Review for "The Jesus You Can't Ignore" by John MacArthur

I review books for BookSneeze by Thomas Nelson Publishers, and this is the first book I honestly had to force myself to finish. In The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, author John MacArthur asserts that the image of a mild, meek, gentle, docile teacher is a faulty portrayal of Jesus. He wants us to see that Jesus was courageous, confrontational, powerful, and proclaimed the truth in forceful as well as gentle ways. I actually agree with MacArthur’s point and believe it is a picture of Jesus that we need to remember in our modern times, but I so disliked the way this book was written that I cannot recommend it.
The book begins with an overly long introduction which sets forth the author’s main purpose (in my opinion) – a diatribe against everything heretical, tolerant, and watered-down about the modern evangelical movement. The remaining chapters of the book walk through many of Jesus’ teachings and do contain some nuggets worth hanging onto. However, the book is littered with the author’s agenda and personal ire against a segment of Christianity today. The main point of the book is beleaguered and could have been made in a much more succinct way. This book may be a good reference if you are teaching on a particular sermon of Jesus, but otherwise is a chore to work through.