We shared a post last week that contained a video of a pastor’s concerns with both books,”One Thousand Gifts” and “Jesus Calling”, and the mysticism contained throughout them. The pastor also shared deeply of his concerns with the romantic, sensual language used by Ann Voskamp in “One Thousand Gifts” to describe her relationship and encounter with God.
If you have not watched the video, you may do so by clicking here. It might help you understand what we are talking about in this post.
In response to this video, there were some questions raised regarding our love for God. Are we not to have a close, intimate relationship with God? What about the Song of Solomon and its erotic portrayal of love? Isn’t the church called the Bride of Christ? Is it wrong to view Christ as our lover?
We both feel that since we brought the video and these questions to those reading here, then we should also walk through the struggle of answering these questions from the Bible itself. We truly love the Lord with all our hearts and we desire to hold up the absolute truth of His Word . . . yet we also realize that we are human and subject to error. So we have consulted with our pastor, William Byler, in this blog post. Our aim is to present what the Bible says on this, and not just our own opinions.
Biblical Love Defined
God is love!!
I love God with all my heart and want to follow His commandments. However……..God’s love being erotic/sensual towards his creation (humans) in this life is unbiblical.
Some of the following is a bit explicit but necessary to explain clearly. Kendra and I believe the Bible is infallible and are only pointing out that some (not all) of Ann Voskamp’s words and beliefs (in 1,000 Gifts) are in disagreement with the Bible! I am going to list a few of her quotes from “One Thousand Gifts” (page numbers listed). These are just a few, there are many more using similar or even more explicit language.
“I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.” p. 201
“To merge with Beauty Himself. But here ….. Now? Really? ….. I am not at all certain that I want consummation…..And who wouldn’t cower at the invitation to communion with limitless Holiness Himself?” p. 211
“Then God lays down all of His fullness into all the emptiness. I am in Him. He is in me. I embrace God in the moment. I give Him thanks, and I bless God and we meet and couldn’t I make love to God, making every moment love for Him? To know Him the way Adam knew Eve. Spirit skin to spirit skin.” p. 216-217
If you have a Strong’s concordance, a simple look at the Greek words for “love” in the New Testament will make it plain they are either “phileo” – friendship/brotherly love or “agape” – unconditional/sacrificial love. There are some passages in the Old Testament wherein the Hebrew root (affection for) in context could be sensual or erotic. However these, when directed toward the church or the Hebrew nation, are set in the future tense as far as we’ve found.
The main passage people like to point to as an example of Christ/God having sensual or erotic love toward man, is the Song of Solomon. This passage is simply the beautiful, sensual love of a husband and wife. Nowhere is the connotation of this being Christ and the church while on this earth.
The argument can be made there will be an extremely intimate component to Christ’s love for the church after the bride (corporate church) and Christ are consummated at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven. This is based on how the betrothal period and marriage are depicted between humans all throughout the Bible. Christ and the men who wrote the New Testament all agree that sex before marriage is sin (fornication). The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Christians at Pentecost (Acts 2) is in no way described in a sensual or erotic way. Why would He (the Holy Spirit) be any different with Christians today?
The plain and simple reading of Ann’s words in Chapter 11 of One Thousand Gifts depict spirit sex – there is no other way to read them. Nowhere do we find her advocating the biblical spirit test (1 John 4:1-4). If she wanted to make the argument for this kind of relationship with God, it should have been made in agreement with God’s plain instructions of saving oneself for marriage. One can logically deduct from the examples in the Bible that the consummation (complete intimacy) of the Bride of Christ (corporate church) will not be until the church is fully joined to Christ at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” – – Revelation 19:6-9
We do not advocate studying the occult deeply. However if one does, you will find relationships that happen with demonic spirits often end up in some kind of parasitic, sexual relationship. We have an acquaintance that spent 15 years deep in the occult that has 100% corroborated what we are sharing! Satan (the father of lies) and his legions are more than happy to fornicate spiritually or otherwise with any person looking for this kind of thing.
It is dangerous to blindly trust a voice in our head, assuming it is the Holy Spirit of God, as Sarah Young seems to have done in “Jesus Calling”. We cannot trust our heart (Jeremiah 17:9), our emotions or what a random spirit may be saying………….as trustworthy. We are given this spirit test as a safety net (1 John 4:1-4). Simply challenge the spirit with this……..word for word! This passage as well as the rest of the Bible are given us by Almighty God as a safe pathway to Him and eternal life, so why not use it?
“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” Philippians 3:10
Someone asked about the word “know” in Philippians 3:10. Is this an invitation to know Christ intimately? The word “know” is defined in the Greek as “to come to know, perceive, get a knowledge of, to understand”. It can also mean sexual intercourse between a man and woman. Since this has a broad meaning, we must go to the context to understand what it means in a given passage. This same word is used when Joseph knew not Mary until after Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:25. Judging from the context, we realize it was speaking of a sexual intimacy in Matthew, whereas it is an understanding or gaining a knowledge of Christ in Philippians.
