John MacArthur Empty Calvinism

Editors Note: Calvinism is adrift upon the Sea of Intellectualism and Emptiness. It has no sure footing in the Word of God. Almost everything they believe is paradox between conflicting doctrines. God’s Sovereignty decides, yet man is accountable. God is love, yet a multitude is unconditionally rejected. God ordained irresistible grace, but yet inspired His prophets to proclaim "Repent or Perish". God ordained the devil and every deed of evil, every abortion, etc. and yet Calvinists are marching against abortion clinics and trying to reclaim the culture of America. Their theology is a stew of confusion.

The church of Jesus Christ must never be afraid to discuss the differences in doctrines and what those differences imply for people. Reform or Calvinistic Theology is being aggressively promoted throughout the churches of America with a growing list of very sharp radio personalities. A host of young ministers have been recruited and trained to teach this religious system, most of them dedicated to the needed cultural war facing our nation. A number of present crises in our nation and a growing hunger for God among American people has been effectively used by the Calvinist leaders to reach a maximum number of our citizens.

But, is this theological system biblically based or it is just clever religious ideas with an incredible intellectual and moral appeal? It is very evident that the answer is the later. Listening to a tape by John MacArthur, who is one of the Calvinist’s most effective recruiters, startled me. While the emptiness of any spiritual reality by his own admission is my main point for this article, the admitted paradoxes of his belief and the teaching of Calvinism was quite confusing. He admitted that there were many teachings in the Bible that he did not understand and that his mind was not big enough to rightly divide the contrast of man’s will and the absolute necessity of man’s believing with the opposite absolute unconditional election by God. Admittedly these two ideas cannot be reconsidered in the Word of God or in our understanding. He cites his totally depraved nature as the reason he and no one can understand this and many what he calls paradoxes in the Bible.

Empty Calvinism: Letting John MacArthur Speak for Himself
First, let’s deal with my main point, "Empty Calvinism." The most disturbing thing about John MacArthur was his complete denial of one moment of reality in the Christian experience. To hear a great voice for this brand of Christianity denying the voice of God, the soul-satisfying presence of Jesus Christ in the human heart and the active reality of the Holy Spirit witnessing to the believer’s spirit was shocking. I have known this reality and soul-satisfying presence of God’s Spirit for fifty-one years and its Biblical reality cannot be denied. Let me quote for you John’s direct words in response to a question asked him from his audience. His words need no interpretation. They are unmistakable. First, he reads the question and then he answers it.

Question: "Would you elaborate on the promptings of the Holy Spirit? How do you know when the Holy Spirit is prompting you?"

Answer: "The answer is, you don’t. You don’t. Nobody does. This is something that is very greatly misunderstood. There is a lot of literature today. There is a lot of emphasis today on listening to the voice of God. Listening for the voice of God. Listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit … the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the prompting of God … And I will just tell you, there is nothing in Scripture that identifies any way in which you can know, that you can know, that you can know that. Do I believe God leads? Yes. Do I believe the Spirit of God prompts us to do certain things? Yes. Do I know when that is happening? No. No, because I don’t have any way to know that. There is no phenomenon that defines that. I don’t have a red light on my head that goes on and spins around when it’s God doing the moving. I don’t have, there is no way to distinguish a personal impulse, a personal desire from a prompting of the Holy Spirit. I have never heard God speak. I have never heard God say anything to me. I get really nervous around people who have. (Laughter) God has never said a word to me in my entire life that isn’t between Genesis and Revelation. God does not even speak out of the concordance or the MacArthur notes. (Laughter) God speaks sometimes from Genesis to Revelation. That is all God ever said to me, and He was silent after that. And, I do not have any way to detect or know the prompting of God in my heart. I don’t know that. However, I can look back in retrospect and see why God prompted me only so far and I can see what occurred in a certain situation. I might ask the question, you know. Should I go here or should I go there. This is something I face all the time. I get all these invitations to speak. Should I go? Should I speak? Is that what the Lord wants me to do? And I promise I have never heard a voice out of Heaven. I have never felt anything that would indicate to me that this is a true impulse from God. I don’t have any phenomenon that goes on around me. I don’t know, so I just say, ‘Well, Lord, lead me the way you want me to go. I’m going to have to trust you that when I make this decision, it’s made for the right motive, for the right reason.’ Because this is something that should be done; but I don’t have any way to know that. So, maybe I go do that and I minister somewhere and I speak and as the result of my speaking, someone comes to Christ or several people come to Christ or somebody’s life is transformed and in retrospect I can look back, you know, and I say, ‘I should have gone there. God was in that.’ And I only know that in retrospect. I only know that looking back and seeing the providential hand of God. However, even that is not gilt-edged guaranteed because God is so sovereign in His providence that even when I do what I shouldn’t do, He can turn that around to His own glory." (John MacArthur speaking to guests on an Alaskan cruise. Date unknown.)

