The Salty Peanut Gallery

Christian Newswire has announced the debut of a new children’s book at the International Christian Retail Show that according to them “proved to be an instant favorite” titled The Secret of Yahweh! The book is touted as The Christian Parent’s Answer to the Harry Potter Phenomenon. (I’m wondering, did we really need a Christian parent’s answer to the Harry Potter phenomenon? And if so can we also expect a Christian parent’s answer to The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Shrek, and let’s not forget the Chronicles of Narnia? But I digress.) Surprisingly the book seemed to be attracting adult readers as well as children and apparently even college students were getting into the act picking up on the slogan; “Do you know the secret yet?”

Amazon.com describes it as “a Christian look at believing in what you can’t always see.” J.C. Lamb is a cute, cuddly, sometimes invisible little lamb that wears the sign of the fish right over his heart. His purpose is to represent and remind everyone of the Savior. As the story unfolds, a little girl named Mary takes J.C. to school one day where he learns that the words “under God” have been left out of The Pledge of Allegiance. This is where J.C. (a.k.a. Un-Secret Agent 777) learns that his first mission for God is to help children understand the truth about God in school and discover the great secret of Yahweh!

Not having read the book, I won’t attempt to comment on its content; suffice to say I’m sure it’s a lovely story, although from the description I’m guessing JK Rowling has nothing to worry about. What I find particularly interesting, though, is the personal testimony of the book’s author. LeFerna Arnold-Walch shares how God used a serious tragedy to get her attention. She had not been a church goer for much of her life, but when her oldest son was in a near fatal car accident she made a promise to God. She explains, “If He gave me back my son, I would make sure more people knew about HIS!”

On its face this seems fairly compelling. I would certainly agree God uses tragedy to draw us closer to Him. However, it’s the next part of LeFerna’s testimony that gets a little out there for me. LeFerna points to many signs from God that lead up to what she considers her “calling.” For example she states, “Everything happened in nines and sevens.” The song that inspired the J.C. character was the ninth song on her CD; the deadline for the rough draft of her book was 07-07-07; things like that. She explains:

How do you “hear” God? You might ask. You learn to listen with your heart and see with your mind. I had been through so much in my life, that I learned to just close my eyes and communicate with Him by clearing my mind and taking the first thing that came to me. Then ask for signs or look for signs to know it was Him. I seemed to start waking at exactly 4:44 am. At that time I would get ideas. The lamb’s name came to me this way, as did the entire storyline for the book.

She also believes that because she came from an unchurched family, she was obviously chosen to reach other unchurched families.

I’ll be honest; I’m not a huge fan of mysticism when it comes to the will of God. I don’t believe that finding God’s will for our lives was ever intended to be some kind of Magical Mystery Tour. Now I don’t deny God sometimes uses people and circumstances to help us find clarity, but it is so important for believers to understand that God’s written word is our primary source of truth. The problem with relying on so-called signs to reveal God’s will is that they are often unreliable. When is a sign rely a sign? Or in the words of Ebenezer Scrooge, when is it only “an underdone bit of beef, or an undigested bit of potato?” The problem with signs is they are difficult to quantify and are often subjective. Not so with God’s Word. It is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” That’s a promise we can count on.

The other issue I have is with the idea that someone from an unchurched family is best suited to reach other unchurched families. While no one can deny the obvious sensitivity that LeFerna’s unique testimony affords, I think the notion that she was “obviously chosen” to reach the unchurched misinterprets the role that believers play in God’s Kingdom plan. In the first place, in case you haven’t noticed, the great commission is for all believers regardless of whether they grew up churched or unchurched. ALL believers have been chosen to share Christ with the unchurched. But let’s take this one step further, because I think we are sometimes under the false impression that unless we do something to reach the world for Christ, God’s Kingdom will be lost. If we don’t tell the world about Jesus then who will go to heaven?

Now don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t share our faith. Clearly Christ commanded it. But do you seriously think that the all powerful, infallible, sovereign Lord of all the universe is going to place sole responsibility for the outcome of His Kingdom on the shoulders of someone as imperfect, frail and fallible as you and me. I don’t think so. Rest assured, God is already at work in the world around us relentlessly pursuing a relationship with the unchurched in ways you and I can’t even possibly imagine. The question then isn’t about who is best suited to help Him out. The question then is whether or not you and I are willing to humble ourselves and join Him in the Kingdom work He is already doing.

“Do you know the secret yet?”