KELSIE PETERSEN
This week I came across a video by a popular YouTuber named JP Sears who has dabbled in “spirituality” for many years, but he has always come up shy of acknowledging the existence of God. In this video, he expressed a change of mind when it comes to his beliefs surrounding God and religion. Initially, I was excited. I had appreciated much of his content over the past few years and often found myself thinking, “If only he was a believer,” when some of his thoughts and opinions seemed like prime opportunities to acknowledge God and our need for Him in our lives, our communities, our countries, and in our world. As I listened through the 25-minute video, however, my balloon of excitement began to deflate a little.
An Accidental Christian?
He detailed how, over the last few years, as he had observed the direction of his country and the world around, he had found himself “accidentally becoming more Christian.” He explained that, as he leaned away from the direction that he saw the world around him headed, leaning towards traditional Christian values and beliefs was something that was “effortlessly happening for” him. How, I wondered, does one become “more Christian”? The core of Christianity, of BEING a Christian, is being born again. How can one become “more born again”? While I understand, and have experienced, the work of the Holy Spirit in my own life and have heard testimonies of others who speak of a new heart, of new desires, after being born again, there was something in this man’s particular verbiage that piqued my interest. I listened on.
In the next portion of his video, he described what he has come to believe about God in his new-found belief. He had described earlier in the video that he had always been “spiritual but not religious,” and that while he had found great value from the spiritual teachers he had studied or followed, he realized that he had been missing out on what he had once dismissed as “old” or “outdated” traditional Christian values and practices. Now, he professes that he sees the merit in these longstanding values, such as faith in God, family first, and the power of prayer.
He believes that our day-to-day actions, thoughts, and words are determining what side of the war we are on.
He spent a lot of time talking about prayer. He described how he’s come to understand prayer, metaphorically, as bringing the life and power of God down into the world in the way a tube or pipe might channel oxygen from the surface down to a submarine. He compared prayer to opening a channel to bring God into the space where God is needed. He said he believes we, worldwide, are in a time of spiritual warfare, where God and Satan are at war, and it is you and I, our children, and our souls that are on the line. He believes that our day-to-day actions, thoughts, and words are determining what side of the war we are on.
He then moved on to talk about how he has become more comfortable with saying the word “God,” and also how he has worked through how religion/God is often dismissed or denigrated due to the wars fought over religion, scandals in churches, and other situations where it appears evil is being done in the name of God. He has realized that discernment is necessary when determining whether or not a person really is/was acting “in the name of God.” He said he felt it necessary to “discern evil from churches, discern evil from God. I don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater, I’ll just throw out the bathwater and keep the God.”
Is This Christianity?
He wrapped up his video by explaining 4 things that he thinks humanity can do to bring more good into the world. The first point was that it is essential to intentionally have faith in God. He described this as having faith that there is a God, knowing that He has our backs, and allowing oneself to be supported by Him, trusting that he has a plan, and doing our best to be of service to that plan. The second point emphasized listening to God, which he described as paying attention to a feeling of lightness inside of himself. He said it’s important to listen to our heart because who we are really listening to is who is on the “other side” of our heart. He mentioned that God doesn’t usually talk to people in English.
The third point he made was prayer. He encouraged people to pray for themselves, for those around them, and even for those who are perpetrating evil on the world, that they as individuals would be saved. He pointed out “the more they’re saved, the more they get God into their lives…we’d save them, it kind of saves us.”
His final point was that we should be living a life of service—to God’s plan and to His guidance for us. He encouraged people to set aside their “egotistical” wants and desires in order to be of service to God. He proposes “a life of service is what births true happiness.” He comes back to the idea of paying attention to thoughts, words, and actions, and suggests aligning these with “God’s guidance” in order to be of the best service to God’s plan.
So, what does this all mean? Why does it even matter? I could easily think, “Good for him!” and scroll on by. I could go into full critical mode and condemn him for not getting every word and phrase “just right.” After thinking about this for a few days, I decided to take a middle road. While I am encouraged by JP’s change of mind on God—his mind-change from being “spiritual” to being open to overtly “Christian” values and beliefs—and while it seems he is potentially on the right track, some of his recurring phraseology and some of his themes concerned me. I make the following points not out of a critical spirit or out of condemnation, but as an exercise in practicing discernment.
