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...

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 ...

I admit it: I grew up thinking charismatics were weird or worse lunatics, but after getting to know some of my Pentecostal brothers and sisters hearing their scriptural defense and testimony, I later changed my mind. However, after many years of considering myself a continuationist, I am now a convinced cessationist. I just believe charismatics are wrong because of either ignorance or neglect of good hermeneutical principles.  Now after nearly 50 years as a believer and 30 years in ministry and studying God's word, I no longer believer charismatic are weird or lunatics. I just think they are wrong.  For the sake of clarity some definitions: A continuationist believes that the Holy Spirit will continue his revelation of himself, and divine truth in the same ways he has throughout scripture. In fact, Pentecost, means he has come in full measure and is active and available in full measure. Although the frequency of manifestations of the so called revelato...