Is Jesus Calling or Someone Else?

Sarah Young wrote a book in 2004 entitled, Jesus Calling, in which she recorded 365 daily devotions written in the voice of Jesus Christ, presented as speaking to the reader. While its beginnings may have been humble, Young’s book has now sold more than 10-million copies in 26 different languages. Its success has bred an entire line of Jesus Calling themed products. The book’s publisher, Thomas Nelson, says that it sold more than 2.5 million Jesus Calling products last year alone, not counting sales of the original book.¹ Such popularity has not protected Jesus Calling from criticism, however, as several evangelical pastors and teachers have spoken out against what one writer called, “an obvious attempt by our spiritual Adversary to get an even further foothold inside the Christian church.”²Recently, I read the introduction to Young’s book, and I was troubled by what I read.³

From the very outset, Young describes what she calls the “Presence of God,” as a unique and definite experience, although she fails to offer any sort of explanation of what she means by the Presence. Her first encounter with this Presence occurred on a moonlit walk on a Swiss mountainside. She described her first experience of it as a “warm mist” which surrounded her, and an awareness of a “lovely Presence,”prompting an involuntary response from her lips, “Sweet Jesus.” As she reflected on this shocking experience, Young says she “realized it was the response of a converted heart; at that moment I knew I belonged to Him. This was far more than the intellectual answers for which I’d been searching. This was a relationship with the Creator of the universe.”

Young’s testimony of her own conversion does not include any reference to the risen Christ, nor to her repentance and faith.

What is most troubling in her conversion story is what is missing. Maybe the closest NT approximation to the event that Sarah Young describes is the story of the conversion of the apostle Paul. He recounts the details in Acts 26:13-15, “at midday…along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’” With Saul there was a definite experience of God’s presence, but it wasn’t a “warm mist” or a “lovely Presence.” It was the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, who actually spoke to Paul and identified his self-righteous religious fervor as kicking against the goads and persecuting the Lord, Himself. Paul’s response included both repentance and faith which produced immediate obedience to the Lord’s commands. Young’s testimony of her own conversion does not include any reference to the risen Christ, nor to her repentance and faith. Instead of describing the life transformation which accompanies true conversion, she presents her own version of a relationship with the Creator, one which looks more like New Age mysticism than New Testament Christianity.

Young’s second experience of the Presence of Jesus occurred the next year after her “conversion,” when she was grieving the loss of a serious dating relationship. She was struggling with feelings of despair and loneliness and came upon the book Beyond Ourselves by Catherine Marshall. She says, “That night as I read the book, I no longer felt alone. I knelt beside the bed in that sterile room and felt an overwhelming Presence of peace and love come over me. I knew Jesus was with me and that He sympathized with my heartache.” All of this sprang out of Young’s encounter with a book she happened to see while walking aimlessly through the streets of Atlanta one night.

At this point, a couple of comments on the views and influences of Catherine Marshall are in order. Marshall wrote, in Beyond Ourselves that “If a person is a ‘lost sinner,’ it only means that he is temporarily separated from the Good Shepherd who owns him. The Shepherd is bound by all duties of ownership to go after all those who are lost until they are found.”While some might argue that Marshall did not really believe in universalism (that everyone will eventually be saved, even those who reject Christ in this life), the presence of such statements certainly gives one pause about her position. More important as it relates to Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is Marshall’s view of the Holy Spirit. She believed that the reason many Christians live defeated lives is that they need something more than salvation by grace through faith in Christ, they need to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But where does this idea of Holy Spirit baptism come from and how does it apply to Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling? Well, a little bit of research reveals that Catherine Marshall quoted and referenced Hannah Whitehall Smith on numerous occasions. She was very much impacted by the book The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Smith, a Quaker who was heavily influenced by a group of Holiness Methodists that she and her husband met while living in New Jersey in 1865. Smith wrote that the baptism of the Spirit can be, though it isn’t always, a very emotional and overwhelming sense of His presence. While Smith herself never claimed to have experienced the presence of the Spirit in any tangible way, her husband Robert did. She wrote: “After the meeting my husband had gone alone into a spot in the woods to continue to pray by himself. Suddenly, from head to foot he was shaken with what seemed like a magnetic thrill of heavenly delight, and floods of glory seemed to pour through him, soul and body, with the inward assurance that this was the longed for baptism of the Holy Spirit.” This is not dissimilar to Young’s third experience, which she had 16 years later: “…I was suddenly enveloped in brilliant light and profound peace. I lost all sense of time as I experienced God’s Presence in this powerful way.”

