Charismatic Chaos, by John F. MacArthur Jr., is a controversial and polemical work aimed at critiquing the Charismatic movement. It is written from a cessationist, dispensational and evangelical viewpoint. He critiques both charismatic practices and theology and argues that both are unBiblical. This article is about American evangelical writer and minister John F. MacArthur. ... Charismatic is an umbrella term used to describe those Christians who believe that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit seen in the first century Christian Church, such as healing, miracles and glossolalia, are available to contemporary Christians and ought to be experienced and practiced today. ... Cessationism, in Christian theology, is the view that the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit were for the purpose of founding and strengthening the church as it grew and expanded into the Roman Empire, thus they were in effect only during the time between the coming of the Spirit on... Dispensationalism is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall flow of the Bible. ... The word evangelicalism usually refers to a tendency in diverse branches of Protestantism, typified by an emphasis on evangelism, a personal experience of conversion, biblically-oriented faith, and a belief in the relevance of Christian faith to cultural issues. ... Charismatic is an umbrella term used to describe those Christians who believe that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit seen in the first century Christian Church, such as healing, miracles and glossolalia, are available to contemporary Christians and ought to be experienced and practiced today. ...

He also discusses viewponts such as the Third Wave of the Holy Spirit and the Word of Faith (or "health and wealth Gospel") movement. He argues, for example, that the Third Wave is, in spite of claiming to be separate from the charismatic and Pentecostal movements, practically identical to these movements. He argues that the main difference between the Third Wave and Charismatic movements is terminology and that it is misleading to claim that they are different. The expression Third Wave was coined by Christian Theologian C Peter Wagner around 1980 to describe the recent historical work of the Holy Spirit. ... The Word of Faith movement or word-faith theology developed in the latter half of the 20th century in mainly Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ...

Dr. MacArthur argues from many different "angles" in this book. For example, he argues (among other things) that the charismatic movement relies too much on subjective experience, contradicts Sola Scriptura, that common charismatic "proof texts" are based on misinterpreations, that movements such as "power evangelism" and the Word of Faith movement tend to distort the Gospel message, etc. He also argues that many key Word of Faith teachings are heretical or blasphemous. Sola scriptura (Latin By Scripture alone) is one of five important slogans of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. ... The Word of Faith movement or word-faith theology developed in the latter half of the 20th century in mainly Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. ... Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. ... Blasphemy is the defamation of the name of God or the gods, and by extension any display of gross irreverence towards any person or thing deemed worthy of exalted esteem. ...

External link

• Grace to You Website