The Secret: Demon Possession

If you haven't heard about the cultural phenomenon that is The Secret simply walk into the nearest bookstore and get assaulted by the first display case. It will contain many copies of the book, unless of course it is sold out. The Secret is on the top of basically all the bestseller lists and has even been recommended by the great Oprah. Which of course means millions of fleeced housewives will run out and purchase this book in hopes of finding purpose and meaning in life.

What I originally thought was a great marketing ploy to make millions of dollars, which it has, now appears to be much more frightening. On Sunday the New York Times ran an article about the origins of the DVD, which the book was based off of, and the demon possessed woman behind much of this New Age cult.

Apparently the "original" version of the DVD was to star Esther Hicks being the, "most prominent interpreter of the law of attraction." However, after a falling out a second version was made in which she was cut out. One of the biggest rifts came when the original version lacked any face time for Hicks, instead the DVD just used the demon that possesses her to narrate much of the DVD.

Hicks it seems travels around with her husband putting on conferences for people to spend $195 a pop to have her "...summon otherworldy spirits she says speaks through her." These spirits, that use the name Abraham, then answers questions from the audience. Esther and her husband have also written a book, The Law of Attraction: The Basic Teachings of Abraham and constantly release CDs and DVDs dispelling the "wisdom" of Abraham.

It reminds me a lot of Acts 16, where Paul encountered a possessed slave girl, who made a lot of money for her masters through fortune-telling. This possessed slave girl follows Paul and his companions proclaiming, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." After many days of annoying Paul, he gets fed up and casts out the demon in Jesus' name. This of course leads to a small uproar in which Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown in jail.

The questions is if you met Esther Hicks would Abraham proclaim that you were a "Servant of the Most High God?"

For those of you who find this all to fantastic and don't know that a spiritual realm truly does exist should be at the very least able to label this woman a lunatic. Multiple personalities are generally not seen as a positive, unless of course it is netting you millions of dollars.

Child Soldiers

I was able to read the book: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier a week before it is due to be released. I guess it is one benefit of working for a giant corporation that is very much into social issues. I was again stirred on behalf of all the child soldiers and modern day slaves across the globe. I have had several unique opportunites over the past two years to hear first hand accounts of people in slavery all over the world.

One that I think about often was told to me by a woman named Faye McDonald. She spent several years in Nepal working with slave people, even partnering with a company in New Hampshire to buy entire slave families their freedom, eventually slavery in Nepal became illegal in 2000. That was about two years ago that I heard that story and it was the first time I had realized that slavery is still happening. Now it seems more and more awareness is being brought to these situations, but still much has to be done.

• I would encourage everyone to check out my friends organization that is working with child soldiers in Uganda. Child Voice International


• Also see this movie put out by Invisible Children


• Finally read this book, it is a heart wrenching account of what it is like to be a child soldier

The Case for Christ

In all honesty I thought this book was going to be cheesy. I had judged this book long before I had even thought about reading it. Then one day I noticed that Ravi Zacharias recommend the book so I decided to read it.

And now I would recommend this book to any and everyone. Lee Strobel travels around interviewing leading scholars, doctors, and psychologists to present the facts of Jesus from Nazareth. At parts I was so stunned at the knowledge and certainty of facts that words cannot even express what joy it brought. After a presentation of all the facts he ended the book with this quote from C.S. Lewis:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

God's Relentless Pursuit

This book gives a great overview and Biblical grounding for being missional. For those who are new to this concept of living missionally I encourage you to pick this book up and read it. Phil Strout has a great way of comunicating Biblical principles intermixed with his own stories. I loved how he grounded all missions in the local church, and showed that Paul operated in that way as well. I would recommend that 90% of American Christians read this book, here is a great quote from Phil:

God is the hero of this story-not people, not churches, not missionaries, not mission agencies. Since the beginning of time, God has been the one involved in making this mission a reality, not us. As God wins each of our hearts back and we discover the portion of community and intimacy that He has for us today, we become His people. However, when we become His people, we are invited to participate in His mission, His pursuit of the hearts of humanity. When God grips our hearts with His love and compassion, it is unavoidable-and we, too, become missional people.