Tag: alistair begg

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Alistair Begg Announces He’s Retiring From Senior Pastor at Parkside Church

During the September 9 evening service, Alistair Begg announced to the congregation of Parkside Church that he’ll be formally stepping from his role as Senior Pastor in a year’s time.

In the last few weeks, I have informed the elders of the church of my decision to relinquish my role as the senior pastor here at Parkside. Not tonight, not tomorrow night, and not for twelve months of nights. But on the fourteenth of September, 2025, God willing, I will make it that long.

…that particular day will be fifty years since I began with Derek Prime at Charlotte Chapel. It will be forty-nine years since I was ordained to the gospel ministry, and it will be forty-two years from the time that Sue and I had the privilege of beginning ministry here at what was then the chapel in Beechwood.”

Begg says this decision is “not precipitous” and is “not driven by anything of which I am personally aware, other than my ambition to pass the baton…into the hands of my successor,” but that it’s being done “to give us time to adjust to the prospect of and to prepare in a timely way for what this transition will mean.” See the full video here.

Alistair Begg is perhaps best known for his syndicated radio program, Truth for Life. He’s authored and coauthor of several books, including Preaching for God’s Glory, Name above All Names, and the Christian Manifesto. With a reputation as a sound teacher, he could occasionally be found on the conservative preaching circuit.

Earlier this year however, he came under intense criticism and was dropped from several radio stations when, during a recent program of Truth for Life, Begg offered a scenario where a Christian woman called in saying that her grandson is about to marry a ‘transgendered person’ (either another man who has ‘transitioned’ to a ‘woman’, or a woman who has ‘transitioned’ into a ‘man’) and wanted to know if she should attend the wedding.

Noting that “people may not like this answer,” Begg said that as long as grandson knows that she believes it is sinful and she does not agree with it, then she SHOULD attend the ceremony, and even buy them a gift, because if not, her absence will simply reinforce the fact that she is “judgmental” and “critical.” After being exocriated online, he doubled down on his position.

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John MacArthur Rebukes Alistair Begg in New Q&A +’We’ve Been Friends for 45 Years…And Now He’s Going to be Defined By That’

Grace Community Church Pastor John MacArthur has weighed in after longtime friend and prominent pastor Alistair Begg was dropped from his Shepherds Conference, after Begg famously urged a woman to attend an LGBTQ wedding, and then doubled and tripled down with some bible twisting so bad it made children cry and crows scatter.

Begg has been a frequent speaker at Grace Community Church events, including speaking at the Shepherds Conference in 2015 and 2023, and a regular guest lecturer for the Doctor of Ministry program at The Master’s Seminary.

Speaking to his church this past Sunday, MacArthur shared why Begg was so “epically” wrong.

John, I have a question that’s been heavy on my heart about one of our Scottish brothers? Will you comment and guide us as to why Alister Begg is mistaken in advising a member of his flock to attend and solemnize a marriage of her granddaughter to a transgender partner? Can you guide us as to why we should not bend to do this?


Yeah, that question came up and has gotten all over the internet. Let me say first of all, Alastair and I have been friends for well, 45 years. When I was in Scotland 45 years ago, I was pushing his 45 year old son in a pram… So we’ve had a lot of history together, and I have a great affection for him.

I also want to say that you shouldn’t judge a man by his weakest moment. All of us will have a moment of weakness. Having said that, I have to disagree with the answer that he gave to the question.

A believer should not go to a homosexual or transgender wedding, for a lot of reasons. But he was making the argument that you go out of compassion, rather than condemnation, you go to show love to them, as a means to reach them.

My response to that is the most loving thing you could possibly do, would be not to go, and to condemn the relationship. That is loving.

It’s not loving to help somebody celebrate stepping into the fury of God’s judgment. No transgender person, effeminate, homosexual will enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not a time for you to celebrate. Thinking that your affection for somebody is the means of their salvation, that they will come to salvation when the Lord exposes their sin. That’s why the Holy Spirit, John 16 convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment.

And what should be said to somebody is “this is wrong. This is against God’s order. This is not marriage.” It is not a marriage, because you can’t have a marriage between two people of the same sex. It’s not a marriage at all. It is defying God who ordained marriage, ordained male and female and designed procreation. It is a blasphemy against God, as is transgender life and homosexuality as well.

