John Piper, Robert Lewis Dabney, & Doug Wilson
Three Articles That Help You Understand John Piper

#1 – Who Is Robert Lewis Dabney
What’s So Bad about Robert Lewis Dabney? by Daniel Kleven

“What could possibly be so bad about Dabney? I suspect that very few people have actually read for themselves the kinds of things Dabney said. If they had, I simply cannot imagine them giving him the kind of praise that they have.”

#2 – Who Is Doug Wilson? [1]

“[a] matter that has surprised, perplexed, and disappointed me with regard to John’s judgment. It has to do with his questionable discernment regarding Doug Wilson as an adherent of Federal Vision theology. I was, in fact, quite surprised when I recently found out that John Piper and the Desiring God ministry had chosen to ask Doug Wilson to speak at the upcoming Desiring God Conference in September [2009]”. — Keith Throop

Douglas Wilson describes Dabney as one of “the men I am most indebted to philosophically.” Others have loved Dabney for his Reformed Theology, but Wilson loves him for his views on slavery, too.

. . . . .

#3 – What Is The Connection Between John Piper, Robert Lewis Dabney, Doug Wilson, and Desiring God

A Jarring Refutation:
Southern Slavery As It Wasn’t: Coming to Grips with Neo-Confederate Historical Misinformation
Sean M. Quinlan and William L. Ramsey

. . . . . 

“How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

– Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

. . . . .

Other Material:

Warped Theology Has Consequences

Edwards, Dabney, Piper, & Wilson

Christian Newswire

Daniel Kleven on Piper, Dabney, Wilson, Edwards

. . . . . 

1. John Piper fully realizes that Doug Wilson baptizes babies and gives them communion.
2. 2009 — John Piper’s words about Doug Wilson: “I am so deeply persuaded that Doug gets the gospel right, and that these areas where we have disagreement are non-essential — that I want to count him not only as a brother but a one from whom I can really seriously learn.”
3. 2012 Desiring God Conference — “The 2012 Conference for Pastors concluded with this two-hour-long conversation between John Piper and Douglas Wilson, moderated by Joe Rigney.”
4. 2013 — A Conversation on Christ and Culture with John Piper and Doug Wilson
5. 2019 — Race and Culture / John Piper and Doug Wilson
6. 2021 — https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/august-web-only/bethlehem-bcs-minneapolis-resign-meyer-empathy-rigney.html
7. 2021 — Ligonier Q&A — Wilson & Piper –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOrowno6rdQ
8. — https://hnn.us/articles/9142.html
9. Also, you have to understand the “Lost Cause” position to understand the subtleties of some racial arguments and who is Doug Wilson.

   “Lost Cause” LINK — battlefields.org/learn/articles/lost-cause-definitionand-origins “There are six main parts of the Lost Cause myth, the first and most important of which is that secession had little or nothing to do with the institution of slavery. Southern states seceded to protect their rights, their homes, and to throw off the shackles of a tyrannical government. Second, slavery was portrayed as a positive good; submissive, happy, and faithful slaves were better off in the system of chattel slavery which offered them protection. The third tenet states that the Confederacy was only defeated because of the Northern states’ numerical advantage in both men and resources. Fourth, Confederate soldiers are portrayed as heroic, gallant, and saintly. Even after the surrender, they retained their honor. Fifth, Robert E. Lee emerged as the . . . revered the Virginian as the ultimate Christian soldier who took up arms for his state. Finally, Southern women also steadfastly supported the cause, sacrificing their men, time, and resources more than their Northern counterparts. The idealized image of a pure, saintly, white Southern woman emerged as well.”

