TONGUES, HEALINGS & PROPHECIES -- WHEN AND WHY DID THE GIFTS CEASE?

I've been remiss in the fact that I've never posted anything on the controversial subject of the gifts of the Spirit such as were exhibited by the grace churches such as at Corinth. Paul wrote about these gifts and the assemblies he established did exhibit them, so are they still for us today or did they cease at some point? If they ceased, why did they cease?

Here I'm going to defer to Pastor Dennis Kiszonas of Grace for Today Ministries who wrote an article on the subject for the Berean Bible Society's Searchlight Magazine a few years back. There's simply no way that I can improve on his logical and simple explanation regarding this divisive subject. Here's the link:

When Did the Gift of Tongues Cease?

Read, learn, and enjoy!

SOMEONE NEEDS YOUR TESTIMONY!

We who've been saved by simply trusting that the Lord Jesus Christ has done everything necessary for our salvation love to share that news with those who so desperately need to hear it! So, here's a great way to get your testimony down pat in your own mind and put it somewhere where somebody who needs it can find it: my new Grace Testimony Site!

Please consider sending me a couple of paragraphs (or more) sharing under what circumstances you got saved by Paul's gospel of the grace of God, and how and when you became aware of the need to rightly divide that gospel from the gospel God had for his covenant nation of Israel. For some grace saints, the two things happened simultaneously; for others, it took years to recognize the divine boundaries in God's word.

My own testimony will go on the site shortly, but I hope you will visit and take time to read through the testimony of a man who recently contacted me to share with me his joy in finally understanding the true mechanics of his eternal salvation in Christ.

Please help me put together a source of encouragement for seekers on the Internet to access when they search for the truth of which gospel we're saved by today: Peter's...or Paul's?

Send your grace testimony to me at deborah.kuzenski@gmail.com, and I'll publish it to the site after checking for spelling, etc., if you'd like. Also, please feel free to provide a link to your own site and/or your church's site.

Thank you for taking the time to be an encouragement to someone who needs it!

TO FATHER MIKE, WHEREVER YOU ARE

Dear Father Mike,

I was very sorry to hear of your death this past week. I realize that you probably won't be reading this where you are right now, but thinking of you has brought back so many memories from when I was a member of the Roman Catholic Church that you pastored that I thought I would write.

You were a good and gentle man, Father Mike. You always had a smile for everyone, and you were there to lend a helping hand. When I asked for a discount on my kids' Catholic education, you agreed to it in a heartbeat. Several years later, after first communions and confirmations for the kids, as well as a conversion to Catholicism by my then-husband, you agreed to see me on short notice when I came to your office and told you that I had placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, based on what I had read in the Letter to the Romans, and that I could no longer remain a member of a church that did not preach the simple gospel of salvation as a free gift for simply believing that Christ died for the world's sins, was buried, and rose again. I was hoping that you would see this great truth as well, and the light would dawn in your eyes; and you would follow me in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, and stop trusting the teachings of your church. But it was not to be.

As a brand new believer, I was no match for the sophistry of a priest who had been thoroughly schooled in the works of Augustine, Aquinas, and Ignatius of Loyola; and you had me weeping with frustration in no time. You, of course, went back to the gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, and reminded me that Jesus said, “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:18-19). “Which of the thousands of Protestant denominations was this church,” you asked me, “if not the Roman Catholic Church founded nearly two thousand years ago?” She may make some mistakes but she's the only church with the successors of Peter, and see how she has endured the test of time?

I had no good answers for you that day, Father Mike. I gathered up my husband's King James Bible and my other books and papers and thanked you for your time; but despite my feeling that I'd been bested by the best, I never again set foot in your church to worship, but only to attend a funeral or two. Your advice that I should perhaps consult a psychiatrist to help me deal with my “obsession” still stings after all these years.

