Off topic,
But do you know Conrad Murrell? I visited his assembly a time or two.
He runs a good bible camp I have heard. Also he is closely associatd with many of the churches that fellowship with my church. He is a gifted speaker, but often people are attracted to his critiques (i.e. his negative comments) about things. He has become known as sort of a critic and a firebrand.He influences many people among the churches that fellowship with my home church.
I attended the church Conrad Murrell pastored for about two years. brother. Murrell is indeed a gifted speaker and can be very persuasive. If I were to listen to him even today he would probably have me almost persuaded of some of his distinctives simply due to the authoritative manner in which he expresses them. I will respond to the series of articles generally as the portion Pergy posted is only the introductory article, although in the summary of the controversy he did get a few parting shots in.
He has an essentially anabaptist view of history, as seen with this piece and probably goes beyond Verduin (who is a huge influence on him) in seeing them in the best possible light and at times seeing the Reformed in the worst possible light (i.e. the idea that only reason the Reformers retained infant baptism was "sacralism".) With this piece on the New Covenant, which was originally published his newsletter (which can be found online) and later published in book form, in my opinion he does a much better job of saying what he's against than what he's for. In the process he arguably raises more questions than he answers, especially if you're not familiar with the rest of his teaching. He is adamantly against any kind of confession or creed but in the same work on pp. 18-19 he gives us 12 "Given Parameters of Biblical Interpretation" which appear to me to constitute something similar to a basic confession in that they are a lens through which he interprets the scriptures. These parameters are also given to us with little or no justification. Without naming names of other writers he does appear to back away from some NCT excesses i.e. says that there is no NT legal code contra his friend J. Reisinger & co. and criticizes some of the more radical antisabbatarians.
I met Pergy's mentor (who is not NCT) on his last two trips to that bible camp and remember his preaching fondly.
Yes, persuasive he is. And yes, many in my circles are gifted at telling you what they think is NOT the Gospel.
His camp has done a lot of good and when he sticks to some topics he is one of the most persuasive preachers I have heard. However, his thoughts are characteristic of many in my circles and this is the reason why I posted this article by him in particular, because this train of thought is a thorny problem among some of the churches with whom I have dealings.
As far as "my mentor" goes, he would be a 1689er though he would probably never admit it, due to another strain among some of my churches (anti-confessionalism).
In fact right now among those that call themselves "Sovereign Grace Baptists" this NCT issue is a hot one. I am glad that I am anonymous as I mention this.