WHY DOES JOHN MacARTHUR
SOUND SO MUCH LIKE POPE FRANCIS?

Please notice the total lack of Scripture used by BOTH the Pope and MacArthur.

The next step is Reformed Theology, of which MacArthur has drunk deeply..... The Church examines and "confirms" you as a member of the Body of Christ. Then comes the Roman Whore doctrine..... The Church administers salvation to you in the first place. Where is MacArthur headed?

By following the text below, and by opening the links at the end of this article, you will see that MacArthur is going to end his days by presiding over "The Holy Office" at Grace Community Church in California. He is clearly questioning the salvation of people who do not regularly park their butt in a church pew, preferably one in his local church. The Holy Office of the Roman Catholic Church was the name given to the older Office of the Inquisitor dating back to the days of the murder of over 70 million people in Europe by the Dominican Fathers of the church. Reformed theology tends to lead back to the violence of Rome. And, John MacArthur is becoming a violent man. Read the web article linked below in which students at Masters College tell of the mental and even physical violence done to them by MacArthur and his Inquisitors.

But, more on this later. Does MacArthur's formula for the Church work? Do people who absorb Reformed theology and fill church pews become godly? In other words, does the zeal of Lordship Salvation, with its "good works," produce holiness in the disciples?

Reformed churches are loaded with people who believe they are Christians because they were dribbled with water as infants in arms (Baptism), and they were catechized, sanforized, and confirmed. They put their confidence, not in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but in the approval they received from the domini and his council. Oh yes, they cling to the church corporate and to a pew on Sunday morning, but they are dead as mackerel in the moon light, which shines and stinks. And, my, my, does not Calvinism shine and stink?

The doctrine taught by MacArthur and Pope Francis here destroys the personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the ONLY conditional experience for salvation. Both the Pope and MacArthur are claiming your person, present in their temporal organization, is proof that you are born again. Your absence, by implication, shows that your confession of faith in Jesus Christ is highly suspect. There is also the implication that you cannot really love Jesus unless you do so as a group. What you think about your salvation is totally dependent on whether or not you are perceived as a card carrying member of a local church.

And, if you don't believe this, the great one..... Pope Pancho or Pope MacArthur..... will declare you are a fake Christian and not worthy of their imprimatur.

The Fundamental Baptist preacher, when he finds someone who is not parking their butt in a pew on Sunday, asks, "Why should I believe you are born again?" This preacher, like MacArthur and Papa Francis, associates the organization and Churchianity with salvation. The Fundamental Baptist is much more direct though. He will excommunicate you for you lack of zeal a lot faster than Pope Francis or Pope MacArthur. All of these men will then instruct the approved members to shun you as if you were Lucifer in person.

We end this introductory video and commentary by directing you to the Bible. Does Pope Francis or Pope MacArthur stand between you and God with the power to declare you a true believer in Jesus Christ or not?

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Hebrews 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Did Pope Francis or Pope MacArthur die for you? If not, neither of them are qualified to judge your standing with God and his Son who bought the office of mediator with his precious Blood. In the vernacular of Tennessee where we lived before moving to Texas, it would be said, "Those two boys are worthless as tits on a boar hog." Now, THERE is some doctrine we can all agree with, right? And, I have it on the best authority that the Greek Aorist Tense indicates they will keep being worthless for a very long time to come.

 

THIS TEACHING IS HERESY

Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Both the Pope and MacArthur are trying to shame anyone who is not fully committed to a local corporate church. Verse 11 says you do not have to be ashamed of anything, that is, IF you have confessed the Lord Jesus Christ out loud. And, this is not said to be a confession before the Consistory, the Senod, or the Church Board. It means to talk about Jesus Christ to people whenever you can.

You see, the true Body of Christ is all over the place on a daily basis. You meet them regularly during the day as you go to work and shop around town. The only issue is, do you talk about Jesus enough to trigger some Christian you meet into inquiring whether you are born again? If you do this, you have been meeting the Church daily.