Seventeen years and much study of God's word later, I've come to realize that the words of Christ in the four gospels are addressed exclusively to the nation of Israel, as the Lord himself proclaimed, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:24). Our own apostle to the Body of Christ, Paul, wrote, “Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [Israel] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” (Rom. 15:8). The church that Christ founded upon the rock of Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah sent to save Israel was set aside following that chosen nation's rejection of him and his kingdom. (Acts 28:28). The Roman Catholic religion, based on these interrupted promises and doctrines, was on a mistaken path from its inception, leading countless souls from the truth of the no-strings-attached gospel given to Paul. The church which is his body,” has an inheritance in the heavenly places in Christ according to the revelation of the mystery the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ from heaven gave exclusively to Paul for us today found in his post-Acts period epistles.

Father Mike, wherever you find yourself this day, do you remember, either with thanks or with regret, that tearful housewife armed with the simple gospel of faith for salvation? I came to see you that day, not just to tell you that I quit your church and all its man-made traditions and commands, but to give you the key to escape from it yourself. Only God knows your heart, Michael; but the fact that you said the Sacrifice of the Mass and administered the Catholic sacraments to the “faithful” every day since that time speaks volumes about whether you ever used that key. Like the rich man in Hades, do you now long to send a message to those who wrongly trusted in the doctrines you taught? Abraham's declaration still holds true today, that if men don't heed the scriptures, "neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Jesus Christ told Israel, “the truth shall make you free,” and that's a truth for all ages, but only for those who are alive when they hear it, and not for those whose fate is now sealed.

Farewell, Father Mike, wherever you are.

Here's the whole story of my conversion.

Related posts: There's No Such Thing as a Catholic Christian!

Catholic Church Gloats When We Use Her Bibles

Ex-Catholic's Worst Nightmare!

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM NAILED BY A SINGLE SCRIPTURE

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities
and powers,
he made a shew of them openly;
triumphing over them in it. Let no man
therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday,
or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath days;
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."
(Colossians 2:14-17)

I've had the opportunity to explore the doctrines of Seventh-Day Adventism through several personal relationships with those who adhere to it and from visits to Seventh-Day Adventist gatherings. Seventh-Day Adventists with whom I've had contact have been invariably friendly and generous people who obviously love the Lord but have wandered into legalism in their zeal to serve him. Many Adventists are saved and sealed saints who were later led astray by the movement to observe the Sabbath and are like the believers to which Paul wrote, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Gal. 4:9-11). Others are longtime Adventists who, in their study of the Scriptures, are confronted with the gospel of grace and believe it but continue to observe the Sabbath. Then there are those Adventists who still need to hear and believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 3:28).

Recently, I ran across a manuscript written by Kerry B. Wynne, a former third generation Adventist, in association with William H. Hohmann, a former Worldwide Church of God (also Sabbatarean) member, "Sabbath Impossibilities: History of Adventism's Long War Against Truth, etc." In their compelling document, they present evidence for the fact that Seventh-Day Adventist leaders knew at least 40 years before 1888 that weekly Sabbath-keeping was one of the "ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us," that has been taken out of the way by Christ, who nailed it to his cross, completely blotting it out. They were also aware that contrary to their teaching, worship by Christians on a day other than the Sabbath began hundreds of years earlier than the formal establishment of the Roman Catholic Church, at whose door they lay blame for changing "times and seasons." Since that time, the authors insist, an ongoing effort has been made by Adventist leaders to prevent their members from learning this scriptural truth. Why? Money, for one thing. Adventism is an international, multi-million dollar industry. But can't they just give up the idea of Sabbath-keeping but still hold to their other doctrines? All of their distinctive doctrines regarding Bible prophecy and their central pillar doctrine of "the investigative judgment" are based on visions and messages reportedly received from the Lord by their founding prophetess, Ellen G. White, in the mid-1800's. If the legitimacy of her vision regarding the necessity for today's church to observe the weekly Sabbath is shattered, the rest of their peculiar doctrines will also fall like dominoes behind it!

