In my Hyper-Pentecostal days as a new believer, I never believed that speaking in tongues was the exclusive manifestation of the filling of the Holy Spirit, what some call the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I didn’t believe it then, nor do I believe it now. Why? Because the Scriptures makes it clear, very clear in fact, for it says:
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
(1Corinthians 12:1-3)
Here Paul establishes that unless you are born again and have God’s Spirit abiding in you, the reality and confession that goes with it that Jesus is absolute Lord and God in your life will not be evident, but if you are born again, and you confess Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can go to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) – these are the evidences, the fruits borne of the genuineness of your born again experience – your new life in Christ, and the evidence that the Holy Spirit of God has bonded with your spirit for the two of you to become one in Him (1Corinthians 6:17), because the evidence of it the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your behavior, in your fervency, in your reverence and zeal for what is true. These are evidences of this because God has promised that this would happen when those walk by faith in Him give their all for Him and put their trust in Him by releasing themselves to Him in complete trust. This is part of what it means to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh and its lusts. (Romans 13:14)
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
(1Corinthians 12:4-6)
Make no mistake about it; you have the Holy Spirit, you will most assuredly manifest His gifts. There are many, and they vary, but they are given by God to bring about the service needed to meet the need of the moment when it is needed. There are many gifts, and result in many ministries within the body of Christ. Don’t think that the gift you have – unique to you in how God uses it for His purposes and glory in Christ – is any less than that of any other servant. The importance of your ministry function within the body of Christ is not diminished by the big names with big followings. You are as important as they, and even more so, because you are not famous in man’s eyes, and you needn’t be, because you are already famous in God’s kingdom. Demons hear your name and they cringe because they are subject to you (Luke 10:20), because they know you serve the Living God and are a bondservant of Jesus Christ. You have a unique role and function in the body of Christ, and the reason you have it is because the same Holy Spirit who lives in Jonathan Cahn, and lives in me, lives in you.
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
(1Corinthians 12:7-11)
You’ll note that the Word is clear on this. The same Holy Spirit imparts to different believers different functions and offices for service in the body, but not all possess the same gifts, but the Holy Spirit imparts such gifts to all of God’s servants. Yes, even Cessationists overlook this, that their teaching abilities and the different functions of ministry that they possess are evidences that the Holy Spirit of God is at work in their lives to use them as vessels of honor in God’s house. Each function serves a purpose and meets a specific need when it arises. It if for this purpose that they are given, because it is the exercise of this power that allows men and women to serve and provides the power to fulfill the specific function within the church. Cessationists may not understand this fully, and some may even go so far as to deny it for today based upon a flawed reading of God’s Word and a false tradition, but also we cannot overlook, Cessationists have one thing in common – an experience of theirs when they “got burned” or saw or heard something somewhere that did not line up with God’s Word. The most common dilemma for them is that they equate in generalities their “bad experience” with all miraculous or supernatural experiences. But most assuredly the evidence of the Holy Spirit is the fruit that is produced in the heart and mind of the believer. You can’t fake the real thing. And the Lord Jesus Himself has said,
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
(1Corinthians 12:12-13)
Therefore, regardless of the gift imparted, we are all a part of Him, and members of one another. We have been baptized into One Spirit at conversion, and are made to drink from the same Spirit the waters of life. It is this life – or rather – new life in the Messiah that enables us to know the power of His resurrection in a very real way. We are many members with many different functions and talents. The young lady you wrote about who claims to speak in tongues, and is haughty about it, probably doesn’t but thinks she does. People who are truly baptized in the Holy Spirit – or rather, filled with the Holy Spirit do not go about strutting their stuff, and boasting about the spiritual gift God has given them. And it is unfortunate that those who already are filled with the Holy Spirit to preach and teach with knowledge and authority, but who have not been given tongues or prophecy or miracles as a gift, cannot accept those who have – as Dr. John MacArthur exhibits no understanding about. This is why as often as I disagree with the Cessationist, I never deny them their part in the body, because I recognize the gift of God within them which God has put to good use for Christ’s glory. Unlike the Cessationist, I do not deny the gift of Christ – the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and work – in the believer on the basis of what he or she does for Christ, or whether or not he or she speaks in tongues, prophesies, or works miracles and healing.
