John Piper – Taking Leave and Asks for Forgiveness

I saw this article and just had to post it.  John Piper!!  Please tell us soon as to what you are asking forgiveness for.  I understand 30 years of ministry can take it’s toll and your deeds and character flaws are not what’s concerning to us, or want to know about.  It’s what you have been preaching (Calvinism) and who you have been siding with that we want to hear you say sorry for.

I pray that whatever is happening in your life that Jesus Christ the Son of God is renewing your relationship with Him that it will be unstoppable!  And that you come back 8 months from now a NEW man in Jesus Christ, with a STAND for the TRUTH that will knock the socks off everyone!   IF NOT, then no amount of prayer from anyone is going to help you, if you don’t see you are following false doctrine.  Also what’s the point of asking everyone to pray for you when you can have thousands of people praying for you who are not even saved.  Who will they be praying too on your behalf?  But you should know these things, you are the pastor after all.

A first step would be to get rid of all these people in your life that are deceiving you. I see in this ‘apology’ of yours that you still want to advertise your ‘vision’ for the world. What vision is that? How can men have a vision and mission that contradicts the Word of God.  Surely your vision should be focused on Jesus Christ alone and not on this world.  When you come back are you going to warn people of the deception in the church and the turning back to Rome, or carry on with this NWO vision to see this earth look like man-made-heaven with a false Christ?

[EDITED by DTW:  Oh wait, sorry people, I don’t think he is coming back in 8 months to preach the truth.  He has invited Rick Warren to speak at his Desiring God Conference in 2010 and above is a lovely photo of John Piper and Rick sitting together at Ralph Winters memorial service back in June 28, 2009…]

JOHN PIPER TO TAKE LEAVE

By John Piper March 28, 2010  

As you may have already heard in the sermon from March 27-28, the elders graciously approved on March 22 a leave of absence that will take me away from Bethlehem from May 1 through December 31, 2010. We thought it might be helpful to put an explanation in a letter to go along with the sermon.

I asked the elders to consider this leave because of a growing sense that my soul, my marriage, my family, and my ministry-pattern need a reality check from the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, I love my Lord, my wife, my five children and their families first and foremost; and I love my work of preaching and writing and leading Bethlehem. I hope the Lord gives me at least five more years as the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem.

But on the other hand, I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noêl and others who are dear to me. How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody? I’ll say it now, and no doubt will say it again, I’m sorry. Since I don’t have just one deed to point to, I simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness; and I give you as much assurance as I can that I am not making peace, but war, with my own sins.

Noêl and I are rock solid in our commitment to each other, and there is no whiff of unfaithfulness on either side. But, as I told the elders, “rock solid” is not always an emotionally satisfying metaphor, especially to a woman. A rock is not the best image of a woman’s tender companion. In other words, the precious garden of my home needs tending. I want to say to Noêl that she is precious to me in a way that, at this point in our 41-year pilgrimage, can be said best by stepping back for a season from virtually all public commitments.

No marriage is an island. For us this is true in two senses. One is that Noêl and I are known inside-out by a few friends at Bethlehem-most closely by our long-time colleagues and friends David and Karin Livingston, and then by a cluster of trusted women with Noêl and men with me. We are accountable, known, counseled, and prayed for. I am deeply thankful for a gracious culture of transparency and trust among the leadership at Bethlehem.

The other way that our marriage is not an island is that its strengths and defects have consequences for others. No one in the orbit of our family and friends remains unaffected by our flaws. My prayer is that this leave will prove to be healing from the inside of my soul, through Noêl’s heart, and out to our children and their families, and beyond to anyone who may have been hurt by my failures.

The difference between this leave and the sabbatical I took four years ago is that I wrote a book on that sabbatical (What Jesus Demands from the World). In 30 years, I have never let go of the passion for public productivity. In this leave, I intend to let go of all of it. No book-writing. No sermon preparation or preaching. No blogging. No Twitter. No articles. No reports. No papers. And no speaking engagements. There is one stateside exception-the weekend devoted to the Desiring God National Conference combined with the inaugural convocation of Bethlehem College and Seminary in October. Noêl thought I should keep three international commitments. Our reasoning is that if she could go along, and if we plan it right, these could be very special times of refreshment together.

The elders have appointed a group to stay in touch and keep me accountable for this leave. They are David Mathis, Jon Bloom, Tom Steller, Sam Crabtree, Jon Grano, Tim Held, Tony Campagna, and Kurt Elting-Ballard. Five of these have walked with Noêl and me over the last two months, helping us discern the wisdom, scope, and nature of this leave. They brought the final recommendation to the elders on March 22.

I asked the elders not to pay me for this leave. I don’t feel it is owed to me. I know I am causing more work for others, and I apologize to the staff for that. Not only that, others could use similar time away. Most working men and women do not have the freedom to step back like this. The elders did not agree with my request. Noêl and I are profoundly grateful for this kind of affection. We will seek the Lord for how much of your financial support to give back to the church, to perhaps bear some of the load.

Personally, I view these months as a kind of relaunch of what I hope will be the most humble, happy, fruitful five years of our 35 years at Bethlehem and 46 years of marriage. Would you pray with me to that end? And would you stand by your church with all your might? May God make these eight months the best Bethlehem has ever known. It would be just like God to do the greatest things when I am not there. “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7).

I love you and promise to pray for you every day.

Pastor John

————-

What John was really apologizing for in a very round about that way, was the fact that he was now best friends with Rick Warren and he is telling you there is nothing you can do about it.  This is what he is telling you.  But then John Piper is after all a Calvinist and Calvinist’s follow a doctrine of demons, so his turning to Rome should not surprise us.  See Calvinism

————-