The Strange Fire Conference held by hardened Cessationists John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Phil Johnson, and others are but evidence that we are in the last days. One of the great signs of that will characterize the behavior of men, even of faith in the last days will be the following, and this behavior falls into not just this camp, but also all others, because it is a general state of being within the church itself that will manifest itself clearly in the last days. This is how the Apostle Paul describes it in his Second Letter to Timothy:
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
(2Timothy 3:1-9)
Now I’m not saying that everything Paul writes here is applicable to these people, for Paul writes in very broad and general terms regarding the characteristics that we ought to be looking out for in the last days, and one can almost say that much of what he describes can be applied to almost every religious scandal that has plagued the church in the last two thousand years. But there are elements of what Paul writes that can be applied to the current crop of men who have gathered and organized to reproach the work of God in the lives of people whom they have no interest in engaging, and whose faith they hold in question, and whom they treat here in the utmost contempt and derision.
The men who gathered in this conference hold to a form of godliness, but deny its power, for they preach against its existence for this day and age; they revile what they do not understand and fear; they are always learning, but never quite able to understand the clear reading of God’s Word regarding the Holy Spirit’s continued work in God’s children, and like Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so too these men oppose the truth of God’s Word regarding the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is obvious; one does not preach or teach against the works of the Holy Spirit. If you’re not sure of something, or do not understand from your reading of God’s Word, remain quiet about it; but don’t preach against it, because you are delving into an area that you should avoid at all costs, especially if it is about the Holy Spirit of God.
These people are playing with fire and don’t know it. One does not preach AGAINST anything the Holy Spirit of God does, and think they’ll get away with it. I shudder when I realize what these people are doing. They’re correct in warning about the false prophets and false teachers and their errors and excesses, but they cross the line in lumping every Pentecostal and every Charismatic, and every Continuationist along with the phonies, and then boldly proclaim that they attribute Satanic works to the Holy Spirit, because – according to them – all of these works are not of the Holy Spirit, but of the devil, and therefore – according to them – to attribute the devil’s works to the Holy Spirit – as they claim Continuationists do – is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God!
My God, I have never heard anything like this, or ever read anything like this in Scripture! They have reversed Scripture and twisted what the Lord Jesus warned is the unpardonable sin, and applied it wholesale to Christ-professing born again servants and fellow brethren! The Scripture is clear about this; even the intimation is itself a damnable heresy – no one can say, “Christ is Lord – THEOS – God” – except by the Holy Spirit; and no one who has the Holy Spirit will declare, “Jesus is accursed,” in other words, make any declaration that is contrary to the written Word of God!(1Corinthians 12:3) For John MacArthur to boldly declare that Pentecostals, Charismatics and Continuationists blaspheme in any way, shape, or form; is itself a contradiction of this Scripture and what it says about all believers and servants of Christ in whom dwells the Holy Spirit of God! The Scripture is clear; 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 12:3)
About this, the Scriptures are clear, because Paul writes in the Spirit that if you confess that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9), and John bears him witness when he writes in the Holy Spirit that – By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.(1John 4:2, 3) And he is so bold as to warn us that the one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now (1John 3:10).
How can any Christian hold another Christian in such contempt to speak such things against them, and claim about him that he blasphemes God at all, much less, that he blasphemes the Eternal Holy Spirit, as though to declare of that person that he has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29) And to discredit them along with the charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing – those who take advantage of God’s people for money and use religion to enrich themselves as they perform what is no better than a circus side show to fool if possible the very elect of God? This is contemptuous! There is no grace in such a message, and no love, no rapprochement, no reconciliation. We have been warned that this would be one of the signs of this age; that the same people who would hold to form of godliness, would also deny its power, and we have been warned even to avoid such men as these. (2Timothy 3:5)
John MacArthur and those associated with this conference have crossed a line that may very well not be reversible – only God’s grace will tell. I shudder for such men, and pity them, and mourn their state of being. As I’ve written before, I read some of what these people say, and so many of their assumptions are so generalized, so unbiblical, and simply human efforts to explain away things these people do not understand and cannot fit into their theological paradigm.
Their box is too small for the grand things of God, so they take the grand things of God and relegate to ancient history. This way, they can teach that things happened before the modern era, and allow themselves to return to their “comfort zones” where they feel safe and secure in their disbelief. Note that I say disbelief, because they’re believers, but they disbelieve what they do not understand, and do not accept what they fear, and fear what they cannot put into a box of their finite understanding; which is how they approach the Bible, and why they have no power, and do not work in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But again, I repeat; “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Continuationists like us are not above them or anybody else; we are as flawed and decrepit in so many ways as they are, and as any other fallen, but redeemed are. The fact of this is ever present before me, because I struggle with myself every day, and I live only for the Lord, and I am learning how to release myself of myself so that I can have more of Christ live in and through me each and every day. I must decrease so He can increase. I must die so He can live. So when I refer to these disbelieving brethren, I do so with a sense of my own fallacies, my own imperfections, and my own sense of inadequacy before the Perfect Author of our Salvation, the Sovereign Creator and King of the Universe – Yeshua/Jesus, Our Lord and Our God Eternal. It is by His grace and His grace alone that we endure, and He will bring it to completion in His day.
Dr. Michael Brown has made several unsuccessful attempts at contact them, but they have not returned his calls. The only one of their group whom he did contact and have on his show last week was Phil Johnson, but he is as intransigent as David James has been regarding The Harbinger. These people have one singular characteristic in common that I’ve noticed about them, two actually; an air of arrogant superiority about themselves versus all others outside their group, and a total disinterest or disregard to debate the matter of Cessationism versus Continuationism on the merits of Scriptures alone and not on any other, though they will swear, as they do, that they have secured the biblical evidence to support their theology.
