My (Rene Lafaut) Books

When God begins to make our footsteps firm, the temptation is to embrace ourselves as an authority on how things ought to be looked at, understood, and to think our opinions are absolute truth. One of the problems with this is that we become un teachable, proud, and then easily discount what others have to say and contribute. This is not a healthy way to live and causes us to disrespect people. Being convinced that we have absolute truth is very deceptive...we do not see all ends; only God does. I believe we can and do come to truthful conclusions...but truth always sets us free to love, be joyful, non-mechanical, warm, kind, humble, and to have neither lofty nor low opinions of oneself or others. A humble person is one who can let truth stand up for itself, and not seek honor when preaching it after having stumbled across it. Humility's aim is to love and build up, not tear down, marginalize, and put into boxes. Proud people not only put people into boxes but also truths...and land up forgetting and discounting both.

Book One: My motivation:

The journey to loving people more than concepts requires faith and hope. The connections between these three virtues are not immediately obvious, but to those on the journey these virtues are the spiritual rubber that meets the road of life that helps us grow in stability and peace; with flexibility through humility so that out of caring we will love people genuinely.

A Book Review:

Book Two: My Method:

This book describes a method on how to transform the mind and heart of a person in a way that is loyal to Jesus and the Christian Scriptures. It is done through confession and repentance that involves strategic prayer to God with the help of understanding the many connections between: hurts, fear, pride, selfish-love, compulsive-laziness, compulsive-indulgence, coveting, judging, and selfishness; along with one's visible sins (These connections form a structure called "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" within which has invisibly dominated humanity since the Garden of Eden). And, then to renew one's mind and actions with virtues (in the exact places where we have given up the vices) with wholesome and sober truth-based thinking and believing through Jesus' grace.

So, if you struggle with self-pity, embrace unkindness in your disputes, are short tempered, use angry pressure to motivate yourself more than coming from a caring place. Are more rule focused than love focused, seek pleasure more than what is healthy, and feel more like a thorny bush than a life-giving stream, then this book is for you.

A Book Review:

Book Three: My Aim:

This book attempts to understand healthy humility and how it can move us to caring for and loving those people different from ourselves. It does not attempt to give new lists of sins but attempts to set up a paradigm of thought that is faithful to the person of Jesus and the Christian Scriptures that helps us to not demonize any person or any people groups. This book comes out of me working a process of inner transformation as outlined in my book called, "Dismantling the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Within So Love Can Thrive". It answers questions that I asked myself that were necessary for me to renew my mind and actions so that I could move to more healthily imitate Jesus in His meekness, gentleness, love and compassion.

A Book Review:

Book Four: Further along the road:

When I first started working the traditional Twelve Steps I found them a bit disagreeable, but I did have some success. I would come to realize that no finite rigid set of principles, rules, or codes will set everyone completely free. One has to go deeper, and that means understanding the spirit of The Twelve Steps. In this book I explore The traditional Twelve Steps in a deeper manner which leads to freedom from more addictions.

Book Five: The road no one wants to take:

This book is my autobiography and covers parts of my early life, and logs how I dealt with and struggled with the challenges that my mental illness brought about.