I only know Jesus because God wrote it in the book. But, Jesus is not a book, daddy. The book describes Jesus as 100% man like any man and 100% God like the only God. And that 200% is a funny number. You said 100% truthful is like a cup all the way up. All man; all the way up. All God; all the way up. That cup sure is full. That sounds like one cup being fuller than two cups. You can know him 200% by living with His people, when we pray and sing and talk about him at the table– you listen, and you’ll start hearing how he is both but only one person.

Daddy, where is Jesus? I can’t see him. 

He returned to his father, and sent the Spirit to us.

I don’t like that, daddy. If Jesus loves me, I should see him. 

Jesus said it was better if he left and we couldn’t see him till later.

But how will I know about him, the things he did? 

The way I do, sweetie. God taught men; they teach me; I teach you.

But how will I know that he became a man, a real man, a man man?

The way I do, sweetie. Almost everything Jesus did is the same as me.

Watch me. Watch mom. Even watch the sour grouch who lives next door.

He did NOT just do what everybody does. A lot looked the same, but the OTHER stuff . . . And, the other things– remember that word from Thursday dinner, “trans-fig-u-ra-tion?” Well the best I could do was read what Scripture says and be pretty amazed-curious-wondering– just like any other child. Mark used that word, and it helps with the shining and the clothes and face-too-bright and the cloud. And Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah– just like people do.

Peter was scary scared. And the cloud told him to listen. I bet he had a headache after that.

Daddy, is all your knowing Jesus from the Bible?

I only know Jesus because God wrote it in the book.

But, Jesus is not a book, daddy.

The book describes Jesus as 100% man like any man and 100% God like the only God. And that 200% is a funny number.

You said 100% truthful is like a cup all the way up. All man; all the way up. All God; all the way up. That cup sure is full. That sounds like one cup being fuller than two cups.

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 Jesus Calling isn’t what we do in the PCA. PCA ministry doesn’t do that. Let’s just drop it. It is pointless. Who needs to dwell on things vaguely unpleasant? Methodists are Methodist, and they are Christians. Who should judge another man’s servant? I’m busy doing God’s work. That book doesn’t belong in my sphere of influence. If not a yuck factor, it’s an ick, polite and collegial.

As three or four of my friends know, I have posted two blog articles about the book Jesus Calling and the Presbyterian Church in America. The first is condemnatory, of the book and of the PCA’s birthing it. The second presents an argument for an overture to the General Assembly seeking an investigation to determine whether the denomination is in fact guilty of abetting gross idolatry.
Obviously, the two articles have been wildly popular– almost all of my Facebook Friends know that I posted them. My presbytery added the overture to our January docket for a first reading, and will take it up in April. A total of three elders in my presbytery have actually spoken to me about it. Of course, they were only stirred to interest after watching my gesticulations on Presbycast.
A Mystery to Me
The most interesting turn in that podcast conversation was the mystery: why is Jesus Calling the PCA’s biggest best kept secret? Why did ByFaith introduce their biographical celebrations of Sarah Young with essentially, “you probably didn’t know that this lifelong member of the PCA is the author of Jesus Calling, which made her the best-selling Christian author of all time.” How could anyone in the PCA not know which PCA author had outsold Tim Keller by several Manhattan miles? With the multiple critical reviews of Jesus Calling by Reformed bloggers, ministers and Gospel Coalition B-list celebrities, has any “significant player” in the PCA ever published something positive or negative or even aware of the book? Despite Presbycast’s usual piercing insight, our sagacious trio was stumped.
I recently received a letter  from an independent researcher who has been studying the industry of Jesus Calling for a decade (The book was published in 2004). She is well aware– as I was not– that PCA leaders have been petitioned previously. She and her colleagues have wondered at the silence. She thinks the PCA’s general on-the-ground health has made the book practically irrelevant: by and large a functional conviction of sola scriptura and concern for sound theology has made it of little concern in the pews of the PCA. I am heartened by that assessment from an observer outside the Reformed-ish orbit. Anecdotally, I have the impression that the book had more notice among women of the PCA before 2015, but it has dwindled off– as somewhere else 9 million units sold increased to 45 million.
In point of fact, I do think that Jesus Calling is treasured by some part of the PCA. That was particularly evident at Sarah Young’s Memorial Service in 2023. But, I will return (D.V.) to that in a subsequent post, as I will to the modest request for “critical study” presented to the Stated Clerk in 2019 . Before these apparent outliers, the mystery is more interesting. 
Many seem to know of an aunt or grandmother still quite taken with the book, and they see a copy on and off again– at least they see it on sale at Costco or Hobby Lobby. They know it is still out there, but they don’t see it frequently in the PCA. Sales of 45 million do surprise them, but they aren’t incredulous. They know that it is incredibly popular. A few women have expressed to me an urgent desire for my little teacup to tempt some PCA somebody into making a real noise about it; they report dire and unassailable influence among women they know. Well, if it isn’t even a tempest, I do brew a strong cuppa. With their exhortation to me, these women also report their abiding surprise that the PCA doesn’t seem to know it birthed this atrocious book. Why is Jesus Calling shrugged off in the PCA?
The PCA is a big tent, and differences are noticeable if not everywhere thick on the ground. Still, PCA people commend the denomination with reference to Tim Keller’s various books. I don’t think that commendation commonly mentions our best selling author. If no cantankerousness about the book in the past (?), then why simultaneously no common knowledge? Why no common thankfulness or sanctified bragging about the PCA’s largest published contribution to evangelicalism? What could have eclipsed it? How does something this big become invisible in its hometown? Is this just the fate of every prophet? That is the mystery.
The Yuck Factor
In a pithy phrase, you can’t stop Methodists from being Methodists, but you can sure be obnoxious trying. The word winsome is somewhere in reach, but that is merely descriptive. The PCA teaches convictions which far more evangelicals don’t practice, but they are still our spiritual kith and kin. By and large, it seems that PCA folk know of Jesus Calling as “one of those books” like The Prayer of Jabez (remember that?), or The Purpose Driven Life. Other folks are “into that,” and we recognize common ground; but we are generally polite. 
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We failed to care sufficiently for her soul, and to exercise authority within our delineated jurisdiction for the preservation and promulgation of the true gospel and true religion. It cannot be underlined too boldly: criticism of Sarah Young or commiseration because of her actual aims and intentions– all of it bundled together pales to the guilt of the PCA. We are 45 million copies in, and the math adds up against our vows, our fidelity and our titular orthodoxy.

