The Fifteen Audacious Lies Told by John MacArthur to Create His Legendary Tale About the Events of April 4, 1968 When Martin Luther King Jr. Was Assassinated

The following claims by John MacArthur have all been proven to be audacious lies intended to create a legendary tale of greatness.  His entire narrative about the events of April 4, 1968 was made up by him for his vainglory.  None of the following took place.  

1. He was arrested for preaching the gospel the evening Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. 

2. He spent the night in jail. 

3. The sheriff took all his money.  

4. He was a friend of civil rights leader Charles Evers. 

5. He was in the office of Evers in Jackson, Mississippi when King was assassinated. 

6. John Perkins was also with him in Evers’ office. 

7. A man burst through the Evers’ door and said, “Martin Luther King has been assassinated.”  

8. He was the only white man present with Evers, Perkins and other black leaders.  He stood out like a “snowman.” 

9. They immediately got him out of Jackson because they worried what might happen to him.  He needed their help to escape lest he became a target for the anger of the black crowds already on the streets outside.  

10. Evers and Perkins hustled him through Jackson, put him in a car and drove with him to Memphis. 

11. They arrived within hours of King’s assassination. 

12. There was no police guard on the crime scene. 

13. He saw the blood pool on the balcony of Lorraine Motel before it was even cleaned up. 

14. He entered the boarding house bathroom across the street used by James Earl Ray to fire the fatal shot. 

15. He climbed up on the toilet. 

All of these claims by MacArthur are untrue.  I exposed each of them at length in these articles.   See also Paige Rogers here and Julie Roys here.  

My Most Important Article Ever! John MacArthur’s Renowned Story He Stood on the Blood of Martin Luther King Jr. with Iconic Civil Rights Leaders Within Hours of Assassination in 1968 a Complete Hoax! Phil Johnson, MacArthur’s Executive Director, Verbally Assails Reporter Who Broke Story in Attempted Cover-Up! And Much More!
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at 9:23PM
 
Exposing the Hellacious Lies Advanced by Phil Johnson’s in Interview with Justin Peters about John MacArthur’s Trip to Assassination Site of Martin Luther King Jr.
Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 3:04PM
 
David Nicholas Blows Up John MacArthur’s Account about When, Where, & With Whom He Heard Martin Luther King Jr. Was Assassinated. Also Exposes MacArthur’s Lie He Went to Assassination Site with Charles Evers & John Perkins.
Friday, March 12, 2021 at 3:59PM 

In the same manner, none of the events described by John MacArthur in the following accounts occurred. They are all made up.  The narrative below is a complete hoax.  Those who deny it, or defend MacArthur, bear false witness.   

Certainties That Drive Enduring Ministry (Part 2) 
John MacArthur
Desiring God 2007 National Conference
September 29, 2007 

Look, I was down in the South, I was down in the South in the office of Charles Evers – the brother of Medgar Evers – when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.  I was in Jackson, Mississippi with some leaders down there and they actually put me in a car and took me to Memphis and put me, they took me into the building where James Earl Ray shot him.  Put me up on the, I climbed up on the toilet to look through the window where he held the gun.  I know those people; I’ve known them through the years and ministered there.  I understand all the pain and agony of that in the past.

A Retrospective on 40 Years: John MacArthur with Rick Holland
January 25, 2009       

Well it was during those times that I was there and I will never forget, I can’t tell you the whole story, but I’ll never forget one night, I was in the middle of Jackson, Mississippi in the office of a man named Charles Evers.  Charles Evers had a brother named Medgar Evers.  Medgar Evers was the first martyr of the Civil Rights Movement.  He was the first person killed.  Charles became the first black mayor...the first black mayor in the south at Fayetteville [sic, Fayette], Mississippi.  He was a friend of John’s and I had come to know him.  And we were sitting there and he was trying to explain to me that night in Jackson what was going on.  Now remember, I was a very young guy, I had become immersed in that culture, grew to love those people.  And Charles was talking and a man burst through the door and said, “Martin Luther King has been assassinated.”  That happened that night while I was there with Charles and John and some others. 

And the immediate issue was that there were serious things going on in the street in Jackson and they were trying to get me out of there because I was as pale as a ghost.  And here we were worried what might happen to me.  And so they escorted me.  And then they said, “You know, we’re going to go to Jackson [sic, they were in Jackson].  We want to, we want to go, we’re going to Memphis, we want to see what happened. 

