John Eldredge’s Dangerous Theology Part 4
Declaring, Decreeing, and Healing
In this final installment, I will summarize other theological positions Eldredge holds. This will be a long post. You’ve been warned.
Because there is so much going on inside the prayers, Eldredge writes, the assertions and claims he makes, and the “inner healing” therapy he promotes, I would encourage you to do some of the research on your own. Eldredge’s Ransomed Heart Ministry is vast, stretching into men’s and women’s groups across the nation, practicing these ideas and prayers. From my own experience and from reading and watching videos of Eldredge, I have concluded that he should be avoided.
This post will cover:
The Daily Prayer
Warfare Prayer
Inner and Physical Healing
The Daily Prayer
The Daily Prayer is one that Eldredge has used for decades. He writes, “Over the past thirty years I have progressed from one form of daily prayer to another” (112). There is nothing wrong with that, and we can learn from the Bible the various types of prayer that are taught and then adjust as we mature and grow. However, as you may have gathered by now, this is not where Eldredge is going. (For a full reading of the types of prayers Eldredge promotes, go here to his website.)
Aligning Prayer
To begin the Daily Prayer, Eldredge believes we need first to use “aligning prayer” (112). This means we have to bring ourselves back into alignment with Jesus, “taking our place in him, and his kingdom, drawing upon his life and the power of his work for us” (112). I’m not sure where he gets these ideas. There is not a single biblical foundation to believe this. I would ask Eldredge some clarifying questions:
If true, how do I know when I’m out of alignment?
When did I get out of my place with him and his kingdom?
Is it a mental decision? Did I consciously know it was happening?
Does something happen when I sleep that puts me out of alignment?
When does it exactly happen from one day to the next?
According to Scripture, we have been made alive by his grace, raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4-10). This is not our own doing, but God’s. How do we “undo” this to the point we have to pray our way back into this? Paul wrote that we have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God in Colossians 3:3. How do I come out from that hiding on my own? What are the steps that led me out of alignment? Eldredge does not explain.
As Eldredge practiced different prayers, he said that he and his wife “needed more horsepower” (114). Again, this shows a deep disbelief in the sufficiency of Scripture to explain principles for life and godliness. Regardless, Eldredge doubles down on the fact that we must realign ourselves to God, repeat words so we don’t wander, but remain “utterly present to it” (115). I wave a red flag of burden and false teaching.
Renouncing Idols and Gods
He adds that we should also take the time to renounce other gods and idols during this time. This is nonsense. If we have given ourselves to Jesus in faith and we have been forgiven of sin, why would we ever think we need to confess idolatry daily? It is at the very time of our repentance and faith that we make the renunciation to follow anything else. On the other hand, if one finds oneself in the throes of idolatry, repentance is an absolute necessity. Not so that we realign ourselves in our position with Christ and His kingdom, but so that we are humble before the one true God, pure before Him, and are worshipping Him alone.
Invoking the Blood of the Lamb
Eldredge believes we need to invoke the Blood of the Lamb over our homes, families, places, and spaces, and stand in agreement with God’s Spirit (115). The Bible does not teach that we invoke the Blood of the Lamb over anything. The Blood of the Lamb is for the forgiveness and cleansing of the sins of mankind. There are multiple references regarding the Blood of the Lamb, what it is, and what it does, the mystery and wonder of it, but none of them include the idea of praying the blood or invoking the blood over anything.
Praying to Each Member of the Trinity
After we supposedly realign ourselves to Jesus, we “begin to relate to each member of the Trinity … you have a relationship with each one in unique ways. You need certain things from the Father, from Jesus, and from the Holy Spirit,” says nowhere in the Bible. Eldredge does not even attempt to back up this assertion (116). To be honest, I have never even heard of such a thing before. This is teetering on three gods theology, and Eldredge provides no biblical context for this teaching.
Receiving Daily the “Fullness of His Work”
Eldredge continues his long and exhausting prayer by making sure he asks God to apply all the work and triumph of His “cross, death, blood, and sacrifice”. Eldredge says, “I receive it with thanks and give it total claim to my spirit, should and by, my heart, mind, and will” (117). He daily receives Jesus as his Life, receives all the work of the resurrection, and takes his place in Jesus’ resurrection and life.
What is the purpose of this? If it is to remember the wonderful things God has done, that’s one thing. However, Eldredge asserts that people “wonder why God doesn’t come through for them more when they haven’t even begun to take advantage of and enforce the massive things he has already provided” (117). My goodness, what a burden to place on a believer. Eldredge talks a lot and provides no biblical context for such things, leaving the reader lost and burdened, hoping to get things right so that maybe, just maybe, God will come through for them more.
