Christians need to be wary about what they read. Even devotional books containing scriptures can be very dangerous to our spiritual life. A good example of such a book is "God Calling", widely read by Christians around the world.
"God Calling" was first published in the 1930's, my copy being the 41st printing by Spire Books in 1988, edited by A.J. Russell. The name of the book and a quick surface scanning would suggest that God is speaking to Christians through the authors, but I shall explain why I believe it is not the triune God of the Christian who is speaking.
The two women who wrote "God Calling" and other books such as "God at Eventide" remain anonymous. They claim this is because of their humility, but in the "Voice Divine" section at the beginning of the book one of the women claims that the book was dictated "by the living Christ Himself." She states that she and her friend feel sorry for those who "had to be content with guidance from the Bible, sermons, their churches, books, and other sources." If their claim that "God Calling" is dictated by Jesus and is equal to or above the Bible, then let me question their humility and their claim to be hearing from the Christian God. In 2 Cor.11:3-4 we are warned about listening to "another Jesus", "another spirit" or "another gospel." Biblical truths cannot be mixed with ancient occultic doctrines and remain Christian!
The women say they received these messages while suffering from "chronic insomnia." It is my personal experience that when I suffered from chronic insomnia I was in no condition to receive true prophetic messages. I receive true prophetic messages from the real Jesus, not when I suffer from insomnia, but rather when I am anointed with the Holy Spirit of God.
In "God Calling" the Holy Spirit is called "Spirit", an "it" a "that", a "Force" - but never the Holy Spirit of the triune Godhead. The Bible never speaks of Jesus or the Holy Spirit as a "Force" an "it" or "Spirit", but as a personal God who loves and guides His people. New Age people and apostate churches may call our Holy Spirit a "Force", an "it" or a "Spirit" but Christians know Him as their personal God and Saviour.
True Christian doctrine always centers around the trinity and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but "God Calling" presents a different God, a god of nature masqueraded as the Christian God. Ancient civilizations worshiped the rocks, trees, etc. but especially the sun. They believed the Sun was the god who impregnated goddess Mother Earth to bring forth life. This goddess is often pictured as a woman with a branch of fruit in her arms representing new life. These false gods of sun, earth, etc. are obviously not our Christian God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The following quotations confirm that "God Calling" has occultic roots based in pagan worship, and that the resurrected Spirit of Jesus Christ of the Bible did not dictate the daily readings. Let us look at a few examples.
"Nature is the embodied spirit of my thoughts" (March 8).
"Earth gave me her best--a human temple to enclose my divinity" (August 19).
"Fire-rays" (Jan. 1), "God clothed with majesty of fire" (Dec. 2)
Other New Age philosophies, actually very ancient, become evident as our spiritual eyes are opened to the true God of the Bible:
We read of "Force" (Jan.3), "Divine Force" (Feb.15), "soul-balance" (Jan.15), "Spirit force" (Apr.26), "Spirit-nerves" (Mar.14).
Communication with the dead is strictly forbidden in the Bible in Isaiah 8:19; and Deuteronomy 18:10-12 warns against consulting with such familiar spirits, yet in "God Calling" we read of "channeling" (Jan.17), "Spirit Sounds" (Feb.27), and "spirit-communication" (Mar.2 & 10). "God Calling" tells us to "Remember your friends in the Unseen, companying with them, the more you live in this Unseen World the gentler will be your passing when it comes" (Sept.6).
A spirit of confusion comes upon the reader of this book when they read in several places that it is good to commune with the dead, then to continue on to read in another place just the opposite: "Spiritualism is wrong, no man should ever be a medium for any Spirit, other than mine" (March 13). But in thus stating the truth about spiritism, there is another error. When did Jesus ever say that we needed a medium to contact His Spirit? A "medium" is one involved in spiritism and witchcraft, not in Christianity!
Jan. 17: "I surround you with a protective screen that keeps all evil from you. It is fashioned by your own attitude of mind, words, and deeds towards others." The truth is that our Lord fashioned our robe of righteousness, this protection, at Calvary; we humans can't fashion it. He has given Christians a white robe of His glory to protect us, and our duty is only to live in the light of that glory. The book's statement is so close to the truth, but puts one back into a doctrine of "works" versus the "grace" won at Calvary.
Jan. 20: "To dwell in thought when once you live in Me is to call it into being." This is not taught in the Bible, but again very close to the truth. God is still God to do as He pleases regardless of what we might 'call into being.'
