[awareness]

Okay while things are slow I'll explain myself, and why I react to people like Cahn & Sid Roth the way that I do.

In Florida I hung with some Christians that were into the Left Behind Series of books. They were very excited over them, and hung on every word, like they were the Bible, or an accurate interpretation of the Bible.

So because they couldn't shut up about the books I took a look at them. I'll read anything. And as is my habit I fact check what I read.

Well the fact checking didn't pan out. The claims about what Bible verses meant were wild and far fetched. And ... and I say AND, right on the cover of the books it says, "Novel."

When I pointed out that the books were novels they said yes, but they teach the Bible.

And that's it. That's why they were so hung on the books. They believed that since the books were riddled with Bible verses they were reading "God's word." Sort of like Lee's Life-Studies.

But they weren't getting the Bible themselves. They were getting it from the Left Behind authors, who were writing novels that, didn't have to write the truth.

That's one reason I react the way that I do.

Here's another: A couple of years ago a Christian friend I have here called me all excited. She had just finished reading a book that she described as phenomenal. Said it was titled "The Shack," by William P. Young.

She wanted me to read it so badly that she drove 45 minutes to bring it to me. Well I read it, and enjoyed it. It was fetching from the get-go.

But it was corny (I'll read anything). It was about a family whose young daughter gets nabbed and killed. And when he goes looking for her in the woods he comes across a cabin. Well, in short, he meets God in the cabin. Who is a black woman. And he meets Jesus there too, and the Holy Spirit, who was, as you can imagine, flighty.

Hey, again, it said right on the cover "Novel." So in a couple of days she calls me asking what I think. I told her I enjoyed it but that I doubted those at her Church of Christ would cotton to God being a black woman.

She said, "then they can't except God as He is." I said, "Joanna, it's just a story. It says right on the cover that it's a novel." "But it comes from real events," she retorted. I said, "No it doesn't. I researched it. It's a figment of the imagination."

She was so downcast. She made me feel like I rained on her parade. I felt bad. I burst her fantasy bubble. I don't know. Maybe I done wrong. Maybe believing in fantasies is more healthy than pharmaceutical meds from the doctor. But I had to tell her the truth of my take on the book.

So here and now:

I don't have a copy of Harbingers. But I checked it out on Amazon. And I couldn't find on the front or back of the book anything about it being a novel. In fact, early on in the book, Rabbi Cahn says it's not fiction but is for real. But the book is in the fiction section. In fact, it won #2 in the fiction genre.

So Rabbi Cahn is not as honest as Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, of Left Behind. He really intends to deceive by littering his book with Bible verses, to trick the reader into thinking and feeling like s/he is reading " God's Word."

When it's really just a figment of Cahn's imagination. The Jews are known for being good story tellers.

So enjoy it like I enjoyed The Shack. Just don't take it so literally, or seriously ... making the mistake of my friend Joanna, and friends in Florida.