Author: Pankaj
A Clarification
The title may already have shocked or annoyed some of my reformed brothers, who rightly hold that only a qualified local pastor can be one’s pastor. I also believe it. In fact, I do not like it if someone, not a member of my church, calls me pastor. I sometimes gently tell them, “Sorry, I am not your Pastor. You are not part of my flock. You can call me Pankaj or Brother.” John MacArthur Himself would not have approved of anyone, not a member of his church, claiming him as his pastor. Why in the world, then, did I give a title that needs to be explained and clarified?
A Fortunate Salvation and an Unfortunate Search
It is an unfortunate story of a fortunate man—a story of longing, struggle, and the inadvertent yet powerful shepherding of a man I never met. Fortunate because the Lord, in His great mercy, saved a wretch like me from sin and hell and gave me affections for Him. Unfortunate because, even though I was saved, I could not find anyone to pastor or shepherd me. No, I did not get saved in an unreached forest on a newly discovered island, where the lone missionary was martyred by a poisoned arrow after seeing his first convert, me come to the Lord. There were countless churches in the desert state of Rajasthan. After my salvation when the world was saying goodbye to 2008, I went to a number of churches. No, I was not a church-hopper. I was genuinely saved, loved the Lord by His grace, wanted to be discipled and serve, and humbly submitted to the pastors and elders in all the churches I tried. But most of them were health, wealth, and prosperity wolves. Others gave vague, incoherent motivational talks under the guise of tradition. One knew the right theology and had a solid Baptist statement of faith, but did not preach the truth. On the contrary, he preached baptismal regeneration and promoted ecumenical union with the heretical Charismatics and Catholics. He made all these compromises because he carried a noble burden of protecting his kingdom from anti-Christian elements, a kingdom that he had built with the money that he received from undiscerning Christians in the west. I confronted him to only discover that he was as humble as Caesar. One or two were genuinely saved leaders but not gifted to teach. I could fellowship with them but could not sit under their preaching for long. I kept struggling to find a place where to lay my head—a healthy local church where Christ was exalted and Scripture was central.
The Restlessness Deepens
At the end of 2015, the Lord, in His grace, gave me a godly wife. I became all the more restless for a healthy church. When she was pregnant with our first child in 2018, we decided to move to another city in search of a healthy church as we wanted to raise our children in a solid biblical environment. The new city was also filled with wolves and the few genuinely saved leaders that we found were not gifted and qualified and did not want to go from man-centred preaching to Christ-centred preaching. No, we were not looking for a perfect church. We were also not looking for a local replica of MacArthur or Sproul. We just wanted a gospel-centred church, where Christ, and not man, was exalted.
After a long search, we came across a pastor who believed in the doctrines of grace. Our joy knew no bounds to find a place where we wanted to raise our kids and die. But this was a short-lived joy and a huge disappointment and frustrations awaited us. We patiently waited for some weeks and months, but he would never teach doctrine from the pulpit. His sermons betrayed a lack of preparation. Christ was not exalted in them. They were too superficial for ravenous Word-eaters like us. I began to humbly encourage, exhort and confront him, but he was too sluggish and cowardly to stand for the Lord and feed the sheep. Once I entered his office, the shelves were full of great theological books. I was impressed. I said, “Have you read them all?” He nonchalantly replied, “No, not one.” Shocked, I said, “How come you bear the titles, Dr. and Reverend?” He again with a casual smile said, “I did not earn them.” On being asked why he did not preach boldly and confront sin, he directly and indirectly admitted that he did not want conflicts and problems with family members, other elders and church members. He wanted to remain a pastor but wanted no problems in life. I was really impressed.
Anyway, we somehow dragged on for two years in his church until the Lord in His great mercy brought us in touch with the tiny reformed community in India in 2021. I was exhilarated to meet faithful preachers who had directly or indirectly learned from MacArthur, Sproul and others. Some of them kindly helped us plant Logos Fellowship Church. Planting this church was the end of frustrations and headaches we felt every Sunday morning.
Of course, I have been raving about myself, where is the tribute to John MacArthur? Well, more tributes from my pen are to follow in the days to come. Nevertheless, I will not presently excuse myself from my promise in my subtitle, “Tribute to John MacArthur”. Please read on.
A Pastor from Afar
So all through this long period of time, who was shepherding me? It was MacArthur. I never met him face to face. He didn’t know me. But his gospel-centred preaching shepherded and moulded my heart. From theological nitty-gritty about Calvinism, Cessationism and Eschatology to practical application of doctrines to my life, I learned all things from him. Once, while reading his exposition about pastoral/leaders’ qualifications from his book “Master’s Plan for the Church” in a bible study I was leading, I was so convicted and heartbroken that I cried bitterly and inconsolably. I could not teach any further that day. God used his preaching to break and remake me.
I am fully aware that, for all his extraordinary gifts and stature, MacArthur could never have replaced a biblically qualified local pastor, however modest that pastor’s abilities or knowledge may have been. But in extraordinary situations like mine where I tried my best, but found no spiritual help, the Lord graciously blessed me and grew me as a Christian even through the preaching of a pastor seven seas across. Faithful Christians can grow even in prison though separated from all fellowship. God gives extraordinary grace when He sovereignly keeps some of his people sometimes from ordinary means of grace. MacArthur recognized this global drought of faithful preachers and faithful churches throughout the world, particularly in countries like ours. That’s why his ministry set up training centres all over the world.
An Unintentional Trainer
I never went to seminary, but learned how to prepare sermons and preach simply by reading MacArthur’s sermons and books. I am a formally untrained preacher and I have a long way to go as far as my preaching abilities are concerned, but for over three years I have been satisfying the voracious appetite of my little flock in the city of Jaipur. I have been able to do so because MacArthur has been feeding me so well. MacArthur’s watchword was what Jesus said to Peter repeatedly, “Feed my sheep.”
Moreover, I learned to be bold from MacArthur. I do not mince words. I call a spade a spade because I saw MacArthur do so unabashedly. I do not hesitate to increase the list of my enemies if it comes to defending the truth.
Matchless Resources
In my view and experience, the MacArthur Study Bible is the best in the world, his commentaries the most helpful, his books like “Gospel According to Jesus”, “Truth War”, “Slave” are revolutionary. I praise and thank God for this servant of God, who is now in the presence of His Lord and Saviour.
Faithful Until the Last Breath
So as I mentioned above most evangelical leaders today are either heretics or unqualified. Even if they are gifted, they lack the courage to stand for truth and have chosen the path of man-pleasing over faithfulness to Christ. But MacArthur has been faithful despite all the opposition. His biographer, Iain Murray is hesitant to write biographies of men who are alive because even spiritual giants may fall morally or make a doctrinal compromise, but Murray broke his rules and penned his biography “John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock” because he was sure that MacArthur would continue to be a man of integrity until his last breath. And indeed, Murray was right— MacArthur did breathe his last in a state of integrity! Praise the Lord for this man of God.
