Recently, a brief series of posts appeared on Alpha and Omega Ministries blog detailing how and why one Colin Smith, a British national, left the charismatic movement. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here. All this has likely come to the fore as part of the greater ripple effects of Strange Fire. Recently, Dr. James White and Dr. Michael Brown debated both the extent of the atonement and the validity of modern divine healing. In brief, the debate over miraculous gifts has only grown more prominent.
The reality is that I cannot respond to everything that is out there. Cessationist polemics against charismatic manifestations are numerous and too many for me to respond to. However, Mr. Smith's testimony caught my eye for a two main reasons and I felt it necessary to respond. Firstly, his perspective appears on Alpha and Omega Ministries' blog - a ministry that I greatly respect (which is obvious because I link to it). I have followed Dr. James White's apologetics ministry for several years now and have almost always profited from it. I actually met Dr. White in 2006 after he debated John Shelby Spong on the issue of homosexuality. The second reason I felt compelled to respond is that Mr. Smith's reasons for leaving the charismatic movement seemed to me to be based on several misconceptions and faulty logic. I'll detail those shortly.
The first thing I wish to say in regard to Mr. Smith and his story is that I do not know him and thus I cannot fully gauge the status of his heart or motivations. I do not question his orthodoxy or the reality of his salvation. Also, not being personally a part of his experiences does limit how much I can read into them. All I can go by is what he himself has stated in his blog entries. With that in mind I commence.
In part 1, Colin Smith takes us to the late 1980s and a trip that he and his friends took to see Benny Hinn. He details being called up to the stage by Hinn himself, and being "slain" in the Spirit. Part 2, details the process of him leaving behind the charismatic movement and embracing cessationism. Smith notes a few of the questions and experiences he had along the way. I would like to give what I believe are solid answers to those questions, as well as to some assertions that he makes, from an orthodox continuationist position.
Is the Holy Spirit a Gentleman?
This is one question that Mr. Smith asked as he began his journey. The question was prompted by the positive assertion of such by Benny Hinn. In fact, I believe it was David DuPlessis who first put it like that. Throughout Scripture, it seems that the Holy Spirit just came upon people without their prior readiness or even consent. He just moved upon them and whatever results there were just happened.
As my answer I can confidently say that that is often how the Holy Spirit comes upon people. Speaking for myself, many of my own powerful encounters with the Holy Spirit were unplanned (by me anyway) and had unexpected results. My conversion is the prime example of that as I was given a powerful vision that shattered my resistance to the Spirit's conviction of my sin. Simply put, the Holy Spirit is not always a "gentleman" and He works how He wills. Really this is completely irrelevant to the issue of cessation or continuation.
"Would God Bless Bad, Even Heretical Theology With the Miraculous?"
This is a direct quote and an excellent question and one that does need answering. In the long term, no He would not. In fact, in the Old Testament, God often withdrew His miraculous power in anger against Israel (Psalm 74:1-9). However, it should be remembered that God's gifts are gifts of grace. That is why they are called the charismata. "Charis" is the Greek word for grace.
It should be remembered that one of the most gifted churches in the New Testament was the Church at Corinth, which contained some members with bad, even heretical theology (see 1 Corinthians 15). In addition to bad theology, we find divisions and factions (1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:1-4), immorality and a failure to administer church discipline (1 Cor. 5:1-13), believers suing one another (1 Cor. 6:1-8), and gross misconduct concerning the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:17-34). Despite all of this, Paul gives thanks to God always for the Corinthians in part for the abundance of spiritual gifts among them (1 Cor. 1:4-7; 12:1-14:40). However, I fully believe that God's power among them would have stopped had they not repented of the above named sins. Any "manifestations" after that would have been produced by the flesh.
"If the “miracles” at a Benny Hinn meeting are not of God, then could it be that the same things happening elsewhere are also not of God? How would one know?"
This is another direct quote lifted from Mr. Smith's article. My answer is that this is actually quite easy. First John 4:1-6 gives us the guidelines. I suspect that John's main application of this directive concerns the prophetic ministry, but it would be easily applicable in the case of other miraculous manifestations. If the bringers of prophecies, miracles, signs, etc... are also bringing false doctrines about Christ, than we know that they are not of God and we should not listen to them or be afraid of them.
"If Christianity is nothing more than another flavor of strange supernatural stuff, then its no wonder worldly-minded people go elsewhere."
In response, the key word there is "if". However, Christianity (and I know Colin Smith would agree) is much more than that. Christianity is knowing God and His Son Jesus Christ (John 17:3). That relationship is sometimes accompanied by miraculous manifestations and sometimes it is not. It is no secret that in many hyper-charismatic circles, it's all about one weird experience after another (falling, shaking, laughing, being "drunk", etc...). In that environment, I am not surprised (but still grieved) at those who leave the faith entirely and embrace atheism or agnosticism. If that is the foundation of one's faith, that is almost the sure result.
