Interview: John MacArthur On Fair-Weather Friends, Criminalizing Evangelism, Defying Caesar

Modern culture tends to think of a prophet as someone who predicts the future, and the Scriptures have plenty of stories about such seers. But more often, prophets in the Bible simply spoke the truth to the nation, calling it and its leaders to repent and live by God’s standards.

The prophet Nathan rebuked David on the Lord’s behalf for his sexual sin with Bathsheba. Elijah spit fire, as the kids say, at the people of Israel and their false teachers for distorting the word of God and following the example of pagans. John the Baptist didn’t shy away from boldly addressing Herod’s indecency in marrying his brother’s wife.

Grace Community pastor John MacArthur, the California Bible teacher behind one of the largest radio ministries in the world, is no stranger to this kind of prophet work. His plain-spoken condemnation of the social justice movement, which has taken deep root in American Protestantism thanks to the influence of left-leaning church leaders, has been known to ruffle more than a few political and ecumenical feathers. More recently, he led the charge against unconstitutional government mandates to close churches.

At 82, MacArthur is speaking truth to what could become the greatest threat to religious freedom of our time: How the Left is using so-called “conversion therapy laws,” which are deceptively marketed as bans on coercive and abusive medical treatments, to silence the Gospel and stop the spread of Christianity.

A few weeks ago, MacArthur heard from Canadian pastor James Coates, a fellow renegade who made headlines in his own country when he was jailed for defying authorities who ordered his church not to meet. The two were brothers-in-arms in fighting for the right of Christians to gather, but this time Coates was sounding the alarm about a new Canadian law that ostensibly bans conversion therapy for homosexuals and people who believe they are transgender. But the real effect of the legislation, Coates warned, is to outlaw the preaching and teaching of biblical sexuality, to criminalize evangelism.

The language of C-4, as the law is known, is so broad, it could apply to almost any context. If a pastor preaches a message from the pulpit about sexuality and the authorities interpret it as trying to convince someone not to be gay or trans, they could arrest him. Same with a teacher at a Christian school. Or a lay minister offering church counseling. Even if an individual wants to leave a gay or transgender lifestyle, any Christian, be it friend or family, advising them on how to do so would be breaking the law. As MacArthur, with characteristic bluntness, has stated, C-4 represents an “attack on the Word of God.”

When he received Coates’ SOS, the 82-year-old immediately went into action, issuing a call to his fellow ministers to preach on the subject of God’s design for gender and sex on January 16, in a show of peaceful defiance against a power-drunk Canuck Caesar. It must be noted, though, that the issue hardly stops at the northern border. Fourteen states including California, New Jersey, and Washington, already have similar bans, though more limited in scope. And Indiana recently introduced a bill of its own. At its last convention, the Democrats made advancing conversion therapy laws an official part of their party platform.

Thus, MacArthur is standing, like his Puritan heroes, against the government. Unable to do otherwise. But while many lesser-known, faithful pastors have responded to his call to preach on biblical sexuality on January 16, when it comes to high-profile, large platform leaders, he is, much like the prophets of the Old Testament, once again mostly standing alone.

How to Lose Friends But Influence People

When I ask MacArthur why he thinks so many of the men he has shared pulpits and stages with over the years have gone silent, he starts with the most charitable explanation. “Maybe they’re busy doing something else,” he says. But then he acknowledges that preaching boldly against LGBT orthodoxy isn’t exactly a popular maneuver in the seeker-friend church culture of today.

“Few pastors want to tackle this,” he concedes, “because their strategy is to give the unconverted, degenerate sinner what his fallen heart wants. You don’t confront anything, you don’t offend.”

MacArthur’s right-hand man, Grace To You executive director Phil Johnson, tells me he, too, thinks the silence from old friends stems in part from the fact that evangelical leadership is currently dominated by men who lack courage.

“It’s not that most of them would be in favor of softening the church’s stance on sexual morality,” Johnson explains. “But they are embarrassed to be outspoken on an issue that sets them apart from a world that is passionately determined to eliminate from our culture all rules about sexual immorality. They can’t stand the conflict and persecution they know will come if they speak out against LGBTQRSTU&%.”

Yet Johnson points out

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