John MacArthur Defies Governor Newsom
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 2 months ago
Newsom just signed an obscene bill into law.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed legislation changing the state’s sex offender law to allow judges to have a say on whether to list someone as a sex offender for having oral or anal sex with a minor.
The bill expands discretion already granted to judges to decide if a man should be on California’s sex offender registry, but the existing discretion had applied only to a man who had vaginal intercourse, The Associated Press reported.
The legislation Newsom signed Friday permits judges to use the same discretion when the case involves voluntary oral or anal sex.
He would love nothing better than to shut down good men like John MacArthur. The church lost its most recent fight in court, and today they had worship services in defiance of his obscene governor. This isn’t his sermon from today, but in this short video he catalogs the incredibly onerous requirements placed on his church.
In Presbyterian parlance, MacArthur is a “teaching elder” (I realize his church is independent). Paul says, “Let elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.” But with that honor, there is risk.
If you have led the flock astray, if you have failed to preach the unmitigated Word of the Lord, if you have succumbed to “Critical Race Theory” or any other faddish notion like N.T. Wright’s advocacy of works salvation, so-called German “Higher Criticism” of the Scriptures (Form, Source or Redaction criticism), or any other Marxist teaching like liberation theology or race-guilt, you will be judged doubly or even worse.
The notion of “calling” to preach the Gospel in the Scriptures is a serious thing, involving first of all a drive and motivation to do it, and second a recognition by the congregation that God has indeed gifted you with the intellectual and spiritual tools to do the job.
In other words, you have sought the job. The job didn’t seek you. This is something you wanted. The weight of the souls of His people is on your shoulders and heart. If you fail at your job, the weight of eternity will be on you in the worst sort of way.
If you are unwilling to do what John MacArthur did, that is, to defy the political authorities because of your commitment to the Lord, if you are unwilling to put your hands behind your back and be carted off to prison for your faith, then give up your ordination immediately.
You are a false teacher. You are a fraud. You are a fake. You are an impostor. God has commanded His people to worship him (Heb 10:25). If you do not do that, you are obeying men rather than God. Your worry should be for your own salvation rather than your flock. And since that is the case, the sermons you have preached should be shunned by the Christian community given that you are a fraud, and you’re nothing more than a carnival barker.
The next step, and the one that will probably not be taken by the elders Grace Community Church, is that the men of the church should begin bringing rifles to worship with them (in the best tradition of American history), encircle the physical plant, and make it clear to law enforcement that they intend to do lethal battle to prevent their pastor from being cuffed and spirited off to prison.
MacArthur should be willing to go to prison. Apparently, he is. The men of the church should be willing to shoot to ensure that doesn’t happen. I doubt they will. Thus the church will continue to be run over like a road bump.
On September 13, 2020 at 10:47 pm, Bad_Brad said:
As a NorCal resident I can tell you he just kicked his recall efforts into hyper drive. For the last month there’s been Recall Newsom station set up on the road side, in front of grocery stores, etc. Normally one or two people signing up. Yesterday, Saturday, I past two such stations on the way into work. At least 30 people in line. Same on the way home.
What will they charge the father of the 14 year olds with when they kill the sexual deviants?
On September 14, 2020 at 7:29 am, Trope said:
Ironically, there are many pastors in China who have gone to prison for not being government approved, in other words, for preaching the Gospel. The ones who do preach the Gospel must do so in underground churches. When they’re caught they go to the gulag.
On September 14, 2020 at 7:35 am, BOB in NC said:
As believers, we should not be surprised that the state wants to restrict – and ultimately end
– our ability to gather, worship, and hear the Word preached. This was clearly prophesied by Jesus in 3 of the 4 gospels (see Matt. 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). He also warned that as this kind of satanic opposition increases in the last days, believers (not just pastors and church leaders) will be arrested, jailed, and some probably martyred for our faith. So I believe we can expect to see here in the U.S what has been happening to Christians around the world (China, Syria, Nigeria, etc) for many years.