This is absolute fatalistic thinking and theology. More importantly, it is totally contrary to Scripture. Let’s look at just a few verses from the Word of God. There is not a more powerful "Book of Grace" than Romans. Apostle Paul said, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (Roman 8:14-16).

The Spirit of God is present in every born again believer and He witnesses in our spirit and soul His unquestionable presence. No, we do not need to listen for voices or look for red lights flashing on our heads. The work of the Holy Ghost is more real than a physical voice or flashing light could ever become.

I distinctly remember when I was saved by His redeeming grace fifty-one years ago. At sixteen years of age, I was a school dropout and a country kid with a dad that was bound with alcohol. I had absolutely no understanding of God or the Bible. I could not read anything but the elementary books of my early school years. Yet, the very night I was born again I knew the reality of God in my heart. If I would sense in my heart a distance between my soul and my Savior, I would go to my prayer place behind a bush on the backside of our farmhouse and talk to my Father. The perfect witness of His Holy Spirit would reach right into the center of my being and give me His sweet direction and peace. My heart would sense His presence afresh. That spiritual life and leadership has only grown deeper and richer through the years. To tell me that God does not make Himself known to His saints is absolute heresy. It’s unbiblical man made theology. Let’s listen further to John MacArthur. I am not editing his words, but allowing him to condemn himself. He is still answering the same question as we continue.

Question: "Would you elaborate on the promptings of the Holy Spirit? How do you know when the Holy Spirit is prompting you?"

Answer: "No, I don’t go through my life saying, ‘Does God want me to do this or does God want me to do that, did God want me to go there?’ I don’t have any way to know that. Does God want me to obey the Word? Yes. Does He want me to proclaim the truth of Scripture? Yes. Does He want me to lead a godly and holy life? Yes, does He want me to be the faithful husband to my wife and a father to my children? And, does he want me to be a faithful friend to those around me and a faithful minister and shepherd to my flock? Yes. Does He want me to worship Him and glorify Him? Does He want me to rightly divide the Word? Absolutely. I know all that is His will. That I don’t have to wonder about. So, I just pursue all those things the best way I know how and I get no divine voices. It’s, I think, a very dangerous thing to tell people to sit around and listen for the voice of God. How do you know what it is? Since God no longer speaks audibly." (Ibid.)

To answer the fatalism of the above Calvinistic thinking is challenging. These dear ministers and their congregations are not bad people. We seek nothing but the revelation of God to them and to all that might be caught up in this hopeless and empty living. Jesus Christ is the Lord of His church and he reveals Himself to us with a reality that the flesh cannot comprehend.

Living the Christian life is more than legalism as John just described. Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63). Yes, we must do all those things that Rev. MacArthur described, but not just in a cold, calculated type of obedience, but in the joy of Spirit-filled living. "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." In John chapter ten Jesus said three times, "My sheep know My voice." Look at these three passages. "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:4,16,27).

On this same tape, a dear lady asked John MacArthur about John 14:25 as well as these three verses just quoted. His answer was that this was for the disciples to write the Word of God, not for us. Listen to her questions and his answer.

Question: "Hi, when you were talking about the Holy Spirit and not knowing for sure, can you help me understand this? In John, where John 14:25 says, ‘These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.’ When I read that, and also there in John 10:4, 10:16, 10:27, when it talks about knowing My voice, does that mean, when I read this passage, I thought, does the Scripture that we memorize and … a situation comes up and that verse comes right to our minds, is not the Holy Spirit speaking to us and we can be assured and that is."

