Faith misplaced is Reckless Faith. John MacArthur takes us for a whirlwind ride through the myriad cultures of "faith" that regularly pass for, and replace, faith in God. Underlying each new unmasking of imitation faith, MacArthur demonstrates how the church could have and should have been discerning enough to compare the pretender to the genuine faith. Core to this ability to expose reckless faith is the zeal for God’s Word which the church must nurture, the knowledge of the Scriptures which the church must learn, and the will of the believer to stand apart and against false dogmas which pass for doctrine in the world.

This is a very interesting and readable book. Aimed primarily at the church congregation the book is not crowded with debates over Greek verb tenses and applications of Sharp’s Rule. That is not to say the book is unscholarly or of little academic value. Quite the contrary, the principles of the book are grounded in the very practical, and very biblical, call to discernment.

For anyone who has ever been intimidated by the haughty attitude of a Greek scholar or brushed aside by a seminary student during a discussion about the Scriptures, this book is a tremendous encouragement. MacArthur demonstrates from the first that the Scriptures, and the understanding of the plain speech of the Word, is for every believer. One example MacArthur uses is the Pharisee, turning the popular misconception about the Pharisee on its head.

Early in the book MacArthur sets up the definition of discernment. He carefully articulates that truth is an absolute, contrary to the musings of pop post-modern philosophy. Then he targets how it is the failure to interpret the Scriptures properly, and of most importance, keeping verses in context, that has helped lead the way into reckless faith.

MacArthur also shows a keen insight into the need for maturity (true growth) among all the people of God’s church.

From here the author leads the reader through the essential elements of Christian growth and then into the building blocks and development process of accruing discernment. Underlying it all is a dependence of the doctrines of Sola Scriptura (the infallibility of prophetically delivered Scripture and the sufficiency of that revealed Word for everything necessary to come to faith and holiness) and Sola Fide (by faith alone, through grace, we are saved). MacArthur applies these truths to the Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) agreement as a practical object lesson on how to implement discernment. MacArthur even quotes the Council of Trent ("If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified…let him be anathema" Trent, sess.6, canon 9) to illustrate how to apply biblical doctrine for the purpose of discernment.

Cessationist in orientation, Charismatic Chaos is wide-ranging in scope, touching on most all groups and doctrines which embrace the modern use of tongues, prophecy, signs and wonders, miracles, and faith healing. The primary objective of this book seems to be three-fold:

• convince the non-charismatic believer that he owns no less of the Holy Spirit than the charismatic believer
• demonstrate biblically why all the above mentioned "miraculous" gifts ceased between 50a.d. and 100a.d.
• explain that personal experience should never be used to override biblical exegesis

A final, but lesser, objective of the book appears to be that of warning the charismatic community that prolonged focus on adopting new revelations, practicing tongues in church services, and granting permission for splinter groups of the charismatic movement (for example the Word Faith churches) to continue unchallenged and unabated will lead to the downfall of many Christian churches. In short, there is a decidedly "cautionary" tone to the book.

It was with much personal anticipation that I decided to read this book. On the one hand I have long been interested in the doctrines and theology behind the sign gifts, wondering why so few contemporary churches were granted such manifestations and whether everyone else was missing out on the greater gifts of the Holy Spirit simply because of the church they attended--I welcomed an in depth systematic Scriptural dialogue on the subject. On the other hand this book has been cited by so very many individuals as being controversial, unloving, and littered with errors-of-fact as to make it unusable for purposes of serious study on the subject.

Certainly, the man who authored the book, Dr. John MacArthur, is a highly respected Christian author and pastor. It would be inappropriate to attempt to judge his "true motivation" for publishing such a book. Therefore, the work must stand on its own merits, or fall if it lacks sufficient credibility.

