Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The Silence of God
Gary R. Habermas
The broader topic of religious doubt has taken on a life of its own in recent years. When I wrote two books on the subject in the 1990s,1 there was comparatively little published material on the subject, the majority of which was written popularly.2 However, during the last decade, it seems that more books have been published than in the previous two decades combined. Further, the more recent books include some scholarly as well as popular titles.3
Perhaps the most common and perplexing issue of late has to do with the seeming absence of God, either in the universe as a whole or in everyday life, including some careful nuances. For example, the aspect of God's hiddenness has taken on far more sophisticated aspects of a philosophical or theological nature.4 Often more painful in everyday life, the more personal, practical, and existential questions have to do with the believer's own perception of divine silence—that she is being ignored or even abandoned by God.
It is this latter topic—that of the personal perception of excruciating silence and even desertion by God—with which we are primarily concerned in this essay. For instance, it seems to remain a common view among some believers that God no longer acts supernaturally in our present world. This can cause a conundrum between what Scripture depicts compared with what Christians see around them in the world today. Additionally, it may seem that numerous promises in both the Old and New Testaments portray a view of God that is far different from what Christians seem to experience in their own lives. These promises depict God as being present in daily life, meeting the needs of His followers, watching over them, healing their hurts, delivering them from calamities, and comforting them during their times of need.
Further, beyond the promises themselves, the sense many have is that the actual events, especially in the New Testament, portray God as virtually always present, meeting the daily needs of believers. The overall scriptural picture is one of God's involvement and interaction with His children, whereas Christians today often concede, sometimes only in private, that this is far from matching their private experience. Perhaps the very profound suffering of Jesus Himself provides some insights here, too.
The brevity of this essay absolutely requires that we will have to move quickly through these areas, with the hope that responding to the crux of each issue is more helpful than an in-depth look at only one subtopic. Accordingly, we will focus chiefly on four key questions: (1) Does an overview of the subject indicate that God still acts supernaturally in the world today? (2) Does the general tenor of biblical promises present a view of God that is at odds with current Christian experience? (3) Do New Testament events tell us that God actually behaved differently than He does with believers today? (4) Does Jesus' own suffering shed any light on these subjects?
Is God Active in the World Today?
Unfortunately, this is the chief area where I must limit the discussion to the least amount of detail.5 I will begin by stating my conviction that not only is God very active in the world today, but it could even be that He is more frequently involved than ever before. Since doubters often report two important aspects here, I will limit myself to a few comments about each. Some wonder if God still performs supernatural feats in the world today. While perhaps still being interested in this subject, others are more concerned to decipher whether God is dealing with them on a personal level, whether or not this involvement tends to be miraculous in nature. The former tend to be more interested in modern-day evidences, while the latter frequently suffer from uncertainty regarding whether they have a personal relationship with God.
One potential indicator of God's activity is the likelihood of divine healing. Over the years I have collected several special cases of spontaneous healings in the presence of prayer, either manifested immediately or discovered just a few hours later. Whether multiple sclerosis or previously confirmed cancer tumors that either disappeared almost immediately or contain absolutely no cancerous cells, contrary to previous biopsies, these situations need to be taken seriously.6
Another example is that of answered prayer, where the results were drawn from either a personal journal or from select double-blind experiments published in medical journals. In the latter cases, it was actually concluded that the results favored medical results from prayer.7
Two more avenues are reported sightings of angelic beings, seemingly demonic creatures, or exorcisms. Incredibly, a number of the accounts include evidential considerations.8
Perhaps no area of supernatural findings is more evidential than accounts of near-death experiences. In literally dozens of cases, patients report witnessing occurrences even at a distance, even while they are near death, perhaps even without heart or brain activity. Many have concluded that this is strong evidence for the existence of some sort of afterlife.9
Lastly, dozens of reports have emerged where seemingly miraculous circumstances occur, which serve to link up an indigenous people who reportedly were looking for a message from God with missionaries. Many of these accounts have been collected.10
However, other doubters are more concerned that God relate to them in a highly personal manner, whether or not the experiences are supernatural. These are more interested in a personal touch, indicating that they are children of God. Here I will simply list a number of experiences which, according to Scripture, are the very sorts of things we should expect, and which are reported regularly by Christians.
