(Opinion)—Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris has been exposed as an alleged child molester and defenders of John MacArthur are outraged.
“If parents come to a church & say a pastor has sexually molested their 12 year old daughter, you call the police. Full Stop,” posted Daily Wire Culture Reporter Megan Basham on X.
Similarly, prominent Southern Baptist Pastor Tom Buck posted about Morris, “Not only should he not be in ministry, he should be in jail. There should be no statute of limitations for molesting a child!”
One of the reasons it’s important to be clear about the authority God has given different spheres is so justice is pursued. If parents come to a church & say a pastor has sexually molested their 12 year old daughter, you call the police. Full stop.
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) June 19, 2024
Podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey likewise chimed in: “Let’s (g)et something straight: repentance and restoration does not include restoring an accused abuser to a leadership position . . . He can be forgiven. He can be restored to the body of Christ. But he failed to fulfill the requirements for overseer God gives us in His Word . . . A person like this should NOT be a pastor again.”
I agree with these sentiments. But it’s ironic that none of these righteously indignant commentors said anything when I exposed John MacArthur two years ago for protecting pedophiles at his church. Basham, Buck, and Stuckey—like much of the evangelical establishment—continued to support and praise MacArthur, despite overwhelming evidence of MacArthur’s misconduct.
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Last February—two years after MacArthur was exposed—Basham posted about MacArthur’s 55 years in ministry, saying he had “enduring relevance for new generations.”
Tim Whitaker of The New Evangelicals responded with a clipping I’d published in a 2022 article of MacArthur praising the “steadfast faithfulness” of David Gray. Gray is a former teacher at MacArthur’s church, who is serving 21 years to life for sexually molesting his children. And he was serving time for this heinous crime when MacArthur publicly praised him!
“Tweets like this are a great reminder how little you, and folks in your sphere, actually give a damn about protecting children,” Whitaker posted on X. “Imagine saying this to a man you hired who is in prison for molesting his own children.”
Tweets like this are a great reminder how little you, and folks in your sphere, actually give a damn about protecting children
Imagine saying this to a man you hired who is in prison for molesting his own children pic.twitter.com/jSOwL0B3Vf
— The New Evangelicals (@newvangelicals) February 5, 2024
As if that weren’t bad enough, three years prior to Gray’s conviction, MacArthur publicly excommunicated Gray’s wife, Eileen, because she refused to take David back into her home.
At the time of the excommunication, MacArthur didn’t know about David’s sexual abuse. But he did know about David’s physical abuse.
Eileen had told MacArthur’s Grace Community Church (GCC) that David had tried to suffocate one of their children and had obtained an order of protection from her husband. GCC knew about the order of protection. And in letters from GCC I published, the church repeatedly pressured Eileen to drop the order of protection!
David had also confessed his abuse to a GCC pastor during counseling. In one of my 2022 articles, I included a sworn court statement from Eileen’s hometown pastor, Alvin Barber, who confirmed that GCC knew about David’s horrific abuse—but urged Eileen to take David back anyway.
“I have listened to one of the counseling sessions on tape between (GCC Pastor) Carey Hardy, David, and Eileen and found that Eileen was being told to just accept her husband as he was and submit to him, even in spite of his admitted abuse of her and their children,” Barber wrote. “Thankfully Eileen has chosen the legal protection of herself and her children over the obvious intimidation and questionable counsel of Carey Hardy and Grace Community Church.”
My reporting on MacArthur’s cruel mishandling of the David and Eileen Gray situation has been confirmed by Christianity Today and former GCC Elder and Attorney Hohn Cho. But to this day, MacArthur has refused to repent for what he has done. And his supporters have only doubled-down—not only in their defense of him, but their attacks against me.
Tom Buck dismissed my reporting on MacArthur by saying it was part of a conspiracy “to deconstruct conservative evangelicalism and stand against the social Justice movement.”
If you can’t see that the attack on John MacArthur and GCC is part of the bigger agenda of some who want to deconstruct conservative evangelicalism and destroy those who stand against the social Justice movement, you aren’t paying attention!
— Tom Buck (Five Point Buck) (@TomBuck) February 13, 2023
This is absurd because I am a conservative evangelical!
