Cessationism

I have a dear sister in Christ at chuch who was asking about cessationisn the other day. It was obvious that shw was leaing towards believing in cessationaim. I knew I disagreed but felt unable to present a cogent rationale. Thus this blog post.

Cessationism is the view that the “miracle gifts” of tongues and healing have ceased—that the end of the apostolic age brought about a cessation of the miracles associated with that age. Most cessationists believe that, while God can and still does perform miracles today, the Holy Spirit no longer uses individuals to perform miraculous signs. 

Argument 1 Why would God continue to do some miracles like healings, which I think no one will argue, but not do others?

The biblical record shows that miracles occurred during particular periods for the specific purpose of authenticating a new message from God. Moses was enabled to perform miracles to authenticate his ministry before Pharaoh (Exodus 4:1-8). Elijah was given miracles to authenticate his ministry before Ahab (1 Kings 17:1; 18:24). The apostles were given miracles to authenticate their ministry before Israel (Acts 4:10, 16).

Jesus’ ministry was also marked by miracles, which the Apostle John calls “signs” (John 2:11). John’s point is that the miracles were proofs of the authenticity of Jesus’ message.

Argumet 2 Are we to believe that these were the only times that God's sprit was working? Below is a brief history of revivals just in N America that argues to the contrary.

The Great Awakening, 1734-43. In December 1734, the first revival of historic significance broke out in Northampton, Mass., where a young Jonathan Edwards was pastor. After months of fruitless labor, he reported five or six people converted—one a young woman. He wrote, “[She] had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town.” He feared her conversion would douse the flame, but quite the opposite took place. Three hundred souls converted in six months—in a town of only 1,100 people The news spread like wildfire, and similar revivals broke out in over 100 towns.5 Starting in Philadelphia in 1739, George Whitfield’s dramatic preaching was like striking a match to the already-underway awakening. An estimated 80 percent of America’s 900,000 Colonists personally heard Whitfield preach. He became America’s first celebr

The Second Great Awakening, 1800-1840. In 1800, only one in 15 of America’s population of 5,300,000 belonged to an evangelical church. Presbyterian minister James McGready presided over strange spiritual manifestations in Logan County, Ky. The resulting camp meeting revivals drew thousands from as far away as Ohio. Rev. Gardiner Spring reported that for the next 25 years not a single month passed without news of a revival somewhere.In 1824, Charles Finney began a career that would eventually convert 500,000 to Christ. An unparalleled 100,000 were converted in Rochester, N.Y., in 1831 alone—causing the revival to spread to 1,500 towns. By 1850 the nation’s population exploded fourfold to 23,000,000 people, but those connected to evangelical churches grew nearly tenfold from 7 percent to 13 percent of the population—from 350,000 to 3,000,000 church members!

The Businessmen’s Revival of 1857-1858. In 1857, the North Dutch Church in New York City hired a businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier, to be a lay missionary. He prayed, “Lord, what would you have me do?” Concerned by the anxious faces of businessmen on the streets of New York City, Lanphier decided to open the church at noon so businessmen could pray. The first meeting was set for September 23—three weeks before the Bank Panic of 1857. Six attended the first week, 20 the next, then 40, then they switched to daily meetings. Before long all the space was taken, and other churches also began to open up for businessmen’s prayer meetings. Revivals broke out everywhere in 1857, spreading throughout the United States and world. Sometimes called The Great Prayer Meeting Revival, an estimated 1,000,000 people were added to America’s church rolls, and as many as 1,000,000 of the 4,000,000 existing church members also converted.

The Civil War Revival, 1861-1865. The bitter dispute over slavery thrust our nation into the deadliest war we’ve ever experienced. By the end, 620,000 Americans lay dead—one out of every 50 of the 31,000,000 people counted in the 1860 census. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, it seemed as though the soldiers for both sides had left their Christianity at home and gone morally berserk. By 1862, the tide turned, first among the Confederate forces. An estimated 300,000 soldiers were converted, evenly divided between the Southern and Northern Armies. 

The Urban Revivals, 1875-1885. Young businessman Dwight L. Moody participated in the Great Revival of 1857 as it swept Chicago.Moody later conducted revivals throughout the British Isles where he spoke to more than 2,500,000 people. In 1875, Moody returned home and began revivals in America’s biggest cities. Hundreds of thousands were converted and millions were inspired by the greatest soul winner of his generation.20 At this time, the general worldview of Americans was shifting away from a Christian consensus. Darwinism and higher criticism were gaining traction, and Moody became the first evangelist to come under attack—accused of making religion the opiate of the masses.

By the turn of the 20th century, the mood of the country was changing. Outside the church, it was the era of radio, movies and the “Jazz Age.” World War I led to a moral letdown and the Roaring Twenties. When that era came to an abrupt end on October 29, 1929, followed by the Great Depression, there was surprisingly little interest in spiritual revival.22 Inside the church, a half-century long battle raged between evangelicalism and theological liberalism, which had penetrated major denominations.23 The effect was that 20th-century revivals were more limited in scope, and lacked the broad impact on society of earlier awakenings.24

The Revivals of 1905-1906. Word of the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905 spread to Welsh-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania in late 1904 and revival broke out. By 1905, local revivals blazed in places like Brooklyn, Michigan, Denver, Schenectady, Nebraska, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Taylor University, Yale University, and Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.25 Billy Sunday, who became a key figure about this time, preached to more than 100,000,000 people with an estimated 1,000,000 or more conversions.26

