Christian Publisher Plans Pro-’Gay’ Book, Employees ‘Under Threat’
EXCLUSIVE – WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
is planning to release, through its liberal imprint Convergent Books, a manuscript
titled God and the
Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex
Relationships.
Is the Christian world
about to suffer through another World Vision moment?
The book’s author, Matthew Vines, is a homosexual activist and Bible
revisionist known for manipulating Christian terminology to advance the
counter-Christian homosexualist agenda.
Despite his frequent use
of a Christian-like lexicon, Vines surprisingly admits to running an apostate
enterprise that he calls The Reformation Project. An unabashed denier of Biblical
teaching on sexual morality, Vines has publicly acknowledged that his goal is
to “reform church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The book is scheduled to be published on April 22, 2014.
In an email sent to
BarbWire, a source with unspecified ties to Multnomah wrote the following:
With a little help… I
recently followed a few breadcrumbs – connected some dots – and the picture
turned out to be pretty disturbing. I know for a fact that there are certain
individuals (whistleblowers, if you will) who believe this information should
become public, but there is immense pressure from within Multnomah Publishers
to keep this under wraps, and not allow entities in the NRB
Association/Evangelical orbit to learn
about it.
Multnomah is a
long-trusted name in the world of Christian publishing. It is now called WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
Over the years the company has published scores of Biblically orthodox works by
authentic Christ-followers like Randy Alcorn, Kay Arthur and Dr. David
Jeremiah. The company has also published manuscripts by Mother Teresa.
Continued the email:
A little over a year ago,
WaterBrook [Multnomah] announced the formation of a new imprint, called
Convergent. From this article [in
Publishers Weekly] you can see where it’s going: “Stated
[WaterBrook Multnomah president Stephen W. Cobb], ‘The audience for Convergent
Books represents a growing movement of consumers. These readers typically don’t
see themselves as either liberal or conservative, evangelical or mainline. Yet
they frame their spiritual journey in Christian terms, and they’re absolutely
passionate about what theologian Brian McLaren has called, “the sacred endeavor
of loving God and neighbor, stranger, alien, outsider, outcast and enemy.”
Publishers Weekly further explained the connection:
The imprint will be based
in Colorado Springs, Colo., and headed by Stephen W. Cobb, who
has been president and publisher of the WaterBrook imprint since 2001. With the
acquisition of Multnomah Books in 2006, a Multnomah imprint was added to Cobb’s
portfolio. …
The email to BarbWire
provides more context:
An “imprint” in the
publishing world is like a mask – the name and logo of the entity may be
unique, but the same staff, editors, executives, promoters, are behind the book
as are behind those put out by other “imprints” (i.e., directly from Multnomah,
and wearing that brand/mask). So Multnomah is now consciously trying to hide
from NRB [National Religious Broadcasters] and its members the fact that it is
putting out this new project. Insiders are reporting threats should they
release any such information outside the company, but I believe Multnomah
authors have a right to see the full picture of the company with whom they’re
partnering. (Though we should try and protect those who are under threat.)
It is reasonable to
speculate that Multnomah is trying to cover up its fast-growing connection to
sexual sin activism, and furtively avoid the kind of widespread scandal and
Christian backlash that took place after World Vision abandoned clear Biblical
teaching on sexual immorality. World Vision had recently embraced the
sodomy-centered and counter-Biblical notion of so-called “same-sex marriage,”
only to quickly reverse course and publicly ask the global Christian community
for forgiveness.
Multnomah appears poised
to make the same mistake.