But for the past two years, MacArthur defenders have lied about me and my reporting—all in an effort to protect a celebrity pastor who has clearly protected abusers and punished victims.
Perhaps the most egregious lies were published by Stuckey. In a video, she falsely claimed that I “had it out for MacArthur.” As evidence, she claimed that I accused MacArthur “of being a prosperity preacher, which if you know anything about John MacArthur—he is not at all a prosperity preacher.”
I never accused MacArthur of being a prosperity preacher. I published an article, noting that MacArthur was an “anti-Prosperity Gospel preacher,” but had prospered greatly from his $130 million ministry empire.
Stuckey also mischaracterized me as being “on the progressive end” without offering any evidence to support her claim. And she grossly mischaracterized my reporting on MacArthur’s mishandling of the David Gray case.
She asserted that MacArthur didn’t know about David Gray’s abuse of Eileen and their kids when he excommunicated Eileen in 2002. Her basis for this was that David Gray was convicted of sexually abusing his kids in 2005.
But as I stated earlier, MacArthur and GCC clearly knew about David Gray’s physical abuse of Eileen and her kids in 2002. They just didn’t know about the sexual abuse.
But Stuckey either didn’t read my articles—or she purposefully obfuscated the facts. Tim Whitaker of The New Evangelicals brilliantly exposes this in a video critiquing Stuckey, which I highly recommend watching.
What’s clear is that neither Stuckey, nor Buck, nor Basham truly care about abuse victims. They care about protecting MacArthur and their Reformed, anti-Charismatic tribe.
The only reason they’re calling out Robert Morris and Gateway Church is because Morris is a prosperity preacher and Charismatic.
The same could also be said about Justin Peters, who’s likewise continued to promote MacArthur, knowing full well the overwhelming evidence against him.
Yet, when evidence surfaced about Morris’ abuse, Peters was quick to platform Pastor Stephen LeBlanc, who had damning evidence against Morris. I could hardly stomach hearing Peters express shock and disgust over Morris, knowing Peters has been mum about MacArthur’s shocking mishandling of the David Gray case.
Certainly, what Morris did to Cindy Clemishire is not worse than what David Gray did to his children. But Gray isn’t the only pedophile MacArthur has protected.
As I also reported two years ago, MacArthur likewise protected Paul Guay, a former GCC pastor who confessed to MacArthur in 1979 that he molested his daughter, Wendy Guay.
My exposé on Guay included a 2003 written declaration from former GCC member John Tucker, who was there when Guay confessed to MacArthur. I also talked to Tucker, who recounted the events to me just as he had written in his declaration.
I also published a 1979 handwritten letter from MacArthur to Wendy Guay. In the letter, MacArthur writes that he’s “so sorry about all the problems you have been through, but I believe the Lord is working in very special ways. Your dad is really sad about it all and we have met and talked at length about the situation.”
MacArthur writes that Paul Guay will continue to be “a faithful part of our staff” and urges Wendy to forgive her father.
Guay stayed on staff at GCC for three more years before being dismissed for sexual misconduct with a GCC secretary. Guay then went on to serve another 40 years in pastoral ministry and God only knows how many others he abused in that time! (Paul Guay died in 2012.)
In 2003, Wendy learned that her father had sexually molested other people in her family. So, she contacted MacArthur, asking for his help confronting her father’s elders with the information.
In an email I published, MacArthur stunningly denies Paul Guay ever confessed to him. Yet, MacArthur concludes the email with shocking callousness, saying to Guay’s victim, “I’m not sure why all this has become an obsession for you after so many years . . .”
With this story in mind, someone named Rachael Anne confronted Megan Basham on X, following her post last week about Morris.
“And if the pastor is employed at Grace Community Church, and the pastor who’s told about it is John MacArthur? What then?” Rachael Anne wrote.
And if the pastor is employed at Grace Community Church, and the pastor who’s told about it is John MacArthur? What then?https://t.co/GiNJ0hsmCL
— Rachael (sometimes SaaSy) Anne (@swimflythrive) June 19, 2024
Basham replied, “MacArthur denies he was ever told such. Roys is going by records created many years after the fact, nothing from the time period iirc other than JM’s letter to Wendy which does not specify the ‘trouble’ in question . . .”
This response reveals just how disingenuous Basham truly is.
