From the category archives:

Cessationism

Augustine Was Not A Cessationist

October 21, 2008

Lex Loizides tells us more in a post whose title provocatively states: “From cessationism to joy — how a healing increased Augustine’s understanding of God’s grace.”
Now somebody somewhere is possibly going to try to explain to me how healing doesn’t have to be a gift of the Holy Spirit, and that not all cessationists deny [...]

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Historical Evidence That The Gifts Didn’t Cease When The Apostles Died

September 29, 2008

This astonishing description by Iraneus of normal church life in the early centuries was cited on Lex Loizides’ blog.
‘So it is that in His name those who truly are His disciples, having received grace from Him, put it to effectual use for the benefit of their fellow-men, in proportion to the gift each one has [...]

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MLJ Monday – Why Discernment is Vital

September 8, 2008

As a believer living in the West, I’m constantly reminded of the need to exercise discernment, especially when it comes to matters such as claims of spiritual gifts and the activity of the Holy Spirit. I thought today I would go to one of my favorite works by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable.
Directly before this [...]

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VIDEO INTERVIEW – John Piper On New Word Alive and Spring Harvest

May 18, 2008

UPDATEThe written transcript of this video is now available and can be accessed here.
At the recent New Word Alive conference I was able to record a four-part interview with John Piper. John rarely gives interviews of any form, so it was a real privilege, and one that I hope you will enjoy.
Dr. Piper asked that [...]

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2nd Most Read Post – Blogging, Discernment, and a Book by Tim Challies

February 19, 2008

No. 2 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on October 26, 2007. This post was an expression of some of my own concerns and frustrations about the blogging world I have come to love so much. I said some things I had been wanting to say for a long time, and [...]

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Of Tone, Discernment, and the Charismatic Question

November 3, 2007

Phil Johnson has a second post answering my two-paragraph criticism of him. My schedule does not permit me to make a full reply as I am traveling on business. (All the posts you will see for the next few days were written before I left.) All I will say in reply, therefore, is this: [...]

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Blogging, Discernment, and a Book by Tim Challies

October 25, 2007

UPDATE—February 19, 2008In January 2008, the following post was identified as the 2nd all-time most popular post with readers of this blog. The 3rd most-read post was “The ESV: A Bible Translation for Everyone?“
This post was an expression of some of my own concerns and frustrations about the blogging world I have come to love [...]

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PIPER FRIDAY – Suffering and Healing

September 13, 2007

I’m back, but tired, and as usual, when I simply don’t have anything to say myself and it’s getting to the end of the week, I turn to one of the greatest living preachers—John Piper. Last Friday I quoted from his first talk in a series on suffering. Today I will quote from the second. [...]

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A Cessationist Healing?

April 30, 2007

This is a short excerpt from a quote on Challies Dot Com which Tim says is entirely consistent with a cessationist perspective. It sure doesn’t sound like the cessationism I love to caricaturise!
“. . . My friend knelt down in the middle of a circle of elders. We anointed him with oil, laid lands on [...]

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Shepherds Conference – My Response to the Cessationist Challenge

March 9, 2007

Over on the Pulpit blog, Nathan Busenitz — who has graciously commented over here — has asked us charismatics to add any further killer arguments to his list of the top 10 charismatic objections to cessationism. I am not sure if he will have time in his seminar itself to address those that I offer [...]

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Shepherds Conference III – C.J. Mahaney Asked to Preach by John MacArthur

March 9, 2007

Shepherds’ Conference III is a post with a set of notes which my buddy, Tim Challies, made of C.J. Mahaney’s gig as stand-in for John Piper. To play stand-in for someone like Piper has to have been slightly off-putting, even for a man like Mahaney! C.J. took the opportunity to talk about humility, and wisely [...]

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TRAVEL DIARY – A Bloggers’ Dinner

November 13, 2006

Well, I made it – at least as far as Toronto. I had an eager sense of anticipation as I got off the plane. As I met my now dear friend, Andrew Fountain, it was amazing to me to realize how true it is that being a Christian makes you part of one big family [...]

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BLOGDOM TODAY – Car-jacking, Missional Swim Trunks, and the Holy Spirit

October 30, 2006

This is a round-up of some of the posts that caught my eye from the last week or so:

First up, on items of clothing. It seems Martyn Lloyd-Jones may win a most peculiar contest over at Pyromaniacs – the things that lot get up to when I am not looking!

Talking of which, the [...]

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BLOGDOM TODAY – So What Did We Miss?

October 1, 2006

Well, I’ve just about caught my breath from the conference posts, but thought it might be an idea to just list a few things some of us might have missed whilst we have all been away. No pretty pictures in this post, I am sorry, but lots of lovely links to take up all the [...]

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