Proclaiming, Invoking, and Enforcing
Finally, Eldredge shows his stripes as to why he prays this way. He believes he is enforcing the Kingdom of God. He believes we must bind and banish foul and unclean spirits. Paul says Jesus sid this then when he “disarmed the rules and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:15). God also has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:15). Eldredge has a chapter devoted to this called “Bold Authority”. It might need its own post, but in summary, Eldredge teaches that we share the same authority as Christ and that He gave us that authority. Eldredge misuses the Bible to uphold this claim by citing Matt. 8:5-10; the Lord’s Prayer in Matt. 6:9-11, and a portion of the sending of the 72 in Luke 10:19.
The claim that we have the same authority as Christ fails on many levels.
We are not Christ, and equality with Christ does not mean we are the same, neither in personhood nor deity. This could lend itself to a “little gods” theology if taken to its nth degree.
This is a me-centric theology that puts the focus of God’s intentions for Himself and mankind on the creature, not the Creator.
The equal authority ideas come from a faulty and misinterpreted view of Scripture. If indeed we had the same authority, we would be seeing healings and miracles left and right. What is more, if we were gifted with that authority and could do more than Jesus did, someone would have raised themselves from the grave by now.
These ideas lead to people proclaiming, declaring, and decreeing with no effect, as seen in the most extreme and publicized version of this at Bethel Church in Redding, California. A couple who were on the worship team had a toddler who sadly passed away. Because of these theological heresies like what Eldredge is promoting, none of the decreeing, demanding, worshipping, proclaiming, or yelling raised that sweet baby from the dead.
She was in a morgue for six days.
Calling on Angels
To wrap things up, Eldredge claims that based on Hebrews 1:14, we should call on the help of angels. He has a prayer for that, too, on page 120. There is no direct teaching in the Bible that we are to pray to angels.
If you want to read the Daily Prayer and its extended version, head on over to Wild at Heart.
Warfare Prayer
In this chapter, Eldredge continues to fail in his attempts to use Scripture properly. He misuses and abuses the text and makes up most of his claims about warfare. He takes the truth in the Bible, i.e. we are in a spiritual battle, to create a form of warfare prayer not seen in the Bible.
Eldredge asserts, “You have everything you need to live a life free from Satan’s assaults” (167). Yes, His name is Jesus. However, Eldredge wants you to believe you must do many things to ensure you are not being attacked, and if you are, he will provide you with something else to do to get the Devil off your back or out of your mind.
He bases his claims on Scripture, but then offers unbiblical remedies and processes to accomplish whatever he thinks is happening.
For example, Eldredge quotes James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Eldredge does not take his own advice, found in this very book, about considering the full context of a passage. This passage in James is not about spiritual warfare. It is about deep, heart-wrenching repentance before God! Go check it out. Context matters, and Eldredge disregards this for his purposes.
Eldrege teaches that we must ask Jesus questions about our circumstances and then listen to see what He says. He claims that “There is almost always some reason the demons think they have a right to be there, it might be sin, but it might be something else” (170). Then we must renounce what we find out from Jesus. I have yet to find a chapter and verse for this claim.
To make matters worse, Eldredge teaches that when Jesus commanded the demon, Legion, in Luke 8, to come out of the man, Jesus’ first time around was insufficient. Eldredge said, “Apparently, his first command was not fully effective, so Jesus then demands to know its name” (173). One, what in the world? Two, Eldredge is going to use this as a way to say that we need to find the name of the foul spirit and banish them. Once again, Eldredge takes a descriptive text about Jesus and makes it a prescriptive text about spiritual warfare. He really should take a Hermeneutics 101 course.
The whole chapter is a hot mess of made-up demonology as well as exhausting and unbiblical ideas around spiritual warfare. I simply cannot comment on everything.
Friends, I lived this way for over a year. I was so beaten down by this kind of prayer that I never felt safe, never felt free, and assumed there was always more work to be done. This is not the way of Jesus.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).
“Since therefore the children are in flesh and blood he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ… and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2: 8, 13-15).
Inner Healing
I wrap up this long and exhausting look at Eldredge’s book with his wild ideas around inner healing. I hope you’re still with me. Go ahead and get that second cup of coffee.
As you read this book, you will get to the inner sanctum of what Eldredge teaches. He believes this teaching is “the most beautiful form of prayer” (185). He considers his form of prayer the most beautiful? Even more beautiful than the prayer of Jesus? Wow.
Eldrege assumes his readers do not have the same knowledge about the complexities of the human psyche, and maybe they do not. I mean, Eldredge is a licensed therapist, but he is not a theologian or scholar. Because of this, these two worlds collide and cause massive destruction.
