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A Bible Believer Responds To John Piper’s Call For Christians To Not Be Armed

Now to me, the son of a WWII and Korea vet, and the brother to a United States Marine, this sounds like perfectly sound and rational thought processes coming from the desk of Mr. Falwell. And certainly, as a parent, taking every precaution we can to keep our kids safe I am all in favor of both as a Christian and as an American citizen. But John Piper sees it otherwise.

Published

11 years ago

December 23, 2015

Geoffrey Grider

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So John Piper says it’s a sin to call the police when we are being threatened? I say that’s absolute hogwash, and so should you

“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Romans 14:4,5 (KJV)

Yesterday the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, John Piper, published an article entitled “Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves?” In the article he takes issue with Jerry Falwell, Jr. telling his students to go out and get their gun permits. Falwell said this:

“As the president of this university community of nearly 15,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, I take very seriously my responsibility to keep you safe in an increasingly dangerous world. That’s why in 2011 I asked our Board of Trustees to consider a concealed carry policy. It wasn’t because of Islamic terrorism, it was because what happened (just) up the road at Virginia Tech. More than 30 innocent students and faculty were murdered viciously and none of them had the ability to protect themselves. The day that happened, I thought we needed to do something different here at Liberty. We needed to have a way to protect our students, our faculty, so we instituted this free course in 2011. We were part of only a handful of schools in the United States that had taken that position at that time. Now many schools have followed suit. There are dozens and we have had 1,600 people take that course, 950 here now with concealed carry permits, and after I made those remarks on Friday we had 240 sign up for a course tomorrow night. I want to applaud you and thank you for taking steps to make our campus more safe. I recognize that not every one of you will (carry); it’s only for students 21 years and older.” source

Now to me, the son of a WWII and Korea vet, and the brother to a United States Marine, this sounds like perfectly sound and rational thought processes coming from the desk of Mr. Falwell. And certainly, as a parent, taking every precaution we can to keep our kids safe I am all in favor of both as a Christian and as an American citizen. But John Piper sees it otherwise. Here is an excerpt from his anti-gun article:

“As chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, I want to send a different message to our students, and to the readers of Desiring God, than Jerry Falwell, Jr. sent to the students of Liberty University in a campus chapel service on December 4. The apostle Peter teaches us that Christians will often find themselves in societies where we should expect and accept unjust mistreatment without retaliation. The early church, as we see her in Acts, expected and endured persecution without armed resistance, but rather with joyful suffering, prayer, and the word of God. A natural instinct is to boil this issue down to the question, “Can I shoot my wife’s assailant?” source

That, in brief, is the essence of Piper’s position, and you can read the entire article here. So let me just add a few brief points from the Bible believer position that I think will help to shed some additional light on the matter.

John Piper’s misapplication of scripture: All through his article, he constantly says things like “Peter never fought back when mistreated”, and “the apostles endured persecution without retaliation”, and so on. Yes, those thing are true, but they need to be read in context. The reason why the apostles never fought back was because the punishments and afflictions they received were because of preaching the gospel specifically, and the Bible does say that in the course of witnessing for Jesus Christ hardships, perils and afflictions certainly will come. When we preach on the street, I have never hit back at any of the mistreatment we have received because when were are ministering we are specifically engaged in preaching the gospel. But I find no verses in the Bible that advise me to just “sit back and take it” when walking down a crowded city street and someone tries to mug me. So based on Piper’s misapplication of scripture, his advice to his daughter would be to “just take it” when attacked by a predator on a college campus or other gathering of people. See how silly his position suddenly becomes? No, the apostles, as seen below, suffered for a very specific cause, for the gospel’s sake, and as such took it without rebuttal. But I dare say that if some crazed lunatic tried to sexually assault Peter’s wife, the tough-as-nails Galilean fisherman would have thrust him through with his sword, and rightly so.
“And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Acts 5:40 (KJV)
John Piper is not rightly dividing the Bible: Paul commands Timothy to “rightly divide” the scripture so that he will not make the mistake of trying to apply Bible verses written to the Jews and place them on the Church. In his article, Piper talks about “enduring to the end” from Matthew 24, a passage specifically written to Jews in the time of Jacob’s trouble. But Christians don’t “endure to the end” because we are 1). sealed until the day of redemption as found in Ephesians 1 & 4, and 2). we will not go through the time of Jacob’s trouble otherwise known as the Great Tribulation. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thessalonians 5:9 (KJV)
Many of his points are just ridiculous: One of his main theme points is that the christian should just “trust God” and everything will work itself out. The Bible believing Christian does trust God with the most important thing we have, and that is our souls. We trust Him to take us home to Heaven when we die, we place our eternal destiny in His hands alone. But until that day arrives, we live in a sin-cursed world that currently is ruled by the Devil! God gave us a brain for a reason, He wants us to do some thinking with it. Whenever we travel anywhere in a car, we always ask God to guide our path and get us to and from safely, right? But we also wear our seatbelts! I highly doubt that Piper and his whole family ride around in cars at high speeds unbelted. If Piper’s logic was followed to it’s natural conclusion seat belts would no longer be used because when using them our “faith would be in the seat belts” and not in God’s power to keep us safe. That’s just plain crazy. But yet Piper goes further still when he says that even calling the police when you are in danger “comes from a heart that is out of step with the mind of Christ. If one’s heart is controlled mainly by fear, or anger, or revenge, that sinful disposition may be expressed by using the police as well as taking up arms yourself.” So now it’s a sin to call the police when we are being threatened? Hogwash, and dangerous hogwash at that. “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Timothy 5:8 (KJV)

