SPECIAL REPORT
Non-Christian Authors, Books Continue
to Haunt the Christian Bookstore Industry
October 13, 2006
Christian Research Service (CRS) has spent years researching and providing
free information to the Christian bookstore industry concerning the
non-Christian content in major online Christian bookstores worldwide.
During that time, CRS has left no stone unturned, and has taken the opportunity to communicate with presidents, vice-presidents, owners, managers, representatives, employees, vendors, distributors, and publishers within the Christian bookstore industry. Learning the inner-workings of a multi-billion dollar per year enterprise is an education in and of itself.
Eventually, a small list of authors developed into a Master List of authors and books, with categories on Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, Emerging Church, Church Growth/Purpose Driven, Cultic, Heretical, New Age Movement, Homosexual/Pro-Gay, and the Word-faith Movement.
The Master List, along with additional information, has been provided to many individuals within the Christian bookstore industry, including major online Christian bookstores worldwide, with the hope and prayer that industry and bookstore officials would use the information to establish permanent safeguards to protect the body of Christ.
But unfortunately, non-Christian authors and books keep returning to haunt the online Christian bookstores, and will continue to do so until the entire Christian bookstore industry decides to do something about it once and for all.
Questions and answers
Month-after-month, the most popular topic on CRS's website is Christian Bookstores. Four of the most frequently asked questions are:
1. Can authors and books be permanently blocked and removed?
2. How long does it take to remove an author or book from an online Christian bookstore?
3. Are there any online Christian bookstores CRS recommends?
4. Why are non-Christian authors in the online Christian bookstores in the first place?
The answer to the first question is: Yes! But while authors and books have been "permanently blocked" and removed in the past, many have entered the revolving door and returned.
The answer to the second question is: To better understand the process by which authors and books are removed, CRS has spent untold hours speaking to online Christian bookstore webmasters across the nation. The bottom line is this: authors and books can be removed and blocked permanently! It doesn't take days, weeks, or months to do it, but a matter of minutes (refer to "Major Online Christian Bookstore Sets Precedence" at http://www.christianresearchservice.com/LifeWayOCB2.htm).
The answer to the third question is: Under the present conditions, no.
And, the fourth question, Why are non-Christian authors in the online Christian bookstores in the first place? Here are some reasons why, to be applied where applicable (the following is comprehensive but not a complete list):
1. Religious diversity and tolerance of all world religions and beliefs takes precedence over the exclusivity of God and His holy word.
2. A flagrant disregard for the commands of Scripture to Test all things, Try the spirits, Beware of false prophets, Guard the flock, and Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
3. The desire to please everyone, offend no one, and make money at the expense of the customer's lack of discernment--regardless of how deceptive and misleading the author's books may be.
4. More concern for the financial bottom-line instead of the spiritual welfare of the customer.
5. Emphasis on maintaining harmony with book publishers, distributors, retailers, bookstore affiliates, sales reps, vendors, and customers, instead of first maintaining fellowship with Jesus Christ and defending the faith.
6. The management and staff refuse to be accountable to God, and say they are not responsible for the non-Christian content and heretical doctrines expressed in the reading and listening materials.
7. What may be cultic and heretical to discerning Christians may be perfectly acceptable to the online Christian bookstore personnel.
8. To some, maintaining an online Christian bookstore is nothing more than a 9 to 5 job, where customer complaints are evaluated, forwarded to damage-control central, then deleted or tossed into the trash can.
9. Compromise; failure to communicate; failure to establish industry standards on non-Christian authors and materials.
Most importantly, here is what God has to say about it:
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the
faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1).
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep (2 Peter 2:1-3).
For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24).
This is why discerning Christians worldwide are warning the body of Christ more than ever to be wary of the cultic, heretical, New Age, pro-gay, and Word-Faith authors and books within the online Christian bookstores.
Tons of books, ounces of discernment
For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:13-14).
Across the board, online Christian bookstores already deal with tens-of-thousands of books on a regular basis; some more than others. This makes it virtually impossible to screen-out non-Christian authors from databases and put their books to the Biblical test (as 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and 1 John 4:1 commands). Many Christians assume that just because a book is on the shelf of a walk-in Christian bookstore, or the cybershelves of an online Christian bookstore, it has already been read, tested by Scripture, and is acceptable.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
The inability to test all of the authors by Scripture--coupled with spiritual blindness and the lack of discernment--makes for a deadly combination. This is a process that provides an open door invitation to the false prophets, false teachers, and doctrines of demons.
