ZackF
Puritan Board Doctor
You’re right. He did change. Sproul complimented him on that.
The John MacArthur Charitable Trust
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OPC'n
Puritan Board Doctor
MacArthur’s salary is reportedly around $150,000 per year (he didn't start out making this much) for being the pastor of GTY and being the president of The Master’s College and The Master’s Seminary. Lots of work for very little money considering he lives in a state which has astronomical living costs. Let's say he works 40 hours a week. That would mean he makes 72 dollars an hour. Now we both know he works or worked more hours than that in a week.....way more. In the end, I probably make more an hour than he does. Much of his wealth came from the sell of Twelve Ordinary Men, sold over 500,000 copies, while his book, the MacArthur Study Bible, sold around 1 million copies. Therefore, the bulk of his wealth has really come from writing books not really from the church. Different sites will give you different amounts of his net worth. One site said his net worth was 10M and another site said his net worth is 14M. Of course, none of those sites tell how much he gives away which wouldn't be something they would want to reveal because it wouldn't fit into their narrative. He wrote books. If we were smart enough, we could write a book and make some money. My point is is that by God's sovereignty and good will, he earned that money and what he does with it I'm sure is what he feels God wants him to do with it. He works very hard for God's kingdom and should be given a bit of charity when we know his character and that he has a heart for God. The world will know us by our love for one another and if we go around accusing the brethren this is way worse than having a net worth of 10-14M. One is a sin and one is just being wealthy.While I'll be the first one to agree about the demonic influence in CA politics, I do have a few questions.
First of all, JM's personal net worth is about 14 million. Did he seed the trust with some millions of his own, or is he just asking for donations while leaving his inheritance elsewhere? I honestly do not know, do you?
Secondly, here is the online filing from August 2020. The Chief executive officer of the trust is his son in law, Kory Welch. https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=04085460-28870865
This son in law:
Master’s University President Pays Son-In-Law Millions Of Dollars Through Nonprofits
In the ongoing investigation into The Master’s University following its placement on probation, KHTS has uncovered millions of dollars that have been...www.hometownstation.com
This article is from the media, it could have false information, but if so, why did they not reply to requests for a response? Has there been a response later? Maybe there has. Help me out with my cynicism here. Do you trust this son in law to head up the trust with full integrity, especially as regards his own income and expense account? Some of you may know a lot more than what's been plastered on the web.
What about the son Mark, charged by the SEC of defrauding clients.
SEC Charges Son of John MacArthur & Grace to You Board Member with Fraud | The Roys Report
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Mark MacArthur—son of pastor John MacArthur— with defrauding clients in a $16 million investment scheme.julieroys.com
Now the son is not the father, and one cannot hold the sins of the son against the father. But JM is 81, and what happens to his wealth when he passes? Does it go to his children while he asks you to contribute to his charitable trust? Maybe his will leaves a little bit to the kids and a lot to the trust, I have no idea.
I've become aware of so much financial hanky panky and sleeze over the years in churches ( not my own thank God) that I would urge caution at this point. The son in law being the executive officer seems to be a giant red flag. MacArthur’s salary is reportedly around $150,000 per year.
B.L.
Puritan Board Sophomore
Beyond what your father told you, why do you yourself believe this?
If a preacher gets rich, he is doing something wrong.
He can live well. And even set up reasonable funds for his children. But becoming wealthy is a sign he is building up his own kingdom instead of God's.
If you just keep making money no matter how much you give away then ok. We have emptied our savings several times for the sake of sick patients and within 3 days have had it all returned to us by donors (who wrote the checks even before we drained our funds). But if you have seen the great poverty in many parts of the world and if you claim to be a servant of God, and yet do not release those funds to the poor, this shows a great spiritual deficiency.
You are then not a servant, but a mercenary.
The more funds you have, the more you can help. We will become like Shindler in the movie Shindler's List, as we look at our rings and our jewelry and luxuries, and then weep because each one represents another person who could have been saved.
We should use our wealth for the bellies of the poor. The ancient church knew this. The early church had an ethic of extreme charity and service to the poor. I mean... who sells their land anymore to help the poor, after all, and yet in the Book of Acts we read of this very thing. Are not we in the same age as these spiritual giants? Do we not have the same Holy Spirit as them? And are we not so much richer to begin with and able to endure such a sale?
Regarding the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:13–21 where the rich man builds new and bigger barns, Augustine says, “He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns."
As low-income as we have been, we are still rich by the world's standards. Reading Luke 16 in the village about the Rich Man and Lazarus, my daughter (then 8 years old) said, "Daddy..in this story we are like the rich man and the people around us are like Lazarus..." This was at a time when we had no refrigeration and we bathed in the river. I was shocked and convicted.
In light of this, it is hard to fathom that any servant of God could amass a net worth of over 10 million.
OPC'n
Puritan Board Doctor
Mercenary: one who works merely for wages. You are very harsh. JM got his wealth from the 75+ books that he wrote (don't muzzle an ox) not from his church. If he was just serving merely for wages, he would have quit being a pastor and certainly wouldn't have been the president of The Master’s College and The Master’s Seminary. Why would he work enormous amounts of hours when all he would have had to do is make his money writing books? He does it because he loves God and God's people. Even in Acts the Apostles didn't command people to give away the majority of their wealth. People gave as they wanted. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” Ananias' sin wasn't that he didn't give all he had but that he said he had given all he had but kept part of it. He lied. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were extremely rich but never do you read that Jesus told them to go sell all they had and give to the poor like he did the rich young ruler. He told that to the rich young ruler because the young man thought he was keeping all the commandments and Jesus was showing him he wasn't. You can't compare the JM with Rich Man. The Rich Man had no pity on Lazarus and gave him nothing. You have no idea how much money JM gives to the poor in God's family. You cannot compare JM with the Rich Fool when you have no earthly idea how much he gives away. It's wrong to be so uncharitable towards JM. You just wrote a post about churches judging you poorly and pulling their finances from your work as a missionary. It was uncharitable of them to judge you poorly. It's uncharitable of you to judge JM poorly.
1 Cor. 13:1 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."
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retroGRAD3
Puritan Board Senior
This seems to be an unrealistic standard you have set up. So basically, RC Sproul and any other popular ministry leader. From the Bible, king David, Joseph of A, Abraham, the Philippians, and there are many others. Being wealthy is not a sin, the love of money is. You will know them by their fruit. If the only charge on MacArthur is, he is rich, but there is nothing to point to where the money is causing unrepentant sin, that is not right. I know from your posts that times are tough, but in those times we all need to make sure it doesn't make us bitter towards others that are not under going the same trials or think that every other person should be under going the same trials.
Solparvus
Puritan Board Senior
I do wonder if, like many recent threads as of late, the end of this thread will simply be strife and contention, and a further separation between members of the body than already exists. We've got plenty to go around after the election and COVID threads, and X-Mass is around the corner.
And the speculating itself may very possibly not stand up to Biblical scrutiny.
Romans 14:4 - Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
And the speculating itself may very possibly not stand up to Biblical scrutiny.
Romans 14:4 - Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
I believe moderation has happened twice on the thread including a warning re: violating the 9th commandment, and yet the thread keeps veering in that direction. So shutting it down for further moderator review.
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