For example, C. S. Lewis's notion of joy is experienced by believers and unbelievers alike. Though very difficult to define, it generally results from a captivating experience of music, nature, or another inspirational setting, resulting in a deep longing or yearning. It lasts only for a moment and is often experienced as a heavenly "tweaking" of the heart, reminding us of eternity (Eccl 3:11).11
There are also many examples of other divine contacts of a highly personal nature. These include the personal conviction of sin (1 John 3:4–10,21), the administering of individual correction as an indication of one's sonship (Heb 12:5–6,10–13; cf. Jas 1:2–4), the imparting of spiritual gifts specifically to each person (1 Cor 12:4–11,27), and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit as an indication of God's presence in our lives (Rom 8:16; 1 John 3:24; 4:13). Still other indications may consist of one's personalized experiences such as those occurring in worship, specific convictions, or indications of God's will.
Believers often seem to miss these frequent, perhaps even daily occurrences. Jotting them down in a journal would be very helpful for our future reference. This is a highly effective way to remind ourselves of what God has already done in our lives, helping to avoid the temptation, like children, to respond so frequently, "You never do anything with me." This is the point raised in so many of these passages of Scripture: we ought to note these signs that God is actually working in our lives. We should never lose sight of the recognition that each item here is also quite personal; it is for us alone.
If we are correct, then Christians have many indications that God is alive and well both in today's world as well as in their own lives. For those who prefer supernatural clues, several varieties and examples of each are available. Personal touches occur much more commonly, although believers most often seem to ignore them. Therefore, we must acknowledge personally and put into the proper context the regular recognition of God's activity in the world today. But it is mistaken to say that God is silent—far from it. No doubt believers often wish that God would communicate with them more often, or in a different manner, but we must remind ourselves that He often acts and speaks.
What about Our Favorite Biblical Promises?
Our initial consideration is that God is far from silent but interacts often, in both events as well as persons. This is an absolutely crucial conclusion, for it undergirds everything else on this topic and provides a bedrock from which we may move forward.
Another popular question concerns the many promises contained throughout Scripture. Should we not expect even more involvement than what we see?12 After all, a plethora of texts, directed both to God's people in the Old Testament13 and to Christians in the New Testament,14 seem to promise a wide variety of blessings, such as healing, general health, God's direction, and other sorts of answered prayers. One thing that may exacerbate the problem here, as difficult as this may sound, is that these are the sorts of texts that we regularly memorize and claim. What could be wrong with that? They are found in God's Word, right?
Perhaps the key issue here is that there is another side to the question that seems even more common in Scripture. Namely, there appear to be many more texts that acknowledge in a straightforward manner that God's people have had and will continue to experience all sorts of problems in their lives. Oftentimes, these situations seem to go on and on, without resolution.15 Intriguingly for our purposes, our very problem of God's silence was raised frequently in Scripture, too, along with other occasions in which God's answer was not what the person desired.16 These situations are not simply recent developments!
This seems to place us directly into a conundrum. How do we respond to the contrast between Scripture texts that appear, at least on the surface, to contain both myriads of wonderful promises and the utter reality of our difficult human existence? We will explore very briefly some potential responses.
Initially, several suggested solutions simply will not do. For example, it does not help to say that different writers provide varying, even contradictory, thoughts on these subjects, with some supporting one view and others arguing the opposite. The problem here is that the very same writers, such as David, Isaiah, or Paul, regularly report both the promises as well as the problems. Further, they would not be contradicting themselves when these comments are often made in the very same context; they could hardly have forgotten what they had just written only briefly before! Neither does it help to respond that we are mixing verses regarding the Jews with other texts regarding Christians. As our lists above indicate, we can either keep these texts separate or consider them together, but it changes nothing. The same sorts of mixed promises and problems remain in both. Though it is correct to note that we are combining texts from very different types of literature, such as the Law, poetry, didactic passages, apocalyptic messages, and so on, this similarly changes nothing. In each of these venues, we find a similar mix of statements.
