Here is Alejandra Melina at Religion News Service: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (Aug. 31) voted to authorize a $400,000 payment to settle a legal battle with Grace Community Church over lead pastor John MacArthur’s defiance...
John MacArthur
John MacArthur had COVID-19 in December 2020 as the virus swept through Grace Community Church
So let’s begin this post with a little history. In late May 2020, John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, announced that the church would return to face-to-face worship for the first time since the...
Megachurches with celebrity pastors like John MacArthur led the way in the evangelical resistance to COVID-19 mandates
We’ve written a lot on this subject. See, for example: “What is going on with John MacArthur and Romans 13?“ “Evangelical pastor John MacArthur suggests churches that remain closed during COVID-19 are not ‘true’ churches“ “The Falkirk Center on the...
Episode 17: “The City by the Bay Starts Marrying Same-Sex Couples”
San Francisco beats Massachusetts to the punch and starts issuing marriage licenses. The Christian Right responds. Episode 17: “The City by the Bay Starts Marrying Same-Sex Couples” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above receive this narrative history...
John MacArthur’s reach extends to Canada
Some of you may be following the controversy surrounding GraceLife Church in Edmonton, Alberta. Last Sunday, Alberta health officials arrived at the church and found that its leadership was ignoring public health restrictions related to Covid-19. The church was filled...
On the day of Biden’s inauguration, Trump evangelical John MacArthur tweets that the U.S. is officially “one nation in rebellion to God”
The Biden administration is here. What are the last president’s most loyal evangelicals saying about the inauguration? John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, fired the first shot: I will just let this one sit for...
Rick Warren: “We’re not being discriminated against. This is a safety issue”
Cameron Strang of Relevant magazine recently interviewed Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren about the events of 2020. Read it here. While other California megachurch pastors like John MacArthur and Jack Hibbs yell and scream about their religious liberties, Warren takes...
Los Angeles Superior Court: John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church can’t hold indoor worship services
Here is Religion News Service: A Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction against Grace Community Church, prohibiting Pastor John MacArthur from holding indoor worship services. The County of Los Angeles has sought to stop the megachurch from...
How John MacArthur politicizes science
Last Sunday John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, told his congregation that “there is no [COVID-19] pandemic.” The congregation cheered. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI4X7svEhlw&w=560&h=315] Notice that MacArthur says that he is not giving a “political speech.”...
John MacArthur: “There is no pandemic.” Those who believe otherwise have been deceived by Satan
Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI4X7svEhlw&w=560&h=315] Warren Throckmorton sent me this video and commented on it at his blog. Here is a taste: MacArthur cited a recent CDC report on causes of COVID-19 deaths (Here is the CDC report in question). It provides the...
John MacArthur’s views on slavery sound eerily familiar
Someone just sent this to me. Here is Grace Community Church pastor John MacArthur, the subject of the recent controversy over the opening of churches during the COVID-19 pandemic, talking about the benefits of slavery. The video was posted in...
This interview tells us a lot about John MacArthur and the movement he represents
Chris Hutchison, the pastor of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Blacksburg, VA, brought this to my attention today via Twitter. Watch John MacArthur speaking to Ryan Helfenbein of the Liberty University Falkirk Center about his battle with the state...
Los Angeles Superior Court: MacArthur’s Grace Community Church can hold indoor services, but they must wear masks and social distance
You can read the judge’s temporary order at Warren Throckmorton’s blog. MacArthur’s legal team is celebrating this win. Indeed, Grace Community Church will continue to hold indoor services and the city will not be levying any fines, at least for...
The Falkirk Center on the John MacArthur controversy. Or how culture warriors write.
Some of you have been following the situation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. For the past two Sundays, pastor John MacArthur has held religious services in defiance of California’s COVID-19 regulations. MacArthur said: “We will obey...
Evangelical pastor John MacArthur suggests churches that remain closed during COVID-19 are not “true” churches
Who is John MacArthur and what is this all about? Get up to speed here. Kate Shellnut and Nicole Sparks report on MacArthur’s sermon Sunday at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. Here is a taste of their piece...
Placing John MacArthur’s decision to open his church in historical context
Get up to speed on this story here. Messiah University alum Morgan Lee interviews historian Daniel Williams for Christianity Today’s “Quick to Listen” podcast. Here is a taste: Lee: Thoreau’s vision of civil disobedience, and even that of the Civil rights...
What is going on with John MacArthur and Romans 13?
I could say a lot of things here about John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, but until yesterday I always thought he took a pretty consistent stand on passages like Romans 13 that require Christians...
Now John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church WILL NOT Open Tomorrow
NOTE: Read this post and the addendum. This is an evolving story. On Friday, John MacArthur said Grace Community Church would be open on Sunday. Watch the video here. Here is the transcript: Well this is Friday, and it turned-out...
Haugen: Young Evangelicals are Committed to Social Justice
At the recent Faith Angle Forum in Miami, Gary Haugen, founder and CEO of the International Justice Mission, said that there is a major divide between older and younger white evangelicals on issues of race and social justice in America. ...
So What DOES Al Mohler Believe About Social Justice?
At a recent conference at John MacArthur‘s Grace Community Church, someone asked Al Mohler, a Southern Baptist seminary president, why he did not sign MacArthur’s statement condemning “social justice” in the evangelical community. (We covered this here and here). Here is...