WHAT ABOUT CESSATIONISM?
During my research for Glory Through Time, Vol. Two, I ran into something that really surprised, even shocked me, because it was so unexpected. I discovered a powerful outpouring of a spirit of prophecy during the Scottish Reformation. I describe this in Volume Two, Chapters 1-10.
I had been taught that the leaders of the Church of Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries were cessationists, being followers of John Calvin, who has always been presented to me as the author of cessationist doctrine. Yet the picture I was uncovering from that period of time did not match what I had been taught.
Cessationism is the belief that God decided to cut off the gifts of the Spirit after the Bible itself was completed, under the theory that “Christians don’t need the gifts of the Spirit today–we have the Bible now, and that is good enough.” Could it be that John Calvin was not really the die-hard cessationist that he is often portrayed to be? In my search for the truth, I discovered that he was not! This video explains the evidence.
I am not so much interested in stirring up doctrinal controversy. My interest is simply to ask: what did God do to advance the kingdom of God throughout the centuries? My hope is to put God squarely in the center of our story. Cessationist doctrine does not fit the picture of history that emerges from eyewitness testimony. I like to say, The mighty deeds of God are as factual as the Great Wall of China, and Abraham Lincoln’s beard. Did God cease doing anything after the Bible came into being? Look at the facts. Read Glory Through Time.
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