What sorts of solutions do better? One suggestion that we will not be able to pursue here in any detail is that the promise passages are usually spoken as general encouragements to the people of God, and while these assurances do occur quite often, they don't necessarily apply to every individual case. It could be added here that the biblical writers are very well aware of this differentiation, which explains the many contrasts between promises and problems in the exact same contexts. This would seem to be a proper response on many occasions.
Another very helpful suggestion is that believers too often jump to conclusions. It appears that many of the biblical promises do not necessitate removal from the troublesome situations but speak, rather, of God's ongoing presence through them.
For example, John 14–16 contains three of the best-known promises that believers may receive whatever they ask for (14:13–14; 15:7; 16:24). Yet, Jesus was very well aware that there were indeed some very serious limitations to what sounded like open invitations, since in the exact same context there are also three statements of a very different nature, in that believers will suffer and even lose their lives (15:20; 16:2,33). We might just note that if suffering and even death17 are to be exempted from at least some of these promises, then these are truly major exceptions!
It is at least possible that a solution is to be found in the next chapter, where Jesus prays not that His Father would remove His followers (as well as those who will believe through their message—17:20) from the world, but that God would protect them while they are in the world (17:15). In other words, God promises to be with believers throughout their lives, both bringing incredible blessings as well as holding their hands through troublesome times, frequently without taking them away from these latter situations.
Another factor to consider is that God's dealings with Old Testament national Israel included promises of material or physical blessings for obedience to the law of Moses—and disaster, death, disease, destitution, destruction for disobedience (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27–28).18 Occasionally, though, we encounter individuals such as Job or individual psalmists who, despite their dedication to God, meet stiff challenges to their faith. In the New Testament, God's people—the interethnic church—no longer live under the strong connection between godliness and material or circumstantial prosperity as indicative of God's covenant blessing.
Though a few suggestions were made by way of some potential resolution, it should be noted carefully that our chief point here was not to explain ultimately the presence of both promise and problem statements in Scripture, often by the same author and in the same context. In order to pursue the theme of this essay, we do not have to understand exactly how these passages can or should be reconciled. It is sufficient for our purposes to simply point out that the mere presence of these wonderful promises throughout Scripture, including our favorite verses, is very far from arguing that therefore God should respond to our every request. The reason is that the problem verses are even more common and tend to nullify the argument that the promise texts sufficiently explain the entire matter. The next section will further confirm this conclusion.
What about New Testament Events?
Do biblical events indicate that God was more active than today in the lives of believers?19 We realize that in the Old Testament, God did deliver in various ways ancient believers such as Enoch, Noah, Elijah, and Daniel, along with others, not to mention taking care of the Jewish people in many circumstances. But we also know that Old Testament history is filled with a great deal of war, disobedience, and God's judgment. Evil rulers opposed God and His prophets, and the Jews were carried away into captivity more than once where they lived in exile, some never to return to their homes. Indeed, Hebrews 11 recounts how many of God's people were persecuted and mistreated. No doubt many Christians would not long for the return of those times!
In contrast, however, believers often have at least a vague notion that in the early church, God was almost always there for the early Christians. It just seems that healings and other miracles occurred more often than not, prayers were answered positively, and life in general was much more satisfying because God was always close at hand. So when we discuss God's actions in history along with the question of God's silence, these are the times that many Christians might desire.
But does a close study of the New Testament really indicate the truth of these conclusions? I do not think that this was the case; in fact, I do not think that it is even close to being correct. Rather, such a conclusion would involve a very selective reading of the relevant sources. After all, the same texts also explain that John the Baptist was imprisoned and later beheaded (Mark 6:16–29). Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:54–59). James the brother of John was slain (Acts 12:1–2). Jesus' own apostles were thrown into prison and beaten more than once (Acts 4:1–3; 5:17–41). Paul recounts his imprisonments, many serious beatings, shipwrecks, along with being stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19–20; 2 Cor 11:23–29). Most of all, Jesus Himself did not even escape this brutality; in fact, His repeated mistreatments were followed by what was arguably the worst death of all.
