In 2017, Rod Dreher published his book The Benedict Option – A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.[1] Dreher is a senior editor at The American Conservative. Dreher is Roman Catholic and received book endorsements from high level Catholic officials as well as favorable endorsements from several well-respected Protestant conservatives including Russell Moore, President, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore wrote, “I’m more missionary than monastery, but I think every Christian should read this book. Rod Dreher is brilliant, prophetic, and wise. Even if you don’t agree with everything in this book, there are warnings here to heed and habits here to practice.”[2]

Reverend Moore may be correct in his assessment that there are nuggets of wisdom that may be gleaned from Dreher’s book. But Moore’s encouragement for Christians to read Dreher’s book ignores two significant dangers for the typical modern evangelical Christian. The first is the pandemic biblical illiteracy of the evangelical church in America and the remainder of Western civilization. Some have said that the knowledge of the Bible across the Christian world is the lowest since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation five hundred years ago. The second danger is apostasy. The liberal church had become fully apostate by the 1930s, and much of the leadership of many of the once conservative evangelical churches had traveled far down the road to apostasy by the end of the twentieth century. Considering what has happened over the last two hundred years in Europe and America, Kevin Swanson called this period “the most significant Christian apostasy of all time. As measured by sheer numbers, there is no other apostasy so extensive in recorded history.”[3]

Because of these twin dangers, the average Christian is ill prepared to be able to separate the warnings and habits the evangelical Christian ought to heed and practice from the deceptive and seductive charms of false doctrines of the Catholic Church. Here we are reminded of Jesus’ parable of the wheat and tares found in Matthew 13:24-30. Dreher’s book does contain wheat but also many tares. It is the purpose of this article to examine the propositions and recommendations of Dreher and make that separation, that is, to separate the wheat from the tares.

Dreher makes powerful and discerning arguments that unmask the great secularization of culture and the weakened condition of the church in our time. He also laments that the churches—Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox—are largely ineffective in stemming the forces of cultural decline and have become “content to be the chaplaincy to a consumerist culture that was fast losing a sense of what it meant to be Christian.”[4] There can be little argument with these statements.

In the first part of his book, Dreher defines the challenges facing post-modern Christian America. Many of his observations are devastatingly clear presentations of the signs of the times.

The storm clouds have been gathering for decades, but most of us believers have operated under the illusion that they would blow over…Today we see that we’ve lost on every front and that the swift and relentless currents of secularism have overwhelmed our flimsy barriers…We tell ourselves that these developments have been imposed by a liberal elite, because we find the truth intolerable: The American people, either actively or passively, approve.[5]

If demographic trends continue, our churches will soon be empty. Even more troubling, many of the churches that do stay open will have been hollowed out by a sneaky kind of secularism to the point where “Christianity” taught there is devoid of power and life.[6]

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD)…is colonizing existing Christian Churches, destroying biblical Christianity from within, and replacing it with a pseudo-Christianity that is “only tenuously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition.”…it’s most about improving one’s self-esteem and subjective happiness and getting along well with others. It has little to do with the Christianity of scripture and tradition, which teaches repentance, self-sacrificial love, and purity of heart, and commends suffering—the Way of the Cross—as the pathway to God. Thought superficially Christian, MTD is the natural religion of a culture that worships the Self and material comfort.[7]

We cannot give the world what we do not have. If the ancient Hebrews had been assimilated by the culture of Babylon, it would have ceased being a light to the world. So it is with the church.

Just as God used chastisement in the Old Testament to call His people back to Himself, so He may be delivering a like judgement onto a church and a people grown cold from selfishness, hedonism, and materialism. The coming storm may be the means through which God delivers us.[8]

Dreher correctly identifies much of what ails the Christian world in the West. But his solutions involve an undeniably Catholic prescription centered on Catholic doctrine and practices which are to be applied to all of Christianity. This prescription recommends and incorporates the Christian virtues found in a sixth century monastic guidebook, Rule of Saint Benedict, which he claims played a significant role in preserving Christian culture during the Dark Ages.

