John MacArthur says almost exactly what I've (and a few others) have been saying about Reformers especially like Piper and the Reformergents like Driscoll, Chandler, and Keller (he only names Piper, but I've been pointing out the problem with the men I just listed for the some of the same reasons). What a relief that he's seeing the same things I've been seeing.
Here's a bit of what I've said in the past on this blog:
March 26, 2008:
In regard to Driscoll's "Vintage Jesus" book, I stated: "Guess Driscoll gets a free pass because he mouths "TULIP" or "Reformed"? This is absolutely HORRIBLE!"
September 24, 2008:
There is plenty of information on Driscoll for biblical Christians to see how disqualified he is to be a pastor and a teacher of God's HOLY Word. For someone of Piper's fame to deliberately and continually endorse Driscoll (dubbed "the cussing pastor" by Donald Miller, author of "Blue Like Jazz") is wrong.
Yup, I said its wrong. It seems very few people are willing to be clear on this issue. But I don't see how either Piper or Driscoll are living up to the biblical standards of being an undershepherd.
1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."
Offering putrid, decaying garbage to feed HIS sheep and lambs with, is an absolute disgrace, regardless of the name or label used.
And remember: holding to TULIP doesn't give anyone a free pass. Saying some right things doesn't negate the continual error, either.
End quote.
Yup, I said its wrong. It seems very few people are willing to be clear on this issue. But I don't see how either Piper or Driscoll are living up to the biblical standards of being an undershepherd.
1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."
Offering putrid, decaying garbage to feed HIS sheep and lambs with, is an absolute disgrace, regardless of the name or label used.
And remember: holding to TULIP doesn't give anyone a free pass. Saying some right things doesn't negate the continual error, either.
End quote.
January 10, 2009:
Challenge: Test all teachers no matter their look (they often "look" nice, innocent, kind, wise), form (your elder, professor, teacher, conference speaker, author), or substance (they might say some biblical things, but are they omitting IMPORTANT things?).
Be ready to throw away the vessel through which error and hypocrisy comes. Be loyal to Christ Jesus and His Word above all people.
Do not play favorites with men who are hypocrits and cowardly (you know: those who secretly agree with you, then publically they side with the enemy).
Do not give them excuses.
Do not drink the filth they have contaminated the water with. Do not allow their position to be their free pass. Some of the most vile men are learned pastors!
Be ready to throw away the vessel through which error and hypocrisy comes. Be loyal to Christ Jesus and His Word above all people.
Do not play favorites with men who are hypocrits and cowardly (you know: those who secretly agree with you, then publically they side with the enemy).
Do not give them excuses.
Do not drink the filth they have contaminated the water with. Do not allow their position to be their free pass. Some of the most vile men are learned pastors!
Challenge: To be consistant is to strive to live by Scripture in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pray for a teachable heart and His protection.
Know that to be CONSISTANT means you confess your sins (1John 1) and you test yourself against Scripture.
Being consistant means being CONSISTANT WITH ALLL CHRISTIANS. Differing scales for favorite people is inconsistant and wicked; indeed it is the sin of favoritism (James 2). Its dishonest, disloyal, and unloving.
Pray for a teachable heart and His protection.
Know that to be CONSISTANT means you confess your sins (1John 1) and you test yourself against Scripture.
Being consistant means being CONSISTANT WITH ALLL CHRISTIANS. Differing scales for favorite people is inconsistant and wicked; indeed it is the sin of favoritism (James 2). Its dishonest, disloyal, and unloving.
End quote.
April 17, 2009 :
A note to you Reformers: as pointed out, Driscoll is MAN-CENTERED and pragmatic, wallowing in the flesh and the world, trivializing Christ and Scripture, full of arrogance, and merely pays lip service to his raunchy mouth. You cannot call what he does and says as Christ-honoring or of the Doctrines of Grace at all. I suggest you go read A.W. Pink's " Love Reproving" article if Scripture isn't enough for you.
But saying he's Reformed sure will give him a free pass for all his sin. Now THAT'S greasy "grace".
But saying he's Reformed sure will give him a free pass for all his sin. Now THAT'S greasy "grace".
End quote.
April 30, 2009:
This should not be surprising because Piper has been promoting the ECM for years now via Mark Driscoll the Goat Herder.
I've been saying for years now, much to the Calvinists' dismay, that John Piper IS liberal and IS a cancer within "Christianity".
John Piper continues to offer to his followers Emergent, Mystical, New Age, Foul-Mouthed men unapologetically. But because he and these men he promotes use the Secret Code, "TULIP", they all get a free pass while Charismatic mystics like Benny Hinn don't (however, there is a marriage between Charismaticism/Pentecostalism/ThirdWave and Calvinism via the Sovereign Grace Ministries of CJ Mahaney (throw in CARM's Matt Slick too since he claims two of the three Persons in the Trinity literally came to his conversion but he had no clue Jesus was resurrected for two years AFTER his conversion) so it just depends if you whisper the Code word or not in order to get a free pass.
All manner of excuses are given for what Piper has been boldly doing. Same with Driscoll.
Folks, WAKE UP. Anyone who rejects discernment and wisdom, and rather promotes false teachers and error, is not of HIM. Don't do what Piper does and pretend you can befriend and listen to such people without it staining you.