If we seek to have an experience that is more real or more trustworthy (in our minds) than the promises of Scripture, we are in danger of setting aside Scripture altogether and of seeking another gospel.

Young’s experience has more in common with today’s modern charismatics, who have theologically descended from the Holiness Movement, than with any New Testament believers. While Christianity does involve the spiritual experience of fellowship with God through Jesus, His Son, by means of His Holy Spirit, the New Testament priority is always on the word of truth rather than our own experiences. Hebrews 13:5 teaches us that He is always present with us, whether we feel it or not: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If we seek to have an experience that is more real or more trustworthy (in our minds) than the promises of Scripture, we are in danger of setting aside Scripture altogether and of seeking another gospel.

Another influence which inspired Young to begin seeking not only God’s presence but messages directly from God was a 1932 devotional book edited by A.J. Russell entitled God Calling. Young writes, “…I began reading God Calling, a devotional book written by two anonymous “listeners.” These women practiced waiting quietly in God’s Presence, pencils and paper in hand, recording the messages they received from Him.”

Each message in God Calling was written in the first person, so that God is the speaker. Young says that the book “became a treasure to me. It dovetailed remarkably well with my longing to live in Jesus’ Presence.”⁴As she read it, she began to wonder if she, too, could receive such messages. Although she had kept a prayer journal for a number of years, Young considered that to be an unsatisfying one-way form of communication, and she longed to hear God speak to her in response. Young says, “I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more. Increasingly, I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on a given day. I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believed He was saying.”

Young claims that her messages are from God, yet somehow he does not actually expect anyone to take him too seriously on these particular points.

How does Young view these “messages” she is receiving? On one hand, Young downplays the authority of these divine revelations, saying, “I knew these writings were not inspired as Scripture,” while on the other hand she continues to call them “personal messages from God.” If these messages are sent directly from God to Mrs. Young, what makes them less authoritative than any other words which God has spoken previously? If, in fact, God has spoken, can we afford to set even one word aside as non-essential? Of course, Young must try to put her words in a separate class from authoritative Scripture, because she knows that they would be rejected by true Christians, and rightly so, if she claimed to have received a new New Testament of the Bible. She, herself, would be placed in the same category as Joseph Smith, Ellen White, and any number of false teachers who have claimed to receive authoritative revelation from God and led multitudes astray with their counterfeit gospels. Instead, Young claims that her messages are from God, yet somehow he does not actually expect anyone to take him too seriously on these particular points.

In contrast to Young’s view is the God-breathed testimony of Agur the son of Jakeh from Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”While Young protests that she is no prophet, her book of “personal messages from God” puts her at risk of violating this Scriptural warning. To defend against this charge, Young offers two Scriptures as support for her method of listening for God to speak and writing down the messages she receives.

First, she cites Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God” and says that this verse “is an exciting invitation from God to lay down our cares and seek His Presence.”But is this what the verse is actually teaching? If we consider the context of Psalm 46, we find it to be a song of God’s exaltation throughout the whole earth, extolling his wonderful saving works on behalf of his people in the past, with the assurance of final salvation yet to come. The insights of Charles Spurgeon are especially helpful with regard to v.10:

Hold off your hands, ye enemies! Sit down and wait in patience, ye believers! Acknowledge that Jehovah is God, ye who feel the terrors of his wrath! Adore him, and him only, ye who partake in the protections of his grace….The boasts of the ungodly and the timorous forebodings of the saints should certainly be hushed by a sight of what the Lord has done in past ages….Either by terror or love God will subdue all hearts to himself. The whole round earth shall yet reflect the light of his majesty. All the more because of the sin, and obstinacy, and pride of man shall God be glorified when grace reigns unto eternal life in all corners of the world.

