By James Harn, Senior, President of Student Council

It would be another cold night. After a house fire, a divorce, and a serious neck injury, Neale Donald Walsch found himself unemployed and spending his nights in a camping tent near Ashland, Oregon. After picking up aluminum cans for money, Walsch was hired as a weekend radio DJ. With his steady income, he purchased a small house. For the first time in a long time things were looking up for Walsch. But the suffering that he went through did not leave him without questions. Late one night Neale angrily wrote on a yellow legal pad, “What does it take to make life work?” Supposedly, God answered him.

Since the time of Christ, many have claimed that they received new revelations from God: Joseph Smith, Mohammed, Jim Jones, etc. Many of their “revelations” appeal to the prideful or sinful nature of mankind. They sprinkle their messages with half-truths and thus add credibility to blatant lies. As Christians, we must be ever wary of these self-proclaimed prophets.

Walsch recorded his “conversations” with God in three books titled Conversations with God: Books 1-3. Now there are a few options here: Neale actually conversed with the Almighty, he genuinely believes that he talked to God but actually didn’t, or he made it all up for the money. I would like to take a closer look at the first’s possibility.

Let’s pretend for a moment that a man told you he was able to fly. You may argue with him a bit, explaining why you don’t believe his claims. He may continue insisting that he, like superman, can fly. It all eventually comes down to this: can he prove it? It doesn’t matter how much he tells you about flying; you would not believe a word that he says unless he actually stood up in front of you and flew off. The point is that when someone makes radical claims, you probably won’t believe them without proof.

Walsch does not offer any proof that he actually conversed with God. He purports that everyone should believe he talks to God simply because he said so. Furthermore, Walsch offers no original material. His books are peppered with New Age doctrine which can be learned from almost any college professor. The only difference between Walsch and a professor is that Walsch is stamping divine authority on the New Age movement. People are so quick to accept his message because they want to believe in a New Age God. Some of the teachings from the books are as followed: Man is god, there is no hell, good and evil are one, and experience has authority over everything else.

Walsch writes, “The promise of God is that you are His son. Her offspring. Its likeness. His equal. For this is both the goal and the glory of God: that His subjects shall be no more, and that all shall know God not as the unattainable, but as the unavoidable.” Without a doubt, Walsch is stating that we are equal to God since our “transformation” into God is unavoidable. This is a contradiction of clear biblical doctrine. God stands alone. There is none like Him and there will never be anyone who is comparable to Him. Isaiah 40 describes God as sitting above the earth whose inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Job 38-41 shows God’s superiority over mankind. Job is left humbled by God, not feeling like an equal.

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 teaches that “those who do not know God” and “those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” will have to face the retribution of God which is “eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.” The Bible contains many more references to hell other than this one. To deny the existence of hell is to deny the authenticity of the Bible. Walsch, predictably and similarly to New Age teaching, denies hell in its entirety saying, “There are those who say that I have given you free will, yet these same people claim that if you do not obey Me, I will send you to hell. What kind of free will is that?” If true, this means that we are free to do whatever we want with no consequences. He even goes as far to say that what Hitler did was not wrong, it was simply what he did; therefore, Hitler went to Heaven.

Remember this is supposed to be God talking, the same God described as a righteous and wrathful Judge in Psalm 7:11.

“Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity,” writes Walsch. Experientialism is growing exponentially in modern religion and philosophy. Our experiences, while we can learn from them, should always be examined on the backdrop of truth, God’s Word. Walsch claims that God places ultimate authority on experiences and that we should modify our perspective of the world based on our personal experiences. Jeremiah tells us, “The heart is more deceitful than all else.” With our hearts we interpret our experiences. If our hearts are deceitful then we would not trust them. Experiences are valuable, but never are they taught in Scripture to hold any real authority.

I personally cannot judge whether or not Walsch is sincere or not. But I am fully convinced that these three books do not contain the words of God. Walsch offers no authority on which to base his claims; furthermore, teachings in this series contradict clear biblical doctrine. The way I see it, there are only two options: he genuinely believes that he talked to God but he didn’t, or actually made it all up for the money.