Questian ??

[millerrod]

What is the beliefs of the fundemental churches conserning the gifts of prophecy and healing??

[MatthewDiscipleofGod]

What is the beliefs of the fundemental churches conserning the gifts of prophecy and healing??

Many deny that people still get the gift of healing or speaking in tongues which most of us would say is speaking in other human languages. I don't know the verse off the top of my head but there is a verse that talks about gifts ceasing. As for healing many believe God still can and does heal. Assemblies of God churches would believe it happens much more often generally speaking.

[oliveplants]

I guess it depends on what you would call a "fundamental church." DH and I believe that prophecies are to be sought (1 Cor 12, I think), but that any "Word from the Lord" ought to be subject to the written Word. "Test the spirits..." I (we) also understand that prophecy can be as broad in meaning as simply "talking about the Lord." (That's why I wear a headcovering all day - who knows when I may need to prophecy.)

Healing is a gift, not a right. James tells us to call for the elders, anoint with oil, and the prayer of faith will save the sick. SO we do that, but we don't demand healing as some churches seem to do. Sometimes people are really healed by a miracle of GOd; sometimes they are healed in other ways; sometimes not until the final healing of death. This is because of God's will, not because of any personal sin or shortcoming.
Again, our take on the matter; don't mean to sound authoritative.

[desmalia]

I guess it depends on what you would call a "fundamental church." DH and I believe that prophecies are to be sought (1 Cor 12, I think), but that any "Word from the Lord" ought to be subject to the written Word. "Test the spirits..." I (we) also understand that prophecy can be as broad in meaning as simply "talking about the Lord." (That's why I wear a headcovering all day - who knows when I may need to prophecy.)

Healing is a gift, not a right. James tells us to call for the elders, anoint with oil, and the prayer of faith will save the sick. SO we do that, but we don't demand healing as some churches seem to do. Sometimes people are really healed by a miracle of GOd; sometimes they are healed in other ways; sometimes not until the final healing of death. This is because of God's will, not because of any personal sin or shortcoming.
Again, our take on the matter; don't mean to sound authoritative.

I agree with this. :thumbsup:

I am also happy to share my personal opinion on the matter, which in fact I am still forming through research and prayer.

In my experience one of the major differences between the fundamentalist churches and the charismatic churches is this (and please note this is a broad generalization, not true in every instance):

Fundamentalists tend to source the Bible as a reference to undertsand life and everything we encounter, including manifestations of spiritual gifts.

Charismatics tend to source their spiritual gifts to understand life and everything they encounter, including the Bible.

I very much believe in prophesy and gifts such as tongues and healing. God is mighty and powerful, and our present physical world is very tiny compared to the spiritual realm. But I also believe that those gifts are often abused and misused in the church today, just as they were by the Corinthians. So I am very careful to weigh any gift manifestation I see against Scripture before I will accept that it is actually from God.

That is just my take thus far in my journey.

[cubanito]

I am not a charismatic and decline to frequent such gatherings (though I prefer not to deride them). Much of what they do seems to me clearly unscriptural (speaking in toungues without an interpreter, for example).

Yet I have spoken in toungues privately.

I do not live my life chasing one prophesy after another, nor do I examine my dreams or those of others with great care.

Yet I have seen a vision, spoken details that have come to pass, and have even told my wife of a dream she had before she could tell me, having seen it in detail down to the colors and of it's meaning. And then sometimes things just come out of my mouth from Somewhere I can't fathom, and I get very nervous.

I am not given to the laying on of hands for healing, have never sought it nor performed it.

Yet I after informing a patient that she had a tumor in the CAT scan, she told me not to worry, that though she would die soon, quickly, butit would not be from this. This tumor would disapear. After admiting her for a biopsy, I was called by the interventional radiologist. Somehow the tumor had disapeared, there was nothing to biopsy. So maybe it was some sort of benign inflammation, yet this lady died within the year, quicly, from a completely unrelated event.


I am not even one much for petitionary prayer, which I say to my shame. Usually only asking God when in utter desperation.

Yet I remember the night I begged God to solve my problem: parents who forbade me from reading the Bible, or gathering with Christian friends. I remember the great peace when suddenly I KNEW God promised me deliverance immediately.

And how my agnostic dad woke up to find his toes paralysed about 6 hours later. How such a paralysis ascended daily up his body when no one could find a cause, until he could barely breathe and chose to die at home so as not to burden us with debt (no insurance, little money). How in fact I laughed and smiled because I knew this would end well, much to his consternation.

How this man did not die, but rather was walking within a week with no treatment, and today has no neurological deficit whatsoever, but rather, from the experience turned from his agnosticism to Christ, solving my dilemma re obeying my parents vs following God.

No I am not a charismatic. I prefer to govern my life by what I read and understand in Scripture (that is, to the extent I am not involved in one or another sinful pursuit).

I just can't quite come to deny that God can do WHATEVER He wants, WHENEVER He wants, even if it dosen't quite fit into my neat little box.

