The conference report began..."A few weeks ago the....(conference organizers)...were enthusiastically preparing to welcome John Piper to Sweden. We’d sold out the 500 tickets, booked his hotel room, and were eager to spend time with him. Then, seven days before the conference, we found out he was experiencing health difficulties that would prevent him from traveling. Can someone else be the speaker? we wondered. Would everyone who signed up to hear Piper ask for a refund?
Well....the conference went well as two other speakers filled in for John Piper. The conference report went on with these wise words....."There is a way in which the law is given through men like Moses and our modern leaders after him. But all these preachers and bringers of conviction point only to Christ, in whom we receive grace upon grace—the grace of conviction and the grace of justification. Redemption is accomplished and applied only when we see and savor Christ’s face. In the end, it’s God the Father who makes the Son of God known by the Spirit’s power. We lay our plans at the feet of your redemptive plan, Father. May you make him known."
Surely and thankfully that is true! God is in total control of everything! So as I have posted on many times in the past few years....that God had taken home all of our leaders today....all of our leaders with any gravitas that can get our attention....or as the conference folks stated it...."men like Moses and our modern leaders after him"....that also is God being in control! Yes....God may very well raise new men as leaders in the church....but he may not!
As of right now....December 28, 2025....we have no one left of a national stature. Those that we had.... warned us until the last breath was taken out of them. We essentially have no Christian bookstores where we can break the bondage of the podcast that has taken us captive. Good Christian television is a needle in a haystack. The Antichrist is somewhere conniving right now....and we have no one to warn us. That doesn't mean that God is not in control. It means we did not want the warnings....so God has taken them away! And we have no preaching! Everything is stock sermons....as if there is no real world around us....no emergency....no white and red and black and pale horses heading for our barbeques....no false prophets and no demons behind the violent havoc that is everywhere.
Here is the key folks....we in the church simply do not know the trouble that we are in! We think that this will pass over! It won't! The warnings are there but we put more effort into finding a good deal on something....anything!
So what is ahead for 2026? It doesn't take a prophet to know what is ahead....it takes someone who reads the prophets to know what is ahead....and they don't have to be a prophecy expert....in fact it's better if they are not a prophecy expert because these men....most of them....think that this is an exciting time. They are smiling all over the place! There is war ahead....it may be preceded by some claim to peace....but God's Word is clear. Sooner or later a winnowing in the church must happen....where we....voluntarily or involuntarily....come out of the world....and truly put our trust and faith in God.
Note: I do not know anything else about John Piper's illness....but this conference was back in August....and I read and listen in on desiringgod.org everyday....so hopefully all is well.
Also: If you were to give me an hour....and permit me to use my iPhone as a reminder....I might be able to come up with 100 names of 'notable' Christian ministers....not only in evangelicalism....that would be too easy....but within Reformed and Reformation circles....but 'notable Christian ministers is not what I am talking about. I'm referring here to those select few who....as in the old E.F. Hutton brokerage firm commercials...."When E. F. Hutton talks...people listen"....who whether we agreed with them or not....they commanded our attention. They were able to focus on what we needed!
We had....five of us....gone to see the new animated children's movie....David....and I highly recommend it. The most beautiful part of the film was in the very beginning....when David as a boy defended his flock of sheep! They were dumb sheep....just like me....but they knew the voice of their shepherd....just like me....and they loved him.
