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The Enoch Factor

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The Enoch Factor is one of those rare books in the (too-crowded) marketplace of spiritual essays: it is intellectually challenging without being stuffy or "preachy", and the reader feels connected to the deeply human story of the author's journey. (Amazingly, Steve McSwain's book enticed me--a lifelong agnostic--to do something that I hadn't done in years: open up my Bible and start re-reading the words that are not just at the center The Enoch Factor but at the very core of so many controversies in religion.) McSwain is tackling what is arguably life's toughest puzzles: Why are we here and, more directly to his point, What is our relationship to a creator? He is emphatic, articulate (and delightfully self-critical) about how he came to hold his own beliefs, namely that "Knowing God" is not just his purpose, but also his source of solace. But he didn't get there overnight. Perhaps the chief joy of The Enoch Factor is watching McSwain passionately untangle the knot that is his personal story: a people-pleasing Preacher's Kid who slept-walk through an unsatisfying career as a so-called successful preacher, only to realize that he was deeply unhappy, that he was missing The Point of It All. Setting the tone for his newfound belief in a loving, non-authoritarian ministry, McSwain invites you to join him as a true equal, walking at his side on new paths in search of answers to our oldest questions. Be forewarned that this book is not going to give comfort to those readers who want to be told that the Bible (or any sacred text) has All The Answers for spiritual seekers. Quite the opposite, McSwain happily (some would say gleefully) takes his flashlight and shines it unflinchingly at several of Christianity's most errant inerrancies. But he does so with a clear, loving purpose. He is challenging us to look beyond parsing the texts of Christianity and other religions, asking that we stop craving proof "about" a creator and instead seek to simply "know" our God, whoever He or She or What that may be. By the book's end, you are on new ground, but somehow the journey will have made sense and the final stopping point will seem "old" and completely comfortable.

As a pastor, I am always looking for thought-provoking materials that will assist me on my on-going spiritual journey. The Enoch Factor is one such book - a book that gently asks questions that no person of faith should miss. McSwain weaves materials from various non-biblical and biblical sources to describe his personal journey of faith and his awakening to a rewarding relationship and walk with God. While challenging some fundamental beliefs, McSwain asks his readers to go beneath the easy answers and undertake a journey towards faith, holding the reader's attention and interest. The Enoch Factor is organized around three general themes that build upon one another and move the reader closer and closer to discovering how one might walk with God in a real and practical sense. Along the way, readers who profess the Christian faith, another faith tradition, spirituality of another sort or the "non-believers" among us, all can look forward to questions that have the potential to transform one's life. This is a personal story offered as a reflection on McSwain's own journey of self-discovery. If you want religion tied up in neat little cliches, this is not for you. If, however, you are willing to suspend judgment and open your heart and mind to McSwain's story, you will be rewarded for your efforts. A good read meant, I beleive, to be read several times.

This is probably more a testimony of how this book affected my life than a critical review of the book itself, but that is what transformation is all about.

I was raised in church, was "forced" (maybe that is too harsh a word) to attend weekly services and education classes all my early years lived in my parent's home. Just days before leaving for college, I was asked to accompany friends to a revival sponsored by their church. It was there that the message of the cross became REAL to me. I prayed the "sinners" prayer and immediately felt as if "the hamster wheel" I had been on stopped and I could get off. I was given my first bible, a King James edition and a booklet with one month of bible study lessons.

I left for college with not much understanding of what the expectation of my "salvation" experience was to be. There were girls on my dorm floor that "claimed" to be Christians, and who took me occasionally to their churches (when they weren't hung over from sneaking in booze or their boyfriends to their dorm rooms the night before). With little to no understanding, I made the assumption that I was "saved" (i.e. destined for heaven with a "get out of jail free" card) but what I did with my life was strictly up to me.

Well, what red-blooded college coed wouldn't say, "whoo hooo...let's party hearty"? Don't get me wrong. I attended my classes regularly and I graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and at least a 3.4 average. I completed my GRE and was accepted to the Master's Degree in Social Work program at another college. But the weekends and the holidays, and my evenings were full of experimentation and curiosity about the world and its people all around me. There just wasn't much room for church or bible study past that first 30 days.

What the God of the Universe had begun, He was intent upon finishing. Within months of moving to the city where I would attend graduate school, God would lead two young ladies to knock on my door. I was interviewing potential roommates and opened the door expecting to find the next candidate. I found something much more rewarding.

These ladies were part of a motley crew of believers in the life and message of Jesus of Nazareth. We had a conversation that was more than uplifting. It was energizing, faith-giving, inspirational, and purposeful. Two days later, my sister would come for a visit fresh from her own spiritual awakening and would challenge me that God had greater expectations for my life than I was living. I confessed my falling short, and believed that God Himself would direct my steps.

A week later, I got in my un-airconditioned Pinto and drove to the location the two young ladies had given me. This was WAY out of my comfort zone, but I was INSPIRED to go; the Spirit within was pulling me along to do something completely out of "character". I stayed for 4 years. I did street ministry. I did floor by floor, room by room ministry in the dorms. I shared my faith at work. I LIVED a joy I had not known before.

