We hate whoever or whatever hurts what we love. What we hate reveals what we really love.

"Do You Want a Revolution?" johncarpenter.substack.com/p… “Freedom is the ability to do whatever you want when what you want is good.”

Congratulations!

“For we affirm that in every several true church there ought to be a disparity of church ministers: viz. the pastor above the elders, and the elders above the deacons, as Ignatius saith.” Henry Jacob, Reasons Taken out of Gods Word and the Best Humane Testimonies, 1604), 37.

There is not one verse that even hints at a pre-trib rapture and several that make it impossible. Pre-trib rapture gives away the day of His return. Jesus prayed that the church not be taken out of the world (John 17:15.) The rapture is at the "last trumpet" (1 Cor 15:52.)

For Arminians and their use of John 3:16: "Whoever swims across this river will get to the other side." That doesn't mean that everyone can swim.

"The Courage to Change Course" johncarpenter.substack.com/p… “Pride keeps us on the wrong course because turning back means admitting our critics were right.”

Dispensationalists deny that their system teaches that ways of salvation change with the dispensations. But then their founders taught:

"The Missing Mark of Church Membership (Part 3)" johncarpenter.substack.com/p… “Baptist ecclesiology cannot recover church covenants as a mark of healthy congregationalism while treating the breach of those covenants as if it were merely an unfortunate change of plans.”

The NT commands each local church to have a “plurality of elders” no more than it commands each city to have only one church. It describes both; it commands neither.

The NT commands each local church to have a “plurality of elders” no more than it commands each city to have only one church. It describes both; it commands neither.

"The Price of False Peace" johncarpenter.substack.com/p… “The most persuasive false prophet is the one who tells you what you want to hear.”

Contrary to the claims of dispensationalists, their system cannot change ecclesiology and eschatology without effecting soteriology. See: "Did Classical Dispensationalism Teach Multiple Ways of Salvation?" (Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology) biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/s…

"The Missing Mark of Church Membership (Part 2)" a new article in Perichoresis johncarpenter.substack.com/p… "Covenanting was the birth of the church."