Further, though not recorded in the New Testament, scholars date the martyrdoms of Paul, Peter, and James the brother of Jesus to just a few years after these other events. Not long afterward, Jerusalem was attacked by the Romans during a lengthy war, during which thousands of Jews were crucified. How many Christians during this time experienced famine, other suffering, and perhaps even crucifixion? Moreover, persecution broke out sporadically over the next few decades, and more disciples and other Christians were harassed and killed.
Stop and think about it. If we had lived during these times and had been caught up in any of this violence, or simply lived in constant fear for our families, what would we have thought about God? Would it not be highly likely that we would raise the exact same questions regarding His silence, or even worse? What would be our response if family members had been crucified or otherwise mistreated seriously by unbelievers? What would we have thought about God's protection when, one after another, our leaders suffered torture and death? Especially since this went on for so many years, would some even wonder whether Christianity were worth it?
My point here is that, if we judge the church's "golden years" to be a period of time where everything was wonderful and God always acted the way we desired, but where little or no bad news occurred, this seems very far indeed from the picture in the New Testament. But this simply means that we need to change our faulty conceptions. Of course we would be correct that this was a very special time, but it would also be clear that the earliest church did not experience anything resembling problem-free existence. That artificial addition seems to be a modern concept that has been foisted upon our notion of God's activity, though it seems never to have been the case.
In fact, the picture is even less rosy than this! After I heard repeatedly what we have called the question of God's silence, I decided to survey the New Testament evidence. Did God regularly remove believers from dangerous or painful situations where, humanly speaking, such would be very convenient? What I found was very surprising. In the large majority of these passages, believers were very seldom rescued from troublesome scenarios before any negative results took place. Actually, such divine interventions occurred very infrequently.
As a brief example of how we often pick and choose or otherwise slant our texts, while lecturing on the subject, I was once asked whether the account in Acts 16:22–34 qualified as one of God's interventions. After all, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison, but God released them by an earthquake and the jailer and his family turned to the Lord. But how could this count as one of our preferred rescue scenarios when the two men had first been beaten severely (16:23)? If we were in their place, I could imagine thinking before every single lash landed that perhaps God would now rescue us before the next one hit! Then when God did not choose to exempt us, we probably would have asked why He never delivered believers, just as He did in Old Testament times!
As a last example, we should again take a look at the life of Jesus Himself. He would surely have deserved to be freed from suffering more than anyone else. Yet, in those situations where He might have been exempted, this almost never occurred. True, He was rescued as a baby, but what about all the other youngsters in Bethlehem who were killed? Then there were events such as the 40 days of temptation, and enduring the deaths of His cousin John the Baptist and His good friend Lazarus. Finally, there was the suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, followed by His severe beatings, and then His crucifixion. As we would say today, Jesus never got a break!
The case of Jesus is so remarkable that it will be treated further in the next section. For now, we will simply note that the actual New Testament writings by no means support the case that God always, almost always, or even usually removed New Testament believers before difficult or painful situations occurred. Actually, time and again, we find the opposite to be the case: divine rescues were surprisingly rare.
Our Best Example: The Suffering of Jesus
When it comes to contemplating God's silence, there are several incredible insights to be gained by meditating on the sufferings of Jesus. This is especially the case since there is a connection between His afflictions and ours. He is our Example (Heb 4:15). We should walk in His steps, even in our suffering (1 Pet 2:20b–21). Paul longed to share Jesus' sufferings (Phil 3:10; cf. 1:29)!
