God wants to unleash the life-changing, bondage-breaking power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Pastor Chas Carrin points out what the Apostle Paul had to say about this and encourages every Jesus follower to pursue spiritual gifts.

The Apostle Paul encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road and was born again; three days later in the Damascus Room through the laying-on-of-hands by Ananias he encountered the Holy Spirit and received the Spirit’s baptism. Later, this same man wrote an 84 verse treatise on spiritual gifts: First Corinthians 12,13,14. His Biblical explanation provides the most comprehensive, authoritative information we have on the subject. More importantly, it is the only resource bearing the seal of Divine Authorship. All conflicting opinions, no matter how cherished or long-established, are but human speculation and must be discarded. Scripture is our final, absolute authority.

The Apostle begins his dissertation with the plea: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant” (12:1). Interestingly, this appeal that we “not be ignorant” appears seven times in the New Testament concerning different topics. Once, it is by Peter and six times by Paul. Each time, the request reveals an especially deep concern of the writer. Its’ appearance here should command the attention of every conscientious believer. The Apostle then proceeds carefully to detail the operation of nine grace-works of the Spirit. These are the direct result of the Spirit’s baptism. Having defended the need and purpose of the gifts, Paul then concludes his discourse with the stirring rebuke, “But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant!” (14:38). In other words, he says, “After this careful explanation of spiritual gifts, if anyone refuses to learn, I have nothing more to say to him. Let him remain illiterate!” Paul seemingly anticipated that some believers would reject his teaching on miraculous works of the Spirit and added this harsh warning:

“If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37).

1. “Earnestly desire spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31).
2. “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (14:1).
3. “Since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel” (14:12).

These admonitions do not indicate the reluctance that typifies the modern church’s attitude against spiritual gifts. There was no such lukewarmness on the part of Paul or the Corinthians. Identically, believers today are encouraged to exercise the gifts for the benefit of everyone: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all; for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills … But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 12:1;4-11;38).

A guest article from Christian ministry veteran, Charles Carrin.
 
Trust is not something that comes on its own. Where does it come from, how does it work, what does trust in God accomplish?

O for a faith that will not shrink, Tho’ pressed by every foe;

That will not tremble on the brink Of any earthly woe.

That will not murmur nor complain, Beneath the chastening rod;

But in the hour of grief or pain Will lean upon its God.

A faith that shines more bright and clear When tempests rage without,

That when in danger knows no fear, In darkness feels no doubt.

Lord, give us each such faith as this, And then what’er may come,

We’ll taste, e’en here, the hallowed bliss Of our eternal home!

— William H. Bathurst, 1831

Image: Jordan McQueen

Faith is not native to our planet but is projected into our cosmos from the Great-Other-Realm. Therefore, the faith at work in you is not at an attitude or mental effort on your part. Nor is it merely your religious concept or ideology. Faith is a trans-earthly power. As gravity, centrifugal force, thermodynamics, etc., are powers native to our cosmos, so faith is native to the other realm and is only a visitor in our’s. Faith came to you because of your “hearing the word of God”, Romans 10:17, and God then having dealt to you “a measure of faith”, Romans 12:3. Scripture makes it very plain that faith is a gift to you.

The Dictionary definition of faith is vastly insufficient. It identifies faith solely as religious persuasion, moral conviction, conscientious sentiment, credence, etc., but offers no comment about faith being a spiritual force. Wherever this concept has been accepted it has stripped Christianity of its inherent power. For that reason, much of what we call “faith” is nothing more than religious presumption and a poor imitation of the genuine. It is a deceptive counterfeit, rising from man’s soul—not his spirit—and remains powerless because it has no vital connection with the upper-domain of the Kingdom of God.

Nowhere is the distinction between religion and true spirituality more graphically displayed than in the difference between true faith and its artificial counterpart. Unfortunately, it is possible for believers to be seduced by a subtle imitation of faith. That seduction is supposition. Instead of hearing “what the Spirit is saying”, Revelation 3:13, people are directed by the deceptive appearance of circumstances. Supposition caused Paul’s shipwreck, Acts 27:13, Mary and Joseph’s three anxious days searching for the child Jesus in Jerusalem, Luke 23:44,45, and has brought frustration to millions of other conscientious believers. Churches are tragically caught in its trap.