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

This Old Testament experience of true believers in Israel is still going on in the Lord's Church. Truly born again Christians find each other, and they stop and "have church." When you invite Christian friends to your home for an evening, you are gathering with the Church. In fact, it is a lot more fuss to get an evening of food and fellowship together than to roll into the Church parking lot, park your butt on the walnut pew, get back in your car, and go home satisfied that you proved your salvation to the presiding bishop. It is as if they send the registration card you filled out right to God special delivery on Monday morning so that God remembers you.

Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Men like MacArthur, and 98% of all Baptist preachers, avoid the truth that there is a "universal Church" out there. This is because they do not want you to think that having fellowship over coffee at the International House of Pancakes, with a King James Bible open, is "church." To these preachers, MacArthur, and Pope Francis, "church" means butt in pew mister, and penny in plate.

Peter must have his pence,
Even if you have to sell your pants.
The plate floats by,
You give, or you die.

Ephesians 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

The Church and Heaven are full of Jesus Christ, and he fills it all with himself. So, every Bible believer in the world is as much "Church" as you are, and though the whole Church never meets together, they most certainly meet in twos and threes. More on this later. A Church of two is just as full of Jesus Christ as is the whole universal Church worldwide. Jesus does not come in pints and quarts, nor does the Holy Spirit. Nor can you get a greater measure of Christ in you by sitting in a local church service. If Christ is in you, you are as much Church as the biggest mega church on earth.

Listen up, friend. You cannot get more of Jesus Christ. You are filled as full of him as possible RIGHT NOW. Nothing you do, once you are born again, can get you more of Jesus, and no sin can diminish the amount of Jesus in you.

Of course, when you sin you FEEL like Jesus went somewhere and is hiding from you. Wrong! YOU are the one who went somewhere. And, going to church and being a faithful attender will not get you back the sense of being full of Jesus Christ. Only THIS will do when this happens.....

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Having said this, I hasten to point out that when you can get to a gathering of the saints on Sunday, and you choose to not be there, you may miss a blessing. Of course, this depends on whether or not those gathered are worshipping God or having a Barnum and Bailey circus. It ultimately depends on whether of not God the Holy Spirit is going to that church also. This is why so many Christians seem to have abandoned the corporate church gatherings. It is the Laodicean era, and the vast majority of alleged churches are loonie bins.

John MacArthur, in teaching that YOU must prove your salvation by your works, brings into question God's promise and power to KEEP you saved.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

MacArthur's Lordship Salvation denies you the offer of salvation. The idea is that God predestined you unto faking it. You are being allowed by God to deceive yourself into thinking you confessed faith in Jesus Christ. You will come to the end of your life only to learn after death that your sincere confession of faith in Christ was all a bad joke on you done to you by God. This is now proven by your lack of works, or by your starting out in works but backing off. At this point God is not able to keep you because your works fail to prove you are born again. The final verdict is that you did it to yourself by being spiritually lazy. Thus, you can take yourself out of God's hand in violation to the text above.

This is precisely the same false doctrine taught by Arminians. They will tell you that Verse 28-29 above only apply to other people beside yourself. You can sin your way out of God's hand. Well, sir, I am my own worst enemy. Read how Paul laments his old nature in Romans 7. He is not worried about other men destroying his victory. He is in a battle with his own tendency to go away from God's holiness. MacArthur implies that your works are not convincing enough, and it is your fault for not working more and more and more. MacArthur's God is thus denied the "P" in TULIP. God cannot Preserve you because he is playing a big joke on you.

The real problem in Christendom, which MacArthur ought to address, is that many people claim Christ as Savior, join the local church, and never talk about Jesus Christ to other people. THAT is serious stuff my friend. You can quote Calvin's Institutes on Eternal Security all you want. Being born again, and being a member of the Lord's Church, opens your mouth to talk about Jesus Christ. Your local church membership be damned if you will not talk to men about Jesus. See Romans 10:8-11 above.

