Another Shack Attack Coming in March via 'The Shack' Movie
It's back --"The Shack" is coming to a theater near you. Are you prepared? Have you armed yourself with both the Word, and knowledge of what The Shack is actually about? If not, this update is for you.Some Shack Back Stories You Should Know
Young's Boyhood Background
Canadian William Paul Young was born in 1955 to Christian and Missionary Alliance parents William Henry and Bernice Young in Grande Prairie, Alberta Canada. Taken to Papua, New Guinea at ten months, Paul testifies he was raised by the Dani Stone Age Tribe whose language he learned from babyhood. His parents, Henry and Bernice, were so busy with their mission work that they allowed the tribe to practically raise their little "ghost" boy. Paul often reiterates that he felt estranged from his parents, and especially from his stern and legalistic father.
Beginning at age four the tribe began to sexually abuse Paul often within feet of his parents who were unaware of what was happening. At six, following the common missionary practice at that time, he was sent to a CMA Sentani Boarding School where more sexual abuse ensued. Profoundly impacted by these horrendous experiences Paul shares that he became adept at hiding his hurts from others.
Young's College Background
In 1965 Paul, then ten, suddenly found himself back in Canada where his dad pastored various churches. Moving often, Paul attended a number of schools before arriving at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Canadian Bible College (CBC) in Regina. Later CBC became Ambrose University.
And it was at Ambrose Paul, in 2008, was welcomed as an honored Ambrose alumnus. There he spoke to the students and faculty about two unforgettable dreams he had during his third year at CBC. In them, Paul with friends ascend a steep mountain into a large cathedral full of winding stairs, and themed rooms,
In the second cathedral dream, Paul and a classmate Terry miraculously escape the cathedral. Once free they meet a hooded figure who advised them never to return inside for if they did they would die in that world. Terry, says Paul, went back but he ran on. After, Paul recalled he felt he was pulled out of his old world, and into new freedom.
As a MK Paul recalled he had been a model student as well as the Junior Class President. However, he tells of his great disappointment when he missed an opportunity to obtain a coveted scholarship because the denomination felt he was not a "good investment." After CBC, Paul went on to complete his undergraduate degree in Religion graduating from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. (Church of God, Anderson Indiana)
Click on "William P. Young-Testimony at Ambrose University" to hear lecture.
http://www.cranbrookalliancechurch.com/links/
Young's Early Ministry and Marriage
After college, Paul led a large youth group, and met his wife to be at East Hill Foursquare Church, in Gresham, Oregon. It was during this time that he had a horrific accident in front of his pastor's home landing him unconscious in the hospital. Paul relates how he adapted to his role as a husband, never revealing to his wife his hidden past.
Paul doesn't share much more about his married life until he had six kids, and Kim confronted him with an adulterous affair. It was at this low point he told her of his experiences. After eleven years of dealing with his pain and receiving counseling, Kim is able to ask him to write the Christmas story gift: The Shack for his kids. This story is his life story in the form of a parable with theology woven into a fictional account.
Wm. Paul Young and James B. DeYoung
James DeYoung lived close to Paul outside Portland, Ore. and was involved both with his family, and with Paul himself. In fact DeYoung and Young were part of M3Forum, a Christian think tank, for seven years driving to and from meetings. (p. XIII)
And in his book Burning Down 'The Shack': How the 'Christian Bestseller' is Deceiving Millions
DeYoung explains how in April 2004* Young presented a paper to the M3Forum embracing Christian Universalism. Distinct from pagan universalism, DeYoung points out, Christian universalism claims all come to God through Jesus Christ before or after death. If after death in hell, all will be purged from their sins--even the devil and fallen angels--so hell will be emptied and all will go to heaven. (pp. XIII-XIV) DeYoung notes, " ... hell ceases to exist. There is no eternal judgment. This is the form of universalism embedded in the The Shack." (p. XIV)
* April 2004 was before The Shack was written which shows that Young already accepted a different gospel. As DeYoung says, "He deliberately stated that he was putting aside his earlier 'evangelical paradigm.' He was not just considering a new belief; he had committed to it." (p. XV)
DeYoung addresses specifically fifteen views of Paul Young in the book listed on pages XVI-XVIII. DeYoung explains, "I'm writing this book for a twofold reason: " ... to uncover the embedded errors in The Shack ... and to show from Scripture why they are serious--how they strike a dagger into the heart of the gospel." (p. XXI)
Wm. Paul Young and Anglican Rector Harold Munn
In "Shack Author Has Personal Ties to Victoria" (Canadian Christianity) Lloyd Mackey tells the story of Paul's mother Bernice, who as a nurse in training in 1947, courageously saved the life of a premature one pound baby--Harold Munn. Munn then grew up to become head rector of Victoria's St. John the Divine Church. Bernice, on the other hand, married Henry Young, had Paul, and went off to New Guinea as a Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary.