In the second part of his book, Dreher presents this guidebook as having answers that can be adapted and applied to the lives of modern Christian conservatives of all churches and confessions with regard to politics, faith, family, community, education, and work. In the last two chapters before his conclusion, Dreher addresses the calamitous impact of modernity’s powerful tsunami of sex and technology that has devastated the modern Western church.[9]

The Benedict Option

In a previous book written by Dreher, he quotes philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre who believed that Western civilization had lost its moorings and eventually would require that continued Christian participation in a hostile secular culture would not be possible and would require that they find new ways to live in community. Dreher labeled MacIntyre’s strategic withdrawal from such a hostile culture “the Benedict Option.”[10]

The idea is that serious Christian conservatives could no longer live business-as-usual lives in America, that we have to develop creative, communal solutions to help us hold on to our faith and our values in a world growing ever more hostile to them. We have to choose to make a decisive leap into a truly countercultural way of living Christianity, or we would doom our children and our children’s children to assimilation.[11]

Benedict was the son of the governor of Nursia, a rugged village in central Italy’s Sibylline Mountains. At the beginning of the sixth century, Benedict was a young man and left his village to complete his education in Rome. Ninety years earlier, the Visigoths sacked Rome and only 24 years earlier the barbarians had deposed the last Roman emperor in the West. The barbarian-ruled Rome had become a city of decadence, vice, and corruption which shocked the young Benedict. As a result, he turned his back on his life of privilege and retreated to a cave forty miles east of Rome. There he lived life as a hermit devoting himself to prayer and contemplation. After three years he was invited to become the abbot of a monastic community. He would later found twelve monasteries of his own in the region.[12]

Benedict wrote a small guidebook for laymen, later known as Rule of Saint Benedict, a practical guide for monks and nuns to lead an orderly and simple life consecrated to Christ.[13] Benedict’s little book provided a detailed set of instructions for organizing and governing a monastic community that lives in poverty and chastity which is common to all monastic orders. However, Benedict’s Rule added three distinct vows: “obedience, stability (fidelity to the same monastic community until death), and conversion of life, which meant dedicating oneself to the lifelong work of deepening repentance.” The Rule provides for division of the day into periods devoted to “prayer, work, and reading of scripture and other sacred texts.”[14]

Dreher says that although Benedict’s Rule is for monastics, its teachings are plain and therefore understandable by lay Christians. “It provides a guide to serious and sustained Christian living in a fashion that reorders us interiorly, bringing together what is scattered within our hears and orienting it to prayer.” Dreher believes that such actions Christians can build lives that stand “as an island of sanctity and stability amid the high tide of liquid modernity…a way to be strong in faith through a time of great testing.”[15]

There is a measure of beneficial wheat in Dreher’s book, but for the Protestant, the indiscriminate implementation of The Benedict Option brings with it many Catholic tares, both in doctrines and practices. We shall examine both the wheat and tares of The Benedict Option in Part II.

Larry G. Johnson
The Bible and The Benedict Option – Part I
Sources:

[1] Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option – A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, (New York: Penguin Books, 2017).
[2] Ibid., dust jacket.
[3] Kevin Swanson, Apostate – The Men who destroyed the Christian West, (Parker, Colorado: Generations with Vision, 2013), p. 19.
[4] Dreher, The Benedict Option, pp. 1-2.
[5] Ibid., pp. 8-9.
[6] Ibid., p. 10.
[7] Ibid., pp. 10-11.
[8] Ibid., p. 19.
[9] Ibid., p. 4.
[10] Ibid., p. 2.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid., pp. 12-14.
[13] Ibid., p. 15.
[14] Ibid., pp. 50-51.
[15] Ibid., pp. 53-54.

One of the great afflictions of the modern evangelical church in America is the absence of biblical knowledge by a large majority of professing Christians in the last decades of the twentieth century and to the present day. This pervasive ignorance of the Bible is consistent with the spirit of the age in which constant and thematic biblical preaching and teaching have substantially declined in many evangelical churches. The preaching of the message of the Bible has been dumbed down and therefore is made a husk without the life sustaining core from which the Christian finds spiritual nourishment. As a result a large segment of American Christianity does not have a solid grasp of the basic elements of the faith as taught in Scripture and confirmed by the doctrinal understandings of their faith. Writing in his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul spoke of the consequences for this remarkable lack of familiarity with the meat of the Word.

