“The Deformed Church” Chapter 1 of an eBook by Dave Bessey

Before we get into the false teaching of late John MacArthur we need to identify the enemy behind this. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and evil powers in high places.

“RELIGIOUS SPIRIT HAS A FORM OF GODLINESS BUT DENIES THE POWER OF GOD. (2 TIM 3:5)” Jeremiah Johnson

“But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, hardhearted, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, savage, with no interest for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God, maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people. For from these are those who slip into houses and captivate foolish women loaded down with sins, led by various kinds of desires, always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth, people corrupted in mind, disqualified concerning the faith. But they will not progress to a greater extent, for their folly will be quite evident to everyone, as also the folly of those two was. But you have faithfully followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings that happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, and in Lystra, what sort of persecutions I endured, and the Lord delivered me from all of them. And indeed, all those who want to live in a godly manner in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil people and imposters will progress to the worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you continue in the things which you have learned and are convinced of, because you know from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy writings that are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, in order that the person of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭17‬ ‭LEB‬‬

There are two very important false teaching of these “Deformists”. One is as mentioned in the preface, that of cessation of the Doma Gifts of Ephesians 4:11 accept for of course Pastor and the Gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4. The other is no women in ministry leadership

A few years ago a video circulated on the internet of John MacArthur telling a female preacher - Beth Moore - to “sit down”, because “there’s no case that can be made biblically for a woman preacher.” Rather than a room aghast & offended, his reply was met with raucous applause and laughter. Just so we are clear: this didn’t happen in Alabama or somewhere else in the Bible Belt. No, it was late 2019 and this happened in Los Angeles.

If by chance you’re familiar with MacArthur and this scene, I hope you're recovering and continue to recover from the nonsense he's spewed over the course of his life. It is bad, bad news. For those reading this who don't know MacArthur's brand: that's a good thing and I say continue to avoid it.

Unfortunately though, this is nothing new for John MacArthur – an influential Southern Baptist minister & president of Masters Seminary. In fact MacArthur is doing nothing more than what he’s always done: work tirelessly to deliver to itchy ears a Bible that celebrates ‘biblical manhood’ while keeping women from positions of leadership in the name of God.

Still to this day, some very poorly constructed arguments against non-male ordination abound and are received at face value in American Evangelicalism. Everything from (trigger warnings here) women being too emotional, pretty women being too distracting and feminism promoting liberal, non-biblical agendas – opinions of women developed in Victorian Europe still hold influence in our storied faith. Our tradition follows prophets who kick down doors that deny access, flip tables and create inequity, expand tables so all can eat, and reject hierarchies where culture affirms them, yet modern Evangelicalism continues to look like an alternative universe akin to The Handmaid’s Tail the Book, Movie and Netflix T.V Series.

In the 30 years have spent in Evangelicalism I gained firsthand views of their ethos. I attended their leadership conferences, listened to their influencers, and even planted a church before God shattered my narrow, immature faith. Churches think themselves corrective critiques of an overly-liberal society. They also see MacArthur (and others) as prophets, and here’s the confession: as much as I find his words repugnant today, I once respected them , back in the dark ages of the 20th Century, during 70’s to be exact.

1 Timothy 2 “clearly” prohibits women from leading men”, Not! Rather ignorant to the powers at play in this argument, I noted that this same verse also prohibits women from enhancing their look (makeup, hair, etc), wearing jewelry (earrings, gold, pearls), and dressing nicely. This was not well received. But also not interpreted accurately as all the verses that prohibiting women in any position of ministry leadership. Most commentators, after fumbling through a response conclude that the first half of the verse is durable and true, while the latter parts are strictly cultural, thus transferable to today. Wrong again. Like trying to say God caused evolution, it is just nonsense. A Convenient argument. I remember not buying it, but I'm also quite argumentative so as a brand new Christian with a whole host of other mess I wanted to address in my life, I accepted these “Fundamentalist” points for the time being. In short, I relegated this issue to the back-burner. And let’s name that elephant in the room too: I am a male. I can afford to. My Mother was highly positioned in the State Universitg system which was a mostly “Man’s” world and many times I saw her crying for hos she was treated in the the World System. But how was it possible in a Kingdom of no genders, could we discriminate against genders, race/nationality and creed, .

I allowed this, though unattractive and incompatible with the world I believed in, to be secondary to the things I wanted out of church as a young man. Now I see how deathly this type of teaching can be. We create gender issues by false biblical teaching which is heretical and demonic.

