Preface: John MacArthur's church just wrapped up their 2023 Shepherds Conference. I posted the following....A Greater Danger....on February 2....a month it turns out....after Pastor MacArthur sounded very ill during a morning Lord's Day service....and was taken to the hospital....and out of sight until two nights ago....the first day of the Shepherds Conference....where he did a short Q&A. He did not sound good in that Q&A....and he sounded worse tonight....(I was streaming)....as he did a full message to conclude the conference. I was praying that he could just get through the message. It is definitely going to take him a while....Lord willing....to recover to anywhere near what he was at the end of last year. In his message tonight he began by saying that there was a time in his ministry when he took on the Charismatic Movement....which he most certainly did.....powerfully and convincingly....(he convinced me)....and then there was a time when he gave his all to the debate on the Lordship Controversy.....and then there was the time when he took on....what he called....the Pragmatic Movement. I remember all of this. Pastor John then said that he has at least one more fight in him.....(my words)....and he was going to speak on that tonight. He began by taking on John Piper. Although he did not mention Piper's name....probably every one of the 4000 in attendance knew who wrote the book that appeared on John MacArthur's desk. I referenced the book in two February posts. It's a wonderful eschatological devotion....Come, Lord Jesus. John MacArthur criticized the theology behind it rather harshly. Then he got down to business....slowly....and hesitatingly....taking on amillennialism. This certainly isn't new because John MacArthur has entered this debate often....on the side of premillennialism....but to me it was odd because there must have been many amillennialists in the audience. My habit is to pray every day....for God's faithful shepherds....whether I disagree with them on some issues or not....and that certainly includes this wonderful pastor/author/teacher for so many years....from Southern California....of whom I have dozens of his cassettes....and many of his books.....in my basement.
A Greater Danger
In late 2017 R. C. Sproul developed a case of the flu….and on December 17 went to be with the Lord that he had served for a half century. You can easily Google....R. C. Sproul's Last Sermon. It's a wonderful sermon and I highly recommend that you listen to it....but in it he sounded very raspy....not very healthy at all. I was reminded of that today when I listened to that sermon that John MacArthur preached in a morning service a few weeks ago. He also did not sound good....as his voice is always strong and confident. Hopefully....Lord willing....he will soon continue his ministry....in good health and with his strong voice.
Billy Graham went to be with the Lord of Glory that he had proclaimed for seventy years....in February of 2018....only a few short months after R. C. Sproul. According to his son Franklin....he hardly spoke at all in his last year.
I have stacks of R. C.'s monthly Tabletalk magazine going back to the early 1990s....and I have read most of the books that he has written....and I have many CDs of his teaching. He has meant as much to me as any evangelical parachurch minister....but I was critical of him on....probably two occasion in these posts. Is that OK to do? I have been critical of John MacArthur on maybe three or four occasions....and they were all related to Donald Trump. Once again....is that OK to do?
My opinion here of course.....there is a danger to someone like myself....along the lines of pride....in giving a critical opinion on a great minister like John MacArthur. I have to realize that....and be very careful with it....but there is a greater danger....when a minister has such a following that nothing could ever be said that was in any way critical. This unfortunately happens all the time. Charismatics have said to me that one is never to be critical of God's....anointed.....(their minister always being....the God's anointed in question.)
I doubt very much that Billy Graham or R. C. Sproul or John MacArthur would ever entertain the thought that they were above criticism. On a political side note....this was one of the problems concerning President Trump. Rush was never critical. Mark Levin and Sean Hannity would speak their mind early on in 2017....but the time came when it became nothing but defending Trump....100% of the time....and taking extreme and even absurd liberties in doing it....and it was all downhill since then!
