*A pastor of two historically Black churches in Chicago is speaking out about another pastor’s claim that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “was not a Christian.”
We reported earlier that John MacArthur — an 85-year-old white male pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California — made the remarks about MLK during a sermon last month, LGBTQ Nation reports. In his commentary, he criticized a group of evangelical pastors known as Together for the Gospel [T4G], for honoring King several years ago, Right Wing Watch reported.
“[T4G] bought into the deceptiveness of the woke movement and the racial baiting that was going on a couple of years ago, and it literally put them out of existence,” MacArthur said. “The strange irony was a year later, they did the same thing for Martin Luther King, who was not a Christian at all, whose life was immoral.”
MacArthur continued, “I’m not saying [King] didn’t do some social good, and I’ve always been glad he was a pacifist or he could have started a real revolution. But you don’t honor a non-believer who misrepresented Christ and everything about the gospel.”
Rev. Charlie Dates of Chicago reacted to his comments in an open letter published on the website Progressive Baptist Church, Religious News reports.
“We, the undersigned, regret that we have to write you this way, but we sense that this is the only way to address the egregious wrong that you — and those like you — have yet again inflicted on Black Christians in America,” Dates wrote.
Davis added, “Undoubtedly, you, Mr. MacArthur, have made significant and helpful contributions to the reading and understanding of scripture for our present age. How ironic it now feels to write to you, a teacher, a word of correction. We hope that you will find within this missive a patient and reasonable rebuttal for your unwise and ill-timed slander of the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.”
Per Religious News, Dates wrote in a post on Instagram, “Pastor MacArthur, You won’t do this to Dr. King … and you won’t disrespect millions of Christians without account.”
In an interview on March 18, Dates said, “He cannot get away with this. He has to know that Black and Black-adjacent clergy around the country wholeheartedly disagree with him on theological grounds. He’s not the keeper of who’s Christian and who’s not.”
Watch MacArthur’s remarks in the clip above.
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