Conclusion: I honestly don’t know much about the ministry or beliefs of John Piper, I run in Bible believing circles and have not come across much if any of his work. But going on this particular article he has written, he comes across as an anti-gun liberal to me. God calls us to trust Him in all we do and with all we have, yet at the same time it is not a lack of faith to exercise and eat right to stay healthy. And it is not a lack of faith when we take common sense precautions to keep our loved ones safe in a sin-cursed world.

Famous media liberal, Geraldo Rivera, who almost always advocates for pacifism, nearly had a thermonuclear meltdown last month when his own daughter was near the Paris Muslim terror attacks. This is what he said:

“We need to respond by declaring war on them… if we don’t kill them, they’re going to kill us.” He offered specifics, calling for Russia, the U.S. and our Middle East Allies to join forces in a war against ISIS– even if have to drag the latter in “kicking and screaming.” “I want a massive ground campaign to conquer ISIS once and for all,” Rivera said. source

Lol, every liberal is a pacifist until the day their loved ones are threatened, then they want blood. John Piper is no different. If the evil he so carelessly tells us to “not worry about” and just “trust God” with ever came to land at his doorstep you can best believe his tune would change. Quickly.

If you try and make the Bible say Christians can’t have guns, then we can’t have seat belts either. If you were to ask my opinion on whether or not a Christian should buy a gun, I would give you the same answer I would give you with any other question you might ask. I will tell you to pray about it, and let God do the deciding.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:” Ephesians 1:17 (KJV)

Related Topics:Bible Believer Jerry Falwell Jr.John Piper Second Amendment

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The Children At The Glory Fellowship Orphanage Have Not Eaten A Meal In The Past Three Days, So We’re Stepping In To Help Keep Their Supply Lines Open

Published

22 hours ago

August 27, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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The food has run out for the children at the Glory Fellowship Orphanage in Kenya, and the Lord has given us the calling to step in and do what we can

I got on a video call this morning with Pastor Dancan in Kenya for our weekly Bible Study and discipleship time, and almost immediately I could see he was highly preoccupied with something else. I asked him what was going on, and he said he was troubled because the local people who normally donate beans, rice, banans and oil to help feed the 84 kids in his charge had not supplied him with that recently, and he wasn’t quite sure how to solve the problem. When I asked how long it was since the children had eaten, and he said 3 days, that hit me hard.

“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:17 (KJB)

I will be honest, my first reaction upon hearing the kids hadn’t eaten in 3 days was not so much sadness, it was anger. Not anger at any person, but it made me mad that such a situation could take place. Fighting mad. So immediately, I instructed our contact in Kenya to deliver to Pastor Dancan enough rice, beans, maize, bananas, cooking oil and salt to solve the immediate need for all the children, some of which has already arrived at the orphanage. The rest, Lord willing, will arrive tomorrow. I am praying that we will be able to keep them fed for the next month or so, and that many reading this article will want to partner with us to meet this pressing need. But what we really need to do for them is get them self-sufficient by planting some basic crops and getting them some chickens, a goat and a cow. The cost to supply them with foodstuffs for the next month is $3,500, and I am right now researching the most feasible way to help them build a little farm. Christian, come and help us to do all this, we need you!!

