John MacArthur publicly shamed and excommunicated a mother for refusing to reconcile with her abusive husband
John MacArthur’s sins are in the news again. And he has not repented. This time he has been exposed for how he and Grace Community Church abused a woman for refusing to reconcile with her abusive husband.
Note: this post has updated by adding extra links in the Further Reading and Viewing section at the bottom of the post.
MacArthur and Grace Community Church ran the entire playbook of the script for how churches can abuse women and children who are victims of domestic abuse.
Trigger warning for the following two articles. I was triggered reading the first article. I had to read it in small doses with breaks in between. My heart goes out to Eileen Gray who was horrendously abused by John MacArthur and his ‘c’hurch.
EXCLUSIVE: John MacArthur Shamed, Excommunicated Mother for Refusing to Take Back Child Abuser — The Roys Report, March 8, 2022.
EXCLUSIVE: John MacArthur’s Church Supported Convicted Child Abuser & Pedophile, Records Show — The Roys Report, March 17 2022.
I don’t have the energy to write more in this post. I just ask my readers to read the two linked articles by Julie Roys from The Roys Report.
To remind people about the history of John MacArthur’s pattern of sins, I’ve given many links in the Further Reading section below.
It is good when lying leaders are exposed as wolves. But it is heavy to see so many church-attending people resist the truth even when the truth is exposed beyond a shadow of a doubt. How much heavier must it have been for our God who has known that all those leaders’ sins were being concealed for so long!
Come quickly Lord Jesus! Please help all true believers to endure to the end.
***
Further Reading and Viewing
Grace Community Church Rejected Elder’s Calls to ‘Do Justice’ in Abuse Case — Christianity Today, February 9, 2023.
Former Elder at John MacArthur’s Church Confronts ‘Awful Patterns’ of Endangering Abuse Victims — The Roys Report, February 9, 2023.
John MacArthur’s Church Failed to Report Kidnapper & Child Molester for Two Years — The Roys Report, April 23, 2022.
EXCLUSIVE: John MacArthur Covered Up Pastor’s Sexual Abuse, Witnesses Say — The Roys Report, April 19, 2022.
Domestic Abuse and the Church’s Responsibility to Respond — Barbara Roberts interviewed by Saiko Woods, April 5, 2022. At time mark 47:00, Barbara begins giving her thoughts about how GCC and John MacArthur treated Eileen Gray.
Head of Counseling at John MacArthur’s School: Wife Should Endure Abuse Like Missionary Endures Persecution — Sarah Einselen, The Roys Report, April 5, 2022.
A Conversation with Dennis Swanson — Dr. Dennis M. Swanson (former VP of The Master’s Seminary) joins Saiko Woods, streamed live April 2, 2022, to discuss his experience and tenure at The Master’s Seminary, his thoughts regarding John MacArthur & Grace Community Church, and other related topics. At time mark 49:00, they start talking about how GCC mistreated Eileen Gray.
MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’ — The Roys Report, March 28, 2022.
Divorcing an Abusive Spouse Is Not a Sin — Russell Moore, Christianity Today, March 24, 2022. Click here to read why Barbara Roberts believes that Russell Moore’s arguments are flawed.
John MacArthur Pulls Out of Ligonier Conference — The Roys Report, March 19, 2022.
Former Master’s Seminary VP Accuses John MacArthur of Plagiarism — The Roys Report, Feb 7, 2022.
The Master’s University & Seminary Withdraws from Financial Accountability Group — The Roys Report, Jan 31, 2022.
What’s the Truth about John MacArthur & His Ministries? — The Roys Report, March 16, 2021.
Is John MacArthur’s Story about Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination True? — The Roys Report, March 5, 2021.
The Prosperous Lifestyle of America’s Anti-Prosperity Gospel Preacher — The Roys Report, Feb 3, 2021.
SEC Charges Son of John MacArthur & Grace to You Board Member with Fraud — The Roys Report, Feb 22, 2020.
Do you see me? — A survivor, “Jane Doe”, recounts how she was abominably treated by The Master’s College (now called The Master’s University) and Grace Community Church leaders when she reported that she had been raped. Sept 18, 2017.
Do you hear me? — Another “Jane Doe” who suffered at the hands of the leadership at The Master’s University, The Master’s Seminary and Grace Community Church. Nov 26, 2017.
