Dear Cessationist, Open but Cautious, Continuationist, and Crazy Christian Leaders

4. Crazies

There are always some people who claim to be Christians but have things that they declare to be visions from God, words from God, or other forms of revelation such as angelic insight that cause them to sound like the teaching equivalent of a drunk driver. Crazies can function as false teachers denying the clear teachings of Scripture, or even tragically morph into cult leaders. Sadly, they can become so proud that they believe they have authority equal to God’s Word, or even exceeding God’s Word with new revelation that supersedes and adds to the Scriptures.

As you can probably guess, the cessationists are rightly concerned about the crazies. Unfortunately, sometimes the case is made as if there are only two categories in practice—you are either a cessationist or a crazy. The cessationists then start pulling out all the spooky verses in the Bible about false teachers, the increase of demonic deception in the last days, and apostasy, while naming other pastors and authors that they are beating like a piñata on Cinco de Mayo.

In response, the crazies start pulling out all the Bible verses commanding us to not grieve, quench, or resist the Holy Spirit while also obeying the Bible’s clear commands, “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:39) and “Do not treat prophecies with contempt” (1 Thess. 5:20, niv). Unfortunately, debates about the Holy Spirit can become a prison riot fairly quickly, complete with mattresses on fire.

One thing is sure when it comes to the ministry of the Holy Spirit: He wants us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). This command is perhaps more vital than ever. I have always been continuationist, but the seminary I attended is a mix of continuationist and open-but-cautious. The first church I worked at was cessationist, and most of the pastors I am walking with and learning from in this season of my life are continuationist Charismatics and Pentecostals.

In my experience, we are better together, and a lot of the time we are speaking about the same thing but using different words. For example, some will talk a lot about walking in your destiny, while others will talk a lot about God predestining—either way, the big idea is that God rules over our future and we need to walk in His will.

In the Christian faith, there are borders between cities and borders between nations. City-border issues include such things as spiritual gifts, mode of baptism, role of women in ministry, style of worship music, and age of the earth. National-border issues include such things as the Bible as God’s Word, the Trinity, the full humanity and divinity of Jesus, His death on the cross for our sins, and His resurrection from death as our Savior. If we agree on the national-border issues, we need to still see ourselves, like the twelve tribes of Israel, as one nation even if we are in differing theological tribes.