Read article at: https://canadianchristianity.com/bc/bccn/0810/i01shack.html
Fast forward many years, Bernice reconnects with Munn telling him how she saved his life. Later on, Bernice learns Munn is encouraging his congregants to read her son's book The Shack which she has declared "heretical." Bernice then asks Munn his opinion of Paul's book, and Munn helps allay her fears about it. Later, Young himself conducts "Divine Intervention" sessions at St. John the Divine.
The Shepherd's Garden Blog fills in the rest of the story when its author writes, "At face value, it is a wonderful story: A Christian pastor with ties to the family reassures the elderly concerned mother about her son's theology. But there is a reason Harold Munn has no trouble with The Shack because Munn's church holds to a wide-open interpretation of who Jesus is, and what Christianity means." For more click here: http://www.theshepherdsgarden.com/blog/?p=10321
Wm. Paul Young with Rick Lawrence
In a December 2014 piece "William Paul Young on the Goodness of God", Group Magazine's Rick Lawrence interviews Young. In it Paul reflects, "... what's the truth of your being? This is where Jesus at the center of the cosmos becomes absolutely critical. ... Unfortunately, when we grew up the truth of our being was depravity. That's the fundamentally massive deception in the goodness of God which is the question I'm after in The Shack."
Lawrence also quizzes Young on the "re-imagination" of the Trinity asking if he would change anything. Paul answers as it was just a Christmas gift for his kids he would never change a thing. Paul adds, "I didn't want my kids growing up with the God I did--white, distant, unreachable, unknowable, the darkness behind Jesus that needs to be appeased."
https://youthministry.com/william-paul-young-on-the-goodness-of-god/
Wm. Paul Young on "Ready to Roar" Podcast
In an August 2016 podcast: "The Reality and Humanity of The Shack with Paul Young" Paul tells interviewer Jon Fuller about his January 4, 1994 encounter with his wife over his affair where he says he got caught. As he shares about this crisis time he makes a statement that unlike his conservative brothers and sisters he does not know when he was saved, and maybe that time was it. Young also makes this startling comment, "Thank God, New Agers are ahead of us in being human."
Paul tells Jon that a person can have a "low view" of being human, or a "high view" --the high view being that we ourselves are incredible. Paul puts down the idea that we are wretched, or in need of a Savior as taught in old hymns. And using bad language Young declares this theology is totally untrue!
Young states, "The way of your being matches the truth of your being." Don't believe people who are telling you that you're not good. Young rails against believing in a mean, arrogant, malevolent God. Young uses John 14:20 to prove all are in Jesus-- not Christ.
At the end a very conciliatory, admiring Fuller tells Young he's gotten a word for him: "Healing--healing for the younger generation." But rather than healing--heresy and deception-- should be the words one would take from this recent podcast!
http://rureal.org/11-the-reality-and-humanity-of-the-shack-with-paul-young/
Wm. Paul Young at the Global Grace Seminary Conference
In September 2016 Young, listed as a professor at Global Grace Seminary, spoke at the first Global Grace Seminary Conference along with Dr. C. Baxter Kruger and Dr. Steve McVey. Young spoke on the "The Rising Tide of Reformation" in which he says we are at the cusp of a new beginning coming out of past division, separation, and categorization.
http://globalgraceseminary.net/ggs-team/professors or http://globalgraceseminary.net/
Young, former evangelical, fundamentalist, protestant MK, acknowledged while missionaries had had magnificent intentions that caused incredible spillovers into education, health, and the
availability of truth to the world. However, asserts Young, we caused a lot of trouble with our "destructive theology" which began with separation which was "an absolute lie."
He then pauses, and comments he's going to do something he's never done before, that is ask
forgiveness of his Asian, African, and Aboriginal sisters and brothers. Why forgiveness? Young states in the name of the God we spread a gospel that was not the gospel. And adds Young, brothers and sisters all over the globe are finding this out, and experiencing a cataclysmic transition as they work their way out of bondage that we put them in with the best of intentions. "And we were wrong!"
Young goes on to say we've been presented a God who is masochistic, who treated his Son abusively* just to be right with other people--like my dad who never knew how to be a real dad. And relates Paul, my own experience matched my theology. Why, explodes Young, it is all craziness this idea God would pour out wrath on his Son. It is absolutely diabolical.
* Language used at conference very troubling.
Then Young puts on his "angry glasses" for he is going to read verses from Isaiah 53 which he will need to "rework" for those past translators with their "angry God" were wearing their "angry glasses" writing "angry words." Hear the video: "Wm. Paul Young-GGS Conference 2016" at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-wn-l893c
How heartbreaking are the above statements and language, and how absolutely sad is it that millions
have bought into the man, and his Shack gospel. A similar 2010 Concordia College speech heard by Ray Yungen as recorded in "The Shack Author Says: "The God of Evangelicalism Is a Monster" can be read here: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=4650
Wm. Paul Young's Connection to Bradley Jersak
At the GGS conference above, Young details how during a visit to Vancouver, BC he had gotten to meet author Brad Jersak and others during "The Shack" movie shoot. Jersak, once Evangelical, now an Eastern Greek Orthodox ordained 'Reader,' is someone whom Young greatly admires.