Though after this, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with the church’s culture. Women were treated as secondary. Women were discussed openly 1) with words like ‘fragile’ and ‘pure’ in need of male protection and leadership, while simultaneously 2) objects that, if close enough to one, could derail a male’s purity. In short: no mutuality, no equality and no equity in mission. No gospel of the Kingdom or Gifts of the Spirit, Father (Charisma or pneumatikos - spiritual things) or Son (Doma) as in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 8, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4.They are cessationists.

The gospel, at least as I understood it, crashed violently against this world system structural inequity and marginalization this first church actively enforced. Suddenly I was beginning to notice the water I was swimming in. My world has been shaped by women. My lenses have been oriented to see the eternal strength and grit of women in a male-run society. Reared and shaped by courageous, independent women who spent their lives resisting America’s lazy, misogynist tropes, I was now working for a church that perpetrated such tropes. And now they had even greater tools of manipulation to enforce their policies: God and God’s Word. They are False Teachers standing behind a Reformist facade.

I want to drive this point home: beneath all the loud rock songs, hands in the airs, tears streaming down the face, excited greeters, effusive smiles; beneath all the programming, social events, charismatic sermonizing with choreographed emotion and the 3 application points; beneath the lightshow & one liners of these megachurches...there it is: a vicious theology that subordinates non-males and questions their testimony. And this exclusion was allowed to exist only through people like me who were certainly suspicious and dissenting of the theology in place, but ultimately remained silent on the matters.

All of these existential crises that began piling up came right around the thirty year mark of my faith, when I moved to the Philippines. And within a year of getting here my life radically changed by Christ. He gave me new eyes to see with spiritual glasses and new ears to hear with hearing aids. I heard Him now directly by being baptized in His Spirit. From here the entire Word of God was opened up to me. It was as if I had been deaf and mute all along. For my integrity, but more for women, I needed to evaluate my allegiances and tribe. I had to get out.

Friends, please look at our times. If these last few years have shown us anything it’s that destructive, exclusionary and morally reprehensible positions don’t self-correct. For example: the Obama /Biden garbage, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Me2 movement, Roman Catholic Church Metoo moment, Harvey Weinstein’s continued empire, etc. They need to be abandoned. More: they need to be boycotted. They need to be organized against. What they do not need, is our passive disagreement. In fact, these things thrive with our silence and secretly-dissenting participation in place. The Protestant megachurch industrial complex is thick and durable enough that when churches are faced with crises of character, the membership tends to trust the leadership over the victim again, and again, and again, and again. Sadly, this is not a new story.

So friends, let’s not scoff at John MacArthur sounding like he’s stuck in the 1600s. I ask you to take his thoughts more seriously. If you see yourself in a different tribe than he, but currently attend a Protestant church that won’t ordain or hire a woman pastor, I ask you to consider your allegiances & memberships, as well as where you put you money and what voices you listen to. In short, there are deeply troubling downstream consequences of a theology that subordinates women.

A theology that sees a woman as less reliable & trustworthy than a man allows for moments when a woman alleges assault or harassment, and her testimony is treated as just that: unreliable & untrustworthy. This is not a fight over abstract theological talking points. This is a battle over the toxicity of denying a woman’s testimony of sexual assault. It is not an accident the Southern Baptists are having their own MeToomovement right now, and it is not an accident they are royally screwing it up. Women will continue to be systematically silenced, disbelieved, dismissed and subordinated until we confront this sickness in the faith.

So where do we go from here? If you are anything like me, the community is great and the sermons are ‘engaging’. If you’re anything like me, you’re ‘taking time to wrestle with the issue’. Maybe you’re even involving a few others. So, ever a sucker for action points, I offer up a few:

1. If YOU believe Women and men are equal in all ways, and YOUR CHURCH does not, please take a stand immediately: STOP ATTENDING. Let your solidarity be active & explicit.

a. Churches like my first depend on your implicit & tacit support. Trust me when I say your secret, silent dissent does absolutely nothing to structurally effect change in that organization.

b. If you need help, reach out. We can help you with action steps.

2. Even in organizations that affirm women in ministry, PAY ATTENTION. How do they speak about women? And if women aren't holistically honored, respected, believed and treated with dignity, speak up.

a. Example: women are not to be referred to as 'my hot wife', 'my babe' or whatever patriarchal, objectifying nonsense so many alleged-egalitarian churches uses to seem hip & cool. There is nothing cool about objectification, dismissiveness & condescension.

b. Unfortunately, this is not limited to our conservative siblings. The self-professed Progressive side of the aisle is guilty of creating unsafe space. If you're in a Progressive church, that doesn't make for a safe space for women.

