Michael L. Brown, Authentic Fire: A Response to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire (Excel Publishers, Dec 12, 2013), 418 pages.

Dr. Michael Brown in his work Authentic Fire confronts the misinformation of Pastor John MacArthur’s outspoken zeal against all things charismatic in his book, Strange Fire. While Dr. Brown admits that on some points Dr. MacArthur is right on, his language is radically abusive in tone. And some of Pastor MacArthur’s comments are simply untrue. Brown carefully separates the message from the messenger in addressing charismatic abuse before proceeding to the good stuff: how to burn with authentic fire.

How successful Pentecostal movements have been at policing their own—or if they have just been policing their ammunition, cleaning up their own crime scene to mitigate the charges—is debated early. This is a must read section for persons like myself who miss the mourners bench and the witness from the unlearned that God is among us (1 Corinthians 14:16). Charismatic abuses are undeniable: the prosperity doctrine; slain in the ‘spirit’ but not healed; emotionalism without holiness; game-show hype and seeker-centric services instead of the message of the Cross; the superficial replacing the spiritual. Brown recognized that we are catering our gospel to carnality.

But as Brown shows, there is a true spirit of co-operation with God’s Spirit among a large segment of Pentecostal leadership to penitently admit the self-centric extremes visible in their midst and to confront it with biblical truth. Brown has been outspoken in past writings about what he called the “gospel” of self. Simply put: MacArthur has nothing constructive to add to the honest voices within Pentecost that call for repentance. MacArthur’s Strange Fire, which required a response in the writing of Authentic Fire, provides mere background static that drives Pentecostals to go on the defense—something Brown cautions against and wants to prevent from happening.

Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908) was an American gospel singer and hymn writer best known for his association with evangelist D. L. Moody.

Brown says that some of MacArthur’s ranting is a false attack akin to what England’s ministerium did in 1874 when they labeled the powerful outcomes of Ira Sankey’s singing as human conceit and not worship. But emotion is not emotionalism. A move of God’s Spirit often elicits a heartfelt response which is smothered in the name of propriety or order by well-meaning but misguided church leadership—who are afraid to express the full depth of their Christian experience [Luke 6:23; 10:20;19:37]. If there was abuse, it was in requiring a charismatic outburst—and not simply allowing a passionate response to happen.

MacArthur is a cessationist maintaining that tongues and prophecy have ceased based on his interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8. MacArthur called a Pentecostal revival service “craziness” and an “emotional orgy.” No wonder Brown had to respond in a gentle spirit while encouraging charismatic believers who only want a closer reality of their Savior and to be under His administration. In Brown’s words: “I embraced it with tears of joy while others mocked it. And that’s the great concern I have today.”

Brown speaks of MacArthur’s judgment of a move of the Holy Spirit as a faulty exegesis of Scripture and a flawed pneumatology. Brown provides scriptural insight to support this assertion. It is also noteworthy that MacArthur has been looking at a small percentage of American ministries that are not at all representative of the global move of God’s Spirit.

Michael L. Brown, Authentic Fire: A Response to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire (Excel Publishers, Dec 12, 2013), 418 pages.

Authentic Fire is Dr. Michael Brown’s response to John MacArthur’s book Strange Fire. MacArthur’s Strange Fire launches a scathing attack on the Christian Charismatic Movement and so it comes as no surprise that champions of the charismatic community should launch a defense to MacArthur’s assertions. Dr. Brown leads the charge with a book just shy of 420 pages that seeks to address MacArthur’s main contentions.

Brown’s tone is always respectful towards MacArthur and even conciliatory at times. It is clear that Brown has ample respect for MacArthur, both as a Bible scholar and brother in Christ. His approach is refreshing when contrasted with MacArthur’s blanket criticisms. Beginning by acknowledging that the charismatic church has made mistakes and has its share of controversy, Brown never shies away from the reality that the charismatic movement is far from perfect. Nonetheless, within the first few pages, Brown make his position clear when he writes, “Pastor MacArthur’s criticisms of the Charismatic Movement are inaccurate, unhelpful, often harshly judgmental, sometimes without scriptural support, and frequently divisive in the negative sense of the word … a strong corrective is needed, along with a positive statement of the truth of the matter.” (p2). And thus the agenda is set and Brown’s mission is clear.

