In Charismatic Chaos, MacArthur comes out the gate with guns blazing. He asserts the following about charismatic belief:
1. Experience is the basis for the charismatic's belief system.
2. Experiences must be sought after instead of biblical truth.
3. Experiences cannot be judged because they validate themselves.
Really?
Granted, many charismatics fit the mold of all three characteristics.
But MacArthur's penchant to pigeonhole all charismatics by these three criteria, as well as all who believe in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts, is absurd.
That's like saying that all Reformed Christians love their Bibles more than God, have a strong knowledge of Calvinist doctrine but a shallow knowledge of Jesus Christ, are sectarian, elitist, and have no interest in anyone outside their own Reformed circles.
In this connection, someone recently made this comment to me about the Strange Fire Conference, which preceded the book: Can a movement (the charismatic movement) so filled with error and false prophecy REALLY be a moving of the Holy Spirit?
My response to that is: Can a movement (the New Calvinist movement) so filled with sectarianism, elitism, and exclusivism REALLY be inspired by the Holy Spirit?
(If you are looking for examples, just read the blogs of Scot McKnight and Roger Olson. They have both discussed the penchant within "New Calvinism" to be sectarian, elitist, and exclusive.)
While this indictment is certainly true of some--perhaps many--Reformed and New Calvinist people, it is not true of all of them.
Consequently, not all charismatics can be painted with MacArthur's colossal brush. No more than all Reformed people can be painted with the above description.
I believe MacArthur devalues the role of spiritual experience, except when it strengthens his case.
The Bible stresses, both in precept and example, that spiritual experience is the essence of the Christian life. Christianity is not an arm-chair philosophy. Biblical Christianity is Christ. That is, it
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is a living and vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. This is the testimony of holy Scripture.
Without spiritual experience, history, and personal dealings with the Lord, Christianity becomes bloodless theory.
For example, the Bible promises the forgiveness of sins by which the conscience becomes undefiled and pure (see Hebrews 5-10). If a believer only knows this teaching with his or her intellect, but fails to experience it through the exercise of faith, what does it profit them?
The Bible then becomes a philosophy text rather than a book that contains and communicates God's life.
In like manner, the exceeding sinfulness of sin must not simply be understood with the mind, but it must be experienced with the heart for true repentance to occur.
And the promise of regeneration, unhindered communion with God, divine guidance, and sanctification will all remain in the realm of theory if one fails to enter into the enjoyment and reality of these truths by the Spirit.
The chief work of the Holy Spirit, in effect, is to make real and living in us what Christ has provided for us at Calvary.
What is a relationship with God but a progression of spiritual experiences, encounters, and dealings with Him?
Is not the spiritual walk to have transactions with God and He with us? In a word, without authentic spiritual experience, Christianity is a dead religion.
But someone will say, "yes, but there are counterfeit experiences." You bet, but you can only counterfeit that which is authentic in the first place.
In the words of theologian W.H. Griffith-Thomas,
It is, of course, essential to remember that theology is not merely a matter of intellect, but also of experience. Theology is concerned with spiritual realities, and must include personal experience as well as ideas ... The feeling equally with reason must share in the consideration of theology, because theology is of the heart, and the deepest truths are inextricably bound up with personal needs and experiences.
Of course, there are false spiritual experiences. And as MacArthur affirms, all spiritual experience must be judged by God's Word. But many charismatic leaders teach this.
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All spiritual experience rests upon the accomplished facts that are in Christ. Through faith, the Holy Spirit translates those divine facts into our experience.
While many charismatics go to one extreme in putting too much stock in emotional experiences, MacArthur goes to the other extreme in enshrining the intellect in spiritual matters.
While countless charismatic Christians place a higher priority on extravagant experiences than on a relationship with God, countless fundamentalist and Reformed Christians place a higher priority on intellectual knowledge than on a relationship with God.
One camp often emphasizes knowing God through the emotions while the other often emphasizes knowing God through the intellect.
In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul levels both extremes. He points out that spiritual experiences that are not motivated by love lack spiritual value (1 Cor. 12-14).
Paul equally stresses the insufficiency of human reason in spiritual matters, declaring that "the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit" and "knowledge puffs up" (1 Cor. 1-3, 8).
Indeed, it is dangerous to have an untheological devotion, but it is just as tragic to have a devotionless theology.
As one who believes in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts, I do not fit into MacArthur's stereotype.
Experience is not the basis of my faith. Rather, my spiritual experiences have been the result of my faith, and in turn, they have increased my faith.
Scripture declares that the believer moves from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17) and there are different levels of faith (Matt. 9:29; 14:21; 16:8; Rom. 4:19-20; 12:3).
The primary focus in the Christian walk, then, is neither experience nor knowledge, but relationship.
MacArthur accuses continualists of basing their views on experience. Yet strikingly, many who make this accusation are guilty of it themselves.
That is, many cessationists have embraced their view of spiritual gifts because of their inexperience with the supernatural work of the Spirit.
In fact, all the cessationists I have ever known personally were convinced that spiritual gifts are not valid today because of their own personal experience. As a result, they saw in Scripture those things that supported their own viewpoint.
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In the midst of a discussion on the gifts, it is not uncommon for cessationists to say, "I have never witnessed a genuine healing through the laying on of hands" or "I have never seen an authentic case of speaking in tongues," or "I have never seen a person exhibit a real prophetic word from God," etc.
That's like saying, "Because I have never seen licorice gum, it does not exist." (It does, by the way. It is called Black Jack and I have several packs in my desk drawer.)
While many cessationists feel that their doctrine is unshakably rooted in an objective study of Scripture, in reality it is often a case of unwittingly reading their own experiences into Scripture.
MacArthur's books contain a subtext that contains this very element. While he decries charismatics for relying on experience, the bulk of Charismatic Chaos and Strange Fire is built on the spurious experiences that MacArthur has witnessed or read about.
In this way, arguments against the continuation of spiritual gifts are typically rooted in secondary, not biblical, considerations and fueled by fear of excess and abuse.
So it seems to me anyway.
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