Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit With Counterfeit Worship

John MacArthur has made a name for himself with excellent exegetical biblical preaching--but this in no way makes him prepared to tackle Pentecostal theology and practice. He regularly attacks view at the very edge of the extreme while arguing that this represents the way that all Pentecostals are moving towards. This broad brush technique is completely at odds with how Pentecostals and Charismatics splinter and follow different teachings and groups just like other denominations and movements (for example the following are completely different to what MacArthur attacks but charismatic: Vineyard, Calvary Chapel, Reformed Charismatic, Evangelical Charismatic, Empowered Evangelicals, and many more).

MacArthur will consistently tear down any part of the entire Pentecostal/Charismatic movement with a single quote from any number of lunatic fringe names, showing both a complete lack of understanding of the broad nature of the movement, as well as lacking in any in-depth Scriptural examination of the roots of this part of our Christian lives.

By lacking understanding of any of the gifts or speaking of the Spirit to Christians, MacArthur contributes almost nothing to the conversation. What grace gives a person is the ability to hear a person out even if you don't understand them. MacArthur displays almost none of this. As such, it will only convince people who similarly have no understanding of the reality of the 99% non-fringe.

For example in his discussion on tongues he does…

I bought this book as I wanted something that could look at this subject objectively and biblically as my experience is that people can be quite polarised around how the holy spirit operates. I was incredibly disappointed that the introduction felt like an emotional tirade basically saying if anyone believes anything different from the book they are an idiot. I debated to even bother reading the rest of the book as it was not going to be the thought out debate I thought it would be. I decided to push through, and in further chapters there was some quite good points to chew on - unfortunately interspersed with emotive language to push a point. A number of the examples from the pentecostal/charismatic churches he used are extreme and many charismatic people would agree they are heretical in what they are saying and doing. And while some controversial passages are mentioned, a number that do not support MacArthur's viewpoint are not even looked at. So while MacArthur makes some interesting points, he is preaching to the converted as anyone who, like me, is wanting to explore the topic to chew on it would struggle to get past the introduction which shows the strong bias of the author. A disappointing buy. Useful for cessationists who want something to quote to support their viewpoint, but not a good book for someone who is wanting to find a balance between extreme pentecostalism and shutting down the holy spirit altogether.

A very informative book. Helped me in my private study time, digging about false teachers. I love the content. It highlights the importance of discernment and total dependence on the Scripture. \\n\\nOn the other hand, the book's font is too small and I advise the readers to read this when sun is up. It is a bit hard to read at night. The paper is rough and gray but the book is light so it is easy to carry around.

This book was released in 2013 at a conference hosted by Grace Community Church in California with the same name. The book was designed to engage and critique the Charismatic and Pentecostal claims of ongoing supernatural gifts in the church today and the extremes in their worship practices. While the conference had a whole array of speakers from the conservative evangelical world and diversity of churches addressing various themes related to the same issues the book tries to exegetically and biblically address the issues from a more scholarly angle head on. It's not MacArthur's first attempt at addressing the issues having written a book earlier in his ministry titled Charismatic Chaos. This present book was more of a polemical work trying to vindicate a Holy Spirit from the plethora of things attributed to his doing in more extreme fringe circles of the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. While not representative of all such churches this book tackles the prevailing doctrines that all such churches hold too to varying degrees. While settled on my position having read quite broadly on the subject I found the book to be helpful though in some places overly polemic and critical. Michael Brown an advocate of much of what the book critiqued wrote a response but in my estimation it comes far short and fails to biblically defend many of the practices. Worth a look into!

Macarthur methodically breaks down the Charismatic position. Thankfully, his appeal is less to history and tradition, and more to scripture exposited with good hermeneutic. Included are plenty of quotes from Charismatic proponents exposing further the lack of biblical understanding in that position. His approach is rather straight to the point so it will be difficult to read without wanting to defend oneself, however it's important that this view is considered due to it's desire to first be biblically faithful and please Christ.