The title of this essay is provocative, especially styled as a quote from Jesus speaking today. The trope is not uncommon, often used for a poignant paraphrase of a Scripture passage, or for an urgent distillation of an application of Scripture. It is not necessarily equivalent to the hackneyed, “the Lord told me,” as a short-hand for God given wisdom. It is not the hubris of uttering prophetic claims as God’s instruction and direction. If a minister employs this trope in a sermon, the authority is not objectionable. If all else is in order, per ordinary means, this kind of “red letter” is in keeping with Westminster Shorter Catechism #89.
Question: How is the word made effectual to salvation?
Answer: The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
What if the preacher impersonated the incarnate Christ, start to finish? This is a thought experiment. What if it was all red letters? If he spoke not as a herald but as the one sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, with the verisimilitude of a method actor? If he said, “I know your thoughts, your fears, your inward stumbles and most hidden doubts, for I made your heart and cherish it with divine covenantal attention”– then, what would you make of his 30 minute sermon?
Would theological accuracy at the bottom be sufficient to place you at ease? Perhaps you would be at ease, if he was modest and forthright outside the pulpit, saying: “Of course I am not Jesus, that is blasphemous; but I am speaking Jesus’ words which have been given to me for the church.” What if his congregation expressed great satisfaction, if they credited this preaching with restoring hope and transforming lives?
A great deal of discussion would surely ensue. On the face of it, the man should be admonished to cut it out. Our order is patient, and there might be a series of admonitions. Apart from fundamentally changing his preaching, I hope there would be a trial and conviction and defrocking. I assume a lot in these expectations. Would it be more significant if millions were downloading his sermons like fan-fiction for “The Chosen” series?
“Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence,” by Sarah Young is a wicked book. It is an influential book. The influence of this wickedness must be laid at the feet of the Presbyterian Church in America. The PCA must lament and repent. It may be rejoined that I assume too much in these assertions, and my subsequent exposition may be set aside as shallow, narrow and censorious. I earnestly hope not.
Wicked
The book provides 365 unbroken days of direct speech from Jesus. It impersonates. It counterfeits. It does not claim to be the inerrant and infallible words of the canon, merely the words of Jesus by which one can enjoy the pacific benefits of communing with Him.
“Jesus Calling resonates with men and women. Written as if Jesus Himself is speaking directly to you, Jesus Calling invites you to experience peace in the presence of the Savior who is always with you.“
Despite the meek and modest buttressing of the book’s advertising, that is profound arrogance. It dishonors Jesus by presuming to speak, not only for, but as him– in the single most intimate setting on earth, private worship. To express the outrage and stray near the disgust it deserves: it is cuckolding. Jesus’ evil, fraternal twin– not identical– stole his phone and is intimately texting with His bride. It’s like Esau alienating the affections of Rachel.
Warming Up to “Wicked”
My conscience was pricked in December, when by happenstance I encountered a 2012 negative review of the book by Kathy Keller from “The Redeemer Report.” Justin Taylor posted a long quote from it without elaboration at The Gospel Coalition. Six months earlier he had similarly posted a quote from Michael Horton’s negative evaluation. (The entire Horton piece is available here.) Both Keller and Horton anchor their multi-faceted criticisms in the doctrine of Scripture’s Sufficiency. While that is significant, that doctrine is not what provokes my distress with the book.
You likely know some warm Christians who delight in Jesus Calling. Imagine their acute graciousness if they actually met that legalistic man from the internet. My conclusion about the book is harsh, and arises from attention which I have not yet seen given to the book. Imagine those warm Christians, over coffee, hearing middle-of-the-PCA-road Kathy Keller say what she wrote (my emphasis):
. . . those words are attributed directly to Jesus (and they don’t sound like anything else he has ever said), then they have to be received on the same level as Scripture, or she has put her own thoughts into the mouth Jesus.
The She is Sarah Young. The thoughts are her own. The mouth is (not) Jesus. Earnest believers might respond protectively for the good name and inspiring example of She.  Piety enriched by her own thoughts might take offense at denigration of a transforming book– like Sproul or Packer, but of uncommon practical value. Fans of the book likely are satisfied with Young’s clear denial: it’s not Scripture. They consider the this-is-Jesus format as just very effective red-lettering. The mouth Jesus likely just sounds uncharitable to them.
