Having read John Macarthur’s “The Truth War – Fighting for certainty in an age of deception” I came away with mixed thoughts.  I was mostly disappointed – quite honestly I expected to dislike it more.  What he said regarding truth is true; it certainly is based in God and revealed in the Bible.  His warnings against apostates and heresies are timely – particularly in a time when these terms have fallen out of favor under the pressure of political correctness and inclusiveness.  No one can come away wondering where Dr. MacArthur stands.

Unfortunately much of his polemic is vague and nearly pointless.  Not pointless in the sense that his warnings need not be heralded, but pointless in any substantive application. His accusations are often so generic, vague, and broad brushed they become irrelevant.  Throughout the book I kept wondering, who is he talking about, what churches and what movements does he oppose… or is it all of them?  For example, though he varies the nomenclature, MacArthur routinely starts phrases with “In some circles…”, “The typical evangelical leader…”, and “…well-known evangelical leaders…” – followed by the particular accusation.  Sometimes these accusations rang true, other times they rang rather hyperbolic- but there was no place to hang them except on the hooks your own mind created.  If you already don’t like someone – all you need do is insert them.

Dr. MacArthur did interact with the writings of Brian Mclaren.  When doing so MacArthur’s arguments became much clearer, specific and therefore relevant.  He pointed our some significant flaws in McClaren’s teaching.  He brought to light some teachings of McClaren’s that are downright unbiblical.  In this MacArthur created some very specific hooks on which to hang his arguments.  As well, Dr. MacArthur reviewed some ancient heresies such as Sabellianism and Arianism.  Here again he got specific and made a very good case that modern day Oneness Pentecostals are basically contemporary Sabbellianists.

These are the exceptions to the “The Truth War” norm.  He makes veiled and passing references to Emergent Churches, but fails to define or describe who they are or what makes them “Emergent.”  MacArthur quotes Rob Bell in his Introduction, but fails to deliver on the anticipated interaction with Bell’s beliefs.  Mark Driscoll is also referenced in “The Truth War” but only in passing and even then it’s a third-party description of Driscoll.  MacArthur never quotes Driscoll directly nor makes any definitive comments himself. 

Topically, MacArthur takes on homosexuality, women in the ministry, and other such issues.  But like his dealing with the emerging church (I should say “Emergents” since The Truth War is void of any distinctive between Emergents and the emerging church) he speaks out against each, but never adequately deals with just who is promoting what heresy… or even what makes it a heresy in the first place.

Bottom line; this book is neither good nor bad… it’s neither hot nor cold.  If you think anything created after 1956 is probably heretical – this book will back that up.  If you think the evangelical church in America is soft and too focused on doctrinal minutia – nothing in this book will challenge you.  In the Introduction Dr. MacArthur says that he has already written a complete commentary of Jude and that the work in chapters 3 – 4 prompted him to write this book.  I came away feeling that he wanted to get into the mix of addressing modern day heretics and end-times false prophets – so he dusted off his commentary, hastily inserted some generic accusations – and went to press.  This would have been a much better book had Dr. MacArthur taken out half of the repetitive arguments in defense of truth, and inserted more original work dealing with the nuances and actualities of various evangelicals and the emerging church.