It's been a source of wonder to me how the SDA church has existed for so long despite the fact that it's been proven that Mrs. White plagiarized much of the content of works she published, which number well over 5,000 items. Also, the number of failed prophecies which she made would certainly qualify her, according to God's test for a false prophet in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, as someone "deceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim. 3:13). Adventists, when confronted with these truths, will quickly insist that they don't consider White to be a prophet but that by using the Holy Scriptures, she pointed the church back to honoring the Lord by keeping his commandments.

As in all cases of cultish works-salvation doctrines being promulgated by various "Christian" groups, the answer lies in their failure to recognize which section of God's word is addressed specifically to the body of Christ today. Under God's grace, made known through his apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, we enjoy the liberty that only adult sons thoroughly equipped with grace doctrine have the authority to exercise. To return to Israel's law covenants with God is to foolishly bind ourselves with the cords of a performance system by which even Israel could not win God's approval. When we realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only person to ever win God's complete approval, and that by trusting in his shed blood, burial, and resurrection we are imputed with his perfect righteousness that cannot be improved upon by our own efforts, then we become truly free to serve him as ambassadors of his grace.

Seventh-Day Adventists and others who seek to serve God by keeping ordinances which have now been blotted out: you will find complete rest from all your labors in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done it all for us.

P. S. Here's an interesting article refuting SDA's investigative judgment doctrine with Scripture.

TAKE THE NIV "ACID TEST"!

An anonymous reader left the following challenging comment on my February 25, 2006, article entitled, "Do We Have God's Word?" It's too good to leave it buried there, so here it is for your perusal:

"I'm always amazed how people tend to shun or steer clear of the controversy that surrounds this topic, especially Christians and ascribe it to "personal preference" or the "flesh". Aren't we are clearly commanded to rightfully divide the WORD OF TRUTH, not some corruped or revised version of the Word of Truth or any old version which claims to be the Word of Truth?Christians should never avoid controversy, but rather face it head on. Wasn't it C.R. Stam that wrote a book/article about controversy and stated that we should stand up for what we believe is right, no matter how painful it is?

Anyway, here's the "acid test": NIV: THE NIV CHALLENGE"

Try Answering These From Your NIV

By Rex L. Cobb

INSTRUCTIONS:Using the New International Version Bible, answer the following questions.Do not rely on your memory. As the Bible is the final authority, you must take the answer from the Bible verse (not from footnotes but from the text).

1. Fill in the missing words in Matthew 5:44. “Love your enemies,__________ them that curse you, ______________ to them that hate you, and pray for them that __________ and persecute you.”

2. According to Matthew 17:21, what two things are required to cast out this type of demon? According to Matthew 18:11, why did Jesus come to earth?

3. According to Matthew 27:2, what was Pilate’s first name?

4. In Matthew 27:35, when the wicked soldiers parted His garments, they were fulfilling the words of the prophet. Copy what the prophet said in Matthew 27:35 from the NIV.

5. In Mark 3:15, Jesus gave the apostles power to cast out demons and to: ____________

6. According to Mark 7:16, what does a man need to be able to hear?

7. According to Luke 7:28, what was John? (teacher, prophet, carpenter, etc.). What is his title or last name?

8. In Luke 9:55, what did the disciples not know?

9. In Luke 9:56, what did the Son of man not come to do? According to this verse, what did He come to do?

10. In Luke 22:14, how many apostles were with Jesus?

11. According to Luke 23:38, in what three languages was the superscription written?

12. In Luke 24:42, what did they give Jesus to eat with His fish?

13. John 3:13 is a very important verse, proving the deity of Christ. According to this verse (as Jesus spoke), where is the Son of man?

14. What happened each year as told in John 5:4?

15. In John 7:50, what time of day did Nicodemus come to Jesus?

16. In Acts 8:37, what is the one requirement for baptism?

17. What did Saul ask Jesus in Acts 9:6?

18. Write the name of the man mentioned in Acts 15:34.

19. Study Acts 24:6-8. What would the Jew have done with Paul? What was the chief captain’s name? What did the chief captain command?

20. Copy Romans 16:24 word for word from the NIV.

21. First Timothy 3:16 is perhaps the greatest verse in the New Testament concerning the deity of Christ. In this verse, who was manifested in the flesh?

