John F. MacArthur - Preacher, Writer And Family Man
One of the most famous radio preachers in the United States is John F. MacArthur. He appeared on the internationally televised program Grace to You, which debuted in 1977. Since 1969, he has held the position of senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
Author:James PierceReviewer:Emily SanchezOct 31, 202233 Shares1.3K Views
One of the most famous radio preachers in the United States is John F. MacArthur.
He appeared on the internationally televised program Grace to You, which debuted in 1977. Since 1969, he has held the position of senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
Since MacArthur is an outspoken leader and author, he has sometimes upset both Charismatics and fellow Evangelicals and sparked heated debates among Christians.
Quick Facts - MacArthur, John F.
| When He Was Born? | Born on June 19, 1939 in Los Angeles, California |
| Profession | American pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California; a prolific author; conference speaker; and instructor for the radio program Grace to You, which airs all over the world. |
| Full Name | John Fullerton MacArthur Jr |
| Wife | Patricia MacArthur |
| Parents | Jack MacArthur and Irene Dockendorf |
| Children | Melinda MacArthur, Matt, Marcy, and Mark |
Books
The MacArthur Study Bible (2006)
- The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Strange Fire (2013)
- Ashamed of the Gospel (2010)
- The Murder of Jesus (2004)
- The Prodigal Son (2008)
- Twelve Ordinary Men (2002)
- The Truth War (2007)
- The Jesus You Can't Ignore (2009)
- One Perfect Life (2013)
- The Gospel According to Paul (2017)
- Only Jesus (2020)
- One Faithful Life (2019)
- Our Sufficiency in Christ (1998)
- The Gospel According to Jesus (2008)
- Our Suff (2015).
Early Years
In 1939, Jack MacArthur, a Baptist missionary and pastor, and Irene Dockendorf welcomed John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. into the world in Los Angeles, California. Young MacArthur loved football, basketball, baseball, and track in school and received numerous scholarships for collegiate sports.
But at his father's urging, MacArthur gave up his dream of becoming a professional athlete so he could go to Bob Jones University, an evangelical Christian school that was not accredited and didn't have sports at the time.
After studying at Bob Jones for two years, MacArthur received a football scholarship offer from Pacific College.
When he was there, God reaffirmed MacArthur's call to the ministry. In his own words, he made the decision to enroll at Talbot Theological Seminary and "never looked back."
MacArthur reflected on his experience in seminary, saying, I realized this was the trajectory of my life, it all changed.
I based everything I learned on the Bible. And because I adored it, I simply had an avaricious urge to dive in.
When MacArthur was still a seminary student, he started traveling and preaching in the expository manner (reading the Bible verse by verse), which would come to represent the essence of his ministry.
He was at Youth for Christ, Campus Crusade, Young Life every camp, every youth conference, churches, colleges, and universities, he recounted. It was fantastic; it was like packing ten years of experience into three.
I preached roughly 35 times a month for about three years.
MacArthur met and wed Patricia in the second year of his studies at Talbot. They still live together now and have fifteen grandkids, all of whom reside in southern California. They also have four married children.
In 1969, after he graduated from Talbot, MacArthur started the radio show Grace to You and became the pastor of Grace Community Church.
Dissension
MacArthur has frequently generated controversy throughout his more than 50 years of ministry.
His 2013 book, Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship, which criticized the Charismatic movement, sparked a firestorm of controversy and many books in response.
MacArthur has also said bad things about Joel Osteen, the pastor of a megachurch, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and the prosperity gospel.
In his 1988 book, The Gospel According to Jesus, MacArthur argued that the gospel requires people to "surrender to the lordship of Christ in humble, repentant faith," which sparked a lot of disagreement.
Evangelicals criticized this "lordship theology," saying it confounded grace and works and added a "false addition" to the gospel in repentance.
MacArthur claims that his opinions on "lordship redemption" have not altered.
