Seth Udinski, FISM News
The Sunday after his bold call to repentance directed at California Governor Gavin Newsom, Pastor John MacArthur implored his congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley to pray for their political leaders, no matter how they may feel personally towards them.
Speaking from 1 Timothy 2, the 83-year-old MacArthur likened the believers at Grace Community to those to whom the Apostle Paul was writing in the first century. He said it is “part of the ministry” of a faithful Christian to pray for those in power.
He said,
We need to know that this is God’s calling for us. Though it may seem hard, though there are a lot of things we don’t like about the people in power over us, we would do an act of disobedience against our calling if we did not pray for our rulers’ salvation. And that goes not only for governors, but all rulers all the way to the presidency and across the world.
He continued,
If you want to live a quiet life, if you want to live a peaceful life, in human society in all godliness and dignity, pray for the rulers. Because so much of what a society is, as we know very well, is a direct result of its rulers and leaders. And God wants us to pray for those who rule over us. … We are to pray for the salvation of all men, but especially for those who rule over us because that conversion at that level changes culture dramatically. So when things aren’t the way you would like them to be – yes, we recognize sin has consequences, yes, we recognize divine judgment is operating. But still, the promise here is that we should pray for the conversion of rulers, because it will change life as we know it.
MacArthur’s words carry heavy weight for Christians, who must be constantly in prayer, even for men like Newsom. This past month, the radically left-leaning California governor poisoned the words of Jesus Christ by twisting them to propagate a radical push for abortion in a billboard campaign across the nation. His ungodly behavior is a display that he is in desperate need of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ, we should pray that he and others like him repent and turn to Christ.