Our heart’s cry is to share and live out the truth of God. John the Baptist lost his head for sharing God’s truth. We can surely be bold to do the same!
– Lowell
P.S. – Please avail yourself of the links below to learn more about this unbiblical, romantic panentheism!
How Then Shall We Love Him?
“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” – – Matthew 22:35-38
There is a prayer that I pray for my children often. It is this: that God will put such an incredibly deep love for Him and His Word within their hearts . . . that nothing will shake it. My children will face deception, ridicule, and possibly persecution within their lifetimes. And I know the deeper a person loves God, the more likely they will be to live for Him in the hard things – and even die for Him.
Not long ago I was faced with a decision: did I want to be just a Christian? Or did I want to be the kind of Christian who loves this God with all her heart, who loves the Word that shows me who He is? Could I be the Christian who puts their hand, heart, and soul to the Gospel plow and never looks back? Did I truly want to do this with all I had in me? I did. And I’ve never regretted it.
There are five things that have helped me to love God with all my heart. I will share them with you.
- I sincerely ask God to to help me learn to love Him with all my heart. It wasn’t a trite asking, but a desperate cry from the bottom of my heart. I wanted it more than anything. And He answered. James 1:5
- I ask God to speak to me through His Word. And then open my heart to listen.
- I set down my devotional or Christian self-help book and completely and totally immerse myself in the Word of God. This is vital. I have found it imperative not to drink from any water – except from the Source of living water during my devotional time. I am not saying there is not a time to read Christian books, but until my heart is bursting in praise for God’s faithfulness, love, mercy, and grace, I put those other books down. It is necessary to know God’s Word inside and out to help with discerning the truth and error of man-authored books.
- I pray this prayer: “God, change my heart.” I am going to warn you, this will hurt. When God began convicting me of hidden sin in my heart, I wept. But I had put my hand to the plow and was not willing to do this half-heartedly. Because I knew He loved me and was doing this to purify my soul, I confessed those sins and repented of them. I allowed Him to change me.
- Lastly, I prayed one more prayer: “Who would You have me serve today?” He is my King and He has somebody special for me to serve every single day. This overwhelming love for God will come out in the way you serve others. It just keeps on giving.
“He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that love Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21
Many people don’t like to think that loving God requires doing.
I have found that to love my King with all my heart is not always a pleasant experience. Sometimes it is incredibly painful. Sometimes it requires that I lay down the deepest desires and wishes I hold in my heart. Sometimes it means that I must confess sins that were blind to me previously. It is a humbling of my heart and surrendering of everything within my life.
Sometimes it means we do the hard things . . . like staying faithful to a adulterating spouse or forgiving seventy times seven. It is taking up our cross to follow Him. Not everyone who says “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven – but those who do the will of the Father. (Matthew 7:21)
This subject of “loving God means keeping His commandments” is one that I see my generation struggling with. Especially in the Anabaptist circles. Some of them have come out of church situations where the “doing” was emphasized more strongly than the “loving”. And it was done with unwilling spirits – no joy from pleasing the Lord of heaven.
Because of this, I see a huge tendency to jump straight from one ditch into the other. People are convinced there is no joy in the doing. We all truly long for peace and joy. It is an inborn, God-given desire to find joy in Him.
I can only speak from my own experience, but my deepest joy comes from this overwhelming love I hold for this God of Heaven – when I am completely and totally surrendered to Him, and walking in His ways.
When I have allowed His Spirit to mold my heart, when I do not fight Him . . . then there is so much joy it spreads outward in everything I do.
The steps I laid out above are ones I have personally taken . . . and I know them to be true in my own heart. If you want to know God is guiding you, if you want to feel Him close to you, if you want to have love and joy so deep nothing can shake it, then try this. It will mean crying out to Him in a desperation you may have never felt before. But what can it hurt to try? Step #3 is especially important. Shut out the other voices clamoring to be heard in books, social media – even this blog – and completely immerse yourself in God’s Word. How else will you truly know just what this God of the Bible is all about?
How do I know that I love Him? Let me tell you one more prayer I have prayed as I beheld the heartbreak and sin in the lives around me.
“Lord, if You can bring more souls into Your kingdom through my death than through my life . . . then I give it to You.”
This is one of the last things I will give Him before I behold His face.
God bless.
~ Kendra
Links:
The Mysticism of Ann Voskamp and Sarah Young (video)
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young: A Word of Caution
A Series on Defining Mysticism by Gary Gilley
Mysticism and the Coming World Religion
- The Message Bible – Is It Truth? - September 10, 2017
- Christian Women Teachers:Should We Follow Them? - April 2, 2017
- How Then Shall We Love God? - November 7, 2016
Regina Shea says
Lowell and Kendra,
Thank you for this post. I was quite floored when I saw the video and the quotes from both books. Sadly many Christians, especially women I’m sorry to say are bring deceived by these books. Those books are in all the Christian stores and the owners of these stores don’t use discernment as to what’s Biblical anymore.
Thank you again!
Kendra says
I know what you mean! I wish more bookstores would take more responsibility for what they are promoting on their shelves. Thank you, Regina!
