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I disagree with your statements about those who adhere to Cessationism Quix....the following exlains how I see it:

“Cessationism is not anti-supernatural, nor does it deny the possibility of miracles.

When it comes to understanding the cessationist position, the question is not:.... Can God still do miracles in the world today?......Cessationists would be quick to acknowledge that God can act at any time in any way He chooses.

Are the miraculous gifts of the New Testament still in operation in the church today–such that what was the norm in the days of Christ and the apostles ought to be expected today?

To that, all cessationists would answer “no.”

Nor is Cessationism an attack on the Person or work of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, just the opposite is true...... Cessationists are motivated by a desire to see the Holy Spirit glorified...... They are concerned that, by redefining the gifts, the continuationist position cheapens the remarkable nature of those gifts, lessening the truly miraculous working of the Spirit in the earliest stages of the church.

Cessationists are convinced that, by redefining healing, the charismatic position presents a bad testimony to the watching world when the sick are not healed...... By redefining tongues, the charismatic position promotes a type of nonsensical gibberish that runs contrary to anything we know about the biblical gift...... By redefining prophecy, the charismatic position lends credence to those who would claim to speak the very words of God and yet speak error.

This, then, is the primary concern of cessationists: that the honor of the Triune God and His Word be exalted—and that it not be cheapened by watered-down substitutes.

Certainly watered-down substitutes and counterfeits are a problem.

JUST AS THEY WERE IN CHRIST’S DAY 2000 YEARS AGO.

And even He did no miracles in Nazaret, IIRC.

Nevertheless, I still believe that Cessationism

IS a gross insult to Holy Spirit’s declarations in Acts 2 and I Cor 12-14 about what GOD CONSIDERS normative Christian behavior in life and in group meetings.

Folks can rationalize the contrary until the cows come home. Those of us who have experienced the authentic will always know better.

Saying that GOD CAN do whatever He wants BUT THAT HE ‘just happens to CONFORM TO CESSATIONIST’s UNBIBLICAL HERETICAL NOTIONS is absurd doublespeak.

Nevertheless, thanks for your kind reply and tone.

Curry Blake, IIRC, has 70,000 as in THOUSAND documented cases of significant healings.

Wigglesworth had quite a number as well. The Wigglesworth case I love to hear about is the case of the man who had a stump at the ankle.

The man came up to Wigglesworth and Wigglesworth told him to go buy a PAIR of shoes.

In spite of the incredulity of the shoe salesman, the stub footed man decided that obeying the man of God was a reasonable thing to do.

And, AS HE PUT THE STUB INTO THE SHOE, HIS FOOT RAPIDLY GREW TO FILL THE SHOE.

PRAISE GOD! THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW.

I love to listen to Curry Blake.

http://spiritlessons.com/Documents/Healing/JGL/JGL_Ministries.htm

He’s my kind of guy and I think he’s God’s kind of guy as well.

Very practical, brutally honest, high integrity and down to earth. . . . training all manner of people to facilitate God’s miracles far and wide.

The problem I see with the charismatic theology as taught today is that it is unscriptural in that it does not lift up Jesus.

One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to point to Christ. The current teachings on tongues and signs as adhered to in the church today exalts the Holy Spirit.

I’ve been in charismatic churches which are big on tongues and being slain in the Spirit and they whip people up to an emotional frenzy during *worship* and then beg and plead for the Holy Spirit to be with us, to fill us, to be present, to show Himself, to have His way in our hearts, etc.

Jesus who?

For one thing, Jesus said that where two or three are gathered, there He is in our midst. There’s no need for us to beg and plead with Him to be present. What about just thanking Him for being with us as He promised?

And why beg and plead for the Holy Spirit? Since when is HE supposed to be the center of attention like He is between that and the focus on the gifts He apportions as He wills? All that does is put out eyes on the HS, the signs, the individual believers - Look how spiritual they are, they speak in tongues, they can heal, they are prophesying....

And even those things practiced within the church are all focused on the believers and not exalting Christ.

I don’t for a minute believe that miracles have ceased or that God doesn’t heal or can’t have someone speak in tongues if the situation warrants it. My objection is that most of the teaching and practice of the gifts as they are labeled today is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture. Our experiences need to be evaluated in light of that, not Scripture evaluated in light of our experiences, and yet that’s what’s been happening.

It’s especially evident with the whole *slain in the Spirit* phenomena. I have yet to find ONE verse that supports that teaching or practice and yet there are churches where it’s practiced almost every Sunday and accepted as truth, just as the teaching that God dances over us is.

The only people I can think of who were slain by the Spirit were Ananias and Sapphira and I’m not interested in going there, thankyouverymuch.