Phil Johnson Unplugged

by Phil Johnson



oday was my 59th birthday. In other words, I'm now officially in my 60th year. Last week I did some careful reflecting; I also did some calculating; and it was—how shall I say this?—unsettling. Convicting. Alarming. In the very best case, I figure I might have a decade and a half of productive full-time labor left. Looking back on the past 15 years, I realize that's a very brief time. I want to make the most of it.

Thursday my doctor confirmed what I was beginning to think: I need to cut out everything non-essential in my life that causes stress without giving me any cardiovascular benefit. I hate when geriatric patients recite the details of their medical reports, so let's just say that the doctor was serious: It's time for me to stop burning the candle at both ends. Darlene emphatically affirmed that diagnosis. Everyone who loves me is likewise in hearty agreement.

So: (gladly, with no reluctance whatsoever) I'm officially retiring from blogging, social media, and every other activity that intrudes on things that ought to be the real priorities in the final two decades of a man's life.

I started blogging 7 years ago because I was concerned about the drift of postmodern evangelicalism and the Emerging Church Movement. I've said everything I have to say about that issue—and many more issues. In fact, as I think about it, I have probably at one point or another blogged about almost everything I'm really passionate about. I don't have any significant opinions left.



Thanks for reading and responding to my posts over the years. I'm handing over the PyroManiacs' master keys to Frank and Dan (who are both better bloggers than I am anyway). They can do with the blog whatever they like: conscript Chantry to be the third man, have a contest to recruit other new team members, or simply close up shop. (But if you guys opt for the latter, please leave the archives online as a kind of Ebenezer.)

Most people don't realize this, but Frank, Dan, and I did not know one another when we started blogging. By the time we formed a group blog in January of '06, I had met Frank only once and Dan never. But I had been reading what they wrote at their own blogs, and felt certain we would work well together as a team. That turned out to be a good call—but all credit for keeping the machinery of our teamwork well-oiled goes to them, not me. Best of all, we've become good friends, and that friendship (including fellowship with our families) will continue. I promise.

But my blogging stops here. I've already got more than enough deadlines to keep me busy for the rest of my life, without the additional stress of writing 2-3 weekly posts and trying to keep up with every controversy in the blogosphere. As interesting as that is, it's not my most important duty—by a long shot. And at my age, nothing would be more tragic than letting my priorities get confused.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all" (2 Thessalonians 3:18).

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UPDATED:  Frank here.  I don't want to spoil Phil's final post, but there is some mass hysteria churning up in the comments, so for the sake of clarity, before you comment, note:


1. All of Phil's posts here and at the original Pyromaniac blog will remain here and there until Google crashes or Jesus returns.  

2. To my knowledge, the spurgeon.org server will remain up and running with the Spurgeon Archives utterly in tact. 

3. Phi's announcement is that he is leaving these things as finished works, not as trash at the curbside, so let's maintain our perspective.

Right now Dan and I have no plans to "replace" Phil, as if that was even possible.  However, we also have no plans of shuttering this blog.  What gets said here still needs to be said, and nobody else is going to say it.  To paraphrase a great line, these posts aren't going to write themselves.


Back to the wailing and gnashing of teeth.