Selling your special access to the word of God

I write book reviews for the Healing Path, a local magazine for free.  It’s a “new age” type of enterprise, and I do occasionally get free tickets to programs like that recent talk by Joe Dispenza on creating human change.

So they asked me to write a review of the book “The Soul Truth:  A Guide to Inner Peace” by Sheila and Marcus Gillette. After spending only 20 or 30 minutes looking at the book, it became clear to me what I needed to say about it.  I needed to tell my own “soul truth” about “The Soul Truth.”

Here’s what I sent them:

According to the advertising, “The Soul Truth reveals practical insights and techniques for readers to achieve deep, sustainable levels of inner peace through the channeled entity named THEO, a consortium of twelve archangels.”

Theoretically, THEO provides us with the tools necessary to transcend the limitations of the physical world and enter into the timeless dimensions of the soul. THEO told Sheila Gillette that the years leading up to 2012 represent the most profound shift in consciousness and spiritual awakening ever experienced on our planet.

Am I the only one thinking this sounds like a creative brand of snake oil guaranteed to cure all earthly ills? Could this be the best way for Sheila and her husband Marcus to become millionaires? With the sales of this book plus radio and TV appearances, the year 2012 will most probably be a good year for them. How does one refute the words of “a consortium of twelve archangels” who are saying exactly what we all want to hear?

They say they are “Introducing humanity to an accelerated path of spiritual development known as soul integration, and offering crystal-clear insights and new patterns for ecstatic living in all areas of our lives.” Well, sign me up! Who doesn’t prefer “the excitement of manifesting peak spiritual experiences and illumination” to their regular everyday life?

I only wish this book came with a money back guarantee!

Needless to say, the Healing Path editors were not pleased with my assessment, but that was the only way I could see this book.  My review will not be printed, but it is kind of funny, isn’t it?

Did Jesus charge admission to the sermon on the mound?  People who become millionaires because of their special access to messages from God or “twelve archangels” drive me nuts!  It’s like their “religion” or psychic abilities give them the right to take advantage of others.  It’s one thing to want to “save the world” but something completely different when you charge admission to do it!

I am certainly no bible scholar. but wasn’t the point of the story about Jesus and the money changers about how ugly and evil it is to extort profit from people in exchange for offering them the word of God?

I LOVED Bill Maher’s take on all this in the movie Religulous, which basically makes fun of those who have “seen the light” and charge others for access to it.  Granted, I am not a religious person.  It would be very difficult for anyone to convince me that Sheila Gillette is channeling archangels…what is an archangel anyway???

Tagged as: book review, extorting money for access to the word of GOD, Jesus and the money changers, Religulous, Sheila Gillette, The Soul Truth