All Dee Parsons had to go on when Cindy Clemishire told Dee her story was Cindy’s first-hand account and a vague reference to what Cindy described in a book Morris had published. Yet, Basham doesn’t discredit Dee’s story for lack of evidence.
Similarly, I had Wendy’s first-hand account of abuse by Paul Guay, and John Tucker’s first-hand account of Paul Guay’s confession to John MacArthur.
But I also had the statement Tucker had written in 2003—the year Wendy confronted her father’s elders with evidence of his pattern of abuse. I also reported testimony by Wendy’s mother, who corroborated Wendy and Tucker’s story.
Most notably, I have the incriminating handwritten letter from MacArthur himself. Though it’s true MacArthur didn’t “specify the ‘trouble’ in question,” given all the other information I reported, what other plausible explanation does Basham or anyone at GCC have? No one from GCC has ever offered any alternative explanation—and I’ve repeatedly asked for one.
The bottom line is that there’s a mountain of evidence showing that MacArthur protected pedophiles and harmed their victims. Yet, he has never owned it or apologized. And his supporters don’t care.
So please, spare us your indignation over what Robert Morris did to Cindy Clemishire until you’re ready to call out John MacArthur for what he did to Wendy Guay and Eileen Gray. Your hypocrisy is glaring—and none of us buy your alleged outrage.
Julie Roys is a veteran investigative reporter and founder of The Roys Report. She also previously hosted a national talk show on the Moody Radio Network, called Up for Debate, and has worked as a TV reporter for a CBS affiliate. Her articles have appeared in numerous periodicals.
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55 Responses
Julie,
Take a clue from Johnnie Mac’s defenders and straighten out your coverage. He has been well-proven over a remarkable Godly career. Have you never listened to his sermons or read his books?
You wrongfully spun his coverage without a hint of Grace or benefit of the doubt. You should publicly apologize in order for you to be credible.
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died —more than that, who was raised to life —is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:33-37
Keith: Wrong. Your post is a shining example of the MacArthur sycophants that circle the wagons when their sacred cow gets poked. To MacArthurites, JM is one of “God’s annointed” that no one is allowed to touch. You demonstrate that mindset aptly in the above post. I’ll be blunt. John MacArthur cannot actually have a “Godly career” when he has employed abusive people in his church, when he has encouraged an abused wife to stay with her abusive husband, when he has swept sexual and physical abuse under the rug, when he has lied about knowing about this behavior, and when he has refused to leave the ministry even after his own son was charged with a $16 million scam. Selective outrage. And this doesn’t even touch on the false doctrines he’s peddled for years, like predestination. His smugness and attempts to shame anyone who confronts him and assume an air of superiority over them ALONE disqualifies him from the ministry. If Robert Morris shouldn’t be in the ministry, then John MacArthur should not be in the ministry either. It is as simple as that.
Keith Raport
What do you have to say to Cindy Clemishire, Eileen Gray and Wendy Guay who are victims of these celebrity wealthy pastors you vehemently defend?
Keith Rapport – if we used the same reasoning that you have Re: “have you read any of his books,” then Ravi Zacharias would still be Getting Lifted up.
And J Mac’s denial of mental health diagnoses is So Very Damaging; Actually
It’s More Than Tragic
This comment is surely satire, right?
One of the issues the church and particularly the evangelical church needs to address is equating godliness with delivering a sermon/lecture or writing a book where the content is tied back to the Bible. Being a good orator doesn’t make John MacArthur godly; it makes him just that, a good orator. Sure, people can benefit from the content provided in a lecture or book, but that doesn’t automatically make the orator or author godly. It also doesn’t consider the reality that John MacArthur, like many celebrity preachers, has staff that likely ghostwrite the vast majority of the material. I’m sure there are plenty of non-Christian actors who could deliver Grace Community Church’s content just as effectively as John MacArthur.
Amy, I just wrote basically the same post as yours!
