by the way, cessationism was created due to the uprising of extreme Pentecostalism.
that's hilarious.
small sample...NO CHURCH FATHERS said anything other than the foundational gifts had CEASED. the Historical Church has NEVER looked for Apostolic POWER.
1. Clement of Rome - wrote a letter to the Corinthians in 95 A.D. discussing all of their spiritual problems. Tongues were never mentioned even though Corinth is the one place in the New Testament where tongues were apparently commonly used.
2. Justin Martyr - compiled a listing of spiritual gifts active in his time (A.D. 100-165) and did not include the gift of tongues.
3. Origen - never mentioned tongues and even argued that the "signs" of the Apostolic Age were temporary and that no contemporary Christian exercised any of these early "sign" gifts. (A.D. 185-253). He professes to have been an eye-witness of many instances of exorcism, healing, and prophecy, although he refuses to record the details lest he should rouse the laughter of the unbeliever (Cent. Cels., I, ii; III, xxiv; VII, iv, lxvii).
4. Chrysostom - writing on 1 Corinthians and the gift of tongues said, "This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now?Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity hath produced us again another question: namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no more?." (A.D. 347-407). [
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5. Augustine - comments on Acts 2:4: "In the earliest times, "the Holy Ghost fell upon them that believed: and they spake with tongues," which they had not learned, "as the Spirit gave them utterance." These were signs adapted to the time. For there behooved to be that betokening of the Holy Spirit in all tongues, to shew that the Gospel of God was to run through all tongues over the whole earth. That thing was done for a betokening, and it passed away." [
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6. Augustine - "For those that are baptized do not now receive the Spirit on the imposition of hands, so as to speak in the tongues of all the peoples; neither are the sick healed by the shadow of the preachers of Christ falling on them as they pass; and other such things as were then done, are now manifestly ceased." Retractions I xiii 7
you believe the masses if you want to. i suspect we are entering satan's litte season.
Cessationism today
Cessationism, however, is a doctrine that is generally perceived to be in retreat even among conservative and Evangelical Christians. Among theologians more to the left, cessationism is a non-issue. According to a Gallup poll (which Gallup poll, when?), 89% of Americans affirm that "Even today God performs miracles by his power." The explosive growth of charismatic Pentecostalism (those who believe and practice the so-called "extra-ordinary" or "miraculous" spiritual gifts), approaching one billion adherents world-wide, has largely undercut the appeal of cessationism. However, a powerful argument against this popular shift in thinking sounds something like "...along with being able to speak real foreign languages, the apostles were able to perform verifiable healings and even raising of the dead. Many of the stunts and performances performed as sign-gifts appear to be no more than play acting since, on average, these adherants do not live longer than other people with similar lifestyles, or visit the hospital less than other and they certainly do not rise from the dead."
Cessationism at AllExperts
