Whom Do We Listen To? Part 3

Whom Do We Listen To? Part 3
Thursday, April 16, 2026 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Apostasy / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today / Truth telling

False prophets. Do we listen to them? It can be very tempting as they so often tell us what we want to hear. In the next couple of posts, we will look at one individual in particular.

Don Keathley. Have you ever heard of him? Depending on the circles frequented, he may be completely unknown, or a mighty hero with his radical grace teaching. We will look briefly at two books he published in 2023: “Unhook the Book,” and “The Gospel Free from Doctrines.”

But first, who is Don Keathley? He is the President Emeritus and founder of Global Grace Seminary—a seminary that by many accounts is doing well. He founded Grace Point Community Church in Houston, Texas. In addition to radical grace, he also teaches inclusion, that all are included in the finished work of Christ.

If you do an internet search, he appears to be relatively independent in terms of ministry ties, yet he has been a repeat guest on the podcast, “Rethinking God with Tacos,” a podcast closely linked to both the New Apostolic Reformation as well as many progressive Christians (perhaps better described as inclusive Christians).

As for Global Grace Seminary, most notably, the universalist Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack,” and “Lies We Believe about God,”—a book that, in fact, contains many lies—is a celebrated faculty member. Other faculty include Bradley Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Dr. C. Baxter Kruger, Dr. Francois du Toit, along with numerous other universalists. Young, Jersak, and Zahnd were among those I covered in my first book: “Will God Save Everyone? Christian Universalism, Hell, Heaven, and the Scriptures,” a book that biblically disproves universalist claims.

Don Keathley states repeatedly that he has a high regard for the Bible and its crucial role for believers. But, does he?

In his monograph, “Unhook the Book,” Keathley outlines what the Bible is and is not. He starts with a biblically true premise, that in Christ, we are under a new covenant. But for Keithley, what does that mean?

First, everything in the Bible that takes place prior to Christ’s death on the cross relates to the old covenant, a covenant that is no longer in force. While we may—and he did use the word “may”—find some things of use in the Gospels, i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or the Old Testament, those books were not written to us, but to the Jews. As Jesus’s ministry was to the Jews, much of what He said is out of bounds when it comes to those under the new covenant. As for the Old Testament, nothing was written to us. The 10 commandments don’t apply to us, the Fall in Genesis 3 does not apply to us, and so forth. Jesus did away with all of it.

The Scriptures that generally do matter to us, Scripture that was written to Gentiles, are the writings of Paul, along with much of the rest of the New Testament. But even then, not all of the rest of it applies to us. What does he mean by that?

Everyone in the entire world is included in Christ’s finished work. Everyone. Since Christ was sinless, sin has been dealt with, we aren’t even to confess our sins, as sin speaks of a separation, Adam’s separation that we find in the Old Testament. As Christ did away with all sin and real separation does not exist, to speak of either sin or separation betrays that one erroneously identifies with Adam, someone no human, post Christ’s death and resurrection, is connected to.

Why does this matter? What about the New Testament book, 1 John? In 1 John we are told to confess our sins, and that God is faithful and just to do forgive us if we do so. Doesn’t that Scripture speak against what Keathley is teaching about how we should not confess sin? Doesn’t it also teach that, contrary to Keathley, we still have a connection with Adam? How does Keathley sidestep those obvious contradictions? We will discuss his response to those questions in the next post.

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