Whom Do We Listen to? Part 5

Whom Do We Listen to? Part 5
Monday, April 20, 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. In the last couple of posts, we’ve been looking at Don Keathley’s book, “Unhook the Book,” a book about how to supposedly interpret Scripture. In this post we’ll take a quick glance at his other book written at roughly the same time, “The Gospel Free from Doctrines.”

In “The Gospel Free from Doctrines,” Keathley appears to reverse course. While Paul is portrayed as having understood Jesus’s true message, the focus isn’t on Paul, but on Jesus. One key teaching of Jesus stands out. It is that teaching of Jesus that is to be at the core of our Christian identity.

Isn’t that rather odd? We’ve just seen how according to Keathley, we are to focus on Paul (note: I’ve been using his terminology in terms of who wrote what), not Jesus. Jesus’s ministry was to the Jews, not the Gentiles.

Well, no. In “The Gospel Free from Doctrines,” the only things that matter are: 1. Jesus is Lord; and 2) that we must love one another as Jesus loved us (John 13:14; 15:17; 1 John 3:23). Wait, what? We saw him say in “Unhook the Book,” that the Gospels and 1 John weren’t written to us as Gentiles; that we were not to confess our sins. But now here, we are to apply verses in John and 1 John. In terms of how we live our lives, applying those verses is the only thing that matters.

What does this indicate? First, Keathley is contradicting himself. Second, there is nothing new under the sun. “I” will place “myself” above Scripture, discard what “I” think must be discarded, and follow only what “I” say should be followed (or that a false spirit is leading me to accept). Time to get those scissors out and remove all the passages “I” disagree with. Keathley, at least in these two books, fails to mention the antichrist spirit that God, in 1 John, warns us about.

As with the other book, Keathley teaches that all are included in Christ’s finished work. Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, it doesn’t matter. All of us, Christians included, are seeking to reach a higher conscious (doesn’t that sound occult?), a better understanding.

What about theology, church doctrine—especially various denominational teachings? All of it is to be thrown out. All of it is divisive. According to Keathley, the only hope we have is to realize that everyone is already included in Christ, in the Father’s radical love. That is it. No repentance from sin, per se, we just need to realize what we already are. Doctrine and theology are the source of our divisions.

Sadly, in Keathley’s writing, we see many of the marks of a false prophet that we’ve discussed. He contradicts himself. He starts with a Biblical truth, sites a lot of Scripture in support of it, but then goes off into the weeds. Does he cherry-pick and take Scripture out of context? Yes. Does he twist Scripture? Yes. Does he relabel some of his teaching (universalism becomes inclusion)? Yes. Does he disguise himself? Yes. Have many been captivated by his teaching? Yes.

Does he teach what people want to hear? Absolutely: an all-embracing love of the Father. Doesn’t it sound soothing to know I don’t have to confess sin? Since everyone is in Christ regardless, even thinking in terms of sin and separation from God is wrong. Even if I don’t know the true God, or I don’t even want to be in a relationship with the true God, I have nothing to worry about. Whether a person wants it or not, they’re included; they just haven’t realized the beauty of it yet. Eternal Hell is an utterly false church religious construction, a construction designed to keep us in bondage, to keep us divided.

Keathley is delighted that people are rejecting long-held religious theological constructs, leaving churches that deny the radical all-encompassing love of God, that exclude anyone from their pre-existing inclusion. There is one problem. Most of what Keathley teaches is a biblical lie. There is just enough truth to make it sound plausible—we are under a new covenant—to get people to swallow the rest of his message.

It is vital that we be on our guard, to recognize what sounds good, but is biblically false. That is why Jesus warned us repeatedly to not be deceived.

Note: Keathley’s teachings represent the norm for those who believe in God’s radical grace and inclusivism. Those beliefs are front and center in the “Rethinking God with Tacos” podcast and featured related ministries.

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