This is an command to reflect in awe on the glorious work of God in the protection and deliverance of his people throughout history, and to yearn for the coming day when he will sit in judgment over the whole earth, receiving glory from all of creation. It is not an invitation to sit quietly in God’s presence and listen for him speak personal messages softly and tenderly into our hearts.⁵

The other verse that Young cites in support of her devotional method is John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me,” and believes that Jesus still speaks to those who are willing to listen to him. But again we must ask, is that what Jesus was teaching his disciples in John 10? And the immediate context gives us a clear answer. In vv.25,26 Jesus responded to the charge of the unbelieving Jews who demanded that he declare whether he was the Messiah or not. He said to them, “I told you, and you do not believe….because you are not of My sheep.” In other words, being of Jesus’ sheep means believing that he is the Christ. He is distinguishing those who are true followers from those who are pretenders when he says, “My sheep hear My voice.” Jesus was not offering a promise to continually speak to those who are willing to listen to him, he was condemning the Jews because they had heard him speak and refused to believe him. But those who hear the words he has already spoken and believe will be saved. Neither of these verses supports Sarah Young’s mistaken belief that God is speaking to her as she sits quietly in what she believes is his presence. Frankly, I do not know where the messages she receives come from, but there is no Biblical warrant to believe that they are Jesus calling, any more than Joseph Smith had Biblical warrant to write The Book of Mormon.

Jesus was not offering a promise to continually speak to those who are willing to listen to him, he was condemning the Jews because they had heard him speak and refused to believe him.

As she concludes the introduction to Jesus Calling, Sarah Young explains that “In many parts of the world, Christians seem to be searching for a deeper experience of Jesus’ Presence and Peace. The messages that follow address that felt need.” But what does Young mean when she speaks of having a deeper experience of Jesus? She has already offered the answer when she described her dissatisfaction with Scripture reading and prayer, saying, “I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more.” In Young’s eyes God’s Word is not sufficient to offer peace, or to usher her into the presence of the Lord.

How different is the testimony of Scripture itself. David, when he wrote Psalm 119, repeatedly expressed that God’s presence was to be found in faithful obedience to His Word. Consider just a few references from this glorious chapter.

• v.5-6 If only my ways were committed to keeping your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed when I think about all your commands.
• v.10 I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands.
• v.18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wondrous things from your instruction.
• v.33-34 Teach me, Lord, the meaning of your statutes, and I will always keep them. Help me understand your instruction, and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart.
• v.66 Teach me good judgment and discernment, for I rely on your commands.
• v.81 I long for your salvation; I put my hope in your word.
• v.97-98 How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long. Your command makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me.
• v.135 Make your face shine on your servant, and teach me your statutes.
• v.147 I rise before dawn and cry out for help; I put my hope in your word.

In 1 Chronicles 16:11 David says, “Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!”and he follows with instructions for Israel in how they are to seek God’s presence. They were to remember his mighty works, the judgments of His mouth, and the words of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Later, when David commissioned Solomon to take his place, he instructed him to know God, saying in 1 Chronicles 28:9, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you.” But how was Solomon to find the Lord? “Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever” (28:8). Clearly David believed that God’s presence can and should be found by searching and meditating on the Scriptures.

But it is not just through His Word that we are to seek the Lord, it is also through prayer. The prophet Isaiah challenges all men to “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near” (Is. 55:6). And the author of Hebrews encourages us to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).It is through the disciplines of prayer and the Scriptures that we can enjoy fellowship in the Lord’s presence. Sarah Young is right that many Christians around the world are seeking something more, but human longing is not a test for truth. Instead of encouraging them to sit quietly and wait for God to speak, she ought to challenge them to meditate on God’s Word and labor in prayer. Consider this counsel from a great preacher of the 4^th and early 5^th centuries, John Chrysostom: “Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.”

