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, an Arminian in
Calvinist Clothing!
Let me say right up front that I am not posting this write up because of any
personal grudge or animosity towards John MacArthur, Jr., But lately I have come
across many Reformed websites which are providing links to MacArthur and
portraying him as a Reformed Calvinist! This not only grieves my heart but upsets
my spirit. It is not what the man himself claims to be or what the people believe
him to be, but what he really preaches that betrays his true identity.
It was John MacArthur who once said, “It is not unkind to analyze doctrinal
differences in the light of Scripture. It is not necessarily factious to voice
disagreement with someone else’s teaching. In fact we have a moral imperative to
examine what is proclaimed in Jesus’ Name, and to expose and condemn false
teaching and unbiblical behaviour.” He further goes on to say, “The apostle Paul
felt it necessary at times to rebuke people by name in epistles meant to be read
publicly [Phil. 4:2-3; I Tim. 1:20; II Tim. 2:17]. John, the apostle of love, wrote a
scorching condemnation of Diotrephes, a church leader who was ignoring the
apostles’ teaching [III John 9:10]. The biblical challenge is not to avoid truth that is
controversial, but to speak the truth in love [Eph. 4:15].” (Charismatic Chaos pp
15).
“For many, John MacArthur is a champion of the faith whose voice is correcting
many of the ills of Christianity. For others, his teachings border on heresy, if not
blasphemy (see below). Nevertheless, MacArthur’s charm, charisma, and abilities
have combined to make him very appealing, even to those who should otherwise
know better. MacArthur’s proclamation of much truth can also create in one’s
mind a delusion. In the following quotes, MacArthur rightly reveals the deceptive
ways of false teachers, yet in the process, he unwittingly describes himself:
“… they are dangerous when they tell truth because often they cannot be
distinguished from true teachers. The key to being a successful false teacher is to
tell as much of the truth as possible” (MacArthur’s Bible Study Guide, Joy And
Godliness, p.17); and
“The subtlety of false teaching is that it uses the Word of God but misrepresents its
teaching. Those who teach something explicitly and overtly anti-biblical, anti-
Christ, and anti-God pose no real threat to the Christian church. But subtle teaching
that appears to be biblical yet pulls unwary souls away from the faith is a great
danger to the church” (MacArthur’s Bible Study Guide, Avoiding Spiritual
Counterfeiters, p. 17).”— Rick Miesel of Biblical Discernment Ministries
He is an Arminian who denies the Total Depravity of man and insists that man
possess a free-will to believe in Christ and be saved by a decision of his own. Such
a man directly repudiates God’s Words as found in John 1:13; 6:44; 8:36; Rom.
9:16, and other passages. And where any teacher or preacher is unsound on these
basic truths, no confidence must be placed on him on any other subject. If he is all
wrong at the foundations, his superstructure is bound to be faulty.
If the heresies of MacArthur could be easily discerned by the man in the pew, a
book such as this would not be needed. But as always, the old Serpent conceals the
error with a whole lot of truth and beguiles the souls of unwary men by his subtilty.
[II Cor. 11:3]. The Master himself warned us to beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees. [Matt.16: 6]. Leaven or Yeast though it be a considerably small amount,
has the pervasive influence to leaven the whole lump. [Gal 5:9]. Truth plus error
does not equal truth but heresy!
For all that we have said in this article we would not be surprised if MacArthur or
those who belong to his ministry allege that we have misunderstood him and have
quoted him out of context. But God is our witness that we have not falsely accused
MacArthur of error or misquoted him as saying something he never meant. We
request those who are interested, to patiently refer to the tapes and books from
which his quotes have been taken and decide for themselves. The apostle said, “We
believe and therefore speak” [II Cor. 4:13]. Even so, whatever MacArthur has
spoken on tape, he has said it because he believes it.
Before this article was compiled, we discussed these errors and inconsistencies of
MacArthur with one of his seminarians who visited our city for a ‘Study Seminar.’
We were surprised to see that this seminarian was fully aware of all these
inconsistencies, and he comforted us, saying, “MacArthur has now changed his
position on ‘free-will’ and ‘limited atonement,’ and believes as a true Reformed
theologian. If this is true, then MacArthur should demonstrate the spiritual
guts to withdraw all his tapes and books which teach error and publish his
current biblical beliefs.
The contents of this article will shock many Christians who have come to rely on
John MacArthur, Jr., as a faithful Bible teacher and expositor. Simple, naïve
Christians have believed in him for many years, seeing in him a Rock in the storm,
a monument to Christianity in a fearfully evil world, a true, reliable man-of-God
when other weaker church leaders may have let us all down. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Many others, especially, well known ‘Pastors’ and ‘Bible
teachers’ will be offended, and some even infuriated, as this expose´ on MacArthur
will expose their own compromise and hypocrisy.