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?[1 Corinthians 3:1-3. NIV] [emphasis in original]

Not only was the Corinthian church worldly because a lack of the meat of the Word, the pastors and leaders of the Corinthian church had allowed many to come into the church who claimed to have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior but who had not given up their ungodly lifestyles and practices. These false Christians also were allowed to become a part of the ministry. Their ungodly practices and “incorrect presentation of biblical truth” were tolerated within the church. Donald Stamps wrote in his commentary on verse 3 that, “Among the greatest evidences of immaturity and worldliness among believers are disunity and the strong desire to idolize and follow human personalities rather than Christ.”[1] [emphasis added] Paul’s description of worldliness and immaturity in the Corinthian Church is the epitome of those evangelical churches in modern America that have embraced the Church Growth-seeker friendly model of doing church.

Paul links immaturity and worldliness in the church with human personalities whose message is not that of Christ. Peter called these personalities false prophets and false teachers.

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.[2 Peter 2:1-3. NIV] [emphasis added]

In other words, false teachers will make merchandise of the Christian faith and the message of the Bible and thereby enrich themselves personally while at the same time enhancing their ministries. These false teachers are found not only in the pulpit but in various other ministries and pseudo-Christian organizations including writers and speakers. Christians must be aware that one of the main methods of these false teachers is to use “stories they have made up.”[2]

It is here we examine The Shack, one of those made up stories that has introduced destructive heresies, brought the truth of God’s Word into disrepute, and made merchandise of the faith of Christians with fabricated stories.

The Shack – Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity[3] was written by William P. Young. It has sold millions of copies and was made into a movie. The Shack is a made up story that unquestionably qualifies for all of Paul’s condemnations listed in 2 Peter 2:1-3. But there is another that has specifically brought The Shack and its author to account.

James B. De Young wrote Burning Down “The Shack” – How the “Christian” Bestseller is Deceiving Millions in 2010, three years after The Shack was published. De Young knew William Young well and observed the change in his beliefs that eventually found their way into The Shack. The back cover of Burning Down The Shack, states that De Young “…shows how spiritually flimsy The Shack truly is, and how its enticing yet false doctrine is stealthily cracking the foundations of countless Christians’ faith—rotting away their very concept of the true God.”[4]

This article will not attempt to add to De Young’s very capable critique of The Shack. I would encourage you to read Burning Down The Shack for yourself. However, for those of you who for various reasons cannot devote the time, I have included a link to the Nehemiah Institute for a review of De Young’s book and its critique of The Shack.

Dan Smithwick is the president and founder of the Nehemiah Institute whose primary work is in providing a unique worldview testing and training service to private schools, churches, homeschoolers, and other Christian ministries. Programs are designed for junior high through adult ages. Dan and I have been friends at a distance since we connected about eight years ago following the publication of my book Ye shall be as gods – Humanism and Christianity – The Battle for Supremacy in the American Cultural Vision. This last spring Dan wrote a review of De Young’s book and said that “Burning Down The Shack may be the most important book of the 21st century.” During a phone conversation shortly thereafter, Dan graciously allowed me to reprint his review in culturewarrior.net. Upon reflection, I think it is more appropriate that you read the review on the Institute’s website. You may access the website by clicking on the following link:

http://www.nehemiahinstitute.com/articles/index.php?action=show&id=43

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Donald C. Stamps, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:1-3,” The Full Life Study Bible, King James Version, ed. Donald C. Stamps, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990), p. 2148.
[2] Stamps, Commentary on 2 Peter 2:1-3, The Full Life Stud Bible, p. 2458.
[3] William P. Young, The Shack – Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, (Newbury Park, California: Windblown Media, 2007).
[4] James B. De Young, Burning Down “The Shack, – How the “Christian” Bestseller is Deceiving Millions, (Washington, D.C.: WND Books, 2019), back cover.

Because we are living at the end of the last days as foretold by Christ to His disciples, Christians must be especially vigilant to guard against false teachers and prophets. To guard against such, Christians must follow the example of the Bereans spoken of in Acts 17:10-13. The Bereans were described as noble and honorable men and women who closely examined what they were taught in the light of the truth of God’s Word. We have attempted to follow the Berean’s example in this two part series in which we are examining the teachings of Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker. In Part I we found significant evidence that The Circle Maker has mixed the Word of God with fables, false doctrines, and false teaching. Part II will conclude our examination of The Circle Maker.

Misinterpreting the Bible

Batterson attempts to include in God’s promises for the church (which makes them eligible for circling) certain descriptive verses that teach as opposed to prescriptive verses that command us.[1] One example exposes Batterson’s error.

