Any believer in God who walks into a Christian bookstore or finds themselves browsing through the Religion and Spirituality category online is bound to run into the Jesus Calling books by Sarah Young. The first book, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, came out in 2004 and has since sold over 17 million copies. The book is so popular, it is listed among classics like Pilgrims Progress as one of the best-selling Christian books of all time.
Unfortunately, however, despite the fact many pastors including David Jeremiah and Max Lacado have embraced Jesus Calling, other Bible-believing Christians are concerned about the New Age influences over the author and her books.
Warren B. Smith, a former New Age follower, says “The Jesus of Jesus Calling is a false Christ; actually it’s a New Age Christ, and that means that the “Jesus” who is calling millions of people through Sarah Young’s book is not the Jesus of the Bible.” Smith is the author of “Another Jesus” Calling, a book that discusses how Young subtly introduces New Age practices such as channeling, co-creating with God, and creative visualization to her readers.
One of the biggest concerns Smith has about Sarah Young and Jesus Calling is how her writing was influenced by a devotional book published in 1930 called God Calling. The book was written by two women who said they received messages from God while waiting for His presence.
John Weldon and John Ankerberg authors of The Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs describe God Calling as a channeled New Age book. They state that the book “subtly encourages psychic development and spiritistic inspiration under the guise of Christ’s personal guidance.” This is something called channeling, which God forbids in Deuteronomy 8:10-11.
“I knew that my writings were not inspired (as only Scripture is), but they were helping me grow closer to our living Lord,” admits Young.
Despite this confession, Young says she wrote all the messages that she received from Jesus’ point of view. In other words, she wrote her book as if Jesus was talking directly to her and her readers. Part of the description of Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence states, “Sarah Young decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever she believed He was saying to her.”
It’s obvious that many people don’t have a problem with Sarah Young or how her books were written. However, Marcia Montenegro from the website, Christian Answers for the New Age (CANA), says there is cause for concern. “As someone formerly involved in the New Age, I am bound to say that listening for a message from a supernatural being in order to write down words heard from or dictated by this being is a form of automatic writing, an occult practice. There is no other fitting term for this.”
Montenegro continues, “If Young had confined this method to herself, it would be a matter between her and God. However, marketing these messages, which are written as though spoken by Jesus, places the book(s) in a public forum, and obligates Christians to examine Young’s claims and the purported messages from Jesus.”
Tm Challis, author of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, agrees that the Jesus Calling books are “deeply troubling.” Besides noting that Young is wrong to speak for God, Challis says, “Most people don’t know that Jesus Calling has undergone revisions, not only in the introduction where she removed references to God Calling, but also in the words she claims to have received from Jesus. This, of course, casts even further doubt on the trustworthiness of the revelation she receives. After all, why would words from Jesus need to be revised? Did God lie? Did he change? Did she mis-hear him? There is no good option here, other than to doubt all she has ever claimed to receive.”
Besides her writings, some are troubled by Young’s conversion to Christ. In Jesus Calling she describes it like this: “Suddenly I felt as if a warm mist enveloped me. I became aware of a lovely Presence, and my involuntary response was to whisper, ‘Sweet Jesus.’ This utterance was totally uncharacteristic of me, and I was shocked to hear myself speaking so tenderly to Jesus. As I pondered this brief communication, I realized it was the response of a converted heart; at that moment I knew I belonged to Him.”
While the Church is the “Bride of Christ,” it does not mean Christians are to romanticize Jesus. Young’s conversion story makes no mention of repentance nor does she acknowledge Christ’s death and resurrection. She certainly didn’t do what it says in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.”
Instead, she was converted after Jesus communicated with her by enveloping her in a warm mist. This simply isn’t scriptural, which should cause Christians to wonder if Young really is indeed promoting a false New Age Jesus that puts emotion and the need to feel good above scriptural truths. If Young is not aware she is promoting a false Jesus, she is obviously very deceived, which means she is deceiving millions through her books.
With many other Jesus Calling books available, including Jesus Always, Jesus Today, Jesus Calling for Christmas, Dear Jesus, Jesus Lives, devotionals geared toward kids, and even a Jesus Calling flip calendar, it’s obvious these books are extremely popular. Instead of jumping on the Jesus Calling bandwagon, however, Christians should reexamine these New Age-influenced books and run from them as fast as they can.
