John Piper to move to Knoxville area while he works on his writing

John Piper will still be warning sinners, just not as Bethlehem Baptist pastor

During Piper’s tenure, Bethlehem grew from a one-campus congregation of nearly 300 members to a church with three Twin Cities locations, a seminary and close to 5,000 attendees.

All-Church Annual Meeting

Discussion

[Huw] Nobody is born with trust. Therefore it is necessary to receive it or be supplied with trust.
I completely agree with this statement. My question is how do you understand the sinner to receive or be supplied with trust/faith. Apart from a universalist position, there are some who are supplied with trust and some who are not. On what basis or by what means are some supplied with trust while others are not?

Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?


On what basis or by what means are some supplied with trust while others are not?

Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians explains that it is by the predetermination of the Father. That the Father has selected those that would be called sons or as some translations have it, to adoption. Those that received Messiah, to them is given power to become the sons of God ( Elohim) and which are born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of Elohim. (John)

In short the recipients are the heirs, the elect according to the good pleasure of the will of the Almighty.

In a study of the word judgment I became aware that judgment is the passing of a sentence. It can either be to damnation or salvation. With this knowledge the verse in Romans becomes illuminated. ” O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his ”judgments”, and his ways past finding out”.

We know that the Eternal chooses, but the why is unsearchable.

I know that the Eternal searches the depths of our hearts and that our thoughts are known to Him before they enter our heads and so He knows the sincerity of all that we think, say and do. With that in mind I have something to say that I hope does not embarrass you Chip. My hope and prayer is that one day we shall meet and when we do it will be with tears of joy and love in the Holy Spirit.

Blessings, H.

I sincerely hope that your outrage turns to curiosity and that you do some research into this matter. You owe yourself that much, because he is not an angel of light.

The subject is vitally important, the subject is a matter of life or death, because blind guides lead those that follow them into the pit. The easiest and most simple way of detecting blind guide is this. Do they glorify mankind in their doctrine, do they insist on conditions for salvation? or is mankind totally excluded to the glory, honor and praise of the Eternal Father, the Eternal Son and the blessed Spirit of Grace.

[Huw] Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians explains that it is by the predetermination of the Father. That the Father has selected those that would be called sons or as some translations have it, to adoption. Those that received Messiah, to them is given power to become the sons of God ( Elohim) and which are born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of Elohim. (John)
Do you believe this predetermination to adoption is irresistable? In other words, can the elect refuse their election?

Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?

We are aware that Messiah died for a chosen people. The names of who can be found in the Lambs Book of Life. The people are presented to the Eternal Son by the Father. There is a condition here. The people have been sold as slaves to sin and must be bought back. A price must be paid. The Son pays the price by becoming the propitiation for the sins of the promised people.

That the Son would become flesh and in that flesh would become sin so that the Father could and would punish sin in Him.

Therefore there is a promise and that promise was made by the Father to the Son. This means the Eternal Father must keep His promise to His Son. This in turn means He will keep His promise and exert His power to perform His perfect will in that promise.

If a man were able to resist his calling and election it would mean the will of man is greater than the will of the Eternal Father. And that the Eternal Father could not keep the promise He made to His Son. (I despise the thought).

Psalm 2:8, Rmns 7:14, 6:20. John 8:34, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Rev 21:27, 1 Peter 2:9, Rms 9:19.

The references are not in order, because I wrote the post and then went looking for references. I don’t normally include references as I expect people to recognize Scripture when they read or hear it. But, there is a danger that those that read my post are not using the same translations.

Those that are called to the service in Messiah will never be able to walk away. Jeremiah was so fed up of his mission to the people that wished he was a motel keeper!

I say this with utter shame, but as a babe in Messiah I acted as a babe. Complete with screams, hungers and everything else a babe does. As an infant I acted as an infant ( to much shame to admit). I have turned my back, with a promise never again to speak of His mercy, grace and truth. To no avail I’m glad to say. Eternal life means just that.

Blessings, H.

Anyone using an NIV will have difficulty in checking what I have said is according to scripture. I wondered why you people didn’t recognize what I was saying.

I think we have recognized what you are saying here. We just reject it as being incompatible with what God says in his word.

I think you are confusing the conditions for election (unconditional) with the conditions for justification and salvation (which the Bible plainly declares to be faith in Christ). Your comments about “trust in/trust of” are a legitimate point of discussion, but it is not determinative as you suggest; the answer to the question is contextual. It is not disputed that Christ was faithful to God, and that his faithfulness is necessary for salvation. It should not be disputed that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation. Salvation is given to those who believe. It is not given to those who do not believe. To say such is to say what Christ himself said, and we should not complain about repeating Christ’s words. It does not glorify man at all to acknowledge that man can do nothing. He can only trust what someone else did for him.

Your position on reprobation creates an unjust God who condemns people without cause. God does not condemn people who aren’t sinners. In Scripture, the cause of condemnation is unbelief.