And out come the new Pharisees who circle the wagons in order to worship their own Malignant Narcissist. These folks care nothing about the truth. Some of these have made a small fortune off of MacArthur, a man who loudly preaches a doctrine that demons teach. Cessastionism is an ultimate insult to God the Holy Spirit. It effectively declares that His Divine nature, which is supernatural by definition, is fully dead. God is dead and no real supernatural events are allowed. God stops speaking to whomever He wants, whenever He wants. It also starts crediting Satan as being the source of all such things which is very clearly blaspheme of the Holy Spirit: the one unforgivable sin! There is no justifying John. He is just a liar who has made a fortune off of telling people what they want to hear. His father is a liar: the Devil. Jesus words scream loudly to such folks, “How are you going to avoid hell?” The blind leading the blind where they both end up in a ditch.
I am not a cessationist. However, there needs to be grace on both sides of this issue. You have misrepresented a cessationist. Insult to God? You have a text for that? I’m Amil in my eschatology. Does that mean those who hold to a Premil eschatology are insulting God? Ralph when you paint with broad strokes it discredits your premise. Julie wants to restore the church. How do your statements achieve that? Julie Roys has stated her opinion in this article I see several statements that have elements of false dichotomies. But it’s an opportunity to discuss. Not an insult to God. I think it’s wrong for MacArthur, Lucado and Ryrie to have their names in front of the Bible. It’s concerning. The reporting needs more information. When I read reportedly or other adjectives. I do my own research. Which we all should. As well as not make corrections as a proxy for evaluating this situation. Time will tell
Keith, just cause a man has a great ghost writer and can be an entertaining speaker doesn’t mean he’s godly.
J Mac is a narcissist and doesn’t care much for the victims of abuse at the hands of men who were pastors on his staff and leaders in church.
J Mac is nothing but another corrupt mega church pastor!
I totally agree! Amen! The hypocrisy is glaring!
You go, Julie – the hypocrisy, especially of Stuckey, is spot on. That young lady is poor at what she attempts on her platform. And these others are defenders of a terrible “pastor”.
Thank you Julie. The work you do is invaluable.
There was a term coined years ago, called “outrage porn,” where people get up in the morning and get upset at something, so they can feel more righteous about themselves. How much of their “outrage” about Robert Morris is “outrage porn” – when they defend and protect John McArthur and his multi-million dollar ministry and homes (plural), while they fail to hold him accountable for protecting abusers in his church? But someday, in the judgment, God’s real standard of righteousness will be revealed to them – and too late, they will realize that the deepest thoughts, motives and desires of their hearts will be revealed by God, before the universe in God’s Hebrews 4:12-13 judgment. And it will be too late for Godly repentance, because they have chosen a way of being in the world, that reflects the world’s focus on power, prestige and padding the pocketbook, that also rejects God’s grace and truth that leads to integrity in all areas, but especially in the area of protecting God’s children from abusers. So thank you Julie for your integrity and unwillingess to look the other way with McArthur and all the self-righteous pontificating about Robert Morris/all their “outrage porn.”
I believe much of “mental illness” is demonic, and the PTSD I suffered in response to my mother’s demon possession following her use of the Ouija when I was 11 was certainly demonic in origin, but PTSD is real. Even after college and joining the Army, I was still a hermit and stayed in my room most of the time, just as I’d done as a child; until a roommate told me “You can’t keep living like this. This is really sad.” My behavior in response to trauma as a child continued into my adult life, so PTSD is indeed a real phenomenon. John MacArthur has simply never suffered at the hands of Satan as I have. What would he know of childhood trauma?
WoW! This is a well written article with lots of evidence to support it. One would hope the same standard would be used before accusations against Bishop T. D. Jakes are repeated on this important platform; which Snopes has found to be untrue.
Thank you for all your hard work.
May Basham, Stuckey, and Peters admit their bias and hypocrisy. Abuse of children done or supported by a reformed pastor leaves the same horrific pain in it’s wake as abuse perpetrated by a charasmatic pastor. I get it; I lean reformed. I appreciate much of Stuckey and Peters’ content. (Not familiar with Basham) May our hearts and minds be open to correction. Keep it up Julie…for the sake of the church. May God sustain your stubborn courage, renew your energy, and help you to see and own up to any error/bias/hypocrisy in your own thinking and writing…for the sake of the church. S
Any pastor who molests a child should be immediately disqualified from ministry and any pastor who hides or protects a pastor who has molested a child, they should also either be removed from ministry for a certain time or forever.
