The Gifts Are For Today (Continuationism)

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are for Today!

1Co 12:1 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant”.

Here we have, not just a statement concerning “spiritual gifts”, but we have a cloaked prophecy about the appalling “ignorance” of the Holy Spirit in our own day. Paul anticipated an “ignorance” “concerning spiritual gifts”. Chapters 12-14 of 1Corinthians was designed by God to combat such “ignorance”.

Cessationism is Rebellion

“Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.”(1Thessalonians 5:19-20)

Note: This is adapted from a commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. By Vincent Cheung. (Used by permission)

Signs and Wonders by John Piper

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Rev. Earl Jackson

                                  Signs and Wonders: Then and Now    By John Piper February 1, 1991

Part 1: Are Wonders against the Word? I am one of those Baptist General Conference people who believes that "signs and wonders" and all the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are valid for today and should be "earnestly desired" (1 Corinthians 14:1) for the edification of the church and the spread of the gospel. I agree with the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preached in 1965:

It is perfectly clear that in New Testament times, the gospel was authenticated in this way by signs, wonders and miracles of various characters and descriptions. . . . Was it only meant to be true of the early church? . . . The Scriptures never anywhere say that these things were only temporary – never! There is no such statement anywhere. (The Sovereign Spirit, pp. 31-32)

If Discerning of Spirits has Ceased?

If Discerning of Spirits Has Ceased?

The  Gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12 includes the gift of “discerning of spirits“.  Yet, this is one of the gifts that cessationist’s believe has ceased.  This poses a great dilemma for the cessationists.  How can they discern that the gifts which the continuationists are using,  are not of the Holy Spirit?   They have no discerning of spirits, so how can they tell?

1John 4:1-3 seems to be written specifically to tell us to “try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world“. How can a cessationist, who cannot have any discerning of spirits, ever fulfill this command to try the spirits?  The cessationists tries to get around this by saying that all spirits are evil.  Well if that were the case, then why did God give this command?  If they are all evil he would have simply said…reject them all!  Don’t believe any spirit!  But God did not say that.  He said, “try the spirits whether they are of God”.  This clearly implies that some spirits are of God, and should therefore not be rejected. 

But alas! The poor cessationists cannot tell.  It is no wonder they are so blind.  They have no tools for spiritual discernment. Those of us who have the gift of discernment concerning identities of spirits, we need to clearly identify that they are operating under some other spirit, because they could not keep this command even if they wanted. Whatever spirit they have has, has taken away the possibility for discerning of spirits. We have to then reject them, because they operate not in the Spirit of God, but in a rebellious spirit that tells them to disobey this command to “try the spirits”. 

See my friends how dangerous this cessationism really is. It spiritually cripples it’s followers so that they are forced into disobeying God.  It is my prayer that this spirit of darkness would be lifted from our churches and our land.  Cessationism is a blight, a cancer, a deformity.  God deliver us.

©2009 Earl Jackson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Are Spiritual Gifts For Today by James Sheets

I was converted in an Independent Methodist Church (sorta like an Independent Baptist Church - fundamentalist type - the main difference was we sprinkled instead of immersion). I graduated from an Independent Baptist Christian school. So all of my early Christian foundations were from cessationist moorings.

As I studied the Scriptures however (of course it was the Scofield Reference Bible), I started seeing some inconsistencies in the party line of these groups. When I saw this particular subject I thought that I would throw in my two cents for what it is worth:

I want to look for a moment (?) at the six most frequently used arguments in defense of cessationism. If you are not familiar with that word it refers to the doctrine that certain spiritual gifts, typically (and mistakenly I might add) those referred to as “miraculous” in nature (such as healing, prophecy, tongues, miracles, word of knowledge, etc.) ceased or were withdrawn by God from the Church at the close of the first century or some say in conjunction with the death of the original twelve apostles. As I said before, I was a taught to be a confirmed, die-hard cessationist. Among the various arguments I heard cessationists employ, the following six were those I most often heard taught and preached. I now find them wholly inadequate, indeed wholly misleading and completely false. Here are the reasons why:

Cessationism and Tongues

Cessationism and Speaking in Tongues 

©2209 Vincent Cheung

Some people call me a Reformed Charismatic.1 I remember one person who criticized me on the basis that the term is a misnomer and an oxymoron. He thought that a Reformed person could not at the same time be a Charismatic, and a Charismatic could not possibly deserve to be called Reformed.

Cessationism Contradicts Predestination

Cessationism Incompatible With Predestination
　
The foundation doctrine of Calvinism is the doctrine of Predestination…the idea that all things exist because God willed them to exist, just the way that they are, and that He did this in some sort of eternal decree before anything at all existed except Him (1Cor.2:7). Predestination is the cardinal point or primordial principle of the theological system known as the Reformed Faith. Before the foundation of the world, God devised a plan which encompassed all things…all beings, all events, and all universes (Eph. 1:4,9; 3:11; Isa. 14:24-27; 46:10-11; 2Tim.1:9). It is His Sovereign government of everything (Deut. 10:14; Acts 2:23; 4:28; 17:26; Rom.8:28-30), and it is beyond the comprehension of everyone, except for God Himself.