I sometimes buy books with biblical errors for research purposes.(1) I put them backward on my bookshelf so people won't see them and think I recommend them.
And Yancey recently confessed to having an 8-year affair, sinning against God and his wife of 55 years, and helping another married woman violate her marriage, all the while representing Christianity in his ministry and books.(2)
We all sin, and sometimes we fight the same sins for years. But when we enjoy sins for years without fighting them, we seriously damage our witness, our faith, and our discernment.
And sexual sins are especially damaging because our “bodies are members of Christ himself… All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” See 1 Corinthians 6:9-20.
I pray Yancey will take the steps to restore his faith, marriage, and discernment.
His life should inspire us to be even more deliberate about guarding our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), fleeing temptation (2 Timothy 2:22), taking God's exit plan (1 Corinthians 10:13), and wearing the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:8-10).
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Often, when something like this happens, people use the example of David as a way of excusing such sins. David's sins were fully forgiven because he fully and humbly repented, but he suffered serious life-long consequences. See 6 Characteristics of Sincere Repentance
(1) The three turned backward in this photo are Boundaries, Jesus Calling, and The Shack. 🠄 Each title is linked to an explanation of the errors they contain. See also Should We Care if The Shack, The Chosen, & Jesus Calling Contain Scriptural Errors?
(2) My favorite book of Yancey's was Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (1997), coauthored by Paul Brand, discussing Brand's incredible Christian ministry with lepers. ~ Yancy wrote 3-4 books in the last 8 years while engaged in his extramarital affair. His final one in 2023 was about John Donne, a 17th century “Christian” poet who wrote one famous poem that was a “mixture of violent sexual imagery with a divine prayer” (source). And another of his poems was an erotic story with a man trying to convince a woman to sleep with him. In this poem, “Donne stepped away from his religious morals, depicting sexual relations as something not to be ashamed of, especially out of marriage.” (source)
A perfect way to improve your biblical discernment.
Lies in Disguise available:
from the publisher: Lies in Disguise.
On Amazon.
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