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Top priority for a Bible believer is to follow God. If you tell the average pastor, "I follow God," he will at once question your salvation. Paul would not do so. That was his command to the saints. Verse 2 then tells us to love. Love Jesus Christ, and love other believers. These believers are not just those who are sitting nearby on Sunday morning in the church service. Loving believers is about loving them wherever you find them. It IS possible to love another believer on social media. It is possible to love another believer in the check out lane of the grocery store. Even for a few minutes, the love FOR Christ constrains you to love that Christian waiting on you at the restaurant.

When you are having an impromptu visit with a Christian you met at the car wash, you are "having church."

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Jesus is the Head of the church, and you and your friend are the Body of Christ. Stop letting these Popes and persuasive bogus theologians rob you of your fellowship in Christ and with his Church wherever you find it. The real problem which the Pope and MacArthur have with you is that you are not dropping your farthing in the offering plate every Sunday.

You need to understand that, the Sunday after the Rapture of the Lord's Church, most churches around the world will be full of people who believe they are Christians because they obeyed the Pope and John MacArthur and showed up for the Mass or the "Morning Service." Joel Osteen will be right up there on the platform flashing his teeth as usual. The band will be so cool. And, those dollies with the different colored mics will be swaying and breathing "Jeeeeeesus" into the mic with the breathy voice of Bourbon Street.

So, you left the corporate church..... just keep looking for Christians wherever you go and "be the church."

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Next time you leave home for work or the market place, bow your head, and ask God to lead you to a Christian with whom you can "be church." See if you can bless them in some way.

 

 

REBUKE OF JOHN MacARTHUR

You will remember me well, my friend. Your church was very good to my family, for which I am grateful. I have used thoughts from your teaching in the past in my own Bible teaching. But, something changed along the way, and I do not believe it was me. It most certainly was not the Truth or the Lord Jesus.

1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

You went somewhere over the years, and your journey is not hard to understand. The need to feel bigger than we really are is always a temptation to any pastor. Been there, done that.

Reformed Theology is seductive. It appeals to our intellect with large mighty words substituted for the simple words of the King James Bible we used to use. Reformed Theology appeals to the lawyer in us with the profound lines of logic and reasoning. Many men seem to wander into this world of large thoughts. But, some of the sheep catch on. They cannot tell you exactly what is wrong, but they know they are not hearing what they once believed.

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

I offer an article from Rory Moore. This brother explains why some of the sheep wander off without explaining why they left. Your thoughts in the video above betray your frustration, and the problem may well be that the sheep did not go wandering..... they escaped from something dreadful.

Consider please:

 

Leaving Church to Find God

By Rory Moore

 

A lot of people sit in the pews and ask themselves "WHAT am I doing here?"

It was all so wonderful at one time.

Finding and falling in love with Jesus, forgiveness of sins, a new life, new and wonderful things to learn, and a sense of God's presence and joy. But as time went by, the joy fizzled out, and the routine of church became, well, a routine.

The emptiness grew. All you wanted was God, and back in the beginning, you remember how great and wonderful God was. You sang the songs with heartfelt feeling and The Bible was the greatest book you ever read, so that even the TV got turned off. You arrived early to church and stayed late.

You never missed a service if you could help it.

Something slowly changed. Did Jesus become boring? What happened?

You thought something was wrong with yourself so you threw yourself into the growth program, volunteered for a committee, taught Sunday School. You overlooked others' faults, pretty much, but sometimes you wondered how people could practice some pretty carnal vices and still sing in choir or teach the children.

Although you couldn't figure out what was wrong, there was only a sense that something was not right. So you worked on the building, cleaned it on Saturday nights, and tried to be "involved".

But as time went on, the best part of a church "service" was when it ended.

But in time, you weren't getting much out of it anymore, were not challenged in the areas of your life that needed change, and even when the pastor assured you that you were one of God's children, you wondered and hoped it was true. You knew you were much closer to the church than you were to God so you justified yourself that it was OK.

You wanted to have close spiritual friendships but as you sat in church looking at the back of 40 or 50 heads, you wondered what THEY were thinking. And when service ended, everyone pretty much went off in their own direction, there was little closeness.