The Azusa Street Revival, 1906. In 1906, William J. Seymour, an African-American Holiness pastor blind in one eye, went to Los Angeles to candidate for a pastoral job. But after he preached, he was locked out of the second service! He began prayer meetings in a nearby home and the Spirit of God, which they called “the second blessing,” fell after many months of concerted prayer. Eventually, the interracial crowds became so large they acquired a dilapidated Methodist church at 312 Azusa Street where daily meetings continued for three years. The resulting Pentecostal Movement and the later Charismatic Movement, which both exploded worldwide in the 20th century, both trace their roots to this revival.

he Post-World War II Awakening. After World War II, in 1947 and 1948, Pentecostals experienced two strands of an awakening, one the Latter Rain Revival and the other the Healing Revival. Large numbers of evangelicals also experienced revival resulting in many conversions. It was at this time that a great generation of Christian leaders emerged. Bill Bright began Campus Crusade for Christ. In 1949, Billy Graham’s distinguished career, which popularized evangelical Christianity for a new generation, exploded on the scene during his Los Angeles crusade sponsored by the Christian Businessmen’s Committee. An estimated 180,000,000 people attended his nearly 400 crusades, and millions more viewed on television. College Revivals started as early as 1946, but when the prayer-based Wheaton College Revival of 1950 achieved national publicity, it sparked other college revivals throughout America.33

The Charismatic Renewal and Jesus Movement. During the late 1960s and early 1970s more revivals of national scope developed. The first strand was the Charismatic Renewal, which spread far beyond Pentecostal and Holiness churches to college campuses, the Catholic Church and mainline denominations. The second strand, the widely publicized Jesus Movement, emphasized turning from drugs, sex and radical politics to taking the Bible at face value and finding Jesus Christ as personal Savior Not surprisingly, this revival spread to college campuses, most notably the 1970 Asbury College Revival in Wilmore, Ky. Within a week the revival had spread throughout the entire country.36 In 1976 America elected a born-again president, and evangelicalism has continued to prosper from then to now.

The Mid-1990s Revivals. Despite the widespread secularization of society since the Cultural Revolution that began in the late 1960s, in the mid-1990s God once again brought a series of revivals, mostly to Charismatic and Pentecostal groups. In 1994 it was The Toronto Blessing, and 1995 ushered in the Melbourne Revival on Florida’s Space Coast, the Modesto Revival, and the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., which recorded 100,000 conversions in two years. College Revivals swept across America, starting at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, under the preaching of Henry Blackaby, a Southern Baptist.

Argument 3 So then the argument for these miraculous gifts is that they were only for a specific places and times, only for apostles. So does that mean there are no modern apostles? In the Christian faith, apostles were those entrusted by Jesus to help organize the church and spread the message of His teachings. The word apostle comes from the Greek word, apostelló, meaning a messenger or one sent on a mission.

Although not used much in common language today except when speaking of Christian principles, in ancient times the word was used to describe someone who was commissioned by another person to represent him in some way. I refer back to the hostory of revivals. Were the people at the lead in these revivals not apostles? Based on the definition I think they were.

If we allow Satan to convince us that some of these gifts sre not for today then we are like the man walking around without an arm. We do not all have the same gifts We are all not the same body oarts but collectively we are the body of Christ

What Is Speaking in Tongues?

Depending on who is asked, and what that person’s denomination is, the definition of speaking in tongues changes. There is debate as to the nature of the languages spoken. There are earthly languages, natural languages that people of nations and tribes speak. Some believe there are also heavenly languages, not from earth, directly from the Holy Spirit. There are generally three categories of thought on the gift of speaking in tongues.

Glossolalists believe that speaking in tongues is a charismatic gift of the Holy Spirit that is either as an earthly language - previously learned or not - or an unknown, heavenly language. Some people, especially in apostolic and Pentecostal churches, believe in a personal prayer language. Typically, if someone receives a message in a church in tongues, there will be an interpreter. Some denominations hold it is primarily for spreading the Gospel, but others believe it can be used for prayer and for prophecy as well.

So based on Pentecostal theology here are 10 reasons to speak in tongues, if you have that gift.

10 Reasons Why to Speak in Tongues.

1. Tongues are the initial sign of the infilling.
Acts 2:4 (KJV) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

2. Tongues are for spiritual edification.
1 Corinthians 14:4 (KJV) He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

3. Praying in tongues keeps our prayers in line with the Word of God.
Romans 8:26 (KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

4. Praying in tongues stimulates faith.
Jude 1:20 (KJV) But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

5. Pray in tongues keeps us free from worldly contamination.
1 Corinthians 14:28 (KJV) But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

6. It enables us to pray for the unknown.
Romans 8:26 (KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

7. It gives spiritual refreshing.
Acts 3:19-20 (KJV) 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Acts 2:38 (KJV) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

8. Tongues are for giving of thanks.
1 Corinthians 14:15-17 (KJV) 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? 17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

9. Speaking in tongues brings the tongue under subjection.
James 3:8 (KJV) But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

10. Tongues remind us of the Indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16-17 (KJV) 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

 Speaking in tongues is not  deal breaker. My girl friend is as much of a Chrstian as I am, but if be believing that the miraculous gifts are also for today gives me a stronger testimony. Then I believe Lord help my unbelif.