With Deep Regrets, ‘The Shack’ Artist Warns About Devastation of Universalism

The cover artist behind The Shack says he has deep regrets about being involved in the project that has captivated millions.

“The movie release of The Shack has brought all this back to my mind and I felt the need to apologize to all who I may have led astray by my promoting the book. I look back and see how little discernment I had. And I regret and apologize also for waiting this long to publicly share this,” Dave Aldrich wrote in a Facebook post.

Aldrich says author Wayne Jacobson approached him in 2006 about designing the cover and the interior pages for William P. Young’s personal reflections turned into a novel for public consumption.

In 2009, he praised how the project impacted his career path, and said he was “blessed” with the opportunity.

Eight years later, as the movie version of the book claims success, Aldrich says he’s been convicted about his work.

“Embracing The Shack, as I did, led me to other books, other authors who had started out on the straight and narrow, having solid biblical beliefs, but strayed off into apostasy land. Rob Bell, Jim Palmer, Brian McLaren, to name a few of those by whom I was inspired. That ‘inspiration’ led me to the edge of this Universalist belief. I thank the Lord that He pulled me back from that edge,” Aldrich says. 

“The Shack’s story wonderfully painted this picture to me of an incredibly knowable and loving God, one full of forgiveness, but without being judgmental. The fact is that there are two inseparable sides to God. He is both love and judge,” he continues.

“Again, this thing called ‘free will’ has given us the ability to willfully accept God’s gracious gift of His Son, Jesus, who died on a cross to save us from our sins, or willfully reject His gracious gift. Jesus did die for the sins of the whole world, but tragically most of the world has and will refuse Him,” Aldrich concludes. {eoa}