Brown begins by addressing a number of sweeping statements that can be found in Strange Fire. To counteract MacArthur’s claim that the Charismatic Movement ”has made no contribution to biblical clarity … interpretation … sound doctrine”, Brown cites many well-known and respected authors and scholars in the Christian world that blatantly contradict MacArthur’s bold claim. Among these are, A.W Tozer, Oswald Chambers, Craig S. Keener, Ben Witherington, N.T. Wright, Wayne Grudem and many others. Brown addresses MacArthur’s claim to guilt by association (the idea that if one is part of a movement that has involved scandal then one is guilty by association), and rightly points out that the pendulum can swing both ways, observing Luther’s anti-Semitism and Calvin’s draconian rules that led to men and women being burnt at the stake. Both Luther and Calvin are darlings of the theological world that John MacArthur walks in, and so Brown fairly asks if we should also associate MacArthur with such doctrinal errors.

Perhaps one of the real gems of Authentic Fire is chapter 6 in which Dr Brown addresses the theological debate regarding cessationism versus continuationism. Documenting his own journey into cessationism and back out into continuationism, Brown observes, “The more I read the Word wanting to prove cessationism true, the more I became convinced that it was exegetically impossible. The scriptures did not teach cessationism” (p165). Brown proceeds to do a convincing job of highlighting the major flaws of cessationism, insightfully noting that often this theological viewpoint is arrived at via subjective experience rather than biblical objectivity. The true value of this chapter, though, is the exegetical work Brown does in examining the miracles of Jesus and New Testament evidence to support the biblical argument for continuationism. No matter one’s position on this theological issue, Dr Brown’s treatment of the subject is worthy of attention to anyone serious about an honest biblical treatment.

Michael L. Brown, Authentic Fire: A Response to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire (Excel Publishers, Dec 12, 2013), 418 pages.

In my review of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire, I pointed out what I considered to be inexcusable intellectual dishonesty regarding the Charismatic Movement and its contributions to worldwide Christianity. Blanket statements were made with little documentation or knowledge of those within the movement who have made strong intellectual, scholarly and corrective statements. MacArthur singled out rare abuses and presented them as if they characterized the entire movement.

I therefore find Michael Brown’s Authentic Fire to be, not only an appropriate response, but a devastating rebuttal so thoroughly documented and footnoted as to be almost overwhelming. He treats John MacArthur with due respect, while confronting massive errors and refraining from any hint of the mocking tone so prevalent in Strange Fire. In doing so, he doesn’t hesitate to point out areas of concern that thinking charismatics share with MacArthur. What I called inexcusable and dishonest in Strange Fire, Brown characterizes as an enormous blind spot, granting MacArthur some benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, he truthfully poses an indictment: “You see, it is one thing to address serious errors and abuses, as I and others have done. It is another thing to fail to recognize and, worse still, mock the contemporary work of the Spirit, to vilify godly leaders, and to damn to hell countless millions of brothers and sisters in Jesus.”

Brown has done his homework. With numerous quotes from works of the likes of Derek Prince, David Wilkerson, John Wimber, Leonard Ravenhill, Oswald Chambers, A. W. Tozer and a host of others, he makes an ironclad case for the existence of sound theology and biblical practices within mainstream charismatic circles. He does this without denying the occasional abuses that have obviously occurred, but puts them in their proper perspective.

As an insider to the Charismatic Renewal, Brown points out, not only abuses that need correction, but failures in discernment as happened, for instance, in the Lakeland Revival. Far from denying that abuses and failures exist, he includes confessions like this one addressing the “coronation” of Todd Bentley: “Although I never attended any of the meetings and watched only two services online, one of them absolutely horrified me, as some of the most respected charismatic leaders in the nation gathered to lay hands on the main leader, Todd Bentley, in what seemed to be kind of a coronation service. Some of these men were friends of mine, and I was so grieved over what was taking place that I had to turn the meeting off, unable to watch what seemed to be almost an act of self-mockery.”

As a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary, 1976, I have no trouble reading scholarly works. That being said, I find Authentic Fire almost daunting in its documentation, bordering on the tedious in its thoroughness. I mean this as a shining compliment. This is no short paperback meant for devotional or inspirational reading by the average person. In Authentic Fire, by means of an avalanche of actual fact and exposure of faulty reasoning, errors in scholarship, presentation of misinformation, use of faulty biblical exegesis and ignorance of actual revival history in MacArthur’s work are effectively refuted.