Month: March 2024

“But you shall receive power.. .” – Act 1:8.

Cessationists are of the doctrinal opinion that miracles, prophecy, healing and other manifestation of power by the Believers are no longer necessary. This is because the purpose of miracles is to authenticate God’s message to His people; and since God has concluded His message with Revelations – the last Book of the Bible – there is no longer any need for Him to display His power through individuals.

That is what they say.

Unfortunately, if supernatural activities are no longer necessary in this age, the Devil never got the memo. Because, far from closing shop after the Apostolic age, the Devil  and his host of demons have ramped up their activities across the world and in multiple spheres. This is even more evident in these last days, with the Devil’s time running out.”

A look at the media and political space will show a significant rise in the accommodation, justification and even glorification of Satan and all that he stands for on the one hand; and the villainization of the Bible and Christianity on the other.

Entire populations and people groups are being held firmly in the grasp of demonic ideologies, and the human race seems to be whistling its way down to Hell, its eyes firmly blinded by “the god of this world” (2Cor 4:4).

If Moses and the prophets, Jesus and the Apostles all needed supernatural displays of power to make their respective world yield to God’s message, we in this 21st century need it even more so.

Speaking of the Last Day; the Apostle John writes, “I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;” (Rev 7:9). That “multitude” is not going to come by mere apologetics and philosophical debates alone; they are going to come when they see clear evidence, that there is an omnipotent God in Heaven who loves them enough to intervene in their lives grace, with love, and with power.

AMEN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

“But you shall receive power.. .” – Act 1:8.

One major problem with the position that Cessationists hold concerning miracles is that it deprives believers of solutions when they need them.

We live in a fallen world, and things do not always go according to plan. Disasters strike, sicknesses come, evil people assail to maim and kill, etc. Teaching your members that the days of miracles are over is robbing them of a vital tool that they would need when troubles strike.

Not everyone has access to world-class medical care, and even those who do are well aware of the limits to what even the most advanced form of medical science can do. We need God and His miraculous power in order to live our everyday lives.

Miracles are, by their very nature, extraordinary events. Nevertheless, when we do need them, we need to have the mindset that the God who created the earth out of nothing, the God who delivered His people from various forms of danger, who healed His people from their diseases, who provided for His people in their times of lack, etc. (Gen 1:1; Ex 16:4-31; 17:5-13; 1Ki 17:6; 17:9-16; 19:1-8; 2Ki 4:1-7; 38-41; 5:1-19; etc.); we need to know that that same God will come through for us when we call on Him!

AMEN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

AME

“But you shall receive power.. .” – Act 1:8.

Cessationism is the doctrinal position taken by some Christians that spiritual gifts such as miracles, speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing ceased with the time of the Apostles. For much of church history, little attention was given to the matter of dispensation of miracles. It only became a doctrinal issue during the period of the Reformation, a time when Christianity was at its darkest and lowest in terms of faith and biblical orthodoxy.

This was a period when the church had degenerated into corruption, carnal practices, unbiblical ordinances, and, most notably, wholesale endorsement of new types of ‘miracles’ that were not Christocentric, did not lead to faith in the Gospel, and in some cases, were downright demonic.

So, with the wave of reformation and the campaign against all unscriptural practices sweeping through that era, it is only natural that miracles, as they were defined in those days, would also be affected.

The case for cessationism has also gained traction recently due to the rise of Pentecostalism and its emphasis on the miraculous and supernatural experiences.

Much of the negative perception of miracles in Pentecostalism today arises from three categories: fake (staged) miracles by fraudsters posing as men of God; real miracles performed with demonic powers by occult practitioners masquerading as pastors who prey on scripturally-ignorant people who think that a person calling ‘the name of Jesus’ is proof positive that their power is from God; and lastly, genuine miracles by true men of God who nonetheless use their popularity and spiritual gift to amass wealth for themselves and defraud people of money.

With issues like these, it’s easy to understand the concerns of Cessationists. But as the English saying goes, ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right.’ Or in this case, ‘Wrongs by two groups of people are not enough to make a rite.’

We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater by outrightly declaring all miracles to be impossible because of the excesses of some people. Miracles still exist today, even among cessationists too, considering that they, too, are Believers (which itself is already a miracle)! Because, every prayer by a Believer is effectively inviting the supernatural to overrule the affairs of the natural.

AMEN

N

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN