Sunday 29 April 2012

Words Of Inspiration?

Our main Post Office in Leicester is located in the basement of the W H Smith’s store. Earlier this week I was down there and noticed some intriguing new categories on the shelves displaying the books.

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Do angels write much? I know there’s all those instructions to the angels in the book of Revelation. And that poem about Abou Ben Adhem which I had to learn at school was about an angel writing in a book of gold.

Maybe one should consult the World’s Leading Angel Expert?

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No, I hadn’t heard of her either. I went to her website and decided she’s certainly found a cosy niche in the market for making pots of money. I also found this article which shed a little more light on her background, including her “PhD” and her “clairvoyance”.

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Aren’t all Bibles inspirational, you ask? Well these ones have titles like ‘The Yoga Bible’ ‘The Crystal Bible’ ‘The Sacred Sex Bible’

I came away from the store feeling really sad. Sad that people are spending their money on literature which purports to inspire and give hope – but I believe that 99.9% of these books are distorting the truth written in the Bible. Isaiah 8:19 is quite clear on this

When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God?

Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

I looked up the Isaiah passage in The Message [always an interesting exercise- even if not quite as accurate a translation] and found this

When people tell you, “Try out the fortune tellers. Consult the spiritualists. Why not tap into the spirit-world, get in touch with the dead?" Tell them, "No, we're going to study the Scriptures."

People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end! Frustrated and famished, they try one thing after another. When nothing works out they get angry, cursing first this god and then that one, looking this way and that, up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing. A blank wall, an empty hole.
   They end up in the dark with nothing.

[btw I do believe in angels – but not as described in these books]

13 comments:

  1. I share your sadness - it is hard to see people so earnestly searching in all the places they will be misled, esp when calling these books 'Inspirational Bibles' covers us the real place, scripture where the answers will be found.

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  2. Hello! I've come across this lady too and share your thoughts exactly. Jx

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  3. Those books give me the shudders. Easy money, I'm sure.

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  4. I think that as long as there are people looking for something "cool" to believe in then theere will be people to take advantage of them.
    I think people need to learn to ask themselves what they are really looking for and not let someone else answer the question.
    x x x

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  5. My dad used to recite Abou Ben Adhem and I still have the poetry book with this poem in. You've brought back memories. Let's believe in what we know to be true and leave others well alone.
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  6. Yes, this fairly recent angel stuff is rather odd, isn't it? Have you noticed that it always gives the readers pretty much what they want, rather than challenging us? An acquaintance over here is into faintly similar stuff and it's not helped her to look out much - what I've seen of it seems very 'me centred' without giving real self-knowledge.

    'Bibles' is a funny term but I suppose Delias's books have been 'cooking bibles' for years, and known as that, too.

    I'm showing the 'Try Praying' bus advert as part of a small series on advertising that I'm teaching to French adults at the moment. People find it surprising that faiths can advertise in the UK, but I find it surprising (and nasty) that there are a lot of adverts for clairvoyants on lamp posts and the radio here.

    I try for a balance between smug confidence that my way is right, and over-tolerance of things that actually harm. The one thing I can be certain of is that I don't get the balance right all the time!

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  7. Thanks everyone for your comments - and Floss, I think your comment is really helpful - and yes, it is incredibly difficult to find the balance!

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  8. Makes me think of:
    Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.~Colossians 2:18

    I chose a book from the library which was apparently about visions of Jesus. But even this was creepy, these so called visions of Jesus were telling people to divorce and all sorts of things. I gave up with that one.

    There are some funny books about. I guess we're warned that the devil himself can appear as an angel of light.

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  9. So sad-so many are seeking for something to fill an empty place within themselves that only God can fill. Authors of books like these take advantage of those who are hurting and trying to find an answer.

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  10. I remember a sermon once in which the pastor said that real angels are probably pretty imposing, and rather scary - after all, he said, the people in the Bible who get visited by them usually faint with fright.

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  11. THE MESSAGE is not a translation. It is a paraphrase...just fyi,

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    1. You are right, thanks for the correction there!

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