Monday, December 1, 2014

Book Review: Another Jesus Calling

(short) Book Review: A book that may be of some interest....
(Review by  Learn To Discern Granny)


Another Jesus Calling
by Warren B. Smith
Pages: 174 Publisher: Lighthouse Trails Publishing Company


"Person to Person Calling"  was a particular kind of telephone call, that I as a telephone operator, performed over and over in the days before unlimited long distance rates.  And this "person to person" calling is what Sarah Young purported to have heard in her best selling book Jesus Calling.

The question for us is:  "Was Jesus Calling?"  Former New Ager, Warren B. Smith, gives us the answer in his provocative little book: "Another Jesus" Calling.  And the answer, Smith most decisively proves, is this, "No, Jesus was not calling!"  And here's why:

Saturating his thirty concerns with scripture, as to why Jesus did not personally speak with Sarah Young, Smith lays out a precise picture providing us with a book of which you can, with confidence, share with skeptical friends or family that have been deceived into devouring Young's channeled

devotional.

Smith first introduces us to Sarah Young, who seems like an unlikely person to have been lured into receiving channeled messages from "another Jesus," having once been a student at Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri, but in spite of  this background this was where Sarah became aware of a lovely presence whom she called "Sweet Jesus."

Smith next introduces us to God Calling- the book Sarah embraced  before she, too, became a listener with pen in hand.  In this section Smith provides numerous scriptures along with each of his ten concerns, as to why God was not calling those two lady listeners; and as to why Sarah was deceived from the get-go when she based her own book on the listener's spiritual dictation.

Each concern is in a separate chapter which is short, but presented in such a clear and compelling manner. Smith's ten concerns from God Calling include these examples: 


Concern 1: Channeling a book from "Jesus."  Scripture:  Deuteronomy 18:10-12 warns "a consulter with familiar spirits" is an abomination unto the Lord.  
Concern 3: Opening the door to Universalism. Scripture:
John 14:6 states there is but one truth. 

Concern 4: Teaching God is "in" everyone.  Scripture:
Includes John 2:24-25 to Ezekiel 28:2 which tell us that God is not in everyone!  

Concern 6:  Replacing God's Word with experience.  Scripture: I Timothy 3:16,17 which shows, above all else, scripture supersedes all experience. 
Concern 7: Jesus is needing us more than we need him.  Scripture: Acts 17:25 says that Jesus Christ, creator of the universe, who gives us life, breath, and all things certainly doesn't need us more than we need him. 
Concern 9:  Connecting Psalm 46:10 to entering the silence has to do with God's rebuke to the nations! 
Concern 10:  Equating the New Age with Christianity  Scripture:  Galatians 5:7-9  describes that the "Jesus" of  God Calling asserts that God is "at the centre of every man's being" helping expose the fact that this book is most assuredly New Age-- for this is its core teaching.  

Included also at the end are three terrific appendixes which include warnings about deception, the gospel of the true Jesus Christ, and ways to be more discerning.  Following these are Warren Smith's well-documented endnotes and index.  This book, a little gem, is full to the brim with scripture and material you need to know in order to steer clear of deception!"
For if some one comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received,
or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you submit to it readily enough.
2 Corinthians 11:4 RSV