A Critique of David Stewart's "Healing Oils of the Bible"

Article by Marcia Montenegro (Christians Answers For The New Age)

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thess. 5:21, 22 

"But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.” Matt. 12:6 

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Phil 1: 9-11

(Note: The following article is an examination of some of the spiritual views in the book Healing Oils of the Bible by David Stewart, along with some other issues, but it is not a commentary on the use or components of essential oils or their medical efficacy.)

Healing Oils of the Bible by David Stewart, is a book whose title and content suggest it is compatible with a biblical and Christian worldview.  However, in less than five minutes, by randomly reading a few pages, I was able to tell that a very non-biblical worldview is present in at least the pages I read. Further reading revealed more of the same. Yet there are several endorsements from Christians at the front of the book.

Several problems surface in the book, other than blatant non-Christian beliefs, including an adulation of nature, a dangerous anti-medical view, and a misuse and misapplication of Bible Scripture. Additionally, Stewart endorses a book by Pastor Henry Wright, a book which has been criticized for its misuse of Scripture. (I am also aware of the consternation Wright’s book has caused among many Christian ministries).


 PREJUDICE AGAINST PHYSICIANS 

It is undoubtedly true that some of the properties of the oils have the effects claimed by Stewart, and it is true that essential oils can help minor problems. However, Stewart not only expresses hostility to any type of pharmaceutical treatment and to doctors, but he gives medical advice in this book, yet he is not a medical doctor!

Stewart had one semester in medical school. His undergraduate degree is in mathematics and physics, while his graduate degree (the PhD in the “Dr.” title, which I am not using since it is misleading) is for geophysics (theoretical seismology), which has to do with earthquake study. This hardly qualifies him to give medical advice, yet he generously dispenses such advice, even suggesting that the use of two essential oil products “can create an environment that makes it difficult for cancer cells to survive” (283), and the use of another will straighten the spine and add up to an inch or more in height within an hour (80)! Such outrageous claims should cause any reader to take his other advice with a large shaker of salt.

If readers can be convinced that essential oils have healing power from God and that modern medicine and doctors are not from God, then the essential oils business this book services will garner more customers in the Christian community. Stewart pushes this thinking by constant attacks on the medical profession and pharmaceuticals. Oils are always from God and manmade medicines are not. This idea greets the reader in the first chapter, startlingly titled, “God: The First Aromatherapist.” This view about what is and is not from God is not only false, but is mostly based on fallacious logic combined with New Age views about nature.

Mishandling of scriptural passages abound in this book. One is the convoluted attempt to apply First Corinthians 14:33 to the use of modern drugs. Another is citing Heb. 6:18 (that states God cannot lie) as meaning that essential oils are “full of truth” (47). The latter example is also a logical fallacy called begging the question because Stewart gives no biblical evidence that essential oils (which did not exist in Bible times anyway) were meant as medicine for today, so his assertion is baseless. In yet another instance, Stewart equates rejection of Jesus with disbelief in essential oils (82). This idea, if accepted, would certainly make those advocating oils feel righteous, but it is an insult to Jesus Christ. There are too many examples like this to discuss.

Stewart gives a reluctant nod to physicians, saying there are times one may need them, but prayer should be involved. While prayer is certainly a good thing, it is not a sin to see a doctor, or to see a doctor without prayer. Modern medicine is based on the objective data and laws that God put in place when he created our bodies. Stewart has an unbiblical view of prayer which is the root of this advice, to be explained later.

While medicine, like anything else, can be misused and errors occur, the data itself about our bodies that has been discovered and observed is a gift from God to help us know how our bodies work. The anti-medical bias in the book sets up a false dilemma between essential oils and “natural” products and modern medical treatments.

Before examining the spirituality in the book, three misleading assumptions need mention.


 FAULTY ASSUMPTIONS 

 Three Underlying Assumptions 

The book is based on the belief that essentials oils were used in biblical times, but this is not true. Oils were either olive oils or infused oils, not the oils processed today as essential oils.

“The oils referred to in the Bible are infused oils, not essential oils. The Bible also refers to incense – which is also a completely different product than an essential oil…. And those four Thieves blend you also may have read about? They ALSO were not using essential oils!...The story goes something like this, four thieves in France protected themselves from the black plague with cloves, rosemary, and other aromatics while robbing victims of the black plague, but who never got sick. “When captured, they were offered a lighter sentence in exchange for their secret recipe.” 

This “Thieves oil blend” usually includes Clove, Cinnamon Bark, Rosemary, Lemon and Eucalyptus. This story is historical fiction. The thieves were probably using a botanical vinegar and not essential oils” (online source) 

“The process of steam distillation was at least eight centuries away from refinement and popular use. Healing oils and unguents of the biblical age were infused oils, made largely from macerating plant matter in olive oil, palm oil, or tallow.” (online source) 

“[T]here is no evidence of distillation taking place during biblical times. Many modern authors incorrectly refer to essential oil use during this time of history. When old, translated material refers to a healing oil, for example, many have erroneously assumed this is an essential oil. It is thought that aromatic oils were made by infusion, which we now refer to as infused oils” (online source) 

Yet Stewart continues to allude to “essential oils” of the Bible. This in itself is enough to discredit most of the book.

Secondly, it is difficult knowing what exact plants in the Bible correspond to plants we know today (this is also true for names of animals).

“Myriad translations of the Bible have contributed significantly to plant mis-identifications as well as the fact that the science of botany is rather new in the development of human knowledge and consistent botanical nomenclature was not established yet when so many translations were written.” (online source) 

In fact, Stewart himself admits this difficulty with plant identification on page 98 and elsewhere of the book. Despite this, references to plants such as hyssop continue although the word translated as “hyssop” is thought by some scholars to indicate marjoram or the caper plant (online source, see also here).

Third, there is the assumption that because certain oils were used in Bible times there is something sacred or special about them, and we should be using them now as our main medicine. Plants and oils were used then because that is what they had. Anointing with oil in the Old Testament is usually symbolic, often of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing inherently sacred or supernaturally healing in oils, as Stewart clearly believes. Nor does it mean that oils are superior to medicine we have today. However, this is Stewart’s clear assumption. There is a spiritual reason for this, as we shall see.

Even if the above problems did not exist, the profound non-Christian spiritual views in the book are so prevalent that they alone are a sufficient reason to warn against this work.


 VITALISM, PANENTHEISM AND GNOSTIC ESOTERICISM 

The overwhelming worldview in the book is a mixture of Vitalism and Gnostic esotericism, all of which are part of New Thought and New Age spirituality.

 Vitalism: Life Force, Divine Intelligence, and Panentheism 

On the very first page of the Introduction, “Healing Versus the Practice of Medicine,” we find this statement:

“These oils are the vital fluids of the plants that are their life blood…..Essential oils contain life force, intelligence, and vibrational energy that imbues them with healing power that works for people.”

The “life force” and “intelligence” of plants are concepts from Vitalism, an ancient pagan philosophy with a long history that includes the animal magnetism of hypnotist Anton Mesmer (a pioneer of New Thought), and which revived in the 19th century with Samuel Hahnemann, founder of the energy-based method Homeopathy.  The basic view is that there is an invisible energy or life force which can be channeled, captured, or manipulated for healing.

Contemporary forms of this are New Age energy healing modalities such as Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, and any alleged healing treating the body’s energy field or chakras (invisible wheels of energy in the body connected to spiritual awakening, according to Hinduism).

