The Church, Israel and Sovereign Election

A Pastor of a local Church recently gave me a copy of a message from the 2007 Shepherds Conference put on by John MacArthur. The message was by Pastor MacArthur and it was on the subject of Israel, the Church and the Doctrine of Election. Knowing that I hold to more of an Amillennial Position, he asked me to listen to it, take some notes and explain to him why Pastor MacArthur could not be right.

So I’ve been listening to it repeatedly and taking notes and I thought it might be good to address some of the things that Pastor MacArthur says here as they are things that I commonly hear about those who reject the Dispensational/Premillennial view of Scripture.

As I have said before, I have a great deal of respect for Pastor MacArthur. I have literally listened to hundreds of his sermons, read a great many of his books and I learned a great deal from him as a new Christian. In fact I became Reformed in some measure because of his teaching and that of some of the elders at his Church. You might say he pointed the way but didn’t get on the bus with me.

I really do enjoy a great deal of Pastor MacArthur’s teaching but when it comes to Eschatology he seems to be too committed to Dispensational presuppositions to even think objectively through other points of view. If there is one thing I’ve learned about polemics it’s this: you better understand the position of those you are trying to correct and argue against or you completely discredit yourself in their eyes and you don’t even know it.

Personally I have found this message to be full of logical slight-of-hand and what seems to be a surprising lack of careful thought by a man who frequently urges his fellow Christians to pursue careful and critical thought. All I can figure is that Pastor MacArthur just hasn’t given his own views in this area a careful cross-examination.

So anyway, if you are one of those of the Dispensational persuasion who thinks that it is wrong to listen to other points of view on this subject you might want to close your eyes for the next dozen posts or so.