Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
A Lesson We Can All Learn from Charles Manson

A Lesson We Can All Learn from Charles Manson

Last updated on: April 27, 2021 at 5:19 am by Frank Viola

A Lesson We Can All Learn from Charles Manson 2021-01-08T13:42:01-04:00 Frank Viola

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Young and up-and-coming authors often ask me for advice on the craft of writing. Especially the art of writing books.

An oft-repeated question I get has to do with critics and how to deal with them.

One must first understand that not all critics are created equal. There are three main types. And each one deserves a different kind of response.

I address the topic in Three Kinds of Critics & How to Deal With Them.

Another question has to do with being misrepresented by others, including self-professing “fans.”

Example: A fan of Francis Chan is teaching that we need to destroy all church buildings because they are evil and start having church in coffee shops and houses.

Chan, of course, was blamed for promoting this concept because at least one of his “followers” was promoting it.

I have no idea what Mr. Chan believes or practices, but I seriously doubt that he teaches what this fan of his claims.

Another example: A self-professing fan and follower of John Piper was going around saying that only Reformed people are theologically correct, and therefore, everyone who doesn’t follow Calvin’s 5-points is a heretic and is in danger of hell-fire.

I don’t follow Piper, but I’m fairly certain he doesn’t teach this. But someone who heard this fan of Piper’s concluded that this idea came from Piper himself.

Charles Manson was a fan of the Beatles. Regrettably, Manson credited the Beatles for starting his supposed Helter Skelter race war which was supposed to be spawned by Manson’s ability to persuade his followers to brutally murder a group of innocent people.

Manson blamed the murders on the Beatles. According to Manson, the Beatles were communicating personally to him through some of the songs on their White Album.

When the Beatles were asked about this, their comment was something like, “Just because he claims us doesn’t mean we claim him. What he did has nothing to do with us. Manson was an extreme version of people who have come up with all kinds of crazy ideas and blamed the ideas on others,” or words to that effect.

While this example is extreme, the Manson story teaches us in bold relief that just because someone claims to be a fan of a particular artist (whether musician or author), doesn’t mean that the self-proclaimed fan is accurately representing the artist.

A final example, just for good measure: Someone once told me that one of my professing “fans” — a person I don’t know and have never met — was saying that the church is messed up so all true followers of Jesus must leave their churches.

This person didn’t get this idea from me because I don’t believe it, and I’ve even taught against it.

See How (Not) to Leave a Church and Why I Love the Church.

In addition, those who have read my work are aware that I’m a strong advocate of community. I’ve even gone on record stating that the Christian life doesn’t work well without being in a relationship with other believers.

Rewinding 20+ books backward, in my 2008 book with George Barna, Barna and I warned readers against misunderstanding the point of our book and using it to divide God’s people. (That warning appears twice in the book.)

Several years ago, I was one of the presenters with a small group of pastors and teachers. One of them, a staff writer for Christianity Today and an Anglican leader, proclaimed in front of everyone – “I’ve read Frank’s book From Eternity to Here and Reimagining Church and this man loves the church!”

He made this statement after being misinformed that I was “against the church.”

It was a telling moment, and it underscored the power of misrepresentation, which he powerfully corrected in that meeting.

I have many friends who are authors, and some of them are bestsellers. Yet I can’t name one of them who hasn’t been profoundly misrepresented by some of their professing “fans” and “followers.”

Bottom line: If you’re an author, writer, blogger, speaker, or artist who is making a powerful impact on people, some of your so-called “fans” are going to utterly misunderstand and misrepresent your message and your work.

So get used to it.

If you don’t want to be misrepresented, then don’t bother writing, teaching, or speaking.

(By the way, as hard as you try not to have “fans,” if you produce something that changes people’s lives, there is no way to stop people from admiring what you’ve done . . . even if you do your best to keeping pointing them to Jesus and away from yourself.)

Remember: Jesus of Nazareth had a lot “followers” who misrepresented His teachings, and He still does today. Just because a person claims to be a follower of Christ doesn’t mean that they “get” what He’s about. And it doesn’t mean that He claims them.

So take heart. “If they did it to me, they will do it to you.”

Thankfully, when it comes to ministry of any kind, the Lord paved the way for all of us.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 26, 2021

The Agony Over God's Will

Next Post

April 28, 2021 How to Find Time to Listen to a Podcast

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which of the following is NOT part of the armor of God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Helmet of Salvation Shield of Knowledge Sword of the Spirit Belt of Truth