I Confronted Allen Parr (THE BEAT). He Replied.

Christian YouTube Channels Focused on Calling Out False Teachers

Now category number two are Christian YouTube channels that make their entire ministry about calling out or identifying false teachers.

Alan Parr, creator of the popular YouTube channel The Beat by Alan Parr recently published a video titled Three Christian YouTube channels you need to unsubscribe from now. In this video Alan says he's not going to call out any specific channels by name.

Now I'm not gonna name any names in this video because I trust that you all are smart enough to figure out who I might be talking about when I start describing these three types of Christian YouTube channels that you just need to unsubscribe and stop supporting.

But notice that for his second point, which is about channels that focus on calling out to false teachers, Alan shows these two videos as examples.

...stock value in their titles and their thumbnails to psychologically make you think that you might be deceived.

They're both my videos. Of course the channel is blurred out, but anyone can easily look up these videos and connect the dots. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. I had assumed there was an unspoken agreement, but although there are certainly some disagreements, all of us Christian YouTubers who are generally biblical in our theology generally supported each other.

But Alan here seems to be telling people to completely unsubscribe from and unsupport channels like mine.

Why the Algorithm Rewards Engagement With False Teaching Content

First and foremost, the reason why I'm encouraging you not just to stop viewing, but to truly unfollow and unsubscribe is because by you viewing and sharing and commenting and liking their videos, you are encouraging the YouTube algorithm to push this mess, this foolishness out to more and more people in the body of Christ, thus deceiving more and more Christians.

If we had more Christians who basically cull turkey and cut it out, then that would discourage the YouTube algorithm and work in our favor so that more Christians are not being deceived by some of the things that these channels are promoting.

Emailing Alan Parr Before Making a Response Video

I considered making a response video, but I decided to email Alan first to share my thoughts and hear his side of this. I wrote, Hello. Just wanted to chat a bit about your video about channels to unsubscribe from.

I noticed the sample videos you used in your video were my videos. Of course, you have the right to your opinions, but I just thought I'd suggest a few thoughts. I thought about making a response video, but figured I would see if I could chat a bit with you first.

One, you accuse people like me of creating videos for the shock value.

But what's really going on behind the scenes is that they oftentimes are using shock value in their titles and their thumbnails to psychologically make you think that you might be deceived by listening to one of these false teachers.

I would just like to point out two things related to this. A, wouldn't you agree the titles and thumbnails are very important to get YouTube to recommend your content? And wouldn't you agree that you also try to optimize titles and thumbnails to be intriguing, so people click on them?

B, I do try to make my titles and thumbnails intriguing, but I would argue that they are not deceptive. I think it's good for people to be shocked by that particular teaching by John Piper, and I want people to think about it.

Defending a Ministry of Exposing False Teachers

Two, you indirectly say that my channel is only about false teachers.

The question we really have to ask is, is it appropriate to make an entire ministry out of this?

That is simply not true. I have videos about other topics, too. Sure, currently the majority of my videos are related to that, but a good number of my videos are about other things. And I guess you didn't consider that.

I'm hoping to create more content about other things in the future. Three, I find it odd that you would tell people to completely unsubscribe from my channel and never watch my videos. But you don't say that about people like Joel Osteen, Stephen Furtick, and Marcus Roberts.

I believe that our focus is off. Instead of trying to come up with a list of so many people who are false teachers and who are not false teachers, we should be spending more of our time trying to gird ourselves up to figure out what is true teaching and what is false teaching.

That way, my friend, you have the freedom to be able to listen to whoever you want to. Because whenever you do listen to Stephen Furtick, whenever you do listen to Tim Mackey, whenever you do listen to Alan Parr, whenever you do listen to Andy Stanley or John Piper, you will be able to say, okay, you know what, wow, I agree with most of what they're saying and I got value from that, but I disagree right here.

It's a little sad that you treat my channel worse than others. Your argument isn't that anything I'm saying is wrong. It just seems you don't like the way I'm doing things, which personally doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as outright false teaching.

Accusations of Dependence and Ad Revenue

Four. You accuse people like me of getting people to be dependent on me.

Or once again, similar to category number one, they're trying to keep you dependent upon them. They want you to come back to their channel again and again because, hey, if I don't, I might just be deceived by listening to this person or that person and this person.

Isn't that just to say that I want people to watch my videos in exactly the same way you want people to watch your videos? In fact, by telling people to unsubscribe from all channels like mine, it comes across that you're trying to get people to be more dependent upon your videos to cut them off from other channels.

Five. You accuse people like me of doing this to get more YouTube ad revenue.

And all the while they're doing this so that their views get skyrocketed, their ad revenue goes through the roof, and therefore padding their pockets, which is how we as Christian YouTubers or YouTubers in general actually make a living.

I certainly want more views because I want more people to learn the truth. But I don't care about the money. And to suggest that I'm doing this for the money seems to be slanderous to me. I use the money to invest back into the channel and reach more people.

In the past, I had a high view of your channel and what you're doing, but that video really disappointed me. It seemed to severely misrepresent my channel and perhaps channels like mine. And I would say it's borderline slanderous in assuming my motivations.

Again, you have a right to your opinion. I'm considering making a response video pointing out some of the things I mentioned here, but whether I do that or not just depends on how you respond to this email.

Smiley face. I want to see what your heart is concerning the things I've said. Whether you really think my channel is completely anathema, or if you might agree that you are over-exaggerating some things in that video.

Alan Parr's Apology and the Response to It

Alan responded within a few hours, and his response was both surprising and encouraging. We'll just mention some of the highlights here. First, Alan was grateful that I contacted him respectfully. Second, Alan said, if I'm being totally honest, I actually never heard of your channel before until you emailed me.

I have a video editor who does all of my videos, and so all I do is send him the raw footage straight off the camera, and he puts all of the b-roll and everything else you see in my videos. I truly did not have your specific channel in mind in that video.

Third, Alan took full responsibility and said he should have caught that his video referenced my channel specifically. And fourth, Alan deeply apologized for his mistake. What do I think of Alan's response?

Three things. First, I believe Alan, and forgive him for the mistake. It's certainly possible that if Alan learned more about my channel, he would tell people to unsubscribe from it. But I'm not going to make that assumption.

Second, I still disagree strongly with that part of Alan's video. There are many YouTube creators who focus on calling out false teachers, who have at least some content worth watching, and Alan is treating them worse than really problematic teachers, like Joel Osteen, Stephen Furtick, and Marcus Rogers.

Ideally, I think Alan should fix that video and re-upload it, because it's pretty unfair to many of the YouTube creators that he is referencing. But I'm not going to demand or call on him to do that.

Alan has a right to publish what he wants. And third, I still think Alan creates a lot of great, well-researched biblical content. I might disagree strongly with some of his videos, but I certainly wouldn't say Alan is disqualified or a false teacher.

I see him as a dear brother in Christ who may have some faults, but who truly desires to glorify God and edify the body.