Exercise In Discernment
As I mentioned earlier, he opened with speaking about how he had found himself “accidentally getting more Christian.” As I watched through his video, it became clear that he views Christianity as more of a shift in thinking and acting than as a regeneration of one’s spirit. While I understand what he is saying about leaning more towards beliefs and even actions that are reflective of Christianity, as former Adventists, we now understand that Christianity is not something you can “become more” or even “become less” of. Being a “Christian,” as it has come to be known, requires at its foundation a spirit reborn through the work of the Holy Spirit because of the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. Our secular but “spiritual” world has made it acceptable to embrace any and all teachings that feel “spiritual” in nature (though it often seems permissible to exclude Christian teachings). Because being born again requires much deeper change than simply respect, reverence for, and integration of traditional Christian practices and values, it seems he is missing the point, overall. I’m glad JP is moving in the direction that he is, but I feel concern that he is possibly now just willing to include overtly Christian-type things in his mosaic of spiritual beliefs and practices.
If you’ve watched the video through, I’m guessing your ears perked up when you heard him say “war between God and Satan.” In Adventism, this was a sure link back to Ellen White’s teaching of the investigative judgement. While I didn’t feel there was any indication he subscribes to the Investigative Judgement doctrine, I found it interesting that he repeated several times throughout the video that it was our words, actions, and thoughts that would determine which side of this conflict we are on. This would seem consistent with his assertion that individuals can become “more” or “less” Christian over time.
While it is clear that there is spiritual conflict in our world, the Adventist investigative judgment doctrine sets God and Satan on level playing ground: God is equally as “good” as Satan is “bad.” Scripture, however, says that Satan HAS been defeated through the cross, and that, ultimately, he will be defeated once and for all, and destroyed, when Christ makes the earth new again. I appreciate JP’s sentiment that he wants to be on the “right” side of this conflict, and it makes sense, but it feels that he is missing some key perspective and components of how, exactly, one aligns themselves with the “right” side.
Out of everything he said in the 25 minute video, I felt he was the closest to truth with his explanation of prayer, and why it is important.
Out of everything he said in the 25 minute video, I felt he was the closest to truth with his explanation of prayer, and why it is important. While he might not be 100% theologically correct in his wording, he does seem to have a rudimentary grasp of what prayer is. He seemed careful not to advocate for praying selfishly or with shallow motivation, but seemed to understand the importance of “God’s plan” and being in alignment with that. Some of what he said in the video showed a basic understanding of sovereignty (he mentioned a few times that God is in control, He has a plan, and “He has our backs”), and I very much appreciated his encouragement to pray for leaders, even (or especially) if we see or feel they are leading in the wrong direction. While he again used terms like “get more God,” and “get more saved,” which points again to a yet-unclear understanding of the foundation of Christianity, his question of “What would happen if we started praying for them?” shows a level of understanding of the purpose of prayer.
Missing in his discussion of prayer, however, was the understanding that God’s power already is accessible to us and does not open a channel for God’s power, so to speak. From a Christian perspective, prayer is an act of trust and faith on our part that opens US up to God rather than opening a way for God to reach us. The body of Christ is the new, living way that is opened up to all people on the basis of Jesus’ blood (Heb. 10:20).
I also appreciated how he openly addressed the argument many people from his avowed former “spiritual but not religious” ways have used about Christianity. He spoke of the argument about all the atrocities done “in the name of God,” through religious wars and abuse scandals. His thoughts on discernment and being able to separate those who claim the name of God from God Himself (who He is and what His character is) were quite good, in my estimation, and I appreciated that he was able to, as he said “throw out the bathwater and keep the ‘God.’”
Receiving God’s Guidance
While his thoughts on prayer seemed to be on the right track, he spoke a lot about listening to God, and this is another place where I feel he is missing the foundational elements of Christianity. He emphasized paying attention to how one “feels,” and “listening to sensations.” He described feeling a “lightness” or “heaviness” about a decision, and concluded that the “lightness” means he has made the right decision, and “heaviness” means it’s the wrong one.
