Shepherd's Conference....One Week Closer....Lord Willing

                 Arthur F. Burns was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve back in the 70s when I was majoring in economics at Pitt. There is a story about him and his pipe smoking that has stayed in my mind over the years. As best I can remember it he was part of a delegation to the Vatican. He was the only one who was Roman Catholic as the delegation attended a Mass....so the others looked to him for help with all the standing and kneeling and hand symbols. Well....before entering the church Burns put his pipe in his suit coat pocket. I know what happened here folks for it has happened to me a number of times. Once...back around thirty years ago....my son and I were in downtown Pittsburgh and stopped into the original Blockhouse...from Fort Pitt during the French and Indian War. I put my pipe in my leather coat pocket. While inside...I could smell a little smoke....and so could the curator. I hurried my son out before anyone knew that a Kleenex in my pocket was smoldering. So back to Arthur Burns....during the Mass his pocket started to smolder a little....and he began to pat his suit coat pocket....to put out any smoldering.....and the men around him thought that he was simply performing some of the Catholic Mass rituals...so they all began to pat their suit coat pockets. 
               When I first came into the faith my emphasis was on Christian apologetics....defending the Faith....and particularly on the Jehovah Witnesses. I ran a message in the Personal section of our local newspaper that read...."Are you studying with the Watchtower organization. If so....please call me"....along with my telephone number. It was my attempt to reach people who were just beginning to be taken in by the JWs. I remember and greatly regret one day when two of their members stopped by our house on one of their normal neighborhood visits. We talked until they had enough. I remember offering them a copy of Crisis Of Conscience....by Raymond Franz....a member of their Governing Body....who had found the true gospel and left the organization. The man raised his hands and refused the book. I still have it here....and then I did what I regret....as they left I said...."God bless you." I had offered a blessing to members of an organization than worked feverishly in attacking the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't take that back....but I learned from it.
               About twenty days ago I began to be overcome by an idea concerning John MacArthur's long-running and wonderful....yearly Shepherd's Conference. I posted on it two Wednesdays ago. My prayer was that as these thousands of pastors....Shepherds....gathering for what they thought would be a normal time of fellowship and teaching....that God....as the Second Coming of Jesus gets even closer....would have other things in mind....that the conference would be taken in areas not on the agenda....and then a few days later came the major controversy over Alistair Begg's favorable comments on attendance at a wedding of a same-sex couple. Alistair....one of the major speakers....has since withdrawn from his role at the conference. Right now....as I type....this topic is not only a distraction but potentially very divisive in the church. We will see where God takes us in this.
               I have had to wonder if there was a message here to all of these ministries such as Alistair Begg's....and John MacArthur's....and even John Piper's....and so many more.....that have been blessings to me and to multitudes over the years....if the size and the goals of the ministries could possibly be problematic in themselves? Is it possible for even great ministries to lose sight if even for a moment....if not always vigilant? John MacArthur is another example. He was surprised by a telephone call back in 2020 from then President Trump on a Lord's Day....this is typical Trump. MacArthur made a statement that was as unwise as that statement recently made by Alistair Begg....in that he famously said...."Any real, true believer is going to be on your side in this election...." Well what about those of us who really and truly believe that Trump is a false prophet and even an antichrist as the Apostle John labelled them? What about John Piper and so many others who choose to trust in God and not in man?
                Please continue to pray with me for this upcoming Shepherd's Conference....which now begins four weeks from today....Lord willing....that God is mysteriously moving in all of this turmoil....all ultimately for our good....and all to His everlasting glory!