Strange Fire by
John MacArthur
Pastor John MacArthur is no stranger to debate, argument,
and attacking movements among the church that he deems doctrinally and
spiritually destructive. His latest
book, Strange Fire, is a look at the
modern Charismatic movement from a critical and cessationist point of
view. Rather than just trying to add a
few thoughts from his previous book, Charismatic Chaos, John seeks to confront
the movement from a two pronged approach; namely, pointing out the unbiblical
nature of both the extra biblical gifts (tongues, prophecy, healing), including
the radical distorted views of the leaders of the charismatic movement, and
also, to help the reader understand the Spirit’s work in relationship to the
word, salvation, and sanctification. At
the end of the book, John poses a letter to his continuationist friends who
align with his gospel truths but maintain the use of the gifts today. After reading the book, you feel as if you’ve
just endured a rant from a college football coach who felt the refs got it all
wrong.
At the outset, John’s goal of understanding the Spirit’s
work to ‘exalt Christ, especially to
elicit praise for Christ for His
people,’ (xvii) is a noble and worthwhile endeavor. To point to Christ is the Spirit’s primary
goal from start to finish in the New Testament. John counters the notorious prosperity
gospel for its incipient desire to bring material wealth to its listeners
rather than pointing them to Christ. The
consequence of this teaching is ‘disappointment, frustration, poverty, sorrow,
anger, and ultimately unbelief.’ (10) By
pointing out the worst examples of this kind such as Paul Crouch, Oral Roberts,
and Kenneth Copeland, John posits the extreme abuse these men cause upon the
millions that they influence. This kind
of preaching that teaches that God desires every believer to be rich beyond
their wildest dreams is an aberration of the truth that God calls his followers
to endure suffering, especially as they strive to live faithfully in a broken
world.
Second, I would point out that John helpfully leads us back to
the Scriptures to see if the use of the Spirit in modern charismatic circles coincides
with sound biblical teaching. John
writes, “The shocking implication is that a serious study of God’s Word limits
or thwarts the work of the Spirit.” (68)
The overemphasis on experiencing the power of the Spirit through signs,
tongues, and healing can lead to a mistrust and lack of study in the
Scriptures. Further, experience
eventually trumps Scripture by providing an immediate sensation for the
Christian life rather than a normative written word that speaks truth for all
ages. Yet, if there is a balance between
proper use of the spiritual gifts and serious study of the Bible, then this is
a point to contend with.
As others have said, John goes after the worst cases of
abuse both spiritually and morally in this book in regards to the modern
charismatic movement. He does mention the
work of Wayne Grudem (few references) and D.A. Carson, but his main opponents
are men like Benny Hinn, Jack Deere, Peter Wagner and others who have/had a
great influence upon the movement. This
kind of argument does not deal with those who love Christ and follow him while
maintaining evangelical convictions within a continuationist framework. John also makes blanket statements without
references that are misleading. For instance,
he writes, “I am convinced that the broader Charismatic Movement opened the
door to more theological error than perhaps any other doctrinal aberration in
the twentieth century (including liberalism, psychology, and ecumenism)” (247) How
are we supposed to test this opinion?
Doctrinal aberrations come in various sizes and forms, even within the
evangelical community. Lastly, John is
very close to positing that those who follow the Charismatic movement, even
within more evangelical convictions are promoting wickedness.
Ultimately, this book will be more fodder for those already
convinced of the cessationist position but also will stir the pot with those in
the charismatic community. I don’t think
this book furthers the discussion between continuationist and cessationists
namely because of its tone.
T
hanks to BookSneeze for the copy of this book in exchange
for review.
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