The first time I ever attended a Christian church, the pastor prayed that those in attendance would speak in tongues (the phenomenon where a person is miraculously able to speak in another language) and that someone there would also have an interpretation (1 Corinthians 12:10). Having been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, I had been taught that spiritual gifts such as tongues had passed away after the first century and that any supposed miraculous gift was actually the work of the Devil. I panicked a little. I was beginning to believe that JWs were wrong about the gifts, but I was still very nervous. What if this pastor was actually inviting demons into his church?

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only religious group that teaches cessationism (the idea that the miraculous spiritual gifts spoken of in the New Testament have passed away). Many denominations that are in other ways considered doctrinally orthodox are also cessationist. As far as I can see, this teaching is not at all scriptural but seems to be based upon the fact that over the centuries, the church appeared to have largely lost the ability to operate in what many call the “sign gifts” (speaking in tongues, prophecy, miracles, and healing).

The first question to ask is this: is it actually true that the sign gifts ceased after the first century? The quick answer to that question is an emphatic no. We have record of the fact that the gifts were still in operation centuries after the apostles passed off the scene, although they seem to have become less commonly reported. Another important question to consider: if operation of the gifts did become more of a rarity as time went on, why would that have been? Was it because God had always meant to remove those gifts at that time, or because of something else? Is it possible that as Christianity became more mainstream and accepting of pagan traditions, that God withdrew those gifts from the majority of professed Christians because of their lukewarmness and/or idolatry?

Some cessationists claim to have biblical backing for their beliefs. The scripture they often use to back their claim is 1 Corinthians 13:8:

“Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.” (LSB)

Taken out of context, this text does indeed seem to indicate that spiritual gifts would cease. But the question is, when would they cease? Read in context, the meaning of this text becomes clear:

“Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” – 1 Corinthians 13:8-12, LSB

What is “the perfect” spoken about in that passage? Some cessationists claim that it refers to the completed canon of scripture. They say that once the scriptures were complete and available for Christians to read, there was no more need of the sign gifts. But does that make sense? Do the scriptures anywhere teach that once all the inspired writings were compiled and canonized that there would be no more need of the miraculous? Do the scriptures anywhere explicitly state that “the perfect” referred to in 1 Corinthians is the completed canon of scripture? Of course not. But in the very same chapter we see a clear clue as to what is being referred to by the phrase, “the perfect.” In verse 12, we see that when the perfect comes, we will be able to see “face to face.” See who? Well, who is it that is prophesied to return to earth? Who are we going to see face to face? Matthew 5:8 says that “the pure in heart…shall see God.” Revelation refers to God as “the one who is and who was and who is to come…” In Revelation 3:11, the glorified Jesus is recorded as having said, “I am coming to you quickly…”

What can we conclude? It seems very clear to me that 1 Corinthians 13:8 is stating that when Jesus returns, there will be no more need of the gifts because we will be with him. Jesus has not yet returned; therefore, the gifts have not yet ceased. They are still available and in operation in the church today. And it is my opinion that the reason why we see the gifts operating so much more today than in the past is because we are getting very close to the return of Christ and those gifts are needed to empower the body of Christ to accomplish and to accelerate the work of the great commission. (Matthew 28:19, 20; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8)

Another argument that cessationists often use is that because people in pagan religions experience supernatural experiences such as speaking in tongues, that the supernatural experiences of charismatic Christians must also be demonic. This is the argument that affected me the most and took the longest for me to overcome in my own mind.

It is true that demons are able to give power to their followers. Witches and warlocks do have supernatural experiences and can cause others to have supernatural experiences. But are demons the only spirit beings that have power? Of course not! The Bible is very clear about the fact that our God is much more powerful than Satan and that he does intervene miraculously in the lives of humans. (1 Kings 18:20-40) Throughout the Old Testament and the New we see example after example of God’s miraculous power and His desire to use that power to help His people.

When Moses and Aaron performed miracles before Pharo in Egypt, Pharo’s sorcerers were able to imitate some of those miracles. When Aaron threw down his staff and it became a snake, the sorcerers also threw down their staffs and they also became snakes. Does this mean that Aaron’s power came from the same source as the power displayed by those sorcerers? The answer became clear when Moses’s snake swallowed the snakes of the sorcerers. (Exodus 7:8-13) The devil may be able to imitate the works of God, but he will never be more powerful than God. And that is all he can do: imitate, and weakly at that.

