Let me start by saying that I truly admire Ray's ZEAL to relate to, and reach, non-Christians (especially young people) with Scripture. Perhaps being born in New ZEALand has something to do with this? (Lol). Seriously though, Ray has an incredible amount of God-given energy for a 70 year old, and tremendous WISDOM regarding how to be a "fisher of men." However, as regards The Beatles at least, I'm afraid it is "zeal without knowledge" (Romans 10:2), and this book proves that. In short, what he wrote in this book about God and The Bible is thorough, but what he wrote about The Beatles is very, very, VERY lacking. Please, allow me to elaborate.
Yes, I'm aware that this book (according to Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association) is supposed to examine the "inner spiritual lives" of all four of The Beatles. Yet, over HALF of it relates specifically to their founder, John Lennon. And while Comfort eventually examines the "spirituality" of Paul, George and Ringo DURING the Beatles years and AFTER the Beatles years, almost nothing is written about LENNON'S post-Beatles albums (and other solo public statements of an Anti-Christian nature that he made during, and after, the Beatles were a group.) This presents an extremely distorted picture of just how anti-Christian Lennon was.
Now, I happen to be an "expert" on Lennon's solo career because I idolized the man from 1970-1975, before I became a Christian, at age 20. And because most of the book RELATES to Lennon, that is where my comments will mostly be directed. Apart from his very weak "defense" of Lennon's "solo era" lyrics which told the world to imagine no Heaven or Hell, a "defense" that he perhaps unwisely decided to make using John's words from a 1980 "Playboy" magazine no less, Mr. Comfort is totally silent about many in-your-face, godless lyrics and statements Lennon made during that period. Instead, he focused on John's PRE-Beatles, childhood years (his hardships growing up) and his senseless MURDER in 1980, to the point that you feel totally sorry for Lennon without some hard facts about his "spirituality" being examined.
What about the song The Ballad of John and Yoko, for instance? The one where Lennon used Christ's Name as an expletive, and blasphemously said HE was going to be crucified? Ray left this reference out. Or the song God, where Lennon sang that he "doesn't believe in Jesus" (or anyone else but himself and his wife, by the way.) Mr. Comfort left THAT out, as well. Ditto I Found Out! where John wrote and sang the unScriptural words "There ain't no Jesus gonna come from the sky," was another omission from John's post-Beatle days, and in Working Class Hero John described religion as "something they keep you doped up with." How did Ray miss THOSE evidences of where John was at spiritually? All of these songs were written by him and recorded for millions to hear, and he never retracted them.
Then, there was Lennon's book A Spaniard in the Works where John called Jesus a disgusting profanity. Mr. Comfort referred to the book (way in the back of HIS book), but not to the quote.
\I could go on and on, believe me...but the sad thing is that Ray doesn't examine THIS side of John's "spirituality" in his book. Instead, he explains away Lennon's "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus" remarks from the 60s very smoothly and focuses on quotes that he thinks...THINKS...show a positive side of Lennon's relationship to Christianity. This could well have the unintentional effect of young people who weren't "there" like I was admiring Lennon for something he wasn't and eventually buying in to what he was...namely, a very, very anti-Christian influence.
In the judgment of charity I'm going to assume that Comfort knew nothing of these facts and THAT is why he didn't include them in his book...in which case, perhaps he shouldn't have written it if he didn't know, or didn't care to know. Hey, I myself have written a book about a celeb where I may have, with good intentions, overstated their Christian "bent" because I admired them. But I always sought out significant facts that were readily available in the public domain, and included them in the book. I wish Mr. Comfort had done so HERE.
In conclusion, what if Ray DID know, and knowingly glossed over some things from John's post-Beatles phase?
I doubt it, but Mr. Comfort himself seems to provide an answer to this question.
At the end of the book, after giving Paul, George and Ringo combined about 40 pages less than he gave John, Comfort circles BACK to Lennon and then closes with this admission: "If you have never experienced OBN (Overwhelming Beatle Nostalgia), I can't explain it to you. But I can let you know that I'm a chronic sufferer. Even while researching for this book, reading just the titles of early Beatles songs brought me close to tears" (page 205.) In this statement, Ray admits he's very familiar with EARLY Beatles ' songs but he obviously didn't follow Lennon's work AFTER the Beatles, or APART from the Beatles, closely enough.
In my opinion, Mr. Comfort seemingly admitted, whether he knew it or not, that the "almost tears" he had may have clouded his ability to open his eyes and clearly see who the Beatles were, and, specifically, who John Lennon was. It is for this reason I cannot recommend the book to those seeking the truth about The Beatles, though this is certainly NOT a blanket statement against Ray Comfort and his other books. In this case, he wrote about God and The Bible with his head, but too much of his heart, perhaps, was involved in the other part of his equation.
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