An online company providing books to hundreds of Christian bookstores throughout Canada and the United States promotes XXX-rated materials, occult titles, manuals on homosexuality and lesbianism and satanism, according to a center that monitors the industry.
As WND has reported, a company called BookManager serves a St. Catharines, Ont., Christian bookstore whose owner recently discovered books on occultism, pornography and the like could be located through its website.
Now Bud Press, who runs Christian Research Service, has told WND that the company actually serves hundreds of Christian bookstores, whose owners now are facing the problem of what to do.
"One manager planned to contact BookManager and request the removal of the non-Christian and pornography materials," Press said. "But with a 'title link' of 'over 4,000,000' books, the chances of that happening are slim to none."
"Also lurking among BookManager's titles are page-after-page of books that promote: cultic theology, occultism, homosexuality, lesbianism, pro-gay, transsexualism, prostitution, New Age, satanism, profanity, XXX-rated materials, Word-Faith, and
"_Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers by David L. Riegel (published by SafeHaven Foundation)
"_Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex by Judith Levine (published by Thunder's Mouth)
"_Varieties of Man/Boy Love by M. Pascal (published by the North American Man/Boy Love Association)
"_Witchhunt Foiled: The FBI vs NAMBLA (published by the North American Man/Boy Love Association)," Press documented.
A WND screenshot of the BookManager site showed in a search for "Bible," among the products offered included the "Wicca Bible" and the "Palmistry Bible" along with the "Childrens Illustrated Bible." Other searches produced more objectionable results.
Screenshot of BookManager results in search for 'Bible' |
WND earlier reported that in the United States, software provided by Internet behemoth Amazon to Christian stores also includes pornographic products, and in Canada, even a search on Amazon.ca for 'science video' turned up X-rated materials.
"Canadian Christians looking for solid, Bible-based materials may be in for a big surprise when they browse the cyber-shelves of online Christian bookstores powered by TBM BookManager, Ltd.," Press said. "Unless they are careful, they will be exposed to much more than just Christian authors and books."
Press said he's talked with a number of bookstore owners and managers about the situation.
"After the initial shock and disbelief, some planned to contact BookManager and complain, while others planned to drop BookManager altogether," he said.
WND talked to Harold Maier, the owner of Heritage Christian Bookstore in St. Catharines, and he said he wasn't aware of the situation until alerted by WND.
"I'm glad you made us aware of it, so we can filter out some of those things. Of course it concerns me," he told WND.
He said his company, which has been operating for nearly 10 years, has a safety net for such glitches, in that every order that is placed online comes to him for eventually processing. "I see every single order that comes across," he said. "It (such pornography) would never get ordered through our doors."
But not all stores have the same safety net.
Carley Bortolin manages the database for BookManager, and told WND that there was no glitch in the programming that produced Playboy pictorials on a Christian bookstore website.
"There is no glitch right now. All of our bookstores are aware that this information is shared. It's not just a Christian database. That's why [the porn products] will show," she said.
She said there is nothing her company will not re-sell if there is a demand. "Everything that comes from our publishers, I do not edit anything," she said.
She did say her company had gotten complaints from Christian bookstore owners, and she was trying to work on a method through which her company's X-rated products still would be available through secular bookstores, but would be filtered from Christian stores.
"I've maintained … Christian bookstores – whether walk-in or online – should be places where a Christian could feel comfortable browsing. Christians should be comfortable having their young family members go in there and look for a book. Unfortunately, they're not," Press told WND.
He said there are Christians who have had their faith "shipwrecked" because of exposure the heretical books and New Age concepts they were able to order through Christian bookstores.
Press said the company, headquarted in Kelowna, British Columbia, besides Canada and the United States, serves bookstores in England, Ireland and the Bahamas.
"This is a significant problem for Canadian Christian bookstores and any Christian bookstore that is powered by BookManager," Press said. "Indeed, the mere presence of non-Christian authors and books within Christian bookstores – whether in Canada, the U.S., or worldwide – is a sobering reminder that Christians have let their guard down and failed to apply the Biblical tests to authors, books, and materials within their online and walk-in Christian bookstores."
"While secular companies like BookManager have the freedom to advertise, promote, and sell whatever they wish, Christians who own, manage, and work at Christian bookstores are accountable to God and the Biblical guidelines He has established," Press said.
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