Samson's Jawbone

Many charismatic acknowledge that the gift of tongues they experience is different from the first century Pentecostal experience. They claim they are a language through which God speaks to the believer in prayer (a false teaching we will address later). They see the continuation of Pentecost in various "signs and wonders," that have reappeared in the life of the church evidence by a more robust wave of Spiritual phenomena predicted to rise in the end times. Does the resurgence of signs and wonders evince a more robust Spiritual life, a continuation of Pentecost, at the end of the age?  The argument is that the prophet Joel predicted that the first century Pentecost would usher in a new age of miracles and signs and wonders: [28] “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. [29] Even on the male and female serv...

  One of the most often overlooked aspect of the continuationist and cessationist debate is over the legitimacy of the continuationist claim. In other words, are the charismatic phenomenon which many millions have experienced around the world a continuation of the first Pentecost? What would we expect a continued Pentecost to look like, and how does that compare to the modern Pentecostal experience? What parameters does the New Testament place on the continued use and manifestation of those gifts, and how do they compare to the modern charismatics experience? Cessationism asserts that there is nothing in the modern charismatic movement that remotely resembles a continuation of the first century Pentecost or is consistent with Biblical conditions under which they would expect.  L et's examine what occurred as the twelve waited for what Jesus had promised at the 1st century Pentecost: "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the...

  In the Old Testament, the Feast caled Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, celebrated the beginning of the wheat harvest, then later, the giving of the Law to the People of Israel. It celebrated God's past work and foreshadowed and celebrate a coming greater blessing. It is no wonder that the blessed coming of the Holy Spirit, as promised by Christ, came 50 days after Passover, the day of his resurrection, on Pentecost, anticipating a new more glorious coming of the Spirit.  As Jesus prepared to ascend, he promised his followers that the Spirit would come to empower the gospel's promulgation to the Jews, Samaritans and then to usher in the kingdom of God to include the Gentiles. (Act 1:8) Ten days after the ascension, while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Pentecost, all Jews, who could, were expected to pilgrimage to the temple for the event, anticipating the wheat harvest and the giving of the Law, and a greater blessing from God in the consummation of his kingdom....

Many coninuationists, like Dr Wayne Garden referenced in the prior post, would affirm the completion of the Canon, the sufficiency of Scripture. But they, would argue, that cessationist's failure to recognize the present charismata shows a faulty understanding of pneumatology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and a diminished appreciation of the Spirit. Does a proper understanding of the Spirit require an openness to experience Pentecostal phenomena? This post will attempt to survey certain aspect of pneumatology: W hy did the Holy Spirit come; How is his work realized in a believer's life?  From the middle of the 1st Century until the 1901 Azusa Street Revivals (1850 years) the charismata, tongues, prophecy knowledge, healings and miracles were nearly absent from the life of the church. Was the church blind to the accurate and full understanding of the Spirit; was there some reason God was withholding the Spirit's power; or was there a fuller experience of the Spirit that ...

  The prominent Southern Baptist continuationist scholar says in his SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine  says," We can define the sufficiency of Scripture as follows: The Sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained in all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly. This definition emphasizes that it is the Scripture alone that we are to search for Gods words to us. It also reminds us that God considers what he has told us in the Bible to be enough for us, and that we should rejoice in the great revelation that he has given us and be content with it [italics mine]."  If Grudem's definition represents the Biblical doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture, then why do we need the revelatory gifts of tongues, knowledge and prophecy? Doesn't it make senses that the "...

Recently  at a church I attended one of the pastoral staff commissioned a team of youth leaving for a mission trip. He commissioned them based on something "God had told him," when he was a young man. He sent the team out in fulfillment of what God had spoken to him many years prior. I cringed!  It seemed to me that such a statement gave the impression that the team was going out in fulfillment of God's plan for that pastor, and that God's purpose for them individually was secondary. Wasn't the Great Commission the team's authority? No mention of it. Why did the congregation need to know about a specific "prophetic word," that had come to a pastor 30-years before? This "word-from-God," affirmation gave greater significance to his experience, then to the command of Christ. It essentially elevated the words and experience of that pastor above the word of God. Such statements diminish the authority of Christ and His word.  It is the authority ...