Tim Challies might pull up a chair to that coffee conversation. He reviewed the book in 2011, concluding: “I see no reason that I would ever recommend this book.” In 2015 he thought it wise to revisit it with “Ten Serious Problems with Jesus Calling.” Imagine him chiming in to the conversation with the final words of his second post:
The point is clear: Jesus Calling is a book built upon a faulty premise and in that way a book that is dangerous and unworthy of our attention or affirmation. The great tragedy is that it is leading people away from God’s means of grace that are so sweet and so satisfying, if only we will accept and embrace them.
Kindling Up a Burning Fire
I doubt my thought-experiment conversation would even get heated, so much as murky and frustrating. I don’t think advocates of the book understand– nor has Keller or Horton or Challies actually substantiated– why “red-lettering” in this instance ought to be anathema. The critics reject Jesus Calling, because Scripture is sufficient for communion, spiritual experience and intimate fellowship with God. They hammer with sufficiency, but this is not about the Bible. Challies strikes most truly at the tragedy by invoking the means of grace.
The book mimics the means of grace. It is used for worship. Jesus Calling is an idol. That is the topic of conversation. Yes, these dear folks are Christians. Yes, they are idolaters. They are not just psychological, disordered-affections, every-christian-an-idol factory idolaters. They are 2nd Commandment, God-hates-what-you-are-doing-with-that-thing idolaters. He hates your lover, and he hates your tristing with it. Stop. Hard. You need to throw it in the fire and seek him as he promises. Hot coffee, hot conversation, hot mess.
Having mentioned the good name of Sarah Young above, an ugly line of reflection ought to be squelched emphatically. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God  (Romans 14:10). Sarah Young passed in 2023. She is beyond our censure, and ought to receive no personal dishonor or rubber-necking scrutiny. No memes. She endeavored for the glory of Christ, trying to match the grace she knew. Her repentance is done. Leave her alone.
The book, however, has not passed away, quite the contrary.
Influential
Other than Kathy Keller, the cited critics hold no responsible roll in the PCA. In terse form, unlike the author Sarah Young, they have never taken vows as members or officers. While they share Reformed convictions with the PCA, they did not publish warnings because of any direct connection to Jesus Calling. They are active in conservative evangelicalism beyond the PCA. They responded to the book’s influence. Challies’ return to warn more strongly 4 years later is striking. What more could he do, as he is only an observer of that growing influence?
Another 8 years of influence have waxed. Sales of Jesus Calling have surpassed 45 million copies. Even leaning back from a press release, that is 10% of the U.S. population.  That is more than 100 times the membership of the PCA. As things happen with mission and marketing and money, the book has been expanded into a brand. There is a children’s version, and other iterations. There is a television series. And, yes, there is an app.
But these are numbers and infrastructure. What is the influence that draws the word “tragedy” from even-handed Tim Challies? What is the content flowing from all this industry? It is well epitomized by the host of the T.V. series’ second season:
“I know how much Jesus Calling has meant to me in my own faith walk, and I’m thrilled to share stories from others who have seen their lives changed and hope restored through this book.”
I don’t know the aggregate of Tim Keller’s book sales. D. James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion had enormous reach, but 45 million? Numbers this large exceed any scale of familiarity. I doubted that any other religious publication from within the PCA could have similar publication numbers. My imagination was meager. According to how the publication industry sorts and counts, Jesus Calling made Sarah Young “the bestselling Christian author of all time.” It is incontrovertible: Jesus Calling is the most influential PCA book in our first 50 years.
The significant influence is not numbers but people. I’m an optimist– it’s a resurrection thing. I suspect that there are many, many true Christians believing gruel and eating folly. Didn’t it ever occur to you that there is something a lot like the Prosperity Gospel that savy and discerning people (like us) would swallow hook, line and comfort? Or, optimism errs and predominately the lost are being deceived about Jesus by Jesus Calling. It’s influential on the scale of double digit millions– millions of people.
Laid at the Feet of the Presbyterian Church in America
Thomas Nelson publishes the book, manages the brand and reaps the profits, but it is the PCA that failed. Having received pastoral responsibility for Sarah Young, any private spiritual maladies and public religious transgressions were the responsibility of the PCA. The wicked influence upon the church and world– far greater than one woman could stumble into– is to be blamed on the PCA.
We failed to care sufficiently for her soul, and to exercise authority within our delineated jurisdiction for the preservation and promulgation of the true gospel and true religion.
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