The legend of Honi the circle maker was like a revelation of the power of prayer…I started to circle everything and everyone in prayer. It gave me a new vocabulary, a new imagery, a new methodology…I drew particular inspiration from the march around Jericho when God delivered on a four-hundred-year-old promise by providing the first victory in the Promised Land. While the story doesn’t explicitly mention the people taking up positions of prayer, I have no doubt the Israelites were praying as they circled the city…The image of the Israelites circling Jericho for seven days is a moving picture of what drawing prayer circles looks like. It’s also the backdrop for this book.

It not only reveals the way God performed this particular miracle; it also establishes a pattern to follow. It challenges us to confidently circle the promises God has given to us…[2]

Batterson attempts to link Honi, circle making, and the march around Jericho, all of which is supposed to establish a pattern to follow by circling the promises of God. In other words, Batterson appropriates the biblical account of victory at Jericho as a pattern to follow which is circling the promises of God. Although the Battle of Jericho teaches subsequent generations, it does not command that similar actions are to be taken. The lesson taught is descriptive and teaches us that the Israelites succeeded in battle because of their belief in God and obedience to His Word. It is not a prescriptive pattern that Christians must literally follow by marching around property they claim for God or themselves, drawing circles in the sand, or circling promises in His Word. Batterson has misrepresented the meaning of scripture and twisted it to teach his false circle making theology to the millions who read his book.

There is much in the Old Testament that is both descriptive and prescriptive at the same time. One example is 2 Chronicles 7:14, sometimes called the revival verse. The back story is that God is speaking to Solomon who had built the First Temple in Jerusalem as a monument to God and as a permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant. God is responding to Solomon’s prayer of consecration of the Temple.

…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. [2 Chronicles 7:14. KJV]

Notice that these words are not only a conditional promise to Israel but a command to “His people,” and that means His people then and all of His people called by His name down to the present day. 2 Chronicles 7:14 teaches His people that He is always faithful and just, but the verse also commands His people to humility, prayer, to seek His presence, and to turn from their wicked ways. The verse is both descriptive and prescriptive.

The mechanical god

In Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, I wrote a chapter titled “The Mechanical God” in which I examined the positive confession movement/prosperity gospel.

During the 1950s, certain ministers began to emphasize in their preaching and teaching that health, prosperity, and happiness were available to all Christians. This became known as the positive confession movement (sometimes called the prosperity gospel) and was birthed by Kenneth Hagin in his book How to write your own ticket with God.[3] This book became the foundation for the teachings and practices of the positive confession movement/prosperity gospel which spread into many evangelical churches in the last half of the twentieth century and now dominates a large segment of evangelicalism in America. The fundamental elements of this movement are found in Hagin’s book.

…you can receive anything in the present tense, such as salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, healing for your body, spiritual victory, or finances. Anything the Bible promises you now, you can receive now by taking these four steps…

Step 1: Say it…In my vision, Jesus said, “Positive or negative, it is up to the individual. According to what the individual says, that shall he receive.”…

Step 2: Do it…Jesus dictated to me during my vision. “Your action defeats you or puts you over. According to your action, you receive or you are kept from receiving.”…

Step 3: Receive it…It is like plugging into an electrical outlet. If we can learn to plug into this supernatural power, we can put it to work for us, and we can be healed…

Step 4: Tell it…Jesus said to me, “Tell it so others may believe.”…

…You said if anybody anywhere would take these four steps, they would receive from you anything they wanted.[4] [emphasis in original]

Several statements in Batterson’s book, and especially the first three chapters, are uncomfortably close if not identical to certain aspects of the philosophies of Hagin and the positive confession movement/prosperity gospel. The following quotes are just a few examples from The Circle Maker that show striking similarities between circle making prayers and the positive confession movement.

