My first post on John MacArthur's upcoming....Lord willing....annual Shepherd's Conference was three weeks ago....and at the time there were six weeks to the Wednesday March 6 first day of the conference. The second post on the topic was two Wednesdays ago....and the third post was last week. My purpose....my hope....and my prayer....was that God would shake up all the plans for the conference....wonderful as I'm sure they are....but we are at a time when we do not need....wonderful plans....we need the glory of God come down to shake up our wonderful plans. In that first post were these words...."As the weeks pass and the time for the conference draws nearer....God may be awakening all of us....MacArthur and Piper....(John Piper....a scheduled speaker at the conference)....and it may not turn out to be a typical conference....wonderful as the may be and usually are....but more of an emergency meeting of shepherd's....pastors.....seeking discernment....and much needed courage and determination....in the turmoil of this world."
I was not aware at the time that a controversy was brewing over controversial remarks that Alistair Begg....a scheduled speaker at the Shepherd's Conference....had made a few weeks previous....remarks that would go viral. You can easily Google this controversy if you want. It is still being widely debated...two weeks after the Cleveland minister and very popular radio minister and author had withdrawn from the conference....so as not to be a distraction....but a distraction of sorts was what I had been looking for...topics that need discussed now....but that we are too timid to even broach.
So today is the fourth Wednesday post on the Shepherd's Conference....three Wednesdays....Lord willing....before the conference begins. These many pastors will be gathered together....should the Lord still will it....with many denominations represented....but most of a Reformed and Calvinist theology....including the two top ministers of substance in the public eye today....John MacArthur and John Piper.
There is no longer a day that passes in these tumultuous and chaotic last of the last days....where there is not a high possibility of something earthshaking happening....a monumental earthquake for example....ot the beginning of a world war....or Trump finally saying something that even the blind mice of the Republican Party could not ignore....or with Joe Biden....or unfortunately any number of other disasters that our overall lack of vigilance has set the stage for.
Whether it be in this conference....or from the pulpits suddenly awakened with shock and awe....may God....if it be His will....take the veils from over our eyes....and the wax from our ears....that we might....look up....as we see our redemption drawing near!
Luke 21:28