While treating his pastor’s pneumonia using his famed “raindrop technique,” Stewart writes that, as he did so, he told the patient:

“by dropping these oils a few inches about the skin, they are falling through your electromagnetic field and will start administering therapy to you before they even hit your body” (emphasis added, 214).

How will oils “administer therapy” before hitting one’s body? This can only happen if one believes in an energy field surrounding the body, what is called “the subtle body” in the New Age. This “body” has no visible or objective data supporting it because it is a pagan spiritual view very much related to the New Age. It is not based on rational thinking, facts, or a Christian outlook.

Stewart’s acceptance of New Age views of energy are blatantly sprinkled throughout the book. Oils were “gently extracted” in Bible times, claims Stewart, “to preserve their life force and therapeutic constituents” (177).

God’s word in speaking creation into existence, according to Stewart, imbued nature with a special vibration: “Word is a vibration, a frequency, a consciousness, an expression of energy” (Introduction, xvii). By speaking plants into existence, God “imbued them with his word and his intelligence” and this, of course, included the oils (ibid).

Astonishingly, Stewart tells readers that demons “don’t like essential oils” because the “high vibrations” and “high energies” of oils “put there by God are too much to take and make them want to leave” (89). Not only is this a Vitalist, New Thought view, but it also reveals elevating natural substances to a higher level than how God created them. This view of nature is the same as the magical environmentalism in the New Age. There are further references to the “vibrations” of the oils so this is not a random remark.

To believe that plants contain God’s intelligence and a consciousness is Panentheism, the claim that God is contained in creation and creation is in God. God speaking creation into existence did not in any way meld any part of God with creation, but that is what this view asserts.

Therefore, man-made or synthetic products are “dead” since they do not contain “the life force, the intelligence, and the vibrational energy found in healing oils” (xvi) and so will have “no healing quality” (187).

I had this same view when I was a New Ager, that synthetic materials would be “dead” and have a negative “energy.” This is why we clothed our son only in cotton or “natural” materials, and did not use plastic dishes or tableware, believing that it would “kill” the “energy” in the food we ate.

Compounding this unbiblical view, Stewart claims that since essential oils are products of God’s word, they will respond to our thoughts and words! “Essential oils magnify intent” so we can “mentally or verbally direct them to places in the body that need therapy” and “the oils respond to your thoughts and understand.” Not only do we have that very New Age proclamation, but “when we pray over oils, their frequencies increase” (93).

Here is a worldview that a non-thinking extraction from a plant can understand and respond to our thoughts and words; and that prayer, rather than an appeal to the Lord of the universe, works by increasing the “frequencies” of the oils.

Only man is made in God’s image; plants are part of God’s creation but they do not possess the ability to respond to thoughts and words. Such a belief system is not only New Age but occultic, and is contrary to every principle of God’s word about God, man and creation.

 New Thought and Divine Intelligence 

This “intelligence” of plants and nature is common to New Age philosophy because it is a component of it. An example is Deepak Chopra’s view of God as a “divine intelligence” permeating creation. This is a view also from New Thought, a movement claiming to be Christian but which denies all the essentials of the Christian faith. New Thought gave rise to Unity, Christian Science, and the Church of Religious Science (the teachings of the latter church’s co-founder, Ernest Holmes, influenced Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller as well as many Christians).

Expressing this view about intelligence, a New Thought luminary, Abel Leighton Allen, writes in his book, The Message of New Thought:

“The adherents of New Thought conceive of a universal mind or divine intelligence pervading and permeating the universe, manifesting in all forms of creation; that there is also a unity of life and that each individual is a part of that intelligence and that universal life and spirit. The visible forms of nature are the expressions of that divine life and intelligence, and the same life and intelligence that seek expression in the bud, the grass blade, the flower, the bird and animal, are also seeking expression in man.”

and

“The highest conception of religion as taught by New Thought is to unfold and develop the soul into harmonious relations with divine intelligence, and thus come into spiritual unity with God.” (online source) 

Why is it so essential to have this life force and vibration from the plants via (supposedly) essential oils? Stewart tells us:

“One of the most important modalities of the oils is their ability to lift our bodily frequencies to levels where disease cannot exist” (33). 

If you have not been involved in or studied the New Age, this statement might seem strange. But in the New Age, this makes sense because the body is seen as existing on vibrational levels, and the “higher” the level one reaches, the more “pure” and healthy one becomes. Here Stewart claims that the oils will help raise the vibrations of the body to higher levels.

The concept of spiritual levels is in the New Age and the occult and could be classified under Gnostic esotericism, the foundation of such thinking.

 Gnostic Esotericism 

Stewart extolls something he calls the “the seven levels of heaven,” a “secret teaching” of the Jews, which is the name for his 7th Heaven Kit of oils. Stewart explains what this term means:

“In order to reach God, one ascends through seven ‘levels’ or ‘rings’ of consciousness (or spiritual awareness) with the top, or seventh level, being total awareness of or complete communion with God, himself” (273). 

Why is this teaching not in the Bible? Stewart’s conclusion is that the Bible’s authors did not share this because it could be “shared only with persons of sufficient spiritual development” (273).

Stewart then tries to support this view from the Second Corinthians 12 passage where Paul writes about going to (or his vision of) the “third heaven” as well as the repeated use of “seven” in the book of Revelation.

Did Jesus teach the 7th heaven concept? Stewart writes that we cannot know but claims that Jesus did teach secrets and “esoteric” and “hidden” matters via parables, allegories, and “symbols” (275). While parables veiled the meaning from those who refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus never taught esoterica, which is a hallmark of occultism. Esoterica is intended only for a few who are initiated into a secret group or body of beliefs, such as the Gnostic beliefs which attacked the teachings of Jesus and denied his nature.

Jesus himself said: "I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret” (John 18:20).

This erroneous occult concept is compounded in the discussion of the seven oil blends in the 7th Heaven Kit (where the assertion that Paul’s term “third heaven” supports seven levels of heaven is repeated). Claims for all of these include a promotion of New Age views.

The most egregious are Awaken, which is to “awaken our spiritual awareness and consciousness of our true inner selves” to bring an “inner knowing to reach one’s highest potential” (277), and White Angelica, whose oils allegedly were used to increase the intensity and size of the “aura (electric field) around the body)” as well as claiming that “its frequency neutralizes negative energy” (278).

The information on the 7th Heaven Kit is to be passed on in sales situations, so this New Age occultism is being promoted to even more people than those who read the book. This is deeply disturbing.

So what was Paul’s “third heaven?” Is this a “level” of heaven? The “third heaven” referred to the location of God:

Paul was suddenly snatched up into the third heaven which, transcending the first (earth’s atmosphere; Deut. 11:11; 1 Kings 8:35; Isa. 55:10) and second (interplanetary and interstellar space; Gen. 15:5; Ps. 8:3; Isa. 13:10) heavens, is the abode of God (1 Kings 8:30; Ps. 33:13–14; Matt. 6:9). (online source)

Also see What Does It Mean When the Bible Refers to Third Heaven 

 SCRIPTURE BLUNDERS 

As mentioned, there are numerous misuses of Scripture but two examples especially highlight this.

God told the Israelites to strike the lintels and doorposts in Egypt with hyssop during the last plague because the fragrance of hyssop supposedly “was a part of the ritual to cause the evil spirit of death to pass over” them (209).