That is the message to give in love. Beyond the theological reasons and the biblical reasons, I couldn’t affirm that. If I went, I would affirm that.

Not only could I not affirm it, I don’t think I could tolerate it. I don’t think I could survive sitting in something like that, and feeling like I was supportive of it. And then to give them a gift. That is to aid and abet the celebration of something that is defying God’s design and the very, very, I would say point of the spear currently of the corruption of this entire culture. So you can’t be a part of that.

He continues:

I don’t understand why you would answer the question that way. I thought if somebody was in that situation and had that view, and you’re on the radio and… you’re recording this, right? So whoever the host is, is going to ask you a question. And the host says “What would you tell this grandma about going to a transgender wedding?”

I would immediately say, “ask me another question,”particularly if I was at all prone to suggest that that might be okay. I would never say that. Because you’d have to calculate the cost of that. And how do you calculate that? I mean the price for that is, is really epic. It’s really epic.

And there’s so much more about him that is wonderful and faithful and his ministry just past 40 years of pastoral ministry in that church, and it was a great celebration. And now he’s going to be defined by that.

I don’t know how you calculate doing that, for that reason, unless there is some very personal relationship with someone you’re trying to win over or protect. But that’s really speculation on my mind.

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Another Prominent Christian Ministry Quietly Parts Ways With Alistair Begg

“Given that there is no such thing as a marriage of two men or a marriage of two women- so take that away- then what is this occasion that the grandmother is being asked to go to? It is just a celebration of perversion, and it’s just a celebration of two people promising each other that they will never repent of the sin that will send them to hell.” Dan Phillips

Days after being dropped by American Family Radio and agreeing with John MacArthur to bow out of the Shepherds conference, another prominent Christian ministry quietly parted ways with pastor Alistair Begg following his trash advice to a grandmother to attend an LGBTQ wedding.

RefNet (Reformation Network) is the 24-hour Christian internet radio outreach of Ligonier Ministries, playing content that is “committed to the historic Christian faith and edifying for the whole family.”

The few broadcast partners it has have been thoroughly vetted and “echo the great historical truths that have been well-framed by the creedal consensus coming out of the Reformation.” These include John MacArthur, Harry Reeder, Martyn Lloyd Jones, Ligon Duncan, Steve Lawson, Charles Spurgeon’s messages, and up until this last week, Alistair Begg’s Truth for Life.

Truth for Life was one of the longest-running programs, going back at least a decade. However, it has been quietly pulled from the lineup, with no announcement about its culling being made. The two images below are just weeks apart.

Given that Begg’s show plays on 1800 radio stations and he has recently doubled down on his defense of attending a LGBTQ wedding with emotional argumentation, insults, deflection and Joel-Osteen-level exegesis of the text, they likely won’t be the last.

h/t Evangelical Dark Web

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Alistair Begg Doubles Down On Attending LGBTQ Wedding, Says He’s Not Budging

In some disheartening news, Pastor Alistair Begg has doubled down on his insistence that Christians can attend LGBTQ weddings and even buy the couple a gift, according to the leadership of American Family Radio, resulting in Begg’ show being terminated from the lineup.

Begg, who pastors Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and whose program Truth for Life has aired on AFR for the last 12 years, sent representatives to speak on his behalf to AFR Vice President Ed Vitagliano and AFA Vice President Walker Wildmon. The results, they shared, were discouraging:

Taking over the timeslot previously occupied by Truth for Life to speak directly to Begg’s audience, AFR leadership said they contacted the pastor to give him “an opportunity to say ‘I messed up right there'” and to provide him with the opportunity to say ‘I said the wrong thing, and I’d like to recant,'” but that no apology or clarification was forthcoming:

The two individuals that we talked with, Walker and I with two individuals from Alistair Begg’s ministry, they made it clear that Alistair Begg believes that homosexuality is wrong, he hasn’t changed that his views on that. He does not believe that homosexual marriage is valid and that the practice of homosexual activity is, as the Bible says, an abomination.

So all four of us were in agreement with that. But what we could not get them to change, and they said that Alistair Begg is not going to change his mind, was on the issue of whether Christians should attend.

…And the goal of the call, and the goal of all Christians when approaching these issues, should be reconciliation, but reconciliation in truth. And so that was our goal with the call with Alistair Begg’s team and unfortunately we didn’t get there. But we did press the issue multiple times and we even asked point-blank ‘So are you guys stating that pastor Alistair Begg is standing by his original comment? He has no regrets? He didn’t misspeak? He doesn’t want to further clarify nothing?