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THE PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: A Stunning Look At How Bible Prophecy Is Driving The Tech Titans To Build The Framework For The Coming Mark Of The Beast

Published

2 days ago

August 26, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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Technology Is Racing To Catch Up With Prophecy As Microneedle Tattoos, Biometric Currency And Vaccine Marks Emerge And Converge At The Same Time For Mark Of The Beast

Nearly two thousand years before electricity, computers, smartphones, cryptocurrency or biometric identification existed, the apostle John stood on the Isle of Patmos and saw a coming world system in which every person would receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead, and without that mark no one would be permitted to buy or sell; its number would be Six hundred threescore and six. 666 staring you right in your face. John saw a human implantable, biometric device that would contol all buying and selling on a global basis. People have it backwards, it’s not technology driving to prophectic fulfillment, it’s prophecy driving the technology toward the Mark. Just look at what is rising before our very eyes.

“But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Daniel 10:21 (KJB)

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Revelation 13:16-18 (KJB)

On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, Gates-funded researchers at MIT created a dissolving microneedle patch capable of delivering a vaccine while leaving an invisible, smartphone-readable quantum-dot record beneath human skin. Microsoft then produced patent number WO/2020/060606, a cryptocurrency system using bodily activity—pulse, heat, blood flow and brainwaves—as verified data within a digital-currency network. Emerging tech company CipherX has now brought dissolving microneedle tattoo technology out of the laboratory and into the marketplace, permanently placing pixel-like marks into human skin while simultaneously developing its S.M.A.R.T. vaccine patch that confirms successful vaccination with a tattoo. These are not random inventions wandering in unrelated directions; they are complementary pieces moving relentlessly toward the same destination—the body becoming the identity, the mark becoming the record, the biometric becoming the key, and the key determining access to the marketplace. No single institution has yet unveiled the completed Mark of the Beast because no single institution needs to. The system appears to be assembling itself, one vaccine patch, one digital identifier, one biometric sensor and one cryptocurrency transaction at a time. When the man of sin finally steps onto the world stage, he will not need to invent the machinery of Revelation 13; he will simply inherit it, unite it and demand worship through it. The Bible gave us the finished blueprint two thousand years ago, and now fallen man is manufacturing every component with breathtaking precision and rapidity. We are not waiting for prophecy to catch up with technology, technology is racing with all its might to catch up with King James Bible prophecy.

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CAMP MEETING PREVIEW!! We Are Partnering With Missionaries The Burtons To Open A Bible And Gospel Tract Printing Company In The Philippines

Published

3 days ago

August 25, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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NTEB and For His Glory Ministries Are Partnering To Open A Bible And Gospel Tract Printing And Distribution Center In The Philippines

The 8th NTEB Old-Fashioned Camp Meeting is officially one month away, and we are soooo excited to see everyone. As you know, our theme this is missions – local and foreign -and will be present a roster of speakers who are actively engaged in missions in these last days. Over the past several months, we have gotten to know and spend time with newlywed couple Mike and Michelle Burton, and we bring you the good news of their surrendering to be boots-on-the-ground missionaires to Angeles City in the Philippines. Not only that, NTEB will be partnering with them and their For His Glory Ministries, to open up a Bible printing facility and evangelization outpost! We just wrapped up a podcast with them, and you can watch it below. We have prayed a long time for the Lord to give us an opening in the Philippines, and now He has in a mighty and incredible way.

“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. ” Acts 16:9 (KJB)

Ever since we started our Free Bible Program, it has been our hearts desire to establish an NTEB base in the Philippines for the distrubution of Bibles in English and Tagalog, as well as gospel tracts and scripture portions. We get thousands of requests per year, and have always wanted to have a facility there. But try as we might, as we prayed for this over the years, the Lord never opened up that door for us, until now that is. Mike and Michelle, along with Philippine national Edgardo Gatchalian, have secured a location in Angeles City where they will not only be living, but will also serve as base of operations for printing Bibles and tracts, as well as a distrubution center. NTEB will be providing them with Bibles and tracts, as well as helping to cover some of the costs of getting their new facility up and running. Please pray about helping us to do this bold and mighty work for the Lord, and if God has prospered you, please click on the donate link to help us. We are going to need to raise right around $25,000 to launch the printing company and help with work on the facility. Come help us!!

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