STEALING FREEDOM:
A Story of Rescue and Redemption
By Vivien Patterson
Ambassador. 174 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 1 840 302 110
This is the personal story of an ordinary Christian woman who goes through many ups and downs in life but, through them, learns to depend on God and experience true freedom.
Sounds promising doesn’t it? Unfortunately, Vivien Patterson’s book is a real disappointment. Her difficult and tragic story is told without pace, interest, or logical progression. Her writing style is rambling and I felt like I had been trapped listening to an old woman who won’t stop talking about herself.
However, there are far more serious problems than these. The author’s moments of ‘insight’ at difficult times in her life came from apparently supernatural revelations of Bible verses, taken out of context and applied allegorically to her own life. Verses about Israel and Egypt became personal messages about whether or not she should travel to Bristol to visit her mother. The spirituality is more New Age than biblical, and it is this sort of nonsense we want to keep our church members away from.
The book talks repeatedly about freedom, rescue and redemption, which sounds laudable until you ask the question: What does she believe we are being rescued from? Unfortunately, the answer is not sin. In fact, sin is hardly mentioned in the book. We are rescued from the fallen, broken world around us. I would suggest that this is the prosperity gospel – certainly it is not the true gospel.
This book is of some limited use to the pastor: it may help expose to you the sort of understanding of the Christian life which is sadly so prevalent in our culture today. But apart from that, steer well clear.
