I just ordered a used copy of Pastor John MacArthur's (1939-2025) poisonous book titled, “The Gospel According To Jesus,” so I could expose MacArthur and his toxic false plan of salvation. Kindly said, I have no doubt whatsoever that Mr. MacArthur is now sadly burning in hell, fire and damnation forever. What he teaches is simply NOT a free grace Gospel. MacArthur is guilty of cheery-picking the inspired Scripture and preacher's books to support his perverse agenda of Lordship Salvation. John MacArthur was a crooked theologian!
Dr. Harry Ironside DIDN'T Agree With Lordship Salvation
Case in point is page 176 from chapter 17 titled, “The Call To Repentance,” where Dr. MacArthur dishonestly attempts to portray Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951) as agreeing with his perverse Lordship Salvation. MacArthur selectively quotes the following words from chapter one of Dr. Ironside's book, “Except Ye Repent,” to misrepresent his beliefs:
Shallow preaching that does not grapple with the terrible fact of man's sinfulness and guilt, calling on "all men everywhere to repent," results in shallow conversions; and so we have a myriad of glib-tongued professors today who give no evidence of regeneration whatever. Prating of salvation by grace, they manifest no grace in their lives. Loudly declaring they are justified by faith alone, they fail to remember that "faith without works is dead"; and that justification by works before men is not to be ignored as though it were in contradiction to justification by faith before God. We need to reread James 3 and let its serious message sink deep into our hearts, that it may control our lives. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." No man can truly believe in Christ, who does not first repent. Nor will his repentance end when he has saving faith, but the more he knows God as he goes on through the years, the deeper will that repentance become. A servant of Christ said: "I repented before I knew the meaning of the word. I have repented far more since than I did then." —Pastor John MacArthur, 'The Gospel According To Jesus,' p. 176, chapter 17 (MacArthur is quoting Harry Ironside from chapter one of Ironside's book, 'Except Ye Repent')
Ostensibly (by appearance alone) this quote seems to evidence that Dr. Ironside agreed with John MacArthur's perverse Lordship Salvation heresy. Dr. MacArthur is woefully guilty of horribly misrepresenting what Pastor Ironside actually believed and taught.
Dear reader, if you'll simply read the rest of chapter one it will become abundantly clear that these two men were world's apart in their views on repentance and God's simple plan of salvation. Dr. Ironside plainly teaches in chapter one of 'Except Ye Repent' that penance (sorrow for sin), penance (amending one's wrongs) and reformation (turning from sins) are NOT Bible repentance. In chapter one, Pastor Ironside makes the following statement which totally contradicts MacArthur's works-based Lordship Salvation garbage...
“Need I add that repentance then is not to be considered synonymous with joining a church or taking up one's religious duties, as people say. It is not doing anything.” —Pastor Harry Ironside, 'Except Ye Repent,' chapter one
Wow, this one quote silences John MacArthur! Did you here that Mr. MacArthur? Repentance is not doing anything!!! Pastor Ironside is absolutely correct. We get saved by RESTING in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ through Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago, not by forsaking a sinful lifestyle, taking up our cross or following Christ as “Lord” of our life. Hebrews 4:10-11, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Simply believe that Jesus did it all for you and rest in Him.
I love this next quote from chapter one by Pastor Harry Ironside, which Dr. MacArthur conveniently and no doubt deliberately left out of his heretical book, “The Gospel According To Jesus”...
Which comes first, repentance or faith? In Scripture we read, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." Yet we find true believers exhorted to "repent, and do the first works." So intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other. The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this, but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before God. And this is repentance.
In sharp contrast, John MacArthur foolishly writes on page 177 of his book, “The Gospel According To Jesus”...
These writers and others have redefined repentance in a way that evacuates its moral ramifications. They write it off as simply a change of mind about who Christ is. This kind of repentance has nothing to do with turning from sin or abandoning self. It is utterly devoid of any recognition or personal guilt, any intent to obey God, or any desire for true righteousness.That is not the kind of repentance that Jesus preached. As we have seen repeatedly, the Gospel according to Jesus is as much a call to forsake sin as it is a summons to faith. —Pastor John MacArthur, 'The Gospel According To Jesus,' p. 177, chapter 17
No, Mr. MacArthur, you cannot show me anywhere in the inspired King James Bible where Jesus required anyone to turn away from sinful bad habits to be saved. Eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15-18). Salvation is received, not achieved.
