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As a non-cessationist, do you believe that the church today can hand over someone to Satan for the destruction of the flesh to save the spirit (1 Corinthians 5:5)? What about inflicting diseases and even “killing” people (Acts 13:11; Acts 5:5, 9-11)? It seems that most theologians say something like, “No such power as this remains in the Church of God; none such should be assumed; the pretensions to it are as wicked as they are vain. It was the same power by which Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead, and Elymas the sorcerer struck blind. Apostles alone were intrusted with it” (Adam Clarke).
I am a Christian. Just as I do not call myself a non-atheist or a non-Satanist, I do not call myself a non-cessationist. Faith is the standard. Cessationism is the heresy. Since I am a Christian, I believe in God, and therefore I certainly believe that miracles of judgment can happen regardless of who we are, or when and where we live.
I have come across a number of testimonies on this kind of miracles, including incidents that happened within the last hundred years. The Bible says that God is long-suffering, so that the miracles of judgment seem relatively rare when compared to the endless testimonies on miracles of healing, material and financial provision, and such things, just as they were also relatively rare in the ministry of the first disciples. There are indeed some testimonies, but testimonies are unnecessary, because as long as the God of the Bible lives, all things are possible.
Most theologians, and especially the cessationists, have been wrong about the apostles and about spiritual operations. They have a fundamentally anti-biblical view of how spiritual things work. To illustrate, when it comes to healing, the Bible does not teach that the apostles as such, or as men, were the ones who performed the healing. Yes, we can say it in a loose sense, like “Tom Smith got me saved” or “This book made me a Christian,” but it is really God alone who saves.
This is what we mean when we say that the apostles healed the sick or that we can heal the sick in the name of Jesus. The Bible does not teach that the “gift” of healing was given to the apostles to be exercised according to their own desires and purposes. Peter explicitly denied that he could heal because of any power or godliness in him. He did not mention any gift, whether the gift of healing or the office of the apostle. He credited all of it to faith in the name of Jesus (Acts 3:12, 16).
If people cannot perform miracles of healing today, guess why? They have no faith in the name of Jesus. However, they do not want to be exposed as defective believers, or even false disciples, and so they force upon everyone an alternate explanation and vilify those who continue to heal the sick by faith in the name of Jesus.
In another place, Peter entered a room and told the person, “Jesus Christ heals you” (Acts 9:34), and not “I am an apostle who has come to heal you.” Although Jesus is seated at the right hand of God and has commissioned us to teach the nations, he is still the one who works, still the one who heals. When the theologians think that the apostles were the ones who healed, they have become anti-Christ. They have disqualified themselves from speaking further on the subject. They have committed the sin of idolatry and blasphemy. They need to shut up. The more urgent need is for them to escape condemnation.
Jesus was fully divine and fully human, but as he functioned in the office of the Messiah, he said that he worked miracles by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28). Thus he worked with the people’s faith, and he was hindered by their unbelief (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6). The theologians are often in denial about this. Just as atheists cannot teach us about God, these theologians cannot teach us about spiritual operations and manifestations. They do not believe in them, and they cannot mentally process these things. All their theories are excuses for their unbelief and failure, and attempts to spin out arguments to convince people that they are legitimate spiritual leaders, when they are in fact spiritual frauds.
He said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19), and “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:10). He was God, but as the Messiah, he said that he could do nothing by himself, but the Father God was the one doing the work. This was how the “gifts” worked with Jesus, even though he was the Son of God.
Thus the idea that the apostles were uniquely entrusted with the power to heal or to kill whoever they wished is anti-gospel. It contradicts what the Bible teaches about how these things worked. This false idea fits into an agenda of unbelief. The religious frauds desire to exempt themselves from faith by making the apostles unique, when the apostles were never unique in the way that these people claim, and even Jesus did not operate the way they allege.
The same applies to miracles of judgment. God alone is the one who works miracles, even though he may announce them by men. No one can just go around killing whoever he wants by divine power. The apostles never could, and no one can do that now. To illustrate again, a person may have a “gift” of preaching or evangelism, but he cannot just go around causing anyone he wishes to receive salvation. God alone is the one who saves.
Jesus did not heal everybody, even when they were right in front of him. For example, there was a large crowd of disabled people at Bethesda, but he might have healed only one of them (John 5:1-15). The cessationists sometimes challenge those who pray for the sick to initiate the miracles, to go and “empty out hospitals.” However, such a taunt would first strike Jesus and the apostles. They did not initiate every miracle and heal every person, and they were hindered by the people’s unbelief. Thus the cessationists’ real target is Jesus Christ. They always seek to justify their unbelief, but their excuses backfire and make them look even worse.
