By Elizabeth Prata
You are at risk. Every minute. IF you are in Christ, that is.
Satan seeks those whom he may devour. He does not rest. He got Peter, didn’t he? Peter had been with the Lord day and night for three years. Seen all the healings, miracles, heard all the lessons. Peter knew Jesus was the Christ. (Matthew 16:16). Yet when the moment of highest pressure came, Peter denied Jesus. Succumbing to his/our corrupt nature, he opted for self preservation.
Satan is subtle (Genesis 3:1), relentless (1 Peter 5:8), bold (Matthew 4), has an evil, prideful agenda (Isaiah 14:13), deceitful (Ephesians 6:11) and more.
Satan masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14). A masquerade is someone dressing as someone else, in costume and with a mask so as to hide their true self.
HOW does satan deceive? By promoting error and undermining. Matthew Henry says,
They would be as industrious and as generous in promoting error as the apostles were in preaching truth; they would endeavour as much to undermine the kingdom of Christ as the apostles did to establish it.
By promoting error and undermining.
Satan’s subtlety and his masquerade means that something that’s deadly will be hidden as something good, religious, even. The error won’t look like error. It’s hidden behind a mask, remember? But it hides its true nature behind the mask, and will eventually damage you.
One example of his subtle evil is when he inserted Lectio Divina (LD) into the true church. LD is a Roman Catholic/Mystical practice, so it comes from the false church. It is a practice that on its surface, seems good, holy, proper. But satan masquerades, remember. LD only has a veneer of goodness to it. Take the mask off and you can see its true nature.
Many people these days refuse to look beyond the mask. Ephesians 6:11 says to
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Satan has schemes. Many people these days also refuse to even put ON their armor, never mind look into these things to see IF there is a mask and if so, to see what is lurking behind it.
LD arose over ten years ago and immediately became popular when Francis Chan, Beth Moore, Louis Giglio, Lecrae (I think), and John Piper taught 16000 impressionable youths at the Passion Conference a version of how to do it. The lesson became seeds of false doctrine that the youths returned to their churches to plant. This is both error and undermining, satan’s tactics.
The panel stood on stage before the youths and one by one went through what seems to be a modification of the full LD process, and all the while, a 30 foot high billboard behind them was emblazoned not once but twice with the mantra, “Jesus, speak to us”. Asking Jesus to speak outside his word is error, and it underme the sufficiency of scripture.
Does God still give revelation?
Beth Moore, for example, read a passage from the Bible, and then urged the youths to “be still and ask Jesus to speak his word to us.”
No. The audience had just heard Jesus speak His word. (Hebrews 1:1-2). She had JUST read His word to them. Jesus IS the Word. (John 1:1). The prayer should not be, ‘Jesus speak your word to us’, but ‘Holy Spirit illuminate the word to us.’
What is the biblical doctrine of illumination?
Though these kind of practices are fads negatively impacting the global church, and some fade quickly, LD is still kicking around. I saw women on Twitter defend Lectio Divina this week. One defender said:
Here. Here is where we get these ideas. Brad Klassen explains what Lectio Divina is and why we should stay away from practicing it.
The Bible and Lectio Divina: A Helpful Tool or a Dangerous Practice?
It’s a good article, just a 10-minute read. Klassen proposes 4 reasons why Lectio Divina is harmful to your walk with Christ.
Lectio Divina is dangerous due to-
-Its historical origin and development
-Its alienation of the human writer
-Its eisegesis
-Its subjectivity
After explaining the 4 reasons, Klassen concludes,
While more reasons [not to do LD] could be listed, these suffice. Lectio divina—the “sacred reading” of the Bible—is not just one more instrument that the Christian can add to his spiritual toolbox to better read the Word of God. Inherent to its practice are elements that lead the reader away from the meaning of the text and toward the reader’s own subjective intuition.
I encourage you to read his article.
Satan is subtle. You need to be wary of a fad that enters the church and is almost eagerly accepted, even if it seems to be everywhere, even by people on stages you might look up to. Your faith needs to remain as pure as possible. So, put on the armor, look behind the mask, and pray for illumination.
