Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. - 1John 4: 1 (ESV)
A new voice has gained more public recognition lately with a familiar name that many might be tempted to follow. Anne Graham-Lotz is the daughter of Billy Graham. Although involved in ministry for a long time, it is only recently that she has seen her voice rise to the national spotlight level. The problem is that the more we see of her beliefs the more we see that she is not someone a serious Christian ought to be following. This week she offered the following "prayer" on her blog:
http://www.annegrahamlotz.org/events/preprayer-2016/
Let us start with her using the horribly heretical Circle Maker as the premise of her prayer. Without rehashing this too much, The Circle Maker was a book written by American pastor, Mark Batterson. In it, he tried to redefine how Christians should pray based upon a legend found in old rabbinical writings of a character called Honi the Circle Maker. During a terrible drought, the legend tells that Honi drew a circle in the sand and stood in it demanding God deliver rain. Even when God delivered, Honi did not like the type or intensity of the rain and he petulantly demanded God deliver it exactly as he wanted. The legend says God relented every time. Thus the premise of the circle maker is that we too must draw circles around what we want and pray in demanding, audacious tones to God. How horribly heretical and irreverent. Yet Graham-Lotz uses this as the springboard into her prayer heading into 2016:
As I look ahead into 2016, I feel compelled to draw a circle around this city, this state, this nation" and pray! Until God answers. Do the same. Please. On this first day of the New Year, draw your own circle. Then pray for everything that's inside of it. - Anne Graham-Lotz
Without even getting into the elements of witchcraft involved with drawing circles around things we want, she clearly has made poor assumptions to begin with. She assumes that because things have not worked out in America as she wants them to, that God has somehow not answered prayers. This is a common thread throughout Graham-Lotz' writings as she clearly worships the idol that is this country. The reality that Idol-America worshippers never consider is that the very things they rail against may indeed be God's answer of judgment. What proceeds however is nothing more than a self-serving political statement thinly disguised as a prayer offering. We begin:
Did we not establish our nation as one under God? Have we not pledged, "In God We Trust"? But now we find ourselves constantly bombarded with the shrill voices of those who demand we distance ourselves from You; that You are just one of many gods, if You are a god at all; that we cannot risk offending each other by calling on Your name. We hear the enemy insinuating that You are "not fixing this" because You can't fix this. Our faith is being assaulted. - Anne Graham-Lotz
Let's start with her poor understanding of American history. Our nation was not established as "one nation under God." She is of course referring to the Pledge of Allegiance, which was not adopted as a pledge until 1942. Furthermore, the portion that says "under God" was not added until 1954. What about In God We Trust? That was adopted as a national motto in 1956. The original founding motto was "e pluribus unum"; out many, one. It is true that In God We Trust appeared on currency but that was also about a hundred years after the country was founded. Thus her entire premise is false. As a result her conclusions are equally flawed. No one in this country is assaulting the Christian faith except those within the church who continue to assault doctrine. I have heard no voices, shrill or otherwise, demanding I distance myself from my God. These are canned political talking points designed by the enemy to turn us against the very people who need the Gospel the most. I am going to skip to the actual prayer portions towards the end for they reveal what is actually going on:
Bless our national and local elections. Raise up men and women who will lead us back to you. Raise up another Asa, who was fully committed to the Lord all his life.[20] Raise up another Jehoshaphat who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.[21] Raise up another Josiah who renewed the covenant of his people with You--"to follow the Lord and keep His commands."[22] Raise up leaders of moral and spiritual integrity who have a strong faith and a healthy reverence for You and therefore the wisdom to make right decisions. Put Your choice in the Oval Office. - Anne Graham-Lotz
There is so much wrong here. First of all, Graham-Lotz makes the same mistake all America-Idol worshippers make in wrongly stating that the country can come "back" to God. As if this country ever was in covenant with the Lord. It was not. America is still the greatest secular achievement as it pertains to nations but that does not make it in covenant with God. She is acting as if the right leader gets in then the people, who are unsaved mind you, would start behaving better and that behavioral change will somehow bring revival? Does she even read the Bible? Raise up an Asa? Comparing the United States of America to ancient Israel? Seriously? Then to cap it off she actually prays that God puts His choice in the Oval Office? Have you read this Scripture Anne?
He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; - Daniel 2: 21 (ESV)
God always chooses who He wants! Here is the startling news for political Christians. Barack Obama was His choice. As was Bush before him and Clinton before that. Anne paints a God who is left up to the wiles of man. At the very least the leaders we have are allowed through the permissive will of God! Anne continues:
Bless our homeland security teams. Give them eyes to see the bad guys, ears to hear the evil chatter, minds to understand the tweets and codes, and the will to act before the enemy does. Protect us from evil. - Anne Graham-Lotz
This is exactly how America-Idol worshippers view the world. Everyone who is not with us are the "bad guys" and we are exceptional, doing God's will. Except we are not. The Bible tells us none are good. Anne also is not praying for kingdom matters but for carnal ones. The enemy referred to here is not Satan but rather terrorism. So the prayer is not to lift the spiritual darkness so that the light of the Gospel can save who might be saved before Jesus returns, no. It is to protect this country.
I could go on but the point is made. Many facets of what she prayed for are perfectly fine, including prayer for our enemies. But her impetus is from a heretical book, based on a fable of a man so arrogant in prayer that he demanded from God instead of asking. As it is a fable of man, God of course relents. Man always controls God in his fables. The premise for Anne Graham-Lotz' prayer however is not Christian in nature but political. It is founded on recycled and inaccurate talking points and seeks to lay all of the blame at a world that does not believe in God anyway. I do not speak to the motivation of Graham-Lotz because I do not pretend to know it. I can only hold up the Word of God to her prayer offering and see that in testing this spirit as our key verse compels us to, that it is lacking. It is seeking to protect this country. It is seeking to glorify this country. We ought to do better as Christians. We ought to do as the Bible says and behave as pilgrims and sojourners in this land. Instead like Lot before us we have pitched our tent towards Sodom because we like its excess and sin. Then we act all surprised when Sodom behaves like Sodom. Then we make up silly prayers to try and save the culture of Sodom, while blaming the people. To make matters worse we read fables and think they have some form of power or sway over God. We draw petulant little circles around our silly prayers to save the culture that perpetuates our sin. And we call it exceptionalism. As sinners we always have been rather exceptional. Stay away from carnal traps such as this beloved. Pray for the kingdom to advance, not the world.
Rev. Anthony.