3. IF you are still wrestling with a woman's role as pastor and leader, educate yourself. Do not stay stagnant and indifferent about the issue, because who knows what victims are piling up as you wait to figure out where you stand.

a. I cannot imagine a world where I am not led by, encouraged by, inspired by, challenged by and taught by women. That is literally removing 50% or more of the world from a leadership role, and if you think that encourages diversity, think again. And if you think that sounds like God, get to know the True God.

b. If you need direction on resources, reach out. We can help point you towards some women that we’re listening to and learning from.

Friends, our women and non-male siblings have waited far too long to be seen, affirmed and considered for leadership. There is no more time to spare. This is our time. If we’re to keep the church together for the next century, this is something we cannot waste another second on. Get out of the Protestant churches that will not hire or ordain a woman, and submit yourself to some non-male voices. It’ll change your life, and it’ll change the trajectory of American Christianity which, I think we can all agree, is headed towards a cliff for all the right reasons. Godspeed!

John NacArthur leads this lie, as I mentioned their cessationism is why. They think there are no longer spiritual gifts of including apostles and prophets, sure there are pastors and evangelists. These wicked men twist scripture to support their non-biblical stand. This is why I call it “The Deformed Church” because everyone birthed there are deformed spiritually and are dead. There is no life, they are the talking dead or mute idols Paul talks about in the Corinth Church. Who eat flesh because they sre cut off from the very word they claim to know so well. They are without rain and crops without fruit. They are the result of spirit Leviathan. There are birthing a generation of dead followers who can not bear spiritual truth. . Basically they are barren. Sterile. These religious spirits are demons working with leviathan, the Kjng of Pride and worshipped the “infertility god” . When this principality is reigning in the region the harvest will be few.

That is John MaxArthur, numbers are only gained through entertainment. There is no genuine presence of God. Praise and worship is more no longer alive. The Holy Spirit is absent and the prophetic and apostolic ministry is rejected. There is no true glory, miracles, the Deformed gives birth to the Deformed.

Prophet Jeremiah Johnson

3 John 1:9 warns of a leader named Diotrephes who "loved to have first place in all things". His leadership style was characterized by 5 main realities:

1. He loved to have the pre-eminence amongst the brethren and in the Church.

2. He would not welcome and receive other gifted apostles or traveling ministries.

3. He spoke against other ministers and ministries with malicious words.

4. He forbid those who followed his leadership from receiving and following any of the other ministers and ministries.

5. He excommunicated anyone under his leadership who embraced outside/other traveling ministers and ministries.

This same leadership style is way too common in the global Church today. God, forgive us!” End Quote

John MacArthur, John Piper and many more like them have this religious spirit like the Pharisees in later chapters we will look at the similarities to these religious quacks. If thess relugiogs keaders were nefical fictids they eiyld lusd their lucencr tk practice neficine. We are dealing with eternal life so we should have a zero tolerance oolycy for these teisted men. When theg srarted atakkjng hs then thd gluves must cimd off at af leadt return tgd davor.

“The glory of God conceals things, but the glory of kings searches out things. As heaven is to height and the earth is to depth, so is the heart of kings—there is no searching. Remove the dross from silver, and it will become a vessel for the smith. Remove the wicked before a king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. Do not promote yourself before the king, and in the place of the great ones do not stand. For it is better that he say to you, “Ascend here,” than he humble you before a noble. What your eyes have seen, do not hastily bring out to court, for what will you do at its end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your argument with your neighbor himself, the secret of another do not disclose, lest he who hears shame you and your ill repute will not end. Apples of gold in a setting of silver is a matter spoken at its proper time. A ring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a rebuke of the wise to the ear of a listener. Like the cold of snow on a day of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, and the soul of his master is refreshed. Like clouds and wind when there is no rain, so too is a man who boasts in a gift of deception. With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone. If you find honey, eat what is sufficient for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it out. Make your foot scarce in the house of your neighbor, lest he become weary of you and hate you. Like a club and sword and a sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor. A bad tooth and a lame foot is the trust of a faithless person in a time of trouble. Like one who removes a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on natron, is he who sings songs to a heavy heart. If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread, and if thirsty, let him drink water. For coals of fire you will heap upon his head, and Yahweh will reward you. The wind of the north produces rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry faces. Better to live upon the corner of a roof than with a woman of contention and in a shared house. Like cold water upon a weary soul, so too is good news from a distant place. Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is the righteous who gives way before the wicked. To eat much honey is not good, nor is seeking one’s honor honorable. A breached city where there is no wall is like a man who has no self-control for his spirit.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭2‬-‭28‬ ‭LEB‬‬