Proof Via Experience?

Part 2 of 11

We've just seen the Scriptural necessitation for the Holy Spirit's stay upon the earth; We've seen that it is to be far longer than a mere past dispensation, as many assume. But why do so many assume this to be true? If it cannot be found in Scripture, why do millions of believers neglect the truths of the Holy Ghost? Well, the largest portion of Cessationist doctrine is not doctrine at all. Rather, it is experience, or should I say, a lack of experience: they have not experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Interestingly enough, Cessationism makes these same experiential claims regarding the Charismatic approach. One author has even claimed someone must have "slipped LSD into the Charismatic communion cup"! The difference between the Charismatic experience and the Cessationist inexperience is that the Charismatic experience is actually founded on Scripture: the early church was a Charismatic church. Whereas, the Cessationist inexperience is founded on overlooking and bending Scripture, all the while asserting to possess a zeal according to knowledge, or a special enlightenment.

Ironically, Cessationism claims to cling to “Scripture alone” (Sola Scriptura), purposely neglecting any experiential reality, yet these same Scriptures they are supposedly clinging to reveal Godly experiences to be valid. How funny! The apostle Paul affirms this when he says, “…the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all…” (2 Cor 13:14), and again when he says, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit…” (2 Tim 4:22). Clearly such “Holy Ghost experiences” are Biblically ordained and accredited, both in doctrine and example.

In Jack Deere’s book, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, he writes, “If you were to lock a brand-new Christian in a room with a Bible and tell him to study what the Scriptures have to say about healing and miracles, he would never come out of the room a Cessationist… No one ever just picked up the Bible, started reading, and then came to the conclusion that God was not doing signs and wonders anymore and that the gifts of the Holy Spirit had passed away. The doctrine of Cessationism did not originate from a careful study of the Scriptures. The doctrine of Cessationism originated in experience.”

It appears that Cessationism asks only the questions that would seem to further its own dogmatic conclusions: Why do the epistles have little discussion about spiritual gifts? Why does Paul leave people sick (Phil 2:26-27; 1 Tim 5:23; 2 Tim 4:20)? Why does James have the sick call the elders and not one with the gift of healing (Jas 5:14-16)? Why do I not see miracles and healing widespread today? Of course these questions are easily answered with the Bible, but we must be willing to accept the truth. Often a man who has rejected the Holy Spirit his entire life will find it quite difficult to admit he has been wrong. Everything he has believed, and possibly even taught, will crumble if he decides to take the Bible for what it actually says. This would be a frightening experience, and many are not willing to travel that road. Continually we see the Proverb at work: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18). If only we would exalt the Word of God over our own selfish doctrine and “stoutness of heart” (Isa 9:9)!

It is rather frightening that the very demands Cessationism requires are the ones Satan asked of Jesus during his temptation in the wilderness. Observe: “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God… And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Luke 4:1-4; 10-12).

Can we see the dreaded association? Satan asks the Lord Jesus to perform a sign, in vain, to prove that He was the Son of God. He even used the Bible! What a shame that men demand the same exercise of power to prove the Holy Spirit’s existence; and they even use the Bible in doing so! We hear similar demands such as, “if God still heals today, then go clear out that hospital!” Shouldn’t we take heed to the Lord’s warning: “And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Lk 4:12). Over and over this admonishment is delivered: “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God…” (Deut 6:16). This Hebrew word for “tempt” means, “to test, to prove, to try, to put to the proof or test” . Sadly, this is largely what we see from the Cessationist camp. Isn’t the counsel of Scripture evidence enough?

Largely, many denominations reject the use of spiritual gifts because of the abuse that is often related to their practice. However, the misuse of spiritual gifts is actually evidence that they are yet operative. How can something be misused or abused if it is now expired and ceased? Men abuse the grace of God on a daily basis, but are these abuses evidence that suggest His grace is absent? No. Let us cling to Paul’s advice to the Romans, “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged” (Rom 3:3-4). We simply cannot rely on corporate experience to deem something factual or forged. Of course, there are widespread abuses of God’s gifts and ministries, but “the foundation of God standeth sure” (2 Thess 2:19).

Furthermore, if the Holy Spirit were no longer active today, what do we say about the millions of believers who do experience Him on a regular basis? An avid Cessationist will go so far as to attribute such things to Satan himself, passing them off as “signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess 2:9). How sad! Are we really expected to believe that Satan will heal someone of an ailment, while that person gives God glory? Or that Satan will cast out his own devils and better the spiritual condition of the believer? This is an impossibility! Interestingly enough, Jesus spoke of this truth when He was accused of casting out devils by a devil: “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” (Matt 12:22-26). A house divided simply will not stand. We conclude, therefore, that Satan will never work a miracle while giving God the glory. A lying sign and wonder will be one in which mere man or Satan is worshipped and given glory (Rev 13:11-15). Paul says, “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor 12:3). Truthfully, the very fact that Jesus is testified of in these occurrences is proof that it is indeed the Holy Ghost at work: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” (Jn 15:26). It is ludicrous, therefore, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit and attribute His doings to devils.

Basically, Cessationism’s experiential argument is an argument from silence. In other words, a Cessationist is only a Cessationist because he or she has not personally experienced the Holy Spirit and His gifts. Sadly, their alleged doctrine stems and is fed from this place of unbelief and naïveté. They allow their experience to effect their doctrine, rather than vice versa. Saul (later Paul) is a perfect example of this occurrence. He hated and persecuted the church of Christ to the point of murder! I’m sure he was completely convinced in his mind and “doctrine” that Jesus was a fake, and that His followers were heretics. His error consisted in his lack of experience, and no more. What others experienced, he himself did not. His argument was based upon silence. Well, what changed His mind? Once he traveled the Damascus road and saw Jesus in His glory, he was a changed man: “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…” (Acts 9:3-5). How suddenly his doctrine was re-evaluated! His experience confirmed the primary doctrine of Christianity: Jesus is Lord. He later became the greatest writer in the New Testament! What a wonderful testimony!

To be continued...