In a related point, Smith implies, along with many other cessationists, that these manifestations are really just dissociative psychological events that often occur in other non-religious contexts (such as a Paul McCartney concert). In many cases, I am sure that is true. But doesn't that imply that truly miraculous events have no psychological component at all? In other words, either it's genuinely of God, or it's only a psychological experience? Why can't an experience of God's love and power have truly healthy psychological effects? Peter fell into a trance (Acts 10:10). So did Paul (Acts 22:17,18). It could have been argued, from the outside looking in, that they simply had dissociative episodes.
"If the canon of Scripture is closed, why look for prophets with new revelation? If Scripture is everything that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells me it is, then what else do I need to hear from God other than the inspired Word He has already revealed?"
I have answered this objection before here.
"...the Word indicates we can expect persecution, tribulation, distress, and famine (Romans 8:35)"
Absolutely. But that is beside the point. There is nothing here that suggests that the miraculous won't occur. Jesus did miracles and was crucified. Peter and Paul performed signs and wonders and were martyred.
God ordains sickness and trials in order to glorify Himself (Genesis 50:20; John 9:3).
Again, I agree. However, God is also glorified in delivering from trials and healing sickness. In fact, it is ironic that John 9:3 is referenced. In this story (John 9:1-41), Jesus and His disciples pass by a blind man and the disciples ask whether it was him or his parents who sinned so as to cause his blindness. Christ answered that it was neither. He was born blind so that the works of God could be seen in him; i.e., healing his blindness, and causing him to follow Jesus and also to serve as a metaphor for the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees.
"And there are harsh words in the New Testament regarding those who seek signs and wonders (Luke 11:29; John 2:23-25; John 4:48)."
This is only true if that is all it takes to believe in Jesus. In fact, the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign, not out of faith, but out of unbelief. To quote Dr. John Piper:
This raises two questions: 1) Why was the prayer for signs and wonders in Acts 4:29-30 not wicked and adulterous, in view of what Jesus said in Matthew 12:39? and 2) Why did the seeking and occurrence of signs and wonders in the missionary effort of first century Christians not contradict the sufficiency of the gospel as the power of God unto salvation?
The answer to the first question comes from the context of Jesus' indictment of sign-seeking. Seeking signs from God is "wicked and adulterous" when the demand for more and more evidence comes from a resistant heart and simply covers up an unwillingness to believe. If we are carrying on a love affair with the world, and our husband, Jesus, after a long separation, comes to us and says, "I love you and I want you back," one of the best ways to protect our adulterous relationship with the world is to say, "You're not really my husband; you don't really love me. Prove it. Give me some sign." If that's the way we demand a sign, then we are a wicked and adulterous generation.
But if we come to God with a heart aching with longing for vindication of his glory and the salvation of sinners, then we are not wicked and adulterous. We are a faithful wife, only wanting to honor our husband.
(http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/signs-and-wonders-then-and-now)
It should also be remembered that one of the prayers of the early Christians that Luke records for us in Holy Scripture is a prayer that God would extend His hand to heal and to perform mighty signs and wonders (Acts 4:23-31).
"One of our problems is that we have become so used to God’s grace in our lives, we fail to recognize the miracles He is working in our midst every day. The fact that our propensity for sin is restrained, the fact that hard-hearted sinners become lovers of God and servants of Christ, the fact that the penalty for my sin has been paid by Another—these are all miracles, no less remarkable than the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And what was the raising of Lazarus other than a sign pointing to that greater wonder: the resurrection of dead souls to new life in Christ?"
This creates a false dichotomy. It is not as if I have to choose between the miracles of regeneration/sanctification and miracles of physical healing and raising the dead. The presence of the former does not negate the presence of the latter.
"First Corinthians 12-14 is not a manual on how to use spiritual gifts, but was written to correct the abuse of those gifts within the church at Corinth.
That is a baseless assertion. Paul is certainly correcting abuses. That is the occasion for this section. But in the midst of correcting abuses, he gives instruction as to their proper use. These instructions are still relevant today because the abuses Paul mentions are still happening. Like any warning label on any product I might buy at the store, we are sometimes told what not to do before being instructed on what to do.
I want to state again that I do not know Colin Smith personally and in fact, this is my first encounter with anything he has written. I hope that my tone, while vigorous, is nevertheless irenic. I also want to state again the tremendous respect and admiration I have for Alpha and Omega Ministries. It has been such a help to me for several years and I still recommend it to others who are searching for theologically solid resources.
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