While I have briefly surveyed the introduction to Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, I have yet to deal with any of the statements in the book itself. A brief look at some of the “messages” she received will show that Young’s view of God’s presence owes more to the charismatic movement and new age mysticism than to the Scriptures.⁶

• Jan 8 – “Shimmering hues of radiance tap gently at your consciousness, seeking entrance. Though I have all Power in heaven and on earth, I am infinitely tender with you. The weaker you are, the more gently I approach you. Let your weakness be a door to My Presence.”
• May 2 – “When you are with other people, you often lose sight of My Presence….When you realize this has happened, whisper My Name; this tiny act of trust brings Me to the forefront of your consciousness, where I belong.”
• May 24 – “There are actually more than four dimensions in this world where you live. In addition to the three dimensions of space and one of time, there is the dimension of openness to My Presence. This dimension transcends the others, giving you glimpses of heaven while you still reside on earth.”
• Dec 4 – “As you spend time in My Presence, My thoughts gradually form in your mind. My Spirit is the Director of this process. Sometimes He brings Bible verses to mind. Sometimes He enables you to hear Me ‘speak’ directly to you.”

Not only does this sound very different from the voice of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, the imagery of opening oneself to a spiritual presence and of entering a kind of transcendent dimension strongly echoes new age teachings regarding mediums and channeling. It is not at all clear that the “Presence” and “Spirit” to which we as readers are told to open ourselves is actually the person of Jesus Christ. This is a dangerous practice in which a person may inadvertently open themselves up to demonic spirits and influence. It has no place at all in the life of a Christian.

Other “messages” reveal Young’s version of devotion, which reads more like self-help advice from the likes of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers, than Biblical counsel from God’s Word. She focuses our attention on our needs and desires, rather than on God’s righteousness and grace.

• June 14 – “For years you swam around in a sea of meaninglessness, searching for Love, hoping for hope. All that time I was pursuing you, aching to embrace you in My compassionate arms….I sang you a Love song, whose beginning and end are veiled in eternity.”
• Aug 1 – “Most of mankind’s misery stems from feeling unloved.”
• Sept 29 – “Because I am infinite, I am able to love you as if you and I were the only ones in the universe. Walk with Me in intimate Love-steps…”
• Oct 2 – “Never take for granted My intimate nearness…Even the most ardent human lover cannot be with you always. Nor can another person know the intimacies of your heart, mind, and spirit.
• March 31 – “Taste and see that I am good. The more intimately you experience Me, the more convinced you become of My goodness. I am the Living One who sees you and longs to participate in your life.”

Even these brief excerpts should be sufficient to show that Sarah Young’s devotional ought to be considered with great caution, if it is to be read at all. While the controversy over the book may have faded, my heart is grieved at the thought of how many sincere people have been led into error and deception and away from the simple truth of God’s word by this popular author. As Christians, we must exercise discernment in all things, especially those which claim to offer spiritual help and guidance.

1This article was first written in March of 2014. As of this update, Jesus Calling has sold over 40 million copies and spawned and entire brand. Young has added another 15 titles to the series, including 7 books marketed to children, teaching them the same method of passive listening (or channeling) that Young herself practices.

2Warren Smith, ‘Another Jesus’ Calling. Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2013.

3A recent article about the book’s popularity mentions some notable criticism in 2015 from Christian pastor and blogger Tim Challies, but then states “Early on there were other critics, but any controversy over the book has faded.”Based on book sales alone, it would certainly seem that the broader church today has indeed embraced Young’s methods of gaining spiritual insight apart from Scripture. But a lack of controversy reveals the level of compromise on the part of influential Christian leaders and says nothing at all in favor of the book, which must be judged according to Scripture.

4It is important to note that in later editions of the book, the entire paragraph from which this quote was taken has been removed from the introduction. Many other changes have been made, including replacing the words “message” and “messages” with the words “writings” and “devotions.” For a more comprehensive look at the changes, refer to Warren Smith’s article Changing Jesus Calling: Damage Control for a False Christ. https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=16349

5Derek Kidner offers the following comment on v.10: “‘Be still…’ is not in the first place comfort for the harassed but a rebuke to a restless and turbulent world: ‘Quiet!’ – in fact, ‘Leave off!’” God is not saying to those who are troubled, “be at peace,” he’s saying, “cease and desist!” In the midst of our human struggle for survival and significance, He says to us, “Quit resisting and acknowledge that I am Lord.”

6All of these excerpts and quotations were taken from the first edition of Jesus Calling. Since some of the messages have been changed in later editions, it is possible that these statements are among those which have been altered or removed.