by By Michael Gryboski
John MacArthur, the California-based Bible teacher, pastor and author known for his polarizing theological stances and defiance of ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns, has died at 86.
Grace to You, the teaching ministry of MacArthur, confirmed in an X post on Monday evening that MacArthur had passed away not long after being hospitalized with pneumonia.
“Our hearts are heavy, yet rejoicing, as we share the news that our beloved pastor and teacher John MacArthur has entered into the presence of the Savior. This evening, his faith became sight,” the ministry shared on its social media platforms.
MacArthur is survived by Patricia, his wife of more than 60 years, as well as four children, 15 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
“Rest in peace, lion of faith,” tweeted theologian and author Owen Strachan in response to the news. “It is already strange to live in a world without MacArthur’s steady convictional presence. Pray for his family, his church, and the many who mourn him.”
Background and ministry
Distantly related to famed five-star World War II United States General Douglas MacArthur, John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. was born on June 19, 1939, in Los Angeles, California.
MacArthur earned a Bachelor of Science degree from what was then called Los Angeles Pacific College and is now Azusa Pacific University, and a Master of Divinity degree from Biola University’s Talbot Theological Seminary.
In 1969, three years after graduating from Talbot, MacArthur became the pastor-teacher for Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California, where he would serve for over 50 years.
“Under John’s leadership, Grace Community Church’s two morning worship services fill the three-thousand-seat auditorium to capacity,” noted The Master’s Seminary, a private Christian school that MacArthur led.
“Several thousand members participate every week in dozens of fellowship groups and training programs, most led by lay leaders and each dedicated to equipping members for ministry on local, national, and international levels.”
A prolific author and speaker, it is estimated that MacArthur has preached at least 3,300 sermons and written more than 400 books and biblical study guides.
In addition to his many books and sermons, MacArthur also hosted a long-running radio program and local television broadcast centered on his Bible studies and preaching.
MacArthur helped to found The Master’s University and Seminary in 1986 and served as its president until 2018, when he stepped down amid problems over the school’s accreditation.
Strange Fire, ‘Go Home’
MacArthur has garnered controversy over the years because of some of his theological views, including on issues like the Pentecostal movement and female preaching.
In 2013, MacArthur held a conference and published a critique of Charismatic churches titled Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship.
“The charismatic movement has always been a breeding-ground for scandal, greed, bad doctrine, and all kinds of spiritual chicanery. As a movement, it is clearly headed the wrong direction. And it is growing at an unprecedented rate,” read the book’s Amazon description.
Many Christian leaders, including the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Pentecostal minister and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, denounced the work.
“With great due deference to a Christian leader many of us admire, his conclusions regarding the largest and fastest growing of global Christendom, the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, speaks to a man ignorant of the community’s unbridled commitment to biblical orthodoxy,” said Rodriguez in a statement provided to The Christian Post in 2013.
“Mr. MacArthur should be focusing on the fact that while many in the church continue to abandon our Christian faith, the Pentecostal/Charismatic community continues to offer the church a legitimate growth mechanism.”
