CONFUSION - APOLOGY
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
Dear friends,
A number of people seem confused over whether the piece that
we published yesterday "Dawn of Liberty" by Michael Phillips
was fact or fiction. I want to apologise, because I should have
made this clear. (Actually, when you visit a number of web-sites
that carry this article, they do not state whether it is fact or
fiction either - which leads to confusion for us all).
That piece was actually written by a novelist who I understand
specializes in "reality-based" fiction. He takes real historical
people and times, and writes fictional events around them to
"make a point" in his novels. Thus the persecuted leaders that
he mentions - Wurmbrand, Duduman, Vins and Solzhenitsyn
were all real people - and there really was a huge question as
to whether "Western-style" Christianity with all its 'razmataz'
and hype was really going to help or hinder the true gospel
when the Iron Curtain opened up. The author conveys all this
brilliantly - but it is actually a work of FICTION. It was certainly
based on reality, but there never was an actual leader named
Dieder Palacki who rebuked a crowd of Western Christians
and tore up a 3 million dollar check! (-Perhaps some of them
may have liked to do it!)
By the way, this issue is still very much alive in the world today.
Last week I was talking with a preacher who travels regularly
to Nigeria and Western Africa. He told me that in Nigeria there
is virtually a "Prosperity" church on every corner. This is a
country where there are literally beggars on the streets and
people living in shacks! He told me that all the worst excesses
of TBN and the American "Big Money" preachers are copied
exactly in those churches - not just twice a year but virtually
every week! What on earth kind of "gospel" are we Westerners
spreading around the world? It has gotten too sick for words.
But I do apologise, my friends, for publishing that piece
yesterday without a notice announcing it as fiction. That was
a terrible omission and I am very sorry.
God bless you all.
Kindest regards in Christ,
Andrew Strom.