Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is one of the best-selling Christian books ever. The book contains daily devotionals written in the first-person voice of Jesus speaking to the reader. And this isn’t merely creative writing. Young claims to have been given extra-biblical revelation from God.
Jesus Calling was written out of a spirit of discontentment. Bible study and prayer were not enough for Young anymore—she wanted a different feeling.
Young read an old book entitled God Calling (published in the 1930s), in which two anonymous women claimed to have received words of God. Following their example, Young sat in a quiet room with pen in hand and asked God to speak to her. Whatever she “sensed He was saying,” she wrote it down. These, she claimed, were the words of Jesus—who sounds strangely like an American evangelical woman peddling soft pick-me-ups for Lifeway rather than preaching convicting truth.
Now, Young has said her words “were not inspired” by God, “as only Scripture is,” but what does that mean?
We’re told in 2 Timothy 3:16 that, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” What God says and is written down is Scripture, and every word is the highest authority.
So Young has either written the words of Jesus, or she hasn’t. There’s no in between. If she hasn’t received a word from the Lord, but she claims she has—and made a lot of money from it—is that not the very picture of a false prophet?
The Bible is God’s sufficient word. We need no other! Beware these crazy women who claim God has spoken to them apart from Scripture. The Bible calls them liars, when we understand the text.
