“An absolute Giant of a man.”
The death of John MacArthur grieves my soul, but I am also ecstatic for him that he is now in the presence of our Lord Jesus. After languishing as a false convert for most of my life, I fully credit JMac for leading my wife and I out of the mega-church morass we’d been languishing in and into the light of true salvation over a decade ago. I may not have agreed with his Dispensationalism and one or two other minor doctrines, but his love for scripture and 50 years of expository preaching was second to none. The world is a worse place without him in it. I can only say,
“Well done, good and faithful servant”
"MacArthur once stared at a prosperity preacher so hard their Rolex melted. He didn’t speak in tongues—Greek and Hebrew just naturally translated themselves in his presence. The U.S. Treasury once considered backing the dollar with MacArthur sermons. Calvinists used to argue about supralapsarianism—until MacArthur settled it by clearing his throat. When MacArthur did a mic check, demons fled entire zip codes. The fog machine at Grace Church quit in shame. When he walked into a Lifeway store, the Joel Osteen books self-combusted. The COVID virus avoided Grace Church out of respect. When he walked by a Baptist potluck, the jello salad repented. TSA made him empty their pockets. John Piper once tried to hug him (Piper is still recovering). Angels fact-checked their theology with his commentaries. Every time he said “biblically,” a megachurch lost its light show. You get the point.
The broader evangelical machine runs on cowardice, compromise, and Instagram filters. But John MacArthur ran on black coffee and the Book of Romans. While everyone else capitulated to the spirit of the age, he spat in its face and taught from Titus.
He wasn’t trendy. He didn’t pivot. He didn’t rebrand. If Christianity were a fashion show, he’d be the one guy in a full suit with a Bible the size of a car battery, calmly quoting Hebrews while the rest pranced around in skinny jeans apologizing for Leviticus.
And for decades, that made him the black sheep. But it also made him the standard."
Read more at Insight to Incite. Link in bio. Audio version available.