Thursday, November 26, 2009

Cessationism = Careful or Quenching?

Any who step across the portals of this blog will know I do not have a high opinion of the cessationist position. I have no shame in stating I passionately believe that all gifts of the Holy Spirit are given and distributed "as He will" today and are for the building up and edifying of the risen Lord's church. It was useful to be reminded by Stanley Jebb's recent blog post however that some cessationists don't like the claim that they are skeptical and guilty of quenching the Spirit;

"Christians who hold to a cessationist position are not skeptics nor unbelievers but are generally concerned conservative or reformed evangelical Christians who hold certain views about miracles, signs and wonders".

Traditionally the expectation has been on charismatic Christians to explain why they believe gifts should and do happen today. I think the environment has now changed - thanks to theologians such as D A Carson and Wayne Grudem and my favourite - Gordon Fee - along with others who have argued rationally and intellectually that there is NO Biblical statement that suggests the gifts of the Holy Spirit have passed away or ceased. Therefore I believe that that it is now upto cessationists to prove themselves.

If Stanley Jebb is correct in stating that cessationists are neither skeptics nor unbelievers but simply "concerned" Christians who hold to the supremacy of the Word of God then they need to argue consistently from Scripture - and not resort to scaremongering or citing examples of excess such as the "tortilla lady" that so upset John MacArthur. Cessationists claim to stand for orthodoxy. Stanley Jebb calls cessationists; "Concerned conservative or reformed evangelical Christians" - so the question we are left with is; "Is orthodoxy enough?".

Dr Martyn Ll0yd-Jones would think not;

"It is becoming clear to everybody - at least it should be - that the Christian church today is failing and failing lamentably. It is not enough even to be orthodox ... people want a word of authority ... We need authority and we need authentication. It is not enough merely that we state these things and demonstrate them and put them logically. Is it not clear that we are living in an age when we need some special authentication - in other words we need revival".

During the sermon Dr Lloyd-Jones then goes on to speak about cessationism. He begins by working carefully through the New Testament passages that demonstrate the gifts of the Spirit never ceased and summarises;

"It is perfectly clear in the New Testament times, the gospel was authenticated in this way by signs, wonders and miracles of various characters and descriptions. And you cannot begin to understand the New Testament, the epistles as well as the book of Acts without holding that fact in your mind".

One of the things that really irks me about cessationism is that they have divorced signs and wonders and gifts of the Spirit from the gospel - the spreading flame. The New Testament shows clearly that unbelievers are to come into the midst of believers "standing and prophesying" and the result is that they will be convicted, will fall down and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Spiritual gifts should impress and attract the world!

To distort the Word of God to claim these have ceased has stunted and robbed unbelievers of a means by which God intended to reveal Himself to them.

Let us be clear! 1 Corinthians 14:24 does NOT state (in this instance) that unbelievers come in and hear the "preaching". It speaks of them coming in and hearing the "prophesying" - the inspired, instant, Spirit-inspired utterances of the gathered church! Orthodoxy? What is "cautious" orthodoxy doing to save the lost masses in London, Birmingham, Bombay, Calcutta and of course China? Caution? Dr Lloyd-Jones summarises this cessationist argument as;

"We have got the truth so you do not need anything miraculous or supernatural".

His answer?

"The Scriptures never anywhere say that these things were only temporary - never! There is no such statement anywhere! "

This post is not the place for a careful work through of the Scriptures cessationists like to use to claim the charismatic gifts have ceased (such as 1 Corinthians 13). My question is - are cessationists justified in claiming they are not trying to quench the Spirit but are rather "cautious" orthodox evangelicals. We must state the obvious - I don't believe ANY Christian would deliberately (at least I hope not) quench the Holy Spirit. Sadly they do. But I think the jury must remain out. All I see still of cessationist arguments are a people who are gripped by a spirit of self-control. They do not like being subject to the Holy Spirit and His designs and plans for advancing His church.

My personal experience and childhood is vastly different. I remember a glorious childhood growing up in a charismatic (yet never out of control) church. I remember what seemed like hours of heavenly worship standing with my parents watching and learning as they seemed "lost in wonder, love and praise". Sometimes someone would speak out in a strange tongue - and it didn't seem odd. It seemed fascinating. I remember even some of the elders bringing carefully weighed prophecies (rarely "silly remarks" that I remember as Stanley Jebb claims) that lifted even our hearts as children to God.

Then I remember the environment changing very definately. People eager to share prophecies would go up to the platform and speak with the elders and be sent down to their seats without being allowed to share (we would call it the "walk of shame"). Choruses and love songs were sung less and less and painfully tuneless hymns were sung more and more. Non-Christian friends of the family who would visit with us would ask; "Why have you lot become so miserable?".

Caution is okay - but it is a fine balance to walk before caution becomes quenching of the Holy Spirit. Let Dr Lloyd-Jones have the last word;

"This to me is one of the most urgent matters at this hour. With the church as she is and the world as it is, the greatest need today is the power of God through His Spirit in the church that we may testify not only to the power of the Spirit but to the glory and praise of the one and only Saviour - Jesus Christ our Lord".

7 comments:

David Rolles said...

I also remember those times from your childhood (my young adulthood!) in NCC. My recollection is that the turning point was a prophecy brought very nervously by a godly woman, in which she graciously spoke out God's concern about the Spirit being quenched in the church (or words to that effect). Dr Jebb and the Elders rejected that message, and thereafter closed the pulpit to the congregation participating in that way, especially women!

