The Truth War - Book Review

a review by Adam Pohlman

Today's Church is submerged in a culture that sees no absolute truth, and scoffs at the black and white statements made by the New Testament writers. The prevailing thought now is "Whatever makes you feel better about yourself is right for you, but don't tell me I have to believe in Jesus." Some of this idea is even making its way into the teaching of many churches. When someone is courageous enough to suggest that a teaching is in error or that a brother may be sinning, that person is immediately labeled a "Pharisee" or "Heresy Hunter." Discerning Christians are under attack as being too strict and are told quickly of the new 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not judge." In order to make others more comfortable, and to allow people to like us more, we hold back from sharing the hard truths. "Living in a culture where violent persecution is almost unknown, multitudes who call themselves Christians seem to have forgotten what faithfulness to the truth often costs." (pg. xiv) "These days anyone who calls for biblical discernment or speaks out plainly against a popular perversion of sound doctrine is as likely as the false teachers themselves to incur the disapproval of other Christians." (pg. 97)

Almost 50% of the New Testament is written to warn the Church of false teachers and false prophets who will make their way into the leadership of local churches and be large influences on the Christian community. In The Truth War, John MacArthur dedicates the majority of the book to the exposition of one of those warnings, the book of Jude. In the way that many of MacArthur's books are written, he walks verse-by-verse through Scripture to determine what the Bible says about the important topics confronting the Church instead of popular culture. Known at times to be controversial in his writings, MacArthur includes somewhat of a disclaimer that he is not being critical for the sake of being confrontational, but to encourage passion for the truth. "True discernment is gained by applying our hearts and minds to biblical wisdom, not by fostering a critical spirit... Those who are merely pugnacious or quarrelsome are unfit for spiritual leadership." (pg. 135)

The main concern of the book is to call Christians to be more discerning of spiritual truth instead of blindly accepting anything that sounds Christian. "From the very start of the church age, all the most spiritually deadly onslaughts against the gospel have come from people who pretended to be Christians." (pg. 83) The book takes a look at the warnings heeded to Christians, how and why false teachers get into the church, and takes a look at past (Arianism and Sebellianism) and present false teachings that threaten the gospel of Christ. "Many church leaders have radically changed the way they look at the gospel. Rather than seeing it as a message from God that Christians are called to proclaim as Christ's ambassadors (without tampering with it or changing it in any way), they now treat it like a commodity to be sold at market. Rather than plainly preaching God's Word in a way that unleashes the power and truth of it, they try desperately to package the message to make it subtler and more appealing to the world." (pg. 147)

The Truth War is bound to be one of MacArthur's more controversial books simply because of the hard stance it takes on truth and the specific contemporary examples that he calls out. However, he does not back down to the thought of being offensive and won't compromise on such an important truth. "Evangelicals have embraced compromise as a tool for church growth, a platform for unity, and even a test of spirituality. Take an uncompromising stance on almost any doctrinal or biblical issue, and a chorus of voices will call you obstinate, unkind, heartless, contentious, or unloving, no matter how ironically you frame your argument." (pg. 192) Whether you agree with his analysis of certain individuals, John MacArthur makes a crucial point that we cannot simply allow anyone who sounds Christian to move unchecked throughout the church and not hold them accountable to Scripture for their teaching and actions.