So you continue to go along with the songs, the offerings, the wannabe-happy-here attitude, but inside you are crying out "WHERE ARE YOU GOD!?"

Then, the pastor starts using another Bible. He says the old one used archaic English, and the church needs a Bible that is based on older Greek manuscripts. This results in the pastor telling you things like, "This is an unfortunate rendering," or, he discusses all sorts of Greek grammar issues in order to show you the Bible is no longer without errors. You feel like you are being helped to doubt the authority of the Bible and to instead trust the scholarship of the pastor more. You sense this is upside down, but you cannot explain it. [ Added by Editor ]

You even hang-tough when bad stuff happens. People leave, people you thought you were friends with quit calling.

You see people suffer church abuse, you even see the leadership doing things that can't be right, but you have learned to shut up and look the other way. After all they are the leaders and you are not to question or challenge them because they represent God to the church, right?

You even see your own kids mistreated by some of the leaders and by other kids in the one place you thought was safe.

Over the years, by God's incredible grace, you still "stay the course" through some incredible church explosions. You saw situations that were unthinkable to your once idealistic mind, both in the pulpit and the pew. You stayed loyal to your leaders and defended them even when many others openly pointed out their mis-deeds which you excused or justified.

You trudged on, the kids didn't want to go, it was too "BORING!" they said. And inside, you knew they were right, but the thought of NOT going to church was unthinkable. You watched some Christian TV but were turned off by the cheap, shallow, carnival style pitchmen. They performed just like a lot of non-Christian entertainers only they used church-speak.

You still defended your church, your leaders, your teachings, but inside the nagging emptiness continued and grew. Somebody announced a new church activity,and a new program so you decide to give it another shot trying to “work through” the funk of spiritual stagnation….

Six months and 40 days later, you felt even emptier.

What made it worse was some of the others that participated in the same program and gave glowing testimonies about the program, were now not even coming to church anymore!

Somehow, you kept on giving financially (you had a name and reputation to maintain there, after all), even though both you and your family were struggling. And you saw things and heard things that did not fit what you had read in the Bible.

But the years of conditioning to accept whatever was said in justification for questionable actions over-ruled common sense and the ability to be objective when it came to your church ….

Then came the unexpected crisis.

After the spiritual honeymoon and becoming settled in to the church routine, you became a respected, stable member of a local church. You saw many people come and go, even pastors and leaders. You worked to support and encourage others through many difficulties and you gave of your time and ability. One day you realized WOW! I've been a Christian for 14 years! Where did the time go?”

You raised your kids in church, some of you struggled with unsaved spouses, some did not. You saw divorce in the church, out-of-wedlock pregnancies, dishonest financial deeds, leadership corruption, and other un-Christian actions around you but you held on to your faith, your God, and your church.

Then came your own crisis of faith.
It may have come as a phone call at 1am.
It may have been your company going bankrupt, getting fired or laid off, an unfaithful spouse, the death of a loved one, a child on drugs, a doctors report, the loss of a home, business, or a lawsuit…and the sense of life turning against you.
It may have been the words “I don’t love you anymore”.

It may have been your pastor going into adultery with one or more women in the church, it may have been a pastor getting away with large amounts of the church’s money or property, it may be that no one was held accountable and they seemed to get away with it.

It may have been your spouse or child saying ‘I’m not going back”, or seeing the serial abuse and mistreatment of other members to the point you realized something is/was seriously wrong.
It may be the acceptance of new doctrine or practices that are contrary to the traditions of your faith, it may be some really “weird stuff” happening in church.

It may have been a nuclear shock of discovering your child had been molested by a youth minister, it may have been the discovery and cover-up of an affair either in the ministry or the family.
It may have been a sharp conflict with another church member. Or it may even have been things you read in the Bible that now you cannot reconcile with what your church does or does not teach.

It may have been your own lack of walking in a close relationship to the Lord.
It may have been the cares and business of life that slowly caused a drifting away from what you first had with the Lord and the day came when you realized your very soul was in jeopardy.

It may have been the day your world fell apart and what had always happened to someone else now happened to you.

