I looked through the website and was surprised to find Calvary Chapel, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Promise Keepers listed, but not John MacArthur and Grace Community Church listed.

Not to say that CC, CCC and PK shouldn't be, but MacArthur is light years ahead of them in terms of abuse and cultish characteristics. In fact, he routinely criticizes them for their lack of commitment to Scripture.

He is not some leader of a small unknown group either. His empire consists of
- mega church located in Los Angeles
- radio ministry called Grace to You
- seminary he founded in the 80's
- college (Master's college)
- satelite churches all over the world.

Thanks.

Actually, McArthur is respected in mainstream Christian circles. It is the job of a pastor to "routinely criticize [his congregation] for their lack of commitment to scripture." You need to balance sermons on sin with sermons on grace, but you can't have one without the other.

Please don't start preaching here.

McArthur is a fundamentalist Christian and has been controversial.

John McArthur may be "respected" in mainstream Christian circles, but he does not respect them.

He does not trust anything outside his empire which is the reason why he founded his own seminary back in 1986. He felt that most of the fundamentalist seminaries such as Dallas and Talbot Seminaries were straying too far from doctrinal purity and started his own, leading many faculty members from the aforementioned schools to defect and join MacArthur's faculty.

I will let his church websites speak for themselves to demonstrate how isolated he and his empire are, check out his church staff as well as the faculty of his seminary.

- Here is the link to his church staff.

- And the link to the seminary faculty roster.

Everyone 45 and under are from his seminary. The seminary was not around for those over 45. Isn't the pattern a little striking? This amounts to paranoiah. Can you say surrounding yourself with a bunch of yes men educated under your tutelage?

I will close with another statement from his web page.

"What sets Grace Community Church apart from the current trends in Christianity is our unwavering commitment to biblical content"

That is just one of many self-congratulatory statements about himself and his empire.

So again back to my original point. Mainstream Christian circles may respect him, but he despises them back, unless you are part of his empire, that is. Rick describes him as a fundamentalist. I'd say he is the fundamentalist of fundamentalists.

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canuck
Actually, McArthur is respected in mainstream Christian circles. It is the job of a pastor to "routinely criticize [his congregation] for their lack of commitment to scripture." You need to balance sermons on sin with sermons on grace, but you can't have one without the other.

"Please don't start preaching here."

I was only making a point. Stiffling debate sounds a little cultish to me.

"McArthur is a fundamentalist Christian and has been controversial."

Do you equate "fundamentalist" with cult?

"What sets Grace Community Church apart from the current trends in Christianity is our unwavering commitment to biblical content"

Unfortunately, curent trends in Christianity are towards a weakening of the commitment to biblical content.

I skimmed through their doctrinal statements and there is nothing bizarre or out of place there. Every church has its particular emphasis, but there is nothing there that would be considered apostate or heretical by orthodox Christianity.

No mention of McArthur being a prophet, no mention of his having a special spiritual channel with God. No mention of his adding to scripture.

Is it a little odd that a lot of the staff are graduates of his seminary? Perhaps. Does this make his church a cult. That's a stretch.

Canuck:

Your posts are being approved and no one is "stiffling debate."

This is a moderated board with rules. You agreed to those rules before posting here.

Maybe you should read them again.

You have received a gentle warning not to preach, because this board is not set up for that purpose. That is, preaching specific religious beliefs.

For example, when you say "weakening of the commitment to biblical content" you are coming pretty close.

You seem to think that any Christian that is not a fundamentalist is somehow "weak" in their commitment to the bible.

That is your opinion, but it comes close to preaching.

Please be careful not to start preaching here.

So far it seems that may be your purpose on this board, which is a violation of the rules you agreed to.

I have not said, nor do I consider, fundamentalist Christians to be a "cult."

I never said MacArthur's church was a cult. You are putting words in my mouth. What he does not seem to realize is that Christianity is a lot bigger than his little empire in the Los Angeles suburb.

As to their doctrinal statements, you may want to note their mysogenic fixation with the role of women. They'd see the movie The Stepford Wives and nod in agreement with how "ideal" women are portrayed.

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canuck
"What sets Grace Community Church apart from the current trends in Christianity is our unwavering commitment to biblical content"

Unfortunately, curent trends in Christianity are towards a weakening of the commitment to biblical content.

I skimmed through their doctrinal statements and there is nothing bizarre or out of place there. Every church has its particular emphasis, but there is nothing there that would be considered apostate or heretical by orthodox Christianity.

No mention of McArthur being a prophet, no mention of his having a special spiritual channel with God. No mention of his adding to scripture.

Is it a little odd that a lot of the staff are graduates of his seminary? Perhaps. Does this make his church a cult. That's a stretch.

[]

"MacArthur is light years ahead of them in terms of abuse and cultish characteristics."

I'm sorry, you said that they were light-years ahead of other churches that had been identified as having cult-like characteristics.

My question in the original posting had to do with why Campus Crusade and Promise Keepers were listed while John MacArthur's church wasn't even thought his CULTISH traits exceed those of the listed organizations. One can have cult-like traits without being a full blown cult.

You stated:
"No mention of McArthur being a prophet, no mention of his having a special spiritual channel with God. No mention of his adding to scripture."

I wish identifying a dangerous group was as simplistic as your criteria are. If they were as simplistic, nobody would be in a cult.

It has become obvious to me that you are not here to participate in meaningful discourse and providing helpful information, so take this as my last response to you.

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canuck
"MacArthur is light years ahead of them in terms of abuse and cultish characteristics."

I'm sorry, you said that they were light-years ahead of other churches that had been identified as having cult-like characteristics.