So they took me.  And in those days the police weren’t nearly as protective, forensics hadn’t developed to what they had and they didn’t necessarily protect crime scenes.  So we went to the motel, up to the landing, saw the blood where Martin Luther King had been shot just hours before by James Earl Ray.  I actually went to the little building opposite the motel, went up on the second flood, stood up on the toilet and looked out the window where James Earl Ray had shot him.  And I was there at that very, very, very crucial time. 

John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock
Iain H. Murray
The Banner of Truth Trust (Publisher)
May 1, 2011 

A second Crusade took place from March 31 to April 6, 1968.  While it was being planned no one anticipated that the dates would coincide with a crisis in the Civil Rights Movement.  On the night of April 4 John was in Jackson, Mississippi, talking with a group that included John Perkins and Charles Evers, the black mayor of Fayetteville, whose brother was regarded as the first martyr of the Civil Rights Movement.  John, the only white person present, described himself later as a very young guy, who had grown to love these people and their culture.  As they were discussing events a man burst into the room with the news, ‘Martin Luther King has been assassinated.”  

The group’s reaction was to drive through the night to Memphis, the scene of the murder, and John went with them.  As they left the house in Jackson he needed the care of his friends, lest he became a target for the anger of the black crowds already on the streets outside.  At the motel in Memphis, where the civil rights leader had been shot only hours before, they found no police guard on the crime scene, and there was ready access to the landing stained with King’s blood.  Recalling that crucial time, John was to say: “I actually went to the little building opposite the motel, went up on the second floor and, standing on a toilet, looked out the window from which James Earl Ray had fired the shot that killed him.” (pp. 26-27) 

John MacArthur
Mullins Lectures at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Fall 2014
Session 1 - Genre of Parables 

I don’t want to take the time to give you the history of this but John [Perkins] and I with Charles Evers, who was, I think was the first mayor in the south, black mayor in the south.  Is that true?  I think I remember that.  Of an integrated city. And his brother was Medgar Evers who was the first martyr of the civil rights movement.  Charles and John and I and a couple other guys were in Jackson Mississippi.  We were up in a room and we were talking.  I was the only white person in there.  And a guy burst through the door and said Martin Luther King had been shot.  And everything went crazy.  And they tried to get me out of there because I stood out you know like a snow man and hustled me through Jackson and put me in a car and we went to Memphis, remember.  And I climbed up, I went up the second floor building of that little old building.  I climbed up on the toilet, and I looked out the window where James Earl Ray stood when he shot Martin Luther King.  And then we went up the balcony where he died and saw the blood scene there.  Amazing moment.  Amazing moment.  John has been faithful through the years to the gospel, to his people, wonderful to see you.” 

Question & Answer Session with John MacArthur
Grace Community Church
Fall 2014 

I happened to be in Jackson with all the black leaders when Martin Luther King was assassinated.  I was in the room with all of them.  I was the only white guy, but I was there preaching in all the black schools everywhere and living in John and Vera’s house with their family.  It was so interesting because John reminded me at the table of something I’d forgotten.  He said, “When Martin Luther King was killed, we had to go preach the next two days.  We had to go preach in black high schools.”  He said, “While the world was trying to figure out what was happening, the black kids were weeping.  Every high school we went to,” he said, “the black kids were weeping because of the death of Martin Luther King.”  

Question & Answer Session with John MacArthur
Grace Community Church
August 20, 2017 

When I was down in Mississippi years ago, I was arrested by those kinds of people for preaching the gospel in black high schools, and I was put in jail, and they took all my money away.  I know that.  I was with black leaders in Jackson, Mississippi when Charles Evers, Medgar Evers brother – Charles was the first black mayor in the South, Charles.  His brother Medgar was the first martyr of the Civil Right Movement, he was killed.  I was in the room when Martin Luther King was assassinated with those black leaders.  We went to Memphis, and I stood on the blood spots on that motel with those men.  And I stood in the little bathroom on top of the toilet where James Earl Ray shot him out the window.  Those men were my friends.  That was my community.  I couldn’t buy groceries in that town when I got back in Mendenhall, Mississippi.  I couldn’t eat in a restaurant. 

Social Justice and the Gospel
John MacArthur
August 13, 2018 

I was again ministering in Mississippi with John Perkins and a group of black church leaders in April 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.  One of the men leading our group was Charles Evers, head of the Mississippi NAACP. (His brother Medgar had been killed in 1963 by the KKK.)  When news of Dr. King’s murder broke, we drove to Memphis—and literally within hours after Dr. King was assassinated, we were at the Lorraine Motel, standing on the balcony where he was shot.  We were also shown the place where James Earl Ray stood on a toilet to fire the fatal shot.