Thanking God for John MacArthur and Where I Disagree With Him

Well-known California pastor John MacArthur passed away July 14, 2025, at the age of 86. Many considered him the most influential American Christian leader since Billy Graham.

I never met MacArthur, but know scores of pastors who studied under him, greatly valued his expository sermons, and read his many books.

This week a prayer leader friend in Washington, D.C. sent me an audio sermon by MacArthur saying she wanted my “careful review and keen discernment on the subject matter.”

I listened to it.

I thank God for John MacArthur’s life and legacy. But I disagree with him in two areas.

Thanking God for John MacArthur and Where I Disagree With Him

Here’s some background on the roots and fruits of John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr. 

MacArthur served as a Baptist pastor, theologian, author, and founder of “Grace to You,” a nationally syndicated radio and television program. He pastored Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California for 56 years.

He was the son of Baptist radio preacher Jack MacArthur, from a five-generation preacher family, and became a pioneer in radio ministry/cassettes of his sermons being distributed in America and worldwide.

MacArthur wrote or edited over 150 books and produced the MacArthur Study Bible which has sold over 1 million copies. 

During his pastorate from 1969 to 2025, he often preached five times a week (always in a coat and tie), with his expository sermons producing megachurch growth. MacArthur took 42 years to expound every single verse the New Testament for his congregation.

You might call him the Charles Surgeon of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

MacArthur was primarily a Bible-teaching pastor. I am a prophetic missionary. Most of his work centered on growing and equipping the Church. Much of mine has focused on revival and reformation in nations.

You would expect us to have some differences due to serving in what my Christian leader friend called “different lanes.”

We do–and that normal and natural. 

If you have time to listen to MacArthur’s 24-minute audio message called “The Prophetic Crisis in the Church,” you can listen to it here. It is worth your while and will help you understand why I disagree with him. 

Here’s a quick summary of the message.

His sermon is a powerful word, loaded with scriptures, admonishing the Church to not compromise with the world while fulfilling the Great Commission. He says we must not apologize for or rationalize sin, preach repentance and faith, and not idolize leaders who do not model godly characteristics.

In his message, MacArthur encourages God’s people us to reject the power structures and motivations of political leaders and stay true to our call. The only political leader he mentions or disparages in the message is Donald Trump. 

That’s what drew the red flag for me.

Here’s what I told my prayer leader friend in my “review.”

1. MacArthur makes many very good points about prophecy, repentance, cultural compromise, power, and like. I agree with most of what he says which is straight from Scripture.

2. But in applying his words to Trump and no others, he errors. He lumps all his condemnations on one man, and if that is the target, then I greatly disagree with him on numerous word choices and “judgments” he makes on the president’s heart (without qualification). Does he really know the heart of Donald Trump? I think not.

3. At the least, MacArthur’s message is overstated. He uses words like idolatry, deceit, manipulation, lack of integrity, corruption etc. to describe the president as a wicked leader. I profoundly disagree. (MacArthur is more accurate on other character aspects like pride and lack of wholesome speech.) At worst, he defames our current president without backing up any of his “prophetic” accusations.

4. MacArthur speaks in this message as a pietist, meaning he doesn’t believe in applying his faith to good government and cultural renewal (faith is more of an individual, church-sphere thing). He says in the video this deviates from the Great Commission. Interestingly, especially in the latter years of his work, MacArthur was engaged in a number of culture issues including television debates on social issues.

5. If MacArthur had given this teaching without mentioning names, it would have been great. But when he applied it exclusively to Donald Trump, then many of his “arrows” didn’t ring true.

6. I agree with numerous Christian leaders that even though President Trump is a flawed human being, God is using him powerfully to “bring America back” to our historic national faith. His six-month report card on presidential leadership deserves a higher score than any president of my lifetime. In fact, he is helping to rescue the world from global totalitarianism. Donald Trump is not the nation’s pastor. He is a civic leader. He is being used by God in this generation just like God used FDR to help liberate Europe from fascism in the 1940’s. Franklin Roosevelt was also a deeply flawed human being. 

7. I encourage you to stick to what God has called you to do and be careful to not delve into petty partisan politics. Trump is a Republican. If MacArthur had also mentioned Joe Biden, a Democrat, and spoke against poor leadership in general, the piece would have been more balanced. Even then, in my opinion, many words he used to describe Trump do not apply to either man. MacArthur was careless in his application of some word choices and accusations.

8. My advice to you: Preach the word. Lead in prayer. Be fair and balanced in your political views. Fulfill your ministry (2 Timothy 4:5).

After reading my critique, my prayer leader friend responded, “Yes, I know my lane. I have no intentions of getting distracted.”

We all can “leave our lane” when we share our convictions too narrowly or outside our area of expertise.

You might want to read another view of the Trump presidency that is shared by many evangelical leaders in America. It’s an interview between Eric Metaxas (one of my favorite historians) and Rod Martin (a favorite political/futurist thinker).

I also stand at odds with MacArthur on his theological Calvinism. Dr. Richard Land has given a great tribute to MacArthur and mentions in it his own disagreement:

He was the somewhat unusual combination of a strong Calvinist who was also a dispensational premillennialist. I agreed with his premillennialism, but did not agree with his five-point Calvinism.

The simplistic summary of Calvinism is the T.U.L.I.P. (T.=Total Depravity; U.=Unconditional Election; L.=Limited Atonement; I.=Irresistible Grace; P.=Perseverance of the Saints). While MacArthur increasingly embraced all five points, I remained about a “3¼ point Calvinist” (¾ of Total Depravity; ¾ of Unconditional Election; O of Limited Atonement; ¾ of Irresistible Grace; and all of Perseverance of the Saints). 

Though I’m more of a missionary than a theologian, I’m probably only a two point Calvinist. I believe in free will and Jesus dying for all people.

But like Richard Land, I’m deeply grateful for the life and ministry of John MacArthur. In his personal tribute, Land wondered whether MacArthur had changed any of his convictions now that he is “on the other side” of the veil and not “looking through a glass darkly.”

I’m sure he has.

I’m sure we all will.

Let’s appreciate the strengths of others, imitate them, and have the humility to recognize our own weaknesses. But let’s also be firm in our Scriptural convictions and as God has called us, revive the Church, evangelize the lost, and impact the culture.

That’s my three-fold definition of revival (my calling). 

And let’s do it with the courage and faithfulness of John MacArthur.