22. In the second part of First Peter 4:14, how do [they] speak of Christ? And, what do we Christians do?

23. Who are the three Persons of the Trinity in First John 5:7?24. Revelation 1:11 is another very important verse that proves the deity of Christ. In the first part of this verse Jesus said, “I am the A______________ and O___________, the _________ and the _______:”

Conclusion: Little space is provided for your answers, but it’s much more than needed. If you followed the instructions above, you not only failed the test, you receive a big goose egg.(Ed. These are all missing in the NIV.) So now what do you think of your “accurate, easy to understand, up to date Bible”?

If you would like to improve your score, and in fact score 100%, you can take this test using the Authorized (King James) Bible.

“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Gal. 4:16

ACTS 2 POEM by Steve Atwood

At the end of his grace message, "You're Hyper" at the 2007 18th Annual Eastern Grace Bible Believers Conference, "Apologies for Grace" (all messages archived here), Steve Atwood of Grace Bible Church in Chattanooga, TN, shared his original poem, "Acts 2 Believers." I hope he won't mind if I share it with you here:

TO OUR ACTS 2 FRIENDS

There are many people who are not a few
Who believe that the church started in Acts 2.

They love the tongues and spiritual gifts
and care not that it causes a rift.

They believe that Peter is really "the man."
For the message of Paul, they will not stand.

We show them the difference in God's plan
but they refuse to see what we clearly can.

So here's my word to the Acts 2 crowd,
Obey Acts 2 and be very proud.

Sell all your possessions; hold nothing back;
Ananias and Sapphira will verify that!

Have all things common and nothing keep;
Lay it all at the apostles' feet...

And if the apostles' feet you cannot find,
bring it all to me...that'll be fine!

Hope I did it justice, Steve, and thank you so much for sharing a little humor mixed with a lot of truth!

CALVINISM BLOWN AWAY BY A SINGLE SCRIPTURE!

Those who hold to the five points of the TULIP of Calvinism - Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints believe that because of the total depravity (sinful helplessness) of man, God unconditionally elects some to be saved, for whom only Christ died, who then can't resist his grace, and once "saved," persevere in good behavior and works (because those who don't obviously weren't "elect"!).

Those of us who believe God has given man the free will to either accept or reject his word need to be able to defend his character by proving Calvinist doctrine to be in such error as to be heretical. The "god" of Calvinism is not the Almighty God of the inspired word of Scripture! Their "jesus" is not the Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life as a "ransom for all."

There are countless scriptures that make it obvious that God not only gave man the ability to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, salvation or hell, but that he expects us to use it. Joshua 24:15's "choose you this day whom ye will serve" is a good "choice" (pun intended)! Many Calvinists are surprised when it's pointed out to them that Christ believed in "chance." In Luke 10:31, in the story of the "good Samaritan," the Lord said, "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side."

But by far the best scripture passage to refute Calvinism, and one that you'll want to commit to memory for use when under attack by a Calvinist, is 2 Peter 2:1: "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." The verses following, 2-4, expand on the idea even more, that these false prophets, who were bought by the Lord (and how could they be "bought," if it wasn't by his death, burial, and resurrection?), are slated for damnation. Now, we ask Calvinists, "In what way are these false prophets the 'elect,' which they must be if they were bought by the Lord in a limited atonement?" Doesn't look like they're persevering in the faith to me! Let a five-pointer work his way around that one!

In case you're thinking that we should be loving and nice and not offend a person who's caught up in Calvinism, I'd like you to know that strong words of truth were necessary to get me out of Catholicism; and then, when I, too, had wandered into partial Calvinism, I'm glad there were those who didn't shy away from helping me see the truth for fear of offending me!

I have to agree with this axiom: "Truth without love is too harsh; but love without truth is too soft!" If someone you love is caught in the net of Calvinism, don't just stand there, start ripping it away so they can be free!

For a glimpse into how John Calvin ruled the city of Geneva, click here.