John MacArthur | |
|---|---|
 MacArthur in 2013 | |
| Born | John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (1939-06-19)June 19, 1939 (age 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | MacArthur family |
| Religion | Christianity |
Congregations served | Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California |
John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American pastor and author who hosts the national Christian radio and television programGrace to You.[1] He has been the pastor ofGrace Community Church, anon-denominational church inSun Valley, California since February 9, 1969.[2] He is currently the chancellor emeritus ofThe Master's University inSanta Clarita andThe Master's Seminary.
MacArthur is a proponent ofexpository preaching, and has been acknowledged byChristianity Today as one of the most influential preachers of his time.[3] MacArthur has written or edited more than 150 books. HisMacArthur Study Bible has sold more than one million copies, receiving aGold Medallion Book Award.[4]
The grandson of CanadianAnglican minister Harry MacArthur (died 1950) and son of Baptist radio preacherJack MacArthur (born inCalgary, Alberta, Canada)[5] and Irene Dockendorf, MacArthur was born on June 19, 1939, inLos Angeles.[6] During a 1979 interview, Pastor MacArthur stated he is "distantly related toGeneralDouglas MacArthur." He went on to say, "I understand that I’m a fifth cousin, and so it’s quite a distance but nonetheless we are related."[7][8] MacArthur followed in his father's footsteps to enroll at thefundamentalistBob Jones College from 1957 to 1959. In 1960, after a year off, he was accepted to theFree Methodist Church’sLos Angeles Pacific College, where in his senior year he observed two games of football, going on field once for one play (see 1962 yearbook statistics).[9] In 1963, he was granted a Masters of Divinity from theBible Institute of Los Angeles's newTalbot Theological Seminary, inLa Mirada,California, with honors.
When atBob Jones University in South Carolina, MacArthur’s father recruited him to the Voice of Calvary singing quartet, often broadcast on Christian radio in Southern California. From 1964 to 1966, MacArthur was hired by his father as associate pastor at the Harry MacArthur Memorial Bible Church (now Calvary Bible Church inBurbank, California), which his father Jack had planted and named after his own father.[10] From 1966 to 1969, MacArthur was hired as the faculty representative forTalbot Theological Seminary. On February 9, 1969, he was hired as the third and youngest pastor at thenondenominationalGrace Community Church of Sun Valley, California.[11]
MacArthur's daily radio and television program,Grace to You was created by the Grace media team to publicize audio cassettes of sermons; in 1977, it was first broadcast in Baltimore, Maryland.[12] In 1985, MacArthur was made President of Los Angeles Baptist College, now The Master's University, a four-yearChristianliberal-artscollege.[13] In 1986, he was made President of the new Master's Seminary.[14]
A Milestone of 55 years after beginning in the pulpit of Grace Community, MacArthur completed one of his own life goals,[2] that of preaching through the entireNew Testament on June 5, 2011.[15]
Central to MacArthur's theology is a very high view of scripture (the66 books of the Protestant Bible).[16] He believes that scripture isinerrant andinfallible because it is "the Word ofGod" and that God cannot lie.[16] Furthermore, he believes that Christians are obliged to render full submission to scripture above all else and that "[t]o mishandle the Word of God is to misrepresent the One who wrote it. To reject its claims is to call Him a liar. To ignore its message is to snub that which theHoly Spiritinspired."[16]
MacArthur is acessationist, holding that the "sign gifts" (such asprophecy) described in the Bible were temporarily granted to theapostles to authenticate the origin and truth of the scriptures, and that at the close of theApostolic Age these gifts had served their purpose and ceased to be granted.[17] He is one of the most prominent voices in American Christianity against thecontinuationist beliefs ofPentecostalism and theCharismatic Movement, which assert that God continues to confer sign gifts today. MacArthur has written three books on the subject. In October 2013, his church hosted a conference called "Strange Fire" to mark the launch of a book of the same name.[18] The event featured a number of speakers who argued for cessationist theology and strongly critiqued the Charismatic Movement.[19][20]
MacArthur argues that modern "visions, revelations, voices from heaven... dreams, speaking in tongues, prophecies, out-of-body experiences, trip to heaven, anointings, miracles [are] all false, all lies, all deceptions attributed falsely to the Holy Spirit." He has remarked that "[t]he Charismatic movement has stolen the Holy Spirit and created agolden calf, and they're dancing around the golden calf as if it were the Holy Spirit."[21][22]
In 1983, MacArthur first published his belief in the doctrine of "incarnational sonship." In 1989, after some criticism, he defended his views in a plenary session of the annual convention of theIndependent Fundamental Churches of America (IFCA). A decade later, he announced he had retracted this view via an article fromGrace to You.[23]
MacArthur has stated that he opposes both "malechauvinist andfeminist views."[24] He has acomplementarian view ongender roles and considers that the Bible forbids women to preach to men or to exercise authority over men in churches, and he believes that the Biblical roles ofelder andpastor are restricted to men. To this end he cites the biblical passages of1 Timothy 2:11–121 Corinthians 14:34-35.[25][26][27]
MacArthur describes himself as a "leakydispensationalist."[28] MacArthur holds to the dispensationalist school ofpremillennialism, a pre-tribulationalRapture of the Church, and a literalMillennium. He teaches a completely restoredIsrael shall inherit physical ownership of the land of Canaan on the earth.[29][30][31]