— https://unevandalized.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/29/comment-page-1/

Other Links:

John Piper, Desiring God, and Robert Lewis Dabney

“Love Your Enemies”? John Piper and Robert Lewis Dabney, part 2

“The Great Pattern of American Manhood”: John Piper and Robert Lewis Dabney, Part 3

“For Theologians”: John Piper and Robert Lewis Dabney, Part 4

“A Single River” or a “Poisonous Stream”? John Piper [and Robert Lewis Dabney], Interlude

“Trusting the Theology of a Slave Owner”: John Piper, Desiring God, and Robert Lewis Dabney, Part 6

“Great Saints of the Past”: John Piper, Desiring God, and Robert Lewis Dabney, Part 7

Whose Calvinism? Which Community? John Piper, Desiring God, and Robert Lewis Dabney, Part 8

“Flag It, Wave It, Acknowledge It”: John Piper, Desiring God, and Robert Lewis Dabney, Conclusion

That was the title of the article sent to me by a church member who has left the church, along with many of his longtime friends and members who had been there for years!

Among the many interesting things said, the writer states . . . .

Two Groups of People Who Leave the Chuch

It is important to know that there are many people who become church dropouts. People in that category are those who go to church out of habit because their parents forced them to go when they were younger. Therefore, they keep up that habit out of obligation. They attend church, but they never become committed. They don’t connect with people in the church or get involved with any ministry.

It is much easier for those people to leave because they haven’t really been invested in the church, and the church really hasn’t invested in them.

However, there is another group of people who leave the church. That group includes faithful members who have had active roles in the church and have done considerable work within the church. They have invested in the church, and at one time the church invested in them. When the church ceases to live up to its mission of providing care for all, these people become discouraged. Even though some of those people were faithfful members in leadership positions, they saw no other way except to leave the church.

Members Not Given Needed Support

Sometimes people don’t get the support they need from the church when they go through a personal tragedy or traumatic event. When those people don’t get the support they need from the church, they decide to discontinue their support to the church.

√ People are left out and forgotten on the job or in the community. Church should be different. [1]

√ When the needs of a person are not met, he believes the church isn’t doing its job. People go to church to be helped; not to be hurt.

√ The whole church is in trouble when one or a few people make all the decisions without considering opinions from others.

√ God is no respecter of people, but everybody in the church is not treated the same.

1. My Pharmacist Call Me Yesterday

The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that “the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”[1]

Out of this, John Piper has constructed his own oft-repeated catch-phrase.

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

It must be noted that Piper’s catch-phrase is not merely another way of restating the Westminster Catechism. To falsely connect and equate the two is one reason Piper can sell the catch-phrase. Nevertheless, the two statements do not parallel or mimic each other. I will address that later.

Piper argues that this “theological truth” (glorifying God by our satisfaction in all that God is and does) is superior to all other truths. He maintains that all other biblical truths and principles are subservient to this “theological truth.” All of our actions, decisions, attitudes flow out of and ought to flow out of this “theological principle.”

Shockingly, — shocking because so few have called out John Piper about his claim that God talked to him — Piper maintains that it was God Himself that spoke to him about His glory one morning . . .

He publicly declares his divine experience in his extensive and published article titled, “The Morning I Heard the Voice of God.”

“Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.” [2]

Apparently, the mantel of the divine authority of God Himself has been placed on both John Piper, along with his “theological positions.”  God has spoken to Him personally!

“as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. . . . as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God. . . . The God who keeps watch over the nations . . . this God still speaks in the twenty- first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me.” [2]

Apparently, that experience reinforced Piper’s position on the preeminence of glorifying the Lord.

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in.. . . I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. . . . [2]

This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me. . . .[2]

God’s personal revelation to John Piper on that morning was — “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.” Piper’s public recounting of this personal and divine revelation of God exhibits Piper’s over-reaching theological dominance on God’s glory as the pinnacle of the Christian life and living.

Apparently, the essence of rebellion is self-glorification.  While self-glorification is sinful, it is not the only expression of sin, NOR the pinnacle of all sins, NOR the original sin, NOR a proper diagnosis of the problem and solution of lostness.

Piper would disagree with that statement.  Read what he states at the 2017 Passion Conference . . . .

“I’ve been taught they (Adam and Eve) disobeyed. PERIOD!

