Is the Prophetic Replacing the Bible? The Real Danger Facing the Charismatic Church
There are different kinds of charismatic Christians, just as there are different kinds of non-charismatic Christians.
There are charismatics that do no great favor to themselves because of absurd claims. There are those who are more vocal and excited about getting people to speak in tongues than they are to reaching the lost who are going to hell. Another example, one man I have talked to—alleged to have an extraordinary prophetic gift—told me that he had a dream that John the apostle was still alive and living in a cave in Ephesus. John will show up sometime in the future when great revival comes. He told this publicly, and I got in touch and asked him for details. I think he may be sorry he said it. But I refer to him just to show how ridiculous, silly claims can arise from some over-the-top charismatics. This is the sort of thing that might drive some to want to be cessationists!
I know a very high-profile charismatic television personality who admitted he does not read his Bible. He is too busy, but talks to a prophetic man who tells him daily over the phone what the Spirit would have him to do. Satan himself is behind thinking like this. It would be a doctrine of demons that suggests God will give a word of knowledge instead of reading the Bible. The devil hates the Bible; and when a person doesn’t read the Bible but waits for “prophetic words,” it is clear that the devil has moved right in and taken over.
You may ask, “Is cessationism, being a doctrine of demons, as evil as someone waiting for a “word” rather than reading the Bible?” Let me put it this way: whereas witchcraft is a blatant and obvious example of demonism, a sophisticated banker stealing millions by dishonesty could be demon possessed but never suspected since he is wearing a suit and tie. This is an example of the roaring lion vis-à-vis an angel of light.
Cessationism is an example of the angel of light that will keep people from knowing Jesus intimately and the Holy Spirit directly. The devil is equally the enemy of Jesus and the enemy of the Holy Spirit. If he can keep you from experiencing the immediate presence of the ungrieved Holy Spirit, he will. He may do it by convincing you that you cannot have an intimate relationship with God as Christians did before AD 100. If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), so also the Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The Cessationist Argument
I hold that there has been a silent divorce in the church, speaking generally, between the Word and the Spirit. When there is a divorce, sometimes the children stay with the mother, sometimes with the father. In this silent divorce, there are some Word churches and some Spirit churches. What is the difference? Take the Word churches. The position is that the honor of God’s name will not be restored until we get back to “the faith which was once for all delivered into the saints” (Jude 3 NKJV). We must know our doctrine. We must get back to justification by faith alone as taught by Martin Luther, assurance of salvation as taught by John Calvin, and the sovereignty of God as taught by Jonathan Edwards. What is wrong with this teaching? Absolutely nothing. It is exactly right.
Take the Spirit churches. The emphasis is that the honor of God’s name will not be restored until we get back to the book of Acts where there were signs, wonders, miracles, and the gifts of the Spirit in operation. Get into Peter’s shadow and you get healed. Lie to the Holy Spirit and you are struck dead. What is wrong with this teaching? Nothing. It is exactly right.
It seems to me, the problem, which is virtually worldwide, is this: it is one or the other. Thank God for the exceptions. I preach to Word churches that want the immediate and direct presence of the Spirit more than anything. Many others would say that they certainly believe in the Holy Spirit. I wonder sometimes if the truth is that so many merely believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible!
The canon of Scripture was not decided on until the time of Athanasius (296–373). His list as to what should be in the Bible became the normative view. Interestingly, the apostolic fathers affirmed the gifts of the Spirit after John died. Irenaeus (130–202), a convert of Polycarp(68–155) who was a convert of John, wrote that the supernatural gifts flourished in his day.
The church since AD 100 may or may not have experienced the same level as seen in the book of Acts. But it is historically inaccurate to say that miracles ceased. There are reliable historians who have researched this subject and have shown that a surprising number of miracles have taken place over the centuries. The son-in-law of John Knox (1514–1572), the founder of the Church of Scotland, raised a man from the dead, as Jack Deere shows in Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Zondervan). Cessationists are divided as to when the miraculous supposedly ended.
In addition to Word churches and Spirit churches, there are Christians who love liturgy without signs and wonders. Speaking in tongues makes some people nervous. I wonder if the gift of tongues were not listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10, cessationism might disappear. It is the only gift that challenges our pride. But when Paul raised the question, “Do all speak with tongues?” (1 Corinthians 12:30), the answer is no. But by denying the possibility of the gifts of the Spirit for today, people might be free from fanaticism. After all, when you allow for the possibility of miracles, you invite all sorts of problems, especially bizarre claims that cause divisions. Cessationism helps to preserve order.
I could never become a cessationist. If all my friends and the entire Church became cessationists, I could never deny what I have seen and heard.
But is experience sufficient to refute the theory of cessationism? No. It is what the Bible teaches that matters, not anyone’s experience. Paul taught that we must not quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). I fear that cessationists quench the Spirit before the Spirit has an opportunity to work!
Some reformed pastors admit to being embarrassed when they have to tell new converts that they cannot believe and apply all that is in the Bible. New Christians should be told to read the Bible. But when they read it and believe it they are told, “Oh, sorry about that—these verses don’t apply to us today.” Take scissors and cut out all references to the miraculous, and you have a Bible in shreds. That is exactly what Satan wants to happen to your Bible.
My friend Josef Ton (1934–2025) changed my life by cautioning me in my darkest hour, “R.T., you must totally forgive them. Until you totally forgive them, you will be in chains. Release them and you will be released.” Sometime after that, Josef came under the influence of a very well-known cessationist who wrote a book titled Strange Fire. Josef chided me for my being open to the immediate and direct witness of the Spirit. That is, until his own daughter became deathly ill with inoperable cancer. He became desperate and allowed some charismatic Christians to pray for her. She was instantly healed. Josef began to boast, “Now I am a Baptist Pentecostal.”
I will keep praying that people will be healed whenever I have the opportunity. More than 20 people have prayed that I would be healed of vertigo. I have seen some people truly healed. But not many. My mother died at the age of 43 after five different people prayed for her and anointed her with oil. Why? I have no idea. But why should I abandon my confidence in God’s power because my prayers are not always answered as I wish?
I will not stop praying and trusting God to show up any day in great power. I believe that the next thing to happen on God’s big calendar is the awakening of the Church before the Second Coming. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). To quote Yogi Berra again: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
The truth is, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever; the Holy Spirit is the same yesterday and today and forever. It is Satan who would have you to believe otherwise.
