Cessationists will argue why would Paul leave Trophimus sick if there still was healing? That is so flawed I do not know where to start. First of all the apostolic age was not even over yet so according to their own doctrine healing was still around! Secondly, as Barnes Bible Notes surmises, the sentence was probably just letting Timothy know why Trophimus was not making the journey. You do not create doctrine from something so widely open to interpretation. Especially not crucial doctrine which seeks to change how the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate!
I think we can all agree that a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom is not so unbelievable. I have seen people distribute both correctly and reverently. A word of knowledge being when information is conveyed to someone through the Holy Spirit having to do with someone else. Information they could not have known otherwise. It is not used for anything other than to bring glory to God and increase faith. The same goes for wisdom. Now, I have heard and seen a word of wisdom being completely abused. Another part of the showy spirit in the church where everyone "has a word" for someone. Just because some people abuse it that does not mean we throw the gift away. For starters, I would not even listen to a "word of wisdom" from someone I did not trust in terms of their own walk with God. When Rehoboam asked for counsel to decide on Jeroboam's request he got a word of wisdom from Solomon's elders and a false word from his friends. Unfortunately he chose his friends and the Kingdom was forever split.
That brings us to discernment of spirits. Certainly we can agree that this is a much needed gift in the body today! With the explosion of false teaching discernment is needed even more. Yes we have the Bible but sometimes somebody can preach just fine. I remember one itinerant preacher came to my old church and gave a solid word only to be followed by a TBN offering. My spirit immediately rose up inside of me because I knew it was not of God. I remember once being at a church and during worship my spirit just stopped me right in the middle of a song. As I paid closer attention the heresies within the song were revealed to me. That is how I first heard of Jesus Culture. Quite frankly, there is as serious lack of discernment today in the body. Everyone wants to hold hands and skip down the broad path to destruction. Not only do I think this gift is clearly still in operation but I think it is desperately needed.
The interpretation of tongues belongs with our discussion on tongues so that only leaves miracles. Again, it is important to state that I am not suggesting that one man or woman POSSESSES the gift of miracles but rather that God could use someone if He so desired to perform miracles. Maybe we are so jaded that we do not realize it. I have seen pastors visit someone in the hospital and pray over them and the next day the condition is gone completely! Can we not agree that a miracle has occurred through the sovereignty of God? Doesn't that mean that the gift is still in operation? I understand the need to be watchful for charlatans and snake oil salesmen who would abuse the existence of these gifts in order to fleece the flock. But if the end result of a gift is accomplished through man, that brings all glory to God and no benefit to anyone else, what is the problem? We need to be cautious of any false teaching and certainly those that seek to use the Holy Spirit for personal gain. But in our disgust over the abuses and our zeal to preserve the integrity of our beliefs can we not discard the Holy Spirit entirely when we seek to drain the Charismatic dirty water our of our cisterns?
This is a true call for true unity. There is enough false in this world and the church to focus on. It is not strange fire that is the problem. It is not authentic fire that is the problem. The problem is we are looking at the same fire and insisting we see two different things while dismissing the other side as anathema. And it needs to stop.
Reverend Anthony Wade - January 25, 2014