For a moment, consider the influence a non-Christian author's words can have on innocent, gullible Christians, not to mention the unsaved. False teachings cause Christians to stumble. False teachings drive the unsaved deeper into sin and further away from Jesus Christ. This is a serious dilemma for the online bookstores; a dilemma that requires immediate surgery, not band-aids.
Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! (Matthew 18:7).
The haunting of the industry
The Christian bookstore industry is being haunted, not by Halloweenish ghosts, goblins, and children dressed as demons with pitchforks, but by real false prophets, real false teachers, real demonic doctrines, and real people masquerading as Christians.
But the failure of the Christian bookstore industry to monitor their own bookstores is not due to their lack of knowledge. They have been informed time and time again, over and over and over, almost to the point of saturation.
In her article, "Trinkets or truth," Lynn Vincent quoted the president of the Christian Booksellers Association, Bill Anderson, stating that:
"'If there are books and products that run cross-grain with Scripture, we shouldn't be selling them,'" and that "'Most retailers I know are committed to pleasing the Lord, and running a business that is honoring to Christ. None I know would intentionally carry a title that runs counter to Scripture'"
Bill Anderson is correct. Christian bookstores should not be "selling" materials that "run cross-grain" with God's holy word. But the truth is that
Lynn Vincent's article was originally published in 1996. Ten years later, Christian bookstores are still advertising, promoting, and selling materials that are in direct opposition to the Bible.
And to take it one step further, despite the information that has been provided, there are both online and walk-in Christian bookstores that are "intentionally" carrying non-Christian materials.
Case in point: In September of this year, CRS communicated with officials in charge of a particular online bookstore. Questions were asked, and information, updates, and suggestions were provided. While CRS and other Christian researchers are more than willing to work with the online Christian bookstores, as of this writing the heretical, New Age and pro-gay authors and books in question are still being advertised and promoted within this particular online bookstore!
With Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 in mind, Christians should be both amazed and shocked that professing Christians have not heeded the clear-cut commands of Scripture, and allowed a distorted gospel, a counterfeit Jesus, and a counterfeit spirit to set-up shop in their online bookstores.
There is the sin of omission and the sin of commission. The sin of omission may be defined as avoiding or purposely leaving out the truth when an opportunity to tell the truth presents itself. The sin of commission may be defined as knowing the truth but lying or willfully doing the opposite.
Once informed, to knowingly endanger the spiritual welfare of Christians is the same as removing the warning label from a container of poison. Poison kills, whether from a bottle or false teachings.
Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do
it, to him it is sin (James 4:17).
A few suggestions for the Christian bookstore industry
The time has come when the entire Christian bookstore industry must take a serious look at who and what they are advertising and promoting, then do something about it--not six months from now or next year--but immediately.
After being informed with the facts, Christians who compromise are not only endangering the spiritual welfare of the believer, but they are elevating themselves over the authority of God's word and, in many cases, playing nicer than God.
It is time for the Christian bookstore industry to take seriously the apostle Paul's warnings in Acts 20:27-31, and stop worrying about the accessories, adornments, baubles, fancy doodads, knickknacks, trinkets, and marketing gimmicks to keep the industry alive. To survive, the Christian bookstore industry must return to the Lord and the truths of His word:
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5).
While computer technology plays a role in the non-Christian authors and books coming into the online Christian bookstores, that same technology can be used to remove non-Christian authors permanently, and stop the revolving door of deception in its tracks.
Every year, there are Christian bookstore industry conventions and retail shows
(http://www.cbaonline.org/), where publishers, distributors, and bookstore personnel get together and promote their materials. This would be a marvelous opportunity to conduct meetings, workshops, and roundtable discussions on how to weed-out the false teachers from Christian bookstores. At the same time, conventions could be used to rededicate lives to Jesus Christ, repentance, and fellowship.
The entire Christian bookstore industry thrives on and survives on the popularity and sales of authors and books. But as long as non-Christian authors and their books continue to be advertised and promoted and return to haunt the bookstores through the revolving door, the Christian bookstore industry will, slowly but surely, die a slow death.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).
Indeed, Christians need to pray...
Bud Press, Director
Christian Research Service
Jude 3
Recommended Reading:
Asleep on the Watch:
Beware of 'Christian' Bookstores:
An Open Letter to Tim Wildmon:
Major Online Christian Bookstore Sets Precedence:
New Age/Contemplative Books on Popular Christian Websites:
Christian Research Service's Master List, Articles, and News Releases:
© Christian Research Service 2006