But for a group of people who are so “certain” that they alone possess a monopoly on what appears to them to be the biblical truth regarding the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit; they are extremely reluctant to debate it with competent conservative theologians who hold a Continuationist biblical view on the matter. This is a strange behavior. When one is in possession of the facts – as these people claim to be, and is certain that they have the evidence to support it; they are eager to engage anyone who either does not know about it, or whose viewpoints are at variance with theirs, if only to affirm what they know; but also in the chance that the other person, when apprised of this knowledge, will themselves embrace it. The behavior of these people is just the opposite. They have shut all others out of their discussions and avoid any discussion about it with those who do not agree with their conclusions.
One would believe that with the great organization and preparation that the organizers went into for this conference, its speakers would be eager to discuss and debate the topic. But their behavior is one of isolation and complete disinterest to debate it. They appear to have no interest whatsoever to resolve the historical rift this doctrine – because that is what it is when it is examined and brought to its bare elements by Scripture – has brought to the children of the Reformation; Protestants of untold number of denominations. Because, the truth be said, Cessationists and Continuationists hail from almost every Christian denomination in existence.
Dr. Michael Brown has taken the initiative to communicate as much as he can on a less than one hour radio venue with open lines to the public, the topic of Cessationism versus Continuationism and the matter of the rift it has brought to the body of Christ, a rift that now appears to have been deepened by the remarks made at this conference, because according to him, the statistics and statements made there were inaccurate and entirely untrue. He knows better than I do, because he has been at the front lines of missionary work around the world for decades and has had direct contact with God’s work among the farthest reaches of civilization; something I do not believe any of the speakers at this conference have had, perhaps with a very few limited exceptions. If I’m wrong on this, then let it become evident, but Dr. Brown is one who can debate these thing with these people because he has “been there, done that,” and most of them have not.
I would welcome a debate with Dr. Michael Brown, Mark Jon Ruthven, and other Continuationists on one side and Dr. John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Phil Johnson and other Cessationists on the other. Let the two groups place the strictly biblical reasons for their beliefs and allow the Lord, the Holy Spirit to do the rest in the hearts and minds of all who listen.
I have been a Continuationist since the day I came to faith in Jesus as my personal Lord, Savior, and Messiah in August 30th, 1976, and no false prophet, aberrant teaching, or circus side show has dimmed what God’s Holy Spirit has done in my life to confirm the reading of His Word – the actual practice of word of knowledge put to use on several occasions during this time according to the need that arose for those times, the manifestation of miraculous healing for my mother and aunt and others whom I personally know or are personally known by dear and trusted people I know personally, and many others in the name of Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah to the glory of God and for His purposes as evidence of His continued work, and the gift of teaching He has imparted to me to use in sharing His good Word to the ever-growing members of His body, which is teeming with more and more people hungry and desperate to hear God’s truth in an age of spiritual famine and biblical illiteracy.
No one had to convince me of Continuationism when I first came to faith, the Scriptures themselves teach it when one reads them. The first time I heard of Cessationism was from a close friend who was himself a Cessationist and explained to me the reasons why he was more than thirty years ago. He was brought up a Lutheran who did not believe in the sign gifts, but slowly changed his views completely as we interacted from the study and reading of the Scriptures and as he witnessed the manifestations of the sign gifts in action versus the dry scholastic Eisegetical approach and multiple argumentation of the Cessationists he had been exposed to most of his life.
There is a freshness to the clear reading of God’s Word when the Holy Spirit imparts an understanding of it that is strangely lacking in the teachings of those who parse words and go through all sorts of theological verbal gymnastics in order to support a doctrine that the clear reading of Scripture in either Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, or English in its proper context does not support. And this is what a good many people are unaware of. I’ve studied this for years, and always come to the same conclusion; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He does not change, His ways do not change, and we have been living in the advent of the Holy Spirit since the day of Pentecost having followed the ascension of the Messiah to the right hand of God, and will be living under the advent of the Holy Spirit until His return for His people. There is absolutely no place in Scripture where it is declared that the Holy Spirit has ceased in any manner what He has been doing and will continue to do for two thousand years – to confirm and bear witness of the Gospel and affirm with power that we are of God, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1John 4:4) I believed this long before I knew of that a Pentecostal Church even existed, or had ever met any Charismatic. I believed it, because that is what the clear, raw, reading of God’s Word made clear as the Holy Spirit of God revealed to me the pages of this closed and mysterious Book – closed and mysterious to the lost – but to us who are saved, the source of spiritual nourishment and enlightenment.
We are living in very perilous times, because as believers in the world, we must hold the line between hardened Cessationists such as these and outrageous charlatans on television and radio who teach error and preach a false and carnal materialistic prosperity gospel that has absolutely nothing to do with the sacred atonement of Messiah and His cross, or with the power of His resurrection; we must hold the line between the disbelievers among us and others who claim to believe, but hold to aberrant doctrines of demons who are in it for the money, of whom this Strange Fire Conference spoke, but made the mistake of confusing them with us. We must not be fooled by either party, and yet welcome those from them who in true repentance leave their ranks and embrace the grace of God and leave all strange teachings behind. We must be for the sake of the cross the better party, and hold ourselves to a higher standard – God’s standard – and commit ourselves to love them as Christ has loved us – to do any less would be to dishonor the wishes of Our Lord and Maker, the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and to break His commandment to, love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
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