But there was no “evil spirit of death!” The Lord himself announced that He would pass over them:

“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:13; also vv. 23, 27).

How can Stewart ignore the clear data in the passage and tell his readers that it was “an evil spirit of death” that was passing over Egypt? It is difficult to know what to conclude from such a gross error except that one should be skeptical about Stewart’s information about and conclusions from biblical passages.

When David begs forgiveness from God in the anguished Psalm 51, he states in verse 7: “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Stewart writes that the hyssop oil “directed by our sincere intent” can actually “create a clean heart and restore a right spirit in ourselves” and “can blot out our transgressions” (both statements are quotes from Ps. 51) as well as “erase the sinful tendencies (negative emotions) stored in cellular memory, thus releasing and cleansing the root cause of wrong action” (210).

Note that Stewart points to the hyssop oil as the agent of healing and forgiveness. This is an audacious assertion. Verse 7 in Psalm 51 is a parallelism where the purifying with hyssop is referring to and representing God’s washing of David through forgiveness. Secondly, no substance can do what Stewart is stating the hyssop did. Furthermore, what does “directed by our sincere intent” mean? That we are actually in charge of creating a clean heart and restoring a right spirit through our intention? New Thought-New Age author and speaker, Wayne Dyer, would agree (ironically, Dyer has been a speaker at Young Living conventions, the company for which this book was written). And finally, note that Stewart equates sinful tendencies with “negative emotions.” These views are perfectly consistent with New Thought and New Age beliefs.

The hyssop in Psalm 51 is possibly alluding to the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14, but it is not the hyssop that heals the leper, but God who forgives and heals based on the sacrifices delineated in the rest of that chapter. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). This is a picture, as all sacrifices were, of the blood that would be shed by Christ in the atonement as payment for the penalty of sins. Hyssop in Psalm 51 is clearly a picture of God’s forgiveness based on mercy and grace due to David’s repentance.

By ascribing healing and forgiveness power to a plant, Stewart undermines God’s majesty and power and gives magical abilities to a plant. If it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to remove sin (Heb. 10:4), how can our intention and the oil of plant do so?


 THE BIBLE 

Contrary to Panentheism, God’s word makes it clear that God is holy and distinct from creation: Gen. 1, 2; Job 38:4-41; Is. 44:6, 24-25; Is. 45: 11, 12, 18, 22; and Is. 46: 9-11. There is no “intelligence” from God or his word that permeates plants or creation, as asserted by Stewart.

We are to use reason and the rational mind:  Ps. 16:7; Prov. 1:2-5, 18:15, 22:17; Is. 1:18; Matt. 22:37; Acts 17:17, 18:4, 19; Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 14:15; and Phil. 4:8. The Bible is in words, and language is based on logic and reason, all of which come from God’s character. Modern medicine has resulted through discovering and testing the laws that regulate our bodies, laws put in place by God, as well as discovery of substances to treat illness. The body functions in ways that can be determined so that treatments can be assessed. While doctors and scientists can misinterpret, make mistakes, or be greedy, these flaws have nothing to do with the objective data and laws created by God.

Science and the Christian faith are not in conflict. In fact, the ability to think and reason that God has given man has enabled him to come up with solutions to illnesses people used to die from in large numbers. This is due to God’s order in the world and the reasoning function in man’s mind.

The filter for a Christian is God’s word when one encounters teachings or a book that cites the Bible and uses it to support a philosophy. We must be on guard for mishandling of God’s word and spiritual views that conflict with it. It does not matter how popular the book or author are, how many other Christians recommend it, or how appealing it is.

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. John 7:24

 RELATED ARTICLES 

A Commentary on Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts (Panentheism) 

A Summary and Critique of James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy (energy views)

Wayne Dyer: The Wisdom of the New Spirituality (New Spirituality views)

Anointing with oil (biblical commentary)

The FDA Warns Young Living, doTERRA Essential Oils Companies To Stop Making Unsubstantiated Claims That The Oils Can Treat Cancer, Protect Against Ebola (Food and Drug Administration, 9-22-2014)

Regarding the Greek word pharmakeia, translated as sorcery and witchcraft in some passages, as being equivalent to modern day pharmaceuticals and medicines, see biblical commentary on Galatians 5:20.

See also Sorcery in the Bible, Pharmakeia and Modern Medicine: Any Connection?

A Recommended Resource: Christian Answers For The New Age (CANA), the Teaching Ministry of Marcia Montenegro

Posted by Christine Pack

Please prayerfully consider contributing to the ministry of Marcia Montenegro, a full time missionary with Fellowship International Mission (FIM). Fellowship International Mission is an independent mission board located in Allentown, PA.

Before being saved, Marcia was a professional astrologer in the Atlanta area. Since becoming a Christian, Marcia has completed a Masters degree in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary (Charlotte, NC). She has also written and contributed to a number of scholarly resources, including Rose Publishing, a wonderful resource that many homeschooling families use. Marcia is the author of the book Spellbound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids, and is also the creator of the website Christian Answers For the New Age (CANA), a website which contains a wealth of well-researched articles. From the CANA website:

"Before becoming an astrologer, Marcia was involved with various New Age, occult, and Eastern beliefs and practices, including Inner Light Consciousness, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Hindu teachings and meditation, and psychic development classes. During these years, she also participated in past life regression, numerology, Tarot cards, spirit contact, seances, astral travel, and received a spirit guide through a guided visualization."

Marcia is today a highly sought after radio guest on the New Age, New Thought, the occult and many other topics. You can listen to many of her past radio shows here.  Marcia's written testimony can be read here.

If you would like to donate to Marcia's ministry, you may do so here. One time gifts or monthly giving in any amount would be deeply appreciated.

Some Thoughts on Halloween

Posted by Christine Pack

 Halloween and Death 

I grew up in a non-Christian home, and Halloween used to really be no big deal. The day or so before Halloween, we would get our pumpkin and carve it into a scary (or silly) face after cleaning out its slimy, stringy innards. On Halloween, we would throw on some homemade costume and stay up late trick-or-treating. It was a one night deal, boom, done and gone. But nowadays, Halloween has become one of the most popular holidays of the year, in some polls surpassing even Christmas, in terms of length of the season (up to two weeks and more for some), money spent on decorating for the event, and parties thrown in its honor.

When my children were small (and I was a new Christian), we did participate in Halloween for a brief season, because for my kids, it was just innocent fun: dressing up like a hotdog or a giraffe, getting lots of candy and staying up really late. But at one point, it stopped being innocent fun and became creepy, and thankfully, it was very clear to us when that was, so we stopped. We've done different things since then: we've handed out candy and tracts, we've shut the house down and gone to a movie, we've gone out of town, etc. This year, we've opted to stay home and hand out candy and tracts.

While my son and I were recently walking through our neighborhood, we observed that many of our neighbors are celebrating Halloween in macabre, gruesome and over-the-top fashion. We passed yard after yard decorated like haunted houses come to life: cobwebs, spiders, zombies, Frankenstein, vampires, mummies, werewolves, ghosts, goblins, witches, and even makeshift graveyards, complete with corpses and skeletons bursting forth from the ground. My son asked me why it is that people decorate like that, and I told him that it's lost people's way of trying to deal with death. I explained that for the Christian, death has no sting because Christ has conquered death, but that lost people are probably trying to deal with their fear of death by either glorifying it, or pretending it doesn't exist, or making a game out of it, like having Halloween parties with spooky music and eyeball punch and pretzel spiders, or transforming their front lawns into creepy graveyards. We're living in Romans 1 times, a season of spiraling depravity, and what we're seeing in the culture around us is just a reflection of the darkness of the times we're living in. But thankfully, for the Christian, we do know that Christ has conquered death.