He starts with the idea that we are multiple parts: a body, a mind, and a soul or spirit. The Bible does speak of the human having a body and a soul, but the ancient Jews did not separate the two as the Gnostics and Greeks did. The body, mind, heart, and soul were one and the same.1 The idea of separating the person into body, mind, soul/spirit, came from the Greeks. This is unlike the Hebrew worldview of humans. We are not fractured into parts that could be influenced apart from one another. To the Hebrew, the heart/soul is the totality of the person. They work in tandem, one being the same as the other.
In the same way, we are not fractured into parts that might need to do different things to grow and be like Christ, or that would need different prayers and declarations to be free and/or healed. We are a singular personality created in the image of God and dying in the curse of sin. Eldredge teaches that our spirit is “the life breath of God within you, giving life to both body and soul” (187). Not in the Bible. Then he writes, “Your soul is comprised of a number of capacities, including heart, mind, and will. Your spirit is the sunshine; your soul the stained-glass window it shines through” (187). This is a pseudo-profundity. Eldredge is saying something that sounds profound… but is not.
He says that the ancients in the Old and New Testaments addressed the heart and soul as distinct entities. They may have addressed them, but it was because it was a description of the totality of a person, not the fractured parts of someone. Because he believes and teaches this, it leads to the idea that we have work to do on wounded places in our hearts and souls. They take different care. I guess because the death, burial, resurrection, forgiveness of Jesus, and the indwelling Spirit just aren’t enough.
Since Eldredge has laid the foundation that you are multifaceted parts of yourself, now we can do the work of healing prayer. Healing prayer is “always to facilitate the presence of Jesus into the specific places of damages. Whatever else might be involved, it always begins with, ‘Jesus, come into this and heal” (191). Again, I do not stand against someone going to good, healthy, godly counsel to talk through past trauma and carefully study the Word of God for healing, but what Eldredge is teaching is simply made up.
I have to skip the glaring hermeneutical issues again and get to the weird parts. Eldredge says things like, “Inviting the heart of God into union with your heart will bring out relief you did not know was possible” (192). I’m pretty sure the Bible is clear on what relief we gain from believing in God. But that is not good enough for Eldredge. He teaches that we must invite Jesus into the wound, or trauma, or brokenness, whatever you want to call it, and he will answer. He claims that Jesus might take you back to that memory and show you around (193). He also says we “look to Jesus to guide us through the process in very intimate ways” (194). Again, not in the Bible anywhere. It is about inviting Jesus into the memory, forgiving anyone in the memory, renouncing the things we believed from the memory (agreements), and then inviting the presence of God into that for healing and love (194).
Not in the Bible.
He also claims you might need to renounce demons because they will “take advantage of the weakness until they are commanded to leave” (195). This teaches demonic possession of believers. Therefore, you have to get in there and break all those agreements to be free. Good luck! Jesus isn’t strong enough until you invite Him in. According to Eldredge, each of these steps “clears the way toward the goal — the healing of the wound” (195).
To add salt to the wound, you also have to develop your ability to hear from God (as previously discussed). He goes on to teach that we ask Jesus to come into all our brokenness (something he says is different than wounds) and we ask Jesus what he is saying to that broken place. Then you listen for Jesus, and sometimes He will ask you a question.
I believed all of this. This is why I say it is a never-ending game of “Just how broken and wounded am I?” It doesn’t end. There is always something else the “voice” will want you to discover, some new wound found deep in your psyche. There is a reason that Paul wrote, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:5-6). He also said, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7).
The New Testament texts are packed with ways to live in holiness and freedom. Eldredge disregards all of it. The Bible is sufficient to show us the God who has loved us, forgiven us, healed us from all trauma and heartache, and set in us His Spirit. What Eldredge is teaching is dangerous, wildly subjective, and creates an open mind to all sorts of demonic influence.
Eldredge actually has it backward. He is teaching that an open mind to the voice of God (not taught in Scripture) is a truth that will set you free. He fails to teach that Satan’s primary tactic is deception! It’s not agreements, feelings, or memories. It is deception. It is anything that sets itself up against the “knowledge of God” that becomes a stronghold, as Paul describes in 2 Cor. 10:5. Why would we believe we could open our minds to hear a voice we have difficulty knowing is from God in the first place and then call it God because it “spoke” to us?
As you turn the pages, your eyebrows will furrow more and more. It is wildly unbiblical, psychologically damaging, emotionally draining, and spiritually deceptive. Paul warned Timothy, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing” (1 Tim. 6:3-4).
This is the conclusion of my four-part series -
Stay far and away from John Eldredge, Ransomed Heart Ministries, and any type of ministries of the same.
May God give you knowledge, wisdom, and depth of insight as you worship, pray, and study.
See “Hebrew Mind vs. The Greek Mind: The Nature of Man” by Brad Scott.