I am extremely cerebral Christian, enjoying books by C.S. Lewis, appolegetics, anything written with logic, reason, and Scriptural support. Charismatic Chaos is not actually the best and fullest treatment on the passages MacArthur exegetes, and contains some oversights and logical falacies, albeit with the best of intentions. His numerous examples of the misuses and abuses of the charismatic part of the church heavily season the pages, but one must be careful not to allow the emotions of shock and outrage to become "evidence" itself. Remember "the idea isn't always responsible for the people that believe in it." Otherwise nobody should ever consider following Christ either! May I recomend, for those interested in sharp scholarly exegesis, "Word and Power Church" by Doug Banister? Check out the reviews, and when you purchase it and you can't wait to get to the meat of it, skip to the well organized appendix where Banister provides an adequate and respectful critique of the views and exegesis provided in MacArthur's work.

This was an excellent book on the Word-of-Faith movement. The Faith movement draws doctrines from many places (i.e. Mormonism on the 'godhood' of men; Christian Science on the health of the believer; Gnosticism on the Trichotomy of Biblical Anthropology; Liberalism and the New Age movement on the Universality of the goodness of man; Post-Modernism in that truth is subjective, relative, and does not matter)....except historic Christianity. It is quite sad that such an abberation has come into Evangelicalism and deceived so many. MacArthur, as always does a great job critiquing this movement. I think the review of the Montanist heresy was excellent. Montanus claimed that he was the divine 'paraklet' and that is almost what the modern day faith teachers are doing. Claiming that we are a 'little god' is just as blasphemous as saying that we are the divine 'paraklet.'

The reason for the four stars is, while I am a Cessationist, I do not agree with his argument for Cessation of the Charismata. I do not think the verb in 1 Corinthians 13:8 ('pausontai') should be translated in the Middle Voice. While it is a middle, it is a Deponent, meaning it has a middle form with an Active Voice meaning. The only other thing that I have wrong with he book is that the book is concerning the Word of Faith movement, not necessarily the Charismatic movement, per se. There are some great 'Charismatics' today (i.e. Grudem, Fee, and others) who are not heretical. In fact, they are some of the best scholars today in their particular fields. While I do think they are wrong on the issues of the gifts and Charismata, their views on other things are great and thoroughly Biblical.

Overall, this is a book that every person involved in the faith movement should look into. Rather than taking everything their pastor's say as biblical truth; they should look into the Word of God for answers. The Historic Protestant position of Sola Scriptura is being dethroned in the Word of Faith churches. Saying that we have new revelation today is usurping the authority of the Bible! It is incredibly sad when we live in a day when relativity reigns in Evangelical Churches.

John MacArthur has written an enduring work, addressing very clearly the problems with the charismatic movement. Ultimately, Scripture has the only say on how God is working after the first century. John has very accurately shown that while God hasn't changed, His methods have (more than once), as is obvious from the reading the Bible. Because the charismatic movement puts much stock in personal experience as an interpreter (which denies the Reformation doctrine of Sola Scriptura [scripture alone], a foundational doctrine responsible for pulling the Church out of the Dark Ages), they very often miss the truths that are only available by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Also, they are left wide open for the influence of health & wealth philosophies, new age thinking, and the like. Charismatic Chaos is not a tool with which to blast charismatics, but a tool of protection for charismatics to come back to the scripture-alone doctrine so necessary to interpret their experiences and the Bible correctly. Until charismatics see the lack of appropriate Bible hermeneutics in their movement, as John has so clearly pointed out, they will remain a group which places experiences and thrills, signs and wonders, etc. alongside the authority of the Bible. I encourage charismatics to read this book openmindedly and with an open Bible alone as the interpreter of both John's book and their experiences.