"For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'

'Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?'

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

 Ouija Boards 

Since it's close to Halloween, it's probably the right time to again post a warning about the Ouija board. The Ouija board is available at Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc., and is marketed as a game for kids (Manufacturer's Recommended Age: 10-15 years). But the Ouija is NOT a harmless game, and should not be marketed or made available to children. Below are some of the purchaser's reviews from Amazon.com., some of which are truly heartbreaking. Also, note how many of the reviews are from parents or relative purchasing this product for children. (The reviews are taken from this page.)

 

"With all talking boards you are openly inviting the influence of disembodied entities. Be very careful what you are opening the door to. I wouldn't even consider using it without deep and sincere prayers for protection." 

"To get answers from your board it is important that you relax and concentrate only on your question. Try to clear your mind of everything else. The Ouija Board is my favorite game and I thank my aunt for introducing it to me."

"When I was about to use it I got the creeps and I thought about how this could change my life so I put it away in my garage and left it there for about 8 months without actually using it but playing around with it. I told my neighbor that I had one but I didn't use it at all. She told me if she could use it. I told her just to be careful with it. Since her cousin was there, they both used it. The next morning I called her and I could hear them laughing and saying, "Oh My Gosh."They were playing it and I asked them if it really did work. She said it's so cool. I went over her house in excitement and I sat there, watching them play and just seeing how quickly the message indicator would move across the board. I couldn't believe how accurate it spelled out everything. So we played all day long and time went by fast because we were so into it. The board told us it was a good spirit so we were okay. The next day it said strange things and creepy things so we decided to put it away and not use it for a while. It's really fun though but you just have to be careful with it. It's a must have. " 

"Brought back childhood memories! got it for my teenage daughters sleepover and the girls had a blast." 

"We tried it once at my house at about 8 pm, but there was no activity on the board. This didn't surprise me because I didn't find my house to be haunted. However, since we used the Ouija board at my house, I have been hearing footsteps in the hallway outside my bedroom and in my bedroom, as well as on the main level of the house. I hear activity in the kitchen and my parents' voices when I'm home alone. Nothing bad has happened, it's just a little freaky........Now, I'm not going to say the Ouija board doesn't work because there are entities at my house now." 

"It didn't seem to work very good. I don't think they are made as good as the older one's. My granddaughter was pretty disappointed, plus it didn't glo at nite." 

"Bought this for my 11 year old daughter at Christmas. We have fun asking dumb questions and understand that it has nothing to do with god or spirits... it's a BOARD GAME! If you're NOT ok with it, DON'T purchase the product. If you're open minded and can have fun with it, then this might be for you.....My son's girlfriend gets really freaked out, and we like exacerbating her fears, but she's a good sport. Good times!" 

"I had a Ouija Board when I was 12, so I ordered this one for my son for Christmas. He and his friends have had tons of fun 'communicating with spirits'!" 

"i bought this cause both my inlaws past away and my husband wanted to talk to them well it worked. my husband got his answer to bad it only worked the one time now we are not getting anything" 

"We didn't meet any insane, crazy, or emotional people either time it worked. Just spirits that were informative and told us the basic details of their names, age, location, & death when we asked. I guess they weren't harmful spirits. I have met a few people who have met suspicious or emotional characters, so definitely be careful when messing with these. Just because my experiences were fine doesn't mean it will be the same for you." 

"I bought this Quija board for my daughers birthday party, the girls had a blast scaring the heck out of themselves with this board. To funny, plus it glows in the dark! what more could you ask for?" 

"I got this for my 13-year-old daughter. The product itself is fine, she likes it and uses it with most of her female friends. The problem is, some of the girls are adversely affected by it. I noticed one of them was crying and several of them were attracted to the darker aspects of the "spirit world." It seems like every other 'spirit' with whom they 'communicate" committed suicide or was murdered'." 

"My sister passed away two years ago and many times we had this boad predict our futures, future surgerys, health problems, boyfriends, good things and bad things have happened, we always said a prayer and protected ourselves with crosses,if you belive its a respectful item I dont consider a toy, if you belive its a toy maybe your only asking for trouble...or fun, just have respect for something that may be made by Hasbro now but was once a respected tool for talking with those who had passed, and getting answers!" 

"Fun birthday present for my 14 year old daughter, she loved it. Cute & Fun. Glow in the dark is a great added feature." 

"It's a fairly harmless game if it is respected and not overused. I recommend not asking it the same questions over and over again because the unseen force may not like that. I also recommend praying a prayer of protection before and after using the board as a safety concern for the super religious fanatics; however I doubt that it will possess anyone as I've used it many times and I've never been possessed." 

"I have played this game before and I don't know why everyone is ranting about it being " demonic". It is a toy. It is not inhabitated by evil spirits or bewitched by Satan. It is a toy. I am 10 years old and am never frightend by it. I will admit that creepy things do happen, and that there are spirits, but they are not evil. They can not hurt you. They will not kill you. They can be nice, clever, and friendly. If you are ever bothered by anything the spirit says, tell the spirit to stop. They will listen. Buy this and you will not regret it! Great for sleepovers." 

"i was with my friend kylie and my other friend will. when we asked who the spirit who it was it said the gradmother of william so we made william get off the board, then we asked her questions that only he would know such as what he called her when he was little [nini] and what he called his grandfather [susu] when she died [1994] and other such questions. he was so astonished he's bought one and uses it all the time and has gotten to the point where he can ask questions in his head and do it by himself. it's not fake, i did it this weekend and you can definitely feel the energy pulling it." 

"At first i wasnt really into "spirits" or bringing back the dead, but after using an ouiji board, it changed my mind. When me and my 2 friends used it, we didnt do it correctly and i could tell that one of the friends kept on moving the piece. So while she was away, me and my other friend did the ouiji board correctly by sitting "indian style" with our knees touching and we balanced the board on our laps. We placed our fingers on the piece slighty and asked questions waiting for the piece to move. After about 10 minutes, it didnt move, so me and my friend were ready to just give it up. Then I could feel the piece moving on its own, and me and my friends fingers were barely touching it. We continued to have a conversion with a spirit by the nickname of "fuz" and he answered questions that i never dared to tell my friends. I was certain she wasnt moving the piece because she didnt know the answers and i didnt want to move it because i wanted to believe it was real, and it was. We talked with this spirit for a while, and he told us he was right beside us. After we were done, i felt very cold and chills going up and down my arms. I felt like i was going to pass out and i almost felt like crying, so i went to bed. The ouiji board is very real, and if your not afraid of contacting the dead, i suggest buying this because it is a........lot of fun."

Marcia Montenegro, former New Ager and professional astrologer, has written several articles having to do with Halloween, the Ouija Board and spirit contact (what the Bible calls "necromancy"). You can read her articles here:

The Ouija Board - Just A Game? 

Spirit Contact: Who Is On The Other Side?

Halloween Statement For Christians

You can also listen to some of Marcia's radio interviews dealing with the occult and Halloween here (scroll down to "Marcia Montenegro Interviews").

