Books Which Shouldn't Change Anybody's Mind!

More memories from those days when I was becoming Reformed and working in the Christian Bookstore industry

Previous posts in the series:

Roberts Liardon arrived in Orange County CA about the same time Benny Hinn did. “Roberts” Liardon (named for Oral Roberts) was in his early twenties at the time,and was the l'enfant terrible of the word-faith movement. One of our employee’s sisters attended his new and rapidly growing church in Irvine (Embassy Christian Center) and wanted us to sell his book, I Saw Heaven. She gave us a copy to read—thinking this would convince us. Instead it brought howls of laughter.

Between customers, my employees and I would take turns reading sections to each other. There are not words. Liardon recounts being taken to heaven, and then describes what he saw. He claims that Jesus led him into a warehouse which contained all of the organs, limbs, eyeballs, etc., which were waiting for those who were sick and which could be theirs if only they would name and claim them. Liardon was shocked and saddened to the point of tears by the unclaimed healings (and body parts), and announced this as the basis for his burgeoning healing ministry—to motivate God’s saints to claim what God had already provided for them. To buoy his spirits, he describes how Jesus took pity on him and they engaged in a playful splash fight in the River of Life. I’m not kidding.

I laughed at it then, but am now disgusted by the sight of the cover of the updated version of I Saw Heaven which celebrated its 25th anniversary awhile back, bragging of sales of over 1.5 million copies. Yes, this is thoroughly heretical, but my present concern is “how on earth do 1.5 million people find this kind of book worth buying?”

Liardon’s flame burned out quickly—he was caught up in a notorious sex scandal early in his ministry. His church blew up, he eventually packed up shop, and moved to Florida, where he currently runs a Christian conference ministry, focusing on “God’s Generals.” Through a series of books, conferences, and social media, Liardon teaches his followers about famous Pentecostal evangelists who should serve as examples for Christians to live in victory and success.

There is so much I could say about this book, but which I shouldn’t. Even the mere consideration of this book for this post brought a concerned look from dear my wife as if to say—“don’t do it.” If you are wondering what I want to say, you are probably close to being right.

The author, Salem Kirban, was a very popular prophecy pundit in the 1970’s—although now long forgotten. He died in 2010. His prophecy books (most of which were self-published), including his famous book 666, sold millions of copies. Kirban is the father of the Christian end-times novel. He was identified by some as the Stephen King of Christian writers because his books all had a horror thriller and dark apocalyptic feel to them. Kirban told readers the rapture was at hand, the Antichrist was about to be revealed, Christians were soon to be rounded up and arrested, and post-rapture America would be led by a smiley, nice man, named Brother Bartholomew who was in reality the devil incarnate. Kirban famously pictured a church with a guillotine outside the door.

When his prophecy punditry efforts had run their course, he moved on to pen a whole series of books on how Satanic deception was destroying the church (looking at American Christianity now, he might have been right!). Next came a spate of books exposing the new age as satanic and warning of its influence on American religion and culture.

The next phase was his fixation with diet and eating properly—he was a sort of “influencer” before his time. He would have been a Tic-Toc or Instagram favorite if he were still alive and active today. His most popular book in this genre, and the only one of his books we carried in our bookstore, was Eat Your Way to Vibrant Health which was followed by Health Guide for Survival. The latter was tied to his end times stuff, and was survivalist adjacent in its orientation.

Then came the title above, Unlocking Your Bowels For Better Health. I recall people asking me if we carried this book, and then being chagrined when I told them we didn’t. In one of my cheekier moments, I recall telling a disappointed customer who asked me, “do you carry Salem Kirban’s books?” I politely said, “no, we do not.” She followed up with a bit of vexation and asked, “not even Unlocking Your Bowels?” My reply was “no, but there are public restrooms next door.”

I closed the family business back in 1995, when I went to work at Christians United For Reformation (CURE) before Christ Reformed Church began organizing. I am so glad to be out of the Christian bookstore business! But it had its moments.