John MacArthur, the California-based Bible teacher, pastor and creator known for his polarizing theological stances and defiance of Covid-19 lockdowns, has died at 86.
Grace to You, the teaching ministry of MacArthur, confirmed in an X post on Monday evening that MacArthur had passed away not long after being hospitalized with pneumonia.
“Our hearts are heavy, yet rejoicing, as we share the news that our beloved pastor and teacher John MacArthur has entered into the presence of the Savior. This evening, his faith became sight,” the ministry shared on its social media platforms.
MacArthur is survived by Patricia, his wife of greater than 60 years, in addition to 4 children, 15 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
“Rest in peace, lion of religion,” tweeted theologian and creator Owen Strachan in response to the news. “It is already strange to live in a world without MacArthur’s regular convictional presence. Pray for his family, his church, and the various who mourn him.”
Background and ministry
Distantly related to famed five-star World War II United States General Douglas MacArthur, John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. was born on June 19, 1939, in Los Angeles, California.
MacArthur earned a Bachelor of Science degree from what was then called Los Angeles Pacific College and is now Azusa Pacific University, and a Master of Divinity degree from Biola University’s Talbot Theological Seminary.
In 1969, three years after graduating from Talbot, MacArthur became the pastor-teacher for Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California, where he would serve for over 50 years.
“Under John’s leadership, Grace Community Church’s two morning worship services fill the three-thousand-seat auditorium to capability,” noted The Master’s Seminary, a personal Christian school that MacArthur led.
“Several thousand members participate every week in dozens of fellowship groups and training programs, most led by lay leaders and every dedicated to equipping members for ministry on local, national, and international levels.”
A prolific creator and speaker, it’s estimated that MacArthur has preached at the very least 3,300 sermons and written greater than 400 books and biblical study guides.
In addition to his many books and sermons, MacArthur also hosted a long-running radio programme and native television broadcast centred on his Bible studies and preaching.
MacArthur helped to found The Master’s University and Seminary in 1986 and served as its president until 2018, when he stepped down amid problems over the college’s accreditation.
Strange Fire, ‘Go Home’
MacArthur has garnered controversy through the years due to a few of his theological views, including on issues just like the Pentecostal movement and feminine preaching.
In 2013, MacArthur held a conference and published a critique of Charismatic churches titled Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship.
“The charismatic movement has all the time been a breeding-ground for scandal, greed, bad doctrine, and all types of spiritual chicanery. As a movement, it’s clearly headed the unsuitable direction. And it’s growing at an unprecedented rate,” read the book’s Amazon description.
Many Christian leaders, including the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Pentecostal minister and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, denounced the work.
“With great due deference to a Christian leader a lot of us admire, his conclusions regarding the biggest and fastest growing of world Christendom, the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, speaks to a person unaware of the community’s unbridled commitment to biblical orthodoxy,” said Rodriguez in an announcement provided to The Christian Post in 2013.
“Mr. MacArthur must be specializing in the incontrovertible fact that while many within the church proceed to desert our Christian faith, the Pentecostal/Charismatic community continues to supply the church a legitimate growth mechanism.”
In October 2019, McArthur garnered widespread criticism when he expressed opposition to having Bible teacher Beth Moore and televangelist Paula White preach.
“Go home,” he said of Moore. “There isn’t any case that may be made biblically for a girl preacher. Period. Paragraph. End of debate.”
He went on to say that he found the concept of female preachers “profoundly troubling,” adding that “when the leaders of evangelicalism roll over for ladies preachers, the feminists have really won the battle.”
Among the critics of the comments was pastor and bestselling creator Max Lucado, who stated that he was “grieved” over MacArthur’s “derisive” remarks.
“Are we, white, male, aged leaders of the church, listening? Are we heeding the message of our sisters in Christ?” stated Lucado on the time.
“Listening to our astute and capable female Bible teachers? Listening to their longing to minister from a female perspective? Listening to their willingness to lend their intellect, energy and keenness to the explanation for Christ? What wealth of wisdom they create!”
