About a decade ago, I followed John Piper and his ministry "Desiring God", with great joy.

I listened to sermon after sermon; purchased books for me, my darling husband, sons and sent them as gifts for friends and family. I shared links to their blog articles, retweeted their tweets, shared their materials over every social media platform I participated in, just to soak up and share what I thought at the time, was  entirely, soundly biblical wisdom.

Having decided to no longer be a Jonah or Moses when they were first called by God, I was hungry for the truth as I was coming to terms with the spiritual gifts God has given me (Faith, Exhortation, and Teaching).

With this hunger and resolve to have a heart more like Abraham and Isaiah, I wanted to obey God immediately—with joy, and use the gifts He so graciously bestowed upon me, for the purpose in which He gave them: For the encouragement and edification of those within the Body of Christ (Eph 4:11-16) without usurping God's authority of male headship within the church, and to go out to all the world preaching the Gospel, discipling young girls and women of all ages.

But in 2006, there was an uproar within the Christian community after John Piper extended an invitation to a young, filthy mouthed, unabashed preacher from Washington state, Mark Driscoll, to be one of the speakers at his Desiring God National Conference. And it didn't stop there. Though Piper was questioned and criticized (and by some, too harshly and unbiblically), he stood by his young protégé and extended two more invitations to speak at their national conference (2008 and 2009), though Driscoll proved to continue to get carried away by strange and unbiblical behavior like having pornographic divinations about other people's lives, and speaking harshly, including name calling to rebuke those within his church.

Unfortunately, Piper's lack of obedience to God's word in 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company ruins good morals.'" continued to perpetuate his decline in discernment as he extended an invitation to Rick Warren (2010) and Louie Giglio (2011) to be speakers at his Desiring God National Conferences as well. Then at Passion 2012, Pastor John Piper condoned and participated in Louie Giglio's practice of a meditative, mystical type exercise that closely mirrors the heretical "Lectio Divina" where Catholic priests believe that God directly speaks extra-biblical messages to those who engage in this mind-emptying practice (click link to listen to Todd Friel's "Wretched" radio program on this topic).

I share all this to show you how much Piper and his ministry "Desiring God" has, in some ways (not all), been led away from sola scriptura (Scripture alone), so that you might be more discerning about following their ministry (writings, sermons, etc.).

I know I can be easily deceived just like Eve, and desire all that feeds my flesh and makes it feel good through emotional and sentimental hogwash. With that said, it would be unwise for me personally, to continue to follow John Piper or his "Desiring God" ministry as he/they continue to engage and condone unbiblical practices.

I've found the teachings from John Piper and "Desiring God" (after testing it with God's word) requires more discernment than I currently possess. And since there  are other Christian teachers/ministries I can learn from (e.g., John MacArthur/Grace to You, Alistair Begg/Truth for Life, R.C. Sproul/Ligonier Ministries) that don't give me tired-head, I've chosen to only follow those who are clearly and faithfully following the Lord (Heb 13:7).

Basically, it's like this: When I sit down to relax and enjoy a good meal after a long, yet productive, hard work day, I'd prefer not to sit down to a meal I know will have lots of bones in it because I know there's a good chance I could be injured. I'd rather sit down to a meal where there are either no bones or just a few bones, so I can truly enjoy my meal and keep from serious injury. Sitting under John Piper's teaching is like the former, and sitting under guys like MacArthur, Begg and Sproul, is like the latter.

The upshot of this entire post is this: As God's holy and dearly beloved children, be obedient to God's Word, test everything against it, and never put any man (for none are infallible, except for Christ when He was here) on a pedestal, and lackadaisically assume popularity, size of ministry, etc., qualifies a solidly biblical teacher. Let nothing deter you from diligently being a student of the Word.

I love John Piper and view him as a brother in Christ who has unfortunately let his guard down, and has been deceived into believing that God's grace and patience is demonstrated through condoning sin in others...all in the name of "love"...by the world's definition.

