Posted on 03/05/2021 6:11:05 PM PST by daniel1212
During his State of the Church address Wednesday, which replaced his Shepherds’ Conference for men in church leadership that was postponed due to “ongoing litigation" and "threats" from the state, MacArthur urged evangelicals to stop forming alliances with non-Christian groups to promote religious freedom because they don’t need it.
“The Gospel offends the sinner and seeks to break the sinner’s comfort and contentment by bringing him into stark realization of the eternal judgement of God. Evangelicals have become like Peter. They are looking for alliances with Satan that they think somehow can aid the Kingdom,” MacArthur said.
I told our congregation a few weeks ago that I could never really concern myself with religious freedom. I wouldn’t fight for religious freedom because I won’t fight for idolatry. Why would I fight for the devil to have as many false religions as possible and all of them to be available to everyone?” he asked.
The megachurch leader, who has famously challenged local government and state officials over the right of his congregation to have in-person services during the coronavirus pandemic, noted that even with religious freedom Christians have continued to be the target of “the hostility of sinners.”
Well, people would say that’s a terrible thing to say. What about Christianity? Christianity advances whether there is religious freedom or not. And there’ll always be religious freedom for all the lies. Every false religion is going to be free because it’s linked to the kingdom of darkness that operates in the world. And Christians, whatever the label of religious freedom might be in its broadest sense, Christians are always the target even with religious freedom, of the hostility of sinners,” MacArthur said.
“The Apostles turned the world upside down with no help from it. No social action. No alliances. The evil kingdom of darkness hates what God loves and loves everything that God hates, and the kingdom of darkness is never a friend to the light,” he continued. “Even rulers have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. … They function under the liar Satan himself who [is] the liar and father of lies. There is absolutely no reason for us to make any alliance with him,” he said.
Meaning that Pastor MacArthur - as well as Christians in North Korea etc. if he is correct - can only support freedom of speech and assembly under a theocracy he agrees with, and since he cannot support the allowance of preaching error then this would not simply mean that the likes of JW's be forbidden to preach, but anyone else who he deems is preaching false doctrine. Thus under that gov. censoring all the Calvary Chapels, Assemblies of God, etc. would be required, versus an even playing field. That is where the logic leads and extends to stores and other venues.
Moreover, since the NT church is not constituted to use the sword of men to rule over the lost or enforce compliance with its doctrine, then Pastor MacArthur can only support support freedom of speech and assembly under a secular government that will only allow those who concur with him to preach, thus going back to Calvin's rule and the Puritans, and in principle concurring with the church of Rome which did the same.
We can be in the situation the NT church was (which is where we are headed), and which is what MacArthur actually offers as the alternative (while intending to"obtain appropriate constitutional and legal protections and further relief from the Court” to assemble). However, Pastor MacArthur's church has seen what can be done when we have a government that allows for freedom of speech and assembly (with its necessary limits) but as not requiring assent to theological beliefs, yet which state reflected overall Biblical morality in its laws, and was dependent upon the masses being overall greatly influenced by Biblical faith (thus being stable as controlled from within, not without).
And due to the mass declension from it we are now increasingly faced with a form of secular theocracy, requiring assent to its ever-morphing politically correct perversions of what God ordained and punishing dissent, thus resulting in the remnant contending for freedom of religion.What have we learned from Scripture and history?
Also while MacArthur correctly states “The Apostles turned the world upside down with no help from it. No social action. No alliances," they did not do so simply be preaching, but with many signs and wonders which MacArthur disallows as would his theocracy.
Meanwhile John MacArthur’s Shepherds’ Conference for men in church leadership, which was expected to draw some 3,000 attendees to the megachurch in Sun Valley, California, next month, has been postponed due to “ongoing litigation" and "threats" from the state....
“We will be deposing the key health officers and county officials and requiring them to answer for their oppressive actions under oath, and requesting all documents and information supporting their arbitrary attempts to restrict our religious liberty as a church. Our church leadership remains firmly committed to the truth that Christ is the head of the Church, and we will not yield to government's infringement upon the biblical command to worship and gather together,” the church continued. “We intend to steadfastly defend this truth and obtain appropriate constitutional and legal protections and further relief from the Court.” - https://www.christianpost.com/sponsored/are-you-woke-or-awake.html
ping
See last two paragraphs. The conservative pastor is fighting for (1st Amendment) constitutional freedoms for his church but does not believe in freedom of religion.
They arent fighting for the religious freedom of false religions
They fight for religious freedom in order to practice the one true religion.
The world has always had false religions.
While Christians participate in matters of civil governance, they in no way embrace it as a final arbiter of truth. There is no harm, or sin, in advocating that which is spelled out in the 1st Amendment. Yes, pluralism sucks, but God rules nevertheless, i.e. despite ourselves.
Thanks for the post.
I think we’re about to taste real persecution as the True Church - anybody who follows and puts their faith in Christ alone.
The writing has been on the wall for awhile now.
Goofy reasoning from a normally clear thinking Christisn man. When you fight for religious freedom, you are not allied with the Devil. The Devil does not like religious freedom because it allows Christianity to be practiced. The Devil would prefer state sponsored atheism (China) or Islsm, neither of which allows religious freedom. That6why the Devil hated pre-Biden USA.
His focus is correct.
He was called to preach the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ. Every other religion leads to hell.
As a Christian his first priority is to save souls from Hell, not protect their “rights”.
In the Old Testament, the government of Isreal was formed around the Laws of God, not the rights of man.
Which is more important?
Freedom for me but not for thee! That’s not very original, is it?
Well said.
The religious freedom he is deriding gave us the freedom to worship God and practice our faith as we saw fit.
Yes, it also allows false religions to flourish but they would anyways, religious freedom or not.
. . . says the guy that does not believe that the Blood of Christ is efficacious in the salvation of a soul.
Thank you!
Exactly!
“... Every other religion leads to hell...”
And every other religion believes that quite fervently as well. Radical Muslims believe that that gives them the right to kill the infidel wherever they find him. I’m sorry, but as deeply as I respect the Judeo-Christian traditions that built Western Society, I start to have a problem with *anyone*, who claims that they have some sort of monopoly on truth, this this self-proclaimed monopoly on truth gives them the right to enforce their views on others. Such thinking *ONLY* leads to holy wars, and inquisitions. Christians, of all people, should know better than this.
Neither do I believe the Founders intended to have Islam as a legitimate religion equivalent to biblical Christianity, when one is a lie and seeks to subjugate all others.
Most of the Founders had degrees in Theology. They could not have anticipated how biblically illiterate we have become.
Sounds like a nut.
If you are referencing MacArthur........you are wrong
He most certainly believes that!
I know, but that is why I wrote what I did.
Only G-d knows which religions are false and which are true.
Your name is fitting!
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