Now, I’m not going to say that there is not peace and freedom when one has sought the Lord in prayer and moved toward the right decision. My concern with this topic, and overall in his video, is that he never references Scripture or the Bible. He speaks of “aligning with God’s guidance,” but He never mentions the Bible as the source of God’s guidance and reality. He comments that we shouldn’t wait for God to talk to us in “literal English words” but seems to fail to understand that God’s words ARE available to us in English (and many, many other languages). While I don’t minimize the importance of seeking God in prayer and listening or watching for indications of which direction to go, we cannot assume we are receiving direction from God if we do not immerse ourselves in His revelation of Himself and His will in Scripture.
JP’s final point in his video addresses the idea of living a life of service. He proposes that this is the way to best align ourselves with God’s plan, and it is also the way to live a truly happy life. He talks about being willing and able to set aside our own egotistical, or even selfish, wants and desires in order to best serve God’s plan. While none of these things are wrong or bad, again there was a lack of the basic understanding of the “why” of Christianity.
The Bible reveals that the only way to align ourselves with God’s plan is to believe in Jesus.
The Bible reveals that the only way to align ourselves with God’s plan is to believe in Jesus. We cannot even know “God’s plan” apart from taking Jesus and His work of completed atonement seriously.
As Christians—fallen, sinful people who have been saved from eternal destruction by the sacrifice of a sinless Savior—our life of service pours from gratitude for that gift. While logic and good sense can apply to many Christian principles of living, it is that foundational reason of love and gratitude for our life in Jesus that sets our service apart from all the other spiritual or religious principles in the world that may also “make sense.”
Christianity and the life of the believer are different and remarkable in part because of the ways they DON’T make sense. Many Christian hymns and songs over the centuries have marveled, “And can it be…?” “Amazing love, how can it be…?” The gift and sacrifice of a perfect Savior who left His throne to die a death He did not deserve to pay a debt He did not owe—this is the reason why believers today live to serve Him. Our service is the outpouring of gratitude and love from a regenerated heart—which DOES make good sense. It seems JP has yet to fully understand this reality.
Two Concerns
As I have watched through this video several times now, two overarching concerns stand out. Firstly, he fails to mention the name of Jesus even once although the name God is mentioned dozens of times. In fact, he spends a couple of minutes talking about how he used to be embarrassed even to say “God” and felt he had to skirt around the word with more “spiritual” sounding terms. Many of his YouTube followers seem to be elated with his new willingness to say the word and to speak OF God, and while I agree that it IS a big step, I also want to acknowledge that there is still a ways for him to go in understanding God’s truth.
Secondly, he never mentions the Bible or the Word of God throughout the video. As I thought of how JP refers to God without mentioning Jesus and fails to mention Scripture, it seems to me that he could easily be referencing any god or “higher power”. People just assume that he is speaking of the God of the Bible.
I don’t want to assume that he is NOT somehow heading in that direction, because it does seem that he might be, but as I thought and prayed about it this week, it seems he is at a juncture in his journey. He has clearly made a move from where he has traditionally been, but he still has not understood the triune God of the Bible.
How often I have observed this phenomenon in those with public platforms. They will publicly confess belief in “God,” and (particularly North American) Christians get very excited and begin to praise and promote these persons, only to later find that the celebrities have invented their own versions of “God,” taking what they like, and leaving the rest.
Familiar Deception
How much is this like Adventism? I know many of us said the name of Jesus, but our focus was on “God” (the Father) and following His rules. We read Scripture, but our focus was on Ellen White, or we read Scripture through her lens, whether we realized it or not. Much like JP, our efforts were in “integrating” Judeo-Christian principles and values, particularly the fourth commandment (and probably the health message) into our lives. We had the words. We had the actions and the thoughts—but we were missing the heart and the soul: Jesus. Now, looking at it from this side, we wonder how we could have missed this core, and we pray for our friends and family who remain in Adventism to know the freedom, the joy, and the love that we now know and experience.
I am going to pray for JP. I don’t know his heart, but after following him for several years, it seems that he IS seeking Truth. At the end of his video, he admits that he is clumsy, that he is stumbling along and doesn’t know everything. It seems he wants to be authentic in admitting that he sees things differently than he used to. He is at, or approaching, a juncture. Will he keep going and trust Jesus? Or will he choose a path of being a “good person” by practicing the values and traditions that seem to make sense? My prayer is that he, along with those we know and love who believe in “God,” will keep going and find Jesus. †
- Now I Love Communion - May 25, 2023
- Can You Be an Accidental Christian? - March 30, 2023
- Boast in the Lord! - February 2, 2023