Max Lucado is an inventive guy. Too inventive. Sometimes his musings reflect an ignorance of the Scriptures, and sometimes he ventures into the realm of blasphemy. The quotation about Sarai and Abraham above (See “Max Lucado Marked”) shows his ignorance of the Bible. Abraham did laugh (Gen. 17:17), but it was on an occasion prior to the one under discussion above. Sarah (as she is called in the text) was not toothless or wrinkled. If she was, the rest of the women of Gerar must have been worse than “pitted prunes.” Or maybe her Mary Kay did a bang-up job. But when Abraham traveled to Gerar and said that she was his sister, she was attractive enough that Abimelech took her home–for sexual purposes (Gen. 20:1-6). She was only 89 at the time and didn’t die for nearly 40 more years (Gen. 23:1).
What was funny to her was not that anyone would desire her, but that she would have a child when she was past the age of childbearing. For Isaac to be born Sarah’s “time of life” had to be returned to her (Gen. 18:14). Would not most women today think it peculiar to have a child when it was not possible? That is the reason the question is asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14).
Perhaps Max could avoid problems like these if he spent more time reading what the Bible says instead of fantasizing about what it does NOT say.
Erring on factual information is bad enough; but he is way out of line in assigning motives to people. Some will think that the article on the front page of this week’s bulletin is cruel and unkind. But it is no different and no worse than what he does to Bible personalities.
Consider the following paragraphs from When God Whispers Your Name. The first one begins chapter 8 (“Gabriel’s Questions”); the second one follows shortly.
Gabriel must have scratched his head at this one. He wasn’t one to question God-given missions. Sending fire and dividing seas were all in an eternity’s work for this angel. When God sent, Gabriel went (55).
Why not compose “Max’s Questions”? Max, where does the Bible teach that Gabriel was involved in dividing the Red Sea? And in what passage did he send down fire? Even the paraphrases you use don’t say that. But even worse is the following elaboration.
So Gabriel scratched his head. What happened to the good old days? The Sodom and Gomorrah stuff. Flooding the globe. Flaming swords. That’s the action he liked (56).
This is poetic license gone to seed! Imagine the audacity of someone portraying a worthy angel of God as a warmongering, destructive fanatic! Lucado owes both God and Gabriel an apology for treating them in such a disrespectful fashion. The very idea of a holy angel getting excited about destroying sinners! Would not the angelic host share the attitude expressed by God when He says: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 33:11)?
Surely, some of Max’s devotees know enough Bible to object to his loose, inaccurate handling of the Scriptures. If so, it’s time they spoke up and told him to quit assigning motives to the heroes and heroines of the faith and judging the motives of angels.