Disobedience to the command of God is not more basic, not more fundamental, not more ultimate than what they desired above God.”

Piper’s position was fully expressed in that assertion!  The original sin of Adam and Eve was their emotions and desire, not their actions and disobedience.  That assertion reveals Piper’s over-reaching and unbiblical position.

There is nothing more foundational to the Gospel, and the truth about man’s fall in Genesis 3, than the issue of obedience, than “hath God said” and will you obey what He has said.  Yes, even if you desire your desires above what God has said, will you OBEY Him!  That is the test.

Obedience to the command of God is more basic,
more fundamental, more ultimate
than what they may have desired above of God.

. . . .

The Gospel: Obey and Live!

Maintaining and arguing that man’s fall, as recorded in Genesis 3, was about desiring something other than God, is an example of Piper’s attempt to rewrite the Fall.  Nowhere in Scripture does God make the ultimate sin that of desire — desiring the fruit over desiring God.

Rather, the biblical understanding of the Fall is about obedience.  Piper reinterprets the rebellion of man.  He rewrites the sin of Adam and Eve as one of desire, not rebellion — rebellion against the clear command of God.

• “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
• “But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.”
• “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”
• “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
• “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered”
• “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

. . . .

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve exhibited rebellion against the clear commandments of God.  Failure and the inability to obey the commandment of God are foundational to the Gospel! 

There is one response in every account recorded in the Gospels — What says the law? — “And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”  Whether one desired to obey the Lord or not,  obey, and you shall live!

. . . .

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (and many other Bible commentators) accurately set forth that historic understanding!

“And the answer is given in the first verse of Genesis 3. It was because man ceased to listen to God and to what God said. There is really nothing more to say than that. That is the proposition. There is only one explanation as to why the world is as it is at this minute and as to why every single individual is as he or she is at this second. It is that the man and the woman listened to that question of the tempter: “Hath God said … ?” That is, “Do you really believe that? Are you really being bound by that?” The Devil came and said, “Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And because they accepted that question and acted upon it, they brought ruin upon themselves and upon all their posterity.

And this, I want to show you, is the perfect picture of every one of us. There you see Adam and Eve confronted by God’s way-God had made them; God had blessed them; God had surrounded them with benefits and put them in the garden, in paradise. They simply had to pick the fruit, as it were, and enjoy themselves and enjoy their communion with God. Yes, they did all that. But God added something to that. God added a law. God said to them in effect, “You can go on living this sort of life endlessly-on one condition.” And the condition was that they obeyed God, that they recognize the supreme authority of God, that they recognized that God had a right to do with his own as he chose and that God really, even in giving his law, was concerned with their well-being and happiness. That was the position. The blessings were showered upon them, but there was a law, this condition, this demand for obedience. But they rejected that. It was just at that point that they went wrong and brought all that misery upon themselves.” — D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones The Gospel In Genesis, pg. 28

Obey God and live!
We failed in Adam . . .
and now Christ is our obedience!

. . . . .

Decades Of Warped Theology Has Consequences!

. . . .

Piper’s “theological catch-phrase” has not only warped the Gospel, but has predictably produced a class of church ministries that have proven to be poisonous to God’s people.

The fruit of his “theological” thinking is presently seen in all that is taking place in his own ministry today — of which he is now chancellor.  Issues of abusive handling of people, comfortability with racist alliances, and a lack of compassion and care are all being played out today [see Julie Roys’ Reports].

The poison brand is also being seen in local churches because pastors and teachers have uncritically adopted his theology and steeped in his thinking.  It has detrimentally affected ministries and is seen in the woeful lack of genuine care and concern for others.

[to be continued]

. . . . 

1. Actually, the Westminster Catechism states, “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”

There is no reference in the Westminister Catechism that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him, nor anything close.  Piper’s use of the Westminister Catechism’s statement changes its meaning while giving it a semblance of a restatement.

In fact, the word satisfaction is never used in that way throughout the Westminster Catechism. The word “satisfied” “satisfy” or “satisfaction” is consistently used as a reference to the atonement – our debt was satisfied through the Lord’s atonement for our sin.

