Robert W. Graves, ed., Strangers To Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture (The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 2014).

Strangers to Fire represents a phalanx of biblical responses by a variety of authors to the cessationism first developed by the serpent in the Garden: “Did God really say?” That was a challenge to the idea of revelation from God, a notion more fully developed by the cessationist scribes who opposed Jesus. Jesus said to them, “you have not heard His voice, you have not seen His form, the word of God is not in your heart, for you do not believe the one whom He has sent [to baptize in the Spirit of prophecy]. You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life [but you don’t really believe or act on what the scriptures teach]” (Jn 5:36-47).

Cover for the November 2016 re-release by Empowered Life.

I have come to believe, however, that cessationism is only a reflection of the fact that Protestant theology is off center even in its soteriology, compared to the explicit mission and message of Jesus. The Reformation only slightly tweaked the Roman Catholic mass as the center of Christianity when it limited itself essentially to answering the question, “How much does it cost to go to heaven.” That isn’t the question upon which Jesus focuses. Rather, Jesus came to introduce the Kingdom of God—a synonym for the Spirit—that is, the New Covenant of Jer 31:31-34 (developed in 2 Cor 3 and Heb 8-12) and Isa 59:21 (the “punch line” of the most important speech in Christianity, cited in Acts 2:39). This new understanding of the goal of the Bible, that is, the mission of Jesus, revolutionized my understanding of Christian theology. Cessationism explicitly denies the core mission of the Bible that Jesus repeatedly commissioned his disciples to do: bring the people of God into the New Covenant of the Spirit of prophetic revelation and power. The very first paragraph of the “gold standard” of Christian theology, The Westminster Confession of Faith, explicitly denies the very core goal that the Bible itself affirms—the “prophethood of all believers”—the ideal state of the New Covenant. I spell out most of this in my new book, What’s Wrong with Protestant Theology: Tradition vs Biblical Emphasis (Word & Spirit, 2013).

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

I would also recommend Michael Brown’s excellent response to MacArthur, Authentic Fire. The argument is clear, trenchant, and irenic by a skilled debater.

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34 NKJV

Are Pentecostals offering Strange Fire? (Panel Discussion)

Further Reading:

Interview with the editor: PneumaReview.com speaks with The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship President, Robert Graves, about their first published book, Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture.

Read the reviews of Strangers to Fire from Tony Richie and John Lathrop.

“Are Pentecostals offering Strange Fire?” The panel discussion at PneumaReview.com about John MacArthur’s Strange Fire.

Robert W. Graves, ed., Strangers To Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture (Woodstock, GA: The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 2014), 604 pages, ISBN 9780996044509

A quick overview reveals that Strangers to Fire is an anthology of 35 essays edited by Robert W. Graves, President of The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship. These essays are written by 26 authors from across the spectrum of the Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Third Wave movements. This book represents the non-cessationist or, better, continuationist, view that the charismata (spiritual gifts) active in the New Testament Church are still authentically operative in contemporary times. Strangers to Fire is a specific response to John F. MacArthur’s (JFM) caustic polemical, Strange Fire, and a general response to cessationism (view that spiritual gifts have ceased), and the abuse of the charismata. It has a Foreword by J. Lee Grady, noted Charisma contributor. Authors include such notables as Wayne Grudem, Jack Deere, Craig Keener, Jon Ruthven, Sam Storms, Doug Oss, Mel Robeck, Paul Elbert, Randy Clark, Robert Menzies, J. P. Moreland, Gary Greig, Mark Rutland, Gary Shogren, William De Arteaga, William K. Kay, Melvin Hodges, and others.

Cover for the November 2016 re-release by Empowered Life.

I begin by noting some significant contributions of Strangers to Fire. Before getting started directly with that process, however, I want to say that I particularly appreciate its apt title. JFM drew on the depiction of Aaron’s sons in Leviticus 10:1 offering strange fire and consequently being consumed by the fire of divine judgment for their blasphemous action (cp. Numbers 3:4; 26:61). It’s difficult to escape JFM’s implication that Pentecostals and Charismatics are guilty of the same sin and will suffer the same end. However, one must not dismiss the reality of authentic divine fire in his chosen text. Therefore, the choice of Graves and his team to call their book Strangers to Fire is telling. Divine presence is often depicted in Scripture in association with holy fire, most notably in the tongues of fire in the paradigmatic Day of Pentecost event (Acts 2:1-4). Accordingly, Graves flips the quip back on JFM. Rather than Pentecostals and Charismatics offering some kind of “strange fire” offensive to God and inevitably suffering terrible consequences, perhaps cessationist strangers to the fire of God are missing an opportunity to encounter holy fire in God’s awesome presence through the Holy Spirit—and suffering the lack thereof accordingly. The subtitle is also telling. When Tradition Trumps Scripture implies that in spite of all claims by JFM et al to be the only honest representatives of biblical faith and truth in this debate, they may be allowing human traditionalism to override and undermine the scriptural witness to God’s work in our day.

Robert W. Graves, ed., Strangers To Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture (Woodstock, GA: The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 2014), 604 pages, ISBN 9780996044509

If you are a person who stays current with regard to books related to the work of the Holy Spirit, the first part of the title of this book may sound familiar to you. If you find this to be true, it is probably because there was a book published in 2013 that had a somewhat similar title. I am, of course, referring to John MacArthur’s book, Strange Fire. MacArthur’s book was very provocative, indeed antagonistic, toward Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. The book attracted a lot of attention and drew responses from key Christian leaders from both inside and outside of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements. The preface of Strangers To Fire tells us that Strange Fire was the impetus that caused this current volume to be published (xxvii). Strangers To Fire was published to address and correct some of the issues that were raised in MacArthur’s book. In fact, some of the chapters were written in direct response to Strange Fire.