I learned to LOVE the scriptures, not only reading them but living them. I saw it lived out in the people around me in a way I had not seen in organized churches. It was like living what I was reading in the Book of Acts. I grew in knowledge and understanding. And I thought I was growing in the KNOWING of my God.

Thirty years, two children, and a divorce later, I began to doubt EVERYTHING I had come to believe. The last 10 years of my life have been the biggest death-defying struggle. It is as if God's intention was to knock my Erector Set life down to the foundation and start afresh. I would experience deaths, betrayals, and poverty like never before. I would question every piece of scripture I had ever been taught to trust in. Eventually I would pull away from every organization, every relationship, and even the church in which I had pledged membership. I would choose to go into the desert.

I never abandoned God. Nor did He ever abandon me. I KNOW now that even when I couldn't "feel" Him near, He was always as near as my next breath. I can look back and recognize all the road signs He had put up along my way. I could see every strategically placed lamp post, every carefully planned curve in the road. It is KNOWING this that gives me courage to continue to press on. The journey is not yet over...the fat lady hasn't sung yet!

I WAS BORN TO WALK WITH GOD!

Those words stopped me in my reading. I sat staring at the words on the page. I kept repeating them over and over in my mind. And quietly the weight began to roll off my shoulders. You see, I had been searching for that DOT in the center of God's will. I had been trying to DO that which would win His approval but always came up feeling the lack.

Psalm 34:10
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.

There was nothing I had to do but walk with God. Like the men on the Road of Emmaus, all I have to do is walk in the awareness that the LORD is with me, period! Jesus said the answer was in ABIDING; in His word, in the branch...to abide is to take up residence.

If you have done all the religious activity and still feel a sense of emptiness...if you have questioned your faith and whether your work has amounted to anything...if you are ready to get off the hamster wheel of people pleasing and working and giving and attending with the hopes of finding peace and rest...you will want to read this book.

Steve McSwain gives a moving testimony of how God woke him up not while in church, not while engaged in bible study, not while being busy at some work of Christian charity, but while he sat on a Sunday afternoon on his couch flipping channels on the TV. He will lead you through his journey of discovery of the simplicity of KNOWING God's will, and how doing comes out of the knowing and not the other way around.

There were times when I had to put the book down and give thought to what I was reading. And there was the moment I MET my EGO face to face, and made a decision that I would die to death. I faced my greatest fear--that of dying before I truly lived!

This book is NOT for the timid. So, be forewarned! Unless you have an open spirit to listen to truth in all its forms... Unless you can embrace that God is always speaking and does so not only through your accepted form of communication, but through voices you may not have considered before, you may not want to take this one up.

But if you have questions about your purpose, or whether God is available to every man, woman, and child around the globe including those who have never heard the name of Jesus...if you question that souls are going to hell every minute for lack of the "message" going out to them...if you wonder if it is possible to live the life that Jesus promised, one of abundance, power, and daily miracles...or if you want to KNOW God as Enoch did...

Read THE ENOCH FACTOR by Steve McSwain.

I enjoy reading books by educated people who can enlighten me about religion, spirituality, and the meaning of life -- this book does all three. Dr. McSwain's knowledge of the Bible, human nature and his own enlightenment make The Enoch Factor a compelling and educational read. The idea that religion can be empowering as opposed to limiting, and that a relationship with God is attainable internally as opposed to externally, is a revolutionary way of thinking in America. I highly recommend The Enoch Factor and look forward to future books by Dr. McSwain.

Aside from being beautifully written, the book reveals truths that are too powerful to be ignored. As a psychologist, I encounter the anxiety and fear of many people on a daily basis. The existential fears of human existence are very powerful and letting them go often requires a belief that there is something bigger than yourself to assist with the process. Steve provides insights from many different "walkers with God", in addition to his own insights, that present with great clarity the importance of staying in the present. Once one begins to associate the concept of ego with worry, fear, doubt, and the vicious treadmill of wanting more, then one is truly on the path to being free. If you ever felt the desire to feel free, unencumbered, and connected with the divine, this is a must read.

Read the book! Truly a life-giving book to those who have struggled with the religious dogma of man and found it wanting. As a disillusioned and broken hearted Christian I wasn't sure there was any spiritual life left for me or in me. Steve helped to clear my mind of the programing that gets in the way of God's presence in my life regardless of whether or not I'm "in" church. I was in the cycle of "if you're not in then you're out" regarding my spiritual life because of the prior religious teaching that tended to be legalistic in nature. This book helped me to find my spiritual sense again. Inspiring.

