Previously

So far we’ve seen that the metaphor of witness (as per salt, light, image-bearer of God, and ambassador) can be applied across the whole breadth of the Bible, including the cultural commission, the great commission, the early church and everywhere in between.

We are to be witnesses not just to directly tell others about what Jesus’ death means for them, but also his life and resurrection.

This part answers the extent to which that witness can be pushed.

Finding coherence…

…through understanding our period in God’s history

Some Pentecostals say God always wants to heal 100% of problems, issues, diseases and so on. Some of the more extreme forms are known, often derogatorily, as “Kingdom now” theology, “Name it and claim it”, the “Health and Wealth” gospel and other names. There are also Wesleyan, Methodist, and Wesleyan Pentecostal groups who add “sinless perfection”, which is defined in practice as reachable place for all Christians where they do not knowingly sin. These are variations of a view that says we can reach perfection now.

For conservatives, it may be surprising to note it has both theological backing and real evidence today. There are many examples of Jesus and others healing everyone (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; Acts 5:12a, 16; Acts 10:38). However, this is destabilised and imbalanced by ignoring other situations where some or none did (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5; Acts 8:7, 16; 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10). Today, people do get healed and receive breakthrough. However, many don’t. One of the starkest evidences is the sheer number of Pentecostal preachers dying from sickness (and dying at all—hasn’t Jesus come to defeat death?), or resorting to doctors.

What makes best sense of this ‘sometimes, but not other times’ phenomena? Pentecostal Triumphalists turn towards the understanding that the fault is with us: our lack of faith, our sin, our imperfections and so on. Again, there is some Scriptural backing for this (Matthew 13:58—lack of faith; 16:4—no sign for a wicked generation). However, again, there’s another side. With Job, God allowed suffering as some kind of bet with the Devil; with Joseph, it was to develop the humility needed, and position, to be raised to a high place; with the Acts persecution, it was so the Gospel could be spread far and wide; with Paul’s thorn God wanted to keep Paul from becoming conceited (2 Corinthians 12). Conservative defeatists deal with this by dismissing even the ‘sometimes’ to argue for God’s inability or unwillingness to work amongst us today.

Both of these positions are inadequate.

With regard to perfection, what we have so far is:

Triumphalists: perfection is for now, and when it doesn’t come, the problem is with us.

Defeatists: perfection is for later, and when it doesn’t come, that’s because it’s not for now.

The perfection of the New Heavens is not for now

As Evangelical Charismatics, we draw a firm line in the sand to say that perfection, complete health, restoration and healing from God’s curse on the earth, freedom from death, complete freedom from sin and sin’s effects—all of this is only going to come after Jesus renews all things after his Second Coming. In that respect we affirm a typical Conservative stance in saying that Triumphalists have an ‘over-realised eschatology’ (they expect the end times too much).

How so? Let’s dive into Scripture.

Regarding the demonic, all examples in Scripture before the Second Coming are that of driving demons out, or driving them into other beings (like pigs), or about them coming back to people they’ve been driven out of (Matthew 12:43-45). It is only at Jesus’ return that they are sent to a place they cannot return in hellfire (Revelation 20:10). In this present age (not referring to a Dispensational age), then, we can drive them out, but we cannot stop them completely. They may return, they may enter other people, they may cause other mischief.

Regarding healing, we can learn much from the key times in Scripture that people are not healed. Whereas today a person may need to learn character through sickness (Paul’s thorn in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 12), in heaven, everyone will have perfect character. Whereas a person may need to be tested today (Job and those close to him), in heaven we’ve been through the final judgment and no longer need to be tested. Whereas God may be waiting to heal someone for the right moment to be glorified (such as the man healed after 40 years in Acts), in heaven there will be no more pain. Whereas there is a struggle with sin today (Hebrews 12), the only place this change is when we receive new bodies in the new age (Philippians 3:21).

