John MacArthur Fighting "Strange Fire" with "Strange Fire"

Last week John MacArthur hosted a conference with the title of "Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship." It is an important warning against the charismatic movement, but the strange fire has already infiltrated MacArthur's camp and ultimately, therefore, he will lose the war. In his opening remarks at the conference MacArthur said, "The charismatic movement continually dishonors God in its false forms of worship. It dishonors the Father and Son, but most specifically, the Holy Spirit. Many things are attributed to the Holy Spirit that actually dishonor him. ... God is not to be trifled with. It is dangerous to offer strange fire, corrupt worship." That is exactly right, but one of the most effective aspects of the charismatic movement, one of the things most responsible for creating the charismatic "experience" and building its heretical unity, is contemporary worship music. The late Jerry Huffman, editor of the Calvary Contender, observed that CCM could stand for Contemporary Charismatic Music, because it originates with charismatics. We have documented this extensively in The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. The powerful rock music (whether hard or soft) is used to create the atmosphere in which the charismatic worshiper can "feel God." Contemporary music is a huge part of the strange fire worship experience, and John MacArthur has brought this strange fire into his Resolved youth conferences. (See "John MacArthur and Cultural Liberalism" at www.wayoflife.org.) He has therefore already built the bridge to the charismatic movement and the one-world "church" that many will eventually cross. He has lost the war because he has lost the spiritual discernment he once had to oppose contemporary music. MacArthur is committing the same error as many independent Baptists. He thinks he can play with fire and not be burnt. He thinks he can tame the contemporary worship beast. But once this music is "adapted," it is only a matter of time until that particular church is leavened by its corrupting influence.

(Friday Church News Notes, October 25, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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