MacArthur's Statements
MacArthur uses an expository method to explain Scripture in his sermons, frequently analyzing the original Greek or Hebrew text. These are his stances on important issues:
Bible
The Bible is God's infallible, inerrant, supremely authoritative, and complete word. The Bible is the best place to learn about both this life and the life to come. The Bible is reliable. It is the living Word of God.
The Church
According to MacArthur, the Church is made up of people who have been born-again and have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.
Pentecost
The Church's lone highest authority is Christ. Local churches should be free from outside hierarchy and control. They should be able to run themselves.
He Promotes Young-earth Creationism In Opposition To Evolutionism
According to MacArthur, our ability to remain saved is not what determines our level of eternal security; rather, it is God's ability to maintain His word.
He does say that the Bible says Christians shouldn't use their freedom to sin or act like animals.
Healing
During the New Testament era, miraculous gifts, such as healing and revelation, were transient in order to demonstrate the apostles' authority.
He says that even though no one has the ability to heal today, God still heals sick people when they pray.
The Holy Spirit is described by MacArthur as the "essence of truth" and the person who leads people to the truth. The Holy Spirit's function is to instruct. The Holy Spirit also told the people who wrote the gospels to tell the truth about what Jesus said.
According to MacArthur, every human must consider whether or not Christ is God. To his disciples, Jesus showed himself to be God.
Today, Jesus is made known to us as God through the Holy Spirit. "Believing is the cornerstone of Christianity."
Salvation: "Salvation is totally of God by grace via the merit of the spilt blood of Jesus Christ, and not by the virtue of human merit or deeds."
Author, Pastor, And Expository Educator
In 1985, MacArthur became the leader of The Master's College, formerly known as Los Angeles Baptist College. The following year, he established The Master's Seminary, a graduate program for men interested in becoming pastors and missionaries.
John F. MacArthur is well-known to the majority of people thanks to the radio and television ministry Grace to You, which airs 1,000 times per day all over the world.
The Spanish-language version is available in 23 nations in Europe and Latin America.
More than 3,000 of MacArthur's sermons were made available for free download and listening on the Grace to You website a few years ago.
According to MacArthur, he knew he wanted to be a pastor as soon as he felt called to the ministry: "I wanted to follow what my dad and my granddad did." I desired to hear the Word of God preached in a church setting.
I wanted to know what the Bible said, not necessarily for the benefit of the congregation. I simply yearned to comprehend the New Testament in particular.
So, I realized that the only way I would ever be able to stop being hungry was to go into a cathedral and move slowly through it.
The MacArthur Study Bible, which was written by the prolific MacArthur and has been translated into nine languages, is one of the 400 books and study aids he has written.
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, which was written by MacArthur in 34 volumes and published in 2015, guides readers through the whole New Testament book by book, verse by verse, and word by word.
Session 1: Telling the Truth in a Post-Truth World (John MacArthur)
Net Worth
Pastor John and Patricia had four kids together while they were married. He has an estimated net worth of about $14 million, per Pure Net Worth. For more details about his net worth, see their article.
People Also Ask
What Is John MacArthur's Theology?
Identifying himself as a "leaky dispensationalist," MacArthur calls himself MacArthur believes in a literal Millennium, the pre-tribulational Rapture of the Church, and the dispensationalist school of premillennialism.
What Denomination Is Grace To You Church?
The non-denominational, evangelical Grace Community Church was started in 1956 in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sun Valley in the San Fernando Valley.
What Is Grace To Ministry?
We agree with the goal of Grace to You, which is to teach biblical truth clearly while using a variety of mass communication tools to expand John MacArthur's teaching ministry.
Conclusion
Over the course of more than five decades, John F. MacArthur has increased his audience from a single congregation in southern California to millions of people every day through his teaching and training, Grace to You radio broadcasts, internet videos, podcasts, books, and other print media.
Even though MacArthur's ministry is very public, there has never been a scandal or moral failure that was known to the public.
James Pierce
Author
Emily Sanchez
Reviewer
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