 Closing Thoughts 

Whether as a Christian you choose to participate in Halloween or not, or use it as an outreach opportunity, I'll leave you with some scriptures that address some of the darker aspects of the occultic realm:

"When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this." (Deuteronomy 18:9-14) 

"Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:31)

"I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people." (Leviticus 19:31)

"Do not practice divination or seek omens." (Leviticus 19:26b)

As I noted, I'm aware that Christians choose to handle Halloween differently: some participate, some do not, some use it as an outreach opportunity. This Halloween, our family elected to hand out gospel CD messages and candy. The CD we handed out included this audio message:

Are You Afraid Of The Dark? 

Have you ever wondered why the dark is so scary? Well, have you ever been in total pitch black darkness, the kind where you can't even see your own hand in front of your face? What do you think you would do in that kind of darkness? You would probably stick your arms straight out in front of you and try to feel your way around, so that you won't trip over something or walk into a wall. And you would probably take little baby steps for the same reason. It's kind of disorienting and hard to do anything in  that kind of darkness, isn't it? Even if you're just in bed sometimes, if it's that dark, that kind of total darkness we’re talking about, your mind can start imagining all kinds of things. Maybe you put the covers up over your head. But even that can be scary. But why? It's scary because you can't see. You can't see what is really around you, what's really there. You can't tell if you're about to walk into a wall, fall down a flight of stairs, or trip over something. You can't see if you are by yourself or if someone is with you. What's the only thing that can help in this situation? Light. Any kind of light. Once you have a light- everything changes, you relax because you can see. 

Did you know that the Bible talks a lot about light? As a matter of fact, the very first words the Bible records God saying are "Let there be light." God spoke this at creation. And did you also know that two thousand years ago, God sent Light into the world a second time. Why would God need to give us light again? Well, the first time God sent light, it was physical light, because the world was dark. It was the kind of light that our eyes need so that we can see. But the second time God sent light, it was for a different kind of darkness. A kind of darkness that is not about our eyes…but about our hearts. 

Just like the "eye" kind of darkness keeps you from seeing things around you as they really are, the "heart" kind of darkness keeps you from seeing the truth about God. What is it, then, that makes our hearts dark? All of our hearts are dark because of sin. Sin is disobeying God. God is the One who created you, and the world, and the light, and all things. We sin when we disobey God by our thoughts, our words, and our actions. 

So how do you know if you’ve ever sinned? Well, you can ask yourself some questions: Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken something that didn't belong to you? Have you ever disobeyed or dishonored your parents? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then you have sinned, because those are some of God's laws. And God is so holy and so perfect, that if we commit just one of these sins, we stand condemned before this holy and perfect God. Sin is bad because it offends God, who is good and perfect and holy in every way. Think of our sinfulness and God's holiness in the way you might think about oil and water: they just don't mix, do they? Sin breaks the relationship between you and God. Sin keeps you from seeing how good God is. This is a terrible reality. Think of it this way: as scary as it is to not be able to see with your eyes what is around you, like when you're in pitch black darkness, it is even scarier to not see God for who He really is. 

But, like I said earlier, God sent Light again. Only this time, it was the kind of Light that our dark hearts need. This Light has a name…and the name of the Light is Jesus. Jesus was not just a good man, as some believe; He was fully man and fully God at the same time. He was born into the world in the same way that you were, as a baby. He was a toddler, a child, a young man, and finally an adult, and in all the years that He lived, Jesus never sinned in thought, word or deed. Jesus lived a life of perfect, holy righteousness. Instead of breaking God’s moral laws, like we have, Jesus kept them all, every single one of them. He did this so that He could then give His own life for ours, and He did this by allowing himself to be tortured and then hung on a cross to die as a payment for our sins. We stood guilty and condemned before God, who is the holy and just Judge of all the universe, and yet Jesus paid our fine so that we could be set free. When we examine ourselves in light of God’s moral law, we should recognize our need for a Savior, and understand how amazing this gift from God is. 

Do you know what happened to Jesus? The last you heard about him, he had been killed by being hung on a cross. But guess what? Because Jesus had never once sinned in his life, He did not stay in the grave. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin are death, and since Jesus had never sinned, death could not hold him. On the third day after his burial, Jesus was raised from the dead, and many people in the town where He lived witnessed that Jesus, whom they had seen killed, was indeed alive again! They saw him, they heard him teach, they talked to him, walked with him and even ate with him. You see, God had raised Jesus from the dead, a fact recorded by many historians, as proof that Jesus’s payment for sins was acceptable in God’s eyes. 

So what does this mean for you? Well, if you have broken God’s moral laws, you need a Savior. But thankfully, God provided that Savior in Jesus, who kept all the moral laws, and then gave his own perfect life as a ransom payment for those who place their faith in him. This is called repentance. If we repent, that is, if we turn away from our sins, and turn toward God by trusting that Jesus’s payment on the Cross has the power to cleanse us from our sins, then God forgives us. Our hearts will have light and with this light, which is spiritual light, and not just a physical light like a lamp or a candle, we will see God as He really is, and we will love Him, and worship Him, and serve Him. God will also cleanse us on the inside, and will give us new hearts and new desires, desires that are pure and holy. 

The Bible calls this being born again, when we have moved from being a prisoner in the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Light. So when you're scared of the dark, it's only to show you that you need light. And when you have a dark heart, it's only to point you to the fact that you need a Savior. This is why the Bible calls Jesus "the Light of the world." 

photo credit: bbusschots via photopin cc

photo credit: riptheskull via photopin cc

photo credit: scriptingnews via photopin cc

 Additional Resources 

What Do We Do With Halloween?

The Ouija Board - Just A Game?

Spirit Contact: Who Is On The Other Side?

Halloween Statement For Christians

What Do You Mean By The Occult?

The Occult and Paranormal: What Does God Say?

Radio Interviews with Former Astrologer/Occultist Marcia Montenegro

Marcia Montenegro Radio Interviews

 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 

Marcia Montenegro is a former professional astrologer, now a Christian writer, researcher and public speaker. Before becoming an astrologer, Marcia was involved with various New Age, occult, and Eastern beliefs and practices, including Inner Light Consciousness, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Hindu teachings and meditation, and psychic development classes. During these years, she also participated in past life regression, numerology, Tarot cards, spirit contact, seances, astral travel, and received a spirit guide through a guided visualization.

Since becoming a Christian, Marcia has become a full-time missionary with Fellowship International Mission and does her ministry with the support of her church, as well as through donations from fellow Christians. Marcia's website is CANA/Christian Answers for the New Age, and is an informational and outreach ministry. Marcia has a Masters in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary, Charlotte, NC. Marcia has been published in many Christian publications (including Rose Publications), and is also the author of SpellBound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids (Cook, 2006) (soon to be  released as an ebook).


 RADIO INTERVIEWS 

Crosstalk-VCY America
Topic: "Wellness: The New Age Trojan Horse in Healthcare" (4-26-11)

Issues, Etc.