John MacArthur Perverts The Meaning Of Repentance
The Greek noun for “repent” in the New Testament is metanoia, which simply means “a change of mind.” The verb form for “repent” is the Greek word metanoeo , which means “to think differently.” In sharp contrast to THE TRUTH, look what John MacArthur redefines repentance to mean on page 178 of his toxic book...
Repentance is not merely sorrow or shame for sin, although genuine repentance always involves an element of remorse. It is a redirection of the human will, a purposeful decision to forsake all unrighteousness and pursue righteousness instead. —Pastor John MacArthur, 'The Gospel According To Jesus,' p. 178, chapter 17
No, that is NOT what it means to repent! It gets much worse. Read what Dr. MacArthur writes on page 180...
Volitionally, repentance involves a change of direction, a transformation of the will. Far from being only a change of mind, it constitutes a willingness — more accurately, a determination — to abandon stubborn disobedience and surrender the will to Christ. As such, genuine repentance will inevitably result in a change of behavior. The behavior change itself is not repentance, but it is the fruit repentance will certainly bear. Where there is no observable difference in conduct, there can be no confidence that repentance has taken place (Matt. 3:8; cf. 1 John 2:3-6; 3:17). Real repentance alters the character of the whole man. —Pastor John MacArthur, 'The Gospel According To Jesus,' p. 178, chapter 17
Whereas the inspired Word of God simply defines repentance unto life (the new birth) as a change of mind, Pastor MacArthur corrupts repentance to mean much more:
- a change of direction
- a transformation of the will
- a willingness and determination to abandon a stubborn disobedience
- surrender the will to Christ
- a change of behavior
- an observable difference in conduct
- whole character altered
Since Mr. MacArthur wrongly assumes that you haven't repented unless your life has positively changed and there is observable proof of it, we can add those as his requirements for repentance. As you can plainly see, John MacArthur is preaching another gospel (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4) that is totally foreign to the free grace of God that brings true salvation.
Where MacArthur goes horrible astray is in his perverse understanding of what changes a person's life who gets saved. Throughout his poisonous book, MacArthur attributes a changed life to repentance, just as the religious cult as Pensacola Christian College also does.
A changed behavior in the life of a born again believer is the “fruit” of the indwelling Holy Spirit, if we choose to walk in that Holy Spirit. What saith the Scripture?
Galatians 5:22-25, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
To be alive (i.e., to live) in the Spirit is the new birth, which is salvation. But to walk in the Spirit is discipleship, or service for Christ. One thing has nothing to do with the other. John Bunyan said it perhaps best...
“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)
In other words, we must always keep SERVICE separated from SALVATION, lest we corrupt the inspired Word of God and confuse people. Remember, the Devil's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again. That is what the hellbound Roman Catholics, Church of Christ, Lutherans, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Neo-Evangelicals, Lordship Salvationists and Reformed Calvinist Southern Baptists are all doing—living the Christian life, but they've never been born again by faith alone in the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and bodily risen the third day from the dead.
In Pastor Ironside's book “Except Ye Repent,” in chapter 8 titled “Repentance From Dead Works,” he writes these helpful words regarding Hebrews 6:1...
What then is meant by "repentance from dead works"? It is a complete change of mind, whereby the convicted sinner gives up all thought of being able to propitiate God by effort of his own and acknowledges that he is as bad as the Word has declared him to be. He turns right about face. Instead of relying on his own fancied merits he turns to the Lord for deliverance and seeks for mercy through the Saviour God has provided. —Pastor Harry Ironside, 'Except Ye Repent,' chapter eight
As you can see from his own writing, Dr. Ironside limits the change of mind (which is repentance) to salvation alone, and not surrendering one's will to follow or serve Christ, turn away from personal sinful bad habits nor anything else which would constitute works.
To own frankly that I am lost and guilty is the prelude to life and peace. It is not a question of a certain depth of grief and sorrow, but simply the recognition and acknowledgment of need that lead one to turn to Christ for refuge. None can perish who put their trust in Him. His grace superabounds above all our sin, and His expiatory work on the cross is so infinitely precious to God that it fully meets all our uncleanness and guilt. —Pastor Harry Ironside, 'Except Ye Repent,' chapter oneBravo Pastor Ironside! The Bible does not require sorrow over sins to be saved. Sorrow is not repentance, it is penitence. I love this helpful quote from Pastor Brad Strand in Texas...
