John MacArthur: Strange Fire Conference

[bloodbought]

Strange Fire Conference

Strange Fire, part of Grace to You’s Truth Matters conference series, evaluates the doctrines, claims, and practices of the modern charismatic movement, and affirms the true Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The conference features pastor and Bible teacher John MacArthur, as well as teaching or presentations by:

R.C. Sproul
Steve Lawson
Conrad Mbewe
Tom Pennington
Phil Johnson


Nathan Busenitz
Justin Peters
Todd Friel
Joni Eareckson Tada

Includes the following 19 messages:

Strange Fire (John MacArthur)

A Deeper Healing (Joni Eareckson Tada)

Undervaluing Pentecost (R.C. Sproul)

Calvin’s Critique of Charismatic Calvinists (Steve Lawson)

The African Import of Charismatic Chaos (Conrad Mbewe)

Testing the Spirits (John MacArthur)

A Case for Cessationism (Tom Pennington)

A Word from the Lord? Evaluating the Modern Gift of Prophecy (Nathan Busenitz)

Is There a Baby in the Charismatic Bathwater? (Phil Johnson)

The Devilish Puppet Master of the Word-Faith Movement (Justin Peters)

Strange Fire Panel Question and Answer, Session 1

The Puritan Commitment to Sola Scriptura (Steve Lawson)

Are We Preachers or Witch Doctors? (Conrad Mbewe)

Charismatic Counterfeits: Do the Modern Gifts Meet the Biblical Standard? (Nathan Busenitz)

Providence Is Remarkable (Phil Johnson)

Spiritual Shipwreck of the Word-Faith Movement (Justin Peters)

Strange Fire Panel Question and Answer, Session 2

An Appeal to Charismatic Friends (John MacArthur)

An Appeal to Charismatic Pretenders


Listen to all programs at link.

[PrisonerOfHope]

Two Quick Thoughts About Strange Fire

Point 1

Here’s an irony for you:

The main argument of the Strange Fire Conference appears to have been that any Charismatic belief engenders a lack of discernment, enabling the worst sort of Charismatic excess. That’s it. Pretty simple statement, right? Now I didn’t attend or listen to the messages, but I know that’s the argument. I read one article by Phil Johnson, saw some tweets, and I think it’s pretty clear that that was the argument.

So I would expect the Charismatic apologists to respond to that argument. I expect them to say, angry“No, there is nothing about Charismaticism which engenders lack of discernment, and we are not enabling the worst sort of Charismatic excess.” That would be a response to the argument.

Only, insofar as I have seen, none of them are saying that. Instead, they’re saying, “We don’t practice the worst sort of Charismatic excess.” That’s no response. It’s arguing a fact already stipulated. It ignores the argument and the accusation made against Charismaticism. It’s as though they don’t understand the point of Strange Fire.

Almost as though …wait for it…they lack discernment!

Point 2

MacArthur has been accused of training his fire on allies rather than on the enemy. There are greater evils in the world, we are told, so why one big conference against fellow believers?

I disagree.

In the last few years I have become involved in teaching and preaching at a mission in inner-city Milwaukee. I now go downtown twice a week. Between different schedules and constantly shifting road construction, I have driven from the suburbs to the heart of Milwaukee along dozens of different routes. As a pastor who spent my first three years in town scouting for available church buildings, I notice churches when I drive. And on every route I see three types of churches: big empty Catholic relics, small dead liberal sepulchers, and a myriad of storefront health-and-wealth Pentecostal scam centers.



Looks like they’ve got them in New York, too.

In fact I’ve come to recognize something. The great problem of my city, and probably of yours as well, is not abortion, or homosexuality, or the welfare culture, or drugs, or gangs, or crime. It’s Charismaticism.

You think I’m kidding? The form of Charismaticism which dominates the poor neighborhoods is the “God wants you to be rich” type. It is a toxic drug for the poor. It is a scam which sucks up their last pocket change. It perpetuates poverty while lining the pockets of con men. It isn’t a feature of the blight on our cities, it is the blight.

But it’s worse than that. Charismaticism is a spiritual distraction from the gospel. Try telling a poor man that his real problem is sin, his real danger is hell, and the real solution is the cross. He’s caught up in trying to figure out the magic formula to get on the Holy Spirit Gravy Train to sudden wealth and comfort. Work with him though you may, when he goes out into his neighborhood a dozen “churches” tell him they have that formula, and the gospel is snatched away. Charismaticism plays the role of the birds in the Parable of the Sower.

Meanwhile, the constant drumbeat of the Pentecostal mega-ministries fill that man’s mind, drowning out the message of eternal life. I realize that out in the burbs the only folks to watch TBN are the feeble-minded. It’s different where the poor people live. A poor man will watch that stuff. He’ll believe that stuff. And he’ll throw his soul away looking for a quick fix.

It’s the great evil, I tell you. The only answer is to get a hold of that man and say, “LISTEN! God has spoken to you, but it isn’t in some vague, indefinable, mysterious whisper. He’s spoken to you here, in this book, and He calls you to repent and to believe in His Son!”

So what do I think of the cautious Charismatic who comes along and says to that guy, “All true; repent, believe, but you know…maybe just maybe God is whispering to you out of the dark also. You don’t want to rule it out! Wouldn’t want to be a deist, now would you?” What do I think of them?

Well, if John MacArthur wants to train his fire on them, I say good for him. CAIR may not actually be terrorists, but I’m all for exposing their giving of aid and comfort to terrorists. Likewise Sam Storms.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.


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