I pray for him and I encourage you to pray as well. Pray for his ministry. Pray for all who follow him without question. And pray for yourself—that God would give you a discerning heart to love Him and His Word greater than anyone or anything else.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I'll share with you, what I believe is a well-meaning, yet dangerous post, written by John Piper's son Abraham; an ex-prodigal, who came home.

What's the very first word that comes to mind when asked, "What defines you?"

Husband? Wife? Father? Mother? Son? Daughter? Brother? Sister? Friend? Student? Minister? Volunteer? Sports? Hobbies? Cancer? Or simply...Christ?

If you asked what defined me 24 years ago, I would've said "work". If you asked me again a few years later, I would've said, "mother". If you waited another couple of years and asked me again, I'd say "Bible study teacher". And if for some reason you were still curious and asked me 10 years after that, I would've said "help-meet". If you asked me only five years ago, I'd tell you "diseased".

But if you asked me now, I'd tell you simply..."Christ".

As you can see, my life used to be discombobulated since Christ was not preeminent in my daily living. I neglected God's divine order of things: God first, spouse second, children (equally) third, loving and serving other Christians fourth, extended unbelieving family members fifth, and vocation last.

Don't get me wrong, being a good employee or employer, serving others well, being a student of the Word, being a husband, wife, mother, etc., in themselves are not sinful. But we can make them sinful by giving any of these things the preeminent position that only Christ is due; and God calls this, idolatry (Ex 20:3, Gal 1:10).

Sadly, I'm not the only Christian who's been deceived by what or who defines me. I'm seeing a destructive and heartbreaking trend within the church that affects our homes—too much focus on what we're doing: parenting, ministry, Bible studies, programs, and more; and too little focus remembering Who we're doing it for.

Making anyone or anything our main focus and goal in life is a pernicious activity and leads to:

• Husbands neglecting to love their wives as Christ loved His Bride—the Church by: sacrificing his time and desires so he can study the Word; being equipped to properly teach and lead her in sound doctrine so she's not deceived by her emotions or false teachings. This also enables him to lovingly rebuke her when necessary, for any ungodly behaviors or attitudes she exhibits; all the while, honoring her as the weaker vessel (Eph 5:25-28, 1 Peter 3:7).
• Wives refusing to biblically submit to their husbands in everything by honoring their husbands in private or public, resisting to nag him, and seeing his needs more important than hers with a cheerful, humble, respectful and loving attitude; seeking to do good to him and not harm all the days of his life (Eph 5:22-24, Col 3:18, 1 Peter 3:1-6, Proverbs 31:11-12).
• Both husbands and wives should diligently study the Scriptures, so together, they can effectively disciple their own children rather than expect the ministers at church, homeschool curriculum or co-op to do it. God provided ministers, teachers and other resources to come alongside parents to help us, not replace us. The commandment to train up children in the love and admonition of the Lord was given to parents (Deut 6:5-9; Proverbs 1:8-9, 3:11-12, 13:24, 23:12-14, 29:17).
• Children ignoring God's command by disrespecting and rebelling against parents (1 Sam 15:23a), foolishly and immaturely assuming in their short span of years, they know vastly more than their parents (Proverbs 23:22). Not to say, parents can't learn a thing or two from their children, but humility is fast becoming an endangered quality in young people. No parent is perfect, but to continually play the blame game for malcontent attitudes towards authority doesn't prove you're an adult, it only proves, like a toddler, you're still screaming, "Mine! I do it!" (Deut 12:28, Eph 6:1-3)

You see, when we allow our pride to prevail, our priorities get mixed up. Subsequently, we're led to the deception that what others say about us and/or what we think we've "accomplished" has earned us the right to blessings, honor and praise, rather than giving this due worship to Christ our King; making us idolaters who worship ourselves, our reptuation, our work, or position in life. Conversely, our "failures" don't and shouldn't define us either.