As cited above, Adam Clarke wrote that “Apostles alone were intrusted with it,” but the apostles in fact never had the power to bring miraculous judgment at their own whim. He said, “No such power as this remains in the Church of God.” The only way a statement like this could make sense is to change it to say, “No such God as this remains,” because it was God alone who performed the miracles. The only way that Adam Clarke could be correct is if God is dead. Like other theologians, he was entirely incompetent. He had no idea what he was talking about.
It was never the church as such, or the apostles as such, who could hand over a person to destruction. If a person has done nothing wrong, no one can touch him: “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them” (1 John 5:18, NLT). As Balaam said, “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?” (Numbers 23:8). But if a church has done wrong, even a lone believer could hand the whole thing over to destruction in the name of Jesus. If it would be done, it would be God who does it, so it makes no difference if the judgment is declared by one man or one thousand men.
I believe that it is possible for me, by myself, to hand over an entire denomination to destruction. But I believe this only because I believe God can do it. Thus I also believe that no man can do that on a whim, or by his own power, or by virtue of his calling or spiritual gifts. Something like this would be a work of God, and he can do it through me or anyone else. He can also perform miracles of judgment on his own, or through an angel (Acts 12:23). Miracles of judgment are possible because there is a God, and he can perform them through any man, and we are safe from one another’s capriciousness (Luke 9:54-56).
Spiritual gifts constitute only one way for miracles to happen. Miracles can be ministered and received by faith on the basis of God’s word. If God has promised it, then you can perform it and you can receive it by faith apart from any spiritual gift.
God’s word says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). You do not need someone with a gift of preaching or evangelism to tell you this, and a person with such a gift cannot make you receive it. Once you have discovered this promise, you can receive it by faith without the involvement of any other person. One with the gift of preaching or evangelism can proclaim the gospel with great effect, but even without him, a person who has faith can receive directly from God.
Likewise, God’s word says, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases” (Matthew 8:17). It says, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:2-3). In connection with healing, it says, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23), and “According to your faith will it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29). The healing of the body is just as integral to the atonement as the saving of the soul. They are so tightly bound together that to deny one is to deny the other, and to preach another gospel. You do not need someone with a gift of healing to tell you this or to make you receive healing. On the basis of God’s promise, you can receive healing directly from him by faith. If we must refer to a gift of healing at all, someone with such a gift could minister healing with great effect, but even without him, a person who has faith can receive healing.
Paul the apostle did not attribute the miracles to spiritual gifts, but to the faith of the people. He wrote, “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” (Galatians 3:5). In other words, “God works miracles among you because you believe what you heard.” He demonstrated this in Acts 14: “He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk” (v. 9-10). Paul saw that “he had faith to be healed.”
Why did God perform miracles? The theologians advance an alternate explanation. They claim that the apostles were especially gifted with the power to work miracles in order to authenticate new revelation. However, Jesus, Peter, and Paul themselves said that God worked miracles because of the faith of the people (Galatians 3:5) and in order to fulfill his old revelation (Luke 13:16). The theologians claim that miracles are exceptional, but Jesus called it the children’s bread — their daily meal (Matthew 15:26). In fact, a heathen woman suggested that healing ought to be so routine that it should spill over to those outside of the covenant, and Jesus agreed. He admitted that it was granted to faith (15:27-28). What we are saying cannot get any more “gospel” — this is it, this is gospel. Any different view is a different gospel. It is anti-gospel, and anti-Christ.
Healing comes by faith. This is true also for the one who prays for the sick. The Bible says, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15). We minister by faith in God’s word. We receive by faith in God’s word. We take by faith whatever God has promised, so that we can even work miracles by faith.
We need to grasp the distinction. When we function in the “gifts” or special manifestations of the Spirit, whether for healing or for judgment, it is as Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). When he ministered this way, he did not heal every person. Thus the cessationists point their fingers at us, but in effect condemn Jesus as a fraud because he did not “empty out hospitals.”
Although Jesus did not go to everyone with the “gift” of healing, he never refused anyone who came to him in faith. He never said that it was not God’s will. To the only person who ever asked about it, he said, “I am willing” (Mark 1:41). And even this person asked only if Jesus was willing to minister to him, and not whether God was willing to heal. All the others who came in faith never asked if it was God’s will to heal them. By faith, they just came and took what they wanted. This is faith. This is the kind of attitude that pleases God. Anything else is just bogus piety.
Of course there is such a thing as the gift of healing, but healing does not have to come by some special gift, just like the forgiveness of sin does not have to come by some special gift of the Spirit. The fact that there is a gift of healing should not hinder us by making us think that this is the only way that healing comes. Rather, that there is a gift of healing should add to our expectation. We can always minister and receive healing by faith, but because there is a gift of healing, there should be more healing miracles than what we can ask or think. God will do more than what our faith expects, not less.
