Jim Osman: The Danger of Demon Slayers and Deliverance Ministries

This is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference:  

Michael Staton: How the Doctrine of Cessationism Impacts the Church

This is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference: 

  

Conrad Mbewe: The Cessation of the Gift of the Apostle

This is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference: 

 

Q&A Panel Discussion at the 2024 Cessationist Conference

Mike Riccardi: The Work of the Holy Spirit Today

  This message is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference: 

Scott Aniol: The Cessation of the Gift of Tongues

 This message is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference:

Justin Peters: The Cessation of the Gift of Healing

 This is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference:

Virgil Walker: A Call to Defend the Church Against Error

This message is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference:

Tom Pennington: Cessationism Defined

This message is from the 2024 Cessationist Conference:

Virgil Walker on the Open but Cautious Approach to the Apostolic Gifts

What Changed My Mind About Cessationism - Part 2

In my previous post, I addressed theological reasons why I changed my mind regarding Cessationism. Now, I will give you my practical reasons.

First, I have never been attended a church that did not practice tongues and healing. The Spirit gives to every believer a gift to be used in service to the church. You would think tongues and healing would be used like teaching, mercy, and encouragement, but it did not. With so many in the hospital, surely someone would visit them and heal them. As one who went through cancer, no one in the church offered to heal me. People prayed for to be healed, and God used conventional means to bring about that healing.

In regard to tongues, I did attend an Assembly of God church because the girl I was dating at the time was a member of one, this was a couple of years before I met my wife. Towards the end of the service, I heard one man speak in tongues, but it was not a known language. It was gibberish and there was no interpreter which goes against scripture. The Bible says:

If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must translate; but if there is no translator, he must keep silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God (1 Corinthians 14:27-28).

Second, I can think Matt Chandler for this one. Remember when he saw pirate ship? Yep. When I first heard that, I was thinking what in the world is Matt talking about. Having a vision of a pirate ship and a shark. What did he eat before bed that night before? Matt really needs to lay off the sauce. I could not take this vision seriously nor Matt Chandler which I am glad because of Chandler embracing woke ideology.

Third, what really was the start of my progression towards Cessationism was the time I did Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God. This study has been around for 30 plus years and for many it is the go-to place to understand hearing God speak even though I do not recall any instruction on that, yet Blackaby said if you do not hear the voice of God, you are in trouble at the heart of the Christian experience. There are many who claim they cannot hear the voice of God, yet Blackaby said that is a problem. Did Jesus give any instruction on hearing the voice of God? No. John 10:27, which says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." This is about effectual call of God on one to come to Christ for salvation, not God telling to wear a certain kind of shirt or where to buy a Thanksgiving Turkey as Charles Stanley once claimed he did.

My final practical reason, sticking with Blackaby's study, there one part of his teaching that caused to me rethink this doctrine, was when Blackaby stated that God will explain to you the reason for your trial. In other words, he is going to give the info to your suffering. As I stated earlier, I went through cancer. For those who do not know, I was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkins Lymphoma. I was on chemotherapy for six months and by God's kindness was healed of cancer. I was youth pastor at a local church at the time when my pastor asked why I was given, and I could not give him a direct answer. 

Blackaby teaching says that God should give me a reason for my cancer, He has not, and I am not expecting one either. Job was never told why he went through his trial. We who have read the Bible knows that Satan was the one who afflicted him, but we are not sure why God allowed all that happened to Job. One point Jerry Bridges pointed out is neither did the inspired writer tell the reader why Job went through his suffering. I have been healed of cancer since 2008 and still am grateful to God for healing me. I will never call it a miracle because I was not dying, but he did take a dark time and used it for His glory and my good to conform me to the likeness of Christ (see Romans 8:28-30). 

Cessationism was something I did not take lightly. I looked into it carefully biblically and even through my time in various churches. You may not all agree with my conclusions and that's fine. I do hope you understand why I changed my mind about Cessationism and it wasn't because I support Grace to You, G3 and other minstries that believe in it as well.

God Bless.

What Changed My Mind About Cessationism

It was nearly 11 years ago that I reviewed John MacArthur's, Strange Fire, which addresses the issue of spiritual gifts in particular the sign gifts. The issue is whether or not these gifts have ceased or if they are still in continuation in the church today. When I wrote the review, I wrote it as a charismatic with seat belt meaning that I believe the gifts were in operation today, but we have to be cautious when using them and being allow them being used in the church. 

I also want to confess that I misunderstood what MacArthur was saying the book wasn't about the gifts of teaching and exhortation, but dealt with the sign gifts of healing, tongues, and prophecy. Thankfully I already knew there were no Apostles today because of what was said in the books of Acts:

Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection (Acts 1:21-22).

It was not until a few years later that I had a shift in my theology regarding the sign gifts. I want to take the time to express what changed by mind about being a cessationist. In this post, I want to briefly share my theological reasons, and then dive into the practical reasons in the next post.