True repentance has nothing to do with “turning from sin” and everything to do with “acknowledging one's sinfulness” (Jonah 3:5). Like the thief on the cross who simply acknowledged his sinfulness (Lk 23:39-43), the only part a person has in salvation is the beggar's part. —Pastor Brad Strand, “The Strand Study Bible,” p. 1939
Yes, bravo Brother Strand!
I hope you now see dear reader what a theological fraudster John MacArthur really was (and still is posthumously by his lingering demonic influence). Just like Satan, MacArthur is very subtle. All the while he is redefining what it means to biblically “repent,” he is misleading you by wresting the words of Paul, James, Jesus, Harry Ironside and others to deceive you. Pastor MacArthur is a horrible liar! The road to Hell is paved with sincerity (Proverbs 16:25).
I admit that 95% of MacArthur's Bible teachings were often accompanied by brilliant theological insights. I learned many things from the man. That being said, sadly John MacArthur was very wrong on what a person must do to get to Heaven. The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
John MacArthur Perverts Matthew 7:13-14
To further indict this damnable false prophet who masqueraded as a man of God, read MacArthur's poisonous words from chapter 20 titled, “The Way Of Salvation,” page 205...
Salvation is not easy. “The gate is small . . . and few are those who find it” (Matt. 7:14). The implication is that unless a person is looking diligently for the gate, he or she is not likely to know it is there. In Jeremiah 29:13 God says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
The message of Jesus cannot be made to accommodate any kind of cheap grace or easy-believism. The kingdom is not for people who want Jesus without any change in their lives. It is only for those who seek it with all their hearts.
In fact, many who approach the gate turn away when they discover how narrow it is. Did you ever try to get through a turnstile with an armload of suitcases? That is the imagery Jesus' words evoke. The narrow gate is not wide enough for superstars who want to enter with all their valuables. The rich young ruler searched until he found the gate. But when he saw that entering meant he had to leave his baggage behind, he turned away. Whoever we are, whatever we treasure, when we reach the narrow gate, we can expect to have to drop everything. Extra baggage — such as self-righteousness, selfishness, sin, and materialism — will not make it through intact. —Pastor John MacArthur, 'The Gospel According To Jesus,' p. 205, chapter 20, 'The Way Of Salvation'
On page 206 MacArthur further states...
Receiving Christ does not mean we can merely add Jesus to the refuse of our lives. Salvation is a total transformation: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). What could be clearer than that? Old things pass away. Sin and selfishness and worldly pleasure are replaced by new things. This is the whole point of salvation: it produces a changed life. —Pastor John MacArthur, 'The Gospel According To Jesus,' p. 206, chapter 20, 'The Way Of Salvation'
Dear reader, what you've just read is false doctrine spawned from the Prince of Darkness himself. There are several errors in Dr. MacArthur's teachings here...
First, Pastor MacArthur foolishly says, “Receiving Christ does not mean we can merely add Jesus to the refuse of our lives.” Yes, that is exactly what the Bible means. “Refuse” is discarded trash. God only saves bad people, wretched sinners like you and me who deserve nothing less than to burn in the fires of Hell forever. Christ died for the vilest of sinners, for all mankind (Romans 5:6-9; 1st John 2:2). Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!
Second, the passage that MacArthur cites from Jeremiah 29:13 has nothing to do with God's free gift of salvation. The prophet Jeremiah in this passage is addressing “the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon” (Jeremiah 29:1b). The prophet is telling backslidden Israel how to get right with God, not how to get to Heaven. Romans 4:4 plainly teaches that everyone in the Old Testament was saved by faith without works, lest God owe sinner's a debt for their good works.
Third, MacArthur heretically writes, “The message of Jesus cannot be made to accommodate any kind of cheap grace or easy-believism.” What an ignorant incompetent fool for a pastor! Dear reader, grace is not “cheap,” it is completely FREE because Jesus paid for it with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). Furthermore, the only way to be saved is by “easy-believism.” Woe unto the preacher who makes it difficult to be saved. In 2nd Corinthians 11:3-4 the Apostle Paul calls the Gospel “the simplicity that is in Christ.” It is free, simple and easy to be born again!
- Getting saved is as simple as looking to Jesus (John 3:14-16; Isaiah 45:22).
- Getting saved is as simple as drinking a cup of water (John 4:13-14; 6:35).
- Getting saved is as easy as eating a piece of bread (John 6:51).
- Getting saved is as easy as walking through a door (John 10:9).