It is difficult to miss the point that Jesus' plea, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34 NIV) is the ultimate cry of perceived abandonment. We may never know the exact meaning of these words, or the precise amount of internal suffering that the Son of God was experiencing. But it would seem fair to say that Jesus at least felt as if He were abandoned. As such, this is the best example of the biblical pleas regarding God's silence, both because of the depth of Jesus' suffering as well as the fact that it so often affects our feelings, as well. Even a brief overview is worthwhile.
Jesus experienced incredibly painful beatings, followed by the process of dying via crucifixion, yet God refused to rescue Him from His cross. We rightly understand this as the means of our salvation (Mark 10:45). But these experiences stand as the all-time refutation of the notion that believers either are, or should be, exempt from even incredibly painful situations, or that God promised to remove us from our hurts. How so, when the Son of God did not escape, either physically or emotionally? So how in the world can believers demand or even expect to be removed from their suffering? After all, this is precisely what Jesus told His disciples: "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20 NIV); and again: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33 NIV).
Let's look at this another way. In Heb 5:8 we are told, incredibly, that in spite of being the very Son of God, Jesus actually learned obedience through His suffering! Further, we are told more than once (Heb 2:10; 5:9) that Jesus was perfected by His suffering. That Jesus needed to learn anything at all sounds rather startling. But then, He is our Example, and we are told to walk in His steps in our suffering.
There is an amazing application here to the believer's struggles with the silence of God. These verses in Hebrews should definitely cause us to ask ourselves at least a couple of questions. If Jesus had to learn obedience through His horrible sufferings, do we deserve to escape serious suffering? Dare we think that we deserve to be exempted from our hurts when Jesus clearly was not? Further, do we learn more quickly than did our Lord? The clear answers to these two questions mean that we have no basis to assert our "rights" or demands that God should "show Himself" after contemplating what Jesus went through. As a practical tool, I know of no better or more forceful meditation to apply precisely during those times when we wonder where God is, or if He will answer or when a situation doesn't make sense to us. If He did not intervene by exempting His own Son from arguably the worst suffering ever, what gives me the right to grow frustrated with God or cite promises out of context?
Conclusion
Through even a brief look at the detailed subject of God's silence, several things should become obvious. Perhaps the most straightforward conclusion is that God is not silent. His actions may be observed many ways, both externally as well as internally. But during those times when we wonder why God is not doing more in our lives or with others, we should learn to keep other lessons before us. Treasured promises in Scripture are precious and often occur literally. But that they do not always apply to specific cases should be clear both from the many comments about undergoing personal suffering in the exact same context, as well as the fact that, in general, even biblical heroes suffered through tough circumstances far more frequently than they were exempted from them. That Jesus, our Example, suffered so incredibly in spite of calling out to His Father is a final reminder that we will not be exempt from many difficult situations. Following our Leader, we, too, need to learn and grow through our suffering.
One last subject with absolutely huge implications should be mentioned here in passing. Hundreds of recent psychological studies have proven that, contrary to what we often think, our chief pain in life comes not from what happens or does not happen to us. Rather, our worst pain generally occurs from what we tell ourselves about the things we experience. In other words, how we download and interpret life is of the utmost importance. We cannot pursue this here, but it follows in regard to God's silence that much of our worst pain is self-inflicted. Most likely it is derived precisely not from anything that God fails to do, but from our telling ourselves things like the following: "God does not care about me, refuses to act, breaks His promises, or does things for others but not for me." Thinking and voicing such misbeliefs are the lies that can poison our lives and can serve as the direct cause of our most painful emotions. Therefore, exchanging these lies for truth can help us align our thinking with reality and can dramatically reverse these patterns of self-inflicted pain (Phil 4:6–9).20
1 My two out-of-print books on this subject are both available without cost on my website (www.garyhabermas.com): Dealing with Doubt (Chicago: Moody, 1990); The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Grow Closer to God (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1998).
