STRONGWILLED

Lisa Sharon Harper, author of The Very Good Gospel, founder of Freedom Road--a consulting group dedicated to helping people do justice more justly (Check out her excellent podcast here).“I wasn’t taught to interpret Scripture. I was just given Scripture and told to do it.”19 min: Peretti’s books were a spiritualization of the culture wars which launched in the 1980s through the moral majority. 26 min: Viv Grigg says that the “powers” move us away from the ethics of God. What does it mean to be ruled by God? It means to come under the constitution of God. Belief for the Hebrews was not a mind thing, it was in the body, and it has to be lived out in the world. And that’s what ethics are. 31 min: In the book Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America the authors state that the one way for white evangelicals to change their worldview is to be immersed in communities that are unlike themselves32 min: “The good news is that Jesus, the king of the kingdom of God, has come to earth to confront the powers of the earth who are hell bent on crushing the image of God.”40 min: Recommendations for people who are deconstructing but still want to be aware of power and principalities: immerse yourself in the teachings of communities of color. The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can be Made Right by Lisa Sharon HarperThe Cross and the Lynching Tree by James ConeJesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God by Kelly Brown DouglasIn many ways it is a uniquely European and western project to separate the spirit and the body and to secularize the world. 48 min: “I think that the unspoken project of western civilization has been to usurp God, to become God, to control everything.”49:30 Race: A Theological Account by J. Kameron Carter. “The only way to live without connection to the spirit world is to think that you are God, and to live at a level where you don’t experience oppression, where you ARE the powers.” “I really believe that it was used to forward a political movement, and it was one that was consciously galvanizing white evangelicals to rally around a political ideology that they knew . . . would ultimately result in the winning of the original culture war, which began with Brown V. the Board of Education.” The culture war is not just about sexual politics, but it is also about race. It is about the desired rule and control of white men over space. 49 min: “The Spirit of God comes against oppression.”D.L. recommends William Stringfellow’s book An Ethic for Christians and other Aliens in a Strange Land. A white theologian in the 70s, his understanding of principalities in the Bible shifts from the personal to the institutional.  

Hi Friends! Episode 2 of Frank Peretti's America is out now wherever you listen to your podcasts. Listen, then come back here and let us know what you think!We would also love to share any and all stories you might want to share about your own experiences growing up and learning about spiritual warfare. Drop a story in the comments or email us at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com.If you are interested in the Faith in an Age of Fear conference DL mentions, check out the eventbrite here. We would love to see you there! Interview with Daniel Silliman, (on twitter @danielsilliman) whose PHD dissertation was on the history of best-selling evangelical novels. He specifically looked at the five novels which changed evangelical publishing in a significant way and sold over a million copies. Those books were:Love Comes Softly (1979) by Janette OkeThis Present Darkness (1986) by Frank PerettiLeft Behind by Tim Lahaye and (1996) Jerry B. JenkinsThe Shunning (1997) by Beverly LewisThe Shack by (2007) by William Paul YoungSilliman recounts how the evangelical fiction market primarily courted female book buyers with Christian romance novels, and how Peretti and his “Christian horror” was a new risky genre.21 min: Silliman mentions Francis Schaeffer and his beliefs on worldviews influencing Crossway publishing to branch out into books like This Present Darkness.28 min: Silliman gets into the background of Amy Grant and her personal and professional troubles, and why this led to her being so drawn to a little book called This Present Darkness. Here’s a link to an LA times piece about Amy Grant being credited for the sales bump, with this particular jewel of a quote from Lane Dennis, CEO of Crossway (Peretti’s publisher): “He has written a book for the so-called Moral Majority. They can hold this up and say, ‘This is how I see the world.”37: min Jack Chick Tracts and demons.

Trigger Warnings: talking about demons, demon possession, sexual abuse, sexual abuse allegations being dismissed24 min: TW Sexual Abuse in TPD. Here is a link to R. L. Stollar’s original tweet thread. Intro: music by Krispin Mayfield (indebted to the song “Ashton” by Michael W. Smith. Voice clips from pastor Steve Waldon and his youtube channel, where he reviewed This Present Darkness in 2018. This Present Darkness Wikipedia page. This Present Darkness sparknotes (short summary for those who are curious).  This Lying Survivor: Frank E. Peretti and Evangelical Fears about False Abuse Allegations by R.L. Stollar for Fathom Magazine. 39 min: Frank Peretti book on bullying called The Wounded Spirit. 

Special Christmas Episode by DL Mayfield

Listener questions about The Ties that Bind and the future of the Prophetic Imagination Station podcast

At My Whit's End About Whit's End (Ties that Bind #14) by DL Mayfield

Love and Marriage (Ties That Bind Episodes 12 & 13) by DL Mayfield

Perhaps the worst episode in the whole album, #triggerwarning and buckle your seat belts.

a VERY special episode (Ties that Bind #9 & #10) by DL Mayfield

The Collapse of Western Civilization (Ties That Bind #8) by DL Mayfield