Fair warning up front. This is going to be an offensive article to some readers. I have no desire to be intentionally offensive, but my answer to the question posed in the title of this post will irritate some (perhaps many) of those who deny that all the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 are no longer valid in our day.

Let’s be clear about what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that cessationists deny the presence and power of the Spirit. Nor am I suggesting that cessationists deny that God still performs the occasional miracle.

But what I am denying is that most cessationists believe what they do because of what they read in Scripture. I concede that many of them think they are following Scripture. If pressed, they would never say that they are cessationists for any other reason than what they find in the Word of God. But I have reasons for doubting the truth of their statement. I’m not questioning their moral integrity, as if they are deliberately lying about why they deny the validity of these gifts for today. So perhaps I’d better explain what I do mean.

Two examples come immediately to mind. A year or more ago there was a panel discussion hosted by a well-known ministry. The participants were asked a question about spiritual gifts and proceeded to give their reasons for being cessationists. I wrote a lengthy response to all of their arguments and sent it to the man leading the discussion, asking him to forward the document to the other two. To this day I have never heard back. I asked them to please show me from Scripture where my arguments and interpretation of the relevant texts were misguided. But I have had no response.

You may say this is because they are busy men who have better things to do. But when another Christian directly questions every single argument they put forth, you would think they’d find that important enough to address by means of a response. I believe that when you speak to a Christian audience, you are responsible to clarify any confusion or respond to any substantive pushback. To this day, I welcome any counter arguments they may have.

A second and more recent example is the documentary film, Cessationist. I carefully watched the film and was impressed by the quality of its production. But again, the arguments they put forth were altogether misguided and misleading. I wrote 15 articles on my blog, responding to each of their points. In those articles I repeatedly asked that they demonstrate how my understanding of Scripture was misguided.

The only response I received was an email from the person who wrote the script for the film. He said he disagreed with my critique. I pleaded with him in a subsequent email to please be specific and point out where I had misinterpreted the Word of God. I informed him that if he would that I would post his arguments on my blog and retract what I had written. I never heard back from him, and I don’t expect to.

This isn’t because I regard myself as a more faithful student of Scripture than any of these men. I know that they highly value everything in the Bible. But I do believe there is another reason why they tenaciously hold to cessationism, and it doesn’t have anything to do with what the New Testament says about spiritual gifts.

So, now it’s time for me to be offensive. In all my dialogue with cessationists, the single, most oft-cited reason for their taking the position they embrace is the scandalous, manipulative, self-serving, sensational behavior and beliefs of celebrity charismatics who dominate on TV and the internet. Trust me when I say that I am just as offended and turned off as they are by the tawdry shenanigans of these so-called “ministers” of the gospel. I agree completely that people like Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and Joel Osteen should not be given a microphone or pulpit to speak to anyone, anywhere.

So, why, then, am I not a cessationist? The simple answer is that their behavior has nothing to do with what the Bible says. Not all the antics and self-aggrandizing activity done in the name of “ministry” undermines or has any impact whatsoever on what Scripture says concerning the work of the Spirit by means of the charismata. But these cessationists disagree. They may not think they disagree, but they do.

Here is what I mean. I sincerely believe that they believe there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the doctrine of continuationism and the behavior and beliefs of these so-called ministers who regularly bring reproach on the name of Christ. Again, what lays quietly beneath the surface of most cessationists is the conviction that it is because someone speaks in tongues and believes in gifts of healings and prophesies and affirms the word of knowledge and discernment of spirits that they carry on in the scandalous way that we so often witness on the platform.

Let me try to simplify what I’m saying. There is a belief, perhaps even an unconscious one, that affirmation of the contemporary validity of all spiritual gifts necessarily will result in certain heretical doctrines, sexual misconduct, and shameful ministry tactics. They take note of the aberrant theology of such men as Copeland and Hinn and, perhaps unconsciously, conclude that it is because they speak in tongues and pray for the sick to be healed and prophesy. Opposition to the latter gifts (and other of the charismata) isn’t primarily because they are convinced from the New Testament. It is primarily because they believe to embrace the charismata may inevitably lead to following in the goofy footsteps and self-serving lifestyle and bizarre theological beliefs of these individuals who regularly bring reproach on the name of Christ.

