Contact: Robert W. Graves, President, The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 770-516-7300, RGraves@TFFPS.org 

WOODSTOCK, Ga., Sept. 3, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS) is countering John MacArthur's cessationist theology with the first book published under its own imprint, Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture.  The 600-page, 35 chapter tome features 26 scholars who specifically target MacArthur's recently-released book Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship and broader issues underlying cessationism. Strangers to Fire specifically challenges the logic of MacArthur's argumentation and the validity of his biblical interpretation.

Strangers to Fire (Foreword by J. Lee Grady) is composed of two parts: Part One consists of seven chapters that are direct replies to Strange Fire; Part Two consists of 28 chapters that are classic replies to cessationism (the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased in the apostolic age) and misuses of the gifts of the Spirit. The 26 scholars who contributed to the anthology are from a variety of Protestant traditions and from three streams of charismatic Christianity: Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Third Wave.

A complete list of the authors is on TFFPS's Web site, included are Wayne Grudem, J. P. Moreland, Craig Keener, Jack Deere, Jon Ruthven, Sam Storms, Robert Menzies, Horace Ward, Mark Rutland, Gary Greig, Cecil Robeck, Paul Elbert, Stanley Burgess, and William Kay.

Strangers to Fire has already received accolades from the following leaders and Greek scholars: George O. Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Dr. R. T. Kendall (Charismatic), Dr. Michael L. Brown (Charismatic), Dr. Anthony Palma (Assemblies of God), Dr. French Arrington (Church of God, Cleveland, Tenn.), Dr. Vinson Synan (Pentecostal-Holiness), Dr. Derek Morphew (Vineyard), and Larry Tomczak (Charismatic).

Palma calls Strangers to Fire "a formidable apologetic for the present-day continuation of all the spiritual gifts." A "magnificent collection of essays" (Arrington). A "robust collection of wide-ranging biblical, historical, and theological essays" (Brown). A "masterful collection of scholarly responses by a coterie of excellent scholars" (Synan). "This book is as good as it gets" (Kendall). It is "an excellent biblical defense of the present-day operation of the Holy Spirit's power" (J. Lee Grady).

Strangers to Fire is available through The Foundation's Web site at www.tffps.org.

TFFPS was formed in 2005 with the goal of advancing biblical scholarship by sponsoring research and publishing projects within the global Pentecostal-Charismatic family. TFFPS is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.