Sorrow and Disillusionment

Okay ya'll, I just have to get this out. I'm about beside myself and there is no one in my house awake right now to talk to. So you're it. Tonight I was on the Internet, searching for a biography or autobiography for a couple of my favorite authors. Christian authors. Authors who write DOCTRINAL books. And do you know what I found?!?!?!? Both of them, later in life, had strayed from sound Biblical doctrine into universalism and at worst, mysticism. My heart about broke. For so many reasons.
First, for the authors themselves. Their early years were bright shining lights of faith in a darkened world. And then, like Saul, they die so far from where they were meant to be, fallen so far from the heights. It scared me to think that such "got-it-together" people could grow to such erroneous thought patterns. I mean, once you know the Truth, you got it...right? Maybe not. Maybe its not that simple.
And then my heart broke because I LOVE the early work they did. LOVE LOVE LOVE keep-by-my-bedside-LOVE the works they wrote in their early years of ministry. And now I wonder how Biblically sound they are. How much "love" should I have been giving to them? Books are like friends to me, and it just feels like I've lost two friends. They weren't exactly who I thought they were. (insert big sigh here and a few sniffles) Its quite possible the books that I cherish are truly Biblically sound and I can still be friends with them. But I just cannot bring myself to pick them up and examine them with the eagle eyes of scrutiny. I just can't. They were my friends.
Third, it just so happens that this past spring I mentioned these two authors to my entire Bible study group as a "good read" for the summer months when we weren't meeting. Yeah, go ahead and suck all the air out of the room you are in: its that shocking. So what to do? I just got done emailing them an apology and warning in case any of them actually got the books and read them. Mercy. What a tough lesson to learn. And not just for me, but for all of them! Not only did I learn not to recommend any book I have not thoroughly investigated the author first, but my fellow study group learned to take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Which they should have anyway. But now its just a larger grain of salt. (insert another big sigh here)
In the end, I'm sitting here shaking my head and realizing that the only real safe thing is to stick to what God's word says. Because that's always truth. People will fail, change and mislead or get misled themselves. To take what they say (or write) without taking it to Scripture first is not only scary but could be costly. Yuck, ya'll. Learn a lesson from my experience. Don't do this one for yourself. Stick to Scripture and if you have a book "friend", do some research, and snuggle that thing right up to the Bible and see how it stands. If it does stand up to the Truth, its a true friend. If not, it just might not have been a friend at all...