Hard to Believe: The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus

When churches start marketing themselves to customers, they get consumers.When churches get back to the Book of Acts and proclaim the Whole Gospel (Discipleship, Follow Me) to the Whole World, they get communers.When Jesus, Salvation, Sin, the Cross, Repentance and Commitment to Self-Denial are downplayed or 'saved for believer-time only', you get seekers.When the Hard-to-Believe Full Gospel of the Crucified/Risen Jesus Who commands all people to repent or else is preached and taught sans apology in a loving but uncompromising way, you get sinners seeking salvation in Christ alone.When Love is offered with no mention of Judgment, Gospel with no Law, Justification with no Sanctification, Heaven with no Hell or Earthly emphasis (God will heal you, things will go better, you will feel more connected, me me me I I I), it is a convoluted, truncated Madison Avenue consumerism pseudo-gospel.For those who are struggling so much with what MacArthur is saying in this challenging book, please read the sermons of Peter and Paul in Acts to the crowds of Jews & Gentiles. Then compare to what you're hearing in your comfy evangelical pew.Let the Holy Spirit convict and correct pulpits accordingly!

I truly appreciate, in this world of "easy-believism", the opportunity to praise someone who resists it. I don't always agree with everything John MacArthur says, but I give him kudos for speaking out on this most unpopular of issues. I've passed the book around a bit to friends who attend "seeker-friendly" chruches, and invariably they report that the book is "too harsh", "depressing", and the like. Does this scare anyone besides me? When did it happen that the gospel needs to be happy and cheery or "we won't listen", or, worse yet, "let's change it to make it sound more enticing"? Most depressing of all is the fact that truth no longer matters - it's all about making the narrow way as broad as we can. I'm sorry the current popular view of God is so low. We all need to remember that "converts" must be weighed as well as counted. If you'd like a thoughtful, well-written response to "easy believism", read this book. As usual, MacArthur points the reader to God's Word as the final authority.

This book is an in-depth, in-your-face, like-it-or-not-here's-what-the-Bible-really-says assault on the "cheap grace" and "easy believism" of modern evangelical movements. "[Salvation and following Christ] is about self sacrifice, not self satisfaction," MacArthur says of his book. Having been a leader in a seeker-sensitive ministry (an oxymoron if there was one) I can attest to the accuracy of his razor sharp assessment of the movement. He also clearly references the heretical "Word of Faith" movement, the self-esteem movement (with strong allusion to Robert Schuler and his ilk) and the health and wealth movement. MacArthur is crystal clear and consistent throughout the book that the seeker-sensitive, Word of Faith, prosperity, and psychologized "self esteem" movements are all "false gospels" which do not lead to Heaven, only to glorification and serving of self. That's tantamount to declaring most of modern evangelical Christians to be hell-bound -- and them is fightin' words! MacArthur is too dedicated to the truth to care about that, although he clearly acknowledges the potential of the book.MacArthur declares, "Sometimes we don't preach the Gospel well enough for the non-elect to reject it." That about sums his assessment of the dangers of these false gospels. His clear concern in this book -- motivated by a pastor's heart -- is not so much for the lost, but for those who only think they're going to Heaven because they've never been given the real gospel at their seeker sensitive, feel-good, fluffbunny church. Also note that MacArthur is a dedicated, bulletproof defender of the "Reformed" (sometimes called Calvinist) view that doesn't have to skip over Scriptures containing words like "predestined" or "elect." On that note, since the Reformed doctrine hinges on the sovereignty of God, and these false gospels usually deny it, he spends an entire chapter contrasting God's sovereignty with the modern evangelical man-centered view of self-salvation.But to those who seek God for who He is, this book is also a comforting challenge of sorts. The call to have less of "me" and more of Christ is clarified through repeated journeys to the original Greek, to the core theme Scriptures of this book, as well as some choice citations from other outstanding Christian writers. For those who have already made Jesus the LORD of their life (not just another friend or self-help guru) this book is still a gem, but a troubling one. True Christians will be more motivated than ever after reading this book -- motivated to see themselves more Biblically, and motivated to reach those who attend what MacArthur clearly deems false churches.MacArthur does not, however, name names. This is to his credit, as he has set out to dispel myths and cleverly twisted false gospels, not attack other ministries. In doing so, MacArthur distinguishes himself from other "apologetics" writers such as Hank Hanegraaff.A word of warning to the superficial, casual Christian rea

Thank God for a genuinely Biblical book - one that tells the real truth about what the scriptures really teach us about the Christian life! John MacArthur, like his hero Spurgeon in the 19th century, has always been 101% Biblical in his preaching and this book shows this to be the case yet once again. Read this book, give 10 copies away to your friends and make sure your pastor not only has this book but has taken notes from every page - it will transform both you, your church and then the whole community around you. This is REAL Biblical Christianity folks! This is the message of the Cross that turned the world upside down in the first century and is doing so still in the 21st! Thank God for a genuinely Biblical book. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003) ...