Author: MacArthur, John
Genre: Bible Studies / Devotionals, Christian Living
Tags: Christian Living / Cross / Discipleship
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
This is a 1970s study booklet (it has no date) by MacArthur on three subjects: Bible wine, Biblical music, and the filling of the Spirit. In reviewing material on the first two, I found that I had put this away some years ago. In this study guide MacArthur takes the “one wine” view of Bible wine, i.e., that all fruit of the grape was in some process of fermenting. To avoid drunkenness they mixed the wine with various amounts of water to make it non-intoxicating. So although MacArthur says that in Biblical times believers drank wine, he explains that they avoided what today would be rated intoxicating, and he also advocates that total abstinence is the best path for today’s believers. “We are all called to the highest level of commitment—to be separate and consecrated unto God. We are all elevated to make the best choices—one of which involves abstinence.”
The second and shorter part of the booklet is a 1970s view: “What about rock music?” MacArthur talks about music and singing in the Bible, Old and New Testaments, and gives details about the dangers of contemporary rock music—even using some early evaluation that is sneered at by today’s CCM advocates. “Music is not primarily designed by God as a tool of evangelism . . . I think it’s sad when we want so much to sing our songs to the world that we put them in the world’s vernacular and think it’s going to be evangelistic. This is not the point of music in the Scripture—we are to sing among ourselves!”