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Book Reviews Perceptions Magazine, August 2018





The Father Confusors:
Universal Being vs. the Warrior Gods
The Creator vs the Destroyer
by James Renford Powell
Forward by Eddie Middleton


IAMPress 3053 Dumbarton Rd.
Memphis, TN 38128
2013, 490 pages, Paperback, US $29.99
ISBN-10: 1943279411
ISBN-13: 978-1943279418

Reviewed by Brent Raynes

The author, a resident of Memphis, TN., is the founder of the Institute of Applied Metaphysics, described as an online educational institution. A life-long student of the Bible, whose father was a Christian minister, Renford served as a missionary teacher in South Vietnam during the war. Unlike the stereotypical approach adopted by most missionaries, Renford became a student of Eastern religion and philosophy so that he could better communicate with his foreign students. However, as a result, he ultimately concluded that there existed principles – what he refers to as Universal Laws – that are common to all religions, and he continued to live, learn, and work in the Far East, Middle East, and Europe for some 20 years.

The author takes a vast, sweeping and truly comprehensive appraisal of religious matters. He also provides a pretty comprehensive glossary of relevant words and terms, just to make sure that the reader can fully understand all that is written in this rather lengthy and rather deep comparative volume on religion. So many early religious movements, beliefs and influences from around the world are thoughtfully explored and delved into in considerable depth and detail in this book. He again and again returns to the Biblical accounts to reveal where his journey has ultimately taken him – arriving at a destination that will certainly prove controversial, if not downright troublesome, for many of the Christian mainstream.

Renford explores the notion that the Old Testament Yahweh was not a Universal Being, and so not the divine Creator, though he felt that Jesus was his physical son, created by artificial insemination through the virgin Mary. To Renford, Yahweh was an alien from another planet, and his methods and tools were to instill fear and control, while Jesus embraced true Universal laws.


Friday, March 29, 2024