Because of that, I wish to “coin” a Greek word, peiro, into an English application and join it with the word “faith”. Peiro means “to pierce through” and originates from the word peran meaning “other side”, “beyond”, “farther”, “over”, “across”. In Greek, the word for faith is pistis. The combination of the two words allows us to visualize faith’s purpose in penetrating our physical realm. This penetration is absolutely necessary if there is to be miraculous healing, spiritual gifting, deliverances, out-of-body transports, etc.

“Peiros-Faith” is a force that comes to our dimension from the other realm, passes through cooperative believers here, then, like an X-ray, penetrates and effects change in the circumstance it touches. Admittedly, the subject is beyond my explanation-but it is not beyond our exploration. I simply want to explore “faith” in its potential to interact both with our physical dimension of time and space while it maintains a complete, uninterrupted union with the Eternal Dimension where it originates. In other words, faith is a symphonizing of these separate dimensions. It is a force. A power.

Faith is a weapon in the hands of those who are vibrant and alive. Love, like gravity, is the force which grasps, bonds, holds to itself. Faith, working through love, penetrates, illuminates, radiates. Like sunlight restoring life to a plant kept too long in the dark, faith has the radiating power to change the spiritual environment around it and bring life.

Introduction

Twentieth century Pentecostalism reawakened the world to miracles. The growth of this movement activated individuals in established religion to wrestle with a major player on the world scene of Christianity. Even so, as Pentecostalism expands, the cessationist view resuscitates a theological position that corresponds with the European intellectual development of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries named the Enlightenment. The proponents of cessationism believe that their cause is true and just. As a consequence of the strict emphasis on Enlightenment presuppositions in theology, their belief system allows no place for the miraculous in Christian living. The thesis of this paper argues for the clear biblical authority and support for miracles in contrast to the problem of the unbiblical history of cessationism. The topic is divided into five sections. First, a presentation of the problem of cessationism and the purpose of this study is submitted. Second, specific historical figures from church history represent the foundation for cessationism. Third, historical antecedents supporting miraculous experiences are surveyed. Fourth, a theological and biblical critique of cessationism is examined. Fifth, concluding thoughts and reflections on the unbiblical basis for cessationism is contested by the biblical revelation of the miraculous in Christianity.

The problem and study

The purpose of this paper exegetes the faulty presuppositions underlying cessationist opinion. This study examines the historical ethos behind cessationism and buttresses the biblical belief in the miraculous with Holy Scripture. In fact, the modern day cessationist view is not grounded in Scripture but rather in the principles of the Enlightenment, which support the secular American culture. An honest evaluation of cessationism would cause many conservative fundamentalists to reconsider the underpinnings of their belief system.

Notable persons from church history supporting cessationism

Specific historical antecedents for the unbiblical belief in cessationism are copious. Numerous Christians holding a cessationist theology have contributed to this investigation. This section discusses the remarks of five particular people: John Chrysostom, Augustine, John Calvin, B.B. Warfield and John MacArthur. Their outspoken influence creates a thread of unbelief and skepticism enduring two millennia of Christianity.

Introduction

I am personally fully persuaded that the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements have been raised up by God in manifestation of the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit through the Lord Jesus Christ. However, I have noticed two reflex reactions that often occur when the subject of miracles is raised. Either a defensive stance or a polemical mode is soon evident. A defensive stance can appear when someone who affirms the reality of miracles in the Bible and in the daily life of faith is confronted by someone who challenges that very possibility. A polemical mode can appear when someone who challenges what appears to be an incredulous acceptance of so-called inexplicable events is confronted with someone who believes that miracles do happen. As much as possible, I mean to avoid such negative and non-productive reactionary modes by developing an understanding that is non-defensive and non-polemical. In a word, it will be positive—and therefore, hopefully, constructive and productive.

Supernatural Worldview

Next, Pentecostals believe the realities of the cosmos exceed what can be quantifiably measured by man. There is more to life than can be studied in a laboratory. Without discounting the importance of scientific processes, indeed, with all due appreciation and respect for its appropriate use, Pentecostals are not at all ready or willing to limit all life entirely to that narrow account. To do so is the height of human arrogance. Pentecostals, therefore, embrace a cosmology recognizing the existence and activity of spiritual beings or entities in relationship with the so-called natural or sensory perceived world of being. Again, this cosmology (and ontology) is also rooted in the nature of “the God of the spirits of all flesh” (Numbers 16:22; 27:16; cp. Hebrews 12:9). Indeed, Christian anthropology requires recognition of the essentially spiritual nature of human identity and existence (1 Corinthians 14:32; Hebrews 12:23). Consistent with this affirmation of the holistic nature of all existence, Pentecostals not surprisingly expect there to be miraculous moments when the thin veil between Heaven and Earth is opened up and interactive encounters occur in myriad forms that may include otherwise inexplicable events as well as experiences of dreams, visions, and other divine communications and revelations (e.g. Genesis 22:11, 15; 28:12; Acts 2:2; 7:55-56; 9:3; Revelation 4:1-2).

