“Boy this Marriage Book God has Given to me is going to be FIRE!!! FOR THE CHURCH!”
#excitednoholdsbar

Mark Anthony Stephens has declared—once again—that God Himself has handed him a marriage book. Not just any book. A “FIRE” book. One that will, apparently, help millions while bypassing any need for self-examination, accountability, or healing for the actual damage done.

And there it is: the familiar formula.
Pain → Blame → Platform → Product.

This is not a book.
It’s a distraction wrapped in a devotional, carefully constructed to reframe Mark’s wreckage as revelation. It’s the literary equivalent of a spiritual smokescreen, meant to obscure the glaring fact that there’s been no genuine repentance—just rebranding.

Linda Barnett, in the comments, calls it out perfectly. She reminds him (and anyone reading) that spiritual authority isn’t earned by simply surviving betrayal—it’s earned through the weight of self-awareness, the acknowledgment of your own breaking, and the fruit of healed relationships, not the ashes of burned bridges.

But Mark’s response?

“Honestly not sure what you are speaking of… I was just stoked…”

Translation: Let me dodge the truth by playing confused.
Let me talk about “forgiveness” as if it’s a code word for avoiding accountability, not pursuing it. Let me pretend this book is born from healing, when it’s clearly stitched together from unresolved bitterness and curated half-truths.

And let’s be honest—what does it mean when someone so publicly touts a book supposedly rooted in forgiveness, while still spending every week:

• Posting passive-aggressive spiritual jabs at former partners.
• Claiming betrayal without ever admitting fault.
• Branding those who challenged him as “narcissists,” “wolves,” or “false believers.”

If the fruit of your healing is a book filled with condemnation and spiritual self-promotion, then maybe the tree was never healthy to begin with.

Because here’s the truth:
A real message for the Church doesn’t scapegoat, manipulate, or market pain as performance.
A true book on marriage doesn’t ignore the author’s own wreckage.
And no fire from God needs hashtags and hype men—it stands on truth alone.

So before we call this book “fire,” maybe we should ask:
What exactly is burning?
A desire to help others…
Or the last bridge to self-awareness?

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The Book of Deflection: When Forgiveness Is Just a Marketing Strategy

“Boy this Marriage Book God has Given to me is going to be FIRE!!! FOR THE CHURCH!”
#excitednoholdsbar

Mark Anthony Stephens is once again shouting from the mountaintops—or at least from Facebook—that his long-awaited marriage book is coming soon. Again. For the third? Fourth? Lost count. This book has been “coming soon” for nearly two years now, which raises the obvious question:

Is this book ever actually being written, or is it just another tool in his spiritual attention economy?

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about healing. This is about headlines. About spinning personal wreckage into content. About posing as the wounded prophet rather than doing the hard, silent work of accountability and growth.

Mark claims this book is “for the Church,” birthed from his experiences with betrayal, narcissism, and being cheated on. But what’s noticeably absent is any admission of his own failures—the kind clearly documented in courtrooms, therapy reports, and firsthand accounts from parents, doctors, and his own children’s care teams.

And when someone like Linda Barnett gently challenges him in the comments—calling for alignment, accountability, and spiritual maturity—he defaults to confusion:

“Honestly not sure what you are speaking of… I was just stoked about the Marriage book.”

Classic deflection.

He never answers the challenge. Never owns the damage. Just more vague language about forgiveness—weaponized as a shield, not practiced as a discipline.

And while he posts in all caps about a fiery, transformative manuscript, what’s actually catching fire is the ever-growing pile of contradictions:

• A man who preaches about marriage while abandoning child support.
• A man who speaks of wolves but refuses to address his own harm.
• A man who promises healing while publicly wounding others weekly.

Let’s be real: if this book ever does come out, it won’t be a roadmap to redemption—it’ll be a carefully curated pamphlet of projection, blame, and recycled memes dressed up in scripture.

Because true healing doesn’t take two years of teaser trailers.
It shows up in relationships.
In changed behavior.
In silence that replaces slander.

Until then, Mark’s not publishing a book.
He’s publishing a persona.
And calling it ministry.