Letter to the Editor: On Jesus Calling, My Wife and I Thought You Were Wrong, But We Have Been Deceived!

Dear Lighthouse Trails:

When you announced that Warren Smith was writing a book exposing the “Jesus” of Jesus Calling, I wrote you a friendly, but critical, e-mail in which I accused you of rushing to judgment and too hastily condemning the book. My wife, who is generally very discerning, has used Jesus Calling extensively in her devotions and has felt blessed by the book. She occasionally shared with me nice things from the book, and I saw no harm in them and thought they sounded true. I never read it with my critical faculties in gear. Through the years, our discernment has enabled us to see through the Word of Faith heresy, the contemplative movement, the Emergent errors, the Third Wave/Latter Rain/ Manifested Sons doctrine, the Toronto false revival, and other false teachings. We congratulated ourselves on our discernment. Like Warren Smith, I was involved with the New Age movement, in my case before it was a movement. So we thought we were equipped to spot any counterfeit. But our discernment failed us when it came to God Calling and Jesus Calling. We feel very foolish. At first, I though Warren Smith should not have written his book. I’m now quite sure that Jesus Calling is the book that never should have been written.

Lighthouse Trails responded with a courteous, brotherly e-mail in which you offered to send me a copy of “Another Jesus” Calling. Though I felt the book was a mistake, I agreed to read it. When it arrived, I read it and told my wife that we had been deceived. Then she read it, and we are both quite humbled, as we should be. Once our eyes were opened, we realized that the “Jesus” of Jesus Calling does not at all sound like the Savior we have loved and served for over 40 years. How could we have set aside our discernment so easily? Since my wife was the one who was most involved with the book, she hopes to write you with her thoughts and thanks too.

I would challenge anyone who has the indwelling Holy Spirit and has liked Jesus Calling to read it again, comparing what that “Jesus” says to what the real Jesus has said. Or read Warren Smith’s excellent book, “Another Jesus” Calling. Thousands and thousands [actually millions] of Christian women and some men are unguardedly reading these pages as if under a spell. What they do with all the things that don’t ring true, I don’t know. It seems so harmless, so full of wise and comforting things. It’s flattering to think that Jesus so much wants our fellowship. We just push the other things, things that don’t sound right, to the back of our minds. My wife and I are humbly grateful to Lighthouse Trails and Warren Smith for exposing this seductive, plausible, but blasphemous and false book.

Blessings, love, and gratitude to you,

Michael (not real name)