You have abandoned the church and misused Scripture (“come out from among them”) to justify it. It may be true that “that there was something different going on in me, than was going on in them,” but that’s not necessarily a good thing. That could be a warning to you. One of the biblical roles of a church is accountability both in life and doctrine. In other words, a church serves to keep from believing wrongly and from living wrongly. When we abandon that, we abandon one of the means that God the Spirit uses to sustain and grow us. Based on what you are saying here, it seems that you believe wrongly, failing to take all the Scriptures into account.

You are, in essence, a hyper-Calvinist in the mold of Harold Camping in some respects.

In another strange twist, you say, “But, there is a danger that those that read my post are not using the same translations.” I am not even sure which translation you are using since you wrote, “ ‘the soulical human receiveth not those of the Spirit of Elohim: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually judged.” It seems like you pick and choose a bit.

You are taking the historical positions of orthodoxy and calling them disgusting, carnal, man glorifying, etc. That does not seem to be a wise thing to do. I would urge some caution and some interaction with those who are well-versed in these things. Separating yourself from such input leads to bad things.

Huw, 2 things:

1. I would never use an NIV, so that is not the basis for not agreeing with you.

2. What you are promoting seems to be eternal justification along the lines of what primitive baptists hold to.

So I ask you this question:

Are there people who die in unbelief (athiests, muslims, buddhists, hindu, etc) but will open their eyes in glory because of the faith of Jesus?

1 Kings 8:60 - so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.

Are there people who die in unbelief (athiests, muslims, buddhists, hindu, Baptists , methodits, roman catholics, mormons, JW’s sects, cults and apostate denominations etc) but will open their eyes in glory because of the faith of Jesus?

Absolutely, 100%, definitely zero oppurtunity….NO.

That you could take what I said and turn it into heresy is beyond my comprehension.

After reading this thread and many others by Huw, I advise members of this forum to not engage him except to warn him on ground of Titus 3:10, and 1 Timothy 4:7. I’m not a moderator of SI. I’m just speaking as a Christian here.

Warn him:

1. To begin faithfully attending a faithful local church and put himself under the authority and preaching of the leadership there, per Greg’s point.

2. That he cease twisting words and acting divisively.

I’m aware that even this comment could be construed to be against the comment policy of SI by some by focusing on personalities rather than the topic at hand, and I’ll be happy to remove it if moderators wish or they may do it themselves.

I know you mean well and bless for your misguided comments. My sincere hope and prayer is that ”the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”.

If ever you feel like questioning my doctrine as have have done with Piper please feel free to do so. Do it in bite size chunks.

Have you ever noticed what this site is called? Why do you think that is?

[Huw]

Whether you accept that or not is of no consequence to me, but it might have eternal consequences for you.

That is that supposed to mean? If Paul doesn’t accept your claim to be a Christian, then he’s not saved either?

Well, if we turn that around on you and say that if you don’t accept Piper’s claim to be a Christian, then maybe it’s because you’re not either, no matter what you felt happen to you.

I do know what John said: 1 John 3:14 4 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

So, if you’re calling someone who is most certainly a brother (John Piper) then maybe you’re not a brother.

I had a guy in our church for a few years who went around comparing himself to everybody else’s devotion to God. He would “anathama” just about everyone who didn’t measure up to his judgment. It was a good day when he left the church.

[Shaynus]

After reading this thread and many others by Huw, I advise members of this forum to not engage him except to warn him on ground of Titus 3:10, and 1 Timothy 4:7. I’m not a moderator of SI. I’m just speaking as a Christian here.

Warn him:

1. To begin faithfully attending a faithful local church and put himself under the authority and preaching of the leadership there, per Greg’s point.

2. That he cease twisting words and acting divisively.

I’m aware that even this comment could be construed to be against the comment policy of SI by some by focusing on personalities rather than the topic at hand, and I’ll be happy to remove it if moderators wish or they may do it themselves.

Thank you, this should be coming from the Moderators….to say that the condition of faith is false doctrine and makes Piper an unbeliever is outrageous and anti-Gospel.

I’m sure the guy that left you all was either under law and trying to bring everyone else under law or he was a child of the Eternal. If the former is the case then well done for forcing him out. If the latter is the case then order a good supply of mill stones, because if he is harmed in anyway you all have the guilt upon you.

If you think for one moment that I make judgments at the drop of a hat and just type whatever comes into my mind then you have no idea of what a life of service means. Do you understand how difficult it is to warn people about false doctrine, false teachers and blind guides. I’ll tell you what happens….go read you post.

What is it that ”a condition of faith” means. Before you tell me I’ll tell you for certain. It doesn’t appear in the scriptures.

Now if you want to form a doctrine around your ”condition of faith” you’ll be a false teacher. The only reference I can find for this is, ”Loving the prophet (Mohammed) is a condition of faith”. Well done that man!

I do have a love of the brethren and when I meet them they feel that love. If anyone questions the honor, glory, praiseworthiness or true worship of the Eternal and attempt to give any part of it to humanity then I will not call that man brother. Here I stand, Elohim help me.