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.
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An archived version of the site from November shows Begg listed as one of the speakers after MacArthur and Desiring God founder John Piper.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.
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*.
I'd stay away from a wedding like that. Don't know what might be found floating in the punchbowl.
[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.
What shall I do??
Make sure you are up for the game.
Yea Jesus would have talked to them in private and then attended their pagan rituals , to celebrate with them .
So after all that modern Calvinism... this?
Something's up with this guy.
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.
[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.
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)
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.
“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.
Obviously, Pastor Begg considers the grandmother's relationship with her grandson more important than the grandmother's relationship with God.
Great comment...and a very “compassionate” way to handle the situation.
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.
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?
Interesting that John Piper is on the speakers list too.
Shady crowd…
Why is he associating himself with Piper?
That’s a red flag IMHO.
(John Piper)
I hadn’t really paid attention to him though the name is familiar
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