John MacArthur and other Cessationists like him may consign Pentecostals and Charismatics to hell, because he claims they blaspheme the Holy Spirit by offering “strange worship, unacceptable worship,” and therefore “strange fire” before the Lord, but he has no authority to be speak for God what He chooses to accept or not accept by way of worship. John MacArthur can only speak for himself, and here he has crossed the line; just as equally any Charismatic or Pentecostal, or even a Continuationist such as I would cross the line, were we to declare that every born against believer ought to prophesy, speak in tongues, work miraculously, or heal the sick with prayer or a word. This is so because Paul in the Holy Spirit has made it evident above. Chapter 12 of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians is a testament to the various functions, offices, manifestations, and works of the Holy Spirit and a warning for us not to equate everybody else’s ministry with our own, and everybody else’s calling with our own, or everybody else’s walk with our own. That’s idolatry – we either idolize them, or idolize ourselves – and that’s strange fire. You want to see strange fire before the God of heaven? John MacArthur’s Strange Fire Conference is that strange fire – it presumes to speak of things that only God can determine, and it misuses and misapplies God’s Word precisely in a manner that Paul warns here we should not ever do – by denying anyone in the body of Christ their legitimate function and calling by the same Holy Spirit who makes some Charismatics and Pentecostals, while He makes others into Non-Charismatics and Pentecostals.
This is why I disagree equally with those Pentecostals and Charismatics who preach and teach the same gifts or specific gifts as signs or evidences for every member of God’ body, because the Scriptures do not teach that. Everyone gets a specific gift, or more than one to serve the Lord as God wills it. We have just read it. We have just also read that no one, be he/she Pentecostal/Charismatic or Non-Pentecostal/Charismatic, should ever deny the gift of God in another believer because the gift God has given them is different than theirs. This is what both those who preach that everyone must speak in tongues when they receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit, as well those who preach that those who do not practice certain gifts but practice others are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Both are equally wrong.
What’s more, those who base their opinion on experience without the Word of God to substantiate that experience – be they Continuationist, or Pentecostal/Charismatic – are in error when they apply their experience theologically to everyone else theologically. For example, no Continuationist, or Pentecostal/Charismatic should ever say, “Everyone must speak in tongues as a sign they have the fullness of the Holy Spirit” or, “Everyone ought to prophesy,” or, “Everyone must have this gift or that,” as evidence they have the Holy Spirit’s fullness.
Equally so, those who base their opinion on their lack of their experience without the Word of God to substantiate the lack of experience – be they Cessationist, Non-Pentecostal/Charismatic – are in error when they apply their lack of experience to everyone else theologically. Therefore no Non-Charismatic/Pentecostal, or Cessationist; should ever say, “The office of prophet no longer exists, therefore no one should prophesy,” or “The sign gifts of the Holy Spirit ended with the Apostolic Age; so tongues and prophecy, miracles, and healing are not for this day.” This is because, as Paul has written, the body of Christ is like a human body, with many diverse parts and functions and offices, and effects, and not any one is alike from the other, but all come from One Holy Spirit, One God, and One Lord, as Paul writes elsewhere:
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
(Romans 12:4-7)
And this is how we ought to behave towards one another. Yet John MacArthur has declared, “We are not dividing the body of Christ” (pause for effect) “in this conference.” (Pause again) “We are trying to identify the body of Christ” (pause again for effect) “and show that these people” (Charismatics, Pentecostals, Continuationists, and Non-Cessationists) “aren’t part of it.” WOW!!!!!!!
When I heard Dr. MacArthur utter those words, I was shocked and gripped with astonishment that a man of his caliber would make such a sweeping statement over the destinies of countless brethren over a doctrinal dispute! Contrast what Dr. MacArthur has said above about countless brethren with the following admonition the Holy Spirit of God has set in Scripture in light of Romans 12:4-7, and 1Corinthians 12, which we have examined.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
(Ephesians 4:1-7)
I cannot and will not deny the gift of God in John MacArthur’s life, as he has with a generalized blanket statement mine and those of countless other Continuationists who are not Charismatic/Pentecostals (religious semantical labels men attach to one another for identification), but who practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has imparted to them for service in the body – unrecognized and unaccepted by men like Dr. MacArthur – but equally as legitimate as his. I recognize accept and affirm and bear witness Christ’s calling on Dr. MacArthur, but I do not affirm, acknowledge, or accept as biblical his Cessationist Theology. The Scriptures teach acceptance of God’s unique gifts and calling, while Cessationism denies some of these because they do not fit the religious hermeneutical paradigm they represent to the Cessationist.
