“Be quiet!”

“Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One sent from God!” Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him (Mark 1:23-26 NLT).

Where is the devil attacking you?

Your enemy is talking.  What are you going to do?  His imps are poisoning the air with the half-truths of white lies. Loser!” one sneers. “Look, they’re laughing at you…” “She always gets her way…” “Go ahead, no one is looking…” “Why not, you deserve it….”  “This will never work for you!” “Make him live to regret that…” Today will be noisy, inside your head and out.

But what do you expect? You are in a war of words. Say something!

Jesus faced noisy days. In chapter one of Mark’s Gospel a demon with no tongue of his own used a broken man to vomit blasphemies. “What do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us?” Jesus showed it no tolerance. “Be quiet!” he said. “Come out!” The demon gagged on its own babble, winced and fled. Then Jesus gave the man a new life.

“Be quiet” was enough. Just two words fired a shot heard round the Universe. Jesus faced-down his foes directly, simply, and violently: “Let there be quiet!”

Your enemy is talking. What are you going to do? Talk back! Today you will face noise.  Your enemy intends to dismantle the world. “Let there not be…” he says. But you will not stay silent. You will show no mercy. You will borrow Jesus’ words in Jesus’ name and shut down the nonsense.

Answer envy: “Be quiet!” Answer suspicion: “Be quiet!” Answer distrust and fear and self-pity and lust and anger and gluttony and pride: “Be quiet!” Inside your own soul and on behalf of others, put these two words to work. Then rest easy.

Your mission: Listen carefully for the slightest deception. Listen for the inaudible, invisible source of the lie. When you identify your target, take aim. Then from under your breath let fly the borrowed words, in Jesus’ name: “Be quiet!” Then rest as the racket dies away.

Question: “Where is the devil attacking?”  Answer: “Be quiet!”

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Former Mormon, Latayne C. Scott, recently published two new books: Latter-Day Cipher, A Novel (Moody Publishers) and The Mormon Mirage, 3^rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan). In each of these books Scott’s passion to challenge Mormonism’s teachings and expose its inconsistencies rings true.

Her ten year history as a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and her subsequent conversion to Christianity, are the initial focus of The Mormon Mirage.

“It wasn’t easy to leave. I owed, and still owe, The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members a great debt of gratitude,” Scott writes in a chapter called, “A Gentle Apostasy.”

“But [now] I am regarded by them as a traitor and an apostate. I left Mormonism after tasting some of its sweetest fruits. ” (17)

Scott was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Baptist parents. After her father encountered Mormon missionaries he converted. Though her mother did not, Scott’s adolescent years were spent as a committed member of the LDS church. She was involved in numerous church programs and actively sought to understand everything she could about her new LDS faith.

“I was never lukewarm. What I believed, I lived,” Scott writes of her time at Brigham Young University, the LDS church’s premier university, located in Provo, UT.

It was during her sophomore year at Brigham Young that she decided to make the hard decision to leave the church. Her mother’s prodding, and a dating relationship with a Christian, Dan Scott (whom she would eventually marry) led Scott, eventually to Christianity.

The process was not an easy one. Scott recounts numerous hours spent debating Dan, speaking with Christian ministers, and scouring over Mormon scriptures, and painful prayers before her conversion.  

“I finally came to an impasse in my spiritual progress. I was struggling against the bonds of Mormonism – tradition and heritage, doctrinal comfort and love. Yet I felt that that something was terribly wrong there – why did my teaching and background in Mormonism conflict so sharply with my new knowledge of the Bible? Why the inconsistencies in LDS historical accounts and early documents?”

Her abrupt departure from school in the middle of a semester it did not go unnoticed.

“I received many letters, most anonymous and many cruel, which persuaded and threatened, pleaded and rejected. All had one object in mind – my return to Mormonism. ..Some of the letters told of the punishments awaiting apostates, and one ended by saying, “don’t you realize that you’ll never see the inside of a temple again?”

