The Miseducation of God’s People: Are We Really Following Jesus? | James Early

What does it actually mean to follow Jesus and how can we know whether the version of Christianity we’ve inherited truly reflects His teachings?

In this episode of The Miseducation of God’s People, Jason C. Johnson Sr. sits down with Bible teacher, author, speaker, and host of The Bible Speaks to You Podcast, James Early, for a deep conversation about Jesus, discipleship, doctrine, biblical interpretation, and the importance of returning to the teachings of Christ.

James has spent decades studying the Bible and helping people learn to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Since 2008, his Bible study workshops at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut have impacted hundreds of lives. In 2019, he launched The Bible Speaks to You Podcast, which has reached listeners in more than 200 countries and territories and focuses on rediscovering the original Christianity of Jesus.

In this conversation, we explore what happens when Christians sincerely love Jesus but misunderstand what He actually taught. How do we distinguish between following the Jesus revealed in Scripture and following a version of Jesus shaped by our traditions, assumptions, culture, or personal preferences?

We also tackle some challenging questions about the relationship between Jesus and Paul, doctrine and discipleship, theology and spiritual transformation, church attendance and genuine discipleship, religion and relationship, grace and truth, and biblical discernment.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Can someone genuinely love Jesus while misunderstanding His teachings?

• How should Christians understand the relationship between the teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul?

• What teachings of Jesus does the modern church frequently overlook or misunderstand?

• Can “just following Jesus” become subjective if it isn’t grounded in the whole counsel of Scripture?

• How should Christians biblically evaluate church traditions and doctrines?

• What is the difference between religion, Christianity, and genuine discipleship?

• Is theology the problem—or can sound theology actually strengthen our relationship with Christ?

• Have many churches confused making disciples with simply making church attendees?

• What teachings of Jesus are commonly taken out of context?

• If Jesus evaluated the Western church today, what would He commend—and what might He call us to repent of?

This conversation is ultimately an invitation to test what we have been taught against Scripture and to ask whether our beliefs, practices, and Christian lives actually reflect the teachings of Jesus.

Connect With James Early

Listeners of The Miseducation of God’s People can access James Early’s resources specifically created for this audience:

www.thebiblespeakstoyou.com/miseducation

Download your free copy of The 4-Step Biblical Discernment Framework now at https://discerntheword.com and learn how to evaluate every teaching, trend, and personal struggle through the lens of God’s Word.