Cover for the November 2016 re-release by Empowered Life.

The introduction states that this volume consists of thirty-five chapters of which the first seven were written in direct response to MacArthur’s book (xxxi). These chapters make up Part One of the book. The majority of direct responses to Strange Fire were previously published online by Charisma News and PneumaReview.com. Part Two of the book, “Classic Replies to Cessationism and the Misuses of the Charismata,” consists of chapters drawn from other books and publications written between 1968 and 2013 (xxxi). While these additional chapters were not written in direct response to MacArthur’s book, they do touch on issues pertinent to his book, indeed to the cessationists’ view in general. The afterword of Strangers To Fire states the purpose of the book. “It is our fervent prayer that this anthology may aid in the release of cessationists so they might be able to pray the biblical prayer, ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief’ (Mark 9:24 KJV)” (523).

The contributors to this work are: Stanley M. Burgess, Randy Clark, Ronald Cottle, William De Arteaga, Jack Deere, Paul Elbert, Andrew T. Floris, Robert W. Graves, Gary S. Greig, Wayne Grudem, James Hernando, Melvin L. Hodges, Eddie Hyatt, William K. Kay, Craig S. Keener, Robert Menzies, J. P. Moreland, Douglas A. Oss, Cecil M. Robeck Jr., Jon M. Ruthven, Mark Rutland, Omer Jaye Sharp, Gary Shogren, Sam Storms, Horace S. Ward, and David A. Womack. A quick look at their biographical information will demonstrate that they are highly educated people, many with earned doctoral degrees.

Editor Introduction: For many Pentecostals and charismatics, John MacArthur’s 2013 book, Strange Fire, represents the same tired arguments used for years by those who believe God is done giving gifts to his church. PneumaReview.com asked The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship President, Robert Graves, about their response, their first published book, Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture.

PneumaReview.com: What was the reason for creating this anthology? Is it merely to offer an answer to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire?

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Robert Graves: John MacArthur’s book presented an opportunity to show that there is a scholarly side to Pentecostalism. It’s not just fire—there’s a great deal of light! A response to Strange Fire allowed us to show that other side. When I read Strange Fire, I detected a bit of embarrassment on MacArthur’s side as he tried to woo back to the cessationist side some scholarly minds that had seen the failure of cessationism, that is, it’s failure to correctly interpret and apply the Scriptures. The Foundation’s anthology, Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture, displays the other side of Pentecostalism, that is, the scholarly side. It’s also a side that the average Pentecostal needs to see; they need to know that there are teachers they can go to for truth when errant Pentecostal teachers go off course, not just errant cessationists.

PneumaReview.com: There are some that still believe that the renewal movements of the Pentecostals and charismatics have produced few scholars or theologians, but the list of contributors to Strangers to Fire defies that idea. Would you take the time to introduce us to each of the writers appearing in this volume and how they are contributing to renewal theology today? It is a long list, but there are many students and church leaders that do not yet know who these scholars are or how many Christian traditions they represent.

Robert Graves presenting at the 2014 meeting of Society for Pentecostal Studies.

Robert Graves: Allow me to begin with a summary: there are twenty-six authors and thirty-five chapters, obviously, some wrote more than one chapter; for instance, there are three chapters by Jack Deere and three by Jon Ruthven. Almost all of the contributions were previously published, so the anthology serves more as a clearinghouse or convenient compendium of first-class scholarly responses to cessationism than a source of new ideas (I must note as an exception Paul Elbert’s chapter “Face to Face: Then or Now? An Exegesis of First Corinthians 13:8–13,” which alone is worth the price of the book; it’s been around for awhile as a paper read at the Society for Pentecostal Studies, but it was never published). A number of the authors I do not personally know, but my best guess is that 14 of them are classical Pentecostals, six of them have Baptist backgrounds, three have Reformed backgrounds, one is an Anglican, and one comes from a Methodist background. Most of those who come from non-Pentecostal backgrounds would now consider themselves to be Charismatic or Third Wave. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Stanley M. Burgess is Professor of Religious Studies at Southwest Missouri State University. He received a BA and MA from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has taught history for 57 years and was Distinguished Professor of Christian History, Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia (2004–2011). He has written numerous scholarly articles on church history and the history of Christianity as well as several scholarly books, including The Spirit and the Church: Antiquity (Hendrickson), The Holy Spirit: Eastern Christian Traditions (Hendrickson), and The Holy Spirit: Medieval Roman Catholic and Reformation Traditions (Hendrickson).

Randy Clark is the Overseer of Global Awakening and the Apostolic Network of Global Awakening. He has ministered for over 43 years in 45 countries; he pastored for over 30 years. He received an MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, a DMin from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio (a United Methodist seminary), and a ThD from Phoenix University of Theology (not ATS accredited). He was ordained in the General Baptist denomination in 1971, the American Baptist in 1975, the Vineyard in 1984, and the Apostolic Network of Global Awakening in 2006. He has authored over twenty books, training manuals, and workbooks, including There Is More and The Essential Guide to Healing (along with co-author Bill Johnson); compiled and contributed to Power, Holiness, and Evangelism and Supernatural Missions. He had vision for an institute to verify healings which has become a reality, the Christian Medical Research Institute.org. He is the president of Global School of Supernatural Ministry.