Grace Community Church Provides Update on Pastor John MacArthur’s Health
Grace Community Church provided an update on Pastor John MacArthur’s health to the congregation before the Sunday morning service on January 5th:
Those who attend Grace Church or follow the ministry of our pastor are already aware that he suffered a series of health issues that kept him out of the pulpit and required three surgeries in the second half of 2024.
His recovery has been slower than expected, with occasional setbacks affecting his heart, lungs, and kidneys. Doctors have not yet discovered any single root cause for these diverse troubles, and Pastor John has been hospitalized for the past two weeks, undergoing tests and treatments.
Please pray for him and for the physicians who are handling his case—for the physicians, that they will identify a suitable treatment or treatments; and for John, that he will recover strength and health enough to resume public ministry. John and his family covet your prayers.
Please pray earnestly and steadfastly. John’s desire is to return to his beloved church soon.
We are praying for his swift recovery and return to the pulpit.
About Author
When Macarthur dies Calvinism ceases to be Protestant and the Calvinists become Hyper-Thomist Roman Catholics. Because Macarthur seems to be the lone voice in Calvinism who opposes calling Mary “Mother of God.” Get ready for the emergence of the Roman Calvinist Church. You heard it here first folks!
Dave S:
Your claim misunderstands both Reformed theology and its foundation. Calvinism doesn’t stand or fall on John MacArthur or any single individual—it is rooted in Scripture and the historic confessions of the Protestant Reformation. While MacArthur has been a strong voice in evangelicalism, the truth of the gospel doesn’t depend on him or anyone else.
Now, as for the title Mother of God (Theotokos), let’s be clear about what it historically means. This term was affirmed in the early church to safeguard the truth that Jesus is fully God and fully man—one person with two natures. It’s not about exalting Mary; it’s about protecting the deity of Christ. Reformed Christians can affirm the term in this Christological sense while completely rejecting the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary as unbiblical. So no, using Theotokos correctly doesn’t make us Roman Catholic.
Your idea of a “Roman Calvinist Church” emerging ignores how firmly Reformed theology rejects key Roman Catholic doctrines like papal authority, Marian dogmas, and their sacramental system. Even if some Calvinists engage with Thomist ideas or use terms like Theotokos for theological precision, we remain committed to the five solas of the Reformation: sola Scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, soli Deo gloria. That commitment isn’t going anywhere.
In short, your claim is off the mark. Calvinism isn’t turning Roman Catholic, “Hyper-Thomist,” or anything of the sort. It will remain faithful to Scripture and the gospel of grace—long after any of us are gone.
I’m talking about how the Reformed tradition accepts Ephesus and calling Mary “Mother of God” and MacArthur stands against that Romish heresy. He is the sole man keeping Calvinists from going back to Rome bro. Especially with all the more “Reformed” side of Baptist Calvinists doing “theological retrieval” to believe as Luther did, so they’re going to go worship Mary.
Ephesus contradicted Chalcedon 30 years before it happened because Cyril of Alexandria was a monophysite, and therefore Chalcedon’s whole purpose was to get rid of Ephesus as its about condemning mnophysitism and allowing the making of distinctions between the divine and human nature which it asserts remain distinct rather than mix into one new nature as the heretic Cyril of Alexandria believed and condemned Nestorius for not holding the 2 natures mix into 1 nature.
You seem to be a bit of a drama queen on this. I think there are hundreds of Christians, including leading evangelical preachers, who do not refer to Mary as you indicate. John MacArthur has been a good shepherd and a consistent and amazing teacher of Biblical Christianity for decades. Fortunately, he helped develop many who will follow in his footsteps when he is gone. Hopefully, that is not for some time.
“Theotokos” is heresy and disproven by Hebrews AND the Athanasian Creed.
Hebrews says Melchisedek represents Christ in not having his genealogy or death recorded, and in such was “made like the son of God, having no mother, no father, no end of days.”
In what way does Christ have no mother or no father?
No father as a man, since virgin birth.
No mother as God, since begotten by the Father alone before the world.
And what does the Athanasian Creed say?
Exactly that.
“He is God after the substance of his Father, begotten before the worlds.
He is Man after the substance of his mother, born into the world.”
That is: As man he has no father; as God he has no mother.
Ergo, “Mother of God” is heresy.
You can’t and won’t continue to reject Roman Catholic Marian dogmas because you accept the first one with the “theotokos” heresy. This is why Lutherans and Anglicans AND REFORMED BAPTISTS convert to Catholicism (or Eastern Orthodox) CONSTANTLY, and way more than from other Protestant groups, because you fools (YES, you are FOOLS) accept the council of Ephesus and the vile word “theotokos” because of your IDOLATRY of the African FOOL Augustine. You can’t admit that this doctrine of devils is a false doctrine because you want to go to hell to meet your idol and true god, the African fool Augustine, from whom also you derive your Manichean foolishness in rejecting free will. You will burn in hell with the popes because by following the African Theologian, you are in fact a Papist; you just replace Pope Francis with James White or Doug Wilson in your papacy.
Whoa! You just took a flying leap off the high dive. I can tell you this…simple Blood-bought believers don’t give a rat’s rear about neither YOUR guys, YOUR creeds, nor your THEOLOGY. For us, it’s belief in what the Scriptures alone say. I know, you have a fancy name for it in order to impress, but NOBODY cares. Have a good day sir.
He finally had to speak out against the synagogue of satan and those of the circumcision. That plus maybe being deceived into getting the antichrist’s genocide faux vax jab could be affecting his health. The evil doers did the same poisoning attempts and collective witchcraft against Martin Luther and so many others too.
GOD’s strong delusion upon those who receive not the love of the Truth, the antichrist making his introduction, would it be by destroying the many through peace with a false religion, or a worldwide forced injections of genocide faux fax jabs, or both?
I’m not a Calvinist, but I have to largely agree with dave s here. A careful reading of Scripture, with particular emphasis on Philippians 2, indicates that Christ goes from God -> man -> God-man, or alternatively expressed, glory -> humiliation-> re-glorification (John 17:5). This avoids any non-biblical identification of Mary as “Mother of God”. Christ’s being born holy flesh ensured the reception of the Spirit without measure, which was the actual source of His miraculous power in His state of humiliation. Hence the warning against Spirit blasphemy; one might speak against “the Son of man”, but not the Spirit.
I think it all underscores the fact that nowhere in Scripture is it even suggested that anyone will be beholden to interpretations that would arise after the writing of Scripture (I’ve Augustine particularly in mind). In fact, one might actually surmise a warning instead. This, in my mind anyway, is the true spirit of Protestantism.
As much as I love Pastor MacArthur and pray that he recovers maybe its time to step aside and appoint a new senior pastor. Enjoy the time with family and grandchildren, be a mentor to the new pastor, I would much rather see the new pastor installed with John alive giving his approval than wait for the process to happen after he’s gone.