JOHN F. MACARTHUR: PASTOR & EXPOSITOR

By Akin Ojumu

It’s with mixed feelings that I receive the news of the transition to glory of Pastor John Fullerton MacArthur. On one hand, I mourn deeply that this great man of God is no longer here with us to continue to impart to us the riches of his knowledge. On the other hand, I rejoice greatly that Pastor MacArthur is now resting in the bosom of the Lord in glory.

As a matter of practice, I shy away from singing the praises of men. While I try to give respect to whom respect is due, what I don’t do is venerate men. The reason I don’t let myself lavish undue praises on men is because we are all fallen humans imbued with all sorts of foibles and prone to various fallibilities. 

That said, if there’s anyone that I believe is deserving of praise and accolade, it would be John F. MacArthur. This man was one of the few ministers of the Gospel that I trusted and respected. He was the true and authentic God’s General, if, indeed, there’s anyone that could be described by that title.

For nearly sixty years, starting on February 9, 1969, John MacArthur, 86, pastored Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church located in Sun Valley, California. 

What made Pastor MacArthur worthy of my trust and respect was not his pastoral longevity, though. My admiration for him had to do with his doctrinal purity and consistency, the love and respect he had for God, and the reverence and fidelity he demonstrated for God’s Word.

John MacArthur was the preeminent expositor of the Bible of this generation. His depth of knowledge of Scripture was vast, deep, and wide. In my view, I don’t know of anyone in my lifetime who surpassed Pastor John in meeting the Titus 1:9 pastoral requirement.

Titus 1:9

“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” 

For nearly six decades, John MacArthur taught the Word of God and unleashed God’s truth one verse at a time. I am one of several people who found a permanent spot in the sermon library of John MacArthur’s Grace to You website where we feed on the teachings of John MacArthur, some of them dating as far back as 1969. 

In fact, I consider myself a John MacArthurian, in the sense that my understanding of Scripture has been greatly influenced by the teachings of John MacArthur. The man left an indelible mark in the way I view the Word of God.

Many years prior to coming across John MacArthur’s teachings, I struggled with discontentment about my faith. Within me was a feeling of unease with what I had learned and known about the Scripture. Deep inside, I harbored a sense of dissatisfaction with the Church-industrial complex. Somehow, I knew there was more to Christianity than what we were doing, but I just couldn’t place my finger on what it was. 

Then, a little over ten years ago, I stumbled on John MacArthur’s sermons on the Bible, and the light bulb came on. This chance encounter was a Eureka moment of some sort for me. Listening to Pastor John’s expository teachings blew my mind. The man opened my eyes to what I had sensed I had been missing all along. The way he would go through Bible books one at a time exegeting the texts one verse at time was something I had never seen done in all the years I had been a Christian up to that time. 

Since then, I have become a regular visitor to the Grace to You website where I go to listen to Pastor John MacArthur’s teachings and learn the delicate intricacies of studying and interpreting Scriptures. Grace to You website became my Bible college. By availing myself of the resources on the website, which are mostly free by the way, I learned terms like hermeneutics, exegesis, and eisegesis. John MacArthur helped me to understand several difficult passages which many people still butcher today.

If you are reading this and you think that I consider John MacArthur a saint who did no wrong, you are sorely mistaken. Yes, it’s true that I believe Pastor John MacArthur was God’s gift to the Church in our generation. It’s certainly the case that I have benefited tremendously from his teachings and sermons. Of course, he was a Christian leader for whom I have utmost respect and admiration. 

That said, John MacArthur was not a perfect man. He and I didn’t see eye to eye on a variety of issues. For one, I didn’t particularly like the man’s political affiliation. His close alignment with the MAGA movement was one that continues to stick in my craw. I could never understand how a man like John MacArthur would associate himself with the golden god of the idolatrous MAGA cult. I guess that’s a question that would be answered in the afterlife.

Another area where I disagreed with John MacArthur was his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a medical professional who was involved in the United States Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pastor John MacArthur’s stance on the restrictions instituted during pandemic was, to be honest, embarrassingly uninformed and dangerously conspiratorial.

Not only did Pastor John MacArthur defy the lockdown, he went so far as to dissuade his Church members from wearing facemasks and he discouraged them from practicing social distancing during Church gatherings. Additionally, he promoted the scientifically debunked idea that the body’s natural immune mechanisms offer greater protections against COVID than the vaccines and treatments.

On August 29, 2021, Pastor MacArthur eventually admitted, for the very first time, that himself and his wife, Patricia, as well as members of Grace Community Church contracted COVID during the Church’s defiance against public health measures instituted to stop the spread of the deadly virus. In his remarks, Pastor MacArthur acknowledged that he and his wife got sick for a couple of weeks but eventually got better.

Curiously, this admission came after Grace Community Church had already reached a settlement agreement with the State of California and Los Angeles County in their lawsuit from which the Church was paid a combined total of $800,000 by the two governmental authorities. 

Nevertheless, in spite of our political and scientific differences, my respect and admiration for John MacArthur remain unwavering. The man was, and continues to be even in death, a blessing to my life, and I loved him dearly. 

My deepest condolences go to the family he left behind. May his precious soul rest in perfect peace.