God is still looking for circle makers. And the timeless truth secreted within this ancient legend is as true now as it was then: Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God.[5] [emphasis in original]

There is nothing God loves more than keeping promises, answering prayers, performing miracles, and fulfilling dreams. That is who He is. That is what He does. And the bigger the circle we draw, the better, because God gets more glory.[6] [emphasis in original]

God is for you. If you don’t believe that, then you’ll pray small timid prayers; if you do believe it, then you’ll pray big audacious prayers…Prayers are prophecies. And one way or another, your small timid prayers or big audacious prayers will change the trajectory of your life and turn you into two totally different people.[7] [emphasis in original]

Sure, you can apply some of the principles you learn in The Circle Maker, and they may help you get what you want, but getting what you want isn’t the goal; the goal is glorifying God by drawing circles around the promises, miracles, and dreams He wants for you.[8]

You’ve got to define the promises God wants you to stake claim to, the miracles God wants you to believe for, and the dreams God wants you to pursue. Then you need to keep circling until God gives you what He wants and He wills. That’s the goal.[9]

If faith is being sure of what we hope for, then being unsure of what we hope for is the antithesis of faith, isn’t it? Well-developed faith results in well-defined prayers, and well-defined prayers result in a well-lived life.[10]

Don’t just read the Bible. Start circling the promises. Don’t just make a wish. Write down a list of God-glorifying life goals. Don’t just pray. Keep a prayer journal. Define your dream. Claim your promise. Spell your miracle.[11]

These pronouncements are filled with false doctrine; irrational and illogical statements; presumptions as to knowing God’s mind, motives, and personality apart from what is revealed in the scriptures; and much more.

Witchcraft

Paul warned about the invasion of witchcraft in the church in the latter days. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” [1 Timothy 4:1. KJV]

Solitary Witch by Silver Ravenwolf is one of the most popular witchcraft books ever written. She wrote that circlecasting is a well-known and ancient practice in witchcraft and Wicca to cast spells and connect with the demonic realm by the drawing of a “magick circle.” It is an occult method of prayer which is mimicked in the practices of The Circle Maker.[12]

Like Batterson, Ravenwolf also lays claim to the story of Honi “which gives us important clues as to how magick works and why, 2,000 years later, we continue to use the magick circle.” Ravenwolf is not sure if Honi was just an old magician or part of the priesthood. She explains the appearance of the old magician’s story in Jewish literature. Ravenwolf argues that the story of Honi’s miracle was too dangerous to be left outside the current Jewish religious structures of the day. Therefore, Jewish religious leaders incorporated Honi’s story through many successive renderings until it became a part of the oral traditions of the Jewish rabbis.[13]
______

In an article written in the Huffington Post shortly after publication of The Circle Maker, Batterson claimed that his prayer circle methodology was “a New Way to Pray.” But he assures us that, “…while the prayer theology in the book is as ancient as Scripture itself, I do offer readers a new methodology. Drawing prayer circles. There is nothing magical about it. It’s just a practical mechanism to help people pray with more focus, more faith.”[14] This is an astounding admission! Batterson explicitly states that his prayer theology is as old as the scripture itself. The undeniable implication is that Batterson’s prayer theology is separate from scripture. Although Batterson’s prayer theology may be as old as scripture, he also reiterates that his circle making methodology of prayer is new.

The Seduction of Christianity was published in 1985 by Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon. The authors stated that it is absolutely necessary for teachings about theological practices and experiences to be judged in light of what the Bible says.

If there is not clear teaching in the Bible to support a practice, it should not be adopted by the church today, regardless of how beautiful and seemingly miraculous the experiences are that it produces. Unfortunately, to an alarming degree, the Scriptures are no longer looked upon as the full and sufficient guide given by the Holy Spirit for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).”[15] [emphasis in original]

The church does not need some ancient theology separate from God’s Word nor some new methodology to make it better. The inerrant Word of God is sufficient. “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” [Proverbs 30:6. KJV]
______

Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of they coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many…And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. [Matthew 24:3b, 4-5, 11. KJV]

As the end of the age approaches false teachers and preachers will be very common within the church, and their false teachings and will be widely practiced and deceive many who claim to follow Christ. Donald Stamps in his commentary on false teachers states that, “There are a number of ‘Christian’ writers, missionaries, pastors, evangelists, teachers, musicians, and other church leaders and workers who are not what they claim or appear to be.” They can fool even godly people because they appear to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, present messages based on high moral and spiritual standards, and have a concern for the spiritually lost.[16]

These false teachers will gain great influence in the church during the last days, and those who are faithful to Christ and the truth and standards of God’s Word will be in the minority. We know that the church age is in its very last days spoken of by Christ because of the great prevalence of false teachers in the church. As Christ told His disciples to “take heed,” so too must the modern-day church discern, test, and expose false teachers and false prophets. Stamps gives direction in this matter. This church should use discernment in their examination and testing of a teacher’s and prophet’s character, motives, fruit of their lives and message, reliance on God’s Word, and integrity. Even with such discernment and testing, there will still be false teachers and prophets who escape detection by the faithful until God exposes their true natures.[17]

