Didn't MacArthur open his church because his congregation wanted him to?
?
So he said. Is he the leader or the follower? No true shepherd obeys his sheep. His sheep need his intelligence and love to guide them.
But you're going to make it about MacArthur killing his flock for money.
I hope you find the answer you are looking for.
Much love!
He's supposed to be worth about fourteen or fifteen million dollars. That might be a clue whether he is serving God or mammon.
There was an interesting case decades ago that got dismissed for lack of evidence; but MacArthur was "applying Biblical principles" when counselling a suicidal man. The man did finally kill himself.
FindLaw's California Court of Appeal case and opinions.
Pastor MacArthur admitted in his declaration that he provided spiritual and psychological counseling to Kenneth Nally after a suicide attempt made by Kenneth Nally in March 1979. The excerpts of deposition transcripts included evidence indicating that Kenneth Nally was seen by a psychiatrist and various other physicians and that the church has referred its members to psychiatrists. The excerpts of deposition transcripts and the declarations did not indicate whether Pastor MacArthur engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct, either intentionally or recklessly, or whether his counseling was a substantial factor in the causation of Kenneth Nally's suicide. The evidence upon which Pastor MacArthur's motion for summary judgment was based therefore failed to establish the lack of a triable issue of fact as to plaintiffs' cause of action for wrongful death occurring as a result of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In opposition to Pastor MacArthur's motion for summary judgment, plaintiffs introduced a declaration of Walter Nally in which it was stated that on March 31, 1979 (one or two days before the suicide), Kenneth Nally pointed to his arm, which he had injured in a recent suicide attempt, and said that “ ‘they [people at the church] told [him] that this was God's punishment.’ ” On the Tuesday following Kenneth Nally's death, Pastor Rea told Walter Nally that this was not the first suicide of someone involved in the church and informed him that Kenneth Nally had been extensively counseled at the church by Pastor MacArthur. Plaintiffs also introduced a declaration of a psychiatrist who, having reviewed the testimony elicited in various depositions taken in this litigation, stated that it was his opinion that Kenneth Nally suffered from severe mental illness prior to his death and that defendants increased Kenneth Nally's despair and anguish, thereby causing him to commit suicide. Plaintiffs also introduced a deposition transcript excerpt in which Pastor MacArthur testified that “perhaps” he contributed to Kenneth Nally's depression. Pastor MacArthur admitted in his declaration which was introduced in support of the motion that, at the time he counseled Kenneth Nally, he was aware of Kenneth Nally's suicidal tendencies.
There was an idea that suicide was sometimes used by God to take home a disobedient servant.
In opposition to the motion of Pastor Rea, Pastor Thomson, Pastor Cory, and Grace Community Church, plaintiffs introduced evidence that a tape by Pastor Thomson for a collection entitled “Principles of Biblical Counseling” contained the following statement: “ ‘And the suicidal says, “I am under such tremendous pressure, now I've got to have to [sic ] pleasure of release! Now!, I don't care about the future.” That's characteristic of human nature. So it is very characteristic of the suicidal that it is his fear of judgment that drives him into the death after which he will face that judgment, if he's an unbeliever. And after which if he is a believer, he'll go to be with the Lord. Yes, there'll be a loss of reward, but because of the Lord and his grace he'll go to be with the Lord. In fact, suicide is one of the ways that the Lord takes home a disobedient believer. We read that in the Bible. That death is one of the ways that the Lord deals with us.
This kind of compassionless attitude is not quite as bad as Jim Jones having his followers drink poisoned Kool-Aid at Jonestown, but it still strikes me as cultlike. But then maybe some people would argue Jones was right: Maybe it was better for his followers to die from drinking poison. They died -- so it must have been God's Will, right?
