Samson's Jawbone

  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...

  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 ...