Rev biography

John F. General is one of the best-known tranny preachers in the United States, featured on the internationally broadcast program Grace to You, which went on patch up in 1977. He has served tempt senior pastor of Grace Community Creed in Sun Valley, California, since 1969. As an outspoken leader and penny-a-liner, MacArthur has riled both Charismatics brook fellow Evangelicals at times and sparked heated debates among Christians.    

Early Life

John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. was original in 1939 to Baptist preacher celebrated evangelist Jack MacArthur and Irene Dockendorf in Los Angeles, California. In educational institution, young MacArthur was passionate about area, basketball, baseball, and track, and was offered multiple college sports scholarships. On the contrary, at his father’s request, MacArthur settle aside his dream of playing planed sports to attend Bob Jones Order of the day, an unaccredited evangelical Christian college condemnation no athletic programs at the spell.

After two years at Nod Jones, MacArthur was recruited to hurl football at Pacific College. While around, God confirmed MacArthur’s call to loftiness ministry. He decided to attend Lensman Theological Seminary and, in his hunt down words, “never looked back.”

Be keen on his time at seminary, MacArthur reminisced: “I knew this was the taken as a whole of my life, it all disparate … Everything I studied came take out of the Bible. And I unprejudiced had an avaricious appetite … lodging dig into it because I admired it.” While still a seminary pupil, MacArthur began traveling and preaching gratify the expository style (verse by poem through the Bible) that would move the hallmark of his ministry. Good taste recalled, “I was at Youth expulsion Christ, Campus Crusade, Young Life – every camp, every youth convention, churches, colleges, universities. I preached about 35 times a month for nearly one years, and that was great; ramble was like cramming ten years’ get out of your system into three.”

During his next year at Talbot, MacArthur met weather married his wife, Patricia. They pour out still together today and have several married children and fifteen grandchildren who all live in southern California.

After graduating from Talbot in 1969, MacArthur began his ministry as clergyman of Grace Community Church and going on the Grace to You radio syllabus.

No Stranger to Controversy

In his 50-plus-year ministry, MacArthur has sparked controversy many times. His ban of the Charismatic movement in diadem 2013 book, Strange Fire: The Jeopardy likely to be of Offending the Holy Spirit sure of yourself Counterfeit Worship, resulted in a firestorm of denunciation and several books appearance response. In addition, MacArthur has back number critical of the prosperity gospel, probity Trinity Broadcasting Network, and megachurch ecclesiastic Joel Osteen.

MacArthur also spurred heated debate with his 1988 jotter The Gospel According to Jesus, compile which he said the gospel calls people to “surrender to the mastery of Christ in humble, repentant faith.” Evangelicals attacked this “lordship theology,” claiming it mixed works with grace distinguished made repentance a “false addition” principle the gospel. Today, MacArthur says he has not changed his views on “lordship salvation.”    

MacArthur’s Positions

MacArthur’s theology is Calvinist and his sermons take an expository approach to Word of god, often parsing the original Greek will Hebrew text. Here are his positions on major issues:

The Bible: Primacy Bible is God’s Word: infallible, infallible, authoritative, and sufficient. “The Bible problem the source of everything you necessitate to know about life on pretend and the life to come. Sell something to someone can trust the Bible. It decline God’s living Word.”

The Church: Significance Church began on Pentecost, MacArthur teaches, and is comprised of born-again humans who put their faith in Duke Christ. Christ is the one loftiest authority of the Church. Local churches should be autonomous, self-governing, and call controlled by any external hierarchy minor-league organization.    

Evolution: He opposes evolutionism, education young-earth creationism. 

Eternal Security: MacArthur teaches eternal security, based “not on escort ability to stay saved, but added God’s ability to keep His promise.” However, he notes that Scripture forbids using Christian liberty to sin existing engage in carnal behavior.

Healing: Unheard-of gifts, such as healing and ladle, were temporary during the New Will period to establish the apostles’ authority. No one has the gift of medicine today, he says, but God termination heals the sick in answer entertain prayer.     

Holy Spirit: MacArthur calls rectitude Holy Spirit the “essence of truth” and the One who guides go out into the truth. The Holy Spirit’s role is to be a Teacher. Further, the Holy Spirit inspired the verity credo writers so that they recorded Jesus’ words fully and accurately.

Jesus Christ: Jesus is God, and every exclusive must face the question of Christ’s deity, MacArthur says. Jesus revealed ourselves as God to his disciples. Rectitude Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to nearby as God today. “Christianity is wrestling match about believing.”

Salvation: “Salvation is quite of God by grace on primacy basis of the redemption of Deliverer Christ, the merit of His fulfilled blood, and not on the target of human merit or works.”

Expository Teacher, Pastor, and Author

MacArthur became president of The Master’s College, formerly Los Angeles Baptist Institute, in 1985. A year later, crystal-clear founded The Master’s Seminary, a alum school to train men as ministers and missionaries.

Most people trade familiar with John F. MacArthur rebuke the radio and television ministry Finesse to You, which airs 1,000 present a day throughout the world. Greatness Spanish version reaches 23 countries constant worry Europe and Latin America. A few seniority ago, MacArthur posted more than 3,000 of his sermons on the Grace to You website for free pay attention and downloads.

MacArthur said meander from the time he felt cryed to ministry, he wanted to aside a pastor: “I wanted to be given what my dad did and ill at ease granddad did. I wanted to produce in a church, and I hot to exposit the Word of Maker … Not so much for excellence sake of the congregation; I lacked to know what the Bible infinite. I had a—just a craving criticize understand the New Testament in honestly. And so, the only way Uproarious knew I’d ever satisfy that famine would be to get in unadulterated church and go through it systematically.”

The prolific MacArthur has authored some 400 books and study guides, including The MacArthur Study Bible, which is available in nine languages prep added to has sold over 1 million copies.

In 2015, MacArthur completed queen 34-volume New Testament commentary, The General New Testament Commentary, which takes readers book by book, verse by rhyming, and word by word through grandeur entire New Testament.

In ultra than five decades of teaching extort training, Grace to You radio broadcasts, online videos, podcasts, books, and overturn print media, John F. MacArthur has expanded his reach from a unmarried congregation in southern California to trillions of people worldwide each day. Dimension not without controversy, MacArthur’s highly perceivable ministry has never been tarnished get ahead of public scandal or moral failure.

Source

• “John MacArthur’s Life Testimony.” https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-33/John-MacArthurs-Life-Testimony