Marketing Manager, STL Dear Sir, I write with some considerable concern about your latest Just in (May/June 2000) catalogue. I am not sure exactly what STL's policy is concerning the books it promotes. Are you intending to supply sound Christian books, or merely to sell as many religious books as you can? In other words do you have a primary concern for evangelical doctrine or just a concern for what is likely to sell? If it is the former then I must draw your attention in particular to one book [there are quite a few others on the list which are also concerning] you are promoting called The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney ISBN 0 7684 2016 4. Are you aware that the author is what is known as a Oneness Pentecostal? Sometimes known as `Jesus only' Pentecostal. This is a form of heretical teaching better known in the USA then here. This, in and of itself, should be enough to discourage any reputable Christian bookseller from stocking it. But unfortunately it is much worse than that. The author subtly sneers at the Word of God. I will give you one quote: "I'm afraid we have satiated our hunger for Him by reading old love letters from him to the churches in the epistles of the New Testament. These are good, holy and necessary, but we never have intimacy with Him ..." (Page 15) If this is what your customers are reading is it, perhaps, any wonder that Bibles have to be sold off cheap? I also enclose a careful review by an American Pentecostal pastor, Bill Randles, who having read the book, wrote the enclosed critique. Further, the promotional `blurb' accompanying it is of a kind I would expect to find in material promoting some kind of lottery or scratch card game. "Are you a God chaser? Or is He chasing you? Tommy Tenney provides immense help for anyone dissatisfied with their level of devotion to Christ and their usefulness to others. The individual's stories come from different cultures and backgrounds, biblical and contemporary, yet each share the same passion — to know God and to walk with Him. Add your name to that list ... become a God chaser. Who knows? You might be one whom He catches." Christian booksellers have a special responsibility to the Christian public. They are acting, in some degree, as pastors and teachers to other people's flocks. They are accountable ultimately to God for what they sell and if they are promoting false teaching (which this book most certainly contains) they should at least warn their customers, not hype it up as something very desirable. I am sending a copy of this letter to all Wesley Owen bookshop managers and would be grateful for a reply. Yours faithfully, Philip Foster The response from Wesley-Owen: 15 June, 2000 Dear Revd Foster Many thanks for your letter dated 29 May, 2000, addressed to Keith Danby our Chief Executive, referring to the inclusion of The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney in the May/June 2000 edition of Just In. The Wesley Owen retail chain comprises a variety of shops, many of which have come together from different backgrounds and each serves a particular constituency. It is our policy to serve the whole church and, as such, our stock range will, therefore, reflect the views of a wide-ranging Christian community. We view our role as servicing the whole church and not just one specific denomination. Our Mission Statement is `Advancing the Christian faith through Retailing', and we desire to bring a Christian presence to the High Street in the context of an increasingly secular society. I am sorry, however, that you have been personally offended by the above title. We do understand that there will always be titles held in our shops, which will not be acceptable to everyone, but Christian book selling is such that we service a wide market. I would stress that we are a chain of Christian bookshops and our stocking policy does draw the line at carrying multi-faith titles. If you have any further comment regarding the contents of The God Chasers you may wish to address them to the UK distributors, New Wine Press, 22 Arun Business Park, Bognor Regis, West Sussex PO22 9SX and marked for the attention of Ed Harding the Managing Director. For your information I enclose an introductory brochure to Wesley Owen, which I hope you will find helpful in understanding our approach to Christian bookselling. Yours sincerely Mick Goodman General Manager Philip's reply: Mick Goodman Dear Mr Goodman, Thank you for your letter of 15th June. (Your ref MG/LR/1372). If I may be permitted a few observations. Whereas New Wine Press may be the UK distributor, it was your organisation that promoted it in the way I outlined in my previous letter. If that sort of hype is `a Christian presence in the High Street' then I'm not quite sure where you see your distinction is from the secular. I was not writing from my denomination as you seem to imply, but as a voice for those (who appear to be a diminishing number) who seek to uphold the Bible as the basis of the Christian Faith. You say you would not stock multi-faith titles: but how far are you prepared to go? Mormons? (whom Mr Coates says are now Christians), Jehovah Witnesses? For example, you do stock authors such as Benny Hinn and Yonggi Cho neither of whom is, in any meaningful sense of the word, Christian. Cho himself is multi-faith: he promotes his version of `visualisation' which he claims he got directly from Buddhism, saying it has a revelation, which the Bible doesn't have. I call that multi-faith. His supposedly `biggest church' is actually a pseudo-christian version of a far more successful `prosperity' Buddhist cult called Soka Gakai which has several million adherents. Your description of what you regard as `Christian' seems very broad indeed and is a very far cry from the old Scripture Union or even, though clearly things even there have changed beyond recognition, STL's origins in Operation Mobilisation. Yours sincerely, Philip Foster 24 Geldart St, Cambridge CB1 2LX St Matthew Publishing Ltd Postscript: Meanwhile, in June this year I received a long and rather garbled letter from one Chris Squire, who saw himself as the champion of such heretics as Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, the Copelands, and all stations to Toronto and Pensacola, begging/demanding that I stop the publication of The Final Words of Jesus by Jacob Prasch. He enclosed copies of letters responding to his `appeal' from none other than Gerald Coates, Roger Forster and, surprise surprise, STL. STL was eager to point out to Mr Squire the fact that it "does not currently stock this book and has no intention to do so in the future" signed Steve Bunn, chief buyer & promotions manager. The letter continues in suitably unctuous terms "I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in us, and trust that we will be able to provide for all of your Christian literature needs in the future." Be that as it may, Wesley Owen bookshops in the UK have sold approaching a hundred copies of The Final Words of Jesus as my invoices can testify. STL, though trumpeting its credo "Advancing the Christian Faith through marketing", is in fact no more now than a commercial enterprise, which might be better summarised as "Advancing marketing through the Christian Faith". What was once a respected Evangelical Organisation (Scripture Union) which would not stoop to promote anything except what it viewed as sound evangelical doctrine has now become a merely commercial promoter of `christian' junk food. I note that the latest Just In is promoting yet another book by heretic Tommy Tenney. [ TOP ] Appeared in Issue CETF 7.1 June 2001 |