Billy Graham, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul are some of the “Untouchables” in the visible church — Barbara Roberts, Sept 20, 2018.
John MacArthur teaches Lordship Theology. Why is that important? Lordship Salvation versus Easy Believism versus Reformed Theology — Barbara Roberts, Nov 27, 2017.
Focus on the Family & John MacArthur spout “God hates divorce.” And do they accept correction? — Barbara Roberts, June 6, 2016.
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- Posted in: Unjust church responses
- Tagged: Barbara Roberts, John MacArthur, spiritual abuse
A Cry For Justice 
Good to read you, Barbara.
Please edit / delete as appropriate.
Horrifying, sickening, and far more common than I ever used to believe. I am so sorry about what happened to Eileen and her beautiful children. Those abusers have a stone for a heart and they murder those they claimed to love and were supposed to protect.
I believe that imprecatory prayers are appropriate in this and similar evil situations. May John and his ilk each be paid back in kind, and if it serves to wake them up then great. If not, as is usually the case, God knows exactly how to deal with them – and He will.
I have encountered many immature and unthinking actual Christians who blindly “follow the leader” instead of reading and growing and learning for themselves. These are the ones that unwittingly go along with evil and are very difficult, if not impossible, to convince otherwise. They neglect the greater part of Scripture by eliminating love from it, by failing to love the victim enough to question and ask “what if…?” and instead “pile on” to accuse and abuse right along with the evil perpetrator. Oh yes, I know these, we all do. They have no real understanding of Galatians 5:22-23 or 1 Corinthians 13. They should know better, but they do not; shame on them.
I’ve been reading a little of C.S. Lewis lately, and he speaks far more eloquently than I can:
Thank you Barbara for this site that exposes great evil, stands for God’s Truth, and acknowledges those who have been victimized.
That reminds me of these two posts from my Blindness Series:
Blindness exacerbated by group choice and group-leader choice — part 4 of a series on blindness and deception
Blindness as a result of being deceived by others
Thanks for your comment, Hope. The C.S. Lewis quote is superb! And by the way, I appreciate your writing style and the way you use punctuation. You are one of the few who still know how to use semi-colons!
From the original post:
(Bold done by me.)
I started to write a comment in response to what I bolded above (in what I quoted from the original post), using excerpts from two of the (The Roys Report) linked articles in the original post, John MacArthur Shamed, Excommunicated Mother for Refusing to Take Back Child Abuser and John MacArthur’s Church Supported Convicted Child Abuser & Pedophile, Records Show.
My comment was getting VERY long….
For those who are familiar, either through personal experience(s), or through reading of the personal experiences of others, with the playbook (bolded in what I quoted above from the original post), reading through the two The Roys Report articles (John MacArthur Shamed, Excommunicated Mother for Refusing to Take Back Child Abuser and John MacArthur’s Church Supported Convicted Child Abuser & Pedophile, Records Show) is like reading through the entire playbook.
For those who are not familiar with the playbook (bolded in what I quoted above from the original post), reading through the two The Roys Report articles (John MacArthur Shamed, Excommunicated Mother for Refusing to Take Back Child Abuser and John MacArthur’s Church Supported Convicted Child Abuser & Pedophile, Records Show) provides a detailed example of the entire playbook.
Hope commented (23RD MARCH 2022 – 8:37 AM):
(The modifications in square brackets to the above quote from the comment by Hope done by me.)
That.
From my comment (23RD MARCH 2022 – 3:55 PM):
and
From the original post:
(Names in square brackets added by me.)
Julie Roys has another The Roys Report article (published later than Barb’s original post) on John MacArthur, and David and Eileen Gray, etc. that fits the playbook. The article is titled MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’. (MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’)
From the article mentioned above (MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’):
From the email mentioned in the above quote (containing some examples of “prooftexting” that made me laugh – though not in the sense of funny – as I read them, because they fit the playbook):
(I’ve capitalized the letter “E” at the beginning of the word “Elders” in the below quotes from the email, since they are referring to people that are usually elected and / or appointed to the position of Elder in a church, To me, if the word “elder” begins with a lowercase “e”, they might be referring to someone who is considered an elder in a church due to age, wisdom, etc.)
