This is a pre-publication review of John MacArthur, Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship (Thomas Nelson, Nov 12, 2013) 9781400205172.

As a life-long Pentecostal-Charismatic, I recommend that every Pentecostal-Charismatic leader read Strange Fire by John MacArthur. I say this because we need to see how the bizarre “spiritual” behavior and doctrinal extremes by some in our movement are viewed by those on the outside and are used to whitewash the entire movement. We have done a very poor job of addressing these problems from within, so I do not doubt that God has raised up a voice that is fundamentally opposed to our movement to address these extremes. If God could use a pagan Babylonian king to discipline his people Israel for their sins (Jeremiah 25:8-11), could he not use a merciless fundamentalist preacher to point out our shortcomings?

That being said, MacArthur’s latest book does not represent an honest search for truth. It is obvious that his mind was already made up when he began his research for Strange Fire, and he found what he was looking for. He presents a circular argument, beginning with a faulty premise and proceeding with selective anecdotal evidence that determines the outcome. He begins with a commitment to cessationism, the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the church after the death of the twelve apostles and the completion of the writings of the New Testament. Since that is the case for him, that means modern expressions of Spiritual gifts must be false. He then utilizes the selective anecdotal evidence to buttress his presupposition, which leads him back to his starting point of cessation.

It seems that MacArthur wants to believe the worst about the movement of which he writes. At times I felt he was embellishing the bad to make it even worse. For example, Oral Roberts was not a Christian brother with whom he had profound differences but a heretic who did much damage to the body of Christ, “the first of the fraudulent healers to capture TV, paving the way for the parade of spiritual swindlers who have come after him” (155). Make no mistake about it, MacArthur is not out to bring correction to a sector of Christianity with which he disagrees; his goal is to destroy a movement he considers false, heretical and dangerous.

Garnet Howard Milne, The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Cessation of Special Revelation: The Majority Puritan Viewpoint on Whether Extra-biblical Prophecy is Still Possible (Studies in Christian History and Thought; Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2007), 362 pages, ISBN 9781556358050.

This book discusses the circumstances surrounding the Westminster Confession of Faith (the most influential confession in the English-speaking Reformed tradition today), and it does so from a particularly interesting angle. Milne asks: What did the framers of this confession make of revelatory dreams and other signifying means by which the believer might be guided, and how did they reconcile their belief in the continuation of these means of divine communication with the WCF’s disavowal of continued (viz. “special”) revelation after the closing of the biblical canon? Milne discusses this issue from the point of view of one who appears to affirm the WCF in all its particulars, but his treatment of the topic is balanced and fair, his research is impressive, and his writing is engaging.

Pentecostals in particular will be interested in learning something of the history of the cessationist argument. I found it fascinating that only one out of the scores of arguments issued against the continuation of miracles centered on 1 Corinthians 13. Apparently, this prooftext did not become a live wire until sometime after the birth of modern Pentecostalism.

Robert W. Graves wrote Praying in the Spirit (Chosen Books) in 1987.

This chart is from part 2 of the sixth chapter of the Praying in the Spirit Series.

Figure 2

Proposed Dates of Charismata Cessation  

Jon Ruthven, On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Postbiblical Miracles, Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series 3 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993 and 1997), 271 pages.

Those who are involved in friendly debates with cessationists should seriously consider this book as a gift in order to further conversation on the topic. Let me briefly identify the book’s highlights.

First, Ruthven provides a valuable overview of the history of cessationism, beginning with Jewish sect of the Pharisees in the period of the early church and continuing through the Reformers’ debate against the Radical Reformation and Roman Catholicism, Hume’s criticism of all supernatural miracles, and the emergence of Deism.

Jon Mark Ruthven

Second, against this background, the cessationist polemic of Princeton theologian, Benjamin B. Warfield (1855-1921), is critically assessed. An outstanding example of contextualizing a theologian’s ideas, Ruthven’s discussion not only establishes the internal inconsistency of Warfield’s concept of miracle in the latter’s Counterfeit Miracles (1918), but also reveals a clear irony in his methodology. In his zeal to uphold the authority of Scripture, Warfield actually misread the biblical data on the charismata even according to his own hermeneutical principles. Further, his a priori cessationism led him to discredit miracles documented in the history of Christianity by applying to this record the same historical method that Hume and the deists used to undermine biblical miracles themselves. In short, Ruthven demonstrates that Warfield’s ‘bibliolatry’ (my term) actually blinded him to the continuities manifest between Scripture and ongoing biblical revelation, thus motivating his polemic.