Certainly, these intuitively insightful ways of being and knowing can fly in the face of reductionist systems prone to deny any but rationalistic and naturalistic versions of reality. However, Pentecostal spirituality and theology do not contradict logic or reason so much as they transcend them, rising above their aridity and rigidity to affirm and embrace a larger, more expansive and inclusive, vision of the nature of reality. It is not reason or scientific knowledge per se which is problematic but their misuse in the exclusion of the supernatural out of infatuation for the natural. We need not denigrate human logic or reason, much less the natural created order; but, we must not deify them either. At the risk of sounding harsh, I sometimes wonder if the outlandish fetish-like fascination of modern society with the material world order might be nothing other than a sophisticated violation of the Decalogue’s prohibition against idolizing the creaturely (Exodus 20:4). In any case, it appears evident that Pentecostalism’s belief in the supernatural is an inseparable part of its overall theological make up; it simply cannot be jettisoned without violating its own innermost ethos. And yet in their affirmation of the miraculous Pentecostal Christians are notoriously out of step with most of the modern world. Or are they?

In this five part series, Richard M. Riss presents evidence for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit throughout the Church Age.

Part 1 (Fall 1998): From the Early Church to the 3rd Century
Part 1 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 2 (Winter 1999): 3rd to the 5th Centuries
Part 2 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 3 (Spring 1999): From the 5th to the 13th Centuries
Part 3 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 4 (Summer 1999): From the 13th to the 18th Centuries

Part 4 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 5 (Fall 1999): The 18th and 19th Centuries
Part 5 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Jerry Tousdale is the Director of International Ministries for CityTeam International. He has also served as a church planter in the Muslim world. This volume is sure to be a source of great encouragement to those who seek to bring others to Jesus, particularly if the “others” are Muslims. While Muslims might be difficult to reach, this book shows that they are reachable. In fact, they are coming to Jesus in large numbers in some parts of the world. This book is an interesting combination of information, strategy, and testimony.

In this book the author not only tells us that a great many Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus but he also shares some of the significant factors that are helping to make this happen. Prayer is, of course, essential because evangelism is a spiritual battle as light seeks to invade darkness. One thing that the Lord is using to reach Muslims is Discovery Bible Studies. In order to set up one of these Bible studies a Christian worker goes into a Muslim area and looks for a “person of peace.” This individual is one who is open to the gospel. Once this person is located he or she is encouraged to gather their family and friends for a Bible study. In this way the ministry is not directed to an individual but to a group of people. What is interesting about the Discovery Bible Studies is that they are not primarily evangelistic in emphasis. They do not seek to make converts; instead, they seek to make disciples. This may sound backward to those of us who live in the West, but it is in fact very biblical (Matthew 28:19-20). The Bible study is designed to expose the people to God’s Word and then to ask them how they should respond to what they have read. The book lists a number of texts and topics that are good for these studies. The topics include: creation, the fall, and redemption. The studies are geared toward moving the hearers toward obedience to the biblical text. As amazing as this may sound, this approach actually works.

The author also mentions some other things that contribute to the success of the gospel among Muslims. I will mention two of them here. The first is a sense of frustration or disillusionment with Islam among Muslims who are spiritually hungry. The other is dreams and visions. The Lord is giving dreams and visions to many Muslims in our day. These supernatural encounters are having a profound impact on them, in many cases bringing them to faith in Jesus.

This book is easy to read and contains encouraging reports of what the Lord is doing around the world today. I think that the Discovery Bible Study method is one that we in the West should take a closer look at and consider using here. It may prove very beneficial in moving us on from gathering converts to making disciples who produce other disciples, which is what Jesus called us to do.

Reviewed by John P. Lathrop

The Power of the Cross: The Biblical Place of Healing and Gift-Based Ministry in Proclaiming the Gospel

Many stories in Christian history are filled with accounts of charismatic gifts, miracles, signs and wonders.