God is God, so easy for me to forget that.

JR

[jlujan69]

What is the beliefs of the fundemental churches conserning the gifts of prophecy and healing??

What's odd about your question, and I know that both sides imply the same distinction, is that fundamentalism doesn't actually require you to be a cessationist to be one of them. Many do believe that certain gifts ceased with the close of the Apostolic age, but you can disagree with that and still be a fundy. In fact, if you look at the distinctives of Pentecostalism and the charismatic churches, none would necessary preclude them from being included under the fundamentalist umbrella. Yet, all that being said, Pentecostals early on were derided by Fundamentalists for their beliefs, and I've no doubt that caused reciprocation on the part of Pentecostals. The result was acrimonious exchanges from both sides. I guess until Fundamentalists get together and decide to expand the "fundamentals" to include cessationism, OSAS, and even pre-Trib/pre-Mil eschatological doctrine, Pentecostals and charismatics will be seen at best as the odd ball "step relatives" sort of within and sort of outside of the fundamentalist community, and at worst, demon possessed a la G. Campbell Morgan's proclamation from Mt. Sinai that Pentecostalism was "Satan's latest vomit".

[desmalia]

What's odd about your question, and I know that both sides imply the same distinction, is that fundamentalism doesn't actually require you to be a cessationist to be one of them. Many do believe that certain gifts ceased with the close of the Apostolic age, but you can disagree with that and still be a fundy. In fact, if you look at the distinctives of Pentecostalism and the charismatic churches, none would necessary preclude them from being included under the fundamentalist umbrella. Yet, all that being said, Pentecostals early on were derided by Fundamentalists for their beliefs, and I've no doubt that caused reciprocation on the part of Pentecostals. The result was acrimonious exchanges from both sides. I guess until Fundamentalists get together and decide to expand the "fundamentals" to include cessationism, OSAS, and even pre-Trib/pre-Mil eschatological doctrine, Pentecostals and charismatics will be seen at best as the odd ball "step relatives" sort of within and sort of outside of the fundamentalist community, and at worst, demon possessed a la G. Campbell Morgan's proclamation from Mt. Sinai that Pentecostalism was "Satan's latest vomit".
Some very interesting points here. I agree that to be a fundamentalist, you not need to be a cessationist, though some are. Unfortunately, that is a sore spot that has deeply divided believers over the past number of decades. On the flip side, there are many charismatics who condemn fundies who do not experience the charismatic gifts. So on both sides there can be a great deal of judgement and very little love, understanding, or desire to share the truth with any sort of grace. If we could strive to remember that we are all God's children, seek and share the truth in love, perhaps someday we could shrink the growing chasm between the two.

I don't believe it's the actual issue of charismatic vs. cessationalist that is the root problem. It's the lack of maturity and grace that comes from spiritual growth that causes such division. We live in a world where it is too easy to sit back and remain "baby Christians" instead of growing in Him. In times of persecution, the church becomes a strong, united group of dynamic believers because the minor issues are understood as such. During the "easy times" we tend to become lazy and easily distracted by worldly things.

[jlujan69]

Some very interesting points here. I agree that to be a fundamentalist, you not need to be a cessationist, though some are. Unfortunately, that is a sore spot that has deeply divided believers over the past number of decades. On the flip side, there are many charismatics who condemn fundies who do not experience the charismatic gifts. So on both sides there can be a great deal of judgement and very little love, understanding, or desire to share the truth with any sort of grace. If we could strive to remember that we are all God's children, seek and share the truth in love, perhaps someday we could shrink the growing chasm between the two.

I don't believe it's the actual issue of charismatic vs. cessationalist that is the root problem. It's the lack of maturity and grace that comes from spiritual growth that causes such division. We live in a world where it is too easy to sit back and remain "baby Christians" instead of growing in Him. In times of persecution, the church becomes a strong, united group of dynamic believers because the minor issues are understood as such. During the "easy times" we tend to become lazy and easily distracted by worldly things.


True enough what you said. Up until about mid-way into the 20th century, the morals of society as a whole pretty much agreed with the churches, and the disagreements between denominations were what today we'd call relatively trivial. Of course, they fought like cats and dogs over those trivialities. But as society's morals began to oppose that of the churches, and the churches themselves began to divide, with some agreeing with worldly philosophy instead of the Bible, the denominations that remained faithful to God became aware of a much greater threat to all of them than the trivialities of the past. It was only then that we could begin to unite with one spirit to oppose this wickedness. It could be that God is using this "great apostasy" of many of the once solid Bible denominations to draw out His remnant and unite them in a way they weren't before. There was a time when my Baptist friend and I would have refused to fellowship because of our respective doctrines, but not so anymore......Ah, if only I could get my hard core Baptist friends to speak in tongues and shake their "thangs" and do backflips in the aisle, how lovely that would be. :D :P

[WannaWitness]

I believe every Spiritual gift from God is timeless. They are very much available today just as they were in the Bible days -- and always will be.

Hebrews 13:8 says:

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."