John MacArthur Wrote a Letter

Recently, John MacArthur wrote a prophetic open letter to the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom. Understand that when I say prophetic, I mean in the ministry of warning sense. In it, he condemned the Governor’s promotion of abortion on billboards across the state of California, especially in twisting the words of Jesus to support the killing of the unborn. MacArthur called upon the Governor to repent. It is quite a remarkable letter. You can see it here.

There is a biblical place for warning a nation and its leaders in stark terms about their sins and the judgment of God to come. This moment in history is one of them and we must not shrink back from doing so. I would commend John MacArthur for this letter, though, my experience in Arizona has been starkly different from what Californians are facing.

There is a tendency for some to think such a letter is a form of showboating—or preaching to the choir—that the only people that will really pay attention to the letter are MacArthur’s most militant followers. That may be true. There is a thirst in our nation today for leaders who will speak out against the moral decline and craziness that is going on around us. This explains the popularity of such internet personalities as Ben Shapiro, Jordan Petersen, Joe Rogan, and others. The threat of being accused of showboating is no excuse for the abdication of our ministerial responsibility to warn.

However, we do have to guard against just trying to please the “let ‘em have it” crowd. I am not saying MacArthur is doing this—I commend his letter (even though he needs no commendation from me). This type of ministry of warning is what the FBFI has done since its inception and we understand the dangers and pains of speaking out in this type of ministry. It is necessary, but it cannot be done in the flesh, and it will always be condemned as being unloving and self-serving, even sometimes by your closest friends.

Let’s consider some principles that should apply regarding the ministry of warning.

There should be more private than public conversations.

And there are. You just do not know that such conversations are happening because they are private. Do not assume that your pastor is not doing his job because you do not see him doing his job.

This principle is especially true with friends—people with whom we have a relationship. Friends sometimes make mistakes or are even wrong, and a private warning can bring about change when public confrontation might start a war. It seems that Nathan warned King David privately about his sin. Our goal in warning is the health of the Church and the advancement of the gospel around the world. Generally speaking, much more positive is accomplished by private confrontation than public confrontation.

There are parts of MacArthur’s letter to Newsom that are very personal, about personal judgment to come that in most cases would be more effective in a personal conversation. I assume those conversations happened or at least were attempted first.

Public confrontation is necessary to distance ourselves from heresy.

One main reason for MacArthur writing the letter was to publicly state that the Bible does not say what Newsom says it says. The world might not agree with us, but we do not want to leave any doubt regarding our stand on biblical truth. We do not have to harp on it all the time, but we also must make sure our stand on biblical Christianity is clearly understood.

Paul warned Peter publicly in Galatians 2 for this reason. Eternal souls were in jeopardy. Paul’s contention was that Peter’s compromise compromised the gospel (Galatians 2:14) he could not remain silent.

Public confrontation is necessary to protect the unaware from danger.

Satan seeks to twist the scripture to make it say the opposite of what God intended. He did it with Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:4-5). Governor Newsom did the same. The problem is that some people, like Eve, might believe the lie being told them. Pastors must guard their flocks against false teaching and as best they can guard against the truth being twisted in order to damage or destroys souls—souls for whom Christ died.

Warning should not be the bulk of our ministry.

It is possible to warn all day every day. There is bad stuff going on that we could do that. But that practice would not be biblical either. The Bible itself is a balanced book mixing affirmative doctrinal teaching with appropriate warnings. The ministry of warning is not reasonable or profitable without clearly teaching positive biblical truth. This is one of the reasons why the exegetical preaching of scripture helps to keep us balanced. We are forced to preach both positive and negative messages in their biblical proportions.

Remember the splinter and the log when confronting.

Have you ever had a bad student tell you the best way to prepare for a test, or a neglectfully unhealthy person lecture you on health and fitness? When warning, especially publicly, we must make absolutely sure that we have our own house in order. If we warn unsaved civil leaders about God’s law, we better make sure that we are obeying God’s law regarding obeying those same civil leaders (Romans 13:1-8) within every possible biblical boundary.

Emotion seems to be overtaking sense at all levels of our culture. People on each side of every argument are screaming “Kill the Beast!” Step back from the edge for a moment. Make a reasoned biblical case, do not fall prey to knee-jerk reactions.

It is dangerous and unbiblical to build a ministry on the popularity of flouting the government. We have an obligation to obey every secular law that the Bible and our consciences will allow. Over the past few years, many evangelical leaders (and fundamentalist ones too) have erred in this area on both sides—either flouting laws that can be obeyed without sin or giving up commanded biblical practices out of fear of government reprisal. If we are going to face persecution, let’s not face it over our own sin and stupidity, but over clear biblical mandates.

We do not have to be perfect or spotless in order to obey God in the ministry of warning. However, while we call on others to repent, we must also be willing to be confronted ourselves, and repent of our sins as the Holy Spirit reveals them to us. This is a clear scriptural mandate (Romans 12:3, Philippians 2:1-3).

The ministry of warning is not easy, and it is not fun. May God give us the grace to please Him.