The emergence of the Pentecostal, the neoPentecostal or charismatic, and third wave movements in our century has raised a variety of vital questions that demand answers. Among these is the issue of whether the spiritual gifts enumerated by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 remained active in the Church after the first century. Equally crucial is the question of whether these gifts, if still active, were vitally related to the proclamation of the gospel in the Church during the formative centuries.

Protestant Cessationism

From the Reformation era onwards, leading Protestant theologians have popularized the view that the work of the Holy Spirit in evangelism after the apostolic age was limited to dynamic proclamation of the Word of God, rather than the exercise of spiritual gifts. This was the position of Martin Luther, who openly rejected the schwärmer or enthusiasts of his day—who claimed gifts of prophecy and gave higher credence to the “inner voice” of the Spirit than to the “external word” or Scriptures.¹

Voices of cessationism still are with us, and presently are aimed at the healing and gift-based ministries of Pentecostals, charismatics, and third wave churches. Cessationists argue that miracles had little to do with the gospel or were incidental to the proclamation of the gospel in the New Testament. Further, they insist that gifts of healing as well as the other charismata ceased at or near the end of the first century A.D. For example, the claim has been made that “the Church Fathers, who came almost entirely from the East, believed that the apostolic gifts had ceased.”² Such a claim is simply not true, as the evidence presented below shows.

The Power of the Cross: The Biblical Place of Healing and Gift-Based Ministry in Proclaiming the Gospel

How the New Testament describes the supernatural can tell us a great deal about how we should see the miraculous.

Continued from Part 1 appearing in the Winter 2007 issue

III. Signs, Wonders, and Miracles Are Intended to Encourage Belief and Deepen Faith in Christ

It is true that “signs do not in themselves create faith in the hearts of observers and can even harden hearts,”⁴¹ as in the case of the Pharisees. F. F. Bruce noted this as well:

What about the signs he [Jesus] actually performed? Why were they not sufficient to convince his questioners? … If the restoration of bodily and mental health could be dismissed as a work of Satan, no number of healing acts would have established the divine authority by which they were performed…While the healing miracles did serve as signs of the kingdom of God to those who had eyes to see, they did not compel belief in those who were prejudiced in the opposite direction.⁴²

But Scripture also shows that one function of signs, wonders, and miracles in the ministry of Jesus and the Early Church was to awaken and encourage faith in the gospel being preached. Why else would the Early Church have prayed prayers like the following, asking God for signs and wonders of healing to accompany its evangelism?

Acts 4:29-30—“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” God obviously granted such requests in the Early Church (e.g., Acts 5:12-16; 6:8; 8:4-8, 12-13, 26-39; 9:17-18, 32-42; etc.).

Jesus more than once challenged his listeners to believe His word on the basis of His miraculous works:

John 10:37-38—“Do not believe me unless I do the miraculous works (ta erga⁴³) of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the miraculous works (tois ergois), that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 14:11—“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miraculous works themselves (dia ta erga auta).”

Mark 2:10—“‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…’ He said to the paralytic, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’” In his Gospel, John calls all of Jesus’ works of miraculous healing “signs” (sēmeia; Jn. 4:54; 6:2; 9:16: 12:17-18)—e.g., Jn. 6:2, “They saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.”⁴⁴ The miraculous healings of Jesus are also called “works” (erga) in John’s Gospel.⁴⁵ Jesus provided abundant “signs” of miraculous healing to those who were open and seeking God, as every one of the Gospel accounts show. John then said of the signs, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn. 20:31).

In His condemnation of Korazin and Bethsaida’s lack of repentance and faith, Jesus indicates that His miraculous works were intended to produce repentance and faith in Him (Mat. 11:21; and Lk. 10:13):

Matthew 11:21—“Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” Paul expected to proclaim the gospel “in the power of signs and wonders through the power of the Spirit” (Rom. 15:18-19; I Cor. 1:6-7; 2:4-5; II Cor. 12:12; I Thes. 1:5), and he expected God to continue to distribute spiritual gifts and work miracles among the churches to confirm the gospel and build up and encourage the church (Rom. 12:6-8; I Cor. 1:7; 12:1-14:40; Gal. 3:5; Eph. 4:7-13; I Thes. 5:19-22; I Tim. 4:14; II Tim. 1:6-7). Paul says that the gift of prophecy is a sign “for believers” (I Cor. 14:22).⁴⁶ As a sign it encourages and builds up the church in its faith (I Cor. 14:1-5). Through it God gives supernatural insight into the secrets of people’s hearts (“the secrets of his heart will be laid bare” I Cor. 14:25),⁴⁷ and thus it demonstrates that “God is really among you!” (I Cor. 14:24-25).