Fourth, MacArthur heretically writes, “The kingdom is not for people who want Jesus without any change in their lives. It is only for those who seek it with all their hearts.” That is simply theological bullcrap! Nowhere in the Word of God do we find a situation where a lost sinner was required to first be willing to reform their behavior to receive God's free gift of eternal life.
Tragically, Mr. MacArthur is preaching a perverted works-based plan of salvation which cannot produce the new birth. You cannot show me one Scripture passage that mandates having a burning desire to life a changed life to be saved. That is 100% pure salvation by works!
Fifth, MacArthur heretically writes, “Salvation is a total transformation: 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come' (2 Cor. 5:17).” Nowhere does this passage of Scripture imply that getting saved means immediately living a changed life. The ONLY thing that a person receives at salvation is the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). Salvation does NOT change a person's behavior one bit! At salvation there is a transfer of ownership from Satan to God, but then the life must be renovated, which is the job of the local New Testament church as part of The Great Commission to teach converts “all things” which Jesus taught (Matthew 28:19-20).
Once saved, the indwelling Holy Spirit begins to work on that individual to change their life, as they grow in the milk of the Word (1st Peter 2:2), and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2nd Peter 3:18), but this ongoing process of sanctification requires a lifetime. To demand that a lost sinner commit to living a mature Christian life as a prerequisite to being saved is to horribly pervert the gift of God's free grace.
Sixth, MacArthur foolishly writes, “This is the whole point of salvation: it produces a changed life.” That is simple untrue! The new birth brings the indwelling Holy Spirit, but the new birth itself does not change someone at all. A changed life is the “fruit” of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25); not a result of repentance, which would equate to manmade reformation (works).
I am sick and tired of unsaved Neo-evangelical fools like the leaders at Pensacola Christian College (PCC) and John MacArthur, falsely teaching that the burden to change rests upon the sinner's shoulders if he or she wants to be saved, or to prove that they are saved.
Again and again throughout the Holy Bible we see lost sinners coming to Christ by faith alone without works (Abel, Joseph, Abram, Moses, David, Habakkuk, the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, the Samaritans whom she witnessed to, the Ethiopian Eunuch, Cornelius, the Roman jailer, Paul, the 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost, et cetera), and no one demanded that they first commit to reform, live a better life, follow Christ or surrender all to Jesus as “Lord” to get to Heaven. Satan is a beautiful liar!
John MacArthur was a very dishonest man in his preaching, wresting the inspired Word of God to his own destruction (2nd Peter 3:16-17). If MacArthur went to Heaven, then there are two different Gospels. Galatians 1:6-7 warns that there is only ONE GOSPEL!!!
The Devil's fraud of Lordship Salvation mixes and combines service with salvation, perverting God's saving grace by adding works to faith. True biblical salvation is promised only to those repentant sinners who trust alone in Christ's sacrifice on the cross, burial and His bodily resurrection three days later. 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
I cannot warn everyone enough to RUN from hellbound infidels' John MacArthur, PCC, R.C. Sproul, Paul Washer, Bob Jones University (BJU), Marty Herron, Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, Smyrna Baptist Church in Pensacola, Family Baptist Church in Pensacola, Faith Baptist Bible College in Iowa, Brad and Bobby Moffett, Billy and Franklin Graham, John Thompson, Jeff Redlin, Joel Osteen, Steven Furtick, The 700 Club, Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, Ray Comfort, John Hagee, Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, Unshackled radio, Chick Tracts, William P. Grady, Sam Gipp, Keith Gomez, Pater S. Ruckman and thousands of other FOOLS who are WRONG on God's simple plan of salvation. Every one of those woefully ignorant reprobates errantly teach that you must forsake a lifestyle of sinning to be saved; whereas the inspired Holy Bible declares that Jesus Christ came into the world to die on a cross to pay for the sins of the world, that we might be saved through Him (John 3:16-18).
God desires for all of His children to live a life of doing good works (Ephesians 2:10; Matthew 5:16), but this has absolutely NOTHING to do with accepting God's free gift of eternal life through faith alone in Christ. We are saved through God's imputed righteousness which is by faith alone in Jesus, and not because we turned from our sinning (which is effectively keeping the Mosaic law to be saved). We are saved by God's righteousness alone through faith in His only begotten Son, because we have no righteousness to offer God (2nd Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9; Isaiah 64:6). Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
“In my opinion, no one is fit for God’s service until he is willing to be considered mad by the world.” —Pastor Dwight L. Moody
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