Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an easy target. I once heard it referred to as the “wood, hay, and straw network” (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12).
John MacArthur knows this all too well:
Recently, however, while recovering from knee-replacement surgery, I decided to sample some of the current fare on TBN. From a therapeutic point of view it seemed a good choice: something more excruciating than the pain in my leg might distract me from the physical suffering of post-surgical trauma. And I suppose on that basis the strategy was effective.
But it left me outraged and frustrated—and eager to challenge the misperceptions in the minds of millions of unbelievers who see these false teachers masquerading as ministers of Christ on TBN. Read entire article…
- HT: Jeff
John MacArthur’s mind was already decidedly against TBN: ”From a therapeutic point of view it seemed a good choice: something more excruciating than the pain in my leg might distract me from the physical suffering of post-surgical trauma.”
And neither should we should presume upon God: “How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways!” (Romans 11:33b, HCSB).
God still uses TBN…
I have very little use for that man too much anymore… (though I do agree that much of what goes on on that troubling broadcast network is useless).
Bashing others is not what Scripture means when it tells us to defend the faith and expose folk that lie about the truth. Too often we take that to mean “anyone I have a difference with about Scriptural matters.” I have reservations about many who proclaim and much of what is proclaimed, but Paul, speaking of other’s motives said, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretese or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.” Philippians 1:19 NSAB
May we do more rejoicing over Him being proclaimed than bashing the ones proclaiming.
I’m not the biggest TBN fan in the world but there’s plenty of value on the channel. John MacArthur on the other hand has yet to provide me with anything useful. That’s not to say that he can’t; he just hasn’t.
God still uses the UMC; God still uses TBN; God still uses John MacArthur…
I think of TBN like I think of sewage. Sure, if you dig around in it long enough you may find a diamond ring. Highly unlikely, but it could happen. In either case, you’ll end up filthy and in all likelihood have nothing to show for the effort.
Brian and Nick,
To be honest, I haven’t read a MacArthur’s book in a while. In fact, even when his books are on sale, I find myself refusing to buy. He may be getting to me.
Iris,
Wise counsel indeed. I do agree to some extent.
Gary,
That’s my belief despite…
Stan,
I’ve seen David Jeremiah on the broadcast.
Thanks for the link. Newbies to the faith need to be warned about false teachers in no uncertain terms. We can rejoice if the true gospel is preached but need to protect the defenseless.
Jeff
Jeff,
I’m with you.
I spent 15 years in charismatic circles. I was a pilot for several of the high profile word of faith guys. I have sat down to dinner with Paul and Jan Crouch. They are nice people, but I just can’t go with them on their theology. There are a lot of wonderful born again people in the charismatic circles. They love God and want to serve Him with all their hearts.
I gleaned some important things during my time inside, but that is another story. I believe they are deceived in many areas, but so are all of us. In no way will I make excuses for their greed and lust; the thing is being deceived does not mean you are not born again.
Wonder what MacArthur would think if he new he was going to spend eternity with some of these guys in Glory?
Well…
That’s a question we all need to ask. I am sure we are all going to be surprised who we will see in heaven.
I was contacted last year by the office of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, if I was interested in providing testimony against some of the preachers I had flown for and how they used their aircraft. He has been trying to make a case against several ministries. I declined. I don’t think it is appropriate for us to do things like that.
I don’t know MacArthur’s motivation in his diatribes against TBN etc. I would think you would have more influence if you took time to get to know people instead of blasting them. There is something wrong with this picture. It is not as simple black and white as he makes it to be. There are real people involved.
Jack,
You’ll find that I share some of your sentiments by the way I concluded my post. We need to remember our Kingdom status first and foremost in all this.
I love MacArthur and his ministry. He is the one who brought the scriptures to life for me, through his radio broadcasts and especially through his study Bible and commentaries.
But I have to say that recently I have become more aware of how narrow his view of true Christianity is. To expand a little on what Jack said, we’ll all be surprised by who we will see in heaven…and who we won’t! I hope Mac will come to realize how deep and wide is God’s mercy to those who seek to follow his son.
Ironic, T.C., how you seem to weary of MacArthur, but find him useful in opposing the signing of the Manhattan Declaration. He was one you referred to as to why NOT to sign. And his statement in total was simply as narrow as his view on TBN.