The Power of the Cross: The Biblical Place of Healing and Gift-Based Ministry in Proclaiming the Gospel

How the New Testament describes the supernatural can tell us a great deal about how we should see the miraculous.

The year is 1906. A young sixteen year old girl named Henrietta Mears, living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has just had a painful accident. She somehow “jabbed a hat pin into the pupil of an eye. Her doctors could do nothing for the condition and predicted possible blindness for her.”¹ Henrietta’s family, which attends the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, asks a close friend named Mr. Ingersoll, an elder in a local Presbyterian church, to come pray for Henrietta’s eye in accordance with James 5:14-16. In response to their prayers, God graciously heals Henrietta’s vision:

Henrietta had no doubt that the God who had made her could also heal her eye. Specialists who later examined the eye agreed there was indeed a hole in the pupil and shook their heads in amazement that she could see anything out of it. That she was, in fact, seeing could not be explained except that God had stretched forth His hand and healed her eye—even though the hole remained. Henrietta learned from this experience and from her mother to accept all Scripture at face value. For God to touch her body simply meant taking Him at His word.²

Henrietta Mears went on to be used greatly by God as Director of Christian Education and College Teacher at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, Hollywood, California. She founded Gospel Light Publications and Forest Home Christian Conference Center in the San Bernardino mountains of southern California. She influenced the ministries and lives of such great evangelical leaders as Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ, and Billy Graham, who called her “one of the greatest Christians I have ever known.”³ Towards the end of her life Henrietta sought all the gifts of the Spirit for her life and Christian work: “I have enjoyed spiritual gifts, … I have had the Spirit’s presence. But now I want every thing that He has for me. I want all the gifts.”⁴

When he was four years old, my own son underwent two painful and traumatic surgeries in the spring of 1991 to correct a congenital defect which he had at birth. That summer the condition had not healed as expected and the specialist who had performed the first two surgeries predicted my son would need a third surgery in the early fall. After persistent prayer by my wife and me and the elders of our church, God touched and healed our son of the condition. The specialist told us that my son’s condition had reversed itself and that this was “highly unusual” in cases like my son’s. My son never had a third surgery and continues to this day without any further need of medical attention for his former condition.

On many occasions my wife and I have also seen God give supernatural insight in prayer to accomplish His purposes. In late February, 1992, my wife was praying with a woman named Carolyn at a monthly church meeting. Carolyn did not know me or my wife well. She knew nothing of our personal lives at the time nor that we had a four year old son and a one and a half year old daughter. Carolyn also did not know that my wife was concerned that she was not spending enough quality time with our son, who at that time had a language-processing deficiency. My wife did not know that Carolyn had been unemployed for six months and had finally gotten a job that very day.

Neither my wife nor Carolyn shared these personal details with each other before they prayed together. As they prayed and asked the Lord to guide their time of prayer, Carolyn saw a picture of a backyard with two children, a boy and a girl, playing on a swing-set and in a wooden-sided sandbox (the only two items which our backyard has). Carolyn sensed God saying that “everything is alright with the children because God is watching over them.” At the same time, my wife saw a picture of the beach and the ocean which she did not understand. It just so happened that Carolyn had had the job interview that day at a Ventura beach. Carolyn shared that God had provided her with a job that day “at the beach.” My wife and Carolyn thanked the Lord for this encouraging witness of His provision and protection in both their lives (Mat. 6:8; Phil. 4:5b-7).

In late September, 1992, I took a cab from the Los Angeles International airport to nearby Santa Monica and was praying for the cab driver, a middle-aged man, and for an opportunity to share Christ with him. Three thoughts flashed through my mind as I prayed: that he was Russian, that he was Jewish, and that he had a daughter whom he dearly loved (I saw a picture in my mind of a young five year old girl with him). The first fact I could have inferred from his name, Boris. The last two facts I could not have known naturally (his last name was not typically Jewish but Russian). I shared these insights with him and found out they were all true—he was Jewish and had only one child, a daughter about five years old whom he loved very much. Then I told him about Jesus, who revealed those insights, who knew every detail of his life, and who, as Israel’s Messiah, loved him enough to die for his sins. Though he did not receive Christ as Savior at that moment, he was grateful for what I said and for my prayer for him and his family. And I was grateful that the Lord demonstrated His presence and His love for this man in a way I could not have done by myself.

