MacArthur is saying that if a child is to be saved he must
understand as an adult, make an adult decision and have an adult experience. The
Lord Jesus taught that to be saved adults must become as little children (Matthew
18:3); MacArthur teaches that to be saved children must become as adults.
How does this relate to His teaching on Lordship? If salvation is by simple
childlike faith in the Savior, then child salvation is no problem. On the
other hand, if salvation involves obedience to Christ’s commands, surrendering
to Christ’s Lordship, fulfilling the demands of discipleship, commitment of
one’s life to the Saviour, et cetera, then salvation has become a very involved
and complicated thing that would not at all be simple for a child to do.
If we complicate the Gospel with all kinds of Lordship
requirements, then we have indeed made it very, very, difficult for children
(and for adults)! If we proclaim the Gospel message that salvation is simply
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH (based upon the Person and work of Christ on the
cross, and not based upon sinful man’s fragile commitment), then this is a
message that can be gladly received by people of all ages. Salvation is
not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to
your account through receiving Him by faith.
In an Article by John MacArthur titled "Age of
Accountability," he states:
In this passage, we read about a rich young man
who asked Jesus how to have eternal life? When the young man bragged about
keeping all of God's Law (which shows that he was self-righteousness), Jesus
pointed out that he was covetous (which is a violation of the 10th
Commandment in Exodus 20:17). Jesus used the Law the way it was intended to
be used, i.e., to show us our sinfulness and need for a Savior. Romans
3:19, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God.” Jesus simply pointed out to that young
man that he was not righteous in God's eyes.
To understand the issue of Lordship Salvation, realize that THEY ARE ALL
CALVINISTS!!! John Calvin (1509-1564) taught a heresy called the
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS,
which taught that if a person is truly saved they will continue in holy
living, surrendering their life to Christ, and departing from sin and the
world; thus, this becomes a REQUIREMENT to be saved in Calvinism.
This is EXACTLY what Lordship Salvation teaches today (it is Calvinism). It
is a false gospel.
Respectfully, John MacArthur, Billy Graham, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort
all pervert this passage to mean that Jesus was giving a plan of salvation.
Jesus WASN'T giving this young man a plan of salvation; but rather, the Lord was
simply showing him that his self-righteousness was flawed and unacceptable
to God. Since the young man was trying to keep the Ten Commandments to merit
eternal life, Jesus pointed out to him that he had missed the command
prohibiting covetousness.
I used to wonder why Jesus didn't just come right out and
tell him, “Hey, just believe on me and forget trying to earn Heaven.” I once
had a staunch Roman Catholic neighbour, whom I witnessed to at least three
dozen times over 5-years. He absolutely would not let go of the Catholic
idea that he needed to love others, do good and be a good person to merit
Heaven. My words continually fell on deaf ears, because he was hellbent on
works-salvation as taught by his satanic Catholic priest. Jesus said in
Mark 7:9, “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your
own tradition.”
Now I understand why Jesus told the rich young ruler what he
did. You see, a man is not ready to be saved until he figures out on his own
that he cannot save himself. You can explain the plain words of the Gospel
to someone all day long, but they still won't get saved. This my friend is
why repentance is necessary. Biblical repentance is a change of mind—a
change of mind about what you think you must do to get to Heaven, to what
God says you must do to get to Heaven. My former Catholic neighbour has
never repented of his dead works. Likewise, the rich young ruler needed to
repent of his sin of dead works (Hebrews 6:1). Ray Comfort is correct
that the law of God is necessary for salvation to happen, because no one
ever got saved who didn't know that he is a sinner. Sadly,
Mr. Comfort effectively teaches that
keeping the law is necessary to be saved.
The Apostle Paul
taught the same
truth in Romans 2:13, because the Jews thought they could be saved by
keeping the Law. No one can be saved by keeping the Law (Romans 3:20). We need Christ's
righteousness, which MacArthur doesn't teach (Matthew 6:33; Romans 4:5-6;
Romans 10:3-4; 2nd Corinthians
5:21).
The rich young man in the Bible was covetous.
