Cleaning house: "No more free heresy!"
This is the story of one church taking drastic steps to rid itself of the heresy from its church library.
Church libraries are a great source for free Christian reads, and those nice librarians rarely charge late fees. Notice I didn't say "great Christian reads;" I said "free." Unfortunately many church libraries contain some of the worst fiction in Christendom. Books by authors promoting the New Age, Spiritual Formation, Word of Faith, New Apostolic Reformation, Hebrew Roots, and every seeker-sensitive, feel-good, self-esteem-building, purpose-driven, paradigm-shifting message that distorts the True gospel of Jesus.
Where do all those books come from? In many churches, the books are donated from well-meaning members hoping to bless others with Christian tomes that can be consumed again and again. Some churches carefully screen these donations, and toss out the questional books. Other leaders say it's good to give their sheep the freedom to feed on any book they wish, and discern for themselves which parts are meat and which parts are bones. (See, Should you judge a church by its bookstore?)
Today I received the following photo from a woman in the Midwest, along with a note explaining why there was a huge pile of heretical books by false teachers in the trunk of her car:
"This is the heresy I helped remove from our church," she wrote. Her church of about 900 members and attendees, she says, is a solid church in every way except for the materials that somehow found a spot on the library shelves.
The woman, along with two pastors, rolled up their sleeves and removed so many unsound books that there was little left to sort when they were through. So they decided to do some additional rearranging.
"Our leaders decided to do away with the church library completely, and instead we now have two "recommended reading" shelves containing maybe a few dozen or so books. And those books must be approved by the pastors. No more free heresy!"
What do you imagine they did with all of those books? Let's just say that the books are no longer in circulation for others to consume.
What's in your church library?
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