Over at Pyromaniacs, Phil Johnson has posted a weekly dose of Spurgeon on the issue of separation from heretics, here.
I have not much patience with a certain class of Christians nowadays who will hear anybody preach so long as they can say, "He is very clever, a fine preacher, a man of genius, a born orator." Is cleverness to make false doctrine palatable? Why, sirs, to me the ability of a man who preaches error is my sorrow rather than my admiration.
I cannot endure false doctrine, however neatly it may be put before me. Would you have me eat poisoned meat because the dish is of the choicest ware? It makes me indignant when I hear another gospel put before the people with enticing words, by men who would fain make merchandise of souls; and I marvel at those who have soft words for such deceivers.
"That is your bigotry," says one. Call it so if you like, but it is the bigotry of the loving John who wrote—"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."
I would to God we had all more of such decision, for the lack of it is depriving our religious life of its backbone and substituting for honest manliness a mass of the tremulous jelly of mutual flattery.
He who does not hate the false does not love the true; and he to whom it is all the same whether it be God's word or man's, is himself unrenewed at heart. Oh, if some of you were like your fathers you would not have tolerated in this age the wagon loads of trash under which the gospel has been of late buried by ministers of your own choosing. You would have hurled out of your pulpits the men who are enemies to the fundamental doctrines of your churches, and yet are crafty enough to become your pastors and undermine the faith of a fickle and superficial generation.
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5 comments:
:) Good verse to keep in mind.
2 John v.10-11 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
@Joel:
=) Actually, it is 2 Jn. 10-11, no "v".
Daniel,
You may wish to know Phil pushes Tim Challies on his blog. Challies has puffed an audio version of the TNIV, a gender-altered bible translation. So you may wish to see if Mr. Johnson walks or just talks. Frank Turk from over at Pyro has vigorously defended gender-altered versions, though he's written articles against the practice. And he's come to my blog and pretended to know the biblical languages. He doesn't. He lied. I can document that, too. I have published comments he wrote. And I have some I didn't publish because I banned him from my blog for lying about that. Pyro isn't all that gloriously clean themselves. Even Johnson defended Challies when confronted.
And I fear there are some nasty things going on at MacArthur's school, too. And MacArthur has endorsed Billy Graham here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo0SAeR8vDE&feature=player_embedded
As you may know Graham has left the faith long ago by stating plainly that you can never hear the gospel and still be a saved Muslim, Budhist, or whatever.
Phil Perkins.
@Phil:
Challies is a New Evangelical. That does not mean he is unsaved or even committing grievous sin. I don't have problems with promoting Challies when he is in the right, but I personally wouldn't do it because Challies seldom IMO have much good stuff to offer.
I have no idea what Challies is doing with the TNIV, but it could be some review at the technical/academic level. The TNIV is terrible, but that does not mean that that particular audio Bible does not have certain good qualities. I wouldn't do it myself because I do not want to be associated with a horrible translation, but if others want to do it, as long as they do not take it as a good translation I am fine with it.
As for Mr. Turk, he is a New Evangelical. As for me, I am fine talking with him, but I treat him the same way I treat Challies.
Phil defends his friends, sometimes even when they are wrong. That is his weak spot, and I for one am not going to rub it in unnecessarily.
With regards to the Youtube video, I disagree with the poster. IMO, he doesn't understand what is being said. And I don't see what's the problem with saying that Graham is a Christian. While he has degenerated into professing to embrace some form of inclusivism, I am not yet convinced he truly believes it and deny the Gospel message. He may very well have apostatized, but I am not going to make such a call.
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