“The current fad of Social Justice is due to little else than world-pleasing preachers seeking the applause of a culture that hates Jesus. Its ideas are not theological, but philosophical. Its ideas are not doctrinal, but political.”
(Pulpit & Pen) After eagerly waiting for the elder theologian to enter the fray on the topic of Social Gospel, deceitfully renamed Social Justice, Dr. John MacArthur waded into the controversy last week with his first article on the subject. He was quickly maligned as being a white supremacist, as “fighting ghosts,” and was accused of “attacking racial reconciliation.” The aged pastor-warrior has been flogged for defending the Gospel so often and for so many years that he has skin as thick as a dinosaur, and so it’s doubtful he was even aware of the barbs in social media, let alone felt them. He has now launched a second salvo against “Social Justice” on the Grace to You website.
A Grace Community Church pastor, Mike Riccardi, reminded the world of MacArthur’s long-proven tenacity when it comes to defending the Gospel on his Facebook page on August 15:
“The measure of a person’s love for the truth is how that person responds when confronted by it. Those who most loudly proclaim the virtue of tolerance are often those with the most to lose if confronted by the truth. And when the truth is brought to bear on them, they frequently retaliate with fury. But when the honor of God and Christ, and the truth of the gospel and Scripture were at stake, Paul was not one to equivocate.” — John MacArthur
MacArthur isn’t disappointing. For those concerned that MacArthur was backing off the issue, it’s been clear he wasn’t waiting. He was just reloading.
In Part 2 of The Long Struggle to Preserve the Gospel, MacArthur historically documents the current evangelical downgrade. He laments the capitulation on female clergy that is a by-product of the sexual revolution rather than careful exposition of Scripture. He laments the church’s softening tone on sex outside of marriage. He acknowledges the current side-stepping of Scripture to embrace sexual perversions of every kind, including gender-fluidity and homosexuality. MacArthur then diagnoses the problem:
Why have so many evangelicals openly embraced such compromises? The answer is very simple. It’s the next logical step for a church that is completely ensnared in efforts to please the culture..The common link in those continual compromises is pragmatism, driven by a desire to reach the world and win its support and admiration by utilitarian means. Evangelicals of our generation seem pathologically addicted to the sin of desiring the praise of men. Indeed, that is precisely the brand of pragmatism that I fear points people down nearly all the paths of departure from the gospel mentioned in Monday’s post. Today it has penetrated deep into the culture of the church, and the end effect is disaster.
Related:
MacArthur steps into the fray on Social Justice
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