John Piper Takes Eight Month Leave of Absence--sort of

News: John Piper is taking an eight-month leave of absence. Sort of.

I'm not sure what's going on here. It sounds noble, but there are some serious problems with Piper I've shared here over the years (a search of "Piper" will bring up previous articles I've written with documentation).

In summary, here is what has grieved me over the years. Piper has consistantly and unashamedly defended and offered X-Rated Cussing Pastor Mark Driscoll as well as Paul Trip (big on using the “s” word in the promotional video for DG conference this past year). MacArthur called him publically to task for this very thing. His response was defiance.

He has also offered Doug Wilson–a flat out heretic devoted to spreading the false gospel of Federal Vision heresy (“The Federal Vision brazenly defends justification by works; universal covenant grace to every child of believing parents, if not to every person sprinkled with water in the name of the triune God; an election unto grace that fails to save; baptismal regeneration; and the falling away of many who were once united to Christ”–Trinity Foundation).

He also is instrumental in advocating Reformemergents (my word for combining Reformed theology to the Emergent Church Movement) like Driscoll, Chandler, and Keller.

" In 30 years, I have never let go of the passion for public productivity. In this leave, I intend to let go of all of it. No book-writing. No sermon preparation or preaching. No blogging. No Twitter. No articles. No reports. No papers. And no speaking engagements. There is one stateside exception—the weekend devoted to the Desiring God National Conferencecombined with the inaugural convocation of Bethlehem College and Seminary in October. Noël thought I should keep three international commitments. Our reasoning is that if she could go along, and if we plan it right, these could be very special times of refreshment together."

So is it three events he's attending or one combo? And why is Noel seeming to dictate he should go, if doing all these types of events was a problem to begin with? I'm not following the logic here. The fact that he isn't "letting it all go" but still attending to a few public engagements seems to me that he can't give it all up. He has to keep his finger in the pie. Does he think he's that indespensible? Either let it "all" go or don't call it a leave of absence.

Working on his marriage is a good thing, no doubt. But Piper's lack of discernment, wisdom, and unteachablity when confronted with his consistant defense of Driscoll shows a far deeper problem. One that time won't help, but a truly teachable heart, humbled by God, will. Compromise of Truth for relationships isn't an option. I hope he learns that.