Since her conversion thirty years ago, Scott has made reaching out to Mormons her life’s mission. She has also published thirteen books and written widely in journals and online.

Latter-Day Cipher is Scott’s first published novel. It tells the story of an agnostic journalist, Selonnah Zee’s, trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s researching the murder of a Utah heiress and visiting her cousin, Roger, who is a well-known Mormon figure. As Selonnah covers the story mysterious deaths occur, each seemingly unrelated, except for distinct Mormon symbolism included with each corpse. In her hunt to decipher the serial killer’s motive, Selonnah learns dark secrets of Mormonism that shock her, and likely, the reader.

Scott’s prose is engrossing and detailed. Not only does her deep knowledge of Mormon doctrine shine through, but also her studies in representational research add a welcome intellectual element to the story. Selonnah Zee and the killer are authentic, absorbing characters from their first paragraphs.

Scott also avoids the traps of making her story too violent, or too preachy. Not as dark and aggressive as a Ted Dekker novel, nor as light and easy as one of Lori Wick’s stories, Scott has found a comfortable middle ground that most readers will enjoy.

To learn more about Latayne C. Scott and her ministry to Mormons visit: www.latayne.com.

There are many mysteries of life that may never be answered:

• 1. How can I over-enunciate the word ‘lasagna’ twelve times and my six-year old daughter still emphatically respond every time with ‘basagna’?
• 2. Is it a conflict of interest that Moses wrote that he was the most humble man that ever lived?
• 3. How is it that ‘evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape?’[Malachi 3:15]

More often than we’d like, to many of life’s maladies we can only look on as flabbergasted spectators. However, the familiar adage ‘Good sailors are not made by calm seas’ is very applicable in today’s volatile and unpredictable economy, where it has never been more apparent just what or in whom our trust is really anchored. Thus, as others prosper, seemingly unaffected by the shadow of the believer’s own stockpile of surmounting hardships, it is altogether quite natural to respond with ‘it’s not fair.’ 

Dr. Wayne Mack’s new book ‘It’s Not Fair! Finding Hope When Times Are Tough’, coauthored with Deborah Howard, is, “designed to teach a proper, biblical theology, and …throw off the ‘it’s not fair’ mentality.” [p.117]

“It’s Not Fair!” addresses how Christians should not only view disappointments or injustices, but more importantly, as our circumstances are uncertain, to place the outcome of all our expectations at the feet of the One who does not change; the Lord.

Dr. Mack biblically explains four vital attributes of our heavenly Father, that by exercising our awareness and placing our trust and hope in the truths of Scripture, aid in appeasing the sinful mindset of entitlement based on our own standards of justice, provision, or vengeance. 

“Sometimes, when our hearts are aching, we may think that what we need is the loving embrace of a compassionate friend. And sure, that helps us feel better. But it’s only a temporary sensation. What actually moves us past our self-absorbed sorrow is a generous dose of solid biblical teaching on the following attributes of God: His wisdom, His love, His justice, His sovereignty” [p.18-19]

As one would anticipate from a nouthetic counselor [www.nanc.org], all four attributes are given extensive biblical support throughout this work, included alongside Dr. Mack’s own terse, straightforward, and easily understood commentary.

God’s wisdom: “If we know and believe that God is all-wise, we will be convinced that God’s interpretation of reality is the only one that is 100 percent accurate. His Word, and not our feelings, is the standard and definition of reality and truth.” [p.29]

God’s love:[after looking at the reality and truth of it, the manifestation of it, and the implications of it, Dr. Mack quotes Jerry Bridges] “If God’s love was sufficient for my greatest need, my eternal salvation, surely it is sufficient for my lesser needs, the adversities I encounter in this life.” [p. 52]

 God’s justice: “Righteousness and justice are part of God’s holy nature. He cannot do anything wrong because to do so would be to violate His very nature. Righteousness is not simply something God does - it is part of who He is! We must come to acknowledge that our understanding of justice is finite, whereas God’s is infinite. The standard for justice does not reside in our feeble brain cells, but rests instead in the glorious mind of God. It is not His job to conform His thinking to ours. It is our job to conform our thinking to His.” [p. 60-61]