Topic: Interview About Feng Shui (1-25-2012)

Topic: The Occult and Witnessing to Those in the Occult (11-5-2008)

The Janet Mefferd Show
Topic: The Occult (10-31-2011)
Topic: A Discussion on Panentheism (9-24-2012)
Topic: A Discussion About "Mindfulness" (10-23-2012)
Topic: A Discussion About Panentheism (11-19-2012)
Topic: A Discussion About Mindfulness in Schools (3-4-2013)

Apologetics 315
Topic: Testimony,  General Differences Between the New Age and the Occult, How to Witness to Those in the Occult (6-13-2011)

Blog Talk Radio
Topic: Discussion about the paranormal and Marcia's book Spellbound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids (1-28-2014)
Topic: Biblical Answers to Counter Occultic Activity Such as Hypnosis, Transcendental Meditation and more (7-26-2012)
Topic: Is Yoga For Christians? (11-8-2012)
Topic: What Is Wicca? Can Wicca and Christianity Co-Exist? (5-19-2012)
Topic: Halloween, the Occult, Witchcraft, Wicca, Neopaganism and more (11-1-2010)
Topic: Testimony, Caller Questions (5-12-2012)
Topic: Testimony, General Discussion About the Occult (9-16-2010)
Topic: Exorcisms, General Discussion About the Occult, Differences Between Magic in Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia (5-25-2013)

Stand For Truth Ministries
Topic: What Is Reiki? (9-7-2013)

Echo Zoe Radio
Topic: In Depth Discussion About the Occult - Part 1 (Testimony, Experiences in New Age and Occult, Spirit Contact, Divination, Astrology, TV Shows and Movies Featuring Occult Themes, Feng Shui, etc.)  (3-25-2012)
Topic: In Depth Discussion About the Occult - Part 2 (New Thought, Therapeutic Touch, Wellness, etc.) (9-22-2012)

Stand Up For The Truth
Topic: Testimony, the Paranormal, the Occult in Popular Culture (10-12-2011)
Topic: "That's Entertainment?" A Discussion about Astrology in Popular Culture (11-4-2011)
Topic: The Dangers of Mindfulness (2-24-2012)

Olive Tree Views
Topic: Marcia Montenegro's book, "Spellbound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids" (to be released as an ebook November 1, 2013) (10-13-2007)
Topic: Testimony, Differences Between Biblical Meditation and Occult Mediation (12-12-2009)

Jesus Calling By Sarah Young: W.U.I. (Writing Under the Influence)

A Commentary by Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers For The New Age)

“The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.” Psalm 19: 8, 10

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, and other similar books by her, have multiplied themselves into a publishing empire with offerings of Jesus Calling books for teens and for children, calendars, special editions, accompanying journals, a Jesus Calling Bible Storybook, and even a Jesus Calling Devotional Bible.

This is not a conventional review of the book or her story, nor is the purpose to analyze the whole content. Although several troubling areas are addressed, this paper is a response primarily to two issues:

1) The claims made by Young regarding what she wrote and the alleged words spoken to her by Jesus; and 

2) Young’s admission that a primary influence on her was the book, God Calling, by “Two Listeners.” Due to Young’s admiration for and admitted inspiration from this latter book, it will also be examined.

 EARLY RED FLAGS 

God’s Word – Enough Nourishment?

Jesus Calling offers daily devotions composed of words as though spoken by Jesus, with accompanying citation of verses. Before looking at the content, it is crucial to examine what claims Young is making about the source of these words: why she wrote this and how she wrote it.

In the introduction to her first book, Jesus Calling, Young writes, “I knew that God communicated with me in the Bible, but I yearned for more.”ⁱ Why would God’s word be seen as insufficient in delivering the spiritual nourishment God Himself claims it offers?

Contrast Young’s yearning “for more” with how the Bible portrays God’s word. In response to one of Satan’s temptations, we have Jesus quoting Deut. 8:3:

“But He answered, "It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

In First Peter, we read, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation” (1 Pet 2:2; also see 1 Cor. 3:2, Heb.5:14). Paul exhorted Timothy to be “nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have closely followed” (1 Tim 4:6).

Going back to the Old Testament, we see God’s words likened to food:

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight. Jeremiah 15:16a.

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Ps. 119:103

Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. Ezekiel 3:3 (see also Rev. 10:9, 10)

One of the Bible’s themes is the power of God’s word to comfort, exhort, encourage, and nourish those who have believed. One can never come to an end of studying or knowing the Bible because, reflecting God’s nature, his word is infinitely profound and wise.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; see also Ps. 19:8;10; Matt. 22:29; John 10:35; Acts 17:11; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:19-21).

If someone is not satisfied with God’s word as the way to grow closer to Christ and to grow as a Christian, that opens the door for extra-biblical avenues of deception. While it is true that prayer, fellowship with other Christians, and worship are necessary for maturing in the Christian life, these are additional and different venues, never substitutes for God’s word. Dissatisfaction with God’s word from a professing Christian should be a warning, and it did indeed lead Young into an avenue of communication fraught with spiritual peril.

 Hearing Jesus or Channeling Jesus? 

Following the pattern in God Calling, and seeking something beyond Scripture, Young decided “to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believed He was saying.”ⁱⁱ She determined that this message was “short, biblical, and appropriate,” so she wrote it in her journal.ⁱⁱⁱ Declaring that her journaling “had changed from monologue to dialogue,” she writes that “messages began to flow more freely” and she bought a special notebook in which to record these words.^iv

Aware that she might be charged with equating these messages with the Bible, she notes, “I knew that these writings were not inspired as Scripture is.”^v One is compelled to ask, why not? Are these words from Jesus or not? (Young uses the term “God” but the book titles use the word “Jesus” and the messages are made to sound like they are from Jesus). In her book, Dear Jesus, she claims she wrote

[I]n the same listening-to-God mode that I used with Jesus Calling. I’ve continued to write with the help of Christs’s Spirit, who guides my thinking while I listen in His Presence. I believe the Bible is the only infallible Word of God. My writings are based on that absolute standard, and I try to ensure they are consistent with Scripture.^vi

Young is blatantly asserting that the Holy Spirit is “helping” her and guiding her thinking in writing these messages from Jesus. So why does she need to “ensure they are consistent with Scripture?” If the writings need to be checked, why does she think it is Jesus who is speaking, and if there is doubt, why record the words, especially in books to sell? Moreover, if they are from Jesus, which is how they are presented, then, by definition, they are inspired.

You can’t have it both ways or halfway or every which-way, saying these words are from Jesus but need to be checked; they are from Jesus but are not inspired; or the messages are written with Holy Spirit guidance but not on a par with Scripture. Does Young not see the incredible claims being made and the resulting insoluble contradictory problem? Apparently not.

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. 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.

Another major red flag is Young’s positive acknowledgement of the book God Calling, which she asserts became a “treasure” to her. Writing about the two women who authored this work, Young states, “These women practiced waiting quietly in God’s Presence, pencils and papers in hand, recording the messages they received from Him.”^vii Young’s fondness for this book and use of it as inspiration for her communication mode with God is deeply disconcerting when one examines the history, method, and content of this “treasure.”

 GOD CALLING: A CALL FOR DISCERNMENT 

 The Two Listeners 

I first encountered God Calling as a very new believer while browsing in a Christian bookstore. Curious, I picked it up and saw it was a devotional for each day of the year. Reading through several of these, I was alarmed at some of the concepts and ideas because many were reminiscent of New Age views. Although at that point I did not know the Bible very well, I recognized statements I knew were not compatible with what I had read in the Bible and knew of God. I almost went to the clerk about my concerns, but being such a new Christian, I was not confident enough to say anything.

