Christianity Today Makes Pathetic Attack Against John MacArthur Over MLK Criticism
Justin Giboney is the founder of the AND Campaign, a wishy-washy organization that seeks to strike a middle ground between the democrats and republicans by always leaning toward the former, as well as a prominent The Gospel Coalition (TGC) contributor.
We last wrote about him after he insisted that a rejection of redemptive social justice is a rejection of orthodoxy and when he later claimed that all white Christian churches owe racial reparations, even new ones who weren’t directly involved with it or who have no history with it.
In his ‘Christianity Today article “Why John MacArthur Is Wrong About MLK,” (a publication that recently claimed that Jesus was Asian and suggested there’s nothing wrong with using personal pronouns) Giboney complains that John MacArthur’s recent claims that Martin Luther King Jr. was not a Christian is “not only ahistorical” but that it also “misses God’s heart for justice.”
California pastor and theologian John MacArthur called King “not a Christian at all,” “a nonbeliever who misrepresented everything about Christ and the gospel.” He also called The Gospel Coalition (TGC) “woke” for honoring King in its MLK50 conference in 2018, implying this signaled the end of TGC’s faithfulness and orthodoxy.
MacArthur cast these condemnations casually, with an apparent air of self-righteousness that suggests his theological expertise is paired with an infantile understanding of neighborly love (Heb. 5:11–13). Deep knowledge of systematic theology, unfortunately, can exist alongside a desperate need for remedial instruction on the greatest commandments (Matt. 22:37–39) and a failure “to distinguish good from evil” (Heb. 5:14), including King’s good work of peace and justice informed by Scripture and motivated by the gospel.
What MacArthur is referring to is the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was a well-documented serial adulterer, sexual deviant and heretic who denied the virgin birth and the literal resurrection of Jesus while also claiming the bible was mythological. (Also here)
Giboney gives no proof or evidence that MacArthur is wrong in his assertions, however. He simply quotes an undocumented assertion by Mika Edmondson, (who recently suggested that Jesus’s sermon on the mount was primarily inspired by, if not directly taught by, his mother, Mary and that Jesus’ turning the water into wine at Cana was a ‘justice situation’) that “King’s early seminary papers don’t reflect his final fully formed theology.”
MacArthur may take issue with some of King’s early theological work, which did question Christian doctrine. However, as Mika Edmondson—himself a pastor and systematic theologian—insightfully explained, “King’s early seminary papers don’t reflect his final fully formed theology.” Not unlike Abraham Kuyper and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, King wrestled with theological liberalism but later seemed to “shift back toward the faith of his conservative Black Baptist upbringing.”
There is no evidence that MLK ever repudiated his former beliefs, either privately or publicly. Blogger Mark Lamprecht helped clarify some of this when he wrote in an article:
As to the question of whether or not King ever repudiated the above theological beliefs, I may have an answer.
In the past few years I was curious about whether or not King ever changed his beliefs. So, I emailed one of King’s biographers who, in turn, forwarded my inquiry to another of his biographers. The reply from both biographers was that they saw no indication that King ever changed his beliefs.“
Failing to offer even a base level of justification for the volleys against MacArthur, Giboney concludes with more baseless assertions befitting a trash article in a trash publication:
Rejecting King is no solution to this problem; he is the model of the unabashedly, unmistakably Christian activism we need—the exact kind of public, Christian faithfulness that the dysfunctional corners of the Left have eschewed. Condemning King and evangelical groups who are trying to show contrition and repentance is a move toward “bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander” (Eph. 4:31), not redemption.
About Author
King was who he was – a liar, plagiarizer, Marxist, sexual predator, and serial adulterer/swinger. Was he saved? Only God knows.
While the Western world we live in has taken a fully hard left turn toward Sodom, Pastor MacArthur steadfastly holds to the moral supremacy of the Ten Commandments, which would imply the very saying that MLK was most famous for, regarding “the content of one’s character.” In my reckoning, John is the bravest, most eloquent broadcast pastor in America, upholding true Christianity at a time when the majority of God-centered churches are dying of DEI or are already lost for dead.
I would include Voddie Baucham with MacArthur – a fearless advocate for the undiluted Gospel of Jesus Christ. God bless these men who stand opposed to everything worldly.
MLK was clearly an adulterer and into some weird sexual stuff. But his salvation is between him and God.
MacArthur and Vodie are the two strongest voices for Christianity in America. We should support them in every way we can.
Like everyone, MLKs values, words, and behavior – in the context of life circumstances – will be assessed and judged by an all knowing and righteous God through Christ.
One must ask though. Is this the same John MacArthur who supported the Iraq war?
Is this the same JM who that said, “we need to support the president” despite no proven tangible evidence, then and now?
Is this the same JM who was dismissive of the opinions of other Christian leaders in the US and throughout the world who said that the bombing of Iraq would be immoral and cause horrific pain and deaths to men, women and children?
Is this the same JM whose theological/biblical justification for supporting war, as deep as a duck pond?
Is this that same JM who has been proven wrong with the result that ex service personnel are either now dead or living with lifelong debilitating health conditions?