John MacArthur’s Legendary Account of Being Thrown Over 125 Yards from Airborne Car Traveling 75 MPH Exposed as Yet Another Grandiose Lie
Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 6:05PM
Brent Detwiler

No one should believe any of the legendary stories John MacArthur has told about himself over the course of his life.  

For instance, that he drove to Memphis, Tennessee with civil rights leaders Charles Evers and John Perkins the night Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and upon arrival stood on King’s blood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel and then on the toilet seat from which James Earl Ray fired the fatal shot from the boarding house across the street.  See here.  

Or that he was an All-American Collegiate Football Player and was earnestly recruited by numerous NFL teams including an offer by the World Champion Cleveland Browns to replace the injured Paul Warfield who was a standout wide receiver.  MacArthur was a running back and a very poor one.  See here. 

In additional, MacArthur has proven himself to be a habitual liar about other matters including the cover up of his great wealth and the fact he contracted COVID 19 but concealed it. See here and here.

I’d also add his claim to be the “Author and General Editor” of The MacArthur Study Bible.  He did not author any of it in my view.  For example, the faculty of The Master’s University did the “original research and carefully prepared first draft material for the study notes of the Old Testament” (cf. xv.).  MacArthur edited the material the faculty authored.   

In similar fashion, he did not author the study notes for the New Testament.  “The Master’s Seminary faculty and editors at Grace to You” wrote the “first draft” of the study notes.  In this case, they used MacArthur’s “original research” (i.e. his sermons) which they “summarized into the NT study notes” (cf. xvi).  Once again, MacArthur edited the material the faculty and editors authored.    

It is extremely misleading to call it The MacArthur Study Bible.  Even more so for MacArthur to claim he is its singular author. 

 

He has also broken civil laws.  For instance Title IX regarding the reporting of sexual assault and rape at The Master’s University and the cover up of sexual abuse at Grace Community Church.  See here and here.

And then there is his abusive leadership carried out by surrogates like Phil Johnson.  See here.  Or his sociopathic lying about suffering persecution for Christ’s sake when exposed.  See here.  

I could go on and on.    

My writing about John MacArthur is not about “getting him.”  It is about the gospel he has reproached.  And it is about integrity in ministry.  MacArthur is surrounded by corrupt elders who protect him and are handsomely rewarded for it. 

He is also protected by national leaders because they too benefit from using his church building for conferences, or having him speak at their own events to increase attendance, or getting endorsements from him for their books, ministries, or conferences.  

Tall Tales 

When John MacArthur’s tells a tall tale it typically starts off a small tale but then grows like Pinocchio’s nose.  It usually contains a kernel of truth that is wildly embellished.  That is true in this account.  For example, it starts in 1964 with him being thrown 50 yards from a car.  It grows to over 125 yards by 2004. 

I don’t recount this story for entertainment purposes though the absurdity is humorous.  I tell the story because it is one MacArthur has told for decades to dramatize his call to ministry.  All of his followers have heard it for decades and yet it is not true.  It is another example of his deceit in order to increase his legend. 

The Accident – Four Accounts 

I have found four written accounts of the accident.  There could be more I’ve not discovered.  It was a popular story that was told many times. 

John MacArthur attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC for his freshman and sophomore years (1957-1959) in college.  According to MacArthur he was in a “horrific car accident after my freshman year.”  He transferred to Los Angeles Pacific College (L.A.P.C.) for his junior and senior years (1959-1961). 

Upon graduation he attended Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, CA from 1961-1964 where he earned his Master of Divinity degree.  Biola College was the name of the undergraduate school.  “The Talbot Theological Testimonies” (below) appeared in the September 1964 issue of Biola Broadcast magazine.  

The accident occurred in 1958.  He recounts it six years later.  The article is hard to read below.  I have typed it up and highlighted his central claim in bold italics. 

ACCOUNT 1 – 1964 

Biola Broadcaster
September 1964

Transcript: 

“Having come from a Christian home, the son of a minister, at the age of five I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart and committed my life to Him.  By the time I was in high school I knew that God was calling me into the ministry.  Spiritually immature, and not willing to relinquish some of my own ambitions, I did not allow God’s Holy Spirit to have control of my life. 

“I became interested in the pursuit of an athletic career.  All of my ability was aimed in that direction.  The plan of God was put in the background in favor of my own desires.  I received some scholarships to continue my athletics at various colleges. 

