We are continuing to discuss the theology of Cessationism that has been prevalent among most evangelical, mainstream churches in America and Western Europe for the past 500 years.  Those influenced by this theology hold the position that God worked miracles through men during certain historic seasons of the Old Testament and during the first century, but that miracles ceased to occur toward the end of the first century because they had fulfilled their purpose in establishing the church.  The idea that God has ceased to perform miracles for and through his people is where the term Cessationsist comes from. Its not that God does not answer prayer, but that he works within natural laws and natural processes as he answers prayer.  He no longer speaks to his people directly by his Spirit but only through his written word. He heals through doctors as he helps them to do their best, but does not heal supernaturally or raise the dead. He may quicken a man’s mind so that he learns a foreign language more quickly than others but he doesn’t supernaturally reveal the language as he did to the apostles on Pentecost with the gift of tongues.

If you are in a church that does not pray for supernatural healings, does not minister deliverance, and would never have someone stand in front of the church to prophesy, your pastor or church leaders have more than likely been indoctrinated with this view since they came to faith and were taught by men for whom they had great respect.  For them it is not just a theological position that some hold, but it is doctrinal truth.

Those who hold to this theology deny that God still intervenes in the natural order of things through miracles and especially deny that the Holy Spirit still distributes the “miraculous gifts” of prophecy, healings, tongues, miracles, words of knowledge, etc. I remember attending a meeting several years ago where mainline churches in our city had gathered together to pray for revival.  The second or third night of the meeting, one of the leaders of a large evangelical church came to the microphone with a prayer request.  He reported that a young woman in their church who was widely known and widely loved was in a hospital in Dallas, Texas where she was suffering from end-stage heart disease and had only days left to live without God’s intervention.  He asked if he could pray on her behalf.  I expected a prayer asking for God to heal her heart, but instead the prayer was for God to provide a heart for a heart transplant.  In other words, we prayed for someone to die so she could receive the heart and live. We prayed for God to manipulate the natural order of things so that they swung in her favor, but it never seemed to occur to the pastor to pray for direct, supernatural healing because God “doesn’t do that anymore.”  I’m not at all opposed to heart transplants, but it seems we should always pray for God’s supernatural and perfect healing first.  That is an example of Cessationsist theology.

Their argument for the end of miracles is based on several assumptions.

1. They have never seen an “authentic” miracle, like we see in the pages of the New Testament, therefore, they know that God no longer performs miracles, especially through men operating in the gifts of the Spirit.
2. God performed miracles through Jesus to confirm that he was the Son of God.After his resurrection and ascension, the miracles he performed had fulfilled their purpose.
3. God performed miracles through the apostles, in order to confirm that they were approved by God and that their teachings and writings were, therefore, inspired.
4. Once the historical record of the miracles of Jesus and the apostles was compiled, the purpose for miracles was fulfilled and miracles ceased.
5. The primary proof text for this position is found in 1 Corinthians. “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears” (1 Cor. 13:8-10). The argument is that the perfect thingor perfection is the completed New Testament.  Once the inspired scriptures were penned, there was no further need for the miracles because the Biblical record is sufficient to produce faith that leads to salvation.

There are, of course, other layers of the argument, but these are the main pillars on which this theology rests.  Once you have been taught and convinced of this theology, you are rarely open to any other possibility.  Those who claim to operate in the miraculous gifts are viewed as misled or charlatans ripping off ignorant people in tent meetings or on television. Anything that might hint of an authentic healing is written off as a psychosomatic condition that was relieved by the power of suggestion rather than a true disease being cured. Those who prophesy or speak in tongues are viewed as agents of the devil trying to mislead God’s people and anyone who would teach that the Holy Spirit still operates as he did in the Book of Acts is tagged as a teacher of false doctrine.

In my experience, there are many church leaders and pastors in Cessationist churches who long for more or suspect that God may still do something supernatural and outrageous from time to time, but they are uncertain of their view and keep their thoughts to themselves for the most part rather than risking being labeled as theologically suspect. I served in Cessationist churches for over 20 years and never saw an authentic miracle like you see on the pages of the New Testament (although I have seen many since becoming part of a charismatic or Continuistchurch).  I certainly saw abuses of the gifts of the Spirit and charlatans who were taking the money of desperate people.  Because of my theology, I tended to view all claims of the miraculous through that filter. I rarely traveled outside my own fellowship so I never encountered people I respected who held the view that the Holy Spirit still moves in power among his people.

Since we had no faith for the miraculous we neither asked for miracles nor expected them, so we saw none.  All of these things functioned in a way that only confirmed what we already believed.  Its not that the believers in these churches don’t love God or think he could do mighty works, they simply believe he chooses to no longer act in those ways.  As a result, good people who love God tend to live out a rather  powerless faith because they have no access to the powerful gifts of the Spirit meant to bless the church, evangelize the world, and set people free from all forms of bondage and torment served up by the enemy. Interestingly. in these churches the subject of demons and demonization rarely surfaces.  It may be because they have no answer if they don’t have the power of the Spirit operating today but when someone declares that God no longer works in supernatural ways, he or she tends to dismiss or minimize the supernatural in all forms.  As a result, demons often act without consequence and without opposition in these fellowships.

In my next blog, I will respond to the basic tenants of Cessationism and hopefully help some who read this blog step toward the full ministry of the Holy Spirit knowing that  they are on solid biblical ground when they do so.