God still has some use for TBN… Good Lord, he even used Balaam’s … um… ride.
MacArthur IS narrow. Yet, one of his latest books I listened to on CD was still great. It was an exposition of Jude, I believe, and an answer to postmodern theology. It was actually good stuff.
Heaven’s going to be an amazing place. I’m going to walk around for hundreds of “years” watching everyone’s faces. Looks of astonishment: “How did HE make it in???”
Gary,
That’s why I concluded my post the way I did. Who is to know? Of course there are a lot of nonesense on TBN.
Apprentice,
C’mon we often agree with those with disagree with, right?
T.C., absolutely we agree at key points. I’m willing to use MacArthur to prove my point he still writes good material AND find his disagreement with the Manhattan Declaration to be useful as a case FOR signing the document.
I understand that we should be grateful whenever the gospel is preached, but as Scripture zealot said, it depends on whether or not it is the true gospel. The preaching of a false gospel is nothing to rejoice over. Otherwise we may find ourselves rejoicing over every new movement, cult, new age group, political party, class war, or whatever else so long as the name of Jesus or the word gospel or kingdom is included. Unfortunately some groups are very good at usurping biblical terminology yet preaching something that cannot truly be called the gospel. Not that I am saying that this is true of TBN. Certainly they find themselves closer to the center of God’s truth than, for instance, an atheistic movement steeped in Christian language. But that being said, I don’t think false teaching and preaching is something that should be brushed off lightly. This is a serious offense. First, whenever God and His word are misrepresented, those who misrepresent Him are calling men and women to worship a false God of their own creation; they are calling men and women into idolatry. Second, though you may be able to point to some and say that they found faith through these programs, the question that must be asked is whether they do more harm than good? Though some may be saved, others may be driven away. And the larger body of Christianity may find itself discredited and mocked when the shallow understanding of a few who irresponsibly bear the title of Christian teacher becomes synonymous with Christianity to the collective cultural consciousness. This is especially true because of their exposure. After all, if a person finds himself curious about Christian beliefs its easier to stop for a moment on TBN while flipping channels than it is to seek out the counsel of a respectable seminary professor or pastor.
Further, I understand the sentiment that we should deal with others in love. This is true. However, one need only read Galatians to understand the full force of intense emotion that Paul felt when the gospel was misrepresented. Also, Jesus doesn’t seem to soft-pedal the issue of false teaching: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean” (matt 23:27).
Just some thoughts.
D Crawford,
John MacArthur is simply not in good taste. It’s that simple.
Well, I can’t argue with that. My post wasn’t intended as a defense of MacArthur. Generally I find myself at odds with him (and his dispensationalism).
I didn’t understand it as a defense at all. I was restating the issue in simple terms, as I see it.
I’ve given up Dispensationalism myself.
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I don’t know the intimacies of TBN and I don’t presume to know if they are all good or all bad, but they need a new exterior designer… I drive by their building almost every week and I have to say, it’s pretty hideous…
D. Crawford and others, by the same token, Jesus also condemns the Pharisees for putting too heavy a burden on people for what appears to be an overinterpretation of the Law of God (sort of ancient day fundamentalism). They took things too literally and turned the Law of God into source of bondage instead of a source of life (as it was intended).
Would this not also possibly be a kind of false teaching on par with some of the stuff seen and heard on TBN? Putting things in overliteralistic terms that make things hard and burdensome to follow?
Oh, that more of us preachers would have too much of the fear of God in our hearts to pull these kinds of stunts….
Mike S – I’ve seen it too. Yeah, it’s pretty gawdy.
Apprentice,
Yes, I’m aware that he still has some good stuff. But too much narrow-mindedness is getting to me.
As someone whose life was radically influenced by TBN for so many years (pretty much all I knew of Christianity I learnt from there), I actually agree with MacArthur. Yes, there are sound preachers on there – but bear in mind, who and what they pump out as well – the Hagins, the Copelands, the Hinns of this world – who are leading millions astray. I have visited Ghana regularly and witnessed where pastors are getting their “education” from watch Ken Copeland every morning – and we are not speak out against TBN for broadcasting it??? God may use TBN – doesn’t mean we sit idly by and support such a religious cesspool or not speak against the sewage it pumps into millions of homes around the globe.