If you're at a place in your life, where you're like me a couple of decades ago or even just a five years ago, I urge you to do what I did; repent, open your Bible, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand all that God is trying to teach you through His Word (1 Cor 2:12-13). Then ask our Father to open the eyes of your heart so you can see every opportunity He's given you each day, to live it (Ex 16:4, 19-20; Eph 2:10).

A disturbing trend within Christendom is the focus and emphasis on Satan and his work in this world, instead of the supreme work of God and His powerful and glorious manifestation of Christ's life in His children (Gal 2:20, Col 1:27).

There's no biblical foundation for this strange, yet prevalent fascination with satanical work and the powers of evil which have caused many Christians to include in prayer...yes, prayer communications with Satan, i.e., "Dear Lord, help _____ as they suffer. And Satan, we bind and forbid you to..."

Our focused thoughts and meditations are supposed to be on the Almighty and what He has done for us through Christ—all that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Accordingly, our minds are to be captivated by Christ and His magnificence, not Satan and his wickedness (John 16:33, 2 Cor 10:5).

Two of the main reasons I believe Christians are enslaved and crippled by fear rather than soar in faith (Is 40:31) is because:

1. There's too much concentration that the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion seeing whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8), instead of focusing on the first part of 1 Peter 5:8 which says, "Be sober-minded; be watchful". Rather than read God's Word in context, we ignore the powerful exhortation from our Father and spotlight our enemy's activities, giving special attention to the works of darkness and our emotions.
2. We're prideful and unrepentant. We prefer to blame all our sins and the sins of others on Satan, rather than consider that Satan is probably not even involved in our lives because we sin so well without him. We forget the greatest enemy we have is within ourselves and not outside of us (cf. Romans 7:15-25).

Our pride, self-righteousness and sense of entitlement causes us to believe all of us have every and/or any spiritual gift we desire, and power to do whatever we deem fit and necessary. Rather than take pride and boast in Christ alone, we take pride and boast in the title "Christian". In doing so, we foolishly forget the one who called us to Himself also called us to humility, sacrificial love and slaves to righteousness (Lk 10:20).

It is not fitting for a child of God to boast in what we think we can do, but our boasting should be in the One who freed us from the captivity of our depraved minds and our flesh's sinful desires; living by the power of Christ and the will of God the Father, who does all things in accordance with His Word (Jer 9:23-24, 1 Peter 4:11).

In the passage below, we see that Satan is flustered because he is bound by God Almighty alone and must have God's permission to work any evil against God's people, and even so, is limited by God to the degree of affliction that he can impose upon one of God's chosen.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have You not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

~Job 1:6-12

Again, God reveals to us how even the archangel Michael, who sees the face of God (which we do not) and has greater power than us, dealt with the devil.

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ....Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

~Jude 1:3-4, 8-10

Finally, Luke records what can happen to foolish and presumptuous people who have no true faith in God, nor do they humbly submit to His authority, but arrogantly desire to appropriate Jesus' all-powerful and holy name to do their bidding.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Acts 19:13-16

Rather than cast out the evil spirit, these foolish and arrogant sons of Sceva experienced a terrible and frightening reverse type of exorcism. Instead of commanding the spirits, they were overcome by them (Proverbs 16:8).

Listen to this short 2-minute clip by Pastor John MacArthur regarding such practices by false teachers and preachers and sadly, even true children of God who have been seduced to believe they can pronounce any judgment or command over any spirit—without any authority; therefore without any power to make anything they say come to pass.

I share all this not as one over any of you, or better than any of you, for there was a time I too, was seduced by my pride and false teaching to pray the same way. But now I shudder to think that I used to include Satan in my prayers, rather than pray to the LORD Almighty alone, who graciously and mercifully hears and listens to my pleas (Ps 116:1-2).

