Piercing the Darkness of the Heart

About the Book

Charles Gooden is a Christian who thinks highly of Christianity. He wrote a book called Piercing the Darkness of The Heart “Contradiction”. As the title suggests, it is written as a letter to all to try and inspire us to study and find the error of our ways. I had heard of Charles Gooden (and this book) whose writings are inspirational. The book is a short book at just over 100 pages. It is a small but tightly written, poignant look on the Christian faith both positive and negative, which would cause us to think and challenge you on why you believe what you believe. It is not a rant against Christianity but thoughtful in both rhetorical power and actual substance. Gooden challenges us to study our basic knowledge of Christianity Piercing the darkness of the Heart is a straight to the point reading that will have you thinking about your relationship with God not man. It is not a formula to success in any form of life but a inspirational writing in hope of making you think about what you are doing and not what you have been told to do by other. The bible was written for you and your relationship with God and your fellowman. Piercing the Darkness is not cherry-picking of passages from the Bible, some dealing with OT laws that involve seemingly harsh penalties, and some dealing with NT passages talking about God’s judgment. Gooden say’s his intent is not to run around the world telling people of God’s love and warning them of His judgment. We want people to trust in Jesus, love God and build a loving relationships with their families and friends and claim there place as Disciples of Christ and not followers of men aimlessly.

About the Author

Charles L. Gooden, the son of the late Charlie Gooden Sr. well-to-do business owner of Washington DC. Gooden was born on June 14, 1960 in Washington. He spent his boyhood there and in Greenville NC, in pursuit of happiness and self worth. While in Greenville Gooden adventure beckoned and he left school to join US Army. He received his first orders to Germany. According Gooden, the experience of the military gave him a sense of balance and taught him how to work with others in a team environment allowing him to understand others and to contribute to the end goal of the task at hand. The success of his military tour would play a role in developing him into the man that he is today. By 1985 Gooden had started a non-profit organization CIAD Inc a program to help combat the ills of substance abuse and to help local teens develop a more positive attitude towards life. This would move Gooden to support various local organizations and to work on behalf of children with Guardian Ad-Litem. Gooden would also volunteer in the school system of Pitt County. Gooden would later become a Chaplin under the Moses Cone Hospital adjunct Chaplin program. Later Gooden would move on to start a home to help young men returning to the community who had a stream of bad circumstance to acquire a competitive edge and to be productive citizens of the community again. Gooden said he had to further his endeavors by creating Restoring the Dream “The family” work shop that would help families to be families and to understand the different bent factors as it related to children. Gooden has continued his work but took a break and just recently decided that he had to rewrite some of his work and his poetry to share and take a different approach to the rest of his life as he inspire his own family and motivate others.