One or more of the above scenarios played out a process in your life that turned you into a lit fuse on the way to an explosion.

The phone call, the letter, the email or text, the policeman standing at your door and suddenly the last strings that held your world together were gone. At first you are stunned; denial and disbelief kick in and with it, a numbness of emotion and feeling. The world looks different, people appear strange, there is an unreality to life and the realization that there is an unstoppable process taking you into an unknown future.

Depending on the circumstances ranging from the shock of finality, or hoping for a second opinion, or making a call to a lawyer or other professional, or to another church member to compare notes, reality settles in and you try to cope. A lot of them listen, offer a few words of encouragement, but nothing can heal the wound you have taken.

You come to the realization others cannot understand, help, or solve the problem. And even when you are among the others, you still feel alone. You battled anger, resentment, "WHY ME?", blame others, blame yourself, and cannot find any of the answers or understanding that you need.

These scenarios happen to people every day, in church and out. We watched it happen over the years many times in the lives of those around us, and then one day, one month, one year, it happened to us.

Convergence.
It began with the death of my dad, our oldest son turning 13, and a series of events that felt like a slow, agonizing death-which, in reality it was. It turned into a death and what Jesus spoke about on more than one occasion:

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

You see, we would never had made the changes we needed to make, that God desired us to make, and to return to Him and the careful study of His Word. Yes, the very crises that caused such great hurt and sorrow became the very instruments God used to bring us back to Him. I found God on my knees in our living room and soon after, He began to challenge my wife and I regarding every tradition and concept we had taken for granted.

And that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

It was in the deepest, most painful days of that time that we found God again. And for that, we are ever grateful. Yes, it did cause us to leave our church of 24 years and we paid a price in losing old friendships we thought were lifetime. The amazing thing was as we disconnected with church, we reconnected with God.

Although that sounds like a contradiction, it is not, because we found as we returned to the study of scripture and prayer, we realized the church had departed from God’s Word and the longer we stayed out of the churches, the clearer the picture became of what we had left.

Some folks leave church because they are bitter. Some leave because of sin. Some leave because they finally wake up and see the emptiness or the phony showmanship. Some just grow weary and leave. There are many reasons, but our hope here is that we are speaking to those of you who are at some stage of what we and others have been through and your hearts desire is to follow Jesus…like you did at the first.

You may feel isolated sometimes and alone, but God has not failed you or forsaken you. He is bound by His Word and when we believe what He says about our circumstances, He will show up-maybe not like we want-but He will for our good. He said so. "ALL things work to the good.." is still true when we trust Him.

5.5 years later, in answer to the question "Leave or Stay?", without hesitation we answer "LEAVE". It has been one of the best decisions we ever made. We left "church" but we found God.

Rory's new site is: http://preparinghisway.blogspot.com/

Rory on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rory.moore.5872?lst=100014936921409%3A1311027042%3A1487033404

The paragraph in blue was added by Steve Van Nattan

 

 

FINAL VERDICT

So, brother MacArthur, where did the sheep go? You know very well that they did not lose their salvation. There has to be an explanation for why some who were so zealous seemed to disappear. And, let us not hear that these people who confessed Christ as Lord and Savior were just deceiving themselves. That is rubbish reasoning and a cheap escape hatch for limping Calvinism.

Is it possible, sir, that YOU went somewhere? Is that the Lord's Church you stand before and preach to, or is that your personal cult of hapless followers who have exalted you at the expense of the Truth?

I also want you to consider yourself in the light of your own Lordship Salvation teaching. Suppose that God predestined you to deceive yourself. Suppose you simply learned the right things to say long ago, and your preaching is based only on a very clever intellect and experience in preparing sermons for many years. I have heard you say that preachers can be totally out of God's will, and because they have the technical skills, they are able to still preach in a convincing way. Is it possible that YOU are not doing good works at all but are faking it all.

How does THAT feel when the canon of your theology is pointed back at you?

How it FEELS be damned. Where is Jesus..... standing outside the door puking and knocking to get back in?

 

Sincerely in Christ,

Steve Van Nattan