Regarding speaking in tongues and prophesy, Paul himself tells us that there will come a time—not now—when they will cease (1 Corinthians 13:8-12). That time is “where there is knowledge” (13:8), for with all knowledge there is no need for prophesy, and the only such time is after Jesus’ Second Coming. It is “when completeness comes” (13:10), which is not now. It is when we “see face to face” (13:12)—walking with God in the new heavens.

All these changes tell of a time to come that is different from the one that we are now in. Perfection simply is not something that we can hope for right now.

The ceasing of God’s signs and wonders is not for now

However, we also reject a Cessationist (and Defeatist) ‘under-realised eschatology’: that the Kingdom has very little bearing on today and really cannot be seen in any capacity until the New Heavens and New Earth.

Peter explicitly preached that the gift of the Holy Spirit with accompanying signs and wonders was “for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” Acts 2:39). There is no indication that these would cease, except as we saw above when perfection comes. (Some might say that perfection is the complete Bible, but you have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to apparently see God face to face through the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:8-12!)

They were clearly for everyone, far beyond just the original apostles—the Gentiles received gifts (Acts 10), the Corinthians were taught to eagerly desire spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14), the deacons commissioned in Acts 6 were able to heal and cast out demons (e.g. Stephen, Acts 7 and Philip, Acts 8).

In fact, the main gripes Cessationists appear to have is either a defensiveness because immature Pentecostals tell them they can’t be effective witnesses without certain spiritual gifts, or an aggressive offensiveness because they selectively listen to the worst media portrayals of God’s gifts in action. The Scripture is there in abundance, and the arguments for cessationism are uncharacteristically weak (for conservatives).

I’d like to challenge Cessationists by saying that the only real thing that appears to have ceased is our ability to empathise with people who think differently, and pause for a few moments to consider and see what they see! I propose that this is mostly because of the way Christian media and bloggers have portrayed and magnified poor representations of the Spirit, in the way only true gossip and slander can. Commit today to redirecting our passionate attacks against the Devil and his ability to stir slander, notwithstanding the grain of truth within these reports we all hear. Also, positively, seek out a thinking charismatic like Dr. Michael Brown to see how it really works out in word and deed.

An expectation of the miraculous

The alternative is not a cessation of God’s acts now, far from it. We do bring some of the Kingdom now—Jesus didn’t ask us to pray for that for nothing (Matthew 6:10). We do see miracles of God’s provision and talk of “if it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill” (Philippians 4:19). We expect God to move in a person, just as he woos people to Himself, sanctifies them, convicts them of sin, changes their heart, teaches them through the Word and life experiences, and more. We expect that God will give good gifts (Matthew 7:7-11), including charismatic gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1), to his children, because we’re still his Body, others still need to see God be God, and we still need to fall in awe of a God who is way beyond our abilities.

Another key group that expects the miraculous is the Chinese underground church. They basically have to believe that God acts supernaturally, because they are treated so badly by the authorities. Yet reading through ‘The Heavenly Man’ and Brother Yun’s experiences, such as walking out of maximum security prison, is like reading Acts! It really happens today.

But we’re just not in an age where completeness, perfection, final judgment of demonic, final judgement of humanity, and other such things are a reality yet. As such, we do not expect political victory, or 100% health, wealth and prosperity, even though we see parts of it. That’s for the consummation of all things in the new heavens and earth.

With this understanding, we can now summarise the Evangelical Charismatic position as follows:

Triumphalists: perfection is for now, and when it doesn’t come, the problem is with us.

Defeatists: perfection is for later, and when it doesn’t come, that’s because it’s not for now.

Evangelical Charismatics: perfection is to be witnessed to today, but will never be fully realised until the renewal of all things at Jesus’ Second Coming.

Next

This whole area is not something new. Many Christians over the centuries have lived in many different political environments, some hostile and some not. Their responses have left us with a rich history to learn from and to help us see how it all looks like in real life.

Part 5 deals with a cultural lens, and Richard Niebuhr's popular 'Christ and Culture' typology.

Part 6 deals with a political lens, and examines an anti-Christian, post-Christian and Christian political environment.