2. Link to John Piper’s Complete Published Article “The Morning I Heard the Voice of God.”
Note: Christianity Today was one of the few outlets that publicly criticized John Piper’s article and his “experience.”

“All Truth Is God’s Truth.” 

That statement means is that wherever truth is found, it is God who established that truth, law, principle, fact, and reality.

I have said it this way over the years . . . . .

All that is in the Bible is true, but not all that is true is in the Bible.  There are truths you can discover in other ways beyond reading the Bible — not just factual truths, The Sun is 93 million miles from the earth,” but life and living, spiritual, and even ethical truths.

Some wisdom and practical truths come by just looking around —

• “Consider the ant.”
• “I looked out my window and saw a young man.”
• “Wine is a mocker.”
• “I went by the field of a sluggard.”
• “Consider the lilies of the field.”

Other truths come through our conscience and an inner sense of morality & ethics.  If there were no commandments against stealing, we would still know that not being paid for our work is wrong.  God has stamped His image on all men and women.  In fact, we are told that the creation reveals a Creator, and atheism is not intuitive!

Likewise, many good and wise truths and principles come to us from outside of the Bible. Sometimes even lost men know those truths. While there is a far faster and less damaging way to know and learn those truths and principles by reading the Bible, men can arrive at many of them. At times, heeding the Bible’s instructions and admonitions would have gotten one to the truth in a far easier and faster way.

There are truths found in books, documentaries, allegories, marital and child-rearing articles, grandparents, and even parents.  Whether or not a Christian, anyone living life may well have tripped across, uncovered, repeated ,and/or restated “God’s Truth” — because all truth is God’s truth!

As I read these quotes from Jocko Willink, a United States Navy SEAL, I thought about the truth found in these principles.

If you are interested in many other interesting, thought-provoking, and valuable “truths,” here is the link to 75 more!

I have found out that it is not the storyline explanation or simple one-line initial answer that uncovers the real problem, but it’s question #2, or #3, or #20!

It takes going upstream!

• Why has attendance dropped / dropped off?

• Why has giving decreased?

• Why has a family of 10, 15, 20, 30, years of giving and serving left?

• What is causing the decrease in enrollment?

• Why have so many families left?

• et al.

If you find yourself criticized as a ministry leader or a pastor, the response I am going to identify really is your best answer.

It has several strong advantages . . . .

• It has the ability to deal with almost any criticisms
• It has not outgrown its usefulness. though often employed.
• Most people have little to no ability to respond to it meaningfully.
• Others listening will accept it as thoroughly sufficient and refutational.
• It seems perfectly logical.
• It can be adapted in a good number of useful ways.
• It relies on “the law of excluded middle” for its strength.

Here it is . . . . 

“There are no perfect churches!”

Again, I just came across this very argument in recent days. Like I said, it is oft employed, and it has not outgrown its usefulness.

And here is the nice things about this response; it can be adapted in a good number of other useful ways. 

• There are no perfect pastors.
• There are no perfect ministries.
• There are no perfect husbands /wives / children.
• There are no perfect jobs.
• There are no perfect believers.
• There are no perfect church members.
• There are no perfect presentations.

What makes the argument so appealing and disarming is that you have limited the choices down to the  “perfect” ones.

The operative word is “perfect.” 

As I pointed out, its strength relies on “the excluded middle.” [1]. That is what makes it work so well!

The word “perfect” has left out the many other possibilities in between and even those possibilities which are far less than perfect.  

When dealing with criticisms, you do not want to talk about the good, better, the best, or even the great. The choice must be “the perfect.”

Stay with the “perfect” as the standard of comparison.

Go back to it.

Repeat the phrase as needed and watch it work!