To be brief, this is easily the most profound book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Growing up in a fairly fundamental, conservative, protestant denomination which emphasizes Christian perfection above much else, I entered my adult years with a concept of God that mostly centered around fear of ending up in an eternal hell. Sometimes as a child when I would hear a biblical story or teaching I would think to myself that it seemed a little weird, but I never seriously pursued my doubts and continued to march to the same drumming around me which mostly drowned out all else. Post high school education consumed so much time through my twenties that I really just went on automatic through church (and all that goes with church) not thinking much about the supposed beliefs within me. When my brain cleared a bit after getting into life as a married young professional, my thoughts were quiet enough that I began to hear those doubts raise their voices again. I gradually became more intensely frustrated that it felt more and more like what was required of me as a Christian seemed to be a system of beliefs that took erratic twists, senseless backtracks, the long way around, and filled in the gaps with empty answers like that I just needed to trust God more or have more faith or believe in more in God's wisdom. After being fed up with a system of beliefs that did not mirror my experience in life where I was repeatedly finding myself in a place of failure that my "worm theology" taught me to believe about myself, I began to pray to God that if God did actually exist, God would assist me in understanding God the way i God desired to be understood. I began to have an intense internal notion that my faith ought to at least have a feeling about it that it makes sense rather than having to go through the complicated gymnastics I was taught growing up. This began in me a process over the next 6 years which led me to The Enoch Factor this last summer.

I have had many doubts and questions over these recent years and explored many ideas about my faith. During time I have read many, many books by a wide range of authors most of which have been significantly valuable in my searching. The Enoch Factor though felt as if it brought a lot of my questions and answers down to a point where there is a feel of coherency. As I read Dr McSwain's words and thoughts, he seems to have had much the same experience with similar doubts and frustrations. I had the feeling that he had been there and done that and came out the other side in a better place where his faith was far from abandoned and in fact markedly deepened.

This journey began for me at a place of starting over. As all good postmoderns do, I deconstructed my beliefs, started back at the beginning, and picked up the pieces as I went along that felt real, leaving the broken pieces to lay where they lay, all the while looking for any new realness that I might have missed because of the blinding height of the theological walls that had been built around me both by myself and others. The Enoch Factor helped me bring my ideas about what falleness and hell and redemption may really be all about and why that realness may have been missed along the way. The result is that my soul has found a more restful place than any previous, and I feel I have a much greater understanding of how to continue to deepen my spirituality and my connection with God and the world God created. To think that I have arrived would be to make the same mistake I was making before, just in a different location so I wouldn't say that this book was the answer to all my questions. No book should be. But it certainly furthered me along my journey in a deeply meaningful way, and I would recommend The Enoch Factor for any and all.

I came across this book...or maybe it came across me. My son was struggling with the whole concept of God, religion, christianity. Claiming maybe I'm an atheist..he just couldn't relate. I'm blessed that he even approach me with this concern and was open to discuss his confusion, he's 15. I spoke to him of what I believed..of what I have come to realize. Struggling at times to convey the God I have come to know. The truth and knowing that it's all related that somehow there just can no longer be labels. Being his mom I'm sure he was listening with half an ear. So along comes a book that puts it all into words. Everything I was trying to express to him. This new awareness. This non judgement of who we are and where we are on our own personal journey. The possibility of intimacy with God in our every breath. God as you know him. I just ordered this book for all my five children. I recommend this highly. I kept copies of The Four Agreements on hand for years to share. This is that kind of book. Rare and enlightening.

Every now and then you stumble upon a book that really changes how you look at life. Several books come to mind for me: "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" (by Robin Sharma), "The Power Within You" (by Eric Butterworth) and "A New Earth" (by Eckhart Tolle). These are the kind of books you read more than once. You highlight them, underline, and tab pages. You recommend them to friends, and for some - you order the book for them. "The Enoch Factor" is such a book. I am an avid reader of books on spirituality. This is an outstanding book that will help people come to terms with that "hole in our soul" that organized religion has been unable to fill. Steve shares his own personal story -- one of being deeply religious and committed to his faith. Yet, it wasn't until a spiritual experience, that he realized it's not about following the rules of religion - it's about a relationship with God. This relationship is unique for you, and cannot be mapped out by any religion. For many, this book may be just the thing to get them over the hump of guilt - and give them the encouragement and freedom to pursue a relationship with God. Bless you Steve for sharing your story and for so eloquently sharing a message of hope and love with all of us!

I devoured this book. It is not easy to put into words the profound effect The Enoch Factor had on me. In fact, I have been mulling over how to get across in a review the sense of freedom and liberation I felt after reading it. I suspect that it will be unlike any other book you have ever read about drawing nearer to God.

I was raised in the same fundamental/evangelical denomination that the author, Dr. Steve McSwain, was raised in -- one that is generally known these days for its dogma, judgmentalism, and narrow view of spirituality. (At one time, a strong commitment to the concept of "soul liberty" or "soul competency" was its vanguard --no longer.) I left this denomination at least 35 years ago, but, in my ensuing spiritual journey, have not found it easy to find a spiritual home in which the way to a real, living, tangible relationship with God was the supreme focal point. So many times I have heard from the pulpit, "The kingdom of God is within you," but although I am by nature a very spiritual person, I did not grasp the meaning of it. As I would begin to meditate on this idea, the next part of the service would abruptly begin, and I had to move along with it.

So much of my churchgoing experience has been like this -- busy services with some inspiration, but no illumination of the path I needed to follow to meet the Divine. The Enoch Factor has been so helpful to me in this regard. I recommend it enthusiastically to all those seeking to shed their spiritual bondage and to begin to understand how to find their way to God, because He is not far away.