And they said ‘yes, he’s standing by his original comment.'”

The hosts lamented Begg’s response.

So very disappointing. And you know I even told… the gentleman and lady that we were on the call with with Truth for Life, that pastor Alistair Begg has such a long, decades long track record of biblical fidelity and truthfully teaching the Word of God, that this is extremely disappointing. This isn’t something that we saw coming. This isn’t like- some of the others Evangelical leaders that have drifted, this is not one that was on the list that we could have seen this coming.

While Begg sent staffers to speak in his stead, he has yet to personally address the matters publicly or justify holding such a dangerous and theologically decrepit view. Begg’s show still airs on 1800 radio stations, and he’s slated to be a speaker at the upcoming Shepherds Conference.



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Pastor Alistair Begg Says Christians Should Attend Gay Weddings So They Don’t Come Across as ‘Judgmental, Critical’

Alistair Begg is the senior pastor at Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio and is perhaps best known for his syndicated radio program, Truth for Life. He has authored and coauthor of several books, including Preaching for God’s Glory, Name above All Names, and the Christian Manifesto. With a reputation as a sound teacher, he can occasionally be found on the conservative preaching circuit, and is a speaker at the upcoming Shepherds Conference alongside John MacArthur and Steve Lawson.

During a recent program of Truth for Life, Begg offers a scenario where a Christian woman called in saying that her grandson is about to marry a ‘transgendered person’ (either another man who has ‘transitioned’ to a ‘woman’, or a woman who has ‘transitioned’ into a ‘man’) and wants to know if she should attend the wedding.

Noting that “people may not like this answer,” Begg says that as long as grandson knows that she believes it is sinful and she does not agree with it, then she SHOULD attend the ceremony, and even buy them a gift, because if not, her absence will simply reinforce the fact that she is “judgmental” and “critical.”

Bob: I think every pastor who preaches, every author who writes a book like this, comes away thinking, “I hope my readers or my listeners will think differently as a result of their interaction with this, will feel differently and will act differently. As you think about this book and your prayer for this book, what do you hope will be different? How do you hope people will be different after they have read this book and they’ve meditated on this sermon?

Alistair: Well, first of all, you know, I hope that I will be different. The old song that we never sing—you know, “It’s not my brother nor my sister, but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer”—I mean, that is foundationally the case. And so I hope that that would be multiplied. I hope that our church family, those who choose to read this book, that it might have an impact among us. Because learning to say, “I’m sorry,” learning to say, “Please forgive me,” learning to say, you know, “I’m not at my best at the moment; can you come alongside me?” learning to say, “Yes, I know that these people believe a very different agenda, that their lifestyle is orientated in another direction,” and learning to say, “But I have no basis upon which I could argue that I myself would not be where they are were it not for the amazing grace of God, were it not for his compassion towards me.”

And in very specific areas this comes across. I mean, you and I know that we field questions all the time that go along the lines of “My grandson is about to be married to a transgender person, and I don’t know what to do about this, and I’m calling to ask you to tell me what to do”—which is a huge responsibility.

And in a conversation like that just a few days ago—and people may not like this answer—but I asked the grandmother, “Does your grandson understand your belief in Jesus?”

“Yes.”

“Does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life?”

“Yes.”

I said, “Well then, okay. As long as he knows that, then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift.”

“Oh,” she said, “what?” She was caught off guard.

I said, “Well, here’s the thing: your love for them may catch them off guard, but your absence will simply reinforce the fact that they said, ‘These people are what I always thought: judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything.’”

And it is a fine line, isn’t it? It really is. And people need to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. But I think we’re going to take that risk. We’re going to have to take that risk a lot more if we want to build bridges into the hearts and lives of those who don’t understand Jesus and don’t understand that he is a King.

Bob: John tells us he was “full of grace and truth,”and we have to figure out how we can be full of grace and truth at the same time, don’t we?

Alistair: Yeah. Yeah, our words should be “full of grace” and “seasoned with salt.”

Bob: Yes.

Alistair: It’s so easy to get that upside down. And when a pastor does, then that will take on a role in a congregation as well and flavor it. And so, you know, “Let not many of you become teachers.”

h/t Evangelical Dark Web