Dr. David Jeremiah

I began listening to David Jeremiah almost 30 years ago; I would listen to him on the radio while driving to or from work, depending on the time of day (I worked rotating schedules).

I always liked Jeremiah’s teaching, but as I matured in the faith I tended to find his continuous use of anecdotes to be rather dry.  Don’t get me wrong; I think anecdotes are excellent for making points, but I am not fond of sermons which seem to be 80-90% anecdotal.  I like to have more exegetical teachings - I want more meat!

Recently I have read that Dr. Jeremiah has been promoting the contemplative movement, and have been disappointed.   Too many good teachers are jumping on the mystical bandwagon to the detriment of the Church.  Jeremiah has also given credence to the Word of Faith movement by appearing on TBN and even praising heretic Paul Crouch!

I just finished reading a book by Dr. Jeremiah, Living With Confidence In A Chaotic World, which was given to me by a friend.  As usual, it was filled with anecdotes, as is his style.  There was a lot of very good teachings, but the people he cited throughout the book, and other things he promoted, prevents me from passing the book along.  Non-discerning and immature Christians would read this book, and assume if a teacher in it was cited, then he or she must be someone worthy of reading - or listening to.  This is not so!

So, just who are the teachers Jeremiah cites, without any caveats, which are problematic?

1)Philip Yancey.  My evidence against Yancey is an article I wrote a year ago.

2)  Watchman Nee.  Nee is another very mystical teacher, and sometimes his teaching borders on the bizarre (try reading his book series, The Spiritual Man, with its gnostic teachings).  Perhaps one day I’ll even do an article on him.  Meanwhile, read this article by G. Richard Fisher.

3) Henri Nouwen.  Nouwen was a Roman Catholic mystic who endorsed many Eastern practices as well as teaching a form of universalism.  A short article by Lighthouse Trails should be sufficient to demonstrate the problem of citing Nouwen.

4)  Beth Moore.  Moore has been examined many times on this site, and you can select her label to read the various articles I have posted.

5)  Eugene Peterson.  Peterson is also very much involved in mysticism and other New Age teachings.  He’s another one I need to get around to writing about.

Aside from citing these very, very questionable teachers, Jeremiah uses The Message paraphrase “Bible” throughout the book.  This “version” of the Bible is rife with New Age teachings, twisting of Scripture, and many other problems.  Many apologists call it “The Mess,” and rightfully so.  I could link to many articles examining the problems with The Message, but I’ll just link you to this one which also explains more about Eugene Peterson’s beliefs as well as a bit of examining The Message itself.

The last disturbing thing in Jeremiah’s book was his support for Mel Gibson’s Roman Catholic propaganda piece, “The Passion of Christ.”  

I will never again recommend David Jeremiah to anyone.  While he has some great teachings, when he promotes such teachers and teachings as noted above, he can lead weak Christians down the wrong path.