What concerns me deeply is that though there are exceptions, the lukewarm, worldly and relatively affluent Western church, especially here in America, is just not prepared for the kind of persecution that is coming. There are reasons for this that go beyond the guilt of false teaching from the pulpits, and I don’t need to list them here, but there is one that I believe stands out above all…..believers do not have a great enough love for the scriptures and spend little or no time reading, studying and listening to what God is saying to us through His word. They have no anchor for their souls, and will “perish for lack of knowledge” of God. (Hosea 4:6)
This will become even more poignantly tragic as the Amos 8:11-12 prophecy, which I think we are already seeing the beginning of, comes fully to pass:
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.”
On September 14, 2020 at 9:08 am, 41mag said:
@Herschel
Same feeling if Macaurther moved his congregation to random physical homes or places?
why play their game and stay where the enemy expects you to be? Live stream it and change locations weekly, make their job harder.
Your thoughts?
On September 14, 2020 at 9:10 am, Herschel Smith said:
They have 8000+ congregants.
On September 14, 2020 at 9:13 am, 41mag said:
I do commend him for his zeal for the Lord in serving His kingdom.
On September 14, 2020 at 9:20 am, blake said:
I commend not only Pastor MacArthur, but also the congregants who are defying government through attending services.
On September 14, 2020 at 9:44 am, Bob in NC said:
@41mag..I believe we will see many Christians go back to smaller, more dispersed home church gatherings. This will take some adjusting by those who are used to the comfortable anonymity of mega church services, but I truly think that that if they can adjust they will grow spiritually in smaller groups
As far as live streaming, I suspect that – as in China – when the repression amps up, the state will command that this be stopped.
On September 14, 2020 at 10:53 am, 41mag said:
Yea that’s a big flock.
Even if the Elder board or church members arm themselves and stand guard, LEOs will be feeling their “duty” to not let those “lawbreakers” go home unmolested. Pensions gotta be looked after…
On September 14, 2020 at 1:19 pm, June J said:
I hope Pastor MacArthur and the elders have excellent personal security teams.
I wouldn’t put it past the marxists there just to have them killed in “random acts of violence.”
Or maybe a “peaceful protest” on the church property.
On September 14, 2020 at 1:23 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@June,
Bring long guns, pistols, spare mags, comms and body armor.
On September 14, 2020 at 1:35 pm, blake said:
@June, Herschel
The church I attend has a security team with comms.
I’m reasonably certain some of them are armed, as are some of the congregants.
Most of us who attend are under no illusions as to what is currently going on.
On September 14, 2020 at 7:43 pm, luke2236 said:
May God bless this man! He is certainly doing the Lords work.
Yes, the congregants should arm themselves, but only if theyre serious; be ready to defend your position or stay home. This is a choice all of us will soon be forced to make…
“As for me and my house…”
On September 14, 2020 at 7:55 pm, blake said:
@luke
Excellent reference to Joshua.
On September 14, 2020 at 9:33 pm, Levi Garrett said:
I always carried concealed when meeting at our church. Right before our church stopped meeting in person due to the covid craze, I was meeting with our formal church security team and planning on joining them on Sunday mornings. We stopped meeting in person for worship, and that was the end of my involvement with them. The church leadership has bought into the corona hype and has repeatedly reminded us to “obey our government leaders”. In-person services are now limited to a greatly-reduced capacity, and you must pre-register to attend. While there, you must wear a mask, distance from other folks, and follow their “safety” procedures. We have not and will not go while this format is in effect. We refuse to act like we are going into an operating room to worship God. They’ve hinted that this corona scenario is going to stick around for a while. On top of all that, our pastoral staff leaned more heavily into all the “woke” racial/social justice nonsense about the time of the Ahmad Arbury incident. There was always hints of that before then, but now they’ve ramped it up. The word is that our church is pretty divided on this polarizing topic, but it’s hard to know for sure because it really exploded while we not meeting in person. I couldn’t see people in person to judge for myself. Our congregation was pretty diverse across demographic boundaries such as economic standing, skin color, age, etc., and as far as I could tell, no one had any issues. It’s funny, but I’ve never felt so at odds with my fellow congregants than I have right now. I want to call them my brothers and sisters, but these differences seem irreconcilable. The whole thing is sad and infuriating. I won’t sit under more B.S. “woke” teaching though. My wife and I have been discussing where to take our family (and guns) from here.
On September 14, 2020 at 9:37 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Levi,
And all of that is exactly by design. This is what they wanted.