The Supernatural Worldview: Examining Paranormal, Psi, and the Apocalyptic Paperback – May 15, 2014

I want to be fair to Putnam on this book. He is trying to bring attention to issues that need to be attended. For that I commend him. I believe he is just the wrong person to do it.What I mean by that is: I had the opportunity to talk to him on Facebook and first impression is the lasting impression and reading through the book, my impression of him and what I see in the book align: He is an Evangelical Ideologue.When I posted my review on his Facebook page, his "concern" was more about, and he lectured me on, the definition of Evangelicalism, because I was explaining that Evangelicalism, and I posted links and history of what I was saying, I was referring to Neo-Evangelicalism and I got the impression from him, because, I did not believe in "his" definition of "Evangelicalism", I was not a Christian. He assumed that I did not believe in the bible, missions, etc.or that was the impression I got for not believing "his" definition of it. Though, he was polite in that remark by not actually stating that, it was heavily implied.I am a Christian, I have been a follower of Christ since I was 4 years old and I can still recall that moment today, I am 35. So, when people start to define Christianity by their definition of it, and imply that if you deny their definition of it, you are not a Christian: is highly offensive. When, one does that, and I have come across many Evangelical writers who do that, the last book I read that did that, and I threw it away, was John Hagee's book on the "blood moons", I could not get past the first 70 pages, it was nothing but drivel. To be fair, Cris Putnam's book is not drivel, though, it is Evangelical Ideology to the core (Which I have no real problem with, if one was just reaching Evangelicals, but this book is targeted to a more broader Christian audience). I am not an Evangelical! I am a Christian. Christ is the centered of my worldview, which is followed by what Cris calls the "Excluded Middle", I live there, I have lived there for over 33 years.My first memory is of a Paranormal event. I was under two years of age, still in a stroller, and my family was staying at the Old Soldiers Home in Washington D.C., because, my grandfather was dying. The building we stayed at was converted into a lay-over building with a bar on the bottom floor and barrack rooms upstairs. I woke up early morning to see a man walk into the room, he was over 6 feet tall, had a black hat on, black beard, and wearing a long black coat. He looked at me and nodded and turned around and left. A few years ago, I told this to my grandmother, and she told me that building we stayed in was Abraham Lincoln's Summer Home. Which fit the description of the man I saw. And to this day, I still experience paranormal and supernatural experience. I have a Supernatural Worldview, and I have had one way before, Cris wrote his book, even before, he explained much of what I have experienced and just had no name for it.For me to arrive at a lot of what Cris talks about in his book, I had to leave "Evangelicalism", I grew up in a Fundy Baptist Church, Free Evangelical Church, Salvation Army, CMA, I have a degree from a CMA college from NE GA, and other denominations, either just trying them out or being there for a few months before leaving. What they all had in common was, they, for the most part all called themselves Evangelical, and the other commonality they all have is they denied the spirit realm. When I would explain my incidences with the Supernatural they all said the same thing: "You need to pray it out!", "What did you do!", "You are a false prophet!", "Go to Jesus and he will deliver you!", do you see the irony of these statements? They wanted me to go to a Spiritual being to remove my Spiritual experience!God had to lead me out of it, and God had to reshape my worldview completely, so I can understand my experiences. Evangelicalism was not the answer, which is why, I disagree so heartily on this issue with Cris Putnam, the belief system is not capable of handling this: He argues it in his own book, he shows how few "Evangelicals" actually believe this stuff! Which is why I said, it is like putting old win in a new wine skin! He has the best of intentions, but it will fail!These are the people who are afraid of Harry Potter! Lord of the Rings! Star Wars! because they have belief systems that are contrary to their own! I love the Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings (I know some of your will turn me off at this point, which would prove my point of this being an ideology to you and not an actual worldview. This is a worldview to me, it is not an ideology, it allows me to see behind a lot of issues and events. You cannot embrace this worldview and fear everything that is supernatural!You cannot be afraid of the spirit world, no matter what the influence is on this world, you have to understand it! Failure to understand it, and you will fall victim to it every time. I can watch or read any book or movie on supernatural events, like Harry Potter, Paranormal Activity, and many other such movies and books and not be afraid of it. I can actually, understand what is going on.Maybe that is what Cris is trying to convey to the Evangelical world? But to someone like me, it fails and falls very short. I see it as an unintentional deception, because, the impression I got is that if you are an "Evangelical" by his definition that is all you need. I cry FOUL!!! That is wrong, it is not about beliefs, it is not about having your "ducks" in a row and being of a certain belief system, it is about having Christ at the very center of your belief system, everything else is secondary, and that includes the pet theories of American Christians, from Creationist, Pre-tribbers, Biblicalism, Missions, etc. If you do not have the "excluded Middle" as Cris argues, everything else is worthless. Which is why I am not an Evangelical, Protestant, or any other form of Christian name game.For this to work, the name game has to stop and you have to have a Christ centered worldview, that is encased in the "excluded Middle", otherwise, it will fail! FAIL!!! I know, I was there, and I am speaking from experience. This is why I stated Cris was the wrong person to write this book, he does not have the experience.When an Evangelical experiences an actual Demonic Seeker (which is one of the most scariest and frightful entities one can see), which I have, then come talk to me about your point by point belief system! The other thing about this Seeker is that its master was more powerful and more scarier than it (I know, I experienced it as well!) I knew not to take it on, I had to endure it for several months before God was able to get me out of the situation. I knew, if I took it on, I would lose, so I held on tight for 6 months of living with one of the most terrifying beings I have ever encountered. I tell you this, to warn you, you do not know what you are all getting yourself into with this.If you have the option, do not read this book. If you do read this book, hone up your spiritual warfare side, because, now you will know what is out there, and "IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE" for you.Cris is wrong on one more point, it is not a paradigm shift, that phrase is wrong, it is an ONGOING WAR, and Christians are being led to the slaughter. The Spiritual World is now HERE! I have seen more from the Spiritual World in the past 10 years than I have in the previous 25 years. Something is coming, something is here, and it is ready to FIGHT.I wanted to be fair to Cris, I think I was, though, I heavily disagree with his point of view on this, and that is due to 33 years of experience with the Supernatural, I have seen ghost, hags, demons, Angels, Waring Angels, Fallen Angels, spirits of deceased humans, prophecies from spirits and God about coming events and that then happened, having insight into events that have not yet happened and then happening, and many other things I cannot even name! So I know what I am talking about, and I am warning everyone that reads this book, be very careful, and if you have the option of not reading it, then DON'T, if you do read it, PREPARE YOURSELF! WAR IS HERE!One last point! There are spiritual beings that are called "SATANS", this is not "Lucifer" (as some would call it, nor the Devil), these are Angels that work for Christ and they are Adversaries of the Human Race, they protect Christ and his Name! Numbers 22:22 is the first mentioning of these type of Angels. Their job will be to "REAP" the world and it will be violent! I warn you, do not get in their way, they will have no problem in killing you, as the bible says "We know Peter, Paul, Jesus, but who are you?!" There are spirits out there that will kill you just as they look at you. Their mission is violence! This is why I am warning you, be careful with this book and what you learn from it.This is the reality of it!

