This weekend / plus Radway Charismatics

1.  This weekend is the Love Life 2012 Conference, and I'll be able to spend some time with the keynote speaker, Michael Coren driving him around to places and going to dinner.  This should be marvelous. (!)  (Have to clean the car this morning.)

We've been watching him a little, lately, on the TV show he hosts, and I've been trying to get his books read. He is an important Christian apologist in this country, hailing from England and being a convert to Roman Catholicism.  He has written biographies of Chesterton, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. (I'm trying to read more Chesterton having downloaded most of his books into our I-Pad.)

He will be discussing his recent books, on Friday, this one and this one.  See schedule.

So, I'll be signed off from here for several days.

2.  I want to save this article in our little local newspaper because we were somewhat close to this scene at the time.  As staunch Lutherans we observed this from the outside but were close to some individuals involved.  Thus this testimonial is significant to my husband and myself. I should like to read this book, sometime.  The review is well written, and I hazard that the author of the book wrote it himself.  See below:

RADWAY MAN WRITES THIRD NOVEL

Bruce Atchison of Radway has published his third novel.  This book, "How I was Razed;  a Journey from Cultism to Christianity," is a memoir of his recovery from the spiritual abuse he suffered while attending a cutlic house church.

It tells how he became enamored with a lay minister's teachings and prophecies in 1971.  So seductive were the doctrines of that self-appointed teacher that Atchison remained loyal to his church for more than 15 years.  This despite receiving continual criticism from church elders because prayers for his eyes to be healed remained unanswered.  Atchison is legally blind.

Eventually, Atchison became so upset at the actions of the elders that he left the house church.  He turned his back on Christianity for nine years, until he slowly realized that the theological cult's pseudo-prophet had taught him falsehoods, particularly about claiming healing in Jesus  name.  Atchison explained that a number of scholarly bible teachers and friends "deprogrammed" him by steering him toward an understanding of what scripture actually meant.  He learned to read the bible for all it is worth rather than accepting the opinions of charismatic preachers.

How I Was Razed is available for Kindle and Nook readers on line.  The paperback edition is sold through Virtual Bookworm Publishers.

Atchison previously published "When a Man Loves a Rabbit" and "Deliverance from Jericho."  He lives in Radway with Mark and Deborah, his house bunnies.


(Sorry, I always have trouble when trying to change text color in Blogger here.  It tends to change the background instead.)

What happened at the time was that people from various small towns and churches would go out to the small town of Radway where a number of charismatic gifts were supposedly manifesting.  Many of the people involved belonged to the so-called Catholic renewal.  Someone from this group once tried to pray over me without asking me first, standing behind me with his hands raised over me.  Someone from this group got his fairly young children involved in casting out demons.  Some of these phenomena were once explored through the national media and the CBC, the broadcast of the story we happen to chance upon.  My husband and I warned the people, at the time, but when such spectacular things are happening (or not happening), your staid old Bible teaching, is just that to staid for them.  Unfortunately, the results for the families involved were not overall positive and many relationships deteriorated inside families and in the larger neighborhood.

So much until after the weekend.