Pride Goes Before Destruction...

By Robin G. Jordan

It is painful to watch a Christian leader destroying his own credibility. Last Sunday John MacArthur told the congregation of Grace Community Church, “there is no pandemic.” He cited the erroneous claim that only six per cent of the total deaths reported by the CDC are attributable to COVID-19. This false claim has been circulating online since at least mid-June. BBC Reality Check in its article, “Coronavirus: The US has not reduced its Covid-19 death toll to 6% of total,” examines how this bogus claim went viral when President Trump and a number of other influential Twitter users posted it at the end of August despite the repeated explanation by the CDC that people were misinterpreting its report.

MacArthur went on to claim that the reports of the pandemic’s severity were the work of the devil. He further claimed that no one in Grace Community Church’s congregation had contracted COVID-19, maintaining that this unverified fact was proof that the severity of the pandemic has been exaggerated.

There are a number of plausible explanations of why there have been no reports of COVID-19 cases in Grace Community Church’s congregation. MacArthur and the elders of Grace Community Church may be withholding that information from the members of the congregation and the larger community. It would prove a serious embarrassment to them. It would also give the state and the county further grounds that they could use to take legal action against the church.

Members of the congregation who have contracted the virus may also be withholding that information from MacArthur, the elders, and their fellow congregants. These congregants may not want to embarrass them or themselves. At least one online post claimed that the reason the members of congregation were not contracting the virus was that they were God’s chosen. In such an environment an admission of having contracted the virus would be seen as an admission that the congregant who contracted the virus was not one of the elect. There would be considerable pressure to keep quiet and to not say anything.

In a congregation the size of Grace Community Church’s it is easy to overlook COVID-19 cases. The level of denial in the congregation may be high enough that any COVID-19 symptoms might be explained away as symptoms of something else. Congregants might seek treatment with a sympathetic doctor who would not report their case to the county or they might go to another county for treatment in which case their case would counted as one of that county’s cases.

MacArthur may himself have fallen into a snare of the devil. While Jesus has defeated the devil, the evil one’s defeat does not prevent him from inflicting as much damage on Jesus’ followers as he can. This includes destroying the reputations of church leaders and their churches. In his refusal to properly safeguard the congregation of Grace Community Church and the larger community and in his spreading of false rumors MacArthur has created opportunities for the devil. The devil has studied our weaknesses and will exploit them to the fullest.

It would take only one super-spreading event to bring MacArthur’s world toppling down and to destroy his ministry. MacArthur would not be the only one hurt by his downfall. All the other pastors who have aligned themselves with him would also suffer. Their own credibility would be thrown into doubt. Christians, in general, would also take a hit.

To my mind, MacArthur is treading on very dangerous grounds. President Trump may applaud him. The president’s supporters may do the same. But they are not the ones who will experience the most damage when MacArthur suffers a fall. As the Book of Proverbs warns, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” Proverbs 16:18). We all would be wise to heed that warning.