I knew this book was going to be a challenge as I followed the columns that Mr. Putnam wrote for his own Supernatural Worldview website and Raiders News Network leading up to the release of the book. I was very interested and intrigued. I highly recommend at least reading those columns before diving into this book for a better frame of reference. They are all free and easy to come by.I admit upfront that I had my feathers ruffled a little bit on a few items but Mr. Putnam is well written and well documented and argues his cases well. I like black and white and there are few situations in this book that simply don't fit into that neat of a category either way. That annoys me. :)I can certainly reject the idea that Mr. Putnam is either promoting, soft pedaling, or "cracking the back door open" to anything unbiblical. Anyone that's actually bothered to read this book or at least read the aforementioned columns knows this to say nothing about if they are even remotely familiar with Mr. Putnam's work in general.People that don't bother to read books, laughably admit as much upfront, and then post so called reviews don't have any credibility and absolutely are liars, absolutely have an agenda, and should be marked as such and disregarded. Amazon is sorely overdue to refine and tighten the screws on their review system by that type of example and I would encourage everyone who sees it to report it and not abide by it.For people that have actually read the book...and it's painfully obvious to tell who hasn't... the concerns going into the book that somehow certain kinds of concepts would be made to look attractive have no worries. I am sensitive to that sort of thing and I admit I had a concern that perhaps unwittingly that might happen. Putnam doesn't hold back when going after necromancy and any number of other concepts along those lines during the course of the book. Putnam is an investigator first and foremost and he dons his Sherlock Holmes cap while holding his Bible. This book is ultimately an investigative piece of journalism with a strong Biblical backbone and theological discussion weaved in. If you were edified and enjoyed reading Petrus Romanus and Exo Vaticana then you should be at home and know what to expect here.The book is very well written contrary to another drive by slur that I saw written around here but it isn't written for a four year old. For any kind of dense and studious book I typically read a chapter a day and I recommend that approach to anyone who tries to read this book and feels like they are having difficulties. Be patient with yourself! :)I am someone who doesn't hesitate to flip the "it's demonic" card out at the drop of a hat so I feel your pain. I have to admit that there were a handful of situations in the book that are difficult to get a clear read on up or down and that's where further study and matching against the Scriptures is required and encouraged by Mr. Putnam. Fair hearing. 1 John 4. That's all anyone is looking for.Far and away the most powerful and moving story out of the entire book has to be the Nick Skubish story which is fully documented. I have no idea how anyone could sign off on this as being demonic. If they hadn't quit on page 20 and had even read to page 31 they would have seen that Nick ultimately ended up accepting Jesus Christ as his personal savior. I can't imagine how demons would protect a kid in the woods for several days, preserve his mother's dead body from rotting, help him get rescued via extraordinary means, and then ultimately allow him to get saved down the road. If that was a demonic setup they couldn't have failed more miserably and I would love to see someone attempt to make the case otherwise. Good luck with that.We need to apply 1 John 4 and discernment to every situation we run up against but the society by and large is moving away from materialism and naturalism at breakneck speed and the Church is playing catch up from behind and losing ground on the discussion. The Church should be at the bleeding edge of this entire discussion and dominate it and that is Mr. Putnam's overarching concern and thrust for writing the book.I'd like to quote Mr. Putnam's own Supernatural Worldview site here for another key thesis to what this book is about: "In the 1930s, a Chinese Christian author known as Watchman Nee predicted that just before he is cast to earth (Rev 12:8) Satan would seek for people to develop psychic powers and expand their "soul" power--psychic ability that Nee believed went latent after the fall in Genesis 3. In the last days, Nee believed the enemy of mankind would use humankind's psychic ambitions to extend his minions into the created realm." Watchman Nee's exact words were: "Satan is behind all these parapsychic researches. He is trying his best to use the latent energy of the soul to accomplish his goal. For this reason, all who develop their soul power cannot avoid being contacted and used by the evil spirit."Mr. Putnam and I both agree that Nee has his theological issues to be sure but the man was a Christian. On this count I know that Mr. Putnam wholeheartedly agrees with what Nee stated here and so do I. Any person in a deliverance ministry would certainly sign off on that statement without a second thought but I think it's obvious enough that you don't have to be that far into things to know it. This is the other key component of this book.I think this was a bold and daring book to write. I am not personally aware of another book quite like it in evangelical circles. I know having kept tabs on its inception and progress that it was a very challenging endeavor for the author in more ways than one and that is evident while reading the book. He was challenged. You will be challenged. I was challenged. That's the point.As per usual, Putnam documents himself to the nines and backs himself up with plenty of Scripture and after that the reader can take it or leave it or do their own research. Agreeing with everything in the book is not the point because I myself don't agree with everything in it.It's up to the reader to be a Berean, apply discernment, but also apply some fairness and grace, and move forward from there. With all that being said, I highly recommend reading this book.

