Customer Reviews

In the Face of God: The Dangers and Delights of Spiritual Intimacy

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Horton assembles a powerful indictment of the modern church for her dalliances with the ancient heresy of gnosticism. Oftentimes I see certain practices -- particularly in charismatic circles -- that I find quite discomfiting, though until now I didn't know why. Horton compares and contrasts the Biblical model of spiritual intimacy with the self-centered "feeling" approach too many in the church follow. More importantly, he outlines the dangers of those approaches.

This book will force you to seriously think about how you worship and how you view your relationship with God. It will also encourage you to listen a bit more closely to the message you hear from the Christianity-lite/group-therapy churches.

I have read many books in the 22 years that I have been a Christian. But I have never read one that has so effectively challenged some of the Christian beliefs that I have been brought up with in the evangelical churches I have been involved with. This book affected me so much that I often had to set it down and ask the Lord to give me wisdom and understanding to discern the truth or falsity of the author's assertions. By the end of the book, I was fairly convinced that much of what Michael Horton has to say in this book is true today. When the church puts a greater emphasis on the theory of glory as opposed to the theory of the cross, you get Christians who are more focused on themselves and their own spirituality (subjective feelings) instead of Christians who need to look outside of themselves to the grace and saving work of Jesus Christ (objective knowledge, or the written Word of God). This book has literally changed my life. The evidence being that I now understand in a much greater way what Jesus Christ did for mankind when he went to the cross for our sins. I highly recommend that you read this book.

Horton, coming from a conservative reformed standpoint, seeks to expose the fleshly and man-centred nature of much of what occurs under the name of spirituality and worship in contemporary evangelicalism. He contrasts modern mysticism and religious experience, which entails a personal seeking after the immediate manifestation of God's glory, with the way of the cross, as mediated through word and sacrament. I am neither 'reformed' (if by that you mean Horton's own type of Calvinism) nor cessationist as Horton passionately is, and yet in this I recognised much of contemporary evangelicalism (particularly the charismatic/Pentecostal movement of which I am a part) and also saw the validity of his warnings. He pinpoints something that has been niggling me for a long time, namely, the legalism and man-centredness of the modern mystical approach to God. The sort of approach that Pentecostals and charismatics have inherited from 19th-century religion (holiness, revivalism etc.) has bred a new religion in which the 'breakthrough', 'living in victory' and 'surrender' have become new targets to aim for as a way of gauging personal success in God. Horton's criticisms of contemporary worship are pertinent, and he highlights well the demise of the objective work of Christ's atonement on the cross and the rise of immediate mystical experience in the language of our hymns.

Yet his treatment of some individuals is unfair. For example, though he is generally on target with his criticisms of Torrey's 'steps to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit', some of his inferences are petty and misrepresentative, eg. on the seventh step, 'faith', Horton comments: 'Faith? At the end? Until then everything the believer has done presumably has been accomplished without faith...' I suspect Horton has presumed wrongly, and faith is at the very centre of Torrey's eight steps, even if they can be criticised on other grounds. Also, I feel Horton somewhat misrepresents Wesley. He credits him with introducing William Law's mystical 'holiness' into the church, and yet in fact Wesley passionately rejected Law's approach after his conversion, and condemned that type of mysticism that that tried to lead people into 'holiness' without justification. Some of his comments about contemporary songs and singers are also out of place, eg. '...one should be far less worried about [Eric] Clapton than about Carman...ironically, Clapton at least has a song, 'Lord Have Mercy,' while Carman advocates the prosperity gospel and a curious Star Wars theology.' One might easily think that Carman never sings about God's mercy or the cross. Whilst there are legitimate criticisms to be made, jibes like these are just shallow and misleading.

He fails to explain adequately how the apostles and the early church were able to lay claim to signs and wonders, and what appear to be experiences of a more mystical nature than Horton seems prepared to allow. He to want to say that all such experiences are inherently tied up with a 'theology of glory', and yet it seems that the early church were able to get away with it unaffected. Horton ignores a major element of New Testament teaching by dismissing the possibility of 'experiences' of God.

Having said all this, however, the general thrust of Horton's book is clear. God is a holy God who is to be approached with reverence and fear through the one way he has made available to man - through the blood of Christ. Contemporary evangelicalism in many respects forgets this and pursues 'superior' experiences, experiences that are more 'direct', more 'intimate' and more 'fulfilling'. In the days of 'God-Chasing' (which this reviewer, at least, sees as just another brand of plain old mysticism that dispenses with the need for Scripture and sacrament), Horton's warning must be taken seriously.

