The urgency of our Gnosticism Seminar and subsequent 48-hour course was driven home once again this week as I took a tour of the Christian booksellers online. I wanted to find out what authors are currently speaking out on this issue, with the hope we might find more support in this battle.
Peter Jones is the one Christian voice who has spoken out on this issue. Jones is an adjunct professor at Westminster Seminary and the author of several books on gnosticism, including Cracking Da Vinci’s Code, The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back, Gospel Truth and Pagan Lies, and Spirit Wars. But other than him, there’s a deafening silence in Christianity on this insidious disease that’s destroying the Church.
It’s tough going for those who seek to publish works that war against gnosticism. None of the major Christian publishers carry Jones’ works — not Zondervan, not Tyndale and not Baker. Nor do they carry any other books on the topic for that matter.
To put things in perspective, consider Zondervan’s current top ten best sellers. At number one (and number nine in paperback) is Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. It would take more space than I have here to address Warren’s ministry, but let me just say that he’s a disciple of that other Guru of positive thinking, Robert Schuller. He’s a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and actively promotes the one-world government agenda. He adopted Peter Drucker’s methodology of psychological manipulation (for business), using it to build a huge following of so-called believers. He’s so far afield of orthodox Christianity that you couldn’t find him with the Hubble telescope. Yet, this is the author that Zondervan promotes, because there’s big bucks at stake.
Also on the list we see other great works such as Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne, Velvet Elvis and Sex God by Rob Bell, and for light reading, they have the novel Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury. None of these books come close to representing the historic Christian Faith.
So, I went to Christianbooks.com hoping that there I’d find something on gnosticism. And sure enough, I did. There’s several books there on the topic — but they promote it rather than condemn it! Let’s start with The Gnostics: The First Christian Heretics by Sean Martin. This favorable view of the gnostics starts by claiming that the early church fathers “were fanatics with an axe to grind.” Then we see Rethinking Gnosticism by Michael Williams. The title gives it away — we need to rethink our hostility towards the gnostics, because they “have been greatly misunderstood.”
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Finally, Christianbooks.com sells Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism to The Da Vinci Code by Richard Smoley. Here’s the back cover introduction:
“Forbidden Faith provides the enduring story and continuing legacy of those errant faithful who have had direct experiences of the divine that can’t be explained by the official beliefs of the Church.”
So much for the exclusivity of Biblical revelation. Among Mr. Smoley’s contributions to humanity, he’s also written The Dice Game of Shiva: How Consciousness Creates the Universe. Perhaps he’s more of a Hindu than a Christian. Could it be?
So, there you have it. The great saints of the early church are being attacked by these revisionists who cannot stand for the historic defense of the true Christian Faith. And these Christian publishers are all too willing to go along. I guess we’re just too critical of those nice Grecian warriors popping out of the Trojan Horse — they’re misunderstood and we’re fanatics with an axe to grind. Never mind that they are slaying everyone in the church; we’re overreacting.
So, I hope you can see the reason for the urgency for the seminar and course. We aim to take a stand, regardless of the complacency of our brothers. Mark the date — don’t miss it. It’s way too crucial.
