Cessationists criticize the charismatics for errors in doctrines and practices. Of course, very often the cessationists are the ones who are wrong, or the ones who are more wrong. However, it is sometimes true that the charismatics indeed teach false doctrines and exhibit strange behaviors.
The criticisms do not apply to us. We oppose the damnable heresy of the cessationists, and we are also free from the errors of the charismatics. There is no need to identify ourselves with any group, but that said, we would rather associate with unrefined faith than with sophisticated unbelief. Although we are not subject to the usual criticisms against the charismatics, the conflict is a matter of importance for the health of the church.
Our view is that the cessationists are in fact the ones guilty of the errors of the charismatics. The charismatics are without excuse where they are wrong. Each of us must assume responsibility for our doctrines and practices. But the cessationists are more guilty for charismatic errors than the charismatics themselves. This is because the cessationists historically had more access to intellectual resources, and they also claim to have attained superior scholarship. Still, they have failed — not only failed, but proudly and fiercely refused — to offer a theology of spiritual powers and miracles that is faithful to the promises and commands of the gospel.
The cessationists have been the most ardent enemies of the doctrines of grace, the grace of God that guarantees powers and miracles to those who believe. They have condemned and persecuted the gospel even more than the atheists and the satanists. The only way many people could liberate themselves to live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ has been to leave the thoughts and structures of historic unbelief. The result is that they have superior faith and obedience to the gospel, but they sometimes lack the resources to develop precision and refinement.
I am not saying that the cessationists are better in doctrine — no, they are worse — but I am saying that they have had more intellectual resources, which makes them more damnable for having failed to produce doctrines and practices that are according to the gospel of faith and power from Jesus Christ.
It is useless to be more precise, if it is only to formulate doctrines of unbelief. But if they are precise in unbelief, it is evidence that they could have instead offered a precise formulation for the biblical doctrines that promote miracle powers and gospel blessings, and thus reduced the likelihood of charismatic errors. Therefore, the cessationists are to be blamed for charismatic errors. Every time they criticize the charismatics, they condemn themselves.
Nevertheless, the theological landscape has been shifting. There are now charismatic scholars who are just as competent in areas where the cessationists have been somewhat correct, and these charismatic scholars are also competent in those areas where the cessationists have been wrong. Charismatic scholarship has been overtaking cessationist scholarship. This has the potential to make cessationist scholarship irrelevant. And if this spreads to charismatic ministry, it has the potential to make cessationist ministry irrelevant. The Bible says that when a city was under siege, sometimes the inhabitants were forced to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, but of course the people stopped doing that once they were liberated by the power of God. Christians do not have to eat cessationist &$%?# when they have a better choice.
Since the charismatic scholars approach Christian doctrines with more faith, and because they are overall in more agreement with Scripture, they have become superior even in areas where the cessationists have been traditionally somewhat correct. If you disagree with the Bible about the ministry of the Spirit, it will affect your interpretation of the ministry of Christ. If you disagree with the Bible about God’s promises on physical and material blessings, it will affect your understanding of everything from the atonement to ethics and politics. “This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough.” The Bible’s doctrines are interconnected. Unbelief wrecks systematic theology. It corrupts the entire body of truth.
The way forward is for charismatic scholars to become even better theologians and to become better practitioners, and some have never been practitioners. They are universally still hindered by the unbelief of cessationist scholarship and restricted by cessationist categories and frameworks. They are still not extreme enough when it comes to gospel miracles and blessings, not nearly as extreme as what the Bible teaches.
Their implementations are disturbingly weak. If they attempt these things at all rather than just talking about them, they often still leave the matter up to “the sovereignty of God” without regard to the promise of God – it is a phony appeal to divine sovereignty to excuse their weak faith. And if they attempt these things at all, they often achieve too little results when they operate in things like healing and prophecy. One is not a doer of the word by merely refuting cessationism. He is a doer of the word only when he begins to heal the sick, cast out demons, speak in tongues, and prophesy. Charismatic scholars must pursue the powers of the gospel with total abandon.