“As a result, my first year at college [Bob Jones University] was miserable.  I failed to witness for the Lord and I had no concerns for His high calling on my life. 

“On the way home from school with six other young people, our car suddenly flipped over and began to spin and slide on its top, racing down the road.  I was thrown clear out and landed on my back sliding some 150 feet.  Approximately 70 square inches of my back was scraped from a quarter to a half inch deep.  Even though I was in a state of shock, I was fully aware of what had happened.  Many things began to shoot through my mind.  I grasped one thought and held it there.  It was this: God is speaking to you, John.  This is a result your disobedience to His calling, and your failure to give the Lord His rightful place.  There on that roadside I dedicated my life anew to the Lord.  It was at that moment that I truly became a vessel in Christ’s hands.  My entire life was changed. 

“The time spent here at Talbot Theological Seminary has been the riches of my life.  I thank God continually for His grace in allowing me this privilege.” 

Here are the salient points from this earliest account. 

1. “Six other young people” were in the car for a total of seven.  In later accounts, MacArthur changes the number to a total of six. 

2. The car does four things.  1) It suddenly flips, 2) begins to spin, 3) slides on it top, and 4) races down the road.  In Account 3, the car spins, then it flips.  The order is reversed.  It is one of many contradictions. 

3. All of this indicates an extremely controlled environment.  It neatly flips on its top, spins, and slides down the road.  Nothing violent.  It doesn’t roll.  It doesn’t hit anything.  It doesn’t go off the road.    

4. MacArthur on the other hand “was thrown clear out” of the vehicle.  Everyone else was safe inside according to later accounts even though no one was wearing a seat belt.  None were installed in the 1957 vehicle. 

5. He “landed on my back sliding some 150 feet.”  That is half the length of a football field or 50 yards.  When he landed on his back after this violent expulsion he did not injure his head, back, spine, or any other parts of his body.  He did not roll, hit anything, or slide off the road.  It was a smooth landing. Furthermore, the vehicle was sliding and spinning right next to MacArthur the entire distance according to later accounts.  Neither crashed into each other.   

This accident occurred in the summer in Alabama.  There was no air conditioning in the car.  MacArthur was not wearing heavy clothing.  Yet, he only had 70 inches of scrapes on his back.   But he also adds the scrapes were “a quarter to a half inch deep.”  No, that is impossible!  Seventy inches of wounds that deep would be fatal!  They are not scrapes.  You would bleed out.  Furthermore, that kind of impact would break your back, damage vital organs in the torso, and result in brain trauma.  More later. 

Missing from this account is any reference to the speed of the vehicle, or a police investigation, or onsite emergency medical care, or hospitalization.  In fact, MacArthur is fully conscience and readily able to stand on the side of the highway according to later accounts. 

This is similar to the account told me by Dr. David Nicholas.  He was a close friend of John MacArthur’s.  They attended Los Angeles Pacific College and Talbot Theological Seminary together.  

I interviewed Nicholas on February 23, 2021.  I wrote this article based upon it. 

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 

Here is what he told me about the accident.  It is an exact quote.  MacArthur liked to show off his scar. 

David Nicholas
February 23, 2021 

I went to college with him and also seminary.  Johnny, he wasn’t surrendered to the Lord then.  And on his way back after his second year, he was in an accident.  He was thrown out going some 50 mph and the driver hit the shoulder and it flipped and he flew out and he skidded down the highway on his rear end for about 50 yards and skinned up his own whole back and the palms of his hands trying to stop.  I’d been at his house.  His dad had a pool.  I’d go over there and we would swim.  He would say, “Hey, look at my back, I still have asphalt in my back.”  I have a picture of that. 

Nicholas says MacArthur “skidded down the highway on his rear end for about 50 yards.”  That is the same distance stated by MacArthur above.  Nicolas refers to MacArthur’s wounds as superficial.  “He skinned up” his back and hands.  Nothing serious.  

The scars left by the wounds still contained some asphalt.  That is typical.  These were second degree friction burns that did not require sutures or skin grafting, just some debriding (cleaning the wound).  Nothing more.  

MacArthur says they were “a quarter to a half inch deep.”  That is drastically different from Nicholas’ account that he is “skinned up.” 