Douglas,
Thanks for this. Yes, I’m aware of the “danger” that is affiliated with TBN, esp. the prosperity peddlers.
But I’ve also heard of those whose lives have been touched for the better.
John MacArthur & Pretrib Rapture
Who knows, maybe John (Reformedispy) MacArthur is right and the greatest Greek scholars (Google “Famous Rapture Watchers”), who uniformly said that Rev. 3:10 means PRESERVATION THROUGH, were wrong. But John has a conflict. On the one hand, since he knows that all Christian theology and organized churches before 1830 believed the church would be on earth during the tribulation, he would like to be seen as one who stands with the great Reformers. On the other hand, if John has a warehouse of unsold pretrib rapture material, and if he wants to have “security” for his retirement years and hopes that the big California quake won’t louse up his plans, he has a decided conflict of interest. Maybe the Lord will have to help strip off the layers of his seared conscience which have grown for years in order to please his parents and his supporters – who knows? One thing is for sure: pretrib is truly a house of cards and is so fragile that if a person removes just one card from the TOP of the pile, the whole thing can collapse. Which is why pretrib teachers don’t dare to even suggest they could be wrong on even one little subpoint! Don’t you feel sorry for the straitjacket they are in? While you’re mulling all this over, Google “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty” for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the same 180-year-old fantasy.
Here’s my wide-angle perspective:
The world is suffering under LORDS of hidden slavery that employ ancient Mystic Tyranny.
Mystic Tyranny comes in three main flavors: Tribal, Political and Clerical.
Since this is a religious post, let’s deal with Clerical Mystic Tyranny:
#1) TBN offers word-of-the-lord misguided empowerment through a) Rapture lies, b) Prosperity lies and c) every other soft-tyranny lies. (Lies obtain funds to further pen sheep!)
#2) The prophets of the USA are crazy with jabberwocky strange-fire. (See Patricia King, Todd Bentley, Rick Joyner, et al.) This is another form of muck-brained tyranny penning sheep!
#3) The rest of non-orthodox Christianity that makes no comment or opposition or cogent remands against such BLATANT CLERICAL MYSTIC TYRANNY. Few see through the fog of wiles!
The answer against global clerical mystic tyranny is three-fold: a) Return to some forms of cogent orthodoxy (repent of loving lies and lie-doctrines!) ; b) Try to understand http://www.inthatdayteachings.com which is a prophetic voice of cogency, sanity, maturity and denouement restoration to manifest behavior and c) Any other ameliorative restoration towards intelligent Greek/Jewish/Gothic Christian tragic-view-of-mankind (that he and his institutions sin, yet are capable of great and good God-bearing light!!!)
The answer against global political mystic tyranny is a) Western Enlightenment education immersing thought of truths that we live in a tragic world wherein man and his institutions sin!) (Again, Greek/Jewish/Gothic-Christian viewpoints) and b) The three founding documents of the USA — Declaration of Independence, US Constitution and Bill of Rights (which point toward a limited three-part self-checking yet always small (never big) government and c) understanding liberty is based upon mutual dedication to self-restraint (that at its core, liberty requires self-sacrifice (DEATH TO SELF!)
The answer against tribal mystic tyranny is to fundamentally understand the sins of power. Whether it is Kenneth Copeland or Adolf Hitler or a jungle cannibal, power corrupts and hires its own favored butt-kissers, hires its own relatives and desires to always fly above us in outrageous luxury and indifference to the plebes who pay! The TBN family LOVES its jets, power and money no less than any Third World Dictator. The answer against tribal mystic tyranny is to un-plebe ourselves out of their hidden, wile, shenanigan, demagogue ways! (The ways that make for great TV!)
The internet, imbued of God’s truth, will be our salvation!
Problem is now, no true or few true clerical leaders or followers will listen, abide or enlist in such a wide-angle view that the problem of universal socialism and its hidden enslavement is from the triumvirate of tribal, political and clerical mystic tyranny.
So nobody or few bodies will salute this cogency. It’ll take more global pain and suffering to see more wide-angle truth…. And that’s too bad! But truth always wins in the end.
But as things continue to get worse, more will see and honor the truth and who delivers it.