Answer: "Yes, and I think that’s exactly the answer to the question. First of all, looking at John 14:25, when Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you." You have got to be careful who the ‘you’ is here. This is the upper room. This is Jesus with the apostles. ‘I told you these things while I have been with you.’ There are only eleven of them there now. Judas is gone. ‘My helper the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He’ll teach you all things and bring to remembrance all I have said to you.’ This is the promise that the apostle would have Holy Spirit inspiration for the preaching and the writing of the record of Jesus’ life. In other words, this is a unique promise to those who would need to remember all the things that Jesus had taught so they could write them down. This is the promise of apostolic inspiration and He is simply saying to them the Holy Spirit is going to be sent to you from the Father and He is going to teach you what you need to write down. This is the promise of inspiration for the writing of Scripture and particularly the gospels of the record of the life of Jesus Christ." (Ibid.)

John MacArthur is actually teaching that this promise of the Holy Ghost anointed teaching was not for us, but only for the apostles. I wonder why 120 received the Baptism on the Day of Pentecost instead of just the eleven. John MacArthur did not respond al all the dear lady’s question about John 10:4, 16, and 27. "My sheep know My voice" was a promise to His saints of all ages and it is dangerous theology when we try to decide whether God’s promises are for everyone of just a few. But, remember that is one of the basic problems with Calvinism and "Limited Atonement."

We could study lives of the great leaders of church history from the disciples, Apostle Paul, and thousands of the Greats. John MacArthur is the first one I have ever heard say that said that God no longer speaks to men. Something is seriously missing in His theology. He is the first and only Calvinist that I have ever heard state this kind of theology. This may not be believed by most ministers in their ranks. I also confess that I have no interest in a system of theology that must depend on flesh and mind without Holy Ghost inspiration in the present. This view of "Total Depravity" is the reason that this theology is a hopeless theology. Not only do they believe in "Total Depravity," but also that the Holy Spirit has ended His supernatural work in human lives. If we are totally depraved to the degree that God cannot give us His anointing, and if the Holy Ghost is done with us, then our theology is going to be dead and empty as is most evident in this message by John MacArthur. We can only know truth by the power of His supernatural Spirit working in us for Christ’s glory.

Theology Without Reality
If John MacArthur represents true Calvinism, then that religious system is a complex theology that is not even clearly understood by John himself. Of course, his answer for its complexity is that the fallen nature cannot comprehend the paradox of the Bible, so everyone is to simply accept his teaching. Yet, even in accepting, there is no phenomenon, no assurance, no certainty except his interpretation of what he calls truth.

I believe Jesus would identify this religious system exactly as He did the religions of the Scribes and Pharisees. When speaking about their system that was without power and without reality, the Lord stated, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matthew 23:25-28).

Conclusion
In the same audio message previously quoted, MacArthur said these strange words; "You have the same apparent paradox at every single point where the Divine meets the human. So, I can say, when you get to the area of salvation, that if any dead sinner is awakened, He can’t awaken himself. It had to be God. If saving grace penetrates his dead heart, that irresistible penetrating, saving grace had to come from Sovereign God, who awakens the dead. And, yet, it never happens unless the sinner understands that he needs to repent and embrace in faith the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am comfortable with that. I don’t need to resolve everything. If I could understand everything, I’d be God. If I was God, that would be a disaster obviously. One of the reasons I know God wrote the Bible is because there are things like this in it. I work with publishers all the time. They fix these kinds of things. Committees and editors fix these kinds of major paradoxes. This is a proof that this is a book written by God. This book is transcendent. Don’t get concerned because you can’t resolve it. Just believe it. And, don’t get into that typical evangelical deal, where over here you’ve got the Sovereign of God absolute in salvation. Over here you’ve got the volition of men, which God always uses in His saving work, never apart from that, and so, in order to try to help God out, you say, ‘Well God don’t really choose, He just kind of knows what you are doing and you wiggle around and you come up with some concoction in the middle and you just destroyed both. Leave them alone. And realize you don’t have to be the arbitrator in what is fair. You are too fallen to do that." (Ibid.)

When you couple these words with the absence of one iota of spiritual reality, no clear spiritual discernment of truth, just cold legalistic interpretation, you cannot have the kind of faith Jesus established. The Son of God plainly said, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24).

It is always the Spirit that gives life to truth. The Spirit without truth is fanaticism and the truth without Spirit is legalism. May the Lord deliver us from both false assumptions and give us Spirit and Truth rightly divided for our hungry souls.