Cellarius could contain himself no longer; he raised his voice, gesticulated
like a madman, stamped, and struck the table with his fist, and exclaimed, in
a passion, that it was an insult to speak thus to a man of God. Upon this Luther
observed: "St. Paul declares that the proofs of his apostleship were made known
by miracles, prove yours in like manner." "We will do so," answered the prophets.
"The God whom I worship," said Luther, "will know how to bridle your gods." Stubner,
who had preserved his tranquility, then fixed his eyes on the reformer, and said
to him with an air of inspiration, "Martin Luther! I will declare what is now
passing in thy soul. . . . Thou are beginning to believe that my doctrine is
true." Luther, after a brief pause, exclaimed: "God chastize thee, Satan!" At these
words all the prophets were as if distracted. "The Spirit, the Spirit!" cried they.
Luther, adopting that cool tone of contempt and that cutting and homely language
so familar to him, said, "I slap your spirit on the s nout."
B.B. Warfield
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
Westminster Confession
Historically Christians have believed that the Bible is the only standard of
faith and practice. Opposition to miracle-working, tongues-speaking cults has
been based upon this high regard for Scripture. Our doctrine of Scripture gives
us confidence in the unique authority and absolute sufficiency of Scripture
whereby the Holy Spirit guides our minds into truth, directs our lives in this
world, and brings us to satisfying heart-communion with God. This conviction
necessarily implies that God is not giving further revelation through prophets
today.
Frederick Dale Brunner
From the squirming and jabbering mass a young woman gradually detached herselfa
woman not uncomely, with a pathetic homemade cap on her head. Her head jerked
back, the veins of her neck swelled, and her fists went to her throat as if she
were fighting for breath. She bent backward until she was like half a hoop. Then
she suddenly snapped forward. We caught a flash of the whites of her eyes. Presently
her whole body began to be convulsedgreat throes that began at the shoulders
and ended at the hips. She would leap to her feet, thrust her arms in air, and
then hurl herself upon the heap. Her praying flattened out into a mere delirious
caterwauling. I describe the thing discreetly, and as a strict behaviorist.
Bob Dylan
Yes, it was all very romantic. All I knew was that the excitement and romance
of prophesying was turning into an uneasy sense that the prophecies I heard,
including my own, were hardly worthy of the name. The idea that they were the
words of the living God was beginning to seem painfully ludicrous. . . . And
so I tried to salve my conscience by assuming that contemporary prophecies were
characterized by a sort of mid-range inspiration: higher than a good sermon but
lower than the Scriptures. . . . I had to be completely honest with myself about
this, because it is so easy to rationalize an experience in which one has invested
a great deal of spiritual and emotional energy. It is extremely difficult to
be objective about experiences we think have brought us closer to Jesus and made
us intimate with the Holy Spirit. . . . Finally, I admitted it to myself. The
truth is there was nothing miraculous about this "gift" of mineI learned to speak
in tongues. I had attained fluency in my tongues speech through practice, not
by the sudden power of the Holy Spirit. And in retrospect, I can see I was guided
more by the peer pressure of my well-meaning friends than by the Holy Spirit.
foundational to
the Church. All non-Pentecostal evangelicals agree that the apostles are no longer
extant as an active office in the governance of the Church. A foundation, by
the very nature of the case, is laid but once, while the superstructure may be
erected over a long period of time.
O. Palmer Robertson
Whenever evangelicals have an experience of direct, personal access to God, we
are tempted to think or act as if we can dispense with doctrine, sacraments,
history, and all the other "superfluous paraphernalia" of the Church and make our
experience the sum and soul of our faith . . . . We are still attracted
to movements that replace thinking and theology by other emphasesrelational,
therapeutic, charismatic, and managerial (as in church growth). Whatever the
other virtues of these movements and the unquestionable importance of piety,
we must courageously repudiate anti-intellectualism for the sin it is.
John MacArthur