According to MacArthur, that young man would have been saved if he'd denied
himself, let go of his pride, pushed aside his selfish ambitions, given up
his covetousness and given his life to Christ. John MacArthur is teaching
lies of the Devil.
Billy
Graham teaches that the rich young man counted the cost, but wasn't
willing to pay the price to be saved. That's a false plan of salvation.
Christ paid the price of our sins, which was His precious blood (1st Peter
1:18-19).
At 4:31 in the preceding video, Dr. MacArthur states
concerning the young rich man:
“He is a classic
illustration of someone who will not deny himself. He wanted to hold
onto his own will. He wanted to hold onto his own pride. He wanted to
hold onto his own money. He wanted to hold onto his own ambition, his
own sovereignty if you will, in his own life. The competing issues are these,
very simple...
The Gospel says,
'give your life to Christ and He rules' and if you're not willing to do
that it's because you want to keep the rule of your own life. The rich
young man wanted his own life for himself. He wanted to control his own
life. He had his choice: sins, he had his choice, religion, and he
wanted to hang onto control. It's that simple. Coming to Christ means
you give up the control of your life, and you yield it to Christ. That's
what kept him from salvation, he was unwilling to do that.”
Ladies and gentlemen,
that is
Catholic theology and damnable
heresy!!! MacArthur said: “Coming to Christ means you give up the control
of your life, and you yield it to Christ. That's what kept him from
salvation, he was unwilling to do that.” The reason why the rich young
man didn't get saved was NOT because he refused to yield to Christ, nor
because he was unwilling to give up control of his life; the reason why he
didn't get saved is because he was self-righteousness.
Notice what the self-righteous young man asked
Jesus in Matthew 19:16...
“...Good Master, what good thing SHALL
I DO, that I may have eternal life?”
The young
man didn't ask how he could get to Heaven. No, rather, he asked what
THING I NEED TO DO. Jesus
knew the young man's heart. The young
man was self-righteousness. Jesus used the Law to show the young man his
wickedness. There was nothing he could do in his own self-righteousness to
have eternal life. He needed Jesus as his Savior. Romans 3:19 and Galatians
3:24 plainly teach that the Law's purpose is only to show us our guilt of
sin and need for a Savior.
John MacArthur requires people to fulfil the Law as
a prerequisite to faith in Christ, which is the heresy of works salvation.
That is exactly what Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, Billy Graham and John MacArthur are
teaching. It's utter heresy!
They all teach that the
rich young man should have forsaken his covetousness to be saved.
In sharp contrast, Romans 4:5-6
proclaims, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as
David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works.”
Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort are going to be
damned because they are following the false gospel of John MacArthur. The
Bible plainly teaches that false prophets would go through pains to avoid
being detected.
Satan is subtle. 2nd Peter 2:1, “But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
PRIVILY shall bring in damnable heresies...”The word
“privily” here means “taking pains to avoid being observed; to lead aside.”
This is the nature of false prophets. They are used by Satan to mislead
people, going through pains to avoid being detected.
Carefully notice that the false prophets in
Matthew 7:21-23 were SINCERE; but they were sincerely WRONG. Proverb
16:25, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death.”
Lordship Salvationists all pervert the Gospel message, requiring sinners to stop living in
their sins to be saved. Moody Bible Institute and many other
theological schools have been caught up into MacArthur's doctrines of
devils...
1st Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;1Tm:4:1:
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and DOCTRINES
OF DEVILS.”
Lordship Salvation is
a backdoor approach to Works Salvation. Instead of requiring people to do
good works to be saved as the Catholic Church does, Lordship Salvationists
require people to stop living in sin to be saved. The result is the
same—self righteousness. The perverted doctrine of Lordship Salvation is the
primary ecumenical bridge now being used to merge Catholics with apostate
Evangelicals.
The Confusing World of Dr. John
MacArthur
Jesus was MUCH DISPLEASED when His disciples forbade children to come unto
Him. The Bible teaches that young children can be saved. Whereas the Bible
says that adults must become as little children to enter into the Kingdom of
God, Dr. John MacArthur says that little children must become adults. MacArthur’s views on child salvation are
directly related to his false understanding of Lordship Salvation. 