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
(Ephesians 4:11-16)
Cessationists like Dr. MacArthur teach that the Scripture above defines the order of church hierarchy and service in the history of the primitive church and no longer applies to today. But this is not what it is saying at all, because Paul describes these being in use by the church, as it has been used right down to this day; for the members of the body of Christ to attain maturity in their walk, and unity of the faith, and grow in the knowledge of God, maturing into adulthood in their spiritual growth and development which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Once achieved, the person who grows in this manner is not persuaded by anyone with clever arguments and sophistry of men, but in forthrightness we speak the truth in the love of Jesus Christ, as mature teachers supply what is necessary to the body for its growth and nurturing, so that all grow up in every aspect into Him who is the head, even the Messiah from whom the entire body is growing, maturing, developing, and held together; it various parts is individually being built and its pieces fitted together in their proper place, function, and role within the great edifice of the church of God. There is no mention in this passage of any cessation of the gifts ever taking place. On the contrary, we see the furtherance of this magnificent work of grace in the impartation of those gifts for the common good of all the body as we mature in Him.
Here, as he does in his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul in the Holy Spirit makes it evident that these gifts were and continue to be given by God for the “common good,” and uses the metaphor of the human body to illustrate that everyone has a specific gift according to their calling in God, and each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:7). As diverse as we are, so are God’s gifts and calling, and the effects they have, but they are given by One and the same Spirit, as Paul writes above. No one – that is no man can or should ever proscribe any of the gifts and calling of God on the basis of their own experience, nor should they ever promote the fallacy that the calling and effect of the gift God has imparted to them must apply to all, because Scripture is clear about this in Paul’s writings.
When Paul writes in the 13th chapter of his First Letter to the Corinthians the following:
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
(1Corinthians 13:8-12)
Paul in the Holy Spirit is making it evident that the person had not come in his day, and has not come on ours, because the perfect is the return of Jesus the Messiah to His people, and not the closing of the cannon of Scripture; otherwise, we would now know fully and not in part, we would now see fully, and not part as Paul writes, and there would not be so many denominations and theologies within what has come to be known as normative orthodox Protestant Evangelical Christianity. No, the perfect has not come, but love prevails, and so do the gifts which the love of God bestows on mortal and infallible men for His service and purposes.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are diverse, with diverse ministries, diverse callings, diverse functions, and diverse effects, but all for the glory of God, and for the furtherance of the Gospel. The Charismatics and the Cessationists are equally wrong if one denies the other’s legitimate role in the body of Christ, and those who do this – as Dr. MacArthur and all those who attended his Strange Fire Conference – is like the brain telling the heart that he has no function in the body because he does not think. But if the heart does the same to the brain, he then repeats the brain’s error. The heart has its function as does the brain, and both are important to the body and its function – what’s more they need each other.
Therefore, the Scripture says:
‘
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
(1Corinthians 12:27-31)
The Scripture makes it clear that not everyone is a missionary (called out one – apostolo – English, apostle, small a), not everyone is a prophet, not everyone is a teacher, or not everyone works miracles, or heal, or speak in tongues. This is obvious and clear here. But we are to desire the greater gifts for greater service. God will impart the gift directly proportional to the service He calls us to do in His name. The greater the need, the greater the service, the greater the service, the greater the gift. This is how things are. This is not understood by some, and much of what I write here will fall on deaf ears.
Another place where Dr. MacArthur has cross the line and broken with Scripture is in saying that all Charismatics/Pentecostals and Continuationists blaspheme the Holy Spirit because, according to him; they attribute Satanic works to the Holy Spirit. This charge is worse than all of the others, because this charge in no uncertain terms declares that Pentecostals/Charismatics and Continuationists knowingly blaspheme the Holy Spirit! That they knowingly equate Satanic works to the Holy Spirit!