In an apparent response to MacArthur on X on the time, Moore said that she “didn’t give up to a calling of man after I was 18 years old. I surrendered to a calling of God,” tweeted Moore.
Covid-19 lockdown resistance
When California enacted lockdown rules shutting down worship gatherings in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, MacArthur and his church initially followed the gathering restrictions. However, as lockdowns continued for several months, the church decided to assemble for in-person worship.
In response, MacArthur and Grace Community Church engaged in a lengthy legal battle with Los Angeles and state officials over his refusal to stick to the general public health orders.
“We are a friend to this society, to each level of this society,” said MacArthur in a 2020 interview with Fox News. “But never before has the federal government invaded the territory that belongs only to the Lord Jesus Christ and told us we will not meet, we will not worship, we will not sing.”
Jonathan Leeman of 9Marks wrote a blog post on the time expressing scepticism over whether churches should follow the instance of Grace Community Church and reopen in-person services.
“Churches in coastal cities during World War Two accommodated evening black-out requirements in case enemy planes hit the coasts. Those churches didn’t insist the federal government had no right to ‘restrict our worship,’” wrote Leeman.
“In other words, simply because you’re thinking that God will ultimately vindicate your decision to disobey the federal government on the last day doesn’t mean it’s sensible. You might need other options that avoid undue attention.”
In late August 2021, state and native officials reached a settlement with MacArthur, which resulted in the federal government paying $800,000 in legal fees to finish the litigation.
“It has been a hard-fought battle to preserve religious liberty and we hope that this result will encourage Californians, and all Americans, to proceed to face firm that church is crucial,” said the Thomas More Society, which represented MacArthur, in a statement on the time.
Church abuse controversies
While pastor at Grace, MacArthur’s church faced multiple accusations that its leadership was mistreating female members who had credible accusations of abuse against their ex-husbands.
In February 2023, a former GCC elder named Hohn Cho shared concerns that leaders at MacArthur’s church had “awful patterns” of siding with abusers against their victims.
A distinguished example of this was when GCC excommunicated Eileen Gray for refusing to take back her child-abusing husband, David Gray, in 2002. According to The Roys Report, even after David was convicted of kid abuse and molestation in 2005, the church continued to support him over Eileen.
In response to the concerns Cho shared, GCC released a statement explaining that “Grace Church’s elders don’t publicly discuss details arising from counselling and discipline cases — especially on social media.
“Nor will we litigate disputes about such matters in online forums. Grace Church deals with accusations personally and privately in accordance with biblical principles. We don’t reply to attacks, lies, misrepresentations, and anonymous accusations,” read the statement from February 2023.
“Our church’s history and congregation are the testimony. Myriads of Grace Church members who’ve sought counsel at our church will testify that the counsel they receive is biblical, charitable, supportive, and liberating.”
Hospitalizations
On New Year’s Day 2023, which fell on a Sunday, the then 83-year-old MacArthur was hospitalized, stopping him from preaching on the second service at his church, and needed to be treated for a blockage in his arteries.
Although GCC provided an update the next day saying that MacArthur was “doing well” after the emergency, the distinguished pastor continued to have health issues and was away from his pulpit from July 2024 until last November when he preached at a Thanksgiving service.
“I’m still here, and thankful to the Lord for that,” MacArthur said on the service. “God has purposes that we’d’ve never been in a position to fulfill if we weren’t put into some form of stress.”
In January, GCC Elder Tom Patton said in an update that the 85-year-old MacArthur had “suffered a series of health issues that kept him out of the pulpit and required three surgeries within the second half of 2024.”
“His recovery has been slower than expected, with occasional setbacks affecting his heart, lungs, and kidneys,” Patton told the congregation. “The doctors haven’t yet discovered any single root cause for these diverse troubles.”
Earlier this yr, MacArthur addressed attendees of the Shepherds Conference, which was held at his church, via video message, telling them that “I realize I’m on the last lap.”
“That takes on a latest meaning when you already know you’re on the short end of the candle,” he said. “I’m all thanks and praise to God for all the pieces He’s allowed me to be a component of and all the pieces He’s completed by His Word in these years of ministry.”