(Psalm 15:4 ESV Psalm 15:4 English Standard Version)
(Proverbs 26:4 ESV Proverbs 26:4 English Standard Version)
(Proverbs 17:4 ESV Proverbs 17:4 English Standard Version)
(2 Thessalonians 3:1 ESV 2 Thessalonians 3:1 English Standard Version)
I’ve linked to the BibleGateway ESV Bible in the above links, as the ESV Bible is the Bible most likely to be used in a church / “church” like Grace Community Church (which is evidently lacking in grace, and should be written “church”).
If you read the above quotes (Psalm 15:4, Proverbs 26:4, Proverbs 17:4, 2 Thessalonians 3:1), keep in mind 1) that Grace Community Church, the Elders, etc. are playing the victim(s) (which should be written “victim(s)”), and 2) that Eileen Gray is the REAL victim.
There are more examples in the The Roys Report article MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’ that fit the playbook….
I’ve added The Roys Report’ article MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’ to the bottom of Barb’s post under Further Reading.
Thank you Reaching Out.
Well said, Barb!
Hi Sister,
My apologies for the delay in Approving your comment. For some unknown reason, WordPress filtered (sent) the comment you submitted to the Spam folder.
This case prompted Russell Moore to write an article in Christianity Today:
Divorcing an Abusive Spouse Is Not a Sin. Not only is it morally justified, it also aligns with Christ’s heart for the vulnerable.
Abuse IS grounds for divorce, but Russell Moore’s arguments are flawed. Let me briefly say why they are flawed.
Firstly, “God hates divorce” is a mistranslation.
Secondly, Moses did not “allow divorce for hardness of heart”. Moses forbade a man remarrying his first wife if, after he divorced her, she married another man & that marriage had terminated. Moses gave that law because of men’s hardness of heart! Jesus did NOT say “Hardness of heart is grounds for divorce”. Deuteronomy 24 has been greatly misunderstood.
I have added several links to the Further Reading and Viewing section of this post.
Domestic Abuse and the Church’s Responsibility to Respond — Barbara Roberts interviewed by Saiko Woods, April 5, 2022. Barbara begins giving her thoughts about how GCC and John MacArthur treated Eileen Gray at time mark 47:00.
Head of Counseling at John MacArthur’s School: Wife Should Endure Abuse Like Missionary Endures Persecution — Sarah Einselen, The Roys Report, April 5, 2022.
A Conversation with Dennis Swanson — Dr. Dennis M. Swanson (former VP of The Master’s Seminary) joins Saiko Woods to discuss his experience and tenure at The Master’s Seminary, his thoughts regarding John MacArthur & Grace Community Church, and other related topics. At time mark 49:00 they start talking about how GCC mistreated Eileen Gray.
Divorcing an Abusive Spouse Is Not a Sin — Russell Moore, Christianity Today, March 24, 2022. Click here to read why Barbara Roberts believes that Russell Moore’s arguments are flawed.
MacArthur Church Elder: We’re Keeping ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence ‘Confidential’ — The Roys Report, March 28, 2022
Please, don’t forget that men sometimes were abused too and suffered domestic violence.
I was pastor of Baptist Church in Spain, and I attended many times the Shepherd Conference at the Grace Church.
Ten years ago I decided to divorce my wife after I tell the counsel of the church about the situation of verbal violence and abuse we suffered for years. The church expulse [excommunicated] me, but the judge give me the custody of my [several] children. Now I`m happily married with a Christian woman and I have [other] children.
The civil judge give me the justice that the church denied to me. That’s sad. Sorry for my poor English.
[Paragraph breaks added and only a very small amount of editing done to enhance readability. Editors.]
Hi Happily Remarried,
For your safety and protection, I changed your screen name to Happily Remarried, as the name you submitted with your comment might have been too identifying. If you would prefer a different screen name, please email me at reachingout.acfj@gmail.com.
We have a number of male survivors on the ACFJ blog, although not many comment.
From the ACFJ definition of abuse on the ACFJ blog sidebar, there is a note at the bottom that states:
You might be interested in reading some of our posts on male survivors. Click here for a list of our posts under the tag Male Survivors.
I know that sometime men are abused by their wives. I’m glad you have found happiness now, Happily Remarried. 🙂
Update: April 29, 2022: These two links have been added to the post under Further Reading and Viewing —
EXCLUSIVE: John MacArthur Covered Up Pastor’s Sexual Abuse, Witnesses Say — The Roys Report, April 19, 2022.
John MacArthur’s Church Failed to Report Kidnapper & Child Molester for Two Years — The Roys Report, April 23, 2022.