In 1989 Victor Oliver, my publisher with Thomas Nelson, called me with an idea for a book. Several authors already had turned him down, but he thought I might be interested. He suggested that I create a book to help men and women stuck in sick churches, to throw out a lifeline to hurting believers who had been used and abused and robbed of their relationship with God.
Victor knew that many believers struggle to find a real relationship with God because their group’s rules, regulations, and religious rituals become the main forces in their lives, displacing a powerful and personal God. They grow blind to practices that misplace faith in faith, structure, false leaders, good works, and many other spiritual substitutes. Such false practices have the scent and feel of God, but they lack his holy presence. Victor knew that many religious folks are good people doing some very good and right things but for all the wrong reasons—resulting in a paradoxical separation from God rather than intimacy with God.
The discussion with Victor ended with my commitment to consider the project and pray about it. The authors he had contacted first had not wanted to write the book because of its negative topic, and negative topics do not produce bestsellers—or so they thought.
But I knew a book like this needed to be written. I knew it because I had discovered that some of my own problems with the church (and by no means all) were not really my problems. That may sound smug, but I had come to realize that some of my thoughts and feelings about manipulative church leaders and practices were accurate, and that realization freed me to develop a real and authentic relationship with God.
Although I knew such a book could be vitally important for the body of Christ, I also knew that by myself I could not do justice to the subject. Therefore I turned to a counselor and theologian, Jack Felton. Jack not only supplied the information that I lacked, but he also came up with the title for our joint project: Toxic Faith. I suspected the bruised and broken would connect immediately with the title just as I did.
Toxic Faith was first released in 1991. To our surprise (and that of many others), it quickly grabbed a spot on the bestseller list. Publisher’s Weekly called it a future “Christian Classic.” Soon I received invitations to appear on television shows such as Oprah, Geraldo, Jenny Jones, Sally Jesse Raphael, and many others—golden opportunities to share my faith with hundreds of millions of viewers. What a privilege to declare that the extremes of toxic faith featured in the media did not represent authentic faith or a focus on a real God!
Letters came pouring in from wounded readers (this was before the advent of the Internet)—heartbreaking stories that ended with hope. I read story after story of leaders, husbands, family members, and pastors who used Scripture erroneously to grab or maintain control of others’ lives. Hundreds told us the book literally saved their lives. God had led them to the book just before a suicide attempt or after they had abandoned God altogether. Many days I cried over the long-term grief and newfound joy described in these letters. For the first time, these individuals realized that God loved them, no matter how someone in power had misrepresented God or used the Lord’s name to control and manipulate them. The book had encouraged these readers to refuse to judge God or the church on the basis of the toxic behavior of people who did not really know God and were not close to what God wanted the church to be. Freedom, healing, strength, and hope replaced bondage, shame, fear, and despair. We had cut in on the dance of self-deception and introduced tired dancers to a God who could not be manipulated and whose love could not be earned.
To this day, people still tell me stories of how the book changed their life and their relationship with God. To date I have published thirty-five books—and Toxic Faith is by far the most important and fulfilling of them all. If I could have published only one book, it would have been Toxic Faith.
Some time after the hardback edition of Toxic Faith came out, the publisher issued a paperback version under the title Faith That Hurts, Faith That Heals. “Why the title change?” many asked. The reason was simple. Some bookstore owners did not like the original title, even though it drew thousands of struggling believers to it. In order to reach a wider audience through the stores that never carried Toxic Faith, we changed the title to something milder. Amazingly, the paperback received a stronger reaction than did the hardback! It reached deeper into the Christian community than Toxic Faith—and once again I was humbled at the privilege of delivering God’s truth to some severely hurting Christians.
Eventually Faith That Hurts, Faith That Heals went out of print. WaterBrook Press recognized the need for a book that described healthy faith—the flip side to Toxic Faith—and in 2000 it published my book More Jesus, Less Religion. In addition to selling in Christian bookstores, Crossings Book Club offered this book in a hardback edition, selling thousands of copies to men and women looking for a closer relationship with Jesus. This time, e-mails came pouring in, telling us that readers had found exactly what they were searching for. Amazingly, almost everyone wanted to read Toxic Faith—but they could not find it. The requests multiplied so fast that WaterBrook decided it had to publish a slightly revised and updated paperback version of the original Toxic Faith. I am forever indebted to Dan Rich and the quality folks at WaterBrook for rereleasing my favorite book, under their Harold Shaw imprint.
I don’t know how you came to pick up this edition, but I hope and pray that God will use it in a mighty way to renew or restore your faith. If he does so, please let us know your story. You can email us at Sarterburn@newlife.com. When you write, I will read your note and respond to you. I’d even like to hear from you if you don’t find the book all that helpful.
Blessings to you from all of us who had a hand in this project!
Gratefully,
Stephen Arterburn
P.S. We would feel greatly honored if you would pass on this book to someone who might receive help from it.