## 

ACCOUNT 2 - 1979 

Fifteen years later, he gave this second account in 1979 during an interview for his Grace to You radio program.  

Personal Interview with John MacArthur
June 15, 1979

Rich:  Did you ever come to a crisis point in your life in your relationship with God? 

John:  Yes, I think so.  I went away to college, and although I was willing in my heart to do what God wanted me to do in a general way, there were some areas of my life which were not really submissive to Christ.  And so I chafed a little bit under the direction.  Although I was sort of resigned to it, it wasn’t a joyous anticipation for me, and I was somewhat rebellious.  And the Lord knew that and He knew there needed to be some further refining.  So driving across the United States with five other young people in a car after my freshman year in college, the Lord worked out a very special plan for me.  The car got involved in an accident.  I was thrown out of the car, slid along the highway over 100 yards, of course wound up with severe burns and friction problems and scars everywhere and wound up in a hospital and then in a bed for nearly three months.  And it was at that point in time that I made the total commitment of my life to Christ.  I was just 18 years old really at the time, and I said, “Lord, I can see now that my life really is in your hands, and you have absolute control of not only my eternal destiny but my time here in this world.”  And he spared me and every other person in the car even though it rolled at 65, 70 miles an hour.  And I could see God working, so I committed my life to Christ.  I spent those three months drawing close to Him and reading His Word and reaffirming my commitment to do whatever He wanted me to do. 

Here are some of the changes in Account 2.  First, there were “five other young people in a car” not six. 

Second, he “slid along the highway over 100 yards.”  The distance has doubled.  It has gone from 50 yards to over 100 yards.  It is up to the full length of a football field.  Imagine watching someone slide 100 yards on their back on a highway straightaway.  Then imagine the sheer force that would propel a person that incredible distance.  

Third, he calls it a “highway” instead of a “road.”  He has never identified the highway.  Interstate 20 in Alabama was not complete at the time.  It is hard to go 65 to 70 mph on a rural road. 

Fourth, he “of course wound up with severe burns and friction problems and scars everywhere.”  Not just the 70 square inches of scrapes on his back according to Account 1.  This is a major difference.  Only his back was scraped in the first account because he slid the entire distance on his back. 

Fifth, he adds to this account in a major way.  He “wound up in a hospital and then in a bed for nearly three months.”  MacArthur has never provided any medical documentation to back up this claim.  More on this later. 

Sixth, he says, “The car got involved in an accident” and “it rolled at 65, 70 miles an hour.”  He doesn’t say it flipped on its top.  That too is a major difference from Account 1 (1964).  In Account 3 (2004), he will explain his open car door supposedly kept it from rolling.

##

ACCOUNT 3 - 2004 

John MacArthur’s Life Testimony (33 pages)
February 9, 2004
Excerpts from pages 8, 9, 10 

JOHN: Well, I played – in high school – football, baseball, basketball, and I ran track; I was a sprinter. 

PHIL: And from what I hear, you did excel in football. 

JOHN: Well, I got a – I got a lot of scholarship offers in basketball, football, even baseball.  And I – 

I’d been through a horrific car accident after my freshman year.  I shouldn’t have survived; I should have been dead.  I was thrown out of a car going 75 miles an hour.  I survived that.  That’s one of the reasons I went back the second year; I felt like the Lord was dealing with my heart. 

Here are the changes in Account 3. 

First, “I was thrown out of a car going 75 miles an hour.”  It has gone from 50 mph (1964) to 65-70 mph (1979) to 75 mph (2004).  An expulsion at that speed is fatal.  Check out these official findings from the NHTSA. (emphasis mine) 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
2014 Data: Passenger Vehicles (dot.gov)

Traffic Safety Facts
2014 Data 

Key Findings  

MacArthur was “totally ejected” from his vehicle going 75 mph and thrown a distance of  125-130 yards.  In his case, I think the “81 percent” increases to 100 percent. 

And consider these findings from Newsome Melton Law.      

Being Ejected From A Car In An Accident Is Extremely Dangerous - Newsome | Melton (newsomelaw.com)
January 11, 2021 

Driver and passenger ejections from motor vehicles involved in a collision are likely to be fatal.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that occupants who are ejected from a motor vehicle during a collision are three times more likely to suffer fatal injuries compared to occupants who remain restrained inside the vehicle. 