An excellent, comprehensive work! Cris Putnam has produced a valuable and well-balanced look at the broad topics of supernaturalism and the paranormal.The mechanistic naturalist (that should be read as "atheist" or the more cowardly term "agnostic") hates the concept of the supernatural. Because if there is a super-nature, that is, something beyond the physical and material, that opens the possibility of the existence of God, and the intellectual elite and the academic effete certainly can't allow that.Some Christians (I am a theologian and a pastor with a doctorate concentrated in theology and apologetics) have been taught a narrow, superstitious view of supernatural events, and refuse to consider them, or when they do, simply cringe, put their hands over their ears and shout, "Lalalalalalla" like a petulant child so they don't have to listen. They demonstrate as much reluctance to accept realities and truths spoken of in Scripture as the atheist or agnostic. Christianity is not a system of belief built on blind faith or superstition. But when Christians fail to understand the sound logic and reason which undergirds God's revelation, they must, buy necessity slip into superstition and legalistic dogma.But that's the lazy way out. God gave us a mind. . . use it to study and understand his inerrant Word. Everything discussed by Putnam in this book is part of reality. If ignored or misunderstood, we simply open the door and invite our Adversary to run wild while we look the other way. Wake up, Folks!Putnam does a stellar job of presenting a broad range of orthodox Christian views discussing the existence of the supernatural and paranormal. For the merely curious or long-time aficionado of things weird, this is a must read!

Another EYE Opener by Cris Putnam into the dark,hidden world of the Supernatural. Professional written with many true stories backed up with fact checking,references fully foot-noted so you can verify the stories your self.

This is a very good book, but you need to remain mentally alert whilst reading it otherwise you may miss some very important points.

Another fantastic book and research by Cris Putnam! This important book is a must read for these Last Days!

Would have liked even more content , only because this is a very substantial and informative book!

Exalant very good read very informative