SEC Charges Son of John MacArthur & Grace to You Board Member with Fraud
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Although this really casts no dispersions upon John MacArthur or Master’s Seminary directly, it is nonetheless sad. Whether a PK or not, we hate to see our children do shady or illegal things.
However, we need to be patient and see what comes of it in the court system. Sometimes things clear up after all sides are presented. I don’t want to wear rose-colored glasses, but we need to find our more than accusations.
These sorts of laws are very complex. Investors might find this a no-brainer, but the rest of us are no experts.
"The Midrash Detective"
Because I work in a related field (insurance scams) that often shades over into securities (variable annuities and life insurance), I can tell you that MMac knew he was doing wrong. Like any field, it is often inscrutable to outsiders. But, insiders know the rules very well. If these accusations are true, and the SEC must be confident in itself go this far, then MMac knew exactly what he was doing.
This has nothing to do with JMac, whose integrity is sound. People are responsible to God for their own sins. I am reminded of R.C. Sproul’s son’s sins with the Ashley Madison scandal.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Regarding whether JMac could be implicated, the SEC filing does suggest that the managers who bought off MMac and his buddy were TMU grads from the late 1980s or early 1990s. This kind of close relationship involving TMU grads has more than a bit of semblance to the close relationships among the trustees of TMU, so I think it is likely that someone’s going to at least poke around regarding this.
I hope that JMac is just an innocent bystander here, but it unfortunately fits the pattern of a lack of independence at the school he headed. (another headache eagerly awaiting Sam Horn….poor guy)
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
While I agree that this particular issue probably doesn’t indict JMac himself, there is enough smoke beginning to billow that causes some caution. I know the University is facing some scrutiny and a good chunk of that has to do with what appears to be non-market payments to his son-in-law’s video production team and that same son-in-law being in charge of some of the finances. Macarthur is a tremendous blessing to me and I really hope that this turns out to be something about which he did not, and should/could not, know. With that said, I hope that he and all of our brothers and sisters who are managing ministerial budgets take a long hard look at how they’re doing things and work to ensure they are blameless. Let’s be transparent about these things and let’s put up safeguards to make sure that it’s hard for people to do wrong.
Lastly, If there is a budget that you have some responsibility for, dig into it. Reagan’s “Trust, but verify.” is a good place to start.
“The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Ezekiel 18:20
The main thing I thought about on Saturday, when I first saw this news story, is sorrow for JMac as he prepared to preach on Sunday. How awful. The man is in his early 80s!
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
G. N. Barkman
My take here is that whether or not JMac knew of this particular arrangement, he may have inadvertently signaled to his son that “cozy” arrangements were in fact acceptable by tolerating them at TMU and GTY.
To be fair to him, though, it’s awfully hard for any entity to avoid getting a quorum of “yes men” who will not speak up when things are going poorly. You will always have a dominant man or two who tends to get more deference than is really healthy.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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