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John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference removes Alistair Begg from speakers' lineup for his advice for Christians and same-sex weddings.
Christian Post ^ | 02/04/2024 | Ian M. Giatti

Posted on 02/04/2024 8:56:15 PM PST by SeekAndFind


A screenshot of a now-archived version of the Shepherd's Conference website shows Pastor Alistair Begg listed as a speaker for the March conference. Begg's name is no longer listed on the website.

Pastor, author and Christian radio personality Alistair Begg continues to face fallout from comments he made in a podcast last year about advice for Christians and same-sex weddings.

Begg’s bio has been removed from the website of the Shepherd’s Conference, a ministry of Grace Community Church led by Pastor John MacArthur, following controversy over Begg’s advice for a grandmother about attending her LGBT-identified grandson’s wedding.

An archived version of the site from November shows Begg listed as one of the speakers after MacArthur and Desiring God founder John Piper.

The theme of this year’s Shepherd's Conference scheduled for March 6-8 is “Truth Triumphs.”

It wasn’t clear who made the decision for Begg not to participate. The Christian Post reached out to Grace Community Church for comment but did not receive a response.

Begg is also a guest lecturer for the Doctor of Ministry program at The Master's Seminary, which is run in partnership with Grace Community Church and where MacArthur serves as chancellor. It’s unknown whether Begg’s role at the seminary was also impacted by the decision to drop him from the Shepherd’s Conference.

The move is the latest in the backlash against the 71-year-old Begg, the senior pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, who's also the voice behind the radio ministry "Truth For Life," carried by nearly 1,800 radio stations nationwide.

In recently resurfaced comments Begg made in a podcast for "Truth For Life" in September, in which he discussed his new book, The Christian Manifesto, and touched on a specific question he said a grandmother asked him about her grandson, whom she said was "about to be married to a transgender person," and whether she should attend the wedding.

Despite the podcast being nearly three months old, Begg’s advice resurfaced on social media, leading to a controversy that ultimately led to American Family Radio (AFR), the radio ministry of the American Family Association, making the decision to "no longer air" "Truth For Life" after more than a decade.

After initially declining to comment, Begg addressed the issue in front of his congregation during his Sunday sermon at Parkside Church last week.

In the message, taken from Luke 15, titled “Compassion vs. Condemnation,” Begg warned about our “inclination toward Pharisaism” that is “alive and well within all our hearts.”

“In that conversation with that grandmother, I was concerned about the well-being of their relationship more than anything else,” he explained. “Hence my counsel. Don't misunderstand that in any way at all.

“If I was on the receiving end of another question about another situation from another person at another time, I may answer absolutely differently, but in that case, I answered in that way, and I would not answer in any other way no matter what anybody says on the internet.”

In his message, Begg also acknowledged the controversy threatened his ministry’s popularity and said if that’s the case, he would much rather “go down on the side of compassion.”

“If I’ve gotta go down on the side of one or the other, I’ll go down on this side. I’ll go down on the side of compassion, with people actually accusing me of just weakness, rather than go down on the side of condemnation, which closes any doors of opportunity for future engagement with those who know exactly what we believe about the Bible and about Jesus,” said Begg.


TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: alistairbegg; gaymarriage; gty; homosexuality; johnmacarthur
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To: SaveFerris

Yup. It would (allegedly) be leaving the door open for future opportunities to witness or some such thing.

Going would be showing *Christian compassion* according to him so he’d rather go on the side of *compassion* than be pharisaical and do on the side of *condemnation*.


41 posted on 02/05/2024 5:29:24 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus…)
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To: SeekAndFind
It has been said that politics is downwind of the culture. However, in this instance, the increased militancy among political conservatives, largely motivated by the MAGA movement, has caused some backbone growth among evangelical Christians. Alastair Begg has been doctrinally sound, to the extent I have heard from his broadcast sermons. He went with the mainstream culture rather than the Bible in the advice he gave to the grandmother. That American Family Radio and now John MacArthur have sanctioned Begg is indicative of a strong backlash. He needs to walk back his unbiblical remarks and publicly apologize.
42 posted on 02/05/2024 5:31:06 AM PST by Wallace T. ( )
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To: cyclotic
In other words, those who would not attend the “wedding.”

I'd stay away from a wedding like that. Don't know what might be found floating in the punchbowl.

43 posted on 02/05/2024 5:44:07 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Wallace T.; metmom

[He went with the mainstream culture rather than the Bible]

Well-said. Your excellent comment is needed on another thread.