Injuries and Fatalities 

While the potential injuries resulting from ejection during a motor vehicle crash are limitless, the most common include: 

Being Ejected From A Car In An Accident Is Extremely Dangerous
Newsom / Melton Law
 
The Impact of Ejection 

The tremendous impact associated with being thrown from a moving car – either through a window or a door is difficult to imagine or to overestimate.  In fact, it’s exactly as powerful as you would imagine, and the human body is not designed to withstand this level of impact.  It is for this reason that ejections are often fatal.  When victims do survive, they generally sustain very serious injuries that can include:  

Take special note, “Car occupants are generally thrown headfirst, which can lead to extremely serious head injuries.” 

In MacArthur’s case, he is thrown feet first and lands smoothly on his back without ever rolling or flipping or hitting his head on the highway.  There is no “tremendous impact.”  His has no burns, bruises, or scrapes to his face or head.  Folks, it doesn’t happen this way!   

Your head is heavy like a bowling ball.  You cannot control it when thrown from a vehicle at 75 mph.  It is going to hit the hard surface of the road because you cannot keep it upright due to its weight.  Moreover, you cannot keep your body from flipping.  This too results in the head repeatedly hitting the hard pavement.  These statements are in keeping with the laws of physics. 

I contacted Dr. Dennis Swanson for his expert opinion.  Before he went to work for John MacArthur, he was a senior accident investigator and reconstructionist for the Los Angeles Police Department.  Later, he became Vice President of Operations, the Library, and Accreditation at The Masters University and Seminary.  

He also played sports with MacArthur.  Here is what he told me.

“I played basketball against him (we had a fairly high end Saturday league at Grace Community Church.  I played some baseball with him too.  He was a slightly above average athlete.  Certainly not pro level or even Division 1 college level.” 

In the context of sports, he saw MacArthur’s scaring on his back.  Here is his professional opinion on the car wreck and injuries. 

From: Dr Dennis M Swanson
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2021 4:44 PM
To: Brent Detwiler
Subject: Re: Car Wreck – Injuries 

I’ve seen his back, it’s not terrible or indicative of the accident he describes, almost any of the various versions would have been fatal. 

There’s no way a human body could slide that far on his back, the pure physics would have the person rolling since a body is heavier in the front than back, also the head is the heaviest; keeping your head up would cause you to roll. 

He might have slid 30 to maybe at the outside 50 feet.  50 yards would be impossible, at any of the various speeds that are mentioned.  When a body is tossed from a moving car invariably the head hits something.  

Nothing in the way he describes it makes any sense in terms of traffic accident investigation or reconstruction (and I was a senior accident investigator with the LAPD spending 12 of my 15 years in accident investigation.  He was undoubtedly in a car accident of some type, he may even have been ejected from the car and slid 20 feet on his back.  But nothing of the rest makes any sense and most of what he describes are simply impossible in terms of physics and how accidents play out.  

Swanson says, “He might have slid 30 to maybe at the outside 50 feet.  50 yards would be impossible, at any of the various speeds that are mentioned.”  Later, he says MacArthur may have “slid 20 feet on his back.”  The speeds mentioned are 50 mph (1964), then 75 mph (2004). 

Recently, I wrote him again.  He wrote back, “I saw his back a couple of times.  The scars were consistent with sliding on his back a short distance (25 feet max) on asphalt or a composite roadway.” 

MacArthur claims he slid 390 feet on his back!  Harrison Ford would be proud! 

In the email above, Swanson also says, “I’ve seen his back, it’s not terrible or indicative of the accident he describes, almost any of the various versions would have been fatal.” 

But not only was MacArthur not killed, he was not injured except for friction burns.  Truth be told, the accident he describes never happened.  The lengthy 2004 interview continues.  I’ve broken it into sections. 

PHIL: Now tell us about your car accident, because I know that was pivotal in your life. 

JOHN: Well, we were coming home after the first year.  There were six of us in this little two-door Ford Fairlane car flying down the highway in Alabama.  The driver lost control, flipped the car in the air – basically a single car accident, because he was trying to pass somebody and got on the other shoulder; I don’t know whether he nodded off or – anyway, tried to recorrect and come back and set the car into a spin, and then eventually it flipped. 