If both Pagans and Christians can speak in tongues, does that mean that all tongues come from the same source? What was the source of the tongues spoken by the first century Christians? The Bible clearly states at Acts 2:4 that the Spirit, that is God’s Holy Spirit, “gave them utterance.” If the gifts of the Spirit have not ceased and they are all available for Christians now, then it logically follows that God must be the source of the miraculous tongues spoken by true Christians today, and that the same principle applies to all of the miraculous gifts. Satan’s weak imitations do not nullify God’s genuine displays of power.

The gifts of the Spirit are not an optional bonus that some Christians have access to but not others. We all have access to all of the gifts. We need them. Jesus instructed his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high. They had already been given the authority to preach the gospel and cast out demons. So why did they need to wait in Jerusalem for the power?

We see a clue to the answer in what actually happened after the disciples received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. (Acts 2:5-13; 40-47) Three thousand people were saved and baptized because of what they saw and heard. Likewise, today when people hear miraculous tongues or see miraculous healings and deliverances, those experiences are often what convinces them that God is real, that he loves and helps people, and that they should listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved.

I have a friend who is a Christian now because he witnessed the miracle of deliverance from demons. He attended a church service where demons manifested and left people in response to commands for them to come out in Jesus’s name. Going into that service, he doubted even the existence of God or of the supernatural. He came out a believer.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit also endues Christians with great power and boldness to declare the gospel. (Acts 4:31) We need that power and boldness in order to accomplish our assignments as Christians. It is not natural for us to desire to speak to strangers about something that may make them angry or uncomfortable. But with the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, we both desire and are able to clearly and lovingly speak out.

Since I left the Watchtower organization and have become a born-again Christian, I have experienced the supernatural power of God in ways that I never thought I would. I have appreciated the reassurance I have received from those experiences because as a Christian, I am in a constant war with “the rulers of the darkness of this age.” – Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV). We have a powerful enemy, which is one of the reasons why our much more powerful God fills us with His power.

The first time I experienced a healing miracle was on a day when I felt the most powerless. I had severe pain in my hips which made it excruciatingly difficult to walk. In fact, I had to crawl even to get to the bathroom. But it was a Sunday, and I desperately wanted and needed to go to church for encouragement. I said a very bold prayer. I told God how much I wanted to be at church and asked him to put the bones in my hips back in place and take away all the inflammation. By that evening, I was walking without pain and was able to attend the evening Bible study at church. After the service, one of my friends informed me that the whole church had been praying for my recovery. It brought tears to my eyes to think of the great love of a God who would do something like that for me.

Since then, I have heard of, witnessed, and experienced many more miracles, but there is one in particular I want to share. Last Summer, I attended a Christian conference where many miracles occurred. I myself felt the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit while I was there and experienced the healing of my hip pain. But what was really amazing was the experience of one woman who had suffered from MS for 30 years with many, many symptoms. Several weeks after the conference, she came to my church and gave her testimony. She reported that before the conference, she could barely walk, needed oxygen to breathe, and was in enormous pain. This woman encountered the power of God at that conference in such a way that she fell down. She reports feeling heat all over her body and that when she got up, her pain was gone, her breathing was normal, and she could walk normally. Weeks later, she was able to report that she was off all medications but one which had to be tapered, she still did not need supplemental oxygen, and she was still pain free and able to walk normally. She shared doctor’s reports from before the healing and after and the documented changes were miraculous. God did that in response to her great faith, the faith of the minister who prayed for her, and the faith of the many who attended that conference. And I can confidently say that this is not a once in a lifetime experience. I regularly hear amazing healing testimonies from people that I know and trust.

The gifts of the Spirit are real, they are for today, and they are for you if you are a believer. The teaching that the gifts have ceased is a wicked lie designed to disempower God’s people and dampen their faith. Our God loves us very much and He wants us to enjoy all that He gave us when he sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

Recommended reading:

• Host the Holy Ghost by Vlad Savchuk
• Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World by Craig S. Keener