In fact, Young is an endorser of Jersak's 2016 book: A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel. Along with Eugene Peterson, Fr. Richard Rohr, Brian D. McLarin, Frank Schaeffer, C. Baxter Kruger, PhD, and others, Young raves over this work as challenging our views of God. Young also adds it is "a breath of clean and clarifying air."
Jersak, it may be noted, indicates many, whether a believer or atheist, carry "a toxic view of God." He says, "Even the Christian gospel has repeatedly lapsed into a vision of God where the wrathful King must be appeased by his victim Son." To interviewer Dr. Andrew P. Klager, Jersak explains his reason in writing the book was this: "The book emerged from a growing need to ... offer alternatives to a prevailing view of God as retributive (or 'monster--god' to cite Brian Zahnd, who wrote the foreword)--a God unlike Jesus to whom many in the Evangelical tradition still cling, or from whom they are attempting to flee." Jersak, incidentally, is known for his adaptation of a presentation called "A Gospel in Chairs."
Read articles here:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2015/04/the-need-for-a-more-christlike-god-an-interview-with-brad-jersak/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-p-klager-phd/an-interview-with-brad-je_b_7235444.html
It can be noted also that in October 2016, Young and Jersak took part in "The Grand Embrace Retreat Workshop" with spiritual director Lorie Martin, and contemplative singer-song writer Cathy AJ Hardy.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-grand-embrace-retreatworkshopconcert-with-wm-paul-young-tickets-21458310384
Wm. Paul Young with Fr. Richard Rohr
Fr. Richard Rohr with mystic emergent Mike Morrell recently wrote The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation with Young writing its foreword. Inside, its dedication says: "From Richard Rohr: To all unsuspecting folks who do not know they are already within the 'Divine Flow.'" In the foreword Young says, "May we feel within us the eternal life of Jesus reaching through our hands--to heal, to hold, to hug--and celebrate the bread of our Humanity, the sanctity of the Ordinary, and Participation in the Trinity."
Other endorsers include Rob Bell, Brian D. McLaren, and a host of others. As Lighthouse Trails Research points out in "In Case You Still Aren't Sure About the Shack and Its Author" perhaps Young's "Twenty Books Everyone Should Read" will convince you otherwise. Click onto the article here: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=17684
And Young, continuing his close association with Rohr, will join him and Cynthia Bourgeault
in April 6-8, 2017 to take part in a program titled: "Trinity: The Soul of Creation" in Albuquerque.
Its online descriptive ad reads, "Rohr, Bourgeault, and Young believe the Trinity ... has the capacity to change everything. We already participate within this dance whether we realize it or not. But when we consciously engage in loving communion, we open ourselves to being transformed at the deepest levels. Bring your heart, mind, and body to this ... conversation. Join an ecumenical and inter-faith gathering, moving together through reflective experiences, including contemplative prayer, music, movement (Yoga, Tai Chi Chin, and walking meditation), group and individual processing. ..." https://cac.org/events/conferences/trinity/
Wm. Paul Young Promotes Another Gospel
In conclusion, the above stories are but a few of many that demonstrate clearly that Young has departed the faith for another gospel, and sadly he has deceived, and confused millions with his aberrant theology. And as "The Shack" movie debuts, even more will travel down this destructive and deceptive pathway. For as James B. DeYoung told Christiannews.net: "If the film is a faithful portrayal of the events and the theology of the book, then every Christian should be gravely alarmed at the further events that smear the Evangelical understanding of the truth of the Bible."
http://christiannews.net/2016/12/20/christians-warn-upcoming-shack-movie-depicting-god-as-woman-could-far-outweigh-harm-of-novel/
Therefore, more than ever, one should heed Paul's admonition to the Colossians in verses 1:4, 6-8: "And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words... as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught ... Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."
Learn to Discern Granny Verse: Colossians : 4:6
"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."
For More Information:
THE SHACK and Its New Age Leaven by Warren B. Smith (Lighthouse Trails)
https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=12290
"Exploring the Deception of New Age Pagan Teachings in THE SHACK" by Chris Lawson (Update December 2016-Spiritual Research Network)
http://www.spiritual-research-network.com/theshack.html
"When Sexual Abuse Comes to Light" by Sarah Eekhoff Zyistra (BishopAccountability.org)
names the CMA boarding school that Young attended in Sentani, Indonesia. Zyistra also named
other denominations, and noted that the CMA denomination has now made changes.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/03_04/2014_02_20_Sarah_Today_When_to.htm
