Heretical New Age books being promoted as Christian (and Christians are buying them)

The information below is from a Facebook post from a person named Jonathan D Hoegle. I do not know who Mr Hoegle is. A friend had re-posted his piece and that is who I became familiar with the list below. I looked at the poster of books and read his bullet-point list of warnings for each book. I agree. I also like the bullet-point format. I have reviewed The Shack, Conversations with God, and the Circle Maker and posted reviews of Jesus Calling that other people wrote. But the list of warnings Mr Hoegle posted for each heretical book is a good quick-reference list.

Hoegle wrote: "All six of these books are often promoted as “Christian” but are “New Age” books which preach “Another Jesus”, “Another Spirit”, and “Another Gospel”."

“Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch teaches:
● No Devil
● No Sin
● No Hell
● Man is God
● Universalism
● Relativism
● Reincarnation
● Jesus is one of many Ascended Masters (Lord Maitreya, Djwhal Khul, Melchizedek, etc).

“The Shack” by William P. Young teaches:
● Universal Salvation
● God does not Punish Sin
● Human Heart is Good
● “Do what thou Wilt”
● The Bible is Fallible
● Relativism
● Against Organized Churches
● Redefines Sin
● Heaven is not Accurately Depicted in Scripture
● God is Against Rules.
Listen to Jason Cooley/Nate Marino teaching on the Shack
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=815151833102

“The Revelation” by Barbara Max Hubbard teaches:
● Human Nature Good
● Born to be Christ
● You are God
● Separation of God is a Delusion
● If you don’t believe you are God you are Cancer
● 2nd Death is for those Who cannot Evolve
● Christ will not Return until enough People are Linked to Him via (Christ -Consciousness)

“Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young teaches:
● Occult/New Age Channeling
● Spiritual Dictation
● Creative Visualization
● Meditation
● Divine Alchemy
● Co-creation with God
● Practicing the Presence
● Jesus Flatters

“The Circle Maker” by Mark & Parker Batterson teaches:
● Insufficiency of the Bible
● Use Witchcraft to get Prayers Answered
● God is Submissive to Man’s Will
● Pray in a Demanding and Arrogant Way rather than Humbly
● Use Visualization Tactics
● “Name it Claim it Theology”
● “Primacy of Man’s Will over God’s Will.”
● Principles Taught in Talmud

“A Course in Miracles” by Helen Schuchman & Marianne Williamson teaches:
● Panentheism (God is everything)
● All is Love
● Recognition of God is Recognition of Self
● No Sin
● No Need for Salvation
● Old Rugged Cross is Useless
● Evil does not Exist
● No Devil,
● We Face Armageddon (in ourselves) No Need for Future Armageddon (collective)
● Meditation.

Thanks Mr Hoegle. Back to me now. Here are some publishing facts of a few of the books Mr Hoegle listed above. In 2014 Jesus Calling was "the seventh-best selling book in America last year was a 10-year-old Christian devotional written by a woman who claims to have written down the words of God." (source)

Did you catch the import of that? Jesus Calling was ten years old and it was still in the top ten best-seller list. And, it is one of the best selling books in America, not only in Christian circles.

A Course In Miracles "was "scribed" by Dr. Schucman between 1965 and 1972 through a process of inner dictation. She experienced the process as one of a distinct and clear dictation from an inner voice, which earlier had identified itself to her as Jesus." (source). Did you know ACIM was made into a movie? And that it has spawned a cottage industry of books, a school, workbooks, promotions on Oprah, and more? Millions of copies of ACIM were sold after cheerleader for the book, Marianne Williamson, appeared on Oprah.

Conversations with God by Neal Donald Walsch turned onto a long conversation, there are three trilogies of this dribble, nine bestsellers. Walsch explains how he got the books: "In the spring of 1992...an extraordinary phenomenon occurred in my life. God began talking with you. Through me. This time...I decided to write a letter to God. It was a spiteful, passionate letter, full of confusions, contortions, and condemnation. And a pile of angry questions....To my surprise, as I scribbled out the last of my bitter, unanswerable questions and prepared to toss my pen aside, my hand remained poised over the paper, as if held there by some invisible force. Abruptly, the pen began moving on its own. I had no idea what I was about to write... " Yet another author who got his book by God speaking directly to him.  (source)

In The Revelation, Barbara Marx Hubbard, you guessed it, recorded a divine voice. The NY Times reviewed her book in 1993 and even back then, noted that the book contained a clever marketing ploy- by"associating its product with ideas that the market has already accepted. Hubbard sets out to sell her new age notions by identifying them with nothing less than the Bible.She purports to record the words of the Higher Voice (or Voices) (p 84), as it (or they) spoke to her. It takes the form of a verse-by-verse interpretation of The Book of Revelations of St. John the Divine, the last book of the Bible. The bulk of the book exhibits three types of print, representing scripture, the Inner Voice's interpretive revelation, and Hubbard's commentary."

The Shack was also a book that its author claimed was dictated to him by Jesus. "Then one day in 2005, he felt God whisper in his [William P. Young's] ear that this year was going to be his year of Jubilee and restoration. Out of that experience he felt lead to write The Shack. According to Young, much of the book was formed around personal conversations he had with God, family, and friends (258-259)." Toward the end of writing the book, Mr Young had said that he spent one weekend writing four chapters, and one chapter came out whole and he never edited it.

We're batting a thousand here, because The Circle Maker was also channeled. Author Mark Batterson wrote, "There have been moments in my life when the Spirit of God has whispered to my spirit, Mark, the prayers of your grandfather are being answered in your life right now. When Challies reviewed The Circle Maker, he also noted that Batterson seems to hear from God-"Second, he makes direct communication from God the normative experience for the Christian. He speaks often of God whispering to our spirits and encourages Christians to follow inner impressions, what he describes as “the promptings of the Spirit.” “Let me spell it out: If you want to see crazy miracles, obey the crazy promptings of the Holy Spirit.” I believe that every Christian longs for that unmediated, face-to-face contact with God; and yet again, the challenge for the Christian is whether we will be content with being indwelled by the Holy Spirit who illumines the words of Scripture so that God speaks to us through his Word."

It is not a coincidence that these books claim some sort of direct revelation from God, and are also on the best-seller lists. God spoke in His word. He is not busy authoring books by Batterson, Schuchman ,Young, Hubbard, Young, and Walsch. He chose 40 men to be the minds through which the Holy Spirit flowed His word, not 40 plus six more.