This book does have certain weaknesses. It is filled with sweeping and blunt statements, sometimes of the type that fellow Christians may find unnecessarily inflammatory. Some examples of such statements might be:

• "From the beginning, the charismatic movement has flourished primarily because it promises a shortcut to spiritual maturity." (pages 303, 304)
• "The Christian television station in my area features a live [charismatic] talk and variety program every night of the week. … This time is normally filled with entertainment, buffoonery, silliness, and shallow talk." (pages 309, 310)

Comments such as these, I believe, have led to the largest part of the criticisms of the book.

Another weakness of the book is the general lack of depth in discussing certain of the Scriptures used to implicate the sign gifts as having ceased. Little detailed or technical discussion is offered regarding Ephesians 2 (apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church) and 1 Corinthians 13 (gifts of knowledge, prophecy, and tongues will cease when the perfect comes). The translation and interpretation of these two crucial passages dominates entire works by other writers who hold one position or another, however, this book only gives the passages a glance. In fact, no attempt is made to interpret what "the perfect" is in 1 Corinthians 13:8.

A common criticism I have heard about, and was prepared to find, was that Dr. MacArthur mixes up mainstream charismatic theology and practice with that of the Word Faith movement. I was surprised to find this is an unjustified accusation. MacArthur is quick to point out that Word Faith is, in his opinion, an aberrant offshoot of the charismatic movement. Of course, that Word Faith teachers embrace the charismatic movement cannot be denied. MacArthur’s primary concern in discussing the Word Faith movement is his self-expressed fear that acceptance of anyone who claims to have charismatic gifting is becoming automatic, and that where the Word Faith theology is unorthodox it is not being aggressively and publicly denounced by charismatic leaders.

Dr. MacArthur has always been an advocate for discernment. That he challenges the notion that a public debate of public doctrine would somehow violate Christian unity is a matter well stated and documented in his introduction, especially paragraph one on page 15. He properly notes where the Scriptures record such similar public debate and even where individual letters mention aberrant brethren by name with "scorching condemnation."

Another strength of the book is that it defends the fact that the Word of God has power independent of man’s notions. He does an admirable job debunking the concept "that the Bible becomes God’s Word only when it speaks to you."

At the heart and soul of the entire controversy over whether charismatic-style gifts are still in operation today is the question of prophecy and revelation. That many misunderstand revelation and prophecy as being "impressions", "feelings", and indistinct "mental images" is touched on in the book. Dr. MacArthur correctly demonstrates that true prophecy is verbally revealed visions that carry the authority of being the very words of God. "How could some of God’s words be less authoritative than others?" (page 65)

Sadly, I must take exception with Dr. MacArthur on his definition of "New Testament prophet". He redefines a prophet as only "a preacher, not a source of ongoing revelation…he proclaims already revealed truth; he is not generally a conduit for new revelation." (page 81) Dr. MacArthur fails to supply meaningful Scripture to demonstrate that the New Testament, or church-age, prophet was only a preacher and teacher and not a recipient of new revelation. Certainly, the abundance of New Testament passages that discuss prophecy indicate that the prophet (such as Agabus, Paul, Judas and Silas, etc.) was a man who received revelation of the type described in Deuteronomy 18. For this reason it says that when a prophet receives a revelation, even during a church service, he must wait until his appointed time in the order of service before standing and speaking (1 Corinthians 14:29-33).

The harshest words in the book are reserved for those who identify with "the Third Wave" movement. Consider this passage from the book.

Whether one is inclined to take offense at the strong terminology, the book is replete with examples of teachings which few Christians would find fully acceptable. This includes the very concept that effectual evangelism requires the use of miracles to draw men to salvation. As MacArthur properly states, even Jesus commented that men who do not believe the Word itself will not be persuaded to believe by miracles, not even the raising of the dead (Luke 16:31).

Another area of discourse that Dr. MacArthur chooses to engage in is the notion that the intellectual pursuit of God’s Word is somehow a barrier to experiencing God’s power. He spends quite a few pages explaining the suppositions behind the error and then defending the biblical mandate to know the Word as any man might be expected to know the field in which he has become an expert craftsman. Experience does not obviate Bible study, but Bible study may disallow certain experiences or practices.

