I Kings 3:9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
- A Novel
- About a man named Mackenzie (Mack) Phillips whose daughter, Missy, was brutally murdered by a serial killer. Three years after this tragedy, he receives an invitation by mail to meet with the holy Trinity in the same shack where his daughter was murdered.
- "Where is God in a world full of pain and hurt?"
- William P. Young (a former office manager and hotel night clerk)
- # 1 on the New York Times since June 08
- #1 Barnes & Noble since May
- No. 1 on Borders Group’s
- First wrote it as a gift for his six children.
- Its publisher, Windblown Media, a company that was formed expressly to publish “The Shack”
- Self-published with $300
- Now 4.5 million copies
- Published 2007
- More than 30 languages
- Book to movie (Young offered almost $100 million)
❶ Shack’s Endorsements
— When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!
---- Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus Of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.
— The Shack is the most absorbing work of fiction I’ve read in many years. My wife & I laughed, cried and repented of our own lack of faith along th way . The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God.
--- Michael W. Smith - Recording Artist
— "Our Goal ... not to endorse, not to bash, but to engage."
- "over-look" the views of God within the book and search for something deeper or richer. I say this lovingly.
---- Haven Today
- It is like our government saying we do not encourage drug use, but here are free needles or we do not encourage teen sexuality, but here are free condoms.
- The novel is primarily a dialogue between Mack and the Trinity.
- Mackenzie (Mack) Phillips – Daughter murdered
- God the Father is called "Papa," but his actual name is Elousia, which is Greek for tenderness.
- Papa appears in the form of a large maternal African American woman who is always cooking in the kitchen.
- At the end of the book, she turns into a pony-tailed, gray-haired man to assure Mack that God is both male and female.
- Jesus is a middle-aged Middle Eastern man, dressed in a plaid shirt, with a tool belt around his waist.
- The Holy Spirit appears as a delicate Asian woman named Sarayu, meaning "air," who loves gardening.
- Mack also meets another woman, named Sophia, Lady Wisdom
- When Isaiah met God
Isaiah 6:5KJV
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 48:16 "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time, there AM I; and now the LORD GOD, and his SPIRIT, hath sent ME. Yeshua (Jesus)
- FATHER and the SPIRIT has sent ME (Yeshua)
- All are MASCULINE sense, even the title ELOHIM indicates masculine identity,
- "im" being masculine in Hebrew and "ot" being femamine
- The Shack’s references to to the Bible is negative in it’s tone
- God is no longer heard in his Word by man
- p. 65-66
❷ Heresies In The Shack
- Heresy — Gk. To Choose
- To Divide
Galatians 5:19-21KJV
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
2 Peter 2:1KJV
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 John 10-11KJV
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
- 1. God the Father was crucified with Jesus. - p.96
- Matthew 27:45-46KJV
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
2. God is limited by His love and cannot practice justice
- p.102 &118-119
- Romans 9:13KJV
13 As it is written (Mal 1:2-3), Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
- Isaiah 61:8NIV
“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.
- Hosea 2:19KJV
19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
3. On the Cross, God forgave all of humanity, whether they repent or not. Some choose a relationship with Him, but He forgives them all regardless. - p. 225
- John 14:6KJV
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
4. God will never judge people for their sins.
- p 120
- Romans 2:16KJV
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
5. God submits to human wishes & choices
p. 145
- Romans 10:3KJV
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
- James 4:7KJV
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
6. There is no need for faith or reconciliation with ‘God because everyone will make it to heaven
p.192, & p.222
- John 3:15KJV
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- John 3:36KJV
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
- John 5:24KJV
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
7. The Holy Spirit is uncertain of the future
-p. 203
- Isaiah 46:9-10KJV
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
— Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13
Revelation 1:8KJV
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
8. The Trinity became fully human
p.99
1 Timothy 1:17KJV
17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
- John 1:18KJV
18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
- John 4:24KJV
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
❸ What’s Not in The Shack
— Sin,
- Salvation,
- Repentance,
- Hell,
- Jesus is the only way – The major doctrines
- The Word Christ is not in the book
- Today the world has many Jesus’s
- The Bible is never used in the book
❹ A Few Steps For Discerning Heresy
- Teaching that goes against the clear teaching of Scripture
- Colossians 2:6-8KJV
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
1. Decide to Follow the Lord With Scripture
- It is Making Wise Decisions
- James 1:5KJV
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
2. Don’t Weaken the Fundamentals
- Christian pop culture can be deceptive
- Saturation of scripture essential for spiritual growth
- Hebrews 5:14KJV
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
3. Submit to it’s teaching
- Discernment comes to those who are humble
- Psalm 25:9KJV
9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