2 Kelly James Clark, When Faith Is Not Enough (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997); Os Guinness, God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith beyond a Shadow of Doubt (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1996); R. C. Sproul, ed., Doubt and Assurance: Looking for Certainty When the Heart Doubts (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993); Lynn Anderson, If I Really Believe, Why Do I Have These Doubts? Hope for Those Who Feel They Will Never Measure Up to Other Christians' Faith (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1992); Gary E. Parker, The Gift of Doubt: From Crisis to Authentic Faith (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990); Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988); John Guest, In Search of Certainty: Answers to Doubt when Values Are Eroding and Unbelief Is Fashionable (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1983).
3 For examples, see Paul Moser, The Elusive God: Reorienting Religious Epistemology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); Daniel Howard-Snyder and Paul Moser, eds., Divine Hiddenness: New Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001); Paul Moser, Why Isn't God More Obvious? Finding the God Who Hides and Seeks (Norcross, GA: RZIM, 2000); J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, In Search of a Confident Faith: Overcoming Barriers to Trusting in God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2008); John Ortberg, Faith and Doubt (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008); Alister McGrath, Doubting: Growing through the Uncertainties of Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006); Pete Greig, God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2007); Graham Cooke, When the Lights Go Out: Surprising Growth when God Is Hidden (Grand Rapids: Baker/Chosen, 2005); James Emery White, Embracing the Mysterious God: Loving the God We Don't Understand (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003); Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can We Expect to Find? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000).
4 This can be seen in the texts above, such as Moser, The Elusive God, and Howard-Snyder and Moser, ed., Divine Hiddenness.
5 The interested reader may consult my recent book, which provides many additional specifics as well as key sources for the discussion in this chapter. See Gary R. Habermas, Why Is God Ignoring Me? What to Do When It Feels Like He's Giving You the Silent Treatment (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2010), especially chaps. 1–2.
6 For one case, see Rodney Clapp, "One Who Took up Her Bed and Walked," Christianity Today (December 16, 1983): 16–17.
7 Randolph C. Byrd, "Positive Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population," Southern Medical Journal 81 (1988): 826–29.
8 George Otis Jr., The Twilight Labyrinth: Why Does Spiritual Darkness Linger Where It Does? (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997).
9 Many evidential accounts are contained in Gary R. Habermas and J. P. Moreland, Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1998; Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2004), chaps. 7–9.
10 Don Richardson, Eternity in Their Hearts (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1981).
11 C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1955), especially 16–18.
12 For further details, see Habermas, Why Is God Ignoring Me? chap. 3.
13 Among the many examples are Exod 23:25; Deut 31:6,8; Pss 32:7; 34:6; 91:10–13; Isa 26:3; 32:17; 41:13; 65:24; Jer 30:17; 33:2–3.
14 See Matt 7:7–11; 18:19–20; John 14:13–14; Rom 8:28; Phil 4:6,19; Heb 4:16; 13:5; Jas 5:14–15.
15 The many instances include Ps 44:9–23; Lam 3:1–19; Matt 10:23; 24:9; Acts 14:21–22; Rom 8:17–18; 2 Cor 1:5; 4:10–11; Phil 1:29; 3:10–11; 2 Tim 3:12; Jas 1:2–4.
16 See Job 19:7; 30:20; Pss 10:1; 13:1; 35:13; 39:12–13; 44:24; 74:9; 83:1; 89:46; 109:1; 119:82,84; Isa 45:15; 57:11b; Lam 3:8,44; 5:20; 2 Cor 12:7–9; 2 Tim 4:20b.
17 John 16:2 does not literally say that the disciples would be martyred for their faith, but persecution is the immediate context, and commentators think that future martyrdoms are in view. See the discussion in Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John XII-XXI, Anchor Bible 29B (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970), 690–92.
18 Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart list six categories of blessings: life, health, prosperity, agricultural abundance, respect, and safety. They present the punishments as 10 "D"s: death, disease, drought, dearth, danger, destruction, defeat, deportation, destitution, and disgrace. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 185.
19 See Habermas, Why Is God Ignoring Me? chap. 4.
20 See the many details in William Backus and Marie Chapian, Telling Yourself the Truth (Minneapolis: Bethany, 2000); David Stoop, You Are What You Think (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1996).