COVID-19, Government Overreach, and Compromise

 In 1997 I pastored a small church I had planted in a small town in the state of Oregon. The thirteen years had been good to me. Our church was established, I was full time in the ministry and I enjoyed a good fellowship with a group of pastors from our state and that of Washington. I was scheduled to host a pastor’s meeting at our church. As that meeting grew near, I was contacted by a college in Southern California regarding the possibility of having their Executive Vice President and a group from the college at the meeting as representatives. As the college was associated with this group of pastors, I agreed. But then I did some research. I learned that the college had encouraged students to attend various conferences and events at nearby Grace Community Church, pastored by John MacArthur. At that news, I contacted the college and uninvited them to my church and the meeting. 

It is not that I am a MacArthur hater, I am not. But I do recognize that his ministry and that of Independent Baptists, is not the same. I viewed it as contrary to sound doctrine and to separation to support a movement that would encourage the blending of Independent Baptists with the practices, teachings, and doctrines of Grace Community Church and John MacArthur.

Apparently, I was not the only one who felt as I did. How the word got out, I do not know, but in very short order I began receiving phone calls and notes of congratulations from pastors, especially in Washington State, for my stand. I started getting invitations to preach in their churches and, just a few years later, I was the Executive Vice President of that very same college, since reclaimed by pastors who desired to walk in the old paths.

Let’s fast forward to 2020. The COVID-19 virus has changed our world in ways I am not sure we will ever recover from. The governors of Washington, Oregon, and California in particular have been extremists in their handling of the virus. Churches have been identified as potential “super-spreaders” of the China Virus. California has issued instructions that churches are not to assemble. For some time a number of them, perhaps most of the more well known of them, complied. Grace Community Church included. Of late, John MacArthur has reversed his compliance and in defiance of orders, has returned to the assembly of his congregation. A good number of Christians have applauded him for this stand. I for one pray he is successful.

Here comes the rub. I recently received a twitter message (tweet) with a photo of Paul Chappell and John MacArthur. The tweet, from Paul Chappell, reads, “Thankful to meet and pray with @johnmacarthur this morning. Pray for him as he stands for the biblical call to assemble and worship our God.” That tweet is followed by numerous statements congratulating Chappell for joining up with MacArthur. The only warnings I found were from men who would be considered troublemakers and doctrinally unsound themselves. Here are my problems with Chappell’s newfound fellowship with MacArthur.

The two have pastored in Southern California for more than forty years

Why is the COVID-19 crisis a reason to connect now? I understand that some suggest that this is a matter bigger than doctrine. That neither of the men has to compromise their own doctrines to join forces against this government overreach and that refusal to work together is tantamount to believers refusing to work together when Hitler took over Germany. 

The idea of ignoring our doctrines for a bigger battle is reasonable if there is no God. If the battle is religion versus government, then by all means all religions ought to cooperate to exert influence in the realms of politics. But God is. And God is bigger than the government. Therefore, to cooperate with God is of much greater importance than cooperating with bad doctrine. there is a reason the two men had never met. That reason remains despite the China virus.

It is one step into compromise

I realize it is only one step. It seems like a small step. It also seems like a reasonable step. There never has been a reason Paul Chappell and John MacArthur could not have met, shaken hands, and had a picture together. Human beings ought to be kind to one another. Each man has a right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience and, since they each have that right, there is no reason they cannot be kind to one another. This is different. This is a deliberate act of cooperation. This is one step into compromise and, with the first step, further steps become much easier.

The consequences of such a step are inestimable

I don’t know if Chappell will take further steps of compromise with MacArthur. I frankly doubt it. But he led by example and I am certain that less known pastors, many of whom have already taken those steps and congratulated Chappell for this, will see this as motivation to become even closer to MacArthur and his non-Baptist, non-fundamentalist, Protestant, Calvinistic movement. This is a subtle movement into the one-world church system. It is, perhaps a well-cloaked movement, but it heads the direction of one world religion nonetheless.

I will continue to pray for churches of all stripes all across the United States. Regardless of doctrine, history, or practice, they each have a right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience and government overreach against that right is a terribly dangerous thing. But I will remain separated. And I will urge anyone who will listen to do the same.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields