Is the Christian book store a safe place? Can you go there and let your guard down? I think we would have the intuitive feeling that we should be able to—I should be able to go into a book store that says that it is a Christian book store and find Christian things and not just Christian knick knacks or art or waterfalls but actual books.

Is this the case? Can you do this? Well, you can certainly go into a Christian book store and find things that are Christian but sadly, you can go into a Christian book store and find many things that are subpar.

I remember a long time ago, I shared an article on social media and it was about a popular book, a very popular book called The Jesus Calling. It's a devotional and it's like Jesus speaking to you each day. It's written as if Jesus is speaking to you. I think as Christians, this should be deeply concerning because if we want God to speak to us, we go to his word. It was actually written thousands of years ago and it still speaks today and it's the Bible.

If you want to hear God speak, read your bible, it's been said. If you want to hear God speak out loud, well, read your bible out loud. There's this devotional called The Jesus Calling and there's actually a sequel coming out shortly that speaks for Jesus. It definitely seems to touch people's emotions and their passions and things like this but the irony is, is when you actually read the gospels and you hear Jesus speaking in the gospels, this devotional sounds nothing like that and we should be very wary of things that claim to speak for God. In the Old Testament, when you claim to speak for God and you got it wrong, you got killed. I'm not saying that's a New Testament standard but speaking for God is not something anyone should take lightly by any means.

I remember posting the article about The Jesus Calling. This sweet lady talked to me later in the week and said, "Brian, I had no idea. I read this devotional each day. I had no idea that it was so problematic." The article had detailed several reasons why this was the case. It certainly wasn't the one point I had just mentioned here.

She said, "How do you know what is good to read and what is not good to read? Can you just go to the Christian book store and find a book and be good?" I understood that this was a woman who desperately wanted to live a life that glorified God. She wanted to fill her life with Christian truth.

I had to tell this devoted lady that no, you cannot just go to the Christian book store and indiscriminately pick up a book and trust that it's going to contain good, solid biblical teaching. That's sad but that's the case.

We have musicians out there who are thought of as Christian musicians that are materialists. They don't think there's anything supernatural. We have bands out there that deny the Trinity or at least now deny the Trinity. We have bands out there that are gay-affirming and those types of things. They go under the Christian name or at least at one time went under the Christian name.

What this should just show us with regards to music is we have to keep our guard up. We really do have to be cautious because one of the sad truths is is someone that is solid and biblical today may not be that way tomorrow. I think of Rob Bell.

I remember being a youth intern and sharing Rob Bell's NOOMA videos. This is about 10 years ago with a youth group. These are videos by Rob Bell where he would ask a lot of questions (which is still what he does today) and he would try to get you to think about Christianity and God in a different way. It was thought provoking but Rob Bell today isn't the same Rob Bell at least publicly that he was those 10 years ago. What used to be sold and okay in a Christian book store back then maybe was troubling if …