End quote.
Quote:
Is it any wonder that church members forget their vows of consecration, and run with the unholy in the ways of frivolity, when they hear that persons are tolerated in the pastorate who do the same? We doubt not that, for writing these lines we shall incur the charge of prudery and bigotry, and this will but prove how low are the tone and spirit of the churches in many places.
The fact is, that many would like to unite church and stage, cards and prayer, dancing and sacraments. If we are powerless to stem this torrent, we can at least warn men of its existence, and entreat them to keep out of it....
The fact is, that many would like to unite church and stage, cards and prayer, dancing and sacraments. If we are powerless to stem this torrent, we can at least warn men of its existence, and entreat them to keep out of it....
A little plain-speaking would do a world of good just now. These gentlemen desire to be let alone. They want no noise raised. Of course thieves hate watch-dogs, and love darkness. It is time that somebody should spring his rattle, and call attention to the way in which God is being robbed of his glory, and man of his hope.
Numbers of easy-minded people wink at error so long as it is committed by a clever man and a good-natured brother, who has so many fine points about him. Let each believer judge for himself; but, for our part, we have put on a few fresh bolts to our door, and we have given orders to keep the chain up; for, under color of begging the friendship of the servant, there are those about who aim at robbing THE MASTER.
End quote.
Robert Morey once rightly stated:
Quote:
The main problem is that many religious leaders today say one thing and teach another. If you ask Gregory Boyd or the other “Open View of God” heretics if they believe in the “omniscience” of God, they will say, “Yes.” Dumb Christians are satisfied at this point and go their merry way deceived and hoodwinked. But if you force them to define the term “omniscience,” they end up denying that God knows all things! They claim that God does not and cannot know the future.
Just because someone says, “I believe in sola scriptura,” does not mean he really believes in it. If he elsewhere says that the Bible is not the final authority in faith and practice, he has denied insubstance what he supposedly affirmed as a slogan. Heretics have always done this. What they affirm with the right hand is what they deny with the left hand. It does not matter what doctrine is at stake.
Just because someone says, “I believe in sola scriptura,” does not mean he really believes in it. If he elsewhere says that the Bible is not the final authority in faith and practice, he has denied insubstance what he supposedly affirmed as a slogan. Heretics have always done this. What they affirm with the right hand is what they deny with the left hand. It does not matter what doctrine is at stake.
End quote.
Indeed, we are seeing Piper's beloved "Christian Hedonism" at work. This is why its so horrific and NOT glorifying to God. The flesh can never please God. The pragmatism we see coming out of the Reformed circles defies the very same who claim "Sovereignty of God" and "Scripture Alone!". They do not really believe in Scripture alone.
John MacArthur says in “Ashamed of the Gospel” about approaches or methods:
p. 81 "Some will maintain that if biblical principles are presented, the medium doesn't matter. That is nonsense."
p. 89 “ …any end-justifies-the-means philosophy of ministry inevitably will compromise doctrine, despite any proviso to the contrary. If we make effectiveness the gauge of right and wrong, how can that fail to color our doctrine? Ultimately the pragmatist’s notion of truth is shaped by what seems effective, not by the objective revelation of Scripture."
p. 92-93 on pragmatism:"Do you see how the new philosophy necessarily undermines sound doctrine? It discards Jesus' own methods---preaching and teaching--as the primary means of ministry. It replaces them with methodologies utterly devoid of substance....In fact it avoids dogma or strong convictions as divisive, unbecoming,or inappropriate. It dismisses doctrine as academic, abstract, sterile, threatening, or simply impractical. Rather than teaching error or denying truth, it does something far more subtle, but just as effective from the enemy’s point of view. It jettisons content altogether. Instead of attacking orthodoxy head-on, it gives lip service to the truth while quietly undermining the foundations of doctrine. Instead of exalting God, it denigrates the things that are precious to Him. In that regard, pragmatism poses dangers more subtle than the liberalism that threatened the church in the first half of the century."
p. 81 "Some will maintain that if biblical principles are presented, the medium doesn't matter. That is nonsense."
p. 89 “ …any end-justifies-the-means philosophy of ministry inevitably will compromise doctrine, despite any proviso to the contrary. If we make effectiveness the gauge of right and wrong, how can that fail to color our doctrine? Ultimately the pragmatist’s notion of truth is shaped by what seems effective, not by the objective revelation of Scripture."
p. 92-93 on pragmatism:"Do you see how the new philosophy necessarily undermines sound doctrine? It discards Jesus' own methods---preaching and teaching--as the primary means of ministry. It replaces them with methodologies utterly devoid of substance....In fact it avoids dogma or strong convictions as divisive, unbecoming,or inappropriate. It dismisses doctrine as academic, abstract, sterile, threatening, or simply impractical. Rather than teaching error or denying truth, it does something far more subtle, but just as effective from the enemy’s point of view. It jettisons content altogether. Instead of attacking orthodoxy head-on, it gives lip service to the truth while quietly undermining the foundations of doctrine. Instead of exalting God, it denigrates the things that are precious to Him. In that regard, pragmatism poses dangers more subtle than the liberalism that threatened the church in the first half of the century."
1 comment:
AMEN to every bit of this. Thanking the Lord for MacArthur also!
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