In response, MacArthur emphasized the biblical message that “there’s only one God, and there’s only one Savior, and there’s only one way of salvation. If that’s true, then all other ways are false. Not everything can be true.” It would be “inconsistent with the nature of God” for him to allow a “bizarre free-for-all” regarding the spiritual realm, MacArthur added.
The pastor encouraged young people to “be exposed to the truth” from God’s Word. “Listen and decide if that doesn’t have the ring of truth and that isn’t in fact what your heart cries for in the chaos and the confusion,” MacArthur advised. “The only way you’ll ever know is to hear, because faith in the truth comes by hearing the truth.”
Charlie Kirk and John MacArthur Discuss Salvation
To conclude their September 2022 conversation, podcaster Charlie Kirk asked Pastor John MacArthur to talk to people who are “starting to drink from the streams of liberty, but they want to find its source” and are “looking for salvation.”
MacArthur responded:
When we’re talking about Christ, we’re not talking about ethics, although he’s the most ethical human who ever lived. We’re not talking about being compassionate, although he was the most compassionate person who ever lived. We’re talking about [the] one who died to pay the penalty for all your sins and, having paid that penalty, can offer you forgiveness forever and the promise of everlasting eternal joy and life in his presence. That’s what Christ is about…
He is a Savior, and what you need more than anything else is to be delivered from eternal death, to be delivered from the power and the presence of your sin. That’s what Christ offers, and that’s why he died and proved that he accomplished it, because he rose from the dead triumphant.
Kirk thanked MacArthur for being “such an inspiration to me personally,” as well as for taking strong stands and for proclaiming truth.
After MacArthur died in July 2025, Kirk lauded the pastor for how he “openly defied the California government” and “rejected the lockdowns” during the pandemic. Kirk also praised MacArthur for challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion.
“John MacArthur did something that is one of the most difficult, one of the most important parts of a Christian walk,” said Kirk. Referencing 2 Timothy 4:7, the podcaster said that MacArthur “finished well. He never bowed to the gods of this age. He never apologized for Scripture. He was a fighter through and through.”
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By contrast, Kirk said, “So many other Christian pastors, and I will not say their name, they’re finishing really poorly right now…They became weak during COVID and woke.” Now that MacArthur is in heaven,” Kirk said, “We will continue the fight that he started…We’ll keep on fighting for Jesus and fighting for what’s right.”
Kirk said he regretted never being able to meet MacArthur in person but appreciated their many video and phone calls. Topics the pair addressed during the past few years included the right to worship during COVID, the “feminization” of American Christianity, biblical marriage, and transgender ideology.