Since there are no perfect “anythings” when it comes to people or their endeavors, you are always safe from contradiction! [2]

Obviously, (maybe to most) all this is said “tongue in cheek.”  Such an response or argument is disingenuous!  It is so disingenuous that one could drive “a Canadian Truck” through it (since there are no perfect governments)! [3]

Nevertheless, and unfortunately, it is all too reflective of how legitimate, and even illegitimate, criticism is addressed. Or should I say, is not addressed! 

This kind of argument deflects criticism! 

No one is asking for the perfect!  

Instead, the discussion should be about good, better, best. 

There is a continuum, not merely two poles.

Stating this argument avoids the reality that there are degrees of genuine evaluation.

The honest way to deal with issues include . . . . 

Great – – Really Good – – Good – – Average – – Weak – – Terrible – – Really Terrible – – Atrocious

As it has been memorialized, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” 

In this case, “the perfect” is the defender of “the average to the atrocious!”

1. The law of excluded middle is a fallacious law of logic. It states any proposition is true, or its negation is true. It avoids degrees of truth.

2. Note: You can even use the word “perfect” when it comes to church music or dress, or even when it comes to any church literature or church announcements.

3. Please Note: I will probably have to change that allusion to “Canadian Truckers” in the coming months since it may be lost over time, though hopefully not! If I have made any spelling or grammatical mistakes, realize that few perfect blogs or articles do not contain such errors — TIC= [Tongue In Cheek].

Over the past months, I have had some interesting and valuable discussions with my son, Matthew. I have read some of his Facebook & Twitter posts, some books he has read or recommended, and portions of his soon-to-be-published book by Crossways (temporarily titled, “Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal.”).

i.e.

. . . . 

. . . . .

Midst all that reading and talking, I have been sadly reminded about the abusive use of Scripture to justify ungodly policy, laws, and actions by churches, Christian leaders, and pastors — both historically and within my lifetime.  Reading about this abuse and misuse of Scripture is frankly appalling and shameful.

As Matthew would say . . . 

“That’s how churches justified slavery. — ‘See, right there it says in Philemon that . . . .  
Don’t you believe the Scripture’?’ “

That shameful behavior by ministries and local churches of our day has not ended.  Ministry and local church leaders still use their pulpit and the Scriptures to beat down critics and criticism — legitimate and illegitimate criticism. [1]

It is possible to warp Scripture and turn it into a weapon to quiet or attack people and/or to avoid addressing real issues. At least three warning flags indicate that the Scriptures are being used, not to instruct or correct, but as a weapon to self-defend.

. . . . 

#1) “This Passage” Is Cited, But “That Passage” Has Been Knowingly Ignored:

I am thankful for the fact that we believe and teach that one passage does not say all that there is to be said on a biblical truth or principle.  Instead, we teach and believe that the whole of Scripture is critical to understanding the truths of God and accurate biblical exposition. 

When a verse or passage of Scripture is called into play, while other obvious balancing truths are ignored or marginalized (sometimes within the very passage being taught or preached), because it doesn’t further the desired argument or narrative being made, be very wary. You are not dealing with an honest broker.

Many (if not most) Scriptural truths are balanced against other equally important truths. 

We find a simple example in Ephesians 6:1 — “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” However, there is more in the Scriptures than Ephesians 6:1. There are also many balancing truths that would forbid a Christian to obey if asked to do something clearly ungodly.

Seeking to follow biblical truths and principles is a balancing act. The Scriptures well reflect the fact that life and decision-making are far more complicated than some would like to admit in their preaching or teaching.

• Speak the truth, but do it in love.
• Be loving, but speak the truth
• Be kind, but turn over the money-changers tables when justified.
• Entertain strangers and show hospitality, but have no fellowship with the workers of darkness.
• Come as you are to Jesus, but “go and sin no more.”

“G. K. Chesterton — “The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other, and are wandering alone.”  Compassion and honesty are virtues, but separate them from each other and they become vices and do more harm than good.  Dysfunctional churches have gone mad.” — Keith Ford

Some weaponize Scripture by preaching one truth without a proper and without the needed understanding of equally weighty other Bible truths.

. . . . 