Here is a photo of your typical “little two-door Ford Fairlane.”  He held six passengers.  It was not so little.  The hard top was not reinforced like today’s vehicles.  The metal roof would have been crushed and the windows shattered when it flipped “in the air.”  There were no automatic locks on the two doors designed to keep passengers inside.  

 

Notice the supposed circumstances.  The driver is passing at 75 mph.  He loses control.  He gets off the shoulder on the other side of the highway.  He recorrects to get back on the road.  This sends the car airborne and then into a spin.  Eventually the six seat Ford Fairlane flips on its roof.  No problem.  It continues down the highway on a perfectly straight line.  

JOHN: All five kids stayed in the car.  Nobody had seatbelts in those days, but all five stayed in the car.  The car landed on its roof and spun around on its roof without rolling any further.  And the reason it didn’t roll any further was my door flew open, and when the car rolled over on its roof, my door acted like a right angle brace and kept it from rolling. 

No one is thrown from the vehicle.  No one is crushed.  No one is dismembered.  In fact, no one is seriously hurt. Not even lacerated by the explosion of glass everywhere.  Everyone gets out of the vehicle.  No they don’t.  You can talk to any crash scene investigator or highway patrolman.  Or talk to pastors like me who have done funerals for people who died in rollover accidents or been thrown from a vehicle.    

JOHN: I was then sliding down the highway beside the car.  I could see it spinning beside me and went about 125 or 130 yards on my back.  And I was still conscious - in a state of complete shock, but conscious. 

According to MacArthur the car was spinning upright on its tires at first.  Then it eventually flipped on its top.  This contradicts Accounts 1 and 4 where the car flips first and then spins.  In any case, he was thrown from the vehicle.  He was sent flying on his back for 125-130 yards.  And guess what?  After it flipped, the car is spinning upside down on the highway beside him.  It was like a synchronized swim routine.  MacArthur siding on his back and the car sliding on its top without ever crashing into each other. 

MacArthur should have been a stunt man!  This absurdity makes me laugh.  MacArthur makes it sound like he has slid down a backyard waterslide at 75 mph next to a friend for 130 yards without ever touching.   

PHIL: But seriously injured. 

JOHN: Yeah, well, I had third-degree burns – friction burns. 

PHIL: Ooh. 

JOHN: My back literally was raw down to the bone because, you know, you’re going fast down an asphalt highway.  But I had no broken bones.  And I stood up, and I realized I was alive.  And I looked at the kids, and they started crawling out of the car.  And on the front I still had my shirt and pants and belt – on the back nothing but asphalt all embedded in there.  And so, they got me – they took me in a car; a guy in a car took me to Birmingham, which was like a hundred miles away. 

Once again, MacArthur highlights there are no wounds to his front side.  He still has his “shirt and pants and belt.”  They are intact.  

In Account 1 (1964), MacArthur said, “70 square inches of my back was scraped from a quarter to a half inch deep.”  Now he says, “My back literally was raw down to the bone.”  The wound has deepened!  It has torn through all his back muscles down to vertebrae of the spine.  And yet, there is no spinal cord injury or bone damage.  He stands up.  Everything is intact.  This is absurd!  Seventy square inches of flesh torn off your back down to the backbone kills you!  It is not a survivable injury.  

Such an injury not only tears off your epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis; it rips away your muscle below these three layers of skin.  This causes massive bleeding and permanent muscle damage of the most serious kind.  But not for John MacArthur.  He “stood up” fully conscience with no broken bones.  Not even a chipped vertebrae or fractured tail bone.  

Here he calls his injury “third-degree burns – friction burns” but he was treated for second-degree friction burns.  Skin grafting is required with third degree burns.  MacArthur had no skin grafts.  No surgery.  

In addition, MacArthur says the massive wound was “all embedded” “with nothing but asphalt.”  Asphalt is embedded down to the bone.  If that were true he would need extensive surgery to remove it.  He has none.

Furthermore, this friction burn down to the bone is commensurate with a fifth degree thermal burn.  Such burns are rarely survivable.

In reality, his injuries were minor.  I think he was thrown a short distance from a much slower moving car.  I was in an accident like this when I was thrown from a dirt bike head first (whiskey and dirt biking on a road don’t mix well).  Just friction burns and asphalt.  That was my before Christ days. 