When “the mainstream culture” becomes the plumb-line, it’s very late in the day.


44 posted on 02/05/2024 5:46:28 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: metmom

*compassion* or *condemnation*


What shall I do??


45 posted on 02/05/2024 5:47:25 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Wallace T.
Experience has shown that ... some backbone growth among evangelical Christians. will getcha in trouble these days.


Make sure you are up for the game.

46 posted on 02/05/2024 5:49:27 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy

Yea Jesus would have talked to them in private and then attended their pagan rituals , to celebrate with them .


47 posted on 02/05/2024 5:56:22 AM PST by sausageseller (If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage. M, Thatcher)
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To: SeekAndFind
One is not unfamiliar with Alistair Begg, who doesn't minimize his Scottish accent on the radio.

So after all that modern Calvinism... this?

Something's up with this guy.

48 posted on 02/05/2024 6:00:14 AM PST by OKSooner ("You won't like what comes after America." - Leonard Cohen.)
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy

Oops, yeah I would still not agree with her attending - I misread that at first

Joel Olsteen did similar in Houston a few years ago. And then there’s Andy Stanley. I don’t know how Charles Stanley ever let him in a pulpit.


49 posted on 02/05/2024 6:08:10 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Nervous Tick

[2 Corinthians 6:14 cf

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living]

I agree. I’ve walked into that trap more than once. Ouch. and....ouch.


50 posted on 02/05/2024 6:21:29 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: cyclotic

Had a woman tell me that her nephew (I think) “did not feel comfortable in his skin”

Wow

So, of course, logically, he now dresses as a woman.......(rolls eyes)


51 posted on 02/05/2024 6:24:37 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: MayflowerMadam
I most emphatically agree with you as to contemporary "Christian" music. My biggest pet peeve about the contemporary worship scene is that the electric guitar and drums have driven organs and choirs out of most churches. Hymn-writing has become a lost art, the last great hymn having been composed in 1953.

I disagree with John MacArthur on theology--he's a Calivinist and I'm a Wesleyan--but when I attended one of his worship services, it included traditional music.

52 posted on 02/05/2024 6:33:59 AM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: Elsie

“I thought there was one exception?”

The only exception I know of is if the “original” spouse dies, and then, and ONLY then, is he free to remarry. I don’t know of any other exceptions.

In the case of the preacher down the road, even if his original spouse died today, he still entered an adulterous relationship while she lived. It’s a whole icky situation.

Overall, the church seems OK, but for them to call him in that situation, it negates shows a serious lack of discernment within the church leadership. They know better.


53 posted on 02/05/2024 6:49:11 AM PST by MayflowerMadam ("A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant tastes of death but once.")
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To: SeekAndFind
"“In that conversation with that grandmother, I was concerned about the well-being of their relationship more than anything else,” he explained."

Obviously, Pastor Begg considers the grandmother's relationship with her grandson more important than the grandmother's relationship with God.

54 posted on 02/05/2024 6:49:29 AM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy

Great comment...and a very “compassionate” way to handle the situation.


55 posted on 02/05/2024 6:53:29 AM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: Fiji Hill

Oh, yes.

I try to check out prospective churches online before attending. If I see drums or an electric keyboard, it’s no-go. Or if the “stage” has no podium, but a bunch of mics there so the “worship team” (gag!) has easy access to be able to caress them while prancing around the front. Uh uh. Nope. Not gonna happen.

I’m church organist and pianist, and have told pastors I won’t play certain music, or a keyboard. I simply refuse.

We’ve been to MacArthur’s church for concerts, and he seems solid. Didn’t know he’s an actual Calvinist. He wrote the “Forword” to a book my minister cousin wrote a few years ago.


56 posted on 02/05/2024 7:04:55 AM PST by MayflowerMadam ("A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant tastes of death but once.")
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy

2 Corinthians 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?


57 posted on 02/05/2024 1:57:45 PM PST by Theophilus (covfefe)
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To: SeekAndFind

Interesting that John Piper is on the speakers list too.

Shady crowd…


58 posted on 02/05/2024 2:59:38 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: SaveFerris

Why is he associating himself with Piper?

That’s a red flag IMHO.


59 posted on 02/05/2024 3:03:19 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

(John Piper)

I hadn’t really paid attention to him though the name is familiar


60 posted on 02/05/2024 4:10:00 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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