Apostates

Possessing the Treasure with Mike Ratliff. On Apostates: (from 1/30/12)

Excerpts:

It must have been about four or five years ago that I was in a discussion on this blog after I had written a piece about some of the confusing things coming from the ministry of Dr. John Piper and others. I made the comment to one of my friends that I thought that Dr. Piper needed to show the fruits of repentance for some of the things he had said and done or he would eventually be considered an apostate. Someone not in that conversation (a bottom feeder or troll??) jumped all over that statement and condemned me for calling Dr. Piper an apostate which he refused to consider because (according to him) an apostate is one who drops all pretense of Christianity and walks away from his faith. Using that reasoning those who continue to claim to be Christians even though they preach heresies such as Modalism (T.D. Jakes for instance) or deny the necessity of the Atonement and Justification by Faith alone and the reality of Hell (Rob Bell for instance) or those who insist on Christianity that is forever changing according to whatever society demands or wants (pragmatism) and insist that doctrine is not needed, but works is what God wants (Rick Warren for instance) are Christians along with the Roman Catholics, Mormans, and anyone else who claims that they are. 

Of course then there are those fellas (Steven Furtick, and James MacDonald for instance) who are all about erecting “cool” idolatrous worship which is really all about themselves and they sell this product to other wannabe preacherboys who want to be rich and famous like them. Do you see the common denominator in all this? Is any of what these people do about God and his glory? Is it about the edification of the Body of Christ through the genuine worship of God for his glory alone? No, it is about making money and becoming famous while fleecing the sheep who have been duped into thinking its all about the gospel. Have you noticed that these people never talk about the gospel without talking about money?

Where do apostates come from? According to God’s Word, some are revealed through persecution (Matthew 24:9-10; Luke 8:13). Notice these are not genuine Christians who went bad. No, they were never genuine to begin with. In 2 Timothy 4:10, for instance, Paul talks about Demas who forsook him because of his love for this present world. Demas had a worldly spirit. Apostates are more worldly-minded than they are concerned for the glory of God. In 1 John 2:19 the Apostle John makes it clear that Apostates were never genuine believers and their departure, whether that is to walk away from the faith or into a false form of Christianity (same thing), reveals their disingenuousness.

However, let us be clear. Genuine believers do not become Apostates. Here are some passages for your meditation......

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1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3 NASB)

Apostates are not simply those who walk away from Christianity and become irreligious or become a Muslim or Hindu or whatever. No, an Apostate can remain in an organized so-called “Christian Church” and be very religious and remain quite active in the “ministry” of deceiving as many people as he or she can. I mentioned it earlier in this post. Money is one of the motivating factors. There is also fame and celebrity. All of that feeds the ego of these people whose ministry is the source of their idolatrous ministry to themselves.

End quote. 

Please go here for the FULL article with several Scripture passages on what an apostate is.

You will note this was written over a year ago. What has happened with Piper, Warren, etc? Have they shown signs for repentance? No. Both Piper and Warren called for Christians to pray (and Warren included fasting) that God would give a good pope to the Roman Catholic Church! The pope's titles and roles are by definition absolute heresy and idolatrous. Such a call by these two men show they are apostate: they validate a blasphemous church that denies the Gospel that saves, denies Justification by faith alone, worships a dead woman, and denies the atonement as the full and perfect payment by Jesus on behalf of sinners, among other things (the list is quite long where RCC is in grave error). 

Moreover Piper also "clarified" his false gospel (in attempt to justify the salvation found in the Roman Catholic Church). Here's what he said in his "clarification":

The reason for saying, “when consistently worked out,” is because I think it is possible to inconsistently deny the truth of imputation while embracing other aspects of the gospel (blood bought forgiveness, and propitiation, for example), through which God mercifully saves.

I am thankful that God is willing to save us even when our grasp of the gospel may be partial or defective. None of us has a comprehensive or perfect grasp of it.
End quote.

Does that sound like a man who has repented and coming back to the Truth, or away from the Truth as he justifies embracing a false or defective gospel can save?

In contrast he is what solid Bible teacher and expositor John MacArthur said:"The gospel we present has eternal consequences. If it is the true gospel, it can direct men and women into the everlasting kingdom. If it is a corrupted message, it can give unsaved people false hope while consigning them to eternal damnation. This is not a trivial matter for theologians to speculate on. It is an issue every lay person must understand and get right. "

No, Piper is definitely going apostate as he has released himself from the constraints of accountability by  a local church and can now continue freely down the road of destruction.