In any case, they didn’t seek emergency medical care.  Instead, some “guy in a car” took him to Birmingham which was a 90 minute drive away.  In typical fashion, he doesn’t supply identifying details just like he doesn’t supply names for the other passengers. 

This accident occurred on a highway according to MacArthur.   The Ford Fairlane is in the middle of the highway on its top.  The police, emergency vehicles, and a wrecker would have been on the scene very quickly.  Traffic would have backed up.  He would have been taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital.  An investigation of the accident scene and the passengers would have ensued.  Instead. MacArthur takes off with “a guy.” 

PHIL: Mmm. 

JOHN: They put me to take me to the hospital.  And I got in there, and they didn’t know what to do with all that stuff inside my back, and they decided to try to scrape it out.  And it was such a horrific agony that they stopped.  And then they decided to lay strips of what they called furacin for burns all through my back.  And they wrapped me like a mummy.  I had it on my elbows, my hands, my shoulders, my knees.  And they wrapped me like a mummy and said, “You know, we’re shipping you to California.”  And so, it was all wrapped. 

MacArthur continues to hype the story.  He says “they didn’t know what to do with all that stuff inside my back and they decided to scrape it out.”  Medical professionals in 1959 at a major hospital in Birmingham AL would know exactly how to carefully remove “all that stuff” with surgical instruments.  You don’t “scrape it out” with a wire brush!  It is called debriding. 

He also says, “it was such a horrific agony that they stopped.”  Third degree friction burns don’t cause pain because the nerves in the skin bed are destroyed.  Nor do they require long term hospital care. 

Here is what the Burn & Reconstructive Centers of America say about third-degree friction burns. 

What is a friction burn, and how do you treat it? - Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America (burncenters.com) 

Damaging or destroying both the epidermis and dermis, third-degree friction burns are deep and usually painless from the damage to the nerves. … Third-degree friction burns are considered medical emergencies and will most likely require medical intervention to heal. This might include debriding or cleaning the wound bed and placing skin grafts on the wounds. Overnight stays in the hospital likely depend on the size and severity of the injury. 

Now he adds the mummy factor (I’m tempted to add a photo).  The friction burns on his back have spread to both his elbows, hands, shoulders and knees.  He is a burn victim from his shoulders to his knees.  Nothing on his face or head.  

Therefore, they wrapped him up like a mummy.  Then they ship him out for his 30 hour, 2,000 mile trip from Birmingham to Los Angeles.   I don’t know what kind of container they used.  Ha. Ha.  MacArthur makes no mention of staying overnight in the Birmingham hospital. 

JOHN: And then, when I got to California, I was in for more pain because they decided that that was a bad thing to do.   So, they decided to tear all those strips of stuff that were in my flesh out, and it was pretty horrific stuff. 

It was not “a bad thing” for the doctors in Birmingham to clean the wound, remove the debris, and cover it with Furacin strips (i.e. gauze soaked in the liquid).  That is the same way doctors treat second degree and third degrees burns today.  They apply an antibiotic liquid or ointment to prevent infection and lightly cover the wound so air can reach it.  Furacin is still used today for second and third degree burns.  By the way, the doctors would never "tear all those strips of stuff that were in my flesh out." 

JOHN: And I had to lie in my bed on my stomach for about three months and let that all heal, at the end of which I really was ready to do whatever God wanted me to do.  And I knew by then I was going to preach and teach. 

Third degree friction burns on your back don’t require you lay in bed on your stomach for three months.  Why?  They heal in 3-4 weeks.  Further, no can survive laying on their stomach for three months.  Try it for three days!  This is ridiculous.  One other note.  The accident was in 1958.  He didn’t graduate from seminary until 1964. 

JOHN And so, I ended up that year at Pacific College, playing on their football team, and had a great time and played three seasons there – football, baseball, basketball.  And that was the fulfillment of something I’d wanted to do as a kid. 

This is another lie.  He went back to Bob Jones University after his freshman year.  They did not have sports program.  He only played two seasons at Los Angeles Pacific College.  He was terrible.  His junior year he ran for three yards yet he claims he attended the Washington Redskins training camp that summer.  I kid you not.  Read this article.    