Beloved, we have come to a day when we cannot trust in any man, especially some
one who is esteemed highly and ‘well-known’ in Christian circles. For that which is
highly esteemed among men (even in Christendom) is abomination in the sight of
God [Lk. 16:15]. And the one of whom all men speak well must be a false prophet
[Lk. 6:26]. One might ask, were not men like the apostle Paul and Peter held in
high esteem? Are they not well spoken of? Does that mean they are false prophets?
It ought to be remembered that it is only long after their death that men realized the
worth of these godly men. But in their day, they were not well known, neither were
they held in high esteem, but on the contrary they were counted as fools for
Christ’s sake; were despised, were buffeted, had no certain dwelling place, were
reviled, were persecuted, were defamed, were made as the filth of the world and
were the off scouring of all things until their death [I Cor. 4:10-13].
The apostle said, that the time will come when men ‘will not endure sound
doctrine’. They will still endure evangelistic meetings, study seminars, even
expository sermons; but ‘sound doctrine’ they will not endure. ‘The infallible test
by which the poor child of God may measure the things now going on in
Christendom is this: Any thing which is endured today in the religious world
cannot be sound doctrine; anything which is approved of, well-attended,
popular, is not sound ‘doctrine’. When God raises up His servant, equips him
and sends him forth to preach, that servant will necessarily preach the Word,
and denounce all that is opposed to the world: hence his message is bound to
be unpopular, in fact hated by all who are not regenerated. Was it not thus with
Old Testament prophets? Would even the Israelites of their day endure sound
doctrine? Would they do so when the Lord Jesus preached it? Would they when
the apostles taught it? Would they in the time of Luther and Calvin? And poor,
fallen human nature is the same now! Mark it well beloved, that the people to
whom the Old Testament prophets, Christ, and the apostles preached were not
irreligious! No, indeed, far from it! They were very religious: but they were
determined to have a religion of their own, which suited them and they would not
tolerate anything which condemned them. Even so, it is now!’ (A.W. Pink).
It would be foolish for us to expect that this article will meet with general
approval. For what is condemned as heresy and hypocrisy in this book is the same
that is prevailing and pervading practically every established ‘Christian’
denomination and institution with few exceptions. Our appeal then is not to the
popular beliefs of the day, nor to the creeds of the churches, but to the Law and
Testimony of Jehovah. Therefore beloved, take heed of the contents of this work,
ponder them, prayerfully consider them. For “he that answereth a matter before he
heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him” [Prov. 18:13]. All we ask for is an
impartial and attentive examination of what we have written. For controversy we
have no taste, and we shall not accept any challenge against those who desire to
debate the truths discussed in these pages.
In the development of this article much use has been made of other articles in order
that this one may contain the very cream and quintessence of the best authors on
the subjects. The author does not pretend that any of the material contained in this
article is his own. Except for a few paragraphs here and there and the direct
criticisms of MacArthur’s theology, the whole section on Calvinism is quoted
verbatim from the writings of Arthur Walkington Pink and other Reformed
authors.
It is not the intention of the author or the editors of this article to defame
MacArthur or any others who may find themselves teaching the same errors that
are exposed in this article. Rather, that every preacher may examine his doctrine
and ministry in the light of God’s Word as to whether he be preaching the truth as
it is in Jesus, for “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s
work of what sort it is” [I Cor. 3:13]. This article is dedicated to the One who loved
us and washed us from our sins with His own blood and hath made us kings and
priests unto God and His Father. And it is sent out with a prayer that He may use it
as ‘meat in due season’ to feed the children of God that are scattered abroad.
MacArthur teaches that fallen sinful man who is dead in trespasses and sins has the
potency or ability whereby he can comply to the demands of God. Listen to his
own words : “The God of the Bible is not a God who makes demands on impotent
people who are unable to comply and then crushing them because of their non-
compliance.” [GC 50-21]. Beloved, this is the great Arminian heresy. It directly
repudiates the doctrine of Total Depravity and the Bible which teaches that “the
carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be [Rom. 8: 7].”
Concerning the teaching on Total Depravity, the Roman Catholic Church warns
—”If anyone shall affirm, that since the fall of Adam, man’s free-will is lost and
extinguished; or, that it is a thing titular, yea a name, without a thing, and a fiction
introduced by Satan into the church; let such an one be accursed”! Hence we see,
though MacArthur avows to dissent from the teachings of Rome, at least in this
aspect he walks hand in hand with them.