Nothing is more offensive to the cessationist than the silly ideas so often found in proponents of the prosperity gospel and the Word of Faith movement. And those “ideas” and activities are, to their way of thinking, the direct effect or fruit of belief in the validity of all spiritual gifts and the exercise of them in ministry contexts.

They carefully observe the conduct of charismatic extremists and invariably conclude that such is the inevitable and unavoidable result of believing in the continuation of all spiritual gifts. The mere potential for being closely identified with such people serves to strengthen their theological commitment to cessationism. Underlying this commitment is the misguided belief (often times unconscious) that there is something inherent or intrinsic to continuationism that produces the sort of behavior that they find so offensive.

Once again, if we would simply listen to the NT more closely, we would recognize the fallacy of such thinking.

Consider the first-century church in Corinth. They were guilty of fostering division and a competitive mindset by aligning themselves with their preferred Christian leader (“each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ’’ [1 Cor. 1:12]). They were “still of the flesh” (1 Cor. 3:3), characterized by “jealousy and strife” (1 Cor. 3:3) and given to an over-realized eschatology (1 Cor. 4:8). They tolerated a man in their church who was sleeping with his stepmother (1 Cor. 5) and felt no hesitation in filing lawsuits against one another (1 Cor. 6:7). Some were withholding sexual intimacy from their spouse, perhaps convinced that such close physical contact was somehow spiritually defiling (1 Cor. 7:1-5). Some were putting a stumbling block in the path of weaker brethren by indiscriminately eating food offered to idols (1 Cor. 8) and engaging in idolatry at local pagan festivals (1 Cor. 10).

It doesn’t stop there. A few were disregarding others and taking advantage of the Lord’s Table to get drunk on the wine (1 Cor. 11), an offense so serious that some had come under severe discipline of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27-32). Others were arrogantly posturing themselves as superior to their fellow brethren because of the supernatural spiritual gifts they possessed (1 Cor. 12). A few of those with the gift of speaking in tongues tended to dominate the corporate assembly without the benefit of interpretation.

What’s my point in citing this dysfunctional and immature church? Simply the fact that Paul nowhere suggested that the cause of it all was their belief in and practice of all spiritual gifts. Nowhere does Paul say, “Hey folks, the reason for all these problems and your carnal behavior is that you are continuationists who regularly exercise spiritual gifts. So cut it out!”

What, then, does Paul say? To the church with a myriad of problems, divisions, pride, ethical compromise and theological confusion, the apostle twice tells them to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1, 39) and insists that they “not forbid speaking in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:39).

If the presence and practice of so-called “miraculous” spiritual gifts were inherently dangerous or intrinsically a threat to the theological integrity of Christian men and women, Paul would never have issued the advice or exhorted them in the way that he did.

My appeal to my cessationist brothers and sisters is simple. Carefully examine your heart to determine what the real reason is for your doctrine. Humbly submit yourself to the clear teaching of Scripture and do not be led astray in your thinking by the silliness of some charismatics or the goofy ministry style of those who believe in the continuation of spiritual gifts in our day.

Yes, there are those in the wider charismatic-pentecostal world who dress funny and talk in an overly dramatic, feigned tone of voice, and have bizarre hairstyles, and make outlandish claims and issue baseless, errant “prophetic” promises and declarations, often in order to increase the size of offerings and contributions to their ministry. And I am as offended by them as you are. But nowhere in Scripture do we find a reason to identify a cause-and-effect relationship between such antics and one’s belief in the perpetuity of all spiritual gifts.

So, contrary to what you may think, it is entirely possible and honoring to God and his people for you to be a card-carrying, practicing charismatic who speaks in tongues, prophesies, casts out demons, prays for the sick, and believes in the revelatory gifts of the Spirit, all the while avoiding the extreme and outlandish behavior of some more widely known charlatans who in many cases are in the “ministry” for the money.

In conclusion, there is not a single text in holy Scripture that suggests, much less requires, the doctrine of cessationism. If you believe otherwise, tell me what and where they are. I’ll respond, and then wait patiently for you to demonstrate that my interpretation is incorrect. In the meantime, search your soul and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the real reason you deny the validity of his gifts for the church in our day.