...change the way we look at spirituality. In our decadent day of modern Christian culture, very few are proclaiming the gospel truths that will enable us to return to the Better Way - the way of Scripture. Dr. Horton is one of these few, and this book is in my opinion his finest. Whether you are Reformed, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Roman or else, this book will broaden, if not transform, your view of biblical spirituality - the spirituality of the cross. Horton argues through sound exegesis that Biblical spirituality does not consist of the private, mystical ascension that is characteristic of both our modern day and the early church heresy of Gnosticism. The spirituality condoned in Scripture does not describe such ascension of man to the throne of God (for in so doing we find only fire and judgment). Rather, our spirituality is characterized by the descent of God to us (for there alone do we find grace, hope and peace), through Jesus Christ our mediator. Our spirituality consists in being identified with Christ, and this is afforded in the good grace of biblically instituted material sacraments. Buy this book, read it, teach it and re-read it.

In the Face of God addresses how it is possible even within the Christian community to be too spiritual. He believes it is essential that doctrines and not emotions or experiences be the foundation of our Christian lives. He discusses how gnosticism has infiltrated the Christian church from the very beginning and how it has continued to do so ever since. For example, he argues that nineteenth-century romanticism influenced the church (and its hymns) by allowing gnostic ideas to creep into Christian terminology. He worries that in this seeker-friendly mindset that the church will lose the true message of the gospel as they try to meet the felt needs of the community without addressing the ultimate issue of salvation. He emphasizes the need for the preaching of the Word in churches, sound doctrines in the pulpits (not pop psychology), and above all else a realization that God is a God to be taken seriously. Throughout the book he presents how different men and women (in the Bible) have reacted to their personal encounters with God. Each one reacted not with joy or giddiness but with fear and trembling. Meeting God was a humbling experience for each one. Being in God's presence--being made aware (even a small glimpse) of his glory and power--only makes one more aware of how sinful we are and how small we are in comparison to God. He worries that people are seeking a "God" of their own creation that can be sought by anyone at anytime without a mediator without fear of judgement or punishment. The truth of the matter is that unless Jesus stands as your mediator God is not a "safe" God to approach. Without Christ, only judgement can be the result of a meeting with God.

Horton hits the nail right between the proverbial eyes with his treatment of this book on worship. If you're looking for something provocative, this is it. Read it and think, then weep at what you've mistakenly thought of or practiced as worship. Highly recommended.

This is a terrific book. Michael Horton steers the reader away from the current emphasis on subjective, gnostic religion -- especially in modern charismatic/Pentecostalism and much of pop evangelicalism -- and shows what true intimacy with the Almighty means. He also has an appendix answering common questions, including the subjective, self-centeredness common in modern praise and worship music. You might not agree with every point, but In the Face of God deserves your time and attention.

This work is a real eye-opener. This well researched book has some basic facts and insights that will make a person either deny the reality presented to follow their own suppositions or readjust their idea of who and what God is by having the words in this book bombard them like a bucket filled with freezing ice water. Today our culture in the United States has lost the ability to think critically and people follow belief systems for the "feelings" they get rather than truly worshiping God on His terms. People want excursions into mystic fairy lands where they can create their own definitions of a God that pleases them. "In the Face Of God" is no trip to the amusement park. It is an examination of truths, historical facts and a flow chart of what happens when we do not take God at His Word but try to invent our own way of saying things to please ourselves. Bravo! I thank God for you, Michael Horton.

I think there is a reason that this is out of print. I wonder how much Horton still agrees with this book.

Horton makes too many generalizing statements, especially about Charismatics which is uncalled for. I understand how he is a Reformed scholar and is rooted in the Reformers theology but I wonder if Luther's stance on mysticism should be looked at and re-examined.

I fear that too much of the 16th Century is being imported into the 21st. I'm not saying that Truth is not timeless but Luther and Calvin were largely reacting to abuses and corrupt theology that we have never seen in our lifetime. In other words, they probably went overboard in reacting, as we all do. That said, I think we need to re-examine things more in this time period.

My ultimate problem with the book is that it focuses so much on an objective, rationalistic faith that it doesn't look at the fact that as humans, we need subjective experiencecs and a subjective relationship with Christ in that it is personal.

I know on the White Horse which Horton hosts, they usually demonize the subjective personal testimony. "Personal" and "Subjective" seem to be four letter words to Horton and that bothers me. Over subjectivity is not good but neither is cold hyper objectivity.

That said, I would pass this book by.