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] “The Circle Maker Heresy – Witchcraft in the Church,” Beginning and End, September 12, 2012, updated September 24, 2015. http://beginningandend.com/the-circle-maker-heresy-witchcraft-in-the-church/ (accessed August 22, 2017).
[2] Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2011, 2016), pp. 22-23.
[3] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House Publishers, 2011), p. 117.
[4]Kenneth E. Hagin, How To Write Your Own Ticket With God, Kindle Cloud Reader, (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Rhema Bible Church aka Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1979).
[5] Batterson, The Circle Maker, p. 15.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid., pp. 15-16.
[8] Ibid., p. 16.
[9] Ibid., p. 24.
[10] Ibid., p. 25.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Silver Ravenwolf, Solitary Witch, (St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2003), p. 6.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Mark Batterson, “‘The Circle Maker’ – A New Way to Pray,” Huffington Post, March 24, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-batterson/a-new-way-to-pray-circle-maker_b_1349526.html
(accessed August 23, 2017).
[15] Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity, (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1985, p. 179.
[16] Donald C. Stamps, “False Teachers,” The Full Life Study Bible, King James Version, ed. Donald C. Stamps, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990),p. 1807.
[17] Ibid., p. 1808.

Mark Batterson is a colorful and imaginative writer and pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. Batterson is the author of The Circle Maker, a bestselling book that promotes the practice of praying in circles that has become widely accepted in American evangelical churches. People are taught to draw circles around the things they want, or even to walk in circles around the things they are sure the Lord ought to grant them. Whether walking or drawing circles, circle makers are to pray for those things they have circled and in that way claim them for the Lord.

Batterson’s idea of prayer circles came from a story of the life of Honi Ha-Ma’agel, a Jewish scholar who supposedly lived in the first century B.C. During one year in Honi’s life in the land of Israel it was well into winter and God had not sent rain. Honi drew a circle in the dust, stood inside it, and informed God that he would not move until it rained. God responded to Honi’s demands and sent rain.[1] From this story Batterson conceived the idea of prayer circles, but Batterson’s prayer circles are drawn from a tradition not found in the Bible.

For discerning Christians, the most troubling portions of the book are found in the first three chapters. It is here that Batterson’s words appear to apply a one-size-fits-all technique to that facet of prayer in which one asks God to supply various needs and wants. It is only in the occasional “fine print” found in the remaining chapters that Batterson attempts to explain and refine the circle making technique of prayer which (at least partially) diminishes the hyperboles and false theology introduced in those first three chapters.

The problem is that the first three chapters are the attention-getting headlines while the occasional mitigating explanations, corrections, and retractions are relegated to the back chapters of the book. Because a majority of professing Christians in this modern, attention-deficit age are biblically illiterate or have embraced apostasy altogether, they are satisfied with Batterson’s bait which tickles their ears while ignoring the meat of the word. Once hooked, they readily embrace the concept of circle making prayers but have little time or desire to plumb the depths and understand the nuances of what the Bible has to say about prayer.

Prayers centered around circle making often become a convenient shortcut, a magical “open sesame” that must unfailingly bring about a desired end. This error is compounded when
abbreviated editions and children’s versions of The Circle Maker are used because they do not even contain the occasional back-of-the-book “fine print” necessary to amend a few of the many hyperboles and false doctrines found therein. For many circle makers, prayers that require drawing circles become little more than a talisman drawn to bring good fortune.

The Apostle Paul specifically warned Timothy against teachers promoting false doctrines and legends.

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. [1Timothy 1:3-7. KJV] [emphasis added]

Fables

Paul said Christians must not give heed to fables, but this is exactly what Batterson is doing by linking Honi and circle making prayers with the Bible. However, Honi and circle making prayers do not appear in the Bible.

Batterson discovered the story of Honi in The Book of Legends contained in the Talmud and Midrash. These teachings of Jewish rabbis were passed down orally from generation to generation. The Talmud has two basic components: the Mishnah which is a compendium of Judaism’s Oral Law first written about AD 200; and the Gemara first written about AD 500 and which is a rabbinical discussion of the Mishnah and related writings and the Midrashwhich is a compilation of Jewish oral tradition and commentaries on the Mosaic Law.”[2] Thus, we see that the legend of Honi first appeared in written form about 500 to 600 years after the events in the story of Honi were supposed to have occurred.