#2) Fogging Biblical Concepts:

There is no lack of examples of “fogging up” the meaning of Scriptual words & concepts.

Such words as  . . . . .

“Love” “Loyalty” “Unity” “Submission” “Forgiveness” or “Peace”  — are all words that can be called up to blur the real issues that need to be addressed. These words do speak to biblical truths and principles, and that is why it is beyond shameful when they are used to silence, further hurt, or protect wrongdoing! That is what makes the weaponizing of them so heinous.

Right before a church business meeting, some pastors will speak about these biblical truths to quiet legitimate or illegitimate criticism or silence dissent  — “We always need to be reminded that we need to be loving towards one another as believers.”

I am reminded of . . . .

Stephen Bryce’s comment . . . .

“Love isn’t letting other people have their way with you.  “Grace” isn’t ignoring the hurts caused or weeping them under the rug. Anyone who says that, or defends those who say it, is setting people up to be abused.

or Raymond Chang’s words . . . .

“A call for unity that doesn’t address the sources of disunity is not a call for true unity.  True unity emerges from addressing the things that created the divisions in the first place.”

or MLK’s statement . . . .

“Peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.
” — MLK (Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, March 18, 1956)

Likewise, as I have often said . . . .

“Forgiveness is not something done in isolation, without any confession or admittance of wrong-doing — “I just forgave them.”  Matthew 5:23-24 says go to them!

. . . . 

#3) Hiding Behind The Scriptures:

In the secular world, wrongdoers hide behind legitimate legal principles — “There is an ongoing case on this, and we are not going to comment on it.” “My lawyer has advised us not to comment at this time.”

In the ministry world, wrongdoers hide behind legitimate Scriptural truths — “Like Jesus, I am going to remain silent — He opened not His mouth.” (or the opposite) “Jesus whipped the money changers in the Temple and denounced them publicly.”

In both cases, “I am just being like Jesus.”  WWJD works as a shield to avoid addressing legitimate and illegitimate criticism.  As Jesus said, it is a cloak used to cover their sin (John 15:22; Mark 7:11-13; I Thess 2:5; I Peter 2:16).

“Cloaking” works publicly and personally; it silences those outside, and quiets the conscience inside.  It makes one look like Jesus, and allows one to sleep at night. (Nevertheless, it is seen for what it is by most, and it is subconsciously noisy at bedtime!)[2]

Handling the Scriptures in the above three ways is what allows and promotes God’s people to be quieted — at best, and deeply hurt hurting — at its worse, with little to no biblical recourse and a great deal of spiritual weight.  Instead of helping those used and abused in ministry, greater weight is loaded on them!

“See, right there it says in Philemon that . . . .  
Don’t you believe the Scriptures?’ “

As Timothy Keller states . . . .

“Picture how you help a person who is trying to carry a load that is too heavy. To help with a burden, you must first come very close to the burdened person, standing virtually in their shoes.  Next, you must put your own strength under the burden so its weight is distributed on both of you, thus lightening the load for the original bearer. To “carry the burden” means to come under it and let some of its weight, responsibility, and pain come to you.” [3][4]

There is a reason for the “Reverse Exodus” that is taking place in today’s churches!
Look around; you can’t miss it!

Let me close with this post by J. S. Park . . . .

. . . . 

. . . . 

. . . . 

1. “Illegitimate” is determined after a conversation or confrontation about an issue.  That is why Matthew 5:23-24 is so important!

2. “A pastor with a theological degree and knowledge of Scripture can lift words out of those Scriptures, pronounce them with authority, and wound those under their care. An ability to articulate theological truths does not mean the speaker is an obedient servant of God.”
— Langberg

3. “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” — Matthew 23:4

4. DARVO:  “Cloaking” is part of DARVO — Distract, Attack, Reverse Victim Order.  It is the “RVO” part.  I am the victim, the one suffering, who needs the sympathy because I am being like Jesus!
After you “stab” a brother or sister in Christ, you claim that you are the one bleeding!