Satan doesn't listen to me or you simply because we are Christians. None of us have any authority or power over Satan or his demons without positively knowing we've been given that authority directly by Jesus Himself. Only Christ the risen Lord has all authority and power to command evil spirits, and He appointed only 14 apostles (including Judas Iscariot, Matthias who took Judas' place and Paul) and various others while He was still here (Lk 9:49-50) to have authority over evil spirits.

I assure you, neither Satan nor his demons are afraid of me. And they're not afraid of you either. But they do shudder at the presence of the Almighty and obeyed the few whom Christ gave authority. And because of God's great mercy and protection on His often foolish children, the demons cannot do to us what they did to the sons of Sceva who were not believers.

However, let us be careful not to give way to our pride and continue this blasphemous practice because God keeps us even while we play the fool. If we claim to love the Lord Jesus, and truly abide in Him, it ought to pierce our hearts and wrench your souls to know that believers who entertain this vile practice, give cause for God's holy name and word to be reviled.

So next time you think Satan is "attacking" you, do what God says, resist him (James 4:7) and turn to your Heavenly Father and ask Him for His protection, guidance and binding of Satan, that is of course, if it is His will.

So let's recap. In the past nine years: I've had 4 surgeries; 6 ER visits; 5 colonoscopies and endoscopies; 4 hospital admits; multiple biopsies of my stomach and esophagus; one biopsy of skin and muscle (from my thigh); one biopsy of my liver; countless MRI's of my brain and spinal column; multiple CT Scans, sonograms, x-rays and other procedures; one MRA of my brain;  a cholecystectomy due to sepsis; partial hysterectomy due to enlarged uterus with polyps and menorrhagia; lumbar surgery with a double discectomy and spinal fusion; cervical spine surgery with triple discectomy and spinal fusion.

Neck brace that keeps me safe.

Over the course of these eight years I've been diagnosed with: NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease); hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol and high triglycerides); eosinophilia; RA (rheumatoid arthritis), but only for three years because the Lord chose to completely heal me of that disease overnight; kidney stones; torn calf muscle due to a 3.5 hour charley  horse; torn masseter muscle in my left jaw; torn tendon in my right elbow; severe Vitamin B12 and D deficiencies where my body no longer absorbs, stores or metabolizes these vitamins through foods and sunlight (vitamin D) in a usable form for my body to function normally. All this prevents my organs and soft tissue (muscles, tendons, discs, etc.) to be weak and easily worn or torn.

I have to get my blood drawn and tested every three months (or sometimes more often whenever I get "sick"). I also have to daily take large dosages of vitamins, enzymes and prescription medications and make sure I get a lot of rest in order to keep me alive and functioning as "normal" as possible. I exercise regularly and eat well, and all my doctors (I have many) have told me that there's really nothing more I can do to help my situation. This is just the way my body works...or more accurately...doesn't work.

My bride of Frankenstein scar.

Multiple doctors have told me multiple times that they were afraid I as going to die and there was nothing they could do to stop it because they can't find the cause. This is when I tell them that I know I'm dying...and so are they. I may die sooner than some, but we're all going to die one day because every human being who has lived, is living, or will live on this planet (except for Christ) is infected with the most deadly and nearly incurable disease—sin, that is, the inability to be holy by perfectly keeping and obeying God's law and meeting His standard of perfection.

We live in a sin-filled world because it's inhabited by sin-filled people, with some who are aware of this deadly disease, and few that have come to know the one and only Cure; faith in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.

Throughout this journey of health crisis, I've learned more about God's grace, mercy, immeasurable love and compassion and His exceeding kindness toward the least deserving and most wretched person I know...me.

Some have said this isn't fair and others have asked why God would allow such horrible things to happen to me.

To say this isn't fair or to question God's allowance for what we deem to be "bad" or "evil" is to assume two erroneous thoughts:

1. That I'm a good person and deserve good things (Rom 3:10);
2. That God owes me (Job 41:11).