Attention, All Parents! - Conversations With God
Warren F. Kenney
Another book on prayer? No, not this time. However, that is what I thought when I first heard about the book Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch. How wrong I was! The book actually is not about prayer. Instead, it is a book wherein the author acts as the “voice of God” as he answers various questions. The problem is that Mr. Walsch ignores and actually contradicts what the Bible (the real voice of God) has to say on these topics. Wayne Jackson calls Mr. Walsch “A New Guru for the Gullible.” (“Neal Walsch: A New Guru for the Gullible” christiancourier.com March 27, 2000)
Let me try, as best I can, to explain Mr. Walsch’s approach. It began in the spring of 1992 when he wrote God a letter (filled with what Walsch called “confusions, contortions, and condemnations”). When he was ready to lay aside his pen, some “invisible force” began controlling the pen. According to Walsch, that “force” was God who asked him, “Do you really want an answer to all these questions, or are you just venting?” Mr. Walsch said that made him blink. It would have made me run. God told him to ask his questions and wait for an answer. His answer would come through either feelings, thoughts, words, or some kind of experience. This resulted in “God ... talking with you. Through me.” (p. 1) Surprisingly, according to Walsch, God said words were the least effective means of communication because they are subject to misunderstanding. If God really feels this way, why did He give us a book of words, the Bible?
I am reviewing only one book in a total of nine books: Conversations With God books 1, 2, 3, Friendship With God, Communion With God, Conversations With God for Teens, The New Revelations, Tomorrow’s God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge, and Home With God: In a Life That Never Ends. This amounts to almost 3000 pages of Mr. Walsch’s theorizing. In 2006, a movie was released; the DVD version was released in 2007.
According to Walsch, God went on to say that Mr. Walsch would receive messages from Him and from other sources. He claims that God then assured him that “Mine is always your Highest Thought, your Clearest Word, your Grandest Feeling. Anything less is from another source” (p. 4). Of course, this makes Walsch a “god” unto himself. After that is established, it is amazing what one can believe and teach. Of course, space limitations negate a full discussion, but consider the following. According to Walsch’s book:
(1) Prayer must never be a supplication. It must only be thanksgiving (p.11). I find that interesting in light of the fact that Paul said we let our requests be made known to God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) (All scriptures from New King James Version). Paul calls for both; Mr. Walsch cuts that in half by eliminating supplication.
(2) If you believe that God is the creator and decider of all things in your life, you are mistaken. God is the observer, not the creator (pg. 13). With one swipe of the pen, Mr. Walsch denies the creation as well as Daniel’s affirmation that God rules in the kingdoms of men (Daniel 4:25).
(3) Hell does not exist (p. 40) and heaven is here on earth (p. 98). God tells him to put space between the w and h in the word nowhere to see that heaven is now ... here.
Mr. Walsch calls his Conversations with God “an uncommon dialogue.” That I would agree with since he has God “who cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) lying over and over.
Solomon said there is no end in making books (Ecclesiastes 12:12). I wish Mr. Walsch’s career as an author had ended before he published his first one. He does prove that anyone can write a book. Not only so, but the more it holds up God for ridicule, the more likely he is to become rich. Reader, beware! –90 Waverly Court, Martinsburg, WV 25403-1212.