The daily devotions in God Calling, written as though God/Jesus is speaking, came about in 1932 when two anonymous women decided to sit down with pencils and paper and wait to hear words from God.^viii The claim is made in the foreword by editor A. J. Russell that these two women received messages “from the Living Christ Himself.”^ix

One listener, writing in the introduction, declares how grateful they were to receive this direct communication “when millions of souls, far worthier, had to be content with guidance from the Bible, sermons, their churches, books, and other sources.”^x Here again, as with Young, is the dissatisfaction with God’s word and the normal channels of guidance for a Christian. The listener states that this book “is no ordinary book,” thereby claiming a special status for it. In fact, the Jesus of this book affirms it in the May 15 reading:

You are very privileged, both of you. I share My plans and secrets with you and make known to you My Purposes, while so many have to grope on.

So the rest of the Christian world is left to “grope on” with the implied paucity of God’s revelation in the Bible? This is alarming.

 Roots of “Listening” 

Andrew James Russell, editor of God Calling, became a follower of Dr. Frank Buchman, who founded the Oxford Group, first started under another name in 1921, but taking the name of Oxford Group in 1931.^xi Meeting in groups, this movement emphasized fellowship and receiving direct guidance from God.^xii

Russell writes that “I learned that it was a practice of the Group to keep a guidance-book and record in it those thoughts which came in periods of quiet listening to God,” and

The Guidance must come in all those who surrender to God’s will. As Ken Twitchell announced the Quiet Time the undergraduates fumbled for pencils and guidance-books and began to “listen in” to God. This was not simple meditation, which may be concentration on some aspect of Christ or the Gospel, but something more.^xiii

Although Russell writes that criteria were used to measure this “guidance,” some of the criteria were quite subjective. Continually seeking guidance in this fashion, which is no different from automatic writing, is opening the door to false doctrine.

Apparently, the “two listeners” were followers of this method and undoubtedly part of the Oxford Group. So it is not surprising that so many unbiblical statements are made. For example, one that is repeated a few times and is one of the most egregious is this:

Truly I said to My Disciples, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." But to you, and the twos who gather to hear Me as you do, I can declare those things now, that then I left unsaid. (April 14)

This statement is being used as though Jesus was referring to people later on, like the two listeners and others, who would receive further revelation. However, Jesus is not saying that. Jesus is speaking to his disciples and makes it clear in the next verse what this means:

I still have many things to tell you, but you can't bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. John 16: 12, 13

This was referring to when the disciples would receive the indwelling Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the further teachings through Scripture.^xiv To turn this into an endorsement of listening and writing down what one senses coming from God is mangling the text. This is the type of Scripture twisting done by cults. Other examples of Scripture twisting pepper the book.^xv

 New Thought Philosophy 

I noted New Thought concepts embedded in God Calling, although I did not find anything online that critiques the book from this viewpoint. This explains why the book struck me as New Age when I first looked through it.

New Thought, a movement in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, claimed to be Christianity but actually taught that all men are innately divine, Jesus was just another man who realized this, and that the way to true wisdom was to realize this truth and change one’s perceptions. Man is naturally connected to God, and by affirming these new truths, one’s thinking is changed, thereby bringing one’s spiritual status (consciousness) to an alleged “higher level.”^xvi While referring to Jesus and acknowledging the biblical story, New Thought imbues the biblical text with entirely different meanings. The New Age adopted the core of New Thought as yet another facet of its massive corpus and so the two often overlap.

Terms noticed in entries for (but not limited to) Feb. 27, March 10 and 13, June 19, July 29, Aug. 18, and Nov. 17 include “material manifestation,” “Spirit-life,” “Spirit-communication,” “Spirit-Kingdom,” “the material plane,” “Sprit Sounds,” “spirit understanding,” and “Spirit-world.” This language is used in New Thought and the New Age, denoting a Gnostic-based spirit-material duality. Even taking into account when this book was written, these terms are not Christian and never have been, and some are used in Spiritualism (although one reading ironically condemns Spiritualism).^xvii

At least one blatant Spiritualist reading is found:

How often mortals rush to earthly friends who can serve them in so limited a way, when the friends who are freed from the limitations of humanity can serve them so much better, understand better, protect better, plan better, and even plead better their cause with Me.^xviii

The “friends freed from the limitation of humanity” are the dead. This piercing glint of Spiritualism is further suggestion of New Thought influence, since the two were so intertwined at the time.

The God Calling God is a servant to men, a tool for manifesting their joy and happiness, as it is in New Thought. The April 3^rd devotion has God saying, “I, who could command a universe – I await the commands of my children.” This idea is also in the Jan. 28 piece.

For March 16, God declares,

I am actually at the center of every man’s being, but distracted with the things of the sense-life, he finds Me not.

This concept, emphasizing the innate divinity of man as well as the spirit-material duality, is New Thought. It is more apparent in the Jan.20 entry:

If you realize your high privilege, you have only to think and immediately the object of your thought is called into being.

and similarly,

To dwell in thought on the material, when once you live in Me – is to call it into being.”

In other words, once your mind is turned onto the New Thought wavelength, which is awareness of one’s divine nature, you can manifest into reality that which you are thinking. This is exactly the same message given by the bestselling book and DVD, The Secret.^xix This popular work teaches that one can produce what one thinks through certain techniques and is derived directly from New Thought teachings. (Many early New Thought teachers are quoted, and author Rhonda Byrne crafted this work as a result of reading New Thought teacher Wallace Wattles.)

Furthermore, this New Thought ability to manifest applies to “the spiritual plane” as well, so one must take care in how one thinks. This is the concept that gave rise to the “positive thinking” craze (“spiritual plane” is an authentic Spiritualist and New Thought term):

So you must be careful only to think of and desire that which will help, not hinder, your spiritual growth. The same law operates too on the spiritual plane.

New Thought terms for God, such as “Divine Mind” (used more than once; this is a term used in Christian Science for God), “Divine Force,” “Divine Voice,” and “Divine Spirit” are found throughout the book, including Jan. 31, Feb. 9, Feb. 15, Aug. 17, Sept. 29, Dec. 18 and elsewhere. “Divine alchemy” is found in the Sept. 5 entry – would Jesus even use such a word, which describes a form of sorcery? The Feb. 9^th reading is brief and has a striking New Thought ring:

The Divine Voice is not always expressed in words. It is made known as a heart-consciousness.

Most chillingly, an unsound view of the atonement is found in the Jan. 14 devotion:

When I died on the Cross, I died embodying all the human self……As you too kill self, you gain the overwhelming power I released for a wearying world….it is not life and its difficulties you have to conquer, only the self in you.

The self in New Thought is the false self springing from the false perception that man is separate from God. The New Thought Jesus came and died so that this false perception could be destroyed, enabling man to have the correct perception of his True Self, which is divine. Salvation comes not from faith in Christ, but as you “kill self,” the false self. Note that this Jesus says his death “released” a power. This is a New Thought metaphysical view of Jesus’ death, which released a power (similar to Agnes Sanford’s belief, who exhibited New Thought thinking throughout her life).^xx

An odd command (though not odd for New Thought) is given for Sept. 5 in words reminiscent of New Age bestseller Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch:

Higher, ever higher, rise to Life and Beauty, Knowledge and Power. Higher and higher.

A. J. Russell was deeply involved with the Oxford Group at a time when New Thought influence was strong. What I read in the book, in my view, echoes New Thought beliefs in the tone, language, and ideas.

 FROM GOD CALLING TO JESUS CALLING 

There is much more material that indicts God Calling, but enough has been given to make a point. The point is that since this book inspired Young and gave Young her method of “hearing” from Jesus, and because Young considers this book to be such a “treasure,” then Young’s discernment must be questioned. She used the same method and model for her other books.