First, when you take a look at the list of the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4, prophecy, miracles and healings were only mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 but not the other chapters. 1 Corinthians were written before the other three letters so during the early church age it appears that the sign gifts were dwindling away for the number of Apostles was not getting any greater for there were no other Apostles after Paul who saw the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus in Acts 9,

Second, 1 Corinthians 12 says the Spirit is the one who gives the gifts. The Spirit of God gives the gifts as He sees fit. Many charismatics are trying to get people to force them to heal and/or speak in tongues when it is not given them as a gift. I should know. I tried it. After listening to a sermon from John Osteen, the father of Joel Osteen, he mentioned saying a prayer and let the Spirit utter words from your mouth. I did that and nothing happened because the Spirit did not give me the gift of tongues.

Third, there is no instruction on how to speak in tongues in the Bible. Jesus taught us to pray, but He did not teach the disciples to speak in tongues nor did any of the Apostles especially Paul, John, and Peter.

Fourth, regarding tongues, they were known languages. In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came on the Apostles, they were speaking the languages of the people gathered in the day of Pentecost. The gifts of tongues were not this gibberish nonsense that makes one sound like they should be a Klingon on Star Trek. 

Regarding prophecy, there have been men and women who have claimed to speak for God, but nothing ever came to pass or was ever proven true. The Bible says:

Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

Finally, the Bible is sufficient. God has given us that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), which comes from His Word. The Bible says:

And we have as more sure the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Peter 1:19-21).

God's Word is enough. We do not need a fresh word from Him. We do not need a new revelation from Him. To paraphrase the late David Miller, I don't need new revelation when I having trouble obeying the revelation I already have. 

These are my theological reasons why I changed my mind about cessationism. As I mentioned above, I will focus on the practical reasons in the next post. 

A Q&A on Cessationism

During a Sunday evening service at Countryside Bible Church in Southlake, TX, Tom Pennington answers questions regarding Cessationism:

Justin Peters and Tom Pennington Discuss Cessationism

Recommended Resources:

A Biblical Case for Cessationism: Why the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit Have Ended by Tom Pennington, which is based on his sermon from the Strange Fire Conference

The Final Word: A Biblical Response to the Case for Tongues and Prophecy Today by Palmer Robertson

The Cessationist documentary, which feature Pennington along with Justin Peters, Steve Lawson, Josh Buice, and more

To Be Continued?: Are the Miraculous Gifts for Today? by Sam Waldron

A Case for Cessationism

Cessationism is the belief that the Apostolic sign gifts as seen through the Apostles in the New Testament have ceased. There has been a lot of discussions on this topic and a lot of disagreements. Ten ago, John MacArthur hosted the Strange Fire conference which addresses this very topic. Tom Pennington preached a sermon during that conference giving us a good case to cessationism:

Recommended Resources:

A Biblical Case for Cessationism: Why the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit Have Ended by Tom Pennington, which is based on his sermon from the Strange Fire Conference

The Final Word: A Biblical Response to the Case for Tongues and Prophecy Today by Palmer Robertson

The Cessationist documentary, which feature Pennington along with Justin Peters, Steve Lawson, Josh Buice, and more

To Be Continued?: Are the Miraculous Gifts for Today? by Sam Waldron

A Discussion About Cessationism with Sam Waldron and Covenant Podcast

Recently the Covenant Podcast had a discussion with Sam Waldron about Cessationism. Sam is the president of Coveant Baptist Theological Seminary. This discussion is in two parts:

Cascading into Cessationism: A Discussion on the Miraculous Gifts with Dr. Sam Waldron (Part 1)

Cascading into Cessationism: A Discussion on the Miraculous Gifts with Dr. Sam Waldron (Part 2)

Recommended Reading:

The Final Word: A Biblical Response to the Case for Tongues and Prophecy Today by Palmer Robertson

Do the Modern Gifts Meet the Biblical Standard?

In this video, Nathan Busenitz address spiritual gifts as defined by the modern Charismatic Movement:

A Case for the Cessation Of Special Revelation

Cessationism is the belief that the Apostolic gifts such as healing and speaking in tongues has ceased. Cessationists are believe that special revelation has ceased. Special revelation is, as defined at Ligonier, "that revelation from God that tells us the way of salvation and what it means to live in a manner that pleases Him."

Chapter 1 in the first paragraph of the 1689 Baptist Confession says:

The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.

Can we make a Biblical case for the cessation of special revelation? Yes, we can. Over at the 1689 Society, they did a series on the cessation of special revelation that I highly recommend you take time to read:

A Biblical Defense Of The Cessation Of Special Revelation Part 1

A Biblical Defense Of The Cessation Of Special Revelation Part 2

A Biblical Defense Of The Cessation Of Special Revelation Part 3

Objections Regarding The Cessation Of Special Revelation