John MacArthur passed away last night. He was 86. I hope he was saved. If he was, it's sad that he went astray on the gospel. (MacArthur advocated the false teaching known as "Lordship Salvation".) I heard a YouTuber talking about MacArthur's passing, and he said that "there hasn't been anyone in the last 30 or 40 years that has been more influential on the Christian church [than John MacArthur]." Okay, but that doesn't mean he was right on the gospel. There's no doubt that MacArthur was influential. But I contend that he was a bad influence on the church as far as the gospel is concerned. Without question he was a skilled communicator, but unfortunately he was wrong on the gospel.
If the apostle Paul were to preach at John MacArthur's funeral, I doubt he'd give him a nice eulogy, in light of the fact that MacArthur was a false teacher as far as the gospel is concerned. Instead of tickling people's ears (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3), I can hear Paul saying something like this to the congregation:
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:6-10, ESV.)
Related to the topic of this blog post, which is John MacArthur and his "different gospel" (Gal. 1:6, ESV), J. Irvin Overholtzer, founder of Child Evangelism Fellowship, shares the following thoughts in his book Salvation By Grace. Under the heading "The Galatian Error," he writes:
ReplyDelete"This terrible corrupting of the Gospel of grace has been ever with us since that time. It has taken many forms. We have added many things to simple faith as the condition of salvation. We have demanded that all sin be forsaken as a condition of salvation. This is not the Gospel of grace at all. Sin is to be forsaken after Christ receives us and gives us His power with which to forsake the sin. We have demanded that a promise to obey Christ as Lord must be made--that we give our hearts to Him. This is not grace. Grace presents salvation to helpless sinners as a free gift (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8, 9). If promises are to be exacted, the salvation obtained would be anything but a gift (Romans 4:4, 5). But the tragedy is, no salvation at all would be had. We have demanded that a certain creed [of conduct, cf. Gal. 2:21] be subscribed to. All of these are but forms of the Galatian error. They are under the condemnation of God."
Source: J. Irvin Overholtzer, Salvation By Grace (Grand Rapids: Child Evangelism Fellowship Press, 1958), pp. 6-7, brackets added.
Research Update: For more information on the sad (and Satanic) legacy of John MacArthur as it relates to his false gospel of "Lordship Salvation," see the following critique by Dr. Andy Woods, excerpted from his Pastor's Point of View (PPOV) podcast, episode 366. The link is here to copy and paste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UALkR6VVn44&t=3506s (beginning at the 58:26 timestamp).
ReplyDelete"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, NASB.)