A new rant against cessationism
I have had occasion lately to respond to a cessationist blog with all the "fire" of my conviction, and fully backed up by my house-church "pastor" (for lack of a more relevant title). I will post on here the full blast of what I have written, whether the precious cessationist brother in question ever gets the chance to read this or not.
Peace to all,
Peter
I reject cessationism as contrary to both the letter and the spirit of the entire New Testament: every one of the Gospels, the book of Acts, every one of the Epistles and the book of Revelation. Cessationism is an illogical, unspiritual, unscriptural, restrictive, false, unwarranted, ungodly, ungenerous, ungracious, reactionary, uninspired, humanly devised system of thought based on extrabiblical sources, a total lack of scriptural or historical or experiential evidence, and (most especially) faulty reasoning. It true basis is not the pseudo-intellectual logical syllogisms it is usually couched in, but a profound fear and terror of the reality of the spiritual world in which we all live and move and have our being, as the Scriptures attest, and of which Jesus Christ is the supreme Lord, prophet, priest, king, apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd and teacher. An unwillingness to dispense (administer) each and all of these gifts (without exception or limitation) to His New Testament believers and followers, members of His church, His bride, due to some perceived fear that to do so would somehow diminish His sovereignty, His uniqueness, the completeness and significance of His ministry, is entirely foreign both to the character of Jesus as revealed in the New Testament—in the entire Bible—and to the literal and spiritual intent of His own words and those of the anointed writers of the Holy Scriptures. Cessationism stands in direct contradiction to clear Biblical statements about how the world operates, the spiritual basis of all reality, the nature of divine life and of human life, the operation of faith, hope, and love in the life of the church, and the epistemological foundations of communication with God that underlie the entire Bible. Cessationism is doctrinally and spiritually closest to the heresy of deism, which holds that God started things off and then left for vacation and let everything continue on its own, without His active participation, based merely on principles He set in motion from the beginning: cessationism holds that God spoke everything that ever needed to be said through Jesus, finished the task through the early apostles and writers of the New Testament canon, and then put some duct tape on His mouth and has refused to say anything since then for fear of contradicting the content and character of what He has finished saying long ago. Cessationism puts far too heavy a weight on the office of pastor/preacher (HINT: IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE PASTOR IS NOT THE PROPHET. THE PASTOR IS NOT THE PROPHET. THE PASTOR IS NOT THE PROPHET.) and far too little power, privilege and responsibility on believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit of God and able to hear from Him and move by His Spirit to fulfill His will in their lives—including the key task of spreading the kerygma, the Good News of His death and resurrection, His victory over sin and death, which cannot be fully and effectively proclaimed without the present active power of the Holy Spirit in anointing the words of the messengers, in convicting the hearts of the hearers, and in confirming the message with signs following, as the Scripture tells us. Cessationism, in an attempt to honor what Jesus Christ has done for us in His sacrificial atonement to free us from our sins, severely restricts the scope of His activity by His Spirit in His church today, which (according to what He said) is the intended purpose of what He has done for us in the atonement.
May God by His Holy Spirit enlighten the minds of those in bondage to the darkness of this form of deception, and fill them with the enlightenment of the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus and as it is available to them by His current inspiration and revelation. May the man-made walls, boundaries, definitions, and restrictions be torn down and replaced by the protection and safety promised to the disciples of Jesus as they move forward in the power of His Spirit to fulfill the commission to heal, save, deliver, and restore suffering and lost souls to the salvation He has paid such a dear price to provide for them. May our minds, which can be such excellent servants of spiritual truth, but such oppressive masters, be subject to the Holy Spirit as He fulfills His promised ministry of leading us into all truth.
Peace to all,
Peter
I reject cessationism as contrary to both the letter and the spirit of the entire New Testament: every one of the Gospels, the book of Acts, every one of the Epistles and the book of Revelation. Cessationism is an illogical, unspiritual, unscriptural, restrictive, false, unwarranted, ungodly, ungenerous, ungracious, reactionary, uninspired, humanly devised system of thought based on extrabiblical sources, a total lack of scriptural or historical or experiential evidence, and (most especially) faulty reasoning. It true basis is not the pseudo-intellectual logical syllogisms it is usually couched in, but a profound fear and terror of the reality of the spiritual world in which we all live and move and have our being, as the Scriptures attest, and of which Jesus Christ is the supreme Lord, prophet, priest, king, apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd and teacher. An unwillingness to dispense (administer) each and all of these gifts (without exception or limitation) to His New Testament believers and followers, members of His church, His bride, due to some perceived fear that to do so would somehow diminish His sovereignty, His uniqueness, the completeness and significance of His ministry, is entirely foreign both to the character of Jesus as revealed in the New Testament—in the entire Bible—and to the literal and spiritual intent of His own words and those of the anointed writers of the Holy Scriptures. Cessationism stands in direct contradiction to clear Biblical statements about how the world operates, the spiritual basis of all reality, the nature of divine life and of human life, the operation of faith, hope, and love in the life of the church, and the epistemological foundations of communication with God that underlie the entire Bible. Cessationism is doctrinally and spiritually closest to the heresy of deism, which holds that God started things off and then left for vacation and let everything continue on its own, without His active participation, based merely on principles He set in motion from the beginning: cessationism holds that God spoke everything that ever needed to be said through Jesus, finished the task through the early apostles and writers of the New Testament canon, and then put some duct tape on His mouth and has refused to say anything since then for fear of contradicting the content and character of what He has finished saying long ago. Cessationism puts far too heavy a weight on the office of pastor/preacher (HINT: IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE PASTOR IS NOT THE PROPHET. THE PASTOR IS NOT THE PROPHET. THE PASTOR IS NOT THE PROPHET.) and far too little power, privilege and responsibility on believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit of God and able to hear from Him and move by His Spirit to fulfill His will in their lives—including the key task of spreading the kerygma, the Good News of His death and resurrection, His victory over sin and death, which cannot be fully and effectively proclaimed without the present active power of the Holy Spirit in anointing the words of the messengers, in convicting the hearts of the hearers, and in confirming the message with signs following, as the Scripture tells us. Cessationism, in an attempt to honor what Jesus Christ has done for us in His sacrificial atonement to free us from our sins, severely restricts the scope of His activity by His Spirit in His church today, which (according to what He said) is the intended purpose of what He has done for us in the atonement.
May God by His Holy Spirit enlighten the minds of those in bondage to the darkness of this form of deception, and fill them with the enlightenment of the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus and as it is available to them by His current inspiration and revelation. May the man-made walls, boundaries, definitions, and restrictions be torn down and replaced by the protection and safety promised to the disciples of Jesus as they move forward in the power of His Spirit to fulfill the commission to heal, save, deliver, and restore suffering and lost souls to the salvation He has paid such a dear price to provide for them. May our minds, which can be such excellent servants of spiritual truth, but such oppressive masters, be subject to the Holy Spirit as He fulfills His promised ministry of leading us into all truth.
posted by Peter at 12:24 PM
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