When Jesus walked the earth, he personally commissioned some men for the ministry. If anyone desires some sort of ordination, this would be it. This would be the ultimate. But there was a man who went around casting out demons in the name of Jesus, without authorization from Jesus. The disciples, including the apostles, wanted to stop this, but Jesus allowed the man to continue (Mark 9:38-39).
Nowadays church leaders insist that you stay with a group of believers despite their errors, even severe errors – no group is perfect after all. Thus they mandate corporate worship or spirituality for its own sake. However, Jesus did not insist that the man should even follow his own group as long as he had faith. There was a perfect group right there – at least the leader was perfect – and the man was close enough that he talked with the disciples. But Jesus did not insist that he join, and did not insist that he cease operation if he did not join.
Thus Jesus declared that faith always legitimizes a ministry, even without his own earthly authorization, and even when he was within walking distance to confer it. This overturns the basis of authority for most churches and denominations, if not all of them. I do not mean that churches and denominations as such are necessarily illegitimate, but that they have been established on the wrong basis. And when you establish something on the wrong basis, everything about it becomes wrong.
Corporate worship or spirituality is legitimate only if there is faith. The strongest advocates of church life are usually not qualified to talk about it. Most of them contribute to the problem with their unbelief and phony ritualistic worship. One person who has faith is legitimate even by himself. Find two or three people who have faith and put them together, and you have a church. Many more might soon join them. On the other hand, cram together several hundred people who have no faith, but only degrees and papers, creeds and rituals, and their own mutual approval and praise, and you have a synagogue of Satan. Join together many synagogues of Satan, put a board of Pharisees on top of them, and you have a denomination. It does not have to be this way, but this is the way it is in most cases.
This man went ahead by faith without personal authorization from Jesus, but those who received this personal authorization, including the apostles, sometimes failed in the very spiritual operations that Jesus commissioned them to perform. Why? Jesus did not say, “Because it was not God’s will” or “Because you did not have the gift.” It could not be any more the will of God or authorized by God than to be personally commissioned by Jesus Christ. But when Jesus talked about spiritual operations, he did not resort to the will of God or the gifts of the Spirit as an explanation. Instead, he answered, “Because you have so little faith” (Matthew 17:20).
Peter tried to walk on water, but he started to sink and Jesus had to rescue him. Why did he sink? Jesus did not say, “Because it was not God’s will” or “Because you did not have the gift.” Jesus was the one who said that Peter could walk on the water in the first place (Matthew 14:28-29). Moreover, Peter was at first successful. It was happening. He was walking on the water and heading toward Jesus (14:29). He was not sinking. But then he looked at the storm, and he became afraid. Only then he started to sink (14:30). How did Jesus explain this? He said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (14:31). He made no reference to God’s will or to spiritual gifts. It was a matter of faith, and Peter failed because he did not have faith.
Would Jesus excuse us if we fail to heal the sick? Would he count as innocent anyone who does not even try, or who even preaches against it? Why would he agree with anyone who appeals to divine sovereignty or to spiritual gifts as an explanation for failure? Imagine someone who became irritated with you because you could not walk on water! Jesus was exactly this kind of person. He expected his disciples to perform the same works he did, not on the basis of their commission to ministry, but by faith. He would not swallow your horse $#!& about divine sovereignty and spiritual gifts. He expects you to have faith and to succeed.
This is contrary to what the theologians claim. Blinded by their unbelief, religious hypocrisy, and intellectual arrogance, they just don’t know how these things work and cannot seem to process what the Bible plainly says about them (1 Corinthians 12:1). Cessationists think they are superior to the charismatic fanatics, but the truth is that they are so inferior that they have not even approached the Corinthian crisis in their walk with God.
They have not surpassed the fanatics. They are so far behind that they ought to wish that they could be fanatics. They should look forward to it, so that one day they will be like the people they condemn. If they see what the Bible says, then evidently they just don’t want to think about it, because if what the Bible says is true, it would mean that they are wrong, that they have betrayed Christ and his people, and that they are in fact very much inferior to those unsophisticated simpletons that they despise and persecute. Like the Pharisees, some of them would rather burn in hell than to admit this and turn back to faith and truth.
How do miracles come? By God, not by gifts. By faith, not by titles. If God is there, miracles can happen. If faith is there, miracles will happen. As Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40). Like the cessationists, Martha believed in the power of Christ for the past (11:21) or for the future (11:24), but Jesus the Resurrection was standing right in front of her (11:25), and Lazarus was raised within minutes. How do miracles come? From God, through faith, right now. Anyone who holds a different view condemns himself. The issue is not whether he is a good minister or scholar, but whether he should be excommunicated.