Jan. 23: "All power is given unto Me. It is Mine to give, Mine to withhold, but even I have to acknowledge that I cannot withhold it from the soul that dwells near Me." Sounds right until we realize the Bible does not speak of God as having to do anything for man because man performs in a certain way. He can withhold anything should He desire, and we can do nothing about it. God is supreme, not us.
Jan. 29: "Others who do not serve your purposes are being moved out of your path by Me." Perhaps those who do not serve God's purposes or those who sin against us are moved out of our way, but not those who do not serve ourpurposes. Again, exalting self over God just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning.
Feb. 17: "Psychic powers are not necessarily Spiritual Powers." How confusing! Yes, psychic powers arespiritual powers, but not God's spiritual power. They are spiritual powers from the devil.
Feb. 24: "Love is drawing others to you." No. That is not Christian love, but love of self trying to use the love of God to receive love. God's love is not selfish as we read in I Corinthians chapter 13.
Feb. 25: "Aim at conquering a world, the world all around you." This is saying that we will be given strength to do anything we aim to do, rather than the Biblical view that we will be given strength to do anything which is in accordance with God's will--what God wants us to do. Again, exaltation of self to lead us into New Age philosophies. The entire book is filled with fleshly human pride, so contrary to scriptures.
Mar.16: "Crucify the self of yours that hinders progress and Joy." The Bible teaches us to crucify self that Christ may live in us and use us. We do indeed find joy in this, but the purpose is for the "progress" of the gospel, not for the purpose that we find joy for ourselves. Again, self-centered.
Aug.19: "When I took upon Me your humanity it was with the desire of raising that humanity to My Divinity." Christianity teaches that as sons of God we have a divine nature but never that we are or ever will be part of the divine Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as taught by the Mormons, etc. The promise of divinity was made to Eve by Satan if she and Adam would disobey God and the promise was that they could become as gods knowing good and evil. Again, this is the New Age philosophy that we are divine and therefore have God's authority to make our own moral choices.
May 6: "the weary and heavy-laden must come to YOU and find that rest that you found in Me." No, no, double no. We can point people to the One who can give them rest, but people don't have to come to us to find it. Indeed, we cannot give it! Only Christ can save souls, and He can do it without human help! It also says here, "be filled with My sublime audacity." The Bible says that we are to boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, but "sublime audacity" would appear to centre on human grandiose effort.
May 7: Typical of most of the book: "When difficulties come, it is by your effort they will be surmounted." True, yet all our efforts are useless unless God does the surmounting for us. Again, too much emphasis on the greatness of self and too little on the power of God.
This doctrine of self with no grieving for having sinned or no need for repentance is very enticing to modern man. It leads into doctrines of blessings without submission, or blessings without repentance. It has allowed doctrines of 'name it and claim it' and 'how to get rich.' Such teachings make God subject to human manipulation rather than making man subject to God. The Bible speaks of the last days when men will want doctrines to suit their itching ears (2 Tim.4:3), in other words, doctrines which people want to hear because it blesses them and makes them feel important.
When one feels no need to acknowledge sin or repent, he blames the consequences of his sins on the devil or on other people. He cannot see that his own sin is the cause of the problem.
Satan is the "author of confusion" and I believe he is the "god" who has written this book to confuse Christians. Using scriptures throughout, the truth is blurred into error so closely that it is difficult to separate the two. The terminology of the book, however, is a dead give-away, because not one of the Bible's over 40 authors uses the terms which appear in "God Calling."
The sad consequence of reading "God Calling" for any length of time is that a person becomes more and more blinded to the errors, sometimes requiring special prayers of deliverance before he or she can see the truth. As one pastor told me, "It is not so much the book itself as the spirit which one picks up from the book which makes it so dangerous." I have not seen the other books such as "God at Eventide" but I assume the same spirit lies within them and they are equally dangerous.
Neil Anderson writes in his book "The Bondage Breaker:
"The call to righteousness was the standard which separated the genuine prophet from the imitation."
Then in "Breaking Through to Spiritual Maturity, page 128, Anderson writes:
"Genuine prophets focus on calling people to a righteous walk with God."
I submit that "God Calling" does not lead people to a righteous walk with God, and therefore does not meet the requirement of true prophecy and is therefore not a Christian book.
--Doreen Palmer
© 1999, Doreen Palmer