The brood of vipers just keeps getting larger as more of them express outrage over things that they themselves have done. These acts against children are the worst kinds of evil any man can do on earth to another human. But their heavenly crimes are worse as these snakes encourage the sheep to worship the “SuperStar” pastor. The celebrities accept all of this worship in the same manner as Satan does. They are in reality filthy, disgusting folks who would have gladly joined the Pharisees in crying out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” The action of receiving praise, worship and absolute unquestioning devotion show them for who they really are: white-washed Septic tanks full of everything disgusting and evil. The final judgment will be especially harsh for these children of the Devil.
WOW! This is quite the summary of what we see happening in the church in Western society. SO called men in spiritual authority positions within the church failing in their character to protect the most vulnerable children and women. The Bible speaks about justice and these men, by their actions, or lack thereof, should be removed from ministry, JM included, regardless of how well they may preach as they have been complicit in not reporting a crime to the authorities.
Exactly. My thoughts when watching that “interview”. Thank you.
Thank you! Thank you! I have been saying this since the beginning of Robert Morris scandal broke. It is time for the Church as whole to repent and fix the issue of abuse (all types).
While attempting to follow and worship Jesus, some people unintentionally start following and worshipping their pastors. So much so, that when these pastors start deviating from what Jesus teaches, these misguided followers continue to follow and worship the fallen or mistaken pastors over the teachings of Jesus. Weirdly enough, when confronted, they expose to the world who they are really following and worshipping. People worship is the most difficult idolatry to overcome for most people…
Most people have a tendency to instinctively defend those in their own camp. This had to be tempered by logic. If there is overwhelming evidence of a crime you have to face the truth. It does not follow that your camp position is wrong.
We are Charismatic( not prosperity proponents) but will not defend Morris with this much evidence. We are in shock. Something is wrong with these specific characters in the Reformed camp if they deny that evil has infiltrated their camp in the case here listed.
Thank you Julie! I have been reading your coverage of JM and can’t believe people still follow this guy. You are doing great work Julie, don’t let these people get you down. In the end the truth will win.
I agree they are a bunch of hypocrites. Thank you Julie, for great reporting.
Thankyou Julie for shining a light on these things.
I’m reminded of what Diane Langberg writes about in her book In our lives first, about Wess Stafford’s book Too small to Ignore:
This “powerfully advocates for the ‘least of these ‘“ and recounts his story of abuse at the hands of missionaries leading her to conclude:
“ That story is a grievous example of what happens when power is in the hands of human beings who treat a good cause (reach those who do not know Christ) as the ruling force, rather than love and obedience to Jesus Christ under any and all circumstances “ P18
Hebrews 3 warns us about allowing our hearts to be hardened by the “deceitfulness of sin” and Micah 6
states “… what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God”
I’m with you, Julie, and I share your frustration.
But I have the extra frustration of you, Julie, sharing a tweet from some self-professing “Evangelicals” who use profanity in their public statements.
The elephant in the room is the cult of John MacArthur. When your leader is never wrong, that’s a ginormous red flag.
“Wives obey your husband’s” has never meant, wives obey your husband’s even if they are horrendously cruel and have sexually assaulted you and your children. The problem gets to be that John MacArthur and people like him think that’s what it means. That’s why people in high places of authority in the church can get away with that kind of misinterpretation and misuse of God’s word. I have posted several times on this excellent website provided by Julie Roys that John MacArthur does not belong in the pulpit and probably never has. Oh but wait a minute! John Macarthur is an excellent preacher and many have come to saving faith in Jesus because of his ministry. To that I say, so what! He is just as guilty and more so because he knew of these horrible sins by these individuals and did nothing to help and exonerate the victims and expose the perpetrators which should have lead to their arrest by the authorities. Stay on it Julie. You’re doing an excellent job excellent! God bless you!
Thank you Salvatore Spina- Thank you for this Word of Truth …. Dawn Zimmerman
I had the same reaction when watching Peters’ interview with the former Gateway staff member. “But you defend JMac and speak at his events! Take the log out of your own eye (camp) first.”
The church should be the safest place on earth. (And in most churches it is) However when leaders violate that principle they need to be held accountable and take action against those that violate that ideal or resign if they are the perpetrator.
NEVER trust any person NO MATTER THEIR TITLE who does not defend our most defenseless: Children and the Unborn Child.