Pastor John MacArthur accused California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom of misquoting the Bible on billboards regarding abortion and compared the practice to an ancient cult of child sacrifice Thursday.
The billboards in question quoted the words of Jesus in the gospels, “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The billboard read, “Need an abortion? California is ready to help” and quoted the passage in small lettering towards the bottom of the advertisement.
“In mid-September, you revealed to the entire nation how thoroughly rebellious against God you are when you sponsored billboards across America promoting the slaughter of children, whom He creates in the womb,” MacArthur wrote in the letter. “You further compounded the wickedness of that murderous campaign with a reprehensible act of gross blasphemy, quoting the very words of Jesus from Mark 12:31.” (RELATED: Pro-Life Activist Arrested By FBI Pleads Not Guilty)
“You used the name and the words of Christ to promote the credo of Molech (Leviticus 20:1–5). It would be hard to imagine a greater sacrilege,” MacArthur wrote, referencing an ancient Middle Eastern god to whom child sacrifices were made.
Read Pastor John MacArthur’s open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, in response to billboard advertisements placed across the country by Newsom’s campaign shamelessly misquoting Mark 12:31 in support of abortion: https://t.co/7NjAUR6DFx
— Grace Church (@GraceComChurch) September 29, 2022
MacArthur said Grace Community Church is “praying for [Newsom’s] full repentance.”
“Please respond to the gospel, forsake the path of wickedness you have pursued all your life.”
MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, California, made headlines in the summer of 2020 for opening his church to in-person worship services on Sundays, despite state COVID-19 mandates banning in-person worship. Attorneys sued the state in August, claiming the restrictions violated religious freedom. The state settled with MacArthur for $800,000 in Sep. 2021.