California Gov. Gavin Newsom is a rising star in the Democratic Party.
He is best known, of course, for ineptly leading the troubled state of California through high taxes, rampant illegal immigration, notorious bureaucracy, and a host of other issues, not to mention the devastating fires currently burning down Los Angeles.
But Newsom was not always the chief executive of the Golden State. Two decades ago, he was just the lowly mayor of San Francisco.
As Newsom was climbing the political ladder, John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in the Los Angeles suburb of Sun Valley, California, was faithfully pastoring his congregation and pumping out expositional preaching, a task that the now-octogenarian continues to this day.
The paths of the minister and the magistrate once crossed when they sparred in a conversation moderated by television host Larry King about their competing moral visions with respect to so-called same-sex marriage. That debate remains relevant to the present day.
Newsom likened opposition to that type of so-called marriage with opposition to interracial marriage, touting his bona fides as a “practicing Catholic.”
“I don’t see what we’re doing, in terms of advancing the bond of love and monogamy, and extending that to families, families of same sex, in any way, shape, or form, takes away anything from the church or the sanctity of the union that my wife and I have,” the young mayor insisted.
MacArthur, who listened intently that entire time, only had one simple question.
Are you a fan of Pastor John MacArthur?
“I would just like to ask the mayor, as a ‘practicing Catholic,’ do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?” he inquired.
Newsom did not like that question, saying he would not enter into a “theological debate” with the pastor. When MacArthur pressed again, he responded that “out of respect, I guess I do.”
“When the Bible says, when God created man, he said one man and one woman, cleaved together for life,” MacArthur responded. “That’s a family. Jesus in the New Testament reaffirms that, all the writers of the Old and the New Testament affirm it. Adultery, bestiality, homosexuality was punishable by death according to the Old Testament law, because it was so serious in those early years, because it literally shattered the hope of civilization.”
MacArthur also noted that such sins are forgivable, and that “Jesus died to redeem us from those sins.” But King wanted to know why any of MacArthur’s points were relevant to the state. MacArthur said that he simply wanted clarity on Newsom’s authority, given his claim to be a “practicing Catholic,” at least for the time being.
Newsom doubled down on his remarks, saying he was “proud to represent a city that has diverse points of view” and that has “evolved from the old constructs that I think have, frankly, held back society.”
Christians would probably say that MacArthur won the battle of ideas that day. But there is no question that Newsom and his allies made significant advances in the culture war throughout the following two decades.
Newsom continues to believe that Christian sexual ethics “held back society,” aggressively applying that claim not only to homosexuality, but also to transgenderism, abortion, and much more.
Every year, more and more “old constructs” of biblical truth are thrown away in California, and new constructs of pagan falsehood take their place.
But the fruit speaks for itself, and the fruit on the dying tree of California is unquestionably rotten.
California today is not only a physical hellscape amid the most recent bout of fires, but is also a spiritual hellscape, where anyone can murder their preborn baby, pretend to get married to a member of the same sex, or mutilate their own genitals, all under the auspices of a tyrannical bureaucracy that fails to ensure a reasonable cost of living or a basic sense of law and order.
The issue, of course, is the one that MacArthur mentioned first.
California leaders see themselves, rather than God and his revealed Word, as the ultimate authority. That is ultimately why the California experiment has failed.
Perhaps the Golden State should rewatch this conversation and consider returning to some of those “old constructs.” At this point, they do not have much else to lose.
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