Hidden from View: LifeWay Christian Bookstores 

Still Promoting 'Pro-Homosexual' Authors, Books

"Character is the expression of the person of Christ in our life. We will

live consistent, Christian lifestyles, conducting our ministry and business

with the highest standards of honesty, integrity and Christian ethics"

( LifeWay Core Value 4: Character )
 

According to its website, LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention "owns and operates 131 LifeWay Christian Stores throughout the United States" and "two of the largest Christian conference centers in the country" ( http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/mainpage/0,1701,M%253D200770,00.html ).

LifeWay walk-in bookstores span the nation--from Florida to Illinois, and from Maryland to Washington State. While each store stocks a wide variety of books and materials, if a book is currently unavailable, and if it is available for order  from their in-store online database, a LifeWay employee may simply order the book for the customer.

Towards the end of 2006, LifeWay came under heavy scrutiny from both Christian discernment ministries and secular news agencies for advertising and promoting homosexual, lesbian, and New Age authors and books within their online Christian bookstore at www.lifewaystores.com. As a result, LifeWay promptly removed the books, assured Christian Research Service the books would not be reinstated on the website, and that their decision was permanent.

Mark Scott is the Vice President of LifeWay Christian Stores. At this juncture, to be fair, it is important for the reader to review Scott's January 30, 2007 statement titled "Third-Party Distribution."

In Scott's statement, he makes it crystal clear that "LifeWaystores.com was offering a number of pro-homosexual titles," and that LifeWay "removed the titles immediately."

Within the last three years, LifeWay has removed an untold number of authors and books, including Word-Faith heretics such as Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland, New Agers and books promoting Buddhism and Hinduism, and a variety of "pro-homosexual" authors and books, such as Chris Glaser (homosexual activist) and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott (lesbian activist).

As a reminder, LifeWay, as well as all of the major online Christian bookstores, has been contacted, informed, and provided with information, documentation, and the MASTER LIST on numerous occasions, and at no cost.

Again, in Scott's statement, it is important to keep in mind that "LifeWay filters the titles electronically based on information from publishers and the reputation of authors and publishers for producing biblically based material. Every week, dozens of inappropriate titles are removed successfully. And the electronic filtering and human-review processes are being improved to meet the high volume of new books hitting the Christian retail market."

Haunted databases

In a June 2006 letter, Bud Press, Director of Christian Research Service, informed LifeWay's President, Thom Rainer, that:  

"...even under the best conditions, non-Christian authors and books will slip-in from time to time. This is why I have always maintained the importance of removing the author's name from the database--once and for all. When this is done, the chances of the author returning to haunt the bookstore, and endanger the spiritual welfare of the believer, is slim to none" (click HERE for the entire letter and article).

In another article, the reader was informed that "...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."

In the same article, a warning was issued: "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."

And as far back as February 2004, LifeWay was provided with the article, "Internet Christian Bookstores: Haven for Non-Christian Materials." The article warned that "New Age and Pro-Homosexual Authors" were "only one-click away," and that books written by Chris Glaser and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott occupied the cyber-shelves of online Christian bookstores nationwide.

But despite the e-mails, phone calls and documentation; despite the warnings from apologists and cult-evangelists; and despite what the Bible has to say (which is most important), "pro-homosexual" authors and books continue to haunt LifeWay Christian Stores--not within its online website mind you, and not on the shelves within LifeWay's walk-in bookstores, but hidden from view deep within LifeWay's walk-in online database.

Haunted cyber-shelves

For the record, last year LifeWay removed Susan Bordenkircher's book, Yoga for Christians. Unfortunately, LifeWay's Revolving Door Syndrome kicked in. The Yoga section of LifeWay's cyber-shelf collected no dust, for it was only a matter of time before Bordenkircher's book was replaced by Brooke Boon's book, Holy yoga: Exercise for the Christian Body and Soul (refer to LifeWay's online bookstore at http://tinyurl.com/3a92so ). 

Again, for the record, Boon, according to this website, is "cofounder of Studio Om Yoga and Tai Chi in Phoenix, Arizona. She received her certification through Baptiste Power Yoga Institute and is a registered yoga teacher as well as a member of the Arizona Yoga Association. Her certification came after working with world-renowned master teacher Baron Baptiste."

Of Boon, this website states that "She became fully emerged in the practice studying the styles of master teachers and pioneers of the practice in America; such as Baron Baptiste, John Friend and Shiva Rea. She is registered as a multi-style teacher through the Yoga Alliance."

Boon co-authored the book, Hatha Yoga Illustrated with Certified Anusara Yoga Instructor, Martin Kirk, and is the founder of Holy Yoga, where "The purpose of the ministry is to introduce people to yoga as a form of collective (mind, body and spirit) worship" ( http://www.holyyoga.net/ ). Boon's new book, Holy Yoga, is slated for release in August 2007.

Both Boon and Kirk were influenced by John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga, which is "a powerful hatha yoga system that unifies a Tantric philosophy of intrinsic Goodness with Universal Principles of Alignment™." 

According to this Bio, John Friend was "first introduced to yoga in 1967 at the age of 8 by his mother, Ann Friend, when she read him stories of yogis who had supernatural powers and hidden knowledge of the mysteries of life."

"Some of John's other relevant studies," the Bio states, "include such philosophies and religions as Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Jewish Mysticism, Theosophy, Wicca and Freemasonry."

With all of the above in mind, while conducting research on how yoga has infiltrated scores of Southern Baptist churches, out of curiosity, Christian Research Service contacted 15 LifeWay walk-in Christian Stores across the nation--including all of the Southern Baptist theological seminary campus stores--and asked the employees the following questions: Do you have books on yoga or 'Christian Yoga' in stock in your store? If not, is it possible to order them?

As of this writing, none of the walk-in bookstores contacted physically stocked  books on yoga or "Christian Yoga." However, without exception, all of the stores were ready, willing, and able to place an order online for the Rev. Nancy Roth's Invitation to Christian Yoga, Brooke Boon's Holy Yoga (when available) and, you guessed it, Susan Bordenkircher's Yoga for Christians (the same identical book that LifeWay permanently removed from its online bookstore last year!). 

When the LifeWay employees were asked if books written by Chris Glaser and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott could be ordered, the answer was, Yes.

According to LifeWay employees, whose names will remain strictly confidential, LifeWay's walk-in bookstore online databases come from "corporate headquarters" in Nashville, Tennessee. Their online server, they said, is connected to the server at corporate headquarters. 

This explains how books on yoga and books written by homosexuals and lesbians can be easily removed and blocked from LifeWay's main website at

www.lifewaystores.com, but may, at the same time, be ordered online within LifeWay's walk-in bookstores nationwide.

But regardless of where the books come from, such as outside publishers, distributors, vendors, or LifeWay's warehouse, the books are there--hidden deep within LifeWay's database.

Question: Why has LifeWay removed "pro-homosexual" authors and books from its main website at www.lifewaystores.com, but makes "pro-homosexual" authors and books available to order through its walk-in bookstores?

A final word...

The folks at LifeWay have a tremendous responsibility to the body of Christ. When they humble themselves before Jesus Christ, replace compromise with a genuine concern for the spiritual welfare of their customers, and finally realize the importance of conducting their ministry and business "with the highest standards of honesty, integrity and Christian ethics," only then will lasting changes take place.

Researched & Compiled by:

Bud Press, Director

Christian Research Service

April 21, 2007

Jude 3

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