Mabel says
Kendra,
Can you tell me who is this Steve? I have never heard him just like I never heard of Sarah Young and Ann Voskamp. How can I trust his teachings? I was a strong follower of Sara. I just loved her devotional. I was finally made aware of her falsness and I stopped. Since then I have been very cautious about who I have accepted. Please email. I have questions about another ministry that I have a few “Red” flags about and I need to talk to some one about how to make a check of the ministry.
Thanks
Lowell says
We do not know Steve (the pastor in the video), however we simply compared his message with the Bible. Just as we all should with him, Sarah Young, Ann Voskamp or anyone speaking on these subjects. Here is a resource we can recommend that has much information on many ministries and authors http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/. Email Kendra at: kendra@livingintheshoe.com if you like.
Thanks!
Kendra says
Yes, Lowell said it well! You are welcome to email with any more questions.
Diana says
Thank you so much for this article! I loved it. I have printed off part of it to re-read often.
I thank you for calling attention to false teachers. It frightens and saddens me to see how many women are easily led astray by false teachers. I’m glad to see you speaking forthright truth about this.
Kendra says
Thank you, Diana! It isn’t easy or fun, but we sometimes feel a concern so deeply that it seems we are being led to share – whether or not it is accepted.
Ruth says
Thank you for this post. Especially encouraging i found the tip to FIRST only use the bible before turning to man written books.
I am attending a church that recently has decided to change from ‘legalistic conservativ’ to mainstream evangelical.
You can not imagine how powerfull these forces are in our circle.
As one of the remaining ‘consies’ i have often questioned my positions and also read a lot of articles /books about topics like dress standards, role of women, music…
This has made me even more confused. Too many different opinions!!!So i decided to take all these ‘opinions’ aside and only keep te bible for guidance.
It helped me a lot to become more founded on what i believe.
Still i am very irritated by how different the bible can be interpreted on even the same verse.
At the moment i feel like i can only take the sacrifice of my Lord Jesus for granted. After all i heve never heard somebody in my circle questioning that. But i still do not feel that this grants me the freedom to do whatever i feel like doing.
It probably helps me with not to become a pharisee as i learn that in the end nothing i ever do will bring me in heaven except Jesus dying at the cross for my sin.
But there are so many wolf in sheepsclothing outthere. I just want to trust that the holy gost will reveal them to the sincere seeker.
Love Ruth
Kendra says
I believe that if a person is truly seeking the truth of the Word – that God will reveal it to them. Thank you for your testimony! Keep your eyes on Him and He will not let you down.
Lowell says
Along with what Kendra said, I have found that using the KJV or ASV and staying away from the NIV is crucial since the original texts that the NIV is translated from have some fatal flaws (http://www.biblebelievers.com/williams_d1.html). Also a Strong’s Concordance is invaluable for discovering the exact meanings of the Greek and Hebrew words being translated from. Using the above things can give one much confidence that they are understanding the plain truth of the Holy Bible and not distracted by someone’s opinion. God bless you in your journey closer to HIM!
Kathy says
Thank you for sharing this. I really appreciate it.
Kendra says
You are welcome, Kathy!
Kendra says
Thank you so much for consistently raising the alarm about these deceptive teachers/teachings/books which have wormed their way into the church. I’ve been floored by how this kind of thing is poisoning churches we always had always known to hold the Word of God as inspired, infallible, authoritative and inerrant. I’ve been reading up on a lot of this stuff on the Lighthouse Trails Research Blog and it breaks my heart. We attend a church fellowship that’s loosely affiliated with Calvary Chapel and these things are a big problem in some of our sister churches right now. God’s people have forgotten to be in the Word, praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as they read God’s Truth, and instead they are looking towards man-centered things like Jesus Calling/One Thousand Gifts for answers/guidance/truth. And we know that only leads towards destruction! Thank you for the reminder to be ever-watchful and prayerfully in the Word!
Kendra says
This is so true! I am glad for ministries like Lighthouse Trails – they do much of the legwork for some of us.
Eddie Gutwein says
Well said, both of you! God bless!
Here’s a link to my latest post that may interest you:
http://redeeming-time.blogspot.ca/2016/12/david-jeremiah-admits-celebration-of.html
Eddie Gutwein says
Well, would you believe it. I posted my comment before I read the previous comment. My post comes in response to one of LT’s newsletter articles.
Kendra says
Small world! I really appreciate their research, articles, and newsletters.
Lexy says
Thank you for your insight on some of the most sensitive (but all too commonplace) topics in the church. Having been deceived without even realizing it with some of these new-age authors, I have been heavily clinging to Scripture the past 9 months for truth and clarity. Putting every other book down has been imperative for me. Your words are a breath of fresh air and only further confirm the truths I’m gleaning from the Bible. I appreciate these posts more than you know- thanks again, Kendra! 🙂
Kendra says
Lexy, you are so very welcome! I love your heart that is searching for the truth – this is so often lacking today. It is the truth that will set us free!