Cover from the 2011 revised and expanded edition from Word & Spirit Press.

Third, Ruthven challenges the ‘evidentialist’ doctrine of miracles and the charismata that claims these served only to accredit the foundations of Christian faith in the first century. He provides us with a thorough exegetical investigation of all texts related to the function and duration of the charismata, and argues convincingly the thesis that they are edificatory for the Church. The charismata concretely express and make relevant the Gospel, and equip the Church for mission. If in fact the Church’s mission continues until the end of this age, then cessationism is wrong.

Finally, Ruthven provides hints for extending the biblical theology of the charismata that he has developed into a systematic theology of charismata. These involve other areas of theological study such as pneumatology, eschatology and the Kingdom of God, ecclesiology and theology of ministry, and the doctrines of grace and revelation. The book includes an exhaustive bibliography that researchers on cessationism cannot afford to ignore.

Ruthven’s writing style is lucid and his argument persuasive. The book is informative for scholar, pastor and layperson alike. I highly recommend it.

Reviewed by Amos Yong

This article by the Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Western Baptist College attempts to show that Paul’s ability to heal diminished towards the end of his ministry and finally ceased. Professor Derickson gives an introduction to his subject by discussing some of the basic concepts of cessationism and makes reference to both sides of the miraculous gifts debate.

Derickson states that the debate about the cessation or continuance of the miraculous gifts is not about whether God can or does heal today, but whether or not God does so through human agents.

Definitions

Derickson understands that charismatics believe that miracles “performed by miracle workers” (p. 301) can and should be experienced today. He does not intend to deal in this article with every area of what he calls the “modern faith healing debate,” but, “Rather, it examines only one aspect of the debate, namely, the New Testament evidences concerning the status of ‘miracle workers’ as the Apostolic Age drew to a close” (p.301, footnote). However, the conclusion he draws at the end of his article is, “… it is wrong for proponents of faith healing to claim that God must work the same today as He did at the beginning of the church” (p. 315).

The thesis of this article cannot contribute greatly to the theological debate about contemporary spiritual gifts because of the difficulty that arises from Derickson’s definition of a “miracle worker.” Derickson’s definition of a supernatural miracle would be acceptable to the majority, if not all evangelicals. His suggested definition for miracles “worked” by human agents is what charismatics would have difficulty with. “The miracles discussed in this article are those that involve a human agent through whom they are worked. The following is a suggested definition: ‘Miracles by miracle workers are those acts of God which He chooses to perform through the agency of either an apostle or gifted person with the authority and ability to exercise miraculous power at will.’ Only those performing supernatural acts at will are considered miracle workers” (p. 302). On a positive note, this definition may help refine the cessationist position on “miracle workers” and therefore bring to greater contrast the differing views that exist in the “modern faith healing debate.” The greater the contrast, the less likely this theological debate will be trivialized into a useless squabble. The fact of the matter is that whether the church today should go to God with an expectation of the miraculous is a big issue—one that says much about the future of the church worldwide.

The question that is begging from Derickson’s definition of a miracle worker is whether or not anyone has ever worked miracles at will. One of the few points of general agreement among the diversity of the charismatic movement is their belief that there are anointings or giftings for the working of miracles, God working through a human agent. Charismatics and Pentecostals do not believe, however, that such healers and miracle workers are able to do these things at will. Most charismatics believe quite strongly that it is God who heals, even though it is often through a human agent.

Miracles: Performed At Will?

There are some passages in the Old and New Testaments that might seem to indicate miracles and healings were done by the will of the human instrument being used by God. Many examples also exist that indicate quite the opposite. There are many examples of healings and miracles which were “performed” through the agency of an anointed individual that had nothing to do with that individual’s personal volition. Consider some of the following miracles that happened apart from the will of man, yet men were the point of contact for the supernatural to take place.