Problems with Pentecostalism in General, and A "Continuationist" View of Gifts In Particular

These comments reflect observations drawn from 35 years of being Christian, which included a short time as a Charismatic Christian.

1. The Pentecostal teaching of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is innately divisive. It splits the body of Christ into the Superiors and the Inferiors, and as a result promotes pride in the hearts of the people who imagine themselves the Superiors.

2. There is lots of room in the New Testament theology of divine healing for healing today, without there needing to be the specific gift of healing. Christ's prayer-promises give us hope for divine healings. The prayer-ministry of elders (James 5) give us hope for divine healings. God's sovereignty, especially in situations where the Gospel is breaking out into new territories, always gives us hope for divine healings. But healings as a sign of the divine origin of the Gospel, linked with the divine authority of the Apostles, isn't needed.

3. There's also plenty of room for the personal guidance of the Holy Spirit, without any need for the gift of prophecy. The spiritual gifts of teaching and exhortation continue, without the element of direct inspiration that makes prophecy what it is. There is simply too much lexical data to support the idea that prophetes is always an inerrant divine revelation, and not just a particularly amped-up form of exhortation. I still don't agree with Grudem on this, despite my appreciation of him in many other ways. The Spirit can providentially guide the preacher to touch on issues that are particularly vital to the moment at which they're given, without needing to call that "prophecy."

4. The gift of tongues was a sub-set of prophecy, according to Peter, who quoted Joel 2:28-30 to explain what was happening at Pentecost. So, if the gift of prophecy didn't continue, then neither did tongues, since the second is the "little sister" of the first.

5. There was no absolutely need left for the gift of prophecy once the Scripture was completed. We still have teachers. We still have exhorters. We still have people who speak knowledge (of the Word of God, not of who's being healed of a goiter in the back row), and who speak wisdom. The Bible is complete, so we have no more need for any more Bible.

This is why I'm open to testimonials of the miraculous, but cautious. My understanding of the NT theology on this subject makes me open to the God who is imminanent and answers prayer. But it also makes me cautious of the sea of false claims that so many Christians accept as true.