Part 1 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 2 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 3 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Part 4 of Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts

Richard M. Riss presents evidence for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit throughout the Church Age.

The Moravians

The gift of tongues is sometimes associated with the Moravian Brethren, a remnant of the Bohemian brethren (followers of John Huss) who became newly organized after finding refuge on the estate of Count von Zinzendorf (AD 1700-1760) in Saxony in 1722, in a Christian community which they called Herrnhut. In 1727, Zinzendorf retired from government service to devote himself to leadership of this community. In August of that year, there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Herrnhut. A Moravian historian wrote as follows:

Church history also abounds in records of special outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and verily the thirteenth of August, 1727 was a day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We saw the hand of God and His wonders, and we were all under the cloud of our fathers baptized with their Spirit. The Holy Ghost came upon us and in those days great signs and wonders took place in our midst. From that time scarcely a day passed but what we beheld His almighty workings amongst us.¹¹³

Herrnhut, 1765, in what is today eastern Saxony, Germany.

This account of the Moravian revival is not specific with respect to the signs and wonders that took place in their midst. Although the gift of tongues was not endorsed by the leaders of the Moravians, their opponents believed that they spoke in tongues.¹¹⁴

John Wesley

The Moravians were a direct influence upon John Wesley (AD 1703-1791), the father of Methodism, whose conversion in 1738 took place shortly after long talks with Peter Boehler, one of the Moravian brethren. Wesley’s response to a book published in 1748 clearly indicates his position with respect to operation of the gifts of the Spirit in his own day. Dr. Conyers Middleton, fellow of Trinity College, had written a book entitled A Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers, which are supposed to have subsisted in the Christian Church. Wesley spent twenty days, from January 4 until January 24 of 1749, writing a letter to Conyers Middleton refuting his thesis that there had been no miracles in the history of the church after the Bible had been written. With respect to the gift of tongues, Wesley wrote as follows:

Section VI.1. The eighth and last of the miraculous gift you enumerated was the gift of tongues. And this, it is sure, was claimed by the primitive Christians; for Irenaeus says expressly, ‘We hear many in the church speaking with all kinds of tongues.’ ‘And yet,’ you say, ‘this was granted only on certain special occasions, and then withdrawn again from the Apostles themselves; so that in the ordinary course of their ministry they were generally destitute of it. This,’ you say, ‘I have shown elsewhere’ (page 119). I presume in some treatise which I have not seen. 2. But Irenaeus, who declares that ‘many had this gift in his days, yet owns he had it not himself.’ This is only a proof that the case was then the same as when St. Paul observed long before, ‘Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?’ (I Cor. xii.29-30). No, not even when those gifts were shed abroad in the most abundant manner. 3. ‘But no other Father has made the least claim to it.’ (page 120). Perhaps none of those whose writings are now extant—at least, not in those writings which are extant. But, what are these in comparison of those which are lost? And how many were burning and shining lights within three hundred years after Christ who wrote no account of themselves at all—at least, none which has come to our hands?¹¹⁵

Wesley’s defense of the existence of tongues in history continues at considerable length, ending with the observation that the gift of tongues had been heard of within fifty years of their time, among the French Prophets. He wrote:

Since the Reformation, you say, ‘this gift has never once been heard of or pretended to by the Romanists themselves’ (page 122). But has it been pretended to (whether justly or not) by no others, though not by the Romanists? Has it ‘never once been heard of’ since that time? Sir, your memory fails you again: it has undoubtedly been pretended to, and that at no great distance from our time or country. It has been heard of more than once no further off than the valleys of Dauphiny. Nor is it yet fifty years ago since the Protestant inhabitants of those valleys so loudly pretended to this and other miraculous powers to give much disturbance to Paris itself. And how did the King of France confute that pretence can prevent its being heard anymore? Not by the pen of his scholars, but by (a truly heathen way), the swords and bayonets of his dragoons.¹¹⁶

Wesley was undoubtedly aware of the presence and validity of the gift of tongues in his day, for Thomas Walsh, one of Wesley’s foremost preachers, wrote in his diary on March 8, 1750, “This morning the Lord gave me language that I knew not of, raising my soul to Him in a wonderful manner.”¹¹⁷