MacArthur believes "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). This submission to Jesus as Lord when converting to faith in Jesus Christ became known toArminians as the "Lordship salvation controversy" in the 1980s. MacArthur argues that confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is a necessary component offree grace theology. He states, "You must receive Jesus Christ for who He is, both Lord and Savior, to be truly saved (2 Peter 2:20)."[32] Regardingeternal security, he states, "It should never be presented merely as a matter of being once saved, always saved with no regard for what you believe or do. The writer ofHebrews 12:14 states frankly that only those who continue living holy lives will enter the Lord's presence." These views raised controversy withinAmerican evangelicalism and were challenged in print byFree Grace theologians such asCharles Ryrie andZane C. Hodges, who argued that MacArthur's ministry was teaching a form of works-based salvation. MacArthur denied the charge, as attested on two tapes recorded in 1989 when he was asked to "reason together with the IFCA man."[33]
MacArthur advocatesYoung Earth creationism in his bookThe Battle For the Beginning (2001), and in his sermons.[34] Speaking aboutevolutionary theory, he writes that Christians "ought to expose such lies for what they are and oppose them vigorously." He argues that "the battle for the beginning is ultimately a battle between two mutually exclusive faiths—faith in Scripture versus faith in anti-theistic hypotheses. It is not really a battle between science and the Bible."[35]
MacArthur is a critic ofsame-sex marriage, theordination of women, theRoman Catholic Church, and thesocial justice movement.[36] He has delivered multiple sermons where he discusses these issues.[37]
With respect tosexual orientation, he has asserted that "no one is gay" as "God didn't hardwire anybody"[38] to be gay any more than he "hardwires" individuals to be adulterers or bank robbers.[39] MacArthur compared the assertion that sexual orientation is a born trait to a hypothetical bank robber's protestation, "That's like saying, "You know, I keep robbing banks, but I'm a robber. I'm a bank robber. What am I gonna do? I'm a bank robber." That is not an excuse for what you do."[39]
MacArthur has received anhonorary degree from Grace Graduate School in 1976 and fromTalbot Theological Seminary (Doctor of Divinity, 1977).[40]
In 2012, at the annual Shepherd's Conference, MacArthur was participating in a word association questionnaire when the moderator gave the name "Steven Furtick." MacArthur responded "unqualified" and proceeded to argue that Furtick, pastor ofElevation Church, was not qualified, by Biblical standards, to be a pastor.[41] Furtick responded to this comment in his 2016 bookUnqualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things.
In 2019, at the Truth Matters Conference, during another word association questionnaire, MacArthur was given the prompt "Beth Moore". MacArthur responded, "Go home." Reiterating his stance on1 Timothy 2:12, he went on to state, "There is no case that can be made biblically for a woman preacher. Period. Paragraph. End of Discussion."[42] Moore responded to this stance by stating on herTwitter account, "I did not surrender to a calling of man when I was 18 years old. I surrendered to a calling of God. It never occurs to me for a second to not fulfill it."[43]
In 2020 and 2021, during theCOVID-19 global crisis, MacArthur contravened orders fromLos Angeles County public health officials regarding services at Grace Community Church, and insisted that no one from the church had become seriously ill, despite reports to the contrary.[44] His major contention was that there was no justification for closing down churches over a disease with 94% survival rate according to misinterpreted data from the United StatesCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).[45][46]Los Angeles County sued the church over its refusal to close down, and the church counter-sued, claiming that the County was violating rights tofreedom of religion.[46] In August 2021, MacArthur told congregants that "many people" had contracted COVID-19 while it "went through" the church in December 2020 and January 2021, including both him and his wife. Eventually, all lawsuits were settled out of court with the County of Los Angeles and the State of California paying $400,000 each to Grace Community Church.[47][48]
In February 2022, Dennis Swanson, former vice president of Master's University and Master's Seminary, accused him of never having written any of his books and that they were allegedly written byghost writers.[49]
In March 2022,The Roys Report published an investigation implicating Grace Community Church and John F. MacArthur.[50] Several women victims ofdomestic violence were reportedly asked to return to their husbands, under threat ofexcommunication. MacArthur associate pastor Carey Hardy allegedly told a victim to lead by example and “suffer for Jesus” by enduring her husband’s abuse. A church elder, Hohn Cho, allegedly urged MacArthur to reconsider the victim's request, who told him "forget it." The victim was humiliated twice, in May 2002 and August 2002, by MacArthur in front of the congregation for having finally divorced her husband. In 2005, the victim's husband was sentenced to 21 years in prison for aggravated childmolestation, corporal injury to a child, andchild abuse. After the publication of the affair byChristianity Today in February 2023, the pastoral council denounced “lies”.[51]
MacArthur is married to his wife, Patricia.[52] They have four children, fifteen grandchildren, and had two great-grandsons by 2017.[53]
MacArthur was diagnosed withatrial fibrillation in January 2023 and underwent surgery to correct it with the implantation ofcardiac stents.[54][55] In July 2023, he had acatheter inserted to further treat the condition, and was absent from his public ministry for a few weeks.[56][55] In the second half of 2024 MacArthur underwent an additional three surgeries,[57] including an Aorta replacement and a procedure on his lungs to treat fluid build-up. After several months away, he briefly returned to limited public ministry in November.[55][57][58]
On 6 January 2025 it was reported that recovery from the surgeries was slower than expected, and that he had been in hospital for 2 weeks with "occasional setbacks affecting his heart, lungs, and kidneys."[57][58]
I was born down in Los Angeles at St. Vincent's Hospital, which is still operating.
{{cite web}}:|last2= has generic name (help)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
