We must threaten all teachers of unbelief in the name of Jesus. This includes the cessationists, but not only the cessationists. Cessationism is often discussed, because it is a known controversy, and there is a clear term for it. However, it is also a basic issue, so that even after a person has overcome cessationism, he has made only a little progress. It has become more popular than before to admit the gifts on paper, but that is insufficient. It could even be a deceptive position, because here is where people tell themselves that they finally believe what Scripture teaches, but the problem is that they still refuse to do what it says. James wrote that if we look at the word of God but do not obey the word of God, we deceive ourselves. We think that we are doing something, but we are doing nothing. We feel that we honor the gospel, but we dishonor it even more.

The gospel requires us to not merely affirm the gifts of the Spirit in our doctrine, but to aggressively teach and exercise them. Even after this, very much unbelief could remain beyond the category of spiritual gifts. For example, even after a person has been convinced about the gift of healing, and even after he has witnessed it or even performed healing by such a gift, he might still remain unconvinced that healing has been secured for the present time by the atonement, and that it is promised to faith, and it is to be received apart from any gift. This truth is even more basic to the gospel than the spiritual gifts, but it is denied even more than the spiritual gifts, and even by those who operate in the spiritual gifts. Then, it is evident that Christians have not attained to the point where they can pray with confidence, “Give us this day our daily bread.” And they outright reject the teaching of Jesus, that if we would seek first the kingdom of God, then “all these things” the pagans seek will be added to us.

Remember that these were teachings that were given even before Jesus ascended to the cross and then to heaven, and before he poured out the Holy Spirit to empower his people. This is how far the church has fallen. Christians still do not believe what Jesus expected his pre-crucifixion followers to believe. And yet many of these people are obsessed with technical points of Christian theology and philosophy, deeming themselves faithful and strong in apologetics and such things. As for the teachings about those who are “in Christ,” what about the doctrine that we are the righteousness of God in him? Sin consciousness pervades their doctrine and their religion, but the writer of Hebrews says that those who have been cleansed should no longer have a consciousness of sin. To keep preaching and even insisting on a consciousness of sin is not humility, but it is to relegate the blood of Christ to the level of the blood of bulls and goats. It is easy to find among them tomes of hundreds of pages about repentance, depression, and melancholy, but we cannot find one that talks much about our standing as the righteousness of God, that as Paul said, we shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. If this is not a denial of the gospel, what does it take? And they are the ones who condemn people.

We have offered several examples, but the list of items appears endless. There is not a common term to cover all of this. Again, cessationism is a common discussion because people are familiar with it, and there is such a convenient term for it. But there is a whole realm of unbelief beyond the rejection of the gifts of the Spirit, and most people do not even think about it. Among us, we have often referred to it, translated from the Chinese, as “teachings of unbelief” or “teachings of no-faith” or “teachings of not-faith” (more literally, “not-faith teachings”). And we refer to the people as “people of unbelief” or “people of no-faith” or “people of not-faith” (or, “not-faith people”). This is not the same as when we call people “non-Christians” or “unbelievers,” although some of them are indeed non-Christians and unbelievers. We have sometimes used terms like defeatism, deformed theology, and so on. But I think unbeliefism, no-faith, and not-faith are better as more permanent terms. These would cover the whole spectrum of “Christian” unbelief, encompassing those things that belong to the gospel, including the gifts of the Spirit, which also come under the gospel.

All unbelief is of the devil. Those who teach unbelief, we must rebuke harshly, so that they may be sound in the faith. For if they deny the promises in Scripture concerning this or that thing, claiming that they mean something different, then how can they retain the promises in Scripture concerning their salvation? Any principle of interpretation that they use to discard one set of promises in Scripture must also be applied to the promises of salvation, and the result is that they would exegete themselves right out of the kingdom of heaven and into hellfire, where there is screaming and gnashing of teeth. They invent their own theories, frameworks, and assumptions, and impose them upon the word of God, in order to replace the commands of God with the traditions of men. As the apostle warned, if anyone adds to the words of this book, God will add to him the plagues that would come, and if anyone takes away from the words of this book, God will remove his name from the book of life.

Yet they are fearless, not having the fear of God in them, acting as if they can do no wrong. When we expose them with an exact representation of their doctrine, and reveal the devastating outcome of their folly, they complain that we have attacked a straw man. The truth is that we grasp their doctrine better than they do, and also perceive all the angles and results of their doctrine. The complaint of misrepresentation, when they have not been misrepresented, signals to me that they have been exposed, and that they are defenseless against us. A straw man strategy can go both ways. True, if you attack someone using a straw man, you would appear unfair and uninformed. But if you defend yourself using a straw man, you are exposed as feeble and stupid, as if your opponent is exactly correct about you. They have not suffered a straw man attack, but they are using a straw man defense. Let them make this complaint on the day of judgment! Let them use the straw man defense before the throne of God!

There are prominent personalities on their side, Christian celebrities. And they profit from the people with the teachings of unbelief and defeat. They comfort the people, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and “This is a gift from God,” when God himself calls it a curse. Then they pose a false dilemma and say that the promises of God, from the Father who “knows that you need all these things,” in fact aim too low and promise too little, but that they would look toward the “higher” promises instead. This is a pious-sounding excuse for a rejection of the blood of Jesus Christ. If you castigate the explicit promises of the gospel as too low, too unholy, too worldly, then you are no longer a Christian preacher. You are preaching some other gospel, and some other religion. Look! You can only push so far until you are proved a reprobate. Is God the God of heaven, and not of earth? Is he the God of the hills, and not of the valley? This sort of underhanded theology is unacceptable. Many people’s plain scriptural sense is short-circuited by big names, but this is idolatry. God is no respecter of persons. Grow up! If you are going to be a leader to God’s people, you will have to grow up, get smart, and stop playing self-righteous religious games with the word of God.

If we are satisfied with a teacher like this, a teacher of no-faith, then we are satisfied with too little, when we can have much more. The church of Jesus Christ is not where it should be at this time, but it is not entirely impoverished. We do not need teachers who would teach the gospel with unbelief, if it is the gospel at all, when we have teachers who teach the gospel with faith. Now this leads us to the fact that it is even more important to preach the truth of the gospel, than it is to refute and attack those who reject it. Jesus said that when a demon is cast out from a man, if he comes back and finds the place empty, he would return with other demons more evil than himself, so that the final condition of the man is worse than the first. Some teachers of no-faith wish to appear as vigilant for the truth of the gospel, but listen to them — they preach the politics of man instead of the promises of God. As the Scripture says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Let us, therefore, after we have taken our stand against unbelief, devote more of our effort toward building up the people of God.

Finally, whatever is of faith, of power, of the Spirit, whatever is of hope, of victory, of righteousness, whatever is of love, of joy, of peace, whatever is of praise, of wisdom, of forgiveness, whatever is of thanksgiving, of healing, of abundance, and whatever is of the gospel of Jesus Christ, think on these things. For if you will believe and teach these things, you will do well. May the faith and power of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

From: Letters