What was normative for the early church? Was the Pentecostal experience the apostles had the normal experience of receiving the Holy Spirit? They had tongues of flame fall on them while a wind sounded throughout the room. Then they went into the streets and preached to the collective Jewish representatives of far-flung nations in the languages of these gathered people, languages which the apostles had never learned.

That day 3,000 people converted to Christ. That day 3,000 people received the Holy Spirit in the street, but they did not speak in languages they had not learned. So the question must remain, which is more normative, becoming saved and receiving the Spirit and not speaking in unlearned languages, or, becoming saved and receiving the Spirit and speaking in unlearned languages? In fact, we know that almost no (if indeed there are any documented examples at all) modern believer has ever been recorded to have spoken in a new human language which he never previously learned immediately after becoming saved. What is the true "norm" for new converts? On the day of Pentecost, only a few who received the Spirit that day spoke in tongues, the vast majority who received the Spirit did not. While not expressly discussed by MacArthur, I was led to recall that not even Jesus spoke in tongues when He was baptized with water in the river and then received the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. What is normative?

Pages 277 through 280 are an excellent discussion of the difference between ecstatic utterances (glossolalia) and speaking in human languages which the speaker has never learned (xenoglossia). MacArthur does a particularly excellent exploration of whether the tongues used by the church at Corinth were understandable languages or incomprehensible sounds to any human in any nation. He then explains that this is why Paul mandated that all tongue-speakers prearrange to have a translator (not merely a general interpreter, but an actual translator) present before speaking. For everything spoken in a church service is to be understandable so as to be verbally edifying. For all gifts used in the church service are to be used to instruct, encourage, reprove, correct; all gifts are to be verbally edifying.

As MacArthur explains the situation, the use of tongues by the Corinthians during the church service became a problem because those speaking were using unearthly "languages". But only understandable speech is useful for edification during public worship. Therefore, all of Paul’s instructions were focused on directing the Corinthians away from unintelligible speech toward using commonly understood and distinct vocal patterns. The only exception is if a person were to bring a translator with them (the word "interpret" used by the KJV is less precise than the word "translate", Gk. hermeneia). If a person speaks in tongues, the translator gives a word-for-word common-language explanation, not a general explanation of why the person spoke, but a word-for-word translation. In the privacy of one’s prayer closet, no such translator is required. However, in the worship meeting "The church meets for the edification of the body, not self-gratification or personal experience-seeking." (page283)

A high point of the book is MacArthur’s discussion of walking in the Spirit, which is Chapter 11 of the book. His further discussion of being filled with the Spirit is worthy of being read by anyone who is seriously interested in studying and applying this concept.

This is a good work that discusses many sweeping aspects of the modern spiritual gifts movement. Regrettably, it’s seriousness is diminished in part due to the obvious emotion and passion that is written into it. Some charismatic believers may take affront at the blunt wording used by MacArthur to deny the legitimacy of the modern use of some of the gifts: tongues, prophecy, miracles, and healing. Also, some of the more meaty exegetical analysis of whether the sign gifts have ceased are simply not explored.

While I would have preferred that MacArthur not redefine "prophet" to mean a gifted teacher of the Word (a definition not gleaned from Scripture), overall, MacArthur gives a stirring explanation that the canon is closed and that a modern revelatory gift would necessitate the reopening of the canon.

MacArthur’s theme that one’s personal experience neither validates Scripture nor is the basis for interpreting Scripture is well presented throughout the book. The Word is self-validating, self-authenticating, and carries with it the power God imbues it with regardless of whether we accept it or reject it. Our adoption or rejection of the Word does not make it the Word of God, for it is that already. We must come to the point where we are willing to be sufficiently controlled by the Spirit that we desire and pursue the study and understanding of the Word with all the dedication that God’s own words deserve.