John MacArthur Was Never an All-American Football Player Recruited by NFL Teams as Claimed for Over 40 Years
Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 6:13PM 

## 

Account 4 - 2011 

This final account comes from Phil Johnson.  He is MacArthur’s right hand man.  He passes on the embellished story even though he knows it is untrue.  He has done the same with many other bogus claims by MacArthur.  I break his account into sections.   

A Brief Account of John MacArthur’s Public Ministry
By Phil Johnson
May 9, 2011

In his early college career, John’s central passion was athletics.  A superb multi-sport competitor, he was considering opportunities for a professional sports career. (At one point, he was recruited by the Washington Redskins, who were impressed with his skills as a halfback.) 

Johnson knowingly misrepresents the facts to help create a false narrative.  MacArthur did not play sports “in his early college career.”  He was attending Bob Jones University which had no sports teams.  

Johnson makes the same bogus claim as MacArthur about the Washington Redskins recruiting him.  MacArthur supposedly attended their training camp the Summer of 1960.  The accident occurred the Summer of 1958.  Two years earlier.  Johnson in his deceptive style makes it sound like the accident deterred MacArthur from “a professional sports career.”  That is not true.       

A Brief Account (cont.) 

But all that changed in an instant on a remote Alabama highway during a cross-country road trip between semesters.  Six students were traveling together in a two-door Ford Fairlane when the driver lost control.  The car apparently drifted off the edge of the shoulder, and the driver reacted too forcefully, over-correcting.  The car went airborne, the passenger’s side door opened, and John MacArthur was ejected.  Seat belts were virtually unheard of in those days, but John was the only student thrown from the car.  Fortunately, no one else was seriously injured.  The open door kept the car from rolling over completely.  It landed upside down and just spun to a stop. 

Johnson says “the driver reacted too forcefully” and “the car went airborne.”  In mid-air “the passenger’s side door opened.”  We are not told why it opened since there was no collision.  MacArthur is “ejected” but no one else in the packed vehicle.  There were two other passengers in the front seat.  They don’t fly out through the open door or the shattered or obliterated windshield.  Windshields were not made safer until the 1960’s.  

The airborne car crashes (not landed) “upside down” but no one is “seriously injured.”  It “just spun to a stop.”  Did you know Santa Clause is real?  So is the tooth fairy and Easter bunny!   

When the airborne car crashed at 75 mph on the pavement the open car door would have been torn off its hinges or slammed shut.  It would not have prevented “rolling over completely.”  Car doors were not reinforced until the 1960’s. There were no anti-intrusion bars or beams until the 1970’s. 

A Brief Account (cont.) 

John, however, was propelled on his back onto the asphalt at nearly seventy miles per hour.  When his body stopped skidding, he was more than a hundred yards from the point where he left the car; he had sustained serious abrasions and third-degree friction burns on his back—but  no  broken  bones.  And he was still fully conscious when the long skid finally ended.  He stood up, walked to the edge of the road, and stood there bleeding by the highway.  He says that before the dust from the accident even settled, he had surrendered his life to the Lord for full-time ministry. 

MacArthur was flying through the air at “nearly seventy miles per hour.”  His horrific landing “onto the asphalt” would have killed him.  We don’t know how many yards he traveled in the air versus how many yards he “was propelled on his back.”  The combination was over “a hundred yards” (down from 125-130 yards).  It does matter.  The story is a hoax. 

This supposed violent and deadly ejection resulted in “no broken bones.”  Not even his pinky finger.  All he sustained were “serious abrasions and third-degree friction burns on his back.”  They are not all over.  The abrasions cause some bleeding.  Otherwise, he stood up fully conscious, walked to the side of the road, and stood there.  He didn’t even sit down. 

Maybe Steve Lawson was right.  John MacArthur is Atlas. 

“And I just want to say I love John MacArthur.  You have the greatest pastor on planet earth.  And not only is he your pastor but he has been so uniquely raised up by God in this hour of church history that he really is America’s pastor.  And he is the leading voice of evangelicalism.  He is the last man standing.  God always has the next generation and they are out there somewhere standing in the shadows but right now there is one strong man who is an Atlas.” (Sermon, Grace Community Church, Jan. 3, 2021) 

Back to Johnson. 

A Brief Account (cont.) 

