The Christian in the Cult

Description

About the Author

Jim Valekis was born in Alabama with a “bouzouki” on his knee. His Greco-American parents raised their family as part of a thriving Greek Orthodox community in Birmingham. As a teenager captivated by the radio teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, Valekis defied his roots and eventually followed a call to pastor in the Worldwide Church of God. When the former cult transitioned into Evangelicalism, Jim followed, continuing to pastor in Grace Communion International. Most recently Valekis co-founded the vision for the Tipp Center, a faith-based business and resource hub, where he is the chaplain. Jim holds a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Earlham School of Religion. He enjoys hanging out with his wife Becky, biking, painting, and sharing (especially over Greek comfort food) how his new theological understanding connects back in profound ways with the ancient Trinitarian fabric of his Orthodox upbringing, a relational Christ-centered fabric expansive enough to include every human being.

Praise for The Christian in the Cult

Millions of religious believers will clearly recognize the spiritual journey narrated by Jim Valekis in this powerful story. A son of the Greek Orthodox Church finds himself in Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God, which eventually takes him into more traditional Christianity and out again. Where he ends up at the end of this fascinating pilgrimage will be a big surprise. But Valekis astutely narrates his journey and brings readers along with him to a spiritual destination that includes the whole world. In a religious and political that has become a culture war of all against all, Valekis’s final message of oneness and wholeness in Christ is a welcome antidote.

─Andrew Manis, Emeritus Professor of History Middle Georgia State University, Macon, Georgia

In your hands is a book that speaks powerfully to both the complexities of living and growing in the Church, and to the way God moves in our individual lives as believers. Through the story of author Jim Valekis, we see a riveting faith testimony passed from one generation of family to another — across cultures, continents and denominations. We experience through Jim’s journey how our Christian faith can ground us and cover us spiritually, despite a fallen world, broken relationships, and vocational volatility. Jim reminds us that while our conditions and surroundings rise and fall, our steadfast relationship with Christ is All.  I commend this book to you.

─Chuck Proudfit, President At Work On Purpose

Jim Valekis has written a journey narrative that bends the reader continually toward wholeness in Christ. His writing is deeply personal, clearly theological, and thoroughly biblical, mining the depth of each discipline to unearth the force of God’s transforming love. There is in these pages a complex personal story, interwoven with historical and scriptural insights that can guide the reader through the fog of theological compromise to the clarity that comes when Christ alone is the Lord of life. It has been said that life is a journey of formation, with the looming question, “Into what am I being formed?” Jim Valekis shines an uncompromising light on the person of Jesus Christ and bids us to surrender to the formative power of his Presence, alive in the human heart.

─Terry Wardle, Founder of Healing Care Ministries, Author of From Broken to Beloved, and Some Kind of Crazy

Jim Valekis is a great (and funny!) storyteller whose message for all of us is embedded in his epic journey! Through the lens of his late-coming theological discovery, Valekis guides us on his profound and sometimes painful path through three distinct expressions of faith– his Greek Orthodox roots, Herbert Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God, and modern-day Evangelicalism– and demonstrates the abiding presence of Jesus Christ through it all. This book will encourage any reader who desires to explore how every person’s identity as a beloved child of God is deeper than any doctrine, Christian or otherwise.

─Jeff McSwain

Founder of Reality Ministries, Author of Movements of Grace: The Dynamic Christo-Realism of Barth, Bonhoeffer and the Torrances, ‘Simul’ Sanctification: Barth’s Hidden Vision for Human Transformation, and of a soon to be released two-volume work of Systematic Theology for Systemic Change Volume 1: Hidden in Contradiction: Humanity in Christ Before, During, and After the Fall

Volume 2: The Goodness of Judgement: The Ministry of Christ’s Cross for a Hurting World (upcoming in 2024)