ARE THE 9 HOLY SPIRIT GIFTS (PROPHECY, TONGUES, HEALING ETC.) VALID TODAY?
Welcome! I hope this finds you and your family doing well. Within the Body of Christ, there is considerable division on a number of fronts, one of which is whether the 9 Holy Spirit gifts per 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (prophecy, tongues, healing etc.) ended with the early church over 1,900 years ago, or remain valid today. The cost of the division itself has been and continues to be major, while the costs for the camp that is wrong are absolutely massive. It is this cost that matters to me. Being theologically correct means nothing if concrete benefits don't materialize. And this is my hope - that increased awareness of the truth(s) on several key issues in CEASED? will signficantly reduce these costs and increase the blessings.
At the outset, I began writing CEASED? to provide Biblical evidence showing why the gifts never ended but have remained valid to this day. That ended up only being part of the story because, while planning the outline and content of CEASED?, I realized there was a great deal of misunderstanding and disagreement on several important and related items that needed to be addressed. First and foremost, there is in both camps, either a non-existent or incorrect understanding of the purposes for and differences between:
1: Holy Spirit coming in us ... which happens when we’re born again
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John 14:17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with [para G3844] you and will be in you.
2: Holy Spirit coming upon us ... which happens when we’re Baptized in Holy Spirit and we gain access to additional power not available from the in experience at salvation. This additional power manifests in various ways including the 9 Holy Spirit gifts.
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Acts 1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” … 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon [epi] you …
One example of the importance of understanding and differentiating between the "in" [en in the Greek] and the "upon" [epi in the Greek] experiences is found in some Charismatic & Pentecostal circles where teachings today assert that ... if a person has not been Baptized in Holy Spirit (not had the upon experience) and/or does not speak in tongues, one does not have Holy Spirit ... which means the person is not saved ... the person is not born again. This teaching is offside because we receive Holy Spirit when we're born again and have Holy Spirit come in us as the original disciples experienced on resurrection Sunday evening (John 20:23). The Baptism of Holy Spirit - the upon experience - is about power, an experience the original disciples first experienced 47 days later at Pentecost (Acts 1 and 2) and manifested in the gift of tongues and the bold preaching of Peter.
Other examples of related issues that I felt needed to be addressed in varying degrees of detail include:
1: Are we filled with Holy Spirit when we have the in experience or the upon experience? And do we stay full or need refilling? And if we need a refilling, how do we get it?
2: What are the impacts on the 3 parts of humans (spirit, soul, body) when we're born again? Moreover, what impact(s) can the demonic realm have on each of our 3 parts, if any, before and after being born again?
3: While we must deal with the horrible spiritual abuse, manipulation, misuse of the 9 gifts, and financial shenanigans in some parts of the Charismatic and Pentecostal camp, we need to simultaneously recognize Godly behaviors and proper use of the 9 gifts is also going on and providing significant benefits to the Kingdom of God.
4: Misunderstanding or even a total lack of understanding on some fundamental aspects related to tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge and healing including their usage are widespread and warrant addressing ... to some degree.
5: Much of the body of Christ effectively ignores scriptures that call all believers to be involved in supernatural activities, some of which involve the 9 Holy Spirit gifts, and all of which need or would benefit from the power of God. A challenge for me is how to begin which, to me, is get basic understanding through and equipping through watching and practising with seasoned believers.
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Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead … cast out demons …
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1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy
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Mark 16:15 … preach the gospel … 17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons … speak with new tongues; 18 … lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
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1 Corinthians 2:5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
As a result, CEASED? evolved to deal with these and other related issues by using:
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over 1,000 different verses (provided in text form not just references to book, chapter & verse),
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over 600 questions; and
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supplementary analysis and commentary.
The end result: CEASED? is a very comprehensive, uniquely designed reference book suitable for individual, group and classroom study on many issues that are foundational to the Christian walk.