God’s sovereignty: “The sovereignty of God is wise. The sovereignty of God is loving. The sovereignty of God is just. It’s a package deal! When we’re struggling with ‘it’s not fair,’ we need to reflect on these important truths about God. They function to reassure us that things are not out of control. Though they may seem chaotic and unmanageable to us, we can rest assured that God holds everything in the palm of His hand and knows what’s going on – not only in our lives but in everyone else’s. He knows what’s happening in every molecule of the universe! So please understand that nothing is out of His control.” [p. 82-83]

Additionally, juxtaposed with chapters addressing God’s character, the actual sin of the ‘it’s not fair’ mindset is directly confronted, as it, “is based on a worldly, unbiblical understanding of fairness. We set ourselves up as the judge and jury. It assumes that God is under obligation to perform according to our human standards of fairness.” [p. 106]

 Conclusively, this is an outstanding and timely book that would serve very well in a small group setting, each chapter concluding with well-thought questions that encourage transparency. Thus, Dr. Mack addresses theology from a proper Quadrilateral perspective, whereby Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience are our means for deriving theology, however, as our traditions, reason, and experiences change, Scripture does not and thereby retains the priority in the Christian’s evaluation of all circumstances. Therefore, as we are incapable of sometimes controlling the factors and influx that birth our emotions, the Christian is entirely responsible to control our response, actions, and assessments of ‘fairness’. Dr. Mack’s latest book serves well in equipping ambassadors of Christ to anchor their perspectives in the bedrock of God’s immutable Word and character and is highly recommended!    

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Dr. Wayne Mack is a charter member of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, an author of more than 20 books that focus on biblical counseling and equipping the church, and currently divides his time between South Africa teaching biblical counseling to pastors and aspiring pastors in the region and the USA teaching at the Expositor’s Seminary, The Master’s College, and the Bible Church of Little Rock Ministry Training School.

I remember, as a sophomore, having this hilarious conversation with a friend about sex.  It was one of those grey winter afternoons and we were parked outside of the Christian high school the both of us attended.  Part of what made it funny was the fact we were both virgins so conversations like this were sort of an indirect testing ground for guys to ascertain if the thoughts fueled on by your raging hormones were either normal or an indication of incurable sexual deviancy. Being good Baptists, of course, our entire talk was framed within the context of our assumed marriages. “On my honeymoon I’m going to burry my head right between my wife’s breasts and go crazy,” my friend said cupping a set of imaginary double D’s that he jiggled slightly to enhance the realism.  Then we broke out into a fit of laughter as he lowered his head and illustrated the “motor boat” technique recently made famous by Vince Vaughn in the film Wedding Crashers.  I don’t know how the discussion started or anything beyond that moment, but I do know “doing the nasty” was not a subject you could talk about within the walls our school. 

Just ask our beloved science teacher who was fired by the administration for making mention of a woman’s period during class. Some little punk in the eighth grade – a pastor’s kid no less – went home and complained to his dad who then raised an unnecessary fuss over the issue. And God have mercy should you actually engaged in pre-marital sex (not that I’m a proponent). I’d tell you to ask one couple that got caught what happens, but no one ever heard from them again after they were forced to confess their sin to the entire student body right before we witnessed their permanent expulsions handed out by the principle. My memories probably sound a tad harsh, but this was what it meant to grow up in a born-again Fundamentalist sub-culture.

These were the stories, and many others like them, dredged up as I read Matthew Paul Turner’s recent book Churched: One Kid’s Journey Towards God Despite A Holy Mess (Waterbook Press). When I first heard about Churched from Turner’s blog Jesus Needs New PR, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it especially given our similar upbringings and shared interest in humor. Early reviews were even hailing it as the Christian’s answer to famous humorist, and my favorite writer, David Sedaris, well, other than Turner being straight anyway. By the time of its eventual release, I was frothing at the mouth, anxious to read the biting treatment Turner would give to a group of people responsible for causing the large dent in my world view that I still find myself hammering out sixteen years later.  Unfortunately, however, after reading the entire book in about seven and a half minutes, I was disappointed.

Turner’s cutesy memories left me unsatisfied, eventually causing me to be openly critical of Churched to my wife and friends. I wanted to belly laugh till my sides hurt from at the words of the first “bona fide humorist” in the today’s modern church. I wanted prose that was vividly entertaining, while at the same time serving as a sharp satirical indictment of anyone carrying a King James Bible as if it were a cell phone or sporting a degree from Bob Jones University.  My expectations were higher for a guy who authored a blog that regularly poked fun at Joel Osteen’s extravagant lifestyle, ridiculous church marketing ploys, along with the a number of other religious foibles done in the name of Christ. To someone like me, who can’t even spell the word “Fundamentalist” without emphasizing the letters “F – U”, Churched was lukewarm at best and I proverbially spewed it out of my mouth.  But after a few weeks, however, it occurred to me what I actually was looking for.

What I really wanted from Turner was for him to take away all the years of damage done to my faith in the name of the very savior who said He loved me. I hoped the book would provide a sort of revenge for injustices like the pastor who dragged my reputation through the mud after I broke off my engagement with his niece, or the administration that down-played improprieties within our Christian school that eventually resulted in the revelation of a heinous secret that seriously hurt members of my family and many others. In Turner’s words I had hoped to find the validation for my anger at right-wing Fundamentalism allowing me to symbolically crucify every last one of them. Understanding my emotionally misguided perspective led me to see Churched in a new light. Now Turner’s book felt more like the arm of a fellow survivor around my shoulder rather than a bland attempt at being funny for God.

Within the premise that comedy cannot exist without the preceding element of tragedy, I could now find the humor in Turner’s stories such as questioning the morality in eating a cookie made in the shape and likeness of Jesus, or the earnest prayers that the coming Apocalypse prophesied in Revelations would hold off long enough for the author to experience sex. I must have said that exact prayer eight billion times myself, and so, to hear Turner mention it had me rolling on the floor. But there was an even greater relief felt when the subject turned to the Fundamentalists perspective on hell.

From an early age I had professed my belief in eternal life through the redemptive actions of Christ’s death and resurrection. And like Turner, I must have traveled the Romans Road more times than a mailman after 30 years on the same delivery route, confessing my worthlessness over and over hoping with each admission my fear of hell would disappear. Even today when I imagine the unbearable pain and loneliness from an eternity in damnation, my stomach tightens and I break out in a cold sweat. This is no exaggeration either. It has been pounded through my skull for years that once you’re “saved” you will no longer fear hell, so why do I still feel afraid?  Is it because of unbelief or a fear I can’t let go of.  Its sounds a little weird, but when you read the story of how Turner’s zealous, but short-sighted, Sunday school teacher tried to recreate the effects of hell in a darkened room with a lighter and a Barbie doll, you will get a sense of the kinds of things we children of Fundamentalism were exposed to.  Think Guantanamo, but with prizes for brining a friend each Sunday.

My thoughts on Churched are completely opposite from those I held after first reading it. Although Turner, who has authored several books as well as being a former editor CCM Magazine is no David Sedaris, his prose is beyond adequate in portraying the innocence, confusion and hurt he endured as a boy muddling his way through the issues of faith. In the end, Turner shares his personal apprehension of being involved in today’s church as a result of these experiences, while at the same time alluding to how being part of the body of imperfect believers has helped lower his guard. Yet, one more consequence of Fundamentalist belief structure I can empathize with.  Churched is an important work dealing with a hard-line Christian sub-culture that has been the source of anger, distrust, and resentment for many of us like Turner who recounts the mangled foundation of his faith the only way I believe one can – humorously.