One Fine Season is Not So Fine

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
One Fine Season
AuthorHouse (November 25, 2008)
by
Michael Sheehan


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Sheehan is CEO and founder of BioResource, a company that distributes natural remedies including the popular INFLAMYAR ointment for sports injuries. He wrote One Fine Season to honor the memories of two childhood friends who died young, before they could realize their dreams.

One Fine Season is true to life. It draws on Sheehan’s religious education at a Catholic seminary and his experience as a high school baseball and collegiate soccer player. A graduate of Santa Clara University, Sheehan also earned a master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University. He lives in Northern California.


ABOUT THE BOOK

ONE FINE SEASON tells the story of a promising young athlete who must rise from the ashes of devastating personal loss to fulfill a pact made years earlier with his best friend.

Best friends Pete O’Brien and Danny Grace are gifted college athletes, both hoping for careers as professional baseball players. When tragedy strikes, Danny struggles to cope with his overwhelming grief and fulfill a pact the young men made years earlier: to play in the World Series.

Events unexpectedly thrust Danny into the spotlight with the new expansion team in Sacramento. Three guides – an aging catcher, spiritual centerfielder and wise manager – plus a beautiful woman lead him on a healing journey, revealing that even death cannot break the bonds of true friendship.

If you would like to read an excerpt from the first chapter of One Fine Season, go HERE

MY THOUGHTS:
I cannot recommend this book. Before I tell you why, I want to preface my review by saying that in no way do I intend to attack the author. Writing a book is a tremendous process and I respect the time and effort he put into it. I admire his desire to honor the memory of his friends who died and sympathize with his loss. The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

This book as an example of how Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) The summary, which is what was presented to us when the book was offered for review, sounds intriguing and full of wonderful possibilities. The first chapter (which I believe is what is submitted to CFBA for the book to be accepted) drew me in. As the story continued, however, it veered sharply from Biblical truth. Several discussions in the book promote New Age thinking, including statements such as these:

• "Don't get me wrong, I think faith is a great gift, but does sacrificing his son make sense to you?. . .Jesus Christ came to show us that resurrection is possible and to reveal our path to the Divine and the state of love we seek." (pp. 42-43)
  
• "I seriously doubt that there can be only one heaven. I mean, it wouldn't be heaven if you had to share it with people you don't like or even hate. . . And let's face it--some people are such *** that even God couldn't stand them." (p. 99)
  
• "To me, the Garden of Eden was never an actual place on earth. It's a state where our eternal spirits are united precisely with God." (p. 99)
  
• "The true reality is our quantum mind's connection to the divine, and the universe as a whole." (p. 102)
  
• "Only when we center ourselves in the harmonic connection that we've discussed before, which includes love, artistic expression, and spiritual states, can we achieve a transcendental experience that's beyond rational and overcomes the strict limitations of religion." (p. 151)

In addition to the doctrine that is diametrically opposed to that presented in the Bible, the book contains premarital sex that is deemed to be acceptable, and the language of the book deteriorates rapidly; the last quarter of the book was completely gratuitous in its use of foul language.

And that book summary above? The last sentence on the actual book jacket was revised to read: Along the way, three guides - an aging catcher, a highly educated centerfielder and a wise old manager - emerge to help Danny deal with his shattered faith, and lead him on a journey of spiritual and emotional healing that climaxes when he comes face to face with the universe's ultimate plan for all mankind. (colored emphasis mine) Don't waste your money on this book. Instead, renew your mind with these:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:2-4)