MacArthur’s view of election is nothing but God choosing those who choose Him,
which is not properly election. If man’s will is the ultimate factor in his choice
between believing and not believing in Jesus, then it is rather absurd to go on
talking about unconditional election. However, some people do, indeed, indulge in
such absurdity. According to them election is nothing but God’s choice of those
whom He foresaw would believe. This is a contradiction of terms, for if God
chooses those who choose Him, it is not God’s election of man but man’s election
of God.
Commenting on the verse, “Jacob I loved, but Esau have I hated” MacArthur
erroneously teaches that the decree is on their posterity and not on Jacob and Esau
themselves (se his commentary on Romans).
John MacArthur, Jr., not only ignores the doctrine of reprobation but at times out
rightly denies it. To quote his own words “You’ll never find any place in the Bible
that God sends people to hell, you’ll never find any place in the Bible that God
damns people. If men choose to go to hell, they go there because they pronounce
their own sentence in rejecting Jesus Christ” (Tape GC 1746). Well, that is true,
but it is only a part of the truth. It is the truth from the human side. But there is a
divine side too, and this side of the truth needs to be stressed or God will be robbed
of His glory.
Again MacArthur says, “MacArthur, “Those who perish and go to hell, go because
they are depraved and worthy only of hell and have rejected the only remedy, Jesus
Christ; not because they were created for hell and predetermined to go
there.”( MacArthur Commentary Bible on 2Pt 3:9)
Writing to the saints at Thessalonica the apostle declared “For God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” [I Thess.
5:9]. MacArthur deliberately misinterprets the plain truth of this scripture by
saying “May I mention that their disobedience is not destined, their unbelief is not
destined or appointed, their doom is appointed because of their unbelief.” [ Tape
GC 60-20]
Unlike his Arminian counterparts MacArthur holds and teaches the doctrine of the
Perseverance of the Saints. This would have been commendable had he faithfully
preached all the five points of the Reformed Faith as they are taught in the Word of
God rather than preach what seemed more agreeable to his feelings and plausible
to his understanding. In modifying and denying the harsher and controversial
doctrines of Calvinism he has developed a theology that is inconsistent and
contradictory. Having denied the doctrine of ‘Total Depravity’ and ‘Limited
Atonement’ his illustrious and profound teachings on the ‘Perseverance of the
Saints’ amounts to nothing but sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.
It is a contradiction to contend for the free-will of fallen man and yet at the same
time the eternal security of the believer. They both cannot be true. Jesus taught that
our will is determined by our nature. He said “Every good tree bringeth forth good
fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” [Mt 7:17,18]. The tree is not
free to produce good or bad fruit at random but is governed by its nature. But, if
according to the Arminian, the fallen, depraved sinner is free to choose God and
holiness against his nature, then there can be no guarantee that the believer who
has partaken of the Divine nature will cease to choose that which is evil in the life
to come. In fact a person whose will is “free” would be a dangerous associate even
in heaven; for his acts would be irrational and we would have no way of knowing
what he might do under any conditions. That which guarantees the permanence of
the states of the saved and the lost in the next world, is the fact that volition’s are a
true expression of the person’s nature.
The born-again child of God will forever continue to choose that which is holy and
good because his nature (heart) has been changed and God has made as it were the
tree good and its fruit good’ [Matt.12:33]. Whereas the wicked, after the
restraining influences of the Holy Spirit are withdrawn, become bold, defiant,
blasphemous, and sin with an irremediable obstinacy. “Only the Calvinistic
principle that the will is determined by the nature of the person and the
inducements presented, reaches a conclusion in harmony with that of Scripture
which affirms that “there is a great gulf fixed”, so that none can pass over, — that
the states of the saved and the lost alike are permanent.” [Lorraine Boettner ]
Again, it is a contradiction to speak of an Unlimited Atonement saying, “Jesus
Christ in His death purposed to die as a substitute for everyman” ( Tape GC 1606)
and at the same time contend for the eternal security of the believer. For if Christ is
the propitiation for those that are lost equally as much as for those that are saved,
then what assurance have we that believers too may not be lost? If Christ is the
propitiation for those now in hell, what guarantee have I that I may not end in hell?
The blood-shedding of the incarnate Son of God is the only thing that can keep
anyone out of hell, and if many for whom that precious blood made propitiation are
now in that awful place of the damned, then may not that blood prove inefficacious
for me! Away with such a God-dishonoring thought!!