Piper: World Vision USA’s move trivialises Perdition and the Cross
John Piper looks to the godly example of Jim Packer when he responds to Christianity Today’s report that “World Vision’s American branch will no longer require its more than 1,100 employees to restrict their sexual activity to marriage between one man and one woman.”
Piper: “This is a tragic development for the cause of Christ, because it trivializes perdition — and therefore, the cross — and because it sets a trajectory for the demise of true compassion for the poor.
When J.I. Packer walked out of the 2002 synod of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, he was protesting its decision to ‘bless same-sex unions.’ His rationale is relevant for the developments at World Vision…”
– Read it all at Desiring God.
Related:
Pointing to Disaster — The Flawed Moral Vision of World Vision – Albert Mohler.
On World Vision and the Gospel – Russell Moore.
Franklin Graham Statement on World Vision – Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “My dear friend, Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse, would be heartbroken. He was an evangelist who believed in the inspired Word of God.”
The Road Less Traveled: The Faithfulness of J.I. Packer vs. the Capitulation of World Vision – Justin Taylor.
The Hole In Their Bible – Todd Pruitt. “Stearns says that World Vision is united around the Apostle’s Creed. But what profit is there in affirming belief in God while denying that which He has made so clear?”
And from the files: Are we stronger than He? – by David Short, published in ACL News, January 2005 (PDF file).
Photo: Canon David Short and Canon Dr J I Packer at St. John’s Vancouver – they both left the Anglican Church of Canada because of that denomination’s departure from obedience to the Scriptures.
Fred Phelps and the Anti-Gospel of Hate
“Fred Phelps became infamous due to one central fact — he was a world-class hater. He brought great discredit to the Gospel of Christ because his message was undiluted hatred packaged as the beliefs of a church.”
– Albert Mohler writes on the tragic legacy of the founder of ‘Westboro Baptist Church’.
Why Holidays are More Christian than Holy Days
“There are Holy Days and there are holidays and Christians support both, though they prefer holidays.
The word ‘holiday’ comes from Holy Day, but has been secularised. The Holy Day celebrates something of eternal, supernatural or religious significance. The holiday is just taking time off work. Holy Days are not always celebrated by taking time off – sometimes they are marked by fasting or feasting or wearing special clothing. However, some Holy Day celebrations do involve taking time off from work. …”
– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column.
The New Calvinism: A Triumph of the Old
“Theologically, the New Calvinism is mainly an extension of the broader rim of Old Calvinism that was expressed in Charles Spurgeon and populist Presbyterians like James Boice. In fact, Boice’s main target was the very evangelical audience that largely comprises the New Calvinism, and I often heard him predict and rejoice in the Reformed resurgence that blossomed shortly after his death. Instead of a theological shift, the New Calvinism represents a major sociological and ecclesiastical extension of Calvinism in general…”
– Rick Phillips at Reformation 21 begins a series of observations on the phenomenon known as ‘New Calvinism’.
The Dry behind the Fence
“For those with water on tap and a weekly pay cheque it is worth considering the food on our plates, the fresh produce of a morning breakfast and the meat and three vegetables to which we are accustomed. All of this while dressed in cotton, looking forward to the heat of summer giving way to winter’s woollen warmth.
While many of us enjoy the privilege of another evening meal, the food bowl of our nation and region is struggling. While we drink freely, the farmer is on the verge of buying drinking water. While we eat, people on the land are spending what they often don’t have to buy fodder for the stock they may be unable to keep…”
– It’s very tough on the land, and Rick Lewers, Bishop of Armidale, encourages us to pray for rain and to be mindful of the farmers.
Calvin on ‘testing all things’
“I have long known that 1 Thessalonians 5.21 was one of Luther’s favourite verses. At least it is one which he keeps quoting again and again – ‘Test everything; hold on to what is good’. It is an encouragement to avoid both credulity (accepting without testing) and censoriousness (in the sense of always criticising and never settling on and delighting in the truth).
