I have been contemplating and needing to hear: that love really is the answer.
“Love is total acceptance and total giving – with no boundaries and no exceptions. Love, being the only reality, cannot be transformed. It can only extend and expand. It unfolds endlessly and beautifully upon itself. Love sees everyone as blameless, for it recognizes the light within each one of us. Love is the complete absence of fear and the basis for all Attitudinal Healing.”
Jerry encourages us to listen to the inner voice of love and follow it, rather than succumbing to our fears. Being a Universalist-Christian myself, I understand this as listening to the voice of God who is love and who teaches us to walk in love because this brings peace to us and to others.
I am still contemplating the 12 principles of Attitudinal Healing. Below are some of the things I have gleaned from them:
We can release negative emotions by forgiving others and interpreting any “attack” as a cry for help from the person we perceive as attacking.
We judge others according to our sense of “right” and “wrong” which is based on our experience and is not based in the reality of love. It is healthier to let our judgments fade and to stop trying to change people. Then we can accept them exactly where they are at.
By giving love we also receive love and healing within ourselves. Loving ourselves and others seems intimately entwined, just as giving and receiving seem to operate at one and the same time. This is the law of karma or sowing and reaping.
Death is not the end: we live on in a state of eternal love. There is no separation between myself and God, or any other creature in existence. Every minute action of mine causes ripple effects around the world, so the more we focus on giving love, and being in a state of peace and non-judgmental forgiveness, the more the world will come into alignment with love, peace and forgiveness.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to give and receive more unconditional love and therefore minister healing to his or herself and others.
Proof of Heaven
by Eben Alexander
I love the way God chose Eben Alexander for this near death experience! Eben is a scientist and brain surgeon who was skeptical about the existence of God and the possibility of an afterlife. He experienced a disease similar to E. coli which shut down his consciousness. As a scientist he knew it was impossible for him to have a near death experience in this state of brain-death … unless it was completely real!
Not only a scientist, but also an adopted child, Eben tells a unique story of rejection issues from his biological parents, bouts of depression and confusion. This experience radically altered his life forever as he learned that in REALITY he is not rejected at all but loved completely, unconditionally and limitlessly by God.
This is a beautiful reminder that we are all interconnected through the God of love!
I give it 7 out of 10.
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