The rest, as they say, is history, and many of us ended up moving to other towns and cities, and significantly, I feel, found ourselves thriving and then taking on leadership roles in new churches, including some into staff positions - opportunities that very probably would not have materialised in NCC. So God brought considerable good out of what was a pretty unhappy period for many in in the Dunstable church.

Dan Bowen said...

That's very interesting and poignant David, I don't recall that or remember my parents mentioning it. Do you remember Stanley himself prophesying that the people were enjoying the gifts of the Spirit like a broad but shallow river and the call was to go deeper? I have that on audio tape!

I guess you may have left by the time Ern Baxter made his final visit to NCC in 1991? He preached a sermon called the "Spirit and the Word" and to me, in retrospect I can see it now clearly as a prophetic plea to NOT throw out the Spirit because of excess or fanatacism but to walk in the "tension" between Word and Spirit.

I guess he had already seen what we had not, could not or would not.

That's a very useful and helpful way of seeing it - that rather like the persecutions in Acts, the change at NCC scattered those with giftings and anointings who were sensitive to the Spirit where they could be used to great profit in other churches. After all - the foundational teaching we enjoyed in Dunstable, will never go to waste!

David Rolles said...

Yes, we left in 1988, and I wasn't even aware that Ern Baxter was back at West St one more time after that.

Jane & I have looked back from time to time at various notes from the many(!) courses we did in Dunstable, including the year-long Leadership Training programme. The church during the late 70s/early 80s 'punched above its weight' in terms of its influence nationally - training leaders who were:
a) already elsewhere, eg in Yarm - the latter now a large thriving church (Tees Valley Community Church), and Simon Pettit who went on to be Newfrontiers' main apostolic leader in South Africa, before his sad early demise, and
b) the many who went out from NCC, eg the Bullivants and the Hardys and others who went to Hull, the Aspreys and Poultons to Basingstoke, David Fortune and Peter Cockrell and (I think) Jonathan Hacker to pastor churches elsewhere, ourselves to Manchester, the Malletts to Liverpool, etc, followed by the next wave of the guys in your generation who are being fruitful elsewhere.

Dan Bowen said...

Agreed David!

The legacy of NCC in Dunstable is far-reaching. I don't think Peter Cockrell or David Fortune are in full-time church leadership anymore - but haven't heard from them for some years. I didn't know that Simon Petit was trained through the NCC influence! Wow!

Also add into that the Pilgrim Christian School and the All-Age Bible School. Both of which were set up in the charismatic era. I know I personally can testify to the incredible knowledge and learning of Scripture that both gave me (that is despite Pilgrim being an incredibly difficult time for me).

I think the Biblical principle is clear - God was allowed to be Himself during that time and He blessed and multiplied. When He wasn't allowed to be God and was boxed in, His Presence withdrew because He wasn't welcome.

Just before I left, the elders "clarified" the position on the gifts of the Spirit stating that prophecy and tongues were not permitted during Sunday services (formalising the already functional cessationism) but added a caveat that any prophecies could be brought to them privately and they would "weigh them up".

I did - and had to face the eldership - and was told in no uncertain terms this was not welcome! What God spoke to me was similar to your recollection David, a plea to "return to first love".

Dan Bowen said...

Agreed David!

The legacy of NCC in Dunstable is far-reaching. I don't think Peter Cockrell or David Fortune are in full-time church leadership anymore - but haven't heard from them for some years. I didn't know that Simon Petit was trained through the NCC influence! Wow!

Also add into that the Pilgrim Christian School and the All-Age Bible School. Both of which were set up in the charismatic era. I know I personally can testify to the incredible knowledge and learning of Scripture that both gave me (that is despite Pilgrim being an incredibly difficult time for me).

I think the Biblical principle is clear - God was allowed to be Himself during that time and He blessed and multiplied. When He wasn't allowed to be God and was boxed in, His Presence withdrew because He wasn't welcome.

Just before I left, the elders "clarified" the position on the gifts of the Spirit stating that prophecy and tongues were not permitted during Sunday services (formalising the already functional cessationism) but added a caveat that any prophecies could be brought to them privately and they would "weigh them up".

I did - and had to face the eldership - and was told in no uncertain terms this was not welcome! What God spoke to me was similar to your recollection David, a plea to "return to first love".

David Rolles said...

Yes, Simon Pettit did the one-year Leadership Training programme the year Jane & I did - he commuted from Sussex or wherever he was living then. We enjoyed teaching from various men from the Salt & Light network that our church in Manchester is part of, eg Barney Coombs.

Peter Cockrell is mainly ministering overseas under the umbrella of Parakletos Ministries http://tinyurl.com/yj7ooqn

See his blog here: http://tinyurl.com/yhvyhoy
which he says is 'dedicated to the convergence of Reformed theology and Charismatic experience'!

Dan Bowen said...

Interesting - thanks for that link David, I've had a look and seen much of the "Reformed Theology" - not so much of the "Charismatic Experience" ...

It was an interesting experience (and sad) being there as the MTI room (remember that?) was slowly taken apart. For a while after Stanley's departure it was left as it was with the MTI library intact - so some of our generation gleefully enjoyed using it and reading and learning.

Then the library was taken across to the new minister's office (he didn't have quite as many books as Stanley) so it couldn't be used anymore.

I think the room was being used as an youth group hang-out room when I left.