Paul explains why men turn from sound doctrine to embrace fables taught by false teachers.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. [2 Timothy 4:34. KJV]

False doctrine and false teaching

One example of false doctrine is found where Batterson quotes a pastor of one of the largest churches in Seoul, Korea. The pastor said, “God does not answer vague prayers.” According to Batterson, he was so convicted by this statement that it changed the way he prayed.[3] But the Korean pastor’s statement is blatantly teaching a false doctrine which is disputed by two accounts in the New Testament.

First, a sincere prayer from one of God’s children will not be rejected just because of its lack of precision in verbalizing their prayers. God knows the heart of His children even when they can’t articulate their needs with clarity. Our prayers are a matter of faith and not just words. We need only look to Matthew’s gospel for the example of the woman with an issue of blood.

And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. [Matthew 9:20-22. KJV]

We find a second example in the book of Romans when the Apostle spoke of praying in the Spirit about things we know not.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [Romans 8:26. KJV]

These two prayers were beyond being vague to the point of silence or groanings which cannot be uttered. But if we accept the Korean pastor’s dismissive rebuke, those two prayers would not have been answered because they lack definition and clarity. Yet, Matthew gospel says, “…for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. [Matthew 6:8. KJV]

Even though Batterson agrees with the Korean pastor’s position on vague prayers on page 27 of The Circle Maker, he totally contradicts himself on page 85.

The viability of our prayers is not contingent on scrabbling the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet into the right combinations like abracadabra. God already knows the last punctuation mark before we pronounce the first syllable. The viability of our prayers has more to do with intensity than vocabulary.[4]

Batterson’s statements and claims such as these reflect the carelessness, hyperbole, poetic license, misinterpretation of the meaning of scripture, and outright biblical error that is prevalent throughout The Circle Maker.

In a second example, Batterson’s false teaching even extends to imparting various character traits, motives, and desires to God that He apparently forgot to include in the Bible.

God must love the game of chicken because He plays it with us all the time. He has a habit of waiting until the very last moment to answer our prayer to see if we will chicken out or pray through.[5] [emphasis in original]

Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God.[6] [emphasis in original]

And He [Jesus] must have felt a special closeness to his father when He hiked mountains and walked beaches. He gravitated to those places because proximity is an important part of prayer, but it goes beyond geography; I think it also has to do with genealogy.[7]

A third example of Batterson’s false teaching includes changing the words and meaning of scripture.

I’m sure Honi the circle maker prayed in a lot of different ways at a lot of different times…But when he needed to pray through, he drew a circle and dropped to his knees. His inspiration for the prayer circle was Habakkuk. He simply did what the prophet Habakkuk had done: “I will stand upon my watch, and station me within a circle.”[8] [emphasis added]

Batterson is referring to Habakkuk 2:1 which was supposed to be Honi’s inspiration for the prayer circle.

I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. [Habakkuk 2:1. KJV]

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. [Habakkuk 2:1. NIV]

Habakkuk was a prophet who was questioning God about how he could use Babylon, a nation more wicked than Judah, to execute His judgement. Habakkuk stood at his watch station awaiting God’s answer and to consider his response.[9] When we examine these and other translations, there is no mention of a circle or Habakkuk dropping to his knees and praying through. These are merely fabrications and embellishments used to support the false doctrine of prayer circles.
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In Part I, we have found significant evidence that the Word of God has been mixed with fables and false doctrines in The Circle Maker. In Part II, we will examine evidence of misinterpretation of the scriptures, positive confession/prosperity gospel philosophies, and witchcraft in the teachings of The Circle Maker.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2011, 2016), pp. 11-13.
[2] “Torah versus Talmud?” Ask the Rabbi, http://www.aish.com/atr/Torah_versus_Talmud.html (accessed August 23, 2017).
[3] Batterson, The Circle Maker, p. 27.
[4] Ibid., p. 85.
[5] Ibid., p. 111.
[6]Ibid, p. 15.
[7] Ibid., p. 158.
[8] Ibid., p. 159.
[9] Donald C. Stamps, Commentary on Habakkuk 1:1-17, 2:1, The Full Life Study Bible, King James Version, ed. Donald C. Stamps, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990), p. 1608.