“For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He gives the Spirit without measure.” John 3:34 (HCSB)
We are given some very clear instructions about how to relate to the Holy Spirit. Though the Father and the Son actually want us to be completely saturated with the Holy Spirit, without limit, we put limits on Him and can push Him away! We are told not lie to, deceive or speak falsehood about the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3). We’re told not to test, try or tempt the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:9). We are told not to quench, stifle, suppress or restrain the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We are told not to grieve, make sorrowful or offend the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). And we are told not to blasphemy, speak evil, make accusation, or slander against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). Obviously, since we were told not to do these things, they are things we can do against the Holy Spirit.
The context where Jesus is talking about the severity of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is where He was being accused of operating in Satan’s power (Beelzebub). Jesus said that every other sin can be forgiven, but not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. When I was a new believer I was taught the cessationist view, that is, today the Holy Spirit no longer does what He did in the early days of the Church. So very sad!
The word cessation means a bringing or coming to an end. Cessationism is defined as the belief among many Christians that the works of the Holy Spirit ceased at some point in history. Many denominations still hold to it.
Cessationists say that many of the gifts and workings of the Holy Spirit, that we see today, such as (but limited to) prophecy and tongues, are actually of the devil! This is what John McArthur taught me. Sadly, as a young believer, he was my contemporary mentor, and I studied everything he wrote and spoke on. And boy, was (is) he wrong! No wonder he says that we, the Church lose! Go figure?! I thought we were called to overcome and prevail over the gates of hell. In this hour we need the Holy Spirit more than ever!!!
Please check into it. As I understand it, the primary source that really established the cessationist theology originated from the Scofield Bible, published in 1909. It had been smoldering from around 1830 by a teacher named John Nelson Darby. From the Scofield Reference Bible a doctrine called dispensationalism was taught, that led to a dangerous and faulty end times theology. It also led to the cessationist view of the Holy Spirit. An honest study on the author, Cyrus I Scofield, will raise some serious doubts about his credibility. And from what I understand, the Freemasons helped finance the publishing of this book. If that is true, why would they do that? Interestingly, my first Bible as a believer was the Scofield Study Bible, which one day while I was riding my Moped to the Baptist church where I was an intern at, somehow, it was mysteriously lost! Huh!
Think about it. If you were the enemy, wouldn’t you want the Church to be blind and powerless. Once that was gone, he went after the Word and now so much of the Church does not believe in the authority of the Word of God, nor the power of the Holy Spirit. No wonder the Church is so weak and powerless! Fortunately, not all churches that embrace the cessationist theology have thrown out the Bible, but many have! I literally have a pastor friend who said to me, “I am a cessationist who hopes he is wrong!” Huh?!
But the good news is, all that is changing! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of TRUTH. We need all that the Holy Spirit has and is, in this hour! We are on the cusp of the greatest revival the world has ever seen, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will shake everything that can be shook (Hebrews 12)!
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you any place where you have or are grieving Him, quenching Him, lying to Him, testing Him or blaspheming against Him! Repent if He reveals any of these to you! Renounce any cessation teachings that you have accepted. Ask Him to pour out on you everything He has for you, including His gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 27-31), His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), and His power (Acts 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:7)! Ask Him to release prophecy and wisdom (I Corinthians 14:1, Ephesians 1 :17). Ask Him to baptize you (Acts 1:5), fill you (Acts 2:2, 4:31, Ephesians 5:18), and lead you into truth (John 16:13). Thank Him for the amazing gift of the person of the Holy Spirit and all that He has for you in this hour (hint: it is without limit)!
