Northwestern Book Stores Promote False Teaching
Published March 23, 2009 by Pastor Adam Gislason
Great Adventure Ministries
Last week before leaving on vacation, I walked into one of the NBS located in the Twin Cities. Honestly, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing-not just in the book aisles as I searched for Joel Rosenberg’s “Inside The Revolution” and Mark Hitchcock’s, “The Late Great United States” to read on vacation, but even more so what I was seeing front and center as I walked into the store.
I’m sad to report that false teaching permeates NBS and has become the norm in many Christian book stores and publishers all across America. It’s common today when you walk into Christian book stores like NBS to see the promotion of false teachers such as “The Shack’s” William P. Young, Joel Osteen, Rhonda Byrnes, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, John Avanzini, Benny Hinn, Neal Donald Walsh, Kenneth Hagin, Charles Capps, Oral Roberts, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Paul and Jan Crouch, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Todd Bentley, Paula White, Fred Price, Jerry Savelle, Robert Tilton, Marilyn Hickey, Morris Cerullo, Miles Munroe, Jesse Duplantis, Steve Munsey, Ken Clement, Ed Young, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen and St. Teresa Avila.
It’s common to see the promotion of false teachers from the Emerging Church Movement such as N.T. Wright, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Ryan Bolger, Wilbert Shenk, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, Elizabeth O’Connor, Nancey Murphy, Leonard Sweet, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Donald Miller and Phyllis Tickle.
And we wonder why the church is so messed up!
I don’t know about you, but I get this sick-to-my-stomach feeling every time I go through the NBS doors and I have come to a point where I can no longer support NBS or any other Christian book store or publisher that promotes false teaching that goes directly against the Word of God.
A good friend of mine, who works at one of the NBS in the Twin Cities and who shares the same concern, checked me out and we got to talking about the false teaching that keeps flowing through NBS which led to a discussion on the “The Shack.” He said something that stuck with me that I won’t soon forget. He said, “It’s frightening enough that this book is sold here as a “Christian” book, but what’s even more frightening is that it’s ranked so high on “Christian” best seller lists.” For example, “The Shack” Ranked #4 on Christian Best Sellers Association. You may also be interested in knowing that the author of “The Shack”, William P. Young, has just recently admitted that he Rejects Biblical Substitutionary Atonement.
Some of you may be wondering why Great Adventure Ministries links to the secular Amazon.com for our resources. When we first started this discernment ministry back in May 2008, we linked our resources to Christianbook.com. It didn’t take long to start seeing the promotion of false teaching all over their website. I can remember thinking to myself, “What’s going on with Christian book stores these days? They all seem to be promoting false teaching right along with Biblical teaching!”
To make a long story short-through a lot of prayer and consideration, we decided that it was better to support a secular company that doesn’t proclaim to be “Christian” vs. a company that promotes both Biblical teaching and false teaching that claims to be a “Christian Book Store.” Our philosophy is simple: If you’re going to be a “Christian Book Store”, than only promote “Christian” books that line up with the truth found in the Bible. Otherwise don’t claim to be a “Christian Book Store”-be a secular book store because that’s who you really are.
It’s time for Christian books stores like NBS and others to repent and start exercising Biblical discernment. My sense is that a lot of these false teachings exist in Christian book stores today because (1) their gate keepers have been deceived into believing that false teaching is Biblical teaching and (2) these books that promote false teaching are so popular in many churches today, that they dare not promote them or risk losing revenue. The Bible says that the love of money is “the” root of all kinds of evil.
Other Related Articles
Be Careful What You Buy In Christian Bookstores
Pagan Books Sold Through Online Christian Outlets
“The Shack” Ranked #4 on Christian Best Sellers Association
“The Shack” Author Rejects Biblical Substitutionary Atonement
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March 27, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hello,
With you all the way. Don’t forget that in the End Times the wheat will grow with the tares. Jesus said Take care you are not deceived’. May God give you strength and wisdom
Sincerely
Win Sayers
April 1, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Over a year ago, I witnessed Northwestern Bookstore in Edina, MN selling a little Roman Catholic prayerbook to the Queen of Heaven. I told the staff that this book is blasphemy and that there is no reason to poison the minds of Christians by carrying this book. I even showed it on the spot to another patron who walked by and wondered what all the commotion was about. He looked at this demonic little book and instantly knew I was right. He shook his head in agreement and walked away. Then, a staff member comes over and listens to my biblical objections. He replied, Well, we are trying to sell books and they aren’t necessarily Christian books” etc. I objected and replied that the predominate theme of this bookstore was supposed to be Christian. The staff manager rejected my argument sorry to say.
Northwestern bookstore will carry prayerbooks to the Queen of Heaven, but they refuse to carry Chick Tracts exposing the evils of Roman Catholicism. What’s up with that picture?
Also, NCB carries all sorts of Latter Rain, Emergent Church, Word-of-Faith, and Purpose-Driven anti-christ books. It isn’t just books written by homosexual and new age authors. They will sell anything as long as it brings them profit. In the Day of Judgment, the staff, management and owners of Northwestern Christian(?) Bookstore will have hell to pay.
April 1, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Pastor Adam:
Thank you for sharing your article and concerns.
Years ago, all of the major Christian bookstores made changes and removed authors and books, including Northwestern. But I knew then that if they failed to monitor their intake, they would end up worse than before.
While competition between Christian and secular bookstores is fierce (which is part of the reason why so many Christian bookstores have closed their doors), I believe God is judging the entire Christian bookstore industry.
Sadly, it is more than making the financial “bottom line,” it is an integral part of the apostasy.
God bless,
Bud Press, Director
Christian Research Service