All Christian Books are Okay to Read, Right? Not Necessarily

So, for a while I was on a reading spree at my local library.  I found the section of books with a Christian theme (think Max Lucado, etc).  I love these books because they fire my imagination and teach me spiritually from God’s Word.  Max Lucado has a wonderful gift of bringing the scriptures alive and a unique way of writing that warms the heart and makes you love Jesus even more.

There are many other authors that I love to read, like Beth Moore, Philip Yancey, and Joyce Meyer to name a few.  When you read another’s thoughts and expositions about the Bible and the stories, it opens up worlds you never would have seen without someone with a gift for words sharing with you.  Reading the Bible is essential, of course, but these are like a Bible study.  They have expanded and deepened my faith in ways that I never would know without these wonderful books as a resource for Christian growth.

I never would have imagined that I would encounter what I am going to tell you next.  There is danger even here in the land of literature that masquerades as “Christian.”  I chose, from my public library in the “Christian” non-fiction section, a book entitled “Heaven is so Real” by Choo Thomas (not to be confused with Heaven is for Real).

I cannot tell how the book starts.  It has been quite awhile since I had this book in my hands, but the impression it left on me is very fresh in my mind.  I won’t ever forget it, either.  The book is a recounting of Choo Thomas’s “encounters” with Jesus.  She speaks of actually seeing Jesus sitting on the platform at her church.  She is the only one to see Him, and she “sees” Him very often at her church.

That is just the beginning.  She tells of Jesus coming to her room at night and taking her on various journeys to Heaven itself.  She gives detailed descriptions of the things in Heaven, such as a place with all the aborted babies of the world.  She states that Jesus shows her a mansion and cars that He wishes to give her because she is His “special one.”

Our Pastor’s wife describes that off feeling about something as “having a yuck in your spirit” which describes what I am about to share next.  The further I read in the book, the more times she said Jesus called her “His special one,” the worse I felt – as if I was lacking in some way in the eyes of Jesus.  And that is where the “yuck” in my spirit comes in.

Thankfully for my sake, I knew enough about Jesus to know that anything that made me feel like I was inferior to another believer in God’s eyes was not from God, because I know God is not like that.  I knew that anything that made me feel like that is wrong, wrong, wrong.  I put that book down right away!  I went online just to see if I could find any information about this book and this woman.  Suffice it to say if you Google this, you will get dozens of hits.  There are lots and lots of testimonies about this book and its “wrongness.”  The author basically says her book is above the Bible, and speaks about people getting saved by reading it.

I felt so strongly about the danger of this book I wrote a note and left it in the front of the book when I returned it in hopes I might be able to warn someone else.  I also emailed Christian Book.com to alert them they shouldn’t sell this book, and included evidence from the online sources I read.  I have no idea if they even saw it, but I tried.

The Bottom Line: The Holy Spirit lives in you, and He is the source of all truth.  If something is “off,” He will let you know.  Your job is to heed His warnings.  The Word of God, however, is the ultimate reference Book.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  1 John 4:1

And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.  2 Corinthians 11:12-15

Satan masquerades as an “angel of light.”  We must be on our guard and not allow his false teachings to come nigh to our dwelling.  Trust in God, and test all other spirits.