The Heavenly Visitor in a Thousand Dreams
Does Jesus ever appear in our dreams? Missionary Ben Staggs describes a unique experience he had when visiting the Boshu people, in Ethiopia’s Me’en territory. “We sat down and spoke a bit,” Ben says, “explaining that we had come to tell them of ‘God’s talk’. I described who God is, what He is like, and
Long-Term Love: When Desire Meets Devotion
A little while back, Fairfax newspapers’ Good Weekend magazine asked this question: ‘Could infidelity save your marriage?’ The shock headline pointed to an excerpt from a new book by a controversial marriage therapist who suggests that a third person—either real or imagined—could re-boost flagging desire in a relationship.
Haiti: They Have What We Need
With 70 percent unemployment and 80 percent of its people living in poverty, Haiti merits its label as the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere. Electricity is irregular, as is the water supply. The landscape is baron as 97 percent of the trees have gone. One in 14 Haitian children never reach their first
Navigating Your Way Through Guilt
When I was a youth worker, I discovered a great game. You ask a kid to stand up and spin around seven times. Once they stop, and as they try to regain their balance, you say ‘Now, point to the north pole.’ You find hands pointing in every direction! I find that game somewhat analogous
The Shack Interview
William 'Paul' Young's book The Shack has been a publishing phenomenon. Originally written for his kids, the book went viral and has since sold millions. Its tale of Mack losing his daughter Missy and meeting God to discover an answer to suffering has been hailed by many as life-changing. The book has also caused much
Anne Rice: Christianity’s Outsider Once More
As many a good fiction writer knows, there is often a deep, mysterious and symbolic link between an author’s life and the books they create. Only later does a writer realise how much she or he was the real character of the story. Such may be the case for Anne Rice, the queen of dark
William Young’s Troubled Past: The Story Behind ‘The Shack’
In part 2 of my extended interview with The Shack author William 'Paul' Young, Paul shares the personal story behind the book, including some details not published elsewhere: his childhood abuse, his later addictions, his drive to please people and God to find affection, and the event on January 4 1994 that turned his life
The God of ‘The Shack’: William Young Responds
In part 3 of my interview with The Shack author William P Young, Paul and I discuss the need to go back to the place of our pain and grief to find God, why Paul portrayed God as 'Papa', Jesus and 'Sarayu', the misconceptions about God The Shack tries to address, and why God is
Is ‘The Shack’ Heresy? William Young Responds to His Critics
In part 4 and 5 of my extended interview with William P Young, author of the phenomenally popular book The Shack, Paul and I explore some of the criticisms that have been levelled at his book. In this segment you'll hear Paul respond to some of the criticism, in particular whether his portrayal of God
God, Hell and ‘The Shack’
In this final segment of my interview with William P Young about his top-selling book The Shack, Paul and I hash out things like why The Shack character Mack doesn't seem too phased in God's presence, whether God will punish us for our sins, how much of God we can know through the Old Testament