Luther’s words have often stiffened my resolve to avoid the censorship of ideas just because they are different from my own or seem to clash with my present convictions. …”
– Dr. Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore Theological College, writes at Theological Theology.
A slippery Bible?
Adrian Reynolds (Proc Trust) on the discussion between Steve Chalke and Andrew Wilson, shown on Premier TV in the UK –
“This is actually a helpful episode, because Andrew draws out from Steve what he really thinks… This is liberalism and nothing more.”
Related:
- Steve Chalke or the repentant Rosaria? Whose religious experience? – Mike Ovey.
- Confidence in God and the word he has given us – Mark Thompson.
- Restoring Confidence In The Bible? Let’s Start With Confident Pastors, Seminary Professors and Church Leaders – Colin Adams.
Frozen my way
“In 1624 a cathedral Dean wrote: ‘No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.’ which ends with the famous lines ‘And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.’
The relationship of the individual with the community is one of the ongoing tensions of life. To what extent is the individual sovereign and how much is the community sovereign?…”
– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column for the Cathedral.
An appreciation of Gerald Bray
“Three decades ago, in January 1984, the Church Society’s theological journal, Churchman, was relaunched under new leadership. At a moment of crisis within the Anglican movement, when confusion reigned about the authority and interpretation of Scripture, some were beginning to ask: ‘When does neo-evangelicalism become simply a new form of the old liberalism?’ (CEN, 6 May 1983). The Church Society council turned to a young tutor at Oak Hill College, Gerald Lewis Bray, to take a lead as Churchman’s new editor…”
– Andrew Atherstone commemorates 30 years of editorial oversight of Churchman by Gerald Bray in this appreciation. (PDF file.)
Steve Chalke or the repentant Rosaria? Whose religious experience?
“Who’s the most unlikely convert you have ever met? Of course, given the ravages of sin in our hearts and minds any convert is nothing short of a miracle, a new creation that only the original creator can bring about. All the same, there are some whose place in life seems to make it especially hard to hear the gospel, and when someone in that position does become a Christian, one stands amazed at the power of God’s grace in encountering them and bringing them home to himself.”
– Mike Ovey at Oak Hill College asks whose religious experience counts.
John Piper’s pleas to Pastors about money
Excellent advice from John Piper about the danger of loving money.
An Atheist becomes an evangelist… sort of
“Last week, sitting in a little pub in Dorset and about to sip my pint of Doombar, I was approached by the local vicar. He’d officiated at my daughter’s wedding last year and knew I was a Green, although he probably doesn’t know I’m an atheist.
He asked me if I had heard of the Diocese of Salisbury’s initiative called ‘Carbon Fast’…
I’ve never thought of myself as an evangelist, but now it suddenly makes sense.”
– Jenny Jones writes in The Telegraph.
More on the Carbon Fast here. And some thoughts from the Apostle Paul here and here.
An Unspiritual Church
“‘Spirituality’ is a term of great confusion today. Both inside and outside Christianity, people use the word in ways quite different to the Bible. This not only confuses Christians in what to expect from the Spirit of God but also confuses non-Christians about the work of God’s Spirit and the teaching of Christianity. For when Christians, in our confusion, misrepresent God’s word it is no surprise that non-Christians do not understand our message.”
– In his weekly column for the Cathedral, Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen looks at what makes a church ‘Spirit filled’ – and what doesn’t.
Challenges Gospel Ministers can expect
“What challenges lie ahead? The race this new generation is called to run will include several unavoidable challenges that will demand the highest level of biblical fidelity and theological courage, matched to keen cultural sensitivity and a deep love for human beings caught in the maelstrom of late modernity. …”
– Albert Mohler identifies several key challenges for all who are called to preach Christ.
Why are you doing what you are doing?
“A friend sent me a postcard once from his holiday destination with the inscription ‘Why are you doing what you are doing?” I asked myself that question recently while I was sitting in a lecture at the Australian Command and Staff College at Weston Creek, where I am posted as chaplain…”
– Moore College graduate Peter Friend, inaugural Chaplain at the Australian Defence College, shares why he is doing what he is doing. (Good point for prayer too.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…