The Mysticism of the book Jesus Calling By Sara Young

By Brannon S. Howse

Jesus Calling, is a wildly popular book that has sold more than 10 million copies. You can buy it not only in Christian bookstores and online but in Walgreens, Walmart, and grocery stores most everywhere. Written by Sarah Young, it is a blatantly New Age book that promotes “Christian” mysticism. Yet many evangelicals help the redefining by promoting this as an acceptable book. Readers, however, do not encounter the Jesus of the Bible. Author Sarah Young explains her version of God in Christ:

[quote] The following year I began to wonder if I, too, could receive messages during my times of communion with God. I’d been writing in prayer journals for years, but that was one-way communication. I did all the talking. 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 believe He was saying. I felt awkward the first time I tried this, but I received a message. It was short, biblical, and appropriate. It addressed topics that were current in my life: trust, fear, and closeness to God. I responded by writing in my prayer journal. [end quote] 

 A major problem, as you’ll no doubt notice, is that she “yearned for more” than the Bible. As with so many people, Young bases what she does on feelings—what I feel is true versus what I know to be true from the Word of God. Yet the Word of God itself tells us that we are not to seek such things.

Warren Smith, a New Ager turned biblical Christian, was so alarmed at the acceptance of Sarah Young’s Jesus that he wrote Changing “Jesus Calling”—Damage Control for a False Christ in hopes of combatting her redefined Christ. He explains the problem this way: 

[quote] Jesus Calling was inspired by the book God Calling. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, author Sarah Young said that her journey with Jesus Calling began with the book God Calling. She stated, “My journey began with a devotional book, God Calling, written in the 1930s by two women who practiced waiting in God’s presence, writing the messages they received as they ‘listened.’ About a year after I started reading this book, I began to wonder if I, too, could receive messages during my times of communing with God. So, I decided to listen to God, with pen in hand, writing down whatever I sensed he was saying.”

But Sarah Young and her editors somehow missed the fact that God Calling is a channeled New Age book. God Calling is a collection of channeled messages presented in the form of a daily devotional. The messages were channeled through two English women in the 1930s and could easily have been titled Jesus Calling, because it was reputedly dictated by “The Living Christ Himself.”

The Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, published by Harvest House Christian publishers, specifically describes God Calling as a channeled New Age book. In their lengthy chapter on channeling and spiritual dictation, authors and apologists John Weldon and John Ankerberg explain that channeling is a form of New Age “mediumship” and according to the Bible it “is a practice forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:9-12.”

Under the subheading titled “Impersonations of Christianity,” the authors describe God Calling as a New Age book “replete with denials of biblical teaching” as it “subtly encourages psychic development and spiritualistic inspiration under the guise of Christ’s personal guidance...and often misinterprets Scripture.”. . . 

Yet, Sarah Young wrote that it was God Calling that inspired her to receive her own messages from Jesus. [end quote]

So, inspired by a New Age book, Sarah Young has written a book that has encouraged more than 10 million readers to be involved in mysticism and to meet the Jesus of mysticism. As if the redefined Jesuses of mysticism, Catholicism, Mormonism, and Word of Faith aren’t bad enough, however, there’s also one more Jesus on the market these days.

Copyright 2015 ©Brannon Howse. This content is for Situation Room members and is not to be duplicated in any form or uploaded to other websites without the express written permission of Brannon Howse or his legally authorized representative.