Tied up speaking all weekend, & late to the game catching up on all the John MacArthur hot takes. Historically, I’ve not engaged him for the precise same reason I do not debate flat earthers: even responding to his words feels potentially dignifying to work deserving of none.
That said, I am who I am today b/c powerful Pentecostal women preachers shaped my life early, starting w/Sister Margaret Gaines. I’m filled with ache missing her voice right now. So I’ll be your huckleberry on this one—b/c this is one of the few things I’ll have a bar fight over.
First off—John MacArthur is NOT a scholar. If you went to a college that even accepted him as a source for a paper—I feel bad for you, son. I’m all for take the meat & throw out bones, but racism & misogyny have never been peripheral features of his project...but driving energy.
His hubris & bastardized dispensational bullshit infect every line of every page. I’ve never understood how anyone overlooks this—especially Pentecostals whom he regularly says are filled w/devils. I wouldn’t even trade his books in at a used bookstore. Throw that garbage away.
I’ll simplify this for you: the world is shifting rapidly. Power structures are being turned upside down. Mountains brought low, valleys exalted. On some primal level, you either think God is doing this, or it’s all from the pit of hell. I decisively believe the former.
As this shift becomes more pronounced & profound, we hear the sound of shriveling hollow shells of men screaming as the spirits that have animated them are cast out. That’s all THAT video was. Don’t be afraid. Their sick laugher is only the sound of men trampled by a lamb.
Women are the present & future of what God is doing in the world. Everyone in sync with the Spirit knows this, without me having to remind you that in the last days, daughters prophesy God’s truth. Little Johnny doesn’t like it, pat-pat. His little friends are mad too, pat-pat.
So if you are discouraged by little Jonny & his little friends said—don’t be. Hear their laugher as the final screech as the Spirit leaves the building. The Holy Ghost &/or natural selection are taking them out. You go & prophesy to our dry bones, sister/mother/daughter!
No one really cares what li’l Johnny & his friends have to say. But creation groans & sighs for the manifestation of the daughters of God. So on behalf of all the clueless men of the old world, I implore you—tell us the truth, until God makes our paths straight.
Finally, let me tell you a bit about @BethMooreLPM. I’ve only been with her in person one time—an epic lunch with her & @MelissaMoore77 in early 2017. I couldn’t believe how completely without guile she was. I mean, you just don’t see that at her level. No pretense whatsoever. 
I’ve never forgot that. Or that when my first book came out, NOBODY knew or cared who I was (still don’t—without false humility, I’m as niche as they come). She had the whole Living Proof staff read it, & send letters about what the book meant to them. 😭 She had nothing to gain.
She saw a young guy in need of encouragement. She wrote a note to me that to this day I KNOW was prophetic about the season I was about to go through. I’ve been slow to weigh in because I feel like I have no credibility with the people who come at her. But it’s maddening.
Whatever your persuasion is theologically, people know an authentic Christian when they see one. She’s so courageous to live her journey out loud in front of all of us. The fact that people who bear no fruit of the Spirit feel they are in position to judge her...infuriates me.
Every single woman I know who operates in their calling takes hits for the most basic contours of a life with God that I will never have to deal with. It is holy humiliation to have such sisters & mothers in the Lord. I am not worthy of them...but I am always, always listening.