The content of Jesus Calling is almost numbingly repetitive, boring even. The term “My Presence” saturates almost every page. “Jesus” also says some strange things, like this:

Ask Me to open your eyes so that you can find me everywhere…[…]...this is not some sort of escape from reality; it is tuning into the ultimate reality. I am far more Real than the world you can see, hear and touch. (July 18)

If Jesus is real, does he need to be “more Real?” Is there such a thing as “more Real?” Does He need to be the “ultimate reality?” Is not being the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Lamb slain for our sins enough?

Elsewhere, Jesus says, according to Young:

Your part is to be attentive to my messages, in whatever form they come. When you set out to find Me in a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence. You can find Me not only in beauty and birdcalls, but also in tragedy and faces filled with grief. (July 25)

What “messages” are meant here, and what kind of “form” might they take? “Whatever form” raises troubling questions: does Jesus give messages in multiple venues that we need to watch for and then figure out somehow? More crucially, how do we know the messages are from Jesus?

The other part is similar to panentheism – finding Jesus as part of creation. I do not find Jesus in birdcalls or in tragedy. Beauty may point one to Jesus and tragedy may cause one to turn to Him, but He is not in those things.^xxi

There are numerous passages where Young’s Jesus tells the reader to go within to hear and know Jesus, such as:

I am central to your innermost being. Your mind goes off in tangents from its holy Center from time to time….the quickest way to redirect your mind to me is to whisper My Name. (Aug. 25)

The above is similar to Eastern meditation concepts, especially the “holy Center” comment. This is not a biblical concept. Equally alarmingly we read:

Let Me control your mind. The mind is the most restless, unruly part of mankind..[…]…I risked all by granting you freedom to think for yourself. (April 21)

Downgrading thinking and the mind is a tactic of the New Age and Eastern spiritualities, about which I steadily warn. While it is true we can think evil thoughts and it is true our minds can lead us astray, this statement goes further than anything in Scripture. Our mind and ability to think, unlike animals, is part of how we are made in the image of God. Moreover, many scriptural passages exhort people to think and reason.

And does God/Jesus ever take a risk? This would imply that God does not know the future and/or has no control over things. To risk is to take action without being sure of the results. This stunningly leads to the conclusion that God is not omniscient.

The term “high road” is used at least three times (Jan. 18, Jan. 27, June 16). This is a curious phrase since it has many secular meanings but no real biblical one.

Dare to walk on the high road with Me, for it is the most direct route to heaven. The low road is circuitous: twisting and turning in agonizing knots. (Jan. 27)

The point is to trust, but how is trust (assuming that this is what the “high road” refers to) the “most direct route to heaven?” Even if a Christian is on the “low road,” will she not get to heaven as well? If a road is the “most direct,” it means there are other roads to heaven that are less direct. This ambiguous term and rather confusing statement is not an idea found in scripture.

There is an excessive focus on silence and stillness found in so many readings that it would be impossible to list them all, implying that these are superior spiritual practices. As in numerous other texts, sermons, and online websites, Psalm 46:10 is misused. Psalm 46:10, translated as “Be still” in some versions is “Cease striving” in the New American Standard, and is actually a rebuke to the nations fighting against God’s people. When read in context, it is quite clear that this has nothing to do with being physically still in order to meditate or contemplate.^xxii

 THE QUESTION 

The most important question to ask about this book is: Is this Jesus speaking, as Young claims it is? Aside from the troubling issues mentioned, a few more are worth considering.

Many of the entries resemble bad greeting card messages with sappy language. For instance, “Let the dew of My Presence refresh your mind and heart” (Sept. 3; this one also misuses the “Be still” words); “Feel you face tingle as you bask in My Love-Light” (Sept. 7); and “Like a luminous veil of light, I hover over you and everything around you” (Dec. 3). Considering who Jesus is and the rich language of Scripture, why would He use such maudlin phrases?

In other places, Young’s Jesus displays a martyr complex with a sly tone of self-admiration. “Imagine,” He says, speaking of Himself, “the self-control required of a martyr who could free Himself at will!” (Dec. 20). For Dec. 25, this Jesus says,

I accepted the limitations of infancy under the most appalling conditions --- a filthy stable. That was a dark night for Me.

These statements do not reflect the character of Christ; Christ does not seek our sympathy or thanks via self-pitying remarks.

Despite the verses listed at the end of each day’s devotion, the words do not sound like the Jesus of the Bible. Those who promote this book will say that Young is not maintaining these words are from Jesus, but as I demonstrated earlier, she is indeed doing this very thing. There is no other reasonable way to interpret her claims. And when one reads each entry written so unmistakably as though Jesus is speaking, how else is one to take it? At the very least, it is misleading and puts words in people’s heads that some may come to believe are from Jesus.

My answer to the question is: No, this is not Jesus who is “calling.”

 RESOURCES FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESEARCH 

(Does not imply an endorsement of nor agreement with websites listed)

Excellentarticle by Edmond C. Gruss on God Calling, A. J. Russell, and the Oxford Group/Moral Re-Armament

GodCallingonline

Chapter on Frank Buchman, founder of The Oxford Group, who found a devoted follower in A. J. Russell, from book The Religious Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps by A. Orange

More information on the Oxford Group’s teachings, such as:

“In one sense Buchman did not care what a person believed, except for atheism, as long as he listened to God, aimed at adherence to moral standards, and thought his work was a good thing. The movement has always been quite sincere in asking people to believe more intensely in whatever religious convictions they already have and to be more faithful in whatever religious duties their own traditions urged…” (online source) 

TheOxford Group and GodCalling

i Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), XI.

ii Ibid., XII

iii Ibid.

iv Ibid.

v Ibid.

vi Quote from “Is Deception Calling?” (Steak and A Bible)

vii Ibid., XI.

viii God Calling, ed. A. J. Russell (Eversham, UK: Arthur James Ltd., 1989), “The Voice Divine” in Introduction (this edition has no page numbers).

ix Ibid., “The Two Listeners.”

x Ibid, “The Voice Divine.”

xi The Oxford Group (Wikipedia) 

xii There are other serious problems with the teachings of the Oxford Group, which developed in 1938 into Moral Re-Armament (MRA), considered by some to be a cult; however, that is outside the scope of this article. See Resources for further information.

xiii A. J. Russell, For Sinners Only, The Book of the Oxford Group

xiv Some commentaries on John 16:12 are found here

xv For more examples and an analysis of this book, see Edmond C. Gruss, “God Calling,” Christian Research Journal

xvi See CANA article on New Thought (New Thought: Making The Straight Ways Crooked, A Warning For Christians)

xvii New Thought was heavily influenced by Spiritualism and many New Thought teachers openly spoke of communication with the “spirit world” (the dead). So although one of the entries denounces Spiritualism, that does not mean there is no influence from it.

xviii This quote, which I could not find in my copy, is cited by Edmond C. Gruss in his article “God Calling,” Christian Research Journal

xix See CANA articles on The Secret (The Secret: The Cosmic Dream Machine and More on The Secret: Chicken Bones For The Hungry Soul) 

xx See CANA article on Emmet Fox and Agnes Sanford (Emmet Fox and Agnes Sanford: Two Dangerous)

xxi See CANA article on Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts, (One Thousand Gifts, A Commentary)

xxii See CANA article on Ps. 46:10 (Meditation and Psalm 46:10)