The healing process was unbelievably painful.  Alabama doctors applied strips of gauze soaked with an ointment called Furacin to the burns, wrapping the patient like a mummy-then shipped him home to California.  California doctors decided the Furacin strips needed to be peeled off, which was a long and painful ordeal—far worse than the original accident.  John lay on his stomach in various states of discomfort for three months.  The pain slowly gave way to severe itching, and the ordeal seemed as if it would never end.  “But,” John says, “by the time I had recovered, I was truly ready to do whatever God wanted me to do.” 

The accident is hyped.  Now the treatment and recovery are hyped.  

Applying “strips of gauze soaked with an ointment called Furacin to the burns” is how you treat a second or third degree burn.  There is little to no pain for a third degree burns because the nerves in the subcutaneous layer are largely destroyed. 

Nor is it a “long and painful ordeal” for doctors to peel off Furacin strips.  These antibiotic gauze strips lay on the surface of the burns.  Doctors easily remove them.  They are nothing like the thick wrappings around a mummy! 

And remember the wound on his back was 70 square inches in 1964.  That is less than a letter size piece of paper which is 94 square inches.  Or think of it this way.  The wound was 7x10 inches.  That doesn’t require being “wrapped like a mummy.”  This kind of exaggeration is stupefying.  

Supposedly “John lay on his stomach in various states of discomfort for three months.”  Third degree friction burns take 3-4 weeks to heal. 

Different Degrees of Burns: Healing Time & Treatment (emedihealth.com)
Healing Time for the Different Degrees of Burns 

First-degree burns are usually healed completely within 3–5 days.  Second-degree burns take 5–8 days to heal if the damage is deep. 

Third-degree burns need surgical removal of the dead skin and then coverage with a skin graft to restore the pliability and function of the burn area.  So, the recovery time for third-degree burns may last as long as 3–4 weeks, even with a good rate of skin healing and no infection. 

Johnson quotes MacArthur saying, “But by the time I had recovered, I was truly ready to do whatever God wanted me to do.”  He recovered the summer of 1958.  Two years later,  he was pursuing football, basketball, and baseball with all his heart in college.  This contradicts his claim he was “truly ready to do whatever God wanted me to do.”  

As I’ve pointed out above, MacArthur and Johnson make it sound like he is playing sports before the accident and turns away from sports after the accident.  That is flatly untrue.  The exact opposite is the case.       

Let me review the chronology.  The accident occurred the summer of 1958 between MacArthur’s freshman and sophomore years at Bob Jones University in Greensville, SC.  He transferred to Los Angeles Pacific College two years later to play football, basketball and baseball during his junior and senior years (1959-1961).  The accident had no impact on his life in terms of sports.  It remained his number one passion. 

The Moral to the Story 

Men in ministry must be men of the highest integrity.  When they lie, deceive, and cover up the Lord exposes them.  

Proverbs 10:8 He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out. 

That is what the Lord has been doing with John MacArthur.  His life on earth may soon end.  He is 83 and increasingly frail.  No doubt he will be hailed a hero of the faith upon his death by those who stand to profit or by those who refuse to put character first or study the evidence.  

Nevertheless, the Word of God is true.  Those who have ears to hear can learn much from John MacArthur.  “Whoever exalts himself, will be humbled” (Matt. 23:12).  “Do not lie to one another” (Col. 3:9).  “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7). 

I first wrote about MacArthur in June 2017.  I addressed his hypocrisy.  Since then, I have appealed to him in private.  I’ve appealed to his Board.  I’ve pleaded with his elders.  All for naught.  They persist in covering up the multiplicity of his transgressions.  

John MacArthur Refuses to Follow His Own Teaching in Dealing with Phil Johnson’s Egregious Sins
Friday, June 30, 2017 at 3:54 PM 

I value biblical teaching and sound doctrine but it is not enough.  Many who have taught the Bible well (or okay) have lived badly and brought great reproach upon Christ and Christianity.  Their hypocrisy and self-serving have stumbled multitudes.     

It is the life of a servant who is great in the Lord’s eyes.  Someone who does not desire fame or fortune.  In contrast, John MacArthur has carefully built a religious empire around his legend.  A legend so often built upon tall tales and fanciful fables.   

One day there will be a great fire.  “Each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work” (1 Cor. 3:13).  

This fire will not scorch us if we build upon the foundation of Christ with pure doctrine and pure living for the glory of God alone and good of others.

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