Most of the books that I have written over the last five or six years have a Christian theme and constitute my personal study, research and projects in the sense that my motivation for writing them came from questions that I could not seem to find satisfactory answers to. My Christian books are not merely a repetition of ideas that have been put forward by Christian authors elsewhere – not that I want to suggest that I am unorthodox or promoting some kind of ‘fringe’ Christianity – by no means! But if I picked up a book by a Christian author and found the answer to my niggling question(s) then that would have been sufficient – there would have been no need for me to research the theme any more deeply and no need for me to research my own study.
Over the years I have become very reluctant to say who the main Christian authors are that have influenced my Christian thinking, because I find that once I do so I become ‘labelled’ and ‘categorized’. You see, I may not fit into the label that people give to me. That’s why there are no references to other Christian authors in my books, except of course to the Scripture writers or to my own studies. My appeal concerning what is true to the facts with regards to the unseen realm is Scripture alone – as far as this is possible, because of course Scripture passages have to be interpreted, understood and balanced correctly.
I started studying Christianity for myself about forty years ago. A series of personal crises at that time revealed that some of the things that I had been taught or had read over the previous decade weren’t quite right – or even that they were decidedly wrong – and these aspects of teaching collapsed in the refining, purifying fire of experience. So, alongside Christian teachers and authors that I respected, I also began to engage in serious Christian study of my own if I encountered themes and aspects in Christianity that I found to be problematic and where these authors didn’t give satisfactory answers. Many of those older personal studies have stood the test of time and they have been incorporated into my more recent, professionally produced books. So what I have ended up with is a collection of personally tailored studies that I wish I had been available in my early twenties – because they would have prevented some of my errors and helped in some of my difficulties in the Christian life!
How many more studies of mine there are to come, if any, I am not sure. Every time I complete a book I say to myself, ‘There we go, no more books to write.’ – and then another niggling question comes along and away I go again into another fairly intense and deep period of study! When I succeed in answering these questions of mine I find it to be very rewarding and satisfying. But because I am not satisfied with superficial answers, my studies are often deep and penetrating, and they don’t follow every nuance and aspect of orthodoxy – of course they don’t, because I have already researched important Christian scholars and found their answers to be lacking or even wrong!
Nevertheless, as a Christian building on the foundation of the teaching of the Prophets, Apostles and Messiah, I do say that if any of the themes of my studies are of interest to Christians, then I do not believe that they are far of the mark in adhering faithfully to Scripture.
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