John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.
Happy Thanksgiving from the “lead pastors” of Bethlehem and our wives.
The four pastors met yesterday for about two hours and ended that meeting with overflowing expressions of thanks for our families and the family called Bethlehem and for the glorious work of Christ in saving us.
This photo, as you can see, was taken at Old Country Buffet where we feel absolutely dashing.
These are days of strange alliances in evil. That is what evil has always done. Remember how Pilate and Herod were adversaries until their common abuse of Jesus knit them together? “Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other” (Luke 23:12).
That’s the way it is with the bishop and the atheist. They are united in blasting the power of God and the cross of Christ as putting poor Christians in the pitiful position of permanent gratitude.
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This morning’s Bible reading put me over the edge. It said,
His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
they are brought low,and he perceives it not.
He feels only the pain of his own body,
and he mourns only for himself.
(Job 14:21-22)
In other words the day may come when I will feel so much pain that the honors and sorrows of my sons will mean nothing to me. So I think I better act now.
With overflowing admiration for all four of my sons, I want to celebrate the poetry of my eldest, Karsten Luke Piper, who teaches English at Minnesota West Community and Technical College . He will be doing a reading this Sunday evening (November 18, 5 PM) …
I plan to begin a short series of messages on new birth this Sunday. It will take us at least through Christmas, maybe longer. The title of the series will be “You Must Be Born Again” taken verbatim from John 3:7.
We will begin with “What Is Regeneration?” The other messages will deal with: Why is it necessary? How does it happen? What are the evidences that it has happened?
Christian Smith, professor of sociology at Notre Dame, wrote in the most recent Books and Culture a review of six books that deal with the new phenomenon of “adultolescence”—that is, the postponement of adulthood into the thirties. I want to relate this phenomenon to the church. But first here is a summary from Smith’s article of what it is and how it came about...
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The exhortation is a good one that we not minimize the sacrifice of the American women who have died in combat, even if we think their presence on the front lines is a powerful commentary on the cowardice of our male military and political leaders. It is not a commentary on the cowardice of women. I do not commend women in combat. But I commend the sacrifices of love in a cause of truth and justice.
My whole position assumes that competencies and character are not the criteria for who fights the enemy. Women may be more courageous than men in any given situation. They may have nobler vision. They may be smarter. That is not the issue. What God has written on our hearts and designed for ou…
If I were the last man on the planet to think so, I would want the honor of saying no woman should go before me into combat to defend my country. A man who endorses women in combat is not pro-woman; he’s a wimp. He should be ashamed. For most of history, in most cultures, he would have been utterly scorned as a coward to promote such an idea. Part of the meaning of manhood as God created us is the sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of our women.
Back in the seventies, when I taught in college, feminism was new and cool. So my ideas on manhood were viewed as the social construct of a dying chauvinistic era. I had not yet been enlightened that competencies, not divine wir…
A couple years ago, the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship passed the following resolution, “On the Ministry of John Piper.” I mention it here just so I can use the occasion to say something good about fundamentalists.
While recognizing much that is commendable in the ministry of John Piper, including his emphasis on a passionately God-centered life and his identity as a theological conservative, the FBFI has some genuine concerns about his doctrine and practice. John Piper teaches in his local ministry that miraculous sign gifts are continuing. Piper has also failed to separate from the Baptist General Conference which has deliberately chosen to tolerate the heresy known as open …
I have recorded a section of Jonathan Edwards' sermon on Romans 2:10. It lasts about seven minutes. The reason I recorded it is that I regard this section as the best thing I have ever read on the issue of varying degrees of reward and happiness and holiness in heaven. It is vintage Edwards. He has thought this through in an amazing way. It opens our eyes to the possibilities of heaven that we have never thought of before. If you want to read and ponder it for yourself, it comes from page 902 of the second volume of The Works of Jonathan Edwards.
O that more and more pastors and people would linger over the glorious truths of Scripture until they open like this.
When Jesus sends us to bear witness to him in the world, he does not send us out as dominant and strong, but as weak and seemingly defenseless in ourselves. The only reason I say “seemingly” defenseless is that it is possible that, since “all authority” belongs to Jesus, he might intervene and shut the mouths of the wolves, like he did the mouths of the lions that surrounded Daniel.
But that does not appear to be his intention...
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