Miraculous Gifts

[BurnForChrist]

The debate as to whether or not the miraculous gifts are still in affect today has caused much controversy and division through out the centuries. The point of this thread is not to cause strife but to state what you hold and why you hold it. I have defined the three dominate views of what believers hold as far as whether or not they are still in affect. But first lets remember that irregardless of whether or not you hold/dont hold to one view or another, that the great gift we should have is love (1st Corinthians 13). So lets keep this a healthy and clean discussion. Please do not hijack this thread into a tongues only debate.

Cessationism - The position that the miraculous Spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, intepretation of tongues, etc.) ceased with the closing of the Canon of scripture, the death of the last apostle (Early Church) or some time in the past. (1)

Semi-Continualist or Cautious Continualist - The position that some, not all, miraculous gifts are still in effect.

Continualist - The Position that all the miraculous gifts are still in effect and have been through church history.

Note: I realize not all believers hold these specific definitons. You might have a different view when it comes to these terms, if you do then post what you hold.

Burn

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1. http://www.carm.org/dictionary/dic_c-d.htm

Edited April 17, 2008 by BurnForChrist

[AnotherTraveler]

Continualist - The Position that all the miraculous gifts are still in effect and have been through church history.

As you said, the definations are possibly not quite what someone else would describe.

There are seasons in God's calandar, and seasons in God's will, and there are times when He seams to hold back from speaking and doing miraculous things only to burst out with a large and swift season of great miracles, continual essentially, yet spaced out as to the how and when and what, according to His will.

I have personally observed many miracles, things that defy explaination and that stunned me greatly, unexpected and hard to believe, even as I saw them occur! God does not change, and when He gives "gifts", they are given, and NOT taken back, even if the person that has received the gift walks unworthy of the gift. This is one reason that the name of Jesus is sometimes despised, not that Jesus does anything wrong, but that those that speak and do in His name are sometimes of very low moral positions.

[Marnie]

I'd say that the spiritual gifts enumerated by Paul are all still in effect, to one degree or another. It's the same Holy Spirit at work in the lives of believers today as in NT days. Romans 11 equates the call of G-d with His gifts, and both are irrevocable.

[irishcowboy]

100 % still in effect as they were given through the Holy Ghost, spoken by Christ.

we just need to remember how they are in operation.... BY WAY OF THE HOLY GHOST, AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD SEES FIT....

we can not be a one day a week Christian, and expect the Holy Spirit to work through us, we can not expect to put our trust in the almighty dollar and have the Holy Spirit do all the rest of the work.....

Christ told us how... He told the Apostles how.... and told them the results....

the question is, not so much as to whether or not the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are in effect today, but rather, ARE WE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE?????

what price are you willing to pay?????? I do not mean that the Gifts are up for sale, i mean what price are we willing to pay to follow Christ????

there was a very rich man, that asked what it would take, and he was told that he had to keep all the commandments, and he said, that he had done so even as far back as his youth, even before he had become a man..... and then he was told to go sell everything and give it all to the poor..... this saddened him, for he was one of great wealth..... the story did not finish, he may have been saddened, but it does not actually say whether or not he did or did not sell his belongings and give them away..... or if he was even willing to....

Abraham, was told to give up his son, to kill him, he had no idea at the beginning as to whether or not God was going to provide him with an out, or whether God was going to grant him with another son.... Abraham trusted God in what He told him to do, for Abraham knew God would be faithful in His promise....

Christ promised us certain things, the promises that were given have never been revoked, however, there are conditions to those promises, the conditions rest on us..... are we willing to pay the price of those conditions?

I watched a video yesterday, one i have watched several times before, one that helps me remember that we in the free world, westerners, freemen, tend to take for granted things that other brothers and sisters in Christ fight and die for day in and day out.......

every year, there is approximately 160,000 Christians martyred for Christ... yea, thats right, 160 thousand...... how is it we do not hear about this on the local news? well, probably to help keep us so weak in the Spirit that we do not feel/think we need to spend more then a couple hours a week in a "worship" service, and most of the time there we are just warming a pew...... if we would stop warming pews and start building callouses on our knees we might just see more results in the workings of the Gifts of the Spirit manifesting.

look at the bellies of Americans... (mine included) how many 50 year old men are able to run a mile with out much trouble? How many 6' tall men are 150 - 160 pounds or less? how many have a waist that is under 34? this country has become so lazy that we can not even stand to think about letting some of the younger people go to war, we have taken what we have as being blessed.... well, yes, we have been blessed, but since we no longer are truly serving the Lord, the blessings are going by the way side, and we are wondering what is going on. we do not understand why the prices of food has gone so high that some people that were living pretty well 10 years ago, are scraping just to make ends meet..... why? we got lazy and allowed our jobs to go out of country to people that will work for lots less.... people willing to work....

anyways, back to the regularly schedualed program......YES, THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE IN OPERATION TODAY AS THEY WERE YESTERYEAR....

mike

ps, sorry, just got in from work, working the mid shift now.... and loving it....

[Trusting Jesus]

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Hebrews 13:8

I believe that the gifts are still there and available. Why don't we see them manifest more often? I think it is partly fear. For myself I am afraid that I would not use the gift correctly - if I had the gift of healing would I only use it on people I like? If I had the gift of prophecy would I hear God's would properly and not add my own prejudices?

I do think that if the church would be more "on fire" that there would be more manifestations of the Gifts.

<>< ><>

Nathele

[stacey c]

Yes all these gifts are very much alive and active today. I have personally witnessed and been blessed with some of these gifts. Imo the devil has lied to the majority of the church and has placed blinders over their eyes. These gifts are for the building up and edifying the church. Our faith is built and our spirit man is built, and these are some very important tools the Holy Ghost uses to build up our faith. Satan is very afraid of spiritually strong, faithfilled christians, he sees Christ victory in them.

[OneLight]

Yes, they are very much working in believers today, as written in 1 Corinthians 12. Yet, there are also false gifts working. Notice in the scripture below that the very first mention of the Spiritual Gifts, the word spirit is not capitalized, meaning that they are not of God, which is noted where the word Spirit is always capitalized. We have to be careful about these gifts, for the Spirit give one gift to this person and another to another. Satan will also bring in false gifts, which is why discernment is so needed, more today then ever as the Day draws closer.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Spiritual Gifts: Unity in Diversity

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

[Smalcald]

What is a miraculous gift as opposed to a Spiritual gift?

I see nothing in scripture that would say spiritual gifts and miracles are not possible today as they were 2000 years ago. I also see nothing in scripture saying who what , where or how the Holy Spirit will dispense these gifts. The closest thing we can come to that is the end of Mark, but there are some problems with those versus.

14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them,

[EricH]

The text itself does not make any concrete statements about any of the gifts ending. That does not mean, however, that God might make some more prominent in certain locations and times

[Carol R]

Yes i believe they are still around today. Praise God.