GENERAL REVIEW OF The Great Dream - An overrated & overpriced "Christian" book

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17).

We will start our review by saying that this book is hugely a waste of time in that the actual content of it could have been condensed into an essay of about 80 pages or so. Simply slapping a front cover at the beginning of chapter 2 and a back cover at the end of chapter 6 would have made a dramatic improvement to this book—which we will reference as TGD for short—as nearly all the rest of it is a rambling and incoherent platform for the author to hear himself talk.

As said, Dean Flanders, the author of TGD—who published it anonymously, by JAC, which stands for Just Another Christian—, takes 95% more words than he needs to get his message across and adds in enough bad exegesis to render his commentary useless.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect about Dean Flanders’s book is his claim that “…The Same Lord also commanded me to write a book about THE GREAT and FINAL APOSTASY of Christendom: which APOSTASY is AMPLY described in both the Old and New Testaments” (Chapter 4, pages 64-65 - emphasis added).

The Lord “commanded” him? How?

Coming up with a mistaken idea on one’s own can be dismissed as poor logic, but to have a voice (audible or inaudible) that one believes comes from God present false information is far more serious. And TGD is full of false information. So, not only must we reject this “revelation”, but it should be a reminder to “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).  

Had the Lord commanded Dean to write this book, would it contain contradictions, heresies and doctrinal errors? The fact that TGD is full of deviations from the truth proves that its author is a false prophet—even if he is so unwittingly.

This field, “the great and final apostasy of Christendom”, has life and death consequences, and as such, this book should have received the highest degree of scrutiny, the utmost amount of labor, and an uncompromising level of integrity. We feel that this was not the case, and in many parts of this book the topics were dealt with in a careless and cavalier manner. Simply stating an opinion in the first paragraph or two, and then basing the rest of the chapter on that statement or statements, does not create a feeling of integrity or earnestness. In fact, it has quite the opposite effect. IF the statements at the beginning of each chapter were actually supportable with contextual scriptures, this would have been the order of the day. It is not. This leaves the reader wondering why this was not done. The only conclusion we could come up with is that there either were no grounds for scriptural support, or that the support was so weak that no honest effect would have been gained by their inclusion. In fact, many times the presentation is so dishonest that while reading several of the chapters, we got the same feeling as being schlepped by a used car salesman.

We do refrain from calling this entire writing an outright fraud however, because there are several elements of the book that are doctrinally correct and truly based on scripture, but unfortunately, the un-Biblical sections and the simply made-up sections HEAVILY outweigh the correct ones. The false elements of this book make it extremely dangerous to immature Christians as they are still developing their own theology and some of the many false assumptions and teachings may find their way into their belief system. This disparity between the true and the false make this writing completely useless as a study tool as the content is terribly polluted with false teachings, useless analogies, and faulty reasoning.

The information included in TGD so far deviates from the information given to us in the scriptures that it rivals the absurdity of pretribulationism—one of Dean’s wrong foundational premises. His clouded judgment prevents him to understand that the entire industry that exists in pop Christianity—in the form of books, videos, calendars, workshops, journals, posters, bookmarks, workbooks, Bible studies, websites, home groups, and other products and activities surrounding the popular escapism theory he advocates—is not founded on the true original faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). It is not the old time gospel. It is part and parcel of the same apostasy that Dean says “The Lord… commanded me to write a book about (denounce)”.

The use of language contained within TGD, is extremely vague and non-explicit, and in fact creates a hidden harbor in which the author hides during the sticky parts of his writings. Dean even contradicts himself numerous times throughout his writing. If you can think of a vague or confusing figure of speech, this writer has surely seized upon it, and used it to confuse some simple concept to bolster his weak arguments. His assertions and explanations regarding the writing of this book are as creative as they are false. He is fond of complimenting his arguments with elaborate and sensational sentences such as:

“I am fully convinced that I have personally received orders from The God Who Wrote the Christian Bible to declare in His Name that what you are going to read in this exposition on 1 Timothy 4:1-5 is THE VERY WORD of GOD for these Last Days; and that when Jesus Christ gets back here, and even before then, He will REPROVE, DENOUNCE, OR PUNISH everyone and ANYONE who resists, disagrees with, or contradicts THIS MESSAGE. Got it?” (Chapter 5, from the version of TGD available online - emphasis added.)

And:

“And by the way, Pal, The Lord has told me that all who resist THIS message are going to get JUDGED. Pardon me, but I need to take a break from all this academia to READ YOU THE RIOT ACT: for in the end, THAT is what The Lord of All Authority has sent me to do. If I take the time to produce evidences, answer objections, or resolve riddles; it is because of your WEAKNESS. There is One Lord, and One faith, and if you disagree with me, well, then ONE of us must be wrong. AND IT ISN'T ME. The Lord has sent me to tell Christendom that they (you?) have rejected Him by REJECTING His words, and that He is going to AVENGE Himself against those who CLAIM to speak for Him and yet DENY, CONTRADICT, and FAIL TO MENTION the very things that He Himself said. YOU CAN BET ON IT…” (Chapter 10, page 270 - emphasis added).

And:

“AND NOW, within just a few minutes, and with a scant few lines, I shall solve the ‘problem’; unravel the mystery, and present an explanation that honest men can receive…” (Chapter 8, page 197 - emphasis added).

And:

“On the contrary, consult your commentators, and you will see that most of them HINT AT what you are reading here, but were either unable or unwilling to express the final conclusions of their own reasoning…” (Chapter 8 , page 223 - emphasis added).

And:

“This is the fourth time, and the fourth way that this has been explained to you…” which is actually repeated four times in a single chapter.  (Chapter 8, page 233; cp. Pgs. 227 & 218 - emphasis added).

Several times, he compares his arguments to “fresh evidence”. This kind of self-congratulation, self-promotion and circular reasoning gets old very quickly, and it is irritating and distracting.

In an email Dean has even said this about himself:

“I insist that I am a WORLD CLASS, TOP expert on Rapture doctrines and Pre-Millennialism.  Read my Rapture Booklet and see if I have not answered TOTALLY to every argument and objection provided by the Pre-Wrath and Post-Trib advocates?  Also, on our main site is a longish article called "The Millennial Document" in which I not only PROVE that there MUST BE a Millennium in order to answer to prophecy, but I actually resolve 2 major Synoptic Problems - a Bible exegesis feat which no one extant in recorded history has ever done before now…”  (Email on file - emphasis added).

Dean’s “feats” have so inflated his ego that he is reluctant to consider the possibility that they might not have come from God.

To discover truth one must look with an honest and open mind and heart. We have seen it all too often. If one believes there is no God, he will read the Bible looking for errors. If you believe God has a certain personality, you will look for passages to support your ideas. This has simply happened to Dean Flanders as well. One needs to read the Bible to determine what it says regarding an issue, not decide what you believe about an issue and then look for verses to support your beliefs. ESPECIALLY NOT to take verses in the Bible that are easily understood and to twist them to mean what you have already decided that you believe! Shame! Spiritual maturity requires thoughtful, scriptural, spiritual consistency over a period of time. It is not found in the charismatic words of a disgruntled writer, or in some unknown magic words, or in spectacular demonstrations of demonic mastery.

Time and again Dean plays word games. He takes great pains to call Christians out of the religious establishment as a sign that they have overcome the apostasy... but what of doctrinal apostasy, or teaching things that flat out contradict the teachings in the Bible? He teaches error and false doctrines in his book. Apparently this type of apostasy has no effect on Dean even though the entire New Testament equates spiritual apostasy with doctrinal apostasy.

We can register no legitimate complaint against those who seek to persuade others of what they sincerely believe to be important truth, but this should be done without self-congratulation or claiming to have been sent by a voice that they believe comes from God—especially when the final product can easily be proven to be full of contradictions, misapplications of Scripture, and faulty conclusions.

How does God usually guide us in this age? Does He guide by visions, dreams, voices or neon signs? No. As we read God’s Word and pray about a matter, God gives, or withholds, His peace and guidance in that matter.

We need to pray in earnest for ourselves, and for our Christian family, that we not be led into false doctrines by deceiving spirits and their followers. Paul warned about this trend in his letter to Timothy:

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3,4).

We could never recommend this book to anyone except as an illustration of hyperbole, disinformation, delusions of grandeur, bad scholarship, misquotation and abuse of the sheep.

Some religious people feel that as long as one has a sincere heart, the “little” details do not make much difference. Yet we don’t think this way about other matters which are not of eternal consequence. (Read more here).

As we wish this book have little or no influence in Christians who are still developing their theology, here is a chapter-by-chapter analysis of it.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Our Conclusion
Appendix A: Taking The Beating
Appendix B


First publication: 2015 

Recent update: 2022
--------------

About this page

Source. Revised and edited for Deceived by The Great Dream by Héctor M. Riquelme, the Blog Manager of The Whole Counsel of God <http://thewholecounselofgod.blogspot.com> and Todo el Consejo de Dios <http://tcd-hector.blogspot.com>

Contact information. Use the Contact Form provided here or at The Whole Counsel of God. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback —especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. 

Warning: To those of you who found this post on the Web somewhere and are starting to march toward the comments box with pitch forks, blow torches, and blunt objects in order to legitimize TGD or its author, and castigate or marginalize this critique or its editor beyond repair, your uncivil remark will vanish into the electricity after I hit the DELETE key. So…   

In the comments, please do one of two things. 1) Share a favorite quote by JAC, or 2) share another shocking belief taken from TGD. Or do both.