I remembered the words of the Lord when He addressed the Scribes and the Pharisees, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in,” and “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
(Matthew 23:13, 15)
With one breath, Dr. MacArthur has barred the kingdom of God to over 500 million of God’s people because he has trouble recognizing their part and role, calling and office given to them by the Holy Spirit of God the day they gave their lives to Christ in repentance and received His salvation and was sealed with the Holy Spirit, given to them as a pledge by God.(2Corinthians 1:22, 5:5)
But in order for Dr. MacArthur’s reverse exegesis of Matthew 12:22-37, Mark 3:22-30, Luke 12:10, and John 7:20, 8:48-49 to work, the people he imputes such guilt must knowingly commit such acts – that is, knowing that something is Satanic and willfully and knowingly saying that it is of the Holy Spirit. It does not apply exegetically, and it does not apply hermeneutically, because Jesus’ detractors knowingly attributed to Him works of Satan when they knowingly understood that such works were real, genuine and legitimate miracles, not sorcery (John 11:45-47), just as they realized that Jesus’ disciples had done the same in His name (Acts 4:16) It is a fallacious charge, one for which Dr. MacArthur will be made to personally account for. Those who also knowingly teach this canard will equally be held accountable.
It stands to reason that even someone of Dr. MacArthur’s caliber would with time, continue to evolve down this road. He’s already taught that those who receive the mark of the beast during the Great Tribulation will be able to repent and receive Christ and be saved. This of course is at variance with God’s Word. Revelation is clear. This is what it says:
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
(Revelations 14:9-12)
But the Scripture knowing beforehand that God uses imperfect men, has made it clear that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, (1Corinthians 14:32) therefore fallible men will err on occasion in what they teach, but this does not make them a false teacher or a false prophet; because they do not err intentionally. I believe that Dr. MacArthur’s error is not intentional, but sincere. It is a sincere error of theology and a sincere error of judgment; otherwise, as Dr. Michael Brown has observed in one of his recent broadcasts, “Dr. MacArthur would not be preaching the Gospel and winnings souls for Christ.” The false prophet and false teacher have one thing in common; they do not preach the Gospel, but preach a false gospel to make money.
Cessationist John MacArthur’s Strange Fire Conference, where he has publicly declared open war on Charismatics and Pentecostals, and all other Evangelical Christians who teach and practice the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, and now calls every born again believer to do the same – a controversy that may eclipse that of The Harbinger in the immediate future. One man now teaches all Christians to despise prophetic utterances, and wage war on those who practice them by the Holy Spirit, while the Word of God teaches all Christians not to despise prophetic utterances, (1Thessalonians 5:20) but to earnestly desire the greater sign gifts (1Corinthians 12:31) the Holy Spirit bestows to all Christians (1Corinthians 7:7) for service (Romans 12:1-8, 1Corinthians 12:8-10, 1Peter 4:10-11), using the analogy of the different parts of human anatomy to describe the variety of gifts and their function within the body of the Messiah (1Corinthians 12:4-26, Ephesians 4:4, 16), then continues to describe the various offices within the church (1Corinthians 12:27-30). Again, all Christians are admonished by the Apostle Paul who writes in the Holy Spirit to earnestly desire the greater gifts. (1Corinthians 12:31) Without equivocation; all Christians are to pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (1Corinthians 14:1), concluding, Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. (1Corinthians 14:39). And of course, all Christians are admonished by the Apostle Paul, With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, (Ephesians 6:18a) but how can one pray in the Spirit if they do not walk in Him, or practice His gifts which He bestows in Christ? Contrast this to Cessationists who teach the opposite of what God’s Word clearly says, and preach against it. As the Messiah is about to return, we are seeing in our day the contrast of ten virgins, who taking out their lamps and are about to meet the bridegroom. Five of them are foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. It is the prudent who will be ready for the Bridegroom when He makes His appearance to take them away. One is filling their lamps with oil, while the other is not, and even preaches against it within the church itself, even within the court of God’s people. (Matthew 25:1-13) We are seeing it come to pass in our day. Another sign of our times, another “harbinger” that Christ’s return is eminent.
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