Further Resources
Discernment review: The mystical practice of Lectio Divina
the-end-time.org 
Whoa. I was surprised to read John Piper’s name in this post. I’ve read several of his books, listen to and support his daily podcast, and check in and find helpful his and Tony Reinke’s “Ask John Piper” once in a while. I wouldn’t have believed he was so far off track. I did read your linked article about him. Is there anything more recent? That was a 2013 blog post, 10 years ago. Just asking, and want to be certain.
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Yes, as long as ten years ago Sunny Shell was one of the first to warn about John Piper’s lack of discernment. She took a lot of heat for that post, gracious as it was, affirming him as brother and his material being valuable to her walk. So much so that she took it down for about 6 years.
He is a continuationist, and believes modern prophecy can be infallible and still be from God. No. That was a big discussion after 2013 Strange Fire conference. But that stance is not new for him. He taught the same in 1990. In any case. Piper went back and forth clarifying and reclarifying with MacArthur.
He promoted Lectio Divina at Passion publicly and Contemplative prayer -even posting an laudatory article about CP on his website. He later took it down and apologized.
He has asked for the gift of tongues many times he has said. (2016) No. That was a sign gift for the first century prior to the canon closing and a sign to Israel according to Isaiah. He has also said he is “happy to learn from Beth Moore” (no issue that he can learn from a woman but that she is a heretic, obvious one). and that occasionally a woman “speaking” or “sharing” in Sunday school to a mixed group is OK. This is in contrast to his complementarian stance and his being on the board of Biblical Manhood and womanhood.- one of which was Piper’s hard NO that women lead parachurch orgs or teach men in seminary. But SS is OK? Wut?
Over time, I have had similar concerns with John Piper to the effect that I do not label him a false teacher, but nor do I recommend him. He waffles. He isn’t clear. He seems tortured at times to just speak plainly. Once on the issue of gun control he said something, then clarified it 7 times! with reissuance after reissuance of his stance. He did the same with Roman Catholicism, retracing the word he’d used (heresy) and said unhelpfully “I think there are genuine Christians who are devout and inconsistent Roman Catholics”. Back and forth, back and forth.
Phil Johnson has noticed this and has said of Piper,
“Dr. Piper has shown a pattern of hesitation and uncertainty on issues like this for decades.”
A blogger said of Piper’s inconsistent stances, “there’s a reason we’re bewildered by it. There’s enough good plainly visible that these incidents strike us as inconsistent. How can someone who is so good on X be so clueless on Y. Or more, how can someone so good on X turn around and be so awful on X a week later?
Again, I believe Piper is a brother and in fact has put out a great amount of material that is edifying, but personally, with so many great, solid pastors and teachers out there, I am wary on Piper and moved on to someone who isn’t either spending his week clarifying and re-clarifying things, or who possesses a God-given dose of discernment, or who isn’t a Charismatic, who doesn’t yoke himself in spiritual endeavors with false teachers, or who says what he means plainly. The fact that Piper is “all of the above” gave a person a long pause, as it did Sunny Shell ten years ago.
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Thanks. I remember reading my first book by John Piper before going on a short-term mission trip to Africa – “Let the Nations be Glad.” I read the first chapter five times and could not understand him. I went to our then pastor, and asked him about it. He said, “Oh, that’s just Piper.” Hmmmm. I have purchased his massive “21 Servants of Sovereign Joy” about well know giants of the faith. I haven’t gotten into it. Have you read or sampled it?
Thanks for your honest and brave writing. I appreciate it.
Jackie
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I am not familiar with 21 Servants of Sovereign Joy…but his massive tome “Providence” published in 2020 is a masterpiece. John MacArthur called it Piper’s Magnum Opus. Our church, going thru a Providence doctrine at the time, bought copies for anyone who wanted one. SO there’s that! your pastor’s reaction sounds apt.
video from last year Piper and JMac at Grace Comm Church hosted by Desiring God, RE the book Providence: https://youtu.be/8i8NKEq58hY?si=K3-uNnQfkVKGCfYN
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Caught up in reading this excellent critique, we continue on to the heading “What is the biblical doctrine of illumination?” And appropriately placed directly underneath is a terribly disturbing, but telling photo of Ms. Moore that illuminates permanently that which is hidden within her is manifested outwardly; and for me, that is a very disturbing image! I am taken-aback by the phantasmal (otherworldly) glare of